Tyranny of Steel

Berengar stood in his war room, with a headset on his head, which allowed him to effectively communicate with the Japanese Empress. The two monarchs were in a heated discussion regarding the recent events in Borneo, which saw an entire Japanese squadron shot out of the sky.

Having agreed to a ceasefire for the duration of their negotiations, the topic of discussion was about compromises that would have to be made for both sides to agree not to bear their fangs at one another. There was a tranquil tone in Berengar's voice as he opened the negotiations with his rival from the east.

"So, where do we begin? There are so many things I want to ask you, though most of these questions have nothing to do with our current predicament, and thus I will wait until a later date to speak with you about these matters.

I suppose I should start by asking what demands you have of me? It is abundantly clear that if we wish to avoid all out warfare between our two nations, then something has to be given from both sides. Tell me, Empress Itami Riyo, what is it you want me to concede on the most?"

Itami remained silent for several seconds. She was expecting the man to start out by making demands of her, but instead he had asked what she wanted from him. She could hardly believe her ears, but when she finally realized that she was not being deceived by her own senses, the Albino beauty spoke up with a rather stern tone in her high-pitched voice.

"You want to know what I want? It is a rather simple demand. Withdraw all support from the Majapahit Empire and allow my campaign to continue without your interference!"

Immediately, Itami could hear Berengar sucking his teeth on the other end, which was an obvious sign that he would not concede this point. Naturally, such a response followed shortly thereafter.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, I have plans for the Majapahit Empire, and I will not so easily surrender an ally to your conquest. It's funny, this whole situation reminds me of something similar that happened in another life. I'm sure you know what I'm referring to.

It's not common knowledge, I'm afraid. Naturally, after their victory, the allied powers wanted to control the narrative of the war, and the evils their enemies committed, while blatantly ignoring their own crimes.

However, the fact remains that the non-aggression pact between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union collapsed because the USSR made an ultimatum to Germany. Give up your eastern lands, and abandon your allies to Soviet conquest, or we will come marching into Berlin.

Of course, this threat was completely valid. In fact, before it was even made, the Soviets had amassed a fair amount of their divisions on Germany's eastern borders. Naturally, Germany would never allow itself to be bullied into submission, especially not after Versailles, so on the twenty-second of June, the German Army invaded the Soviet Union and began the notorious operation Barbarossa."

There was a very clear irritated tone in Itami's voice as she swiftly interrupted Berengar's speech.

"And how, pray tell, is such a thing relevant to our current circumstances?"

A slight chuckle emerged from the other end of the line, followed by a smug voice, which instantly got on Itami's nerves.

"It's relevant, because you are acting just as Stalin did before he got millions of his own people killed. Do you truly want to be remembered in such a likeness, Empress Itami? I'm afraid, just as in that timeline, I, the ruler of the German Nation, must put my foot down, and declare that under no circumstances will I be abandoning my allies to your conquest.

After all, I have seen what your troops do to their conquered subjects, and I can say with certainty that I would not desire for even my worst enemies to suffer such a horrific fate, let alone my allies. So, now that abandoning the Majapahit Empire is off the table, what else would you ask of me? Something I hope that is far more acceptable for the both of us."

Itami did not like being compared to Stalin. After all, the man was a monster, one who was responsible for such levels of human suffering that only a few men in history could possibly compare to him.

However, despite her fury at being compared to the man, she understood the intent behind it. Abandoning the Majapahit Army was not in the cards for Berengar, and thus she had to think of something else that would help her cause.

"Very well, you say that you can not withdraw your support from the Majapahit Empire, then, at the very least I demand you cease your aerial operations over the island of Borneo, after all, reports are coming in of propaganda fliers designed to worsen the morale of my troops, something that I find to be intolerable!"

The only thing Itami could hear on the other end after making this demand was silence, which lasted for several moments as Berengar pondered the ramifications of such a move would have. The Japanese Empress waited patiently for a response for several seconds until finally the voice, which she now recognized as the Kaiser's emerged on the other end.

"Very well... I can concede this point. I swear that I will prohibit the Luftwaffe from flying over Borneo for the extent of your campaign in the region. However, in return I want something from you... I need you to publically recognize that the attack on my pilots was unwarranted, unjustified, and a complete violation of your military law.

I also need you to hold the man accountable who was responsible for authorizing the attack on my pilots. An example needs to be set, that firing upon my forces is completely unacceptable unless your troops have been attacked first. This way, we will be able to avoid any unfortunate incidents like this in the future.

After all, if something like this were to occur a second time, I will be far less forgiving. You are just lucky that none of my men were injured in this incident, or we would not be having this discussion."

In truth, there was little Itami could give Berengar in these negotiations. There was nothing tangible that the Japanese Empire had in its possession that the German Empire did not. In fact, Berengar's goal in this whole conflict was to bleed the Japanese Empire dry of its manpower and resources before he himself got involved in the war.

Thus, while there were some things Berengar could do like implement a no-fly zone, to aid his allies, in the end they would be detrimental to his own cause, as this would effectively take Itami's pilots out of the war zone, and they were one Itami's greatest resources, one that Berengar hoped to drain in this conflict.

However, a public recognition of fault on behalf of the Japanese Empire for this incident? That was worth its weight in gold. The German Propaganda machine would have a field day using Itami's own statement against her.

Itami knew this was exactly what Berengar wanted, but compared to the other demands he could have made in exchange for keeping his own air force out of the war, it was definitely the most tolerable. Thus, after thinking about it for several moments, a loud sigh erupted from the albino beauty's mouth as she agreed to this condition.

"Very well, I will publically announce that the attack on your pilots was unwarranted, unjustified, and a complete violation of military law. I will also hold the man who authorized the attack responsible for his actions, and of those pilots who acted on his orders. Is that really all you want from me in order to maintain the fragile peace that exists between our two nations?"

A confident smirk emerged on Berengar's lips as he spoke into the microphone with a smug tone in his voice.

"As long as your only demand is that I prevent my planes from flying over Borneo, then yes, that is all I ask of you."

Itami did not hesitate to respond to this, though there appeared to be a defeated tone in her voice as she did so.

"Fine, I will do as you ask, and I expect you to do the same. If that is all there is to be said, then I suppose these negotiations are concluded. I would say I look forward to hearing your voice again, Kaiser Berengar von Kufstein, but I fear the next time I am able to do so, we will be at war."

Berengar managed to get one last comment out before the other line went silent.

"Good luck..."

With this conversation said and done, the German Empire and the Empire of Japan had just narrowly avoided all out warfare between their two nations.