Back at the Ruthenian Embassy in Tokyo, Rolan received orders from the Command Ops, briefing him on the new special operation they are concocting.

“I see, so the Yamato Empire won’t let us leave peacefully huh?” Rolan muttered under his breath as he puffed up smoke. “Very well, I’ll inform the Grand Duchesses and the staff for evacuation.”

Ending the transmission, Rolan paced towards the ambassador’s room. Arriving at the doorsteps, he knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Gregor’s voice sounded from behind, granting him permission to enter.

“Excuse me,” Rolan turned the doorknob and entered. He noticed the table was filled with papers and documents. Rolan looked around, trying to figure out why he was doing that, and the answer abruptly came into his mind.

“Oh, Sir Rolan. What is it?”

“St. Petersburg has ordered us to prepare for an evacuation. Burn every document and writing that the Yamato Empire could use against us.”

“It’s what I’m doing right now,” Gregor said, pointing to the stack of papers and files. “So, the Yamato Empire has provided an escort to the airport right?”

Rolan shook his head. “Not exactly. The Yamato Empire has forbidden us to leave and ordered us to stay here until the threat is neutralized. Now they have a reason to believe that the Yamato Empire is just confining us here, barring Ruthenian from taking decisive actions. As long as we are here, Ruthenia won’t do a thing.”

“And how does St. Petersburg plan to do that?” Gregor inquired. If the Yamato Empire is not going to escort them out of the country, then the only plausible solution is for the Ruthenians to get them out. But that would spark a diplomatic incident. Is the Ruthenia Empire prepared for such a consequence?

“They are still planning that one out but for now, we must prepare to leave. How many staff do you have here?”

“80. Thirty of those are embassy staff while the rest are the security forces.”

So, adding themselves up, that would be eighty-eight. That’s a lot of personnel to evacuate.

“Does the embassy have a vehicle that can accommodate those numbers?” Rolan asked, although he had seen the embassy grounds devoid of vehicles, he still asked for confirmation.

“There’s only one vehicle, and that’s for my use only,” Gregor answered.

“This is going to be tough,” Rolan remarked, imagining how the operation to get them out of this hostile nation with their numbers. There are only three vehicles but two of them are badly damaged from the ambush. It can be used but it won’t survive another onslaught, while the remaining one can’t sustain heavy gunfire.Nevertheless, he still has to inform St. Petersburg about their situation.

He pressed his earpiece, connecting him to the AWAC flying overhead Tokyo, which will then relay radio transmission to the Eastern Command, who will then transmit the signal to the Central Command, which is the Command Ops.

“Eighty-eight persons, three vehicles, two damaged but operational, the remaining one offers no substantial protection,” Rolan reported, hoping that they would plan around with this information.

“Copy that, we’ll inform you of the plan in thirty minutes. The Emperor of the Ruthenian Empire wishes to speak with you.”

Rolan gulped, that’s the last thing he wanted to hear. He messed up and failed the mission of ensuring the safety of his sisters.

He let out a long drawn sigh and nodded. “Connect me to him.”

Seconds after, Rolan spoke. “Your Majesty, this is Rolan speaking.”

“Rolan!” Alexander voiced from the other side of the line. “It’s good to hear your voice. I want you to debrief me about the agent who provided us the intel. I heard that you interrogated him two hours ago.”

“That’s true, Your Majesty,” Rolan sighed inwardly in relief. It’s good that he didn’t bring up the topic of his failure. “Agent Zero, as you all know, is the one who gave us a heads up that there will be an attack on the Grand Duchesses. He presented me with a recorder that contains voice recordings of Shinzo Sakawa, the mastermind. They really have prepared for it, Your Majesty.”

“Well, Shinzo Sakawa is a powerful rich man, a nationalist, and after further investigation, we also found out that he’s quite popular. I was speaking with the Prime Minister of Yamato Empire earlier and denied us rights of evacuating all of you,” Alexander paused as he chuckled softly. “Looks like we’re going to war under the grounds of attacking the convoy, killing two special forces, and not letting us come to get you all.”

“Yes sir, I’ve heard about it earlier. What they did is a declaration of war, be it a militia not operating under the Yamato Empire. The fact that they’d cut our communication plus the suspicious bank transfer means they are prepared for it. Either way, it’ll be easy to sway the people’s mind and international support when they see the state of our vehicles.”

“You’re right about that,” Alexander said. “Sit tight, we will get you out. I already had the Minister of Defense draw up plans for your evacuation.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Rolan said with a smile, moved by his words. “If I may, Your Majesty. I’d also like to apologize for my failure. I’ve promised you that I will make your sister safe and I failed at that. In fact…I’m ready to hand my resignation as your—”

“Rolan,” Alexander cut him off. “Despite the odds, there’s no denying the fact that you kept my sisters safe. No one anticipated this would happen, not even me. I’m the one who’s at fault here so don’t be hard on yourself. You’re the only man whom I can trust with the lives of my sisters. My order still stands, keep my sisters safe and get them home safely.”

Rolan, hearing such a compassionate tone from the emperor, felt the warm feeling spreading throughout his whole body. “Then I’ll do my best to fulfill both orders, Your Majesty.”action

“Good, we will talk again once you’re back in Ruthenia.” With that, Alexander ended the call.

Ten minutes later, Rolan went inside the room where Alexander’s sisters were staying. Tiffania and Anastasia were sleeping soundly in the bed, both embracing each other in their sleep. Christine on the other hand was looking out the window, her face was flickering with orange color as she watched papers being burned on the ground below.

She noticed that Rolan has entered and immediately turned her gaze toward him, “Rolan, what brings you here?”

Rolan ambled all the way until he stood before the Grand Duchess.“I have received words from St. Petersburg saying that they’ll conduct an operation to get us out of here,” Rolan looked down below to where Christina is looking. It seems like they are starting to burn important documents.

“Why?”

“Because the Yamato Empire doesn’t want to,” Rolan answered simply. “It also seems like we’re heading to war.”

Christina suddenly turned around to look at Rolan. “War?” Her eyes widened with disbelief, “Is that true?”

“Well, they attacked us, Your Highness,” Rolan explained simply.

“Is there any other way, to stop this?”

Rolan shook his head negatively. “No, there is none. Your brother has decided. The moment we get out of here, a war will break out between Ruthenia Empire and Yamato Empire.”

***

Outside the Ruthenian Embassy, the streets of Tokyo have been declared under martial law as army trucks rolled down the streets.

Army personnel with cone-shaped megaphones instruct civilians to go indoors until the “all clear” is given.

People rushed indoors, hearing news and rumors of the shootings that happened just this very night.

The shootings, mad drivers, and the bright and loud self-destruction of the ruthenian vehicle did not go unnoticed by the public. Calls were made to the police by concerned and scared citizens to bring order back to the city.

p-ᴀ-ɴ-ᴅ-ᴀ-ɴ-0-ᴠ-ᴇ-ʟ、ᴄ(ᴏᴍ) However, this whole thing was already planned from the start.

The Imperial Yamato Army trucks stop at streets and roads to unload their cargo of men and materials.

The Yamato soldiers moved as trained and barricaded the streets with barbed wires, wooden stakes, and sandbags to stop anyone from escaping from the Ruthenian Embassy.

This did not go unseen by the staff of the surrounding embassies as they peek out the windows after the shootings to see what is going on.

Yamato armored cars soon join the barricades as intimidation tactics and practical mobile cover for the soldiers.

Their noisy introduction attracted many eyes of Yamato citizens who are now absolutely confused and terrified as having fighting vehicles roll out into the streets meant that something big has happened to require them.

With the barricades completed, another group showed up in automobiles and drove towards the Ruthenian Embassy.

A group is a group of soldiers under the coordination of the Tokyo police force as they climbed out of the vehicles and position themselves behind the cars for cover.

Spotlights installed on some of the vehicles shined on the building and police personnel held up a megaphone and shouted into it in broken Britannian.

“People inside the building! This is the Tokyo Police! You are suspected of having dangerous criminals inside your room! You must surrender, open doors, and let the police search your place! If you do not allow us in! We will be forced to enter!”

The policeman pauses to look at his pocket watch and continues

“You have one hour to answer, or we break in!”