[Ascheron] Across the Pacific

[Esplandia]

The trip across the Pacific had taken nine days. The Triumphant had stuck as close to the shore as possible so they’d gone along the coast of Alaska then followed the Aleutians westward until they came to Kamchatka and then they headed south, following the Kuril Islands for the last leg of the journey to Japan.

Their arrival in Kyoto was sure to cause a stir, but setting the Shogunate off balance had its advantages. President Tan has wanted to take one of their cruisers, but it had been Anthony Clark that had convinced her to instead go by airship. The trip would be slower, the former VP had argued, but showing off Columbia’s most advanced piece of technology would enhance their negotiating position and convince the Empress (or was it Shogun?) that Columbia was strong.

For decades the Columbians had been hearing tales of the Shogunate and the “Far East”, and as Columbian traders headed farther abroad they eventually came into direct contact with the powerful empire. Now Lucy was to be the first Columbian President, maybe even the first American since the flash, to set foot in Asia.

As the great airship came in for a landing at an old abandoned airfield outside the capital city, Lucy Tan prepared to meet the Japanese leaders knowing this meeting would set the tone for all future relations in Eastern Asia.

 

[Andrenne]

An airship above the imperial capital was certainly a strange sight for the residents of the Shogunate. It wasn't planned, and despite being told there was an airship above Japan not a single person ever expected it to land directly in Kyoto. Most people hadn't even expected it to land in Japan. The greater surprise came from it's passengers. They weren't Asian.

Only a few people knew where the airship was from and who it's passengers were, and they were all generals or nobility, including the Empress herself. There had been tales of the surviving nations of the wild, western lands of America, but in actuality they were east from Japan more than they were west, and the passengers came from the Grand Republic of Columbia, which was a fellow pacific power. It had been many years since an American had set foot in Japan; especially one as notable as a President.

As with many coastal cities of Japan, Kyoto had been hit hard by large tsunamis and floods after the flash, and as a result large sections of the city and it's suburbs were entirely flooded. Since the Japanese re-emerged they had been building new makeshift canals to service small rowboats only to later solidify these canals. It made their cities sprawl out and look like they had a web of water rather than streets.

The further inland you went the less water there was flooding the land, and this meant the visiting Americans were landing on dry ground. The Japanese representatives made their way to the airfield by horseback. With them, they brought two men armored in complex pre-war power armor, the Type 72 "Ronin" power armor to be precise. If the Americans had to show off their most complex technology Japan may as well show off some of theirs as well.

As no horse could lift a man in power armor both power armored soldiers had to simply walk alongside the horse "caravan". The Empress, or Shogun rather, was carried in an elegant horse-drawn carriage of traditional Japanese design. A second carriage carried other less militarily inclined nobles. The Empress stepped from her carriage upon arrival to the old airfield, eagerly awaiting the Americans.

 

[Esplandia]

President Tan and her entourage were lowered to the airfield to greet the Shogun. She was impressed by the grandeur of the Japanese delegation, especially the power armor suits. They appeared far more advanced than the ones the GCR fielded. Still the rest of the delegation arrived on horseback or via horse drawn carriage.

Among Lucy’s own people they had a number of translators who spoke Japanese, but from what traders had said the American version of the language differed significantly after two hundred years of isolation from each other. Hopefully it wouldn’t cause too much difficulty.

As the Shogun approached, Lucy had her translator translate a greeting. “Your Highness, Empress of Japan, on behalf of the Grand Columbian Republic we come as friends to your mighty nation in search of peace and trade.”