The Kitakami Chronicles

Chapter 17: The Demon of the Taiwan Strait

A week had passed as the higher ups tried to collect as much data about the Pan Asian Union. Once they were satisfied, Tan Yang assembled Kitakami and Shiratsuyu for the briefing. This mission would be the final mission for the two and it will be a long operation.

We have confirmed that the aircraft that attacked our base belonged to the major rebel organization --The Pan Asian Union. This highly organized renegade military is comprised of tanks, planes and ships from numerous Asian countries including Korea, China, Thailand, Japan and many more. They are believed to possess a massive arsenal of weapons. The coup forces are gathered at the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, where they have confiscated a base that is under construction. What's worse, we've discovered that this facility houses V-25 torpedo boats capable of launching experimental nuclear torpedoes. Unfortunately, it took us a long amount of time to uncover this information, due to the base's location for from any land. Proceed immediately to the Spratlys and destroy the V-25s. Note that we must cut through the Taiwan Strait as a shortcut from Taiwan to the Spratlys. You will most likely encounter fierce resistance from the coup forces at both the Taiwan Strait and the Spratly Islands. Remember to prepare for attacks from sea, air or elsewhere when choosing your weapons to use. This mission will succeed upon your destruction of the V-25s at the target area, and your safe return to base. Now go destroy those boats and come back in one piece. Anything else is unacceptable. Commence Operation Typhoon.

From the briefing, it appears the Pan Asian Union were able to reverse engineer the German V-25s and found a way to equip these drone ships with nuclear torpedoes. They intend to use them to disrupt shipping lanes and destroy port cities not loyal to the Pan Asian cause.

"We have to stop them Kitakami." Shiratsuyu said.

"Yeah, the thought of this scares me. Still we have a mission to do and as mercenaries, we are getting paid to get the job done while others can't." Kitakami replied.

"But can two of us really take down this threat alone?"

"We'll see. I think we have some support along the way." So the two packed up what they needed and went on their way. Their first obstacle of course was the strait and they do not know who they will run into there. The skies were overcast and as the two were about to leave the base, some farewells were made.

"Your final sortie... All right, preparations are complete. Good luck out there." Cheng An bid farewell.

"Thanks. Hopefully, I'll see my sister once I get back." Kitakami said.

"I'll be back." Shiratsuyu promised.

Torpedo Division X moved out towards the Strait where their destination will be the Spratlys. The seas were calm yet fairly dim from the cloud cover.

"Pass through the Taiwan Strait. It's an awful place, but the fastest shortcut." Tan Yang ordered over the radio. "Maintain current course."

However the peace and silence were to come to an end when a group of destroyers headed straight for them. The two tried to make out who they were and realized they all looked familiar to them.

"Enemy ships detected close to your position." Tan Yang announced with the help of a scout plane from above. "There's no time to change course. Eliminate enemy forces in the Taiwan Strait and break through it."

"They have different identification symbols than the PLAN." Shiratsuyu noticed.

The ships in question were a division of 4 Akizuki class destroyers. The ships were obviously from Japan and they were waving a flag featuring a golden dragon against a red background. The leader was the former ROCN destroyer Fen Yang, now going with the old name of Yoizuki, who of course defected to the Pan Asian Union and convinced the sisters of her subclass to join her. The destroyers who were with her were Fuyutsuki, Harutsuki and Natsuzuki. These destroyers were highly skilled and trained in the same nation as Kitakami. They will be her toughest opponents yet.