Three hours later, in Tokyo airspace, the Bogatyr piloted by Daniel and Maxim has finally reached the capital city of the Yamato Empire.
Flying at 10,000 feet, Maxim can see the oriental architecture below them. As much as he was glad that they arrived in Tokyo, there is still something missing.
"Where are our escorts? Shouldn't they have arrived by now?" Maxim asked Daniel, who is the co-pilot.
"I'm contacting them right now," Daniel replied as he manipulated some toggle switches on the panel next to him. He was wearing a headset, but he only heard static sounds. "Tokyo Airspace this is a Ruthenian Aircraft flying over in your airspace at vector 2-2-0, FL120 and with a speed of 175 knots. We've been circling around your capital and we still haven't got our escort, respond."
After transmitting his message, he leaned back in his seat and exhaled deeply, and watched the clouds outside pass underneath them. He then turned his attention to his pilot.
"They should be here soon," Daniel told Maxim, "it's going to take some time until our escort gets here."
"Well, they should be," Maxim replied, seemingly irritated. "Because there's simply no way that they are going to let this aircraft who's bigger than all of their planes, freely fly over their capital."
Meanwhile, at ground level, Yamato citizens are pointing at the big plane and screaming something about huge monsters coming to destroy Tokyo. Forever sealing a culture of Tokyo being under threat by marauding leviathans for decades to come.
"Normally, we would contact air traffic control for guidance but here, we're doing it in an old-fashioned way," Daniel laughed as he looked at his navigation and radar panel. There, he saw blips heading towards their current location. "Looks like our escort has arrived."
"Where?" Maxim looked to the radar panel and saw two blips southwest of their position. He glanced over his shoulder towards the rear windshield and spotted an aircraft coming right behind. "Finally!"
Two Nakajima Ki-27 Yamato aircraft trailed the Bogatyr and caught up to them, positioning themselves to the left and right of the Ruthenian cargo aircraft.
Maxim's gaze flickered to the pilot flying the monoplane and noticed that he was staring back at him, the usual squint eyes becoming wide as saucers.
The Yamato pilot is obviously scanning the Bogatyr with his head movement alone. It's probably understandable, after all, it's their first time seeing such a cargo aircraft of this size. Size shock and envy at its finest.
Maxim smirked. If they are flabbergasted from this size alone, wait until they see the Tugarin, Ruthenia's largest classified cargo aircraft.
Now he understands what Leonid was saying to them back then, about the reason why only propeller-driven aircraft are declassified. It's because of the reactions of the foreign adversaries.
Maxim saluted at the Yamato pilot, who surprisingly saluted back before speeding back up ahead of them.
"What are they doing?" Daniel muttered.
"Obviously, to guide us to their air station," Maxim answered him as he focused his attention back in front of him. "The only thing we need to do now is to follow them, so heads up, and let's put on a show."
"Copy that."
They focused on the job and began following the two Nakajima Ki-27 Yamato aircraft that were escorting them safely to their air station.
***
The Yamato pilot grabbed at his radio to make a fast important call to the ground crew.
"This is Sparrow 1! I repeat! This is Sparrow 1! Calling to Tokyo airbase!"
"This is Tokyo airbase, Sparrow 1."
"Tell the crew to clear everything from the runway! Make as much room as you can!"
"What is the urgency Sparrow 1?"
"The Ruthenians are going to land a really huge plane on the runway! The wingspan is wider than the airstrip! Clear out the runway of anything and even clear the sides!"
"Copy that Sparrow 1."
The airbase was scrambled to clear the runway for the Ruthenian plane to land.
All planes sitting on the runway and anything near is towed away with urgency to give more room for the plane to land.
The huge plane with the Yamato escorts flying ahead of it soon became visible and the crew double time on their jobs. Soon the runway and the sides were cleared out to welcome the ruthenian giant coming in for a landing.
***
They descended slowly to prepare for a landing and moments later, Daniel can see the airstrip approaching.
"We're almost there. I'm arming the spoiler. Set the brake."
"Copy that, Setting the brake," Daniel acknowledged as he toggled another switch.
"I'll set flaps to position 2...Landing gear down." Maxim mouthed a word out his mouth as he interacted with the systems of the aircraft.
Outside the Bogatyr, the landing gear of the plane lowered itself as soon as Maxim activated it.
The populace nearer to the Tokyo airbase was bothered by the roaring sound from above, making them go outside their houses and look at the sky.
There, they saw an unusually large aircraft flying above them much to their shock.
"What is that?!"
"Is that an aircraft from our Imperial Air Force?"
"Looks like it...I didn't know that our Air Force is so advanced that they've created a plane larger than what we have seen before!"
Unbeknownst to the spectators below, the humongous aircraft flying over them is not an aircraft of the Yamato Empire but the Ruthenia Empire. They weren't informed of the arrival of the Ruthenian aircraft, so they only assumed that they were theirs.
The Bogatyr has the flag of the Ruthenian Empire and the logo of the Imperial Ruthenian Air Forces painted on its fuselage. It's just hard for them to spot from their location.
"I'm setting flaps to 4 and maintaining the landing reference speed," Daniel mouthed another word to Maxim who nodded in return.
"Let's just keep her steady and we'll touch the ground as easy as pie," Maxim said, causing Daniel to smile and nod in response.
One thing they noticed is that the landing strip is too short for the Bogatyr. They understand that this was the case. After all, why would they need a huge airstrip if their aircraft only need 500 meters of airstrip?
"Remember that we're going to put on a show?" Daniel said to Maxim.
"Yeah, I heard you earlier. So, are we going to do it?" Maxim looked to Daniel.
"Damn right we do," Daniel grinned mischievously. "Are you ready?"
"Hell yeah! Let's do this!" Maxim shouted as he gripped the yoke tightly and prepared himself for a short tactical landing.
The Yamato citizens and the ground crew panicked as the huge plane went into a steep glide.
"IT'S GONNA CRASH!" men and women shield themselves from what they expect to be an explosive botch landing. Not knowing the ruthenian airmen are trained to do these types of short landings with the Bogatyr.
"400 meters...300 meters...200 meters..." Daniel started the countdown as the airplane made its way down the concrete runway.
"100 meters...50 meters...10 meters...and touchdown!"
The aircraft jolted upon touching the ground like a giant bird of prey before coming to a complete stop, shocking the Yamato personnel who were watching nearby. Some have soiled their pants at the phenomenal landing of the giant plane.
Now that they had the opportunity for a closer look, the Yamato personnel approached the aircraft and now they realized its massive size, dwarfing every known aircraft in the inventory of the Imperial Yamato Air Force.
One of them is an aeronautical engineer who was one of the leading aircraft designers for the Yamato Air Force.
"What the...how come such a massive aircraft fly at such a high altitude?! Not to mention, it came from Harbin! Which are 1,563 kilometers from Tokyo!" He immediately scanned to try to understand the underlying principles of what's making this fly, while visibly hyperventilating.
One thing he noticed is that the engine is smaller than what he expected. Normally, to fly a huge aircraft requires a powerful engine. And to increase the power of the engine, it must increase the number of pistons which will add weight and complexity to the design. It would become inefficient.
But the aircraft he is looking at right now has more compacted engines. Which baffles him because how come a small radial engine can make these aircraft fly?
Did the Ruthenians customize their radial engines? No, he can't imagine it to be that way.
He racked his brain and searched for any explanation possible, but nothing came up. However, he is certain that the answer lies within the engine design. After all, it's what makes the aircraft fly. He just needs to know the schematics of the engine and once he does, he might be able to build one of these for the Yamato Empire.
As he was deep in thought, a car raced down the concrete airstrip towards the Bogatyr.
The cargo door of the Bogatyr was opened, lowering down a large ramp, and revealing the cars inside.
The car that was moving along the runway arrived at the rear of the Bogatyr, three men exited the vehicle and walked towards the ramp where one man stood.
"Are you the loadmaster?" Igor asked.
"Yes, are you the special forces that will get this car out?" the loadmaster inquired.
"Yup, we are the ones. Thank you for bringing out our rides. We appreciate it," Igor smiled as he shook the load master's hand. "So, want to help us unload the vehicles?"
"Of course! Follow me, sir," the loadmaster motioned Igor and two of his men to follow him to the cargo hold.
Inside, a car that resembles the personal vehicle of the Emperor, the Bukavac, and two black SUVs can be seen.
"Are these vehicles fully loaded?" Igor asked the loadmaster.
"Yes sir," the loadmaster confirmed and added "fueled and ready."
"Great!" Igor said as he leaned into the SUV. "Security is one of our utmost concerns while staying here in Yamato. You can't be too careful these days."
"I agree, sir. That's why we are leaving the moment we unload these vehicles. The Central Command stressed the danger of letting this plane stay longer in a foreign adversary's territory."
"I already see one of them trying to eye our aircraft. It's best that you get this plane out before they figure something crucial," Igor advised. "Anyways, where are the keys?"
"Here sir," the loadmaster handed him three keys. Igor gave the keys to the SUV to Viktor and Oleg.
"Would that be all, sir?" the loadmaster asked once more.
"I think we got what we needed. Have a safe flight back home," Igor said, smiling.
