The tale of Hakodate Fortress, and how its Lord Nobukatsu, protector of Hokkaido, fell to the schemes of the Golden Chrysanthemums.
Lord Nobukatsu, a minor noble under Samura's patronage, was declared civilian governor and protector of Hokkaido by the imperial authorities, in 786 A. S.With the powerful backing of Samura, and tasked with protecting the keiretus investments in Sapporo and the Chugoku gate, Nobukatsu worked hard to gather a formidable militia force.
Although the Emperor had agreed to give Naval Forces protection to the Chugoku gate, the long paths in Hokkaido were fraught with various dangers, such as radiation and navigational hazards, as well as the strongest presence of rebellious forces within Kusari space. Nobukatsu gathered men and equipment from all places in Kusari, gathering a lot of ronin warriors and hogosha muscle, in such a way that he was almost considered as a hogosha oyabun as well a nobleman. His warriors attained a fierce reputation within the belligerent circles of Kusari, and their skill in the Hokkaido wilderness and ferocity in combat had given them the nickname, The Hokkaido Wolves.
Nobukatsu was determined to eradicate the enemies he fought for so long, and saw the Chugoku Gate as the masterpiece that would achieve that goal.
However, he was aware that as long as the pirates of the GC remained strong in the system, the court would not move in strength to deal the final blow before they were dealt with.
The Lord planned a long campaign to find and destroy the rumored GC haven, and set out to build a large fortress where he would oversee his domain and track the GC. And so, Hakodate Fortress was constructed.
Hidden within the Kayo cloud, Hakodate was a engineering marvel of Kusarian fortifications.Concluded in 790A.S. within a field of automated weapon platforms set on small asteroids, it had a defensive capability often compared to the Heaven's Gate of Tohoku, at least, to those who managed to know about the two reclusive locations to draw a comparison.
Together with the specialist forces that were the Wolves, the Protector of Hokkaido begun hunting the Chrysanthemums and Dragons with terrifying skill, which soon raised great concerns among the leaderships of these groups.
The elder sisters of the Ainu feared for the survival of their safe haven, and pleaded and coordinated with the Dragons to stop Nobukatsu and eliminate Hakodate.
The rebel forces tried many times to assault and destroy the Fortress, but the losses were severe each time, and while the wolves and defenders numbered around 300 or 400 warriors during most of the existence of Hakodate, they were more than a match to the dragon fighters, who were then unable to surpass the fortress defenses.
And so, a long war, nine years long, was fought over the skies of Hokkaido.
GC fought desperately to disrupt supplies and isolate Hakodate, while at the same time drawing the Wolves hunting packs away from the Ainu hidden location.
For the Wolves, it was a daily struggle to defend Hakodate and the route to Chugoku Gate, and simultaneously an effort to go further, advance deeper, to catch more of their prey.
Nobukatsu was considered a man of great military skill, with skill in tactics and a foresight that would have made him a top officer in the Naval Forces. However, the man was not without faults, and past disputes with officers had led him to distrust the Naval Forces judgement and mission.
A decade long commitment to the war in Hokkaido had also left deep marks on Nobukatsu's view of the world, making him ruthless to his enemies and enshrining loyalty and dedication to the cause as the virtues his people should possess. He also promoted the worshipping of the old deities actively during the periods of calm. Such deeds seeped into the hearts of the warriors of Hakodate, and the Wolves took on a mystical approach to their lives and perennial struggle.
The year of 799A.S. was at an end, and the Dragon and Chrysanthemum forces had launched another campaign to eradicate the Hakodate Fortress. Several weeks of assaults and ambushes halt the Wolves raids, and the Dragons come close to the Fortress, only to be stopped by amassed strengths of the defenders.
The Chrysanthemums had however devised a new plan cut out the defensive advantage from its roots.
Having successfully infiltrated their agents among Lord Nobukatsu extended family, they had managed to gather information about the trip of his niece, Lady Tokuhime, to the Chugoku Gate site, for the commemorations of the first official anniversary of the construction project. Her entourage was infiltrated by the agents of the Golden Chrysanthemums, and laid in wait for the set of events that would place them within enemy lines.
Tokuhime convoy, sumptuous display of a noblewoman escort of those times, departed from her family holdings in Kyushu to the Chugoku gate station under great fanfare promoted by her father, who was at the time looking to consolidate his position in court by finding a powerful spouse for his prized daughter.
As expected, and planned, the Dragons did not turn a blind eye to the challenging display of power by Nobukatsu's family, and staged an ambush when the convoy was on the last leg of his journey. The escort was overrun by a large contingent of Dragon forces, and the Naval Forces response was not strong enough to dislodge the dragon raiders, who had boarding craft locking on the main yacht and assaulted the crew.
Only when the Wolves of Hokkaido main unit arrived to repel the raiders did the Dragons started to retreat, apparently abandoning the idea of holding the shuttle hostage and preferring to save their lives to fight another day.
When Lord Nobukatsu arrived at the head of a gunboat squadron to the scene of the battle, the Dragons had been killed or routed, and the security forces of the Wolves had retaken the shuttle. Nobukatsu found a frightened niece in the midst of a wrecked chamber, accompanied by a few of her handmaidens that had survived the skirmish. Bodies of Dragons raiders and ships personnel were present throughout the ship.
Outraged by the apparent incompetence of the Naval Forces in protecting his family member, and declaring his superiority in defending against the aggression of the vile rebels, ordered that the ship and his niece to be taken to Hakodate, where they would be safe.
Among the survivors, the handmaiden Keika saw the events with a hidden mixture of disgust and amusement for the leader of the Fortress.
The forces return to Hakodate Fortress, and Tokuhime and her entourage are tended to. The ceremonies are not to happen until a few days later, so Nobukatsu is staying at the Fortress while concentrating his forces in the patrolling of the gate and the route to it.
Later that day, Keika and other members of Tokuhime head to the depot where the cargo of her Lady vessel had been unloaded. Unknown to the garrison and their Lord, the Dragon assault on the convoy main purpose was to insert a powerful set of explosives into Hakodate, which would be used to disable the Fortress defenses and turn the tide of battle to their advantage.
With swift speed and calculated killing, Keika and the other infiltrators reached the cores of the defense system, and the resulting destruction shook the whole Fortress from top to bottom. Hakodate Fortress belly had been exposed, and the Dragons laying in wait for the opportunity became well aware of the plan success with the commotion of the defenders.
The garrison tried to deploy fighters to defend the Fortress, but once outside they were not only challenged by countless Golden Chrysanthemum Fighters and bombers, but also by Blood Dragon heavier units, who now approached the Fortress and bombarded it with impunity.
Inside, Nobukatsu violently ordered any of his guards who were present to go out and fight all the enemies they could find, as explosions rocked the Fortress. Armed with his katana and pistol, he headed to the command centre, where the garrison was dealing with the infiltrators, who were trying to cause the maximum chaos possible.
During the fight, Nobukatsu suddenly had to dodge a thrown knife, and found himself under attack by Keika, who now fought with a short sword and the symbol of the Golden Chrysanthemums present on her battle attire. Keika managed to dispose of Nobukatsu pistol, but in the ensuing sword fight the Lord mastery proved itself superior to the assassin, and Keika was soon to be defeated.
Outside, the Wolves of Hokkaido, who were used to the feelings of furious combat and zealous destruction of their foes, started feeling something that they had not experienced for a long time. Despair.
Despair, for the calls for aid to the Naval Forces, who were just an hour of travel away, had not been responded, and no word of reinforcements had come so far. Many began to feel that the Navy had abandoned them, and a few believed that the cause was their lord contempt to their allies against the Dragons.
The cruisers of the Dragons had almost destroyed all of the Nobukatsu gunboats, and were now aiming all of their guns on the Fortress walls.
Keika the assassin had been disarmed, and Lord Nobukatsu moved closer to deliver the final blow on the despised representant of his enemies.
Alas, the fate of the Lord would not grant him a glimmer of victory today, as an explosion from the control centre hurled the nearby combatants out of their positions.
Lord Nobukatsu required a few minutes to recover from the shock, bleeding from his forehead and unable to see from one eye. He found his sword shattered, and picked up a pistol from a nearby fallen soldier and resumed his goal of killing the infiltrators.
Amongst the rubble and flames, he saw a figure kneeling near a fallen person, as if tending to the wounds. He found his niece, Lady Tokuhime, holding the hand of Keika the Assassin, who was fading rapidly to blood loss.
Lord Nobukatsu looked at the two figures, his grip on the pistol growing ever so tightly. Lady Tokuhime raised her eyes to him, a mix of fear and sadness in her soul, as if pleading him to save both women lives.
As for Keika, who in her dizzy state was trying to comfort her "master", became aware of the Lord presence, and drawn a scornful smile to his side, as to mock him of his folly and his loss.
With fatigue apparent in his movements, but not in his eyes, Lord Nobukatsu raised his pistol at his niece. In his eyes, he saw nothing but treason, nothing but the enemy. The pistol marker indicated the depletion of one shot.
The young lady, too young to see battle, too young to be awarded this fate, fell over her handmaiden, her once joyful and innocent spark gone from her mortal coil.
Lord Nobukatsu turns his pistol to the assassin, and finds in Keika's pale face no scorn as it was before, but only wrath, and pure hatred. Hatred she had no more strength to give voice too. Before he could get a shot, her eyes also become devoid of life, her rebellious flame extinguished.
Freed from his trance state, Nobukatsu turns his attention to the panels nearby him. The few that remain operation tell him of the ongoing loss in the battle outside, and the imminent destruction of the Fortress. Enraged, the Lord and Protector of Hokkaido hurls out a curse to his enemies and traitors, as yet another explosion engulfs the scenery in flame and shrapnel.
The battle is soon over, and the Dragons spend the rest of the day bombarding the Fortress into oblivion, rendering the wreck useless and unrecognizable.
The Naval Forces keep silent over the whole affair, feeling that the interference of the Lord and his forces compromised the KNF mission and position as the sole force of the Emperor.
In New Tokyo and Kusari, the family and society weeped for the loss of Lady Tokuhime, while her father secretly vilified Lord Nobukatsu for the outcome. Samura industries cautiously cut ties with any remaining Nobukatsu followers and refocused their efforts alongside KNF and their own security forces, to push onwards the completion of the Chugoku Gate construction.
Lord Nobukatsu was gradually removed from family and historical records, and the Hokkaido Wolves turned into legend, then myth.
As for the Golden Chrysanthemums, they avoided boasting their victory over their wretched rival, for fear of redoubled attention by other opponents on their new freedom in Hokkaido. The Dragons acted accordingly, using the displeasure that Nobukatsu had incurred amongst the court and the authorities to acquire new contacts and allies.
To this day, the Legend of Keika the Assassin is passed down among the sisters of the Golden Chrysanthemums as a story of dedication, and pursuit of justice.
To this day, the Fall of Hakodate is a faint memory among the remnants of the Hokkaido Wolves who have taken refuge among the Hogosha, and a forgotten history for most of the remaining Hogosha and opponents of the Dragons and Chrysanthemums.
No one but the elders of the Wolves visit the site of Hakodate, for it's rumored to be cursed by the spirit of its Lord, as well as the crying soul of Lady Tokuhime.
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