The Greater Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere a Japanese stargate
2000BC- in a region of the Earth that would become known as Northern Korea.
Lord Yu watched as his stargate was secured in his secret facility.
If the Supreme System Lord Ra knew that he had his own stargate of the First world and he had continued to harvest humans long after Ra had lost control of his the results wouldn't be pleasant.
Lord Yu had heard rumours that Ra was becoming suspicious and was investigating Yu's increasing numbers of slaves.
His secret program was now becoming a threat to his domain for if Ra found evidence that even strongly suggested that he had disobeyed his commands than Ra would crush his domain like a bug.
It was better to take the long view and mothball this facility now.
He just hoped the worthless unclaimed worlds he used, as transit points to his domain weren't discovered.
After all once all had quieted down he could always come back in a long-range transport and recommission the facility.
1930 AD Northern Korea
Doctor Kōsaku Hamada had stumbled across an extraordinary find.
When his truck had broken down on the way to his latest dig he had got out to stretch his legs while the others repaired the truck.
It was while he was doing this that he noticed a flash of light from a nearby hill.
Wondering what could be causing the reflection he walked towards the flashes of light and discovered a piece of metal in the side of a hill.
Thinking it was a piece of discarded refuse he kicked at it expecting it to fly some distance.
So Doctor Kōsaku Hamada was most surprised when instead of this happening more soil fell away revealing a larger piece of metal that appeared to be a right angle and those don't appear in nature.
Now intrigued he returned to his truck and collected his archaeology tools and getting the attention of his assistant to carry the shovel they went to uncover the metal in the side of the hill.
Two hours later Kōsaku Hamada was stunned the metal wasn't scrap at all but rather a door, a very large door that had been built into the side of this hill.
The door in the side of the hill was unbelievably strong it had taken his team four days to force it open and what they discovered shocked them to their very core.
Dozens of mummified bodies littered the floor of a large cavern and at the far end stood a strange metal ring and a mushroom shaped pedestal.
What were stranger were the carvings on the metal ring and mushroom shaped pedestal.
One of his undergraduates who minored in astronomy identified the carvings as being different renditions of the constellations as seen in the night sky.
The metal ring remained an enigma for two years before one of the research assistants searching the rest of the complex found a cable that on closer inspection could connect the metal ring and mushroom shaped pedestal While it was being debated if this should be done Doctor Kōsaku Hamada contemplated the ramifications of the forensic pathology reports conducted by his friend and fellow archaeologist Heijiro Nakayama.
If the reports were correct and he could hardly doubt them then the mummified bodies had been executed over four thousand years ago.
And that led to another conundrum the metal of the door and that held in the room was stronger and lighter then steel yet the time the people died bronze was the new thing and there was no way that a bronze age people could build what had been discovered.
Unfortunately for Doctor Kōsaku Hamada the military had learnt of what had been discovered and were now funding his project in the hope of finding where these super metals came from.
So it was with great trepidation that the metal ring and mushroom shaped pedestal were connected.
What happened next was startling as the chevrons on the metal ring all lit up and the inner wheel of the metal ring creaked as it started to move.
Then after an hour this it stopped and it returned to an inactive state.
All present when this happened realised that the metal ring and mushroom shaped pedestal must be some kind of machine but what it does had them baffled.
That was until it was suggested that one of the seven character lists be pressed on the mushroom shaped pedestal.
They were still discussing what to do when a group of soldiers marched into the cavern and an officer announced that the army was taking command of the cavern and all the scientists were now seconded to the Imperial Japanese army to find out exactly what they had discovered.
Rikugun-Shōi Hiro Yamamoto stared at the gaping maw of the device and wondered if perhaps it might have been better to follow in the footsteps of his second cousin Kaigun-shōshō Isoroku Yamamoto than be stepping into the great unknown.
The device had been activated multiple time with a broom shoved in to what the scientists described as the event horizon.
But the broom never showed through the back of the device and once it was pushed too far the broom was simply pulled through to whatever was on the other side.
Rikugun-Shōi Hiro Yamamoto had studied everything known about the cavern and the scientists had shown him how to operate the controls for the door.
With a nod from Rikugun-Taisa Riku Saitō Hiro Yamamoto stepped through the device carrying his pack and a field radio so that he could communicate his findings.
When Hiro Yamamoto exited the device he tripped on the broom and other objects that had been thrown or pulled through the device.
Hiro quickly started his lantern and discovered that he was in a cavern exactly like the one he had left.
He knew this was a different place as none of the others he had left were here.
The first thing he did was open the door to see what was outside and was stunned by what he saw.
He definitely wasn't in Korea as he saw bubbling tar pits that weren't near the facility in Korea.
As he was looking down he noticed that he had two shadows on the ground and looking up he saw two stars in the sky.
Although he wanted to deny it he knew enough science to realise that he couldn't be on the Earth anymore.
Not that it mattered for where there were tar pits meant that oil had to be present.
And Japan needed a secure supply of oil badly.
Knowing that his discovery could make his career Hiro Yamamoto re-entered the facility and started dialling the glyphs as represented on walls by the device.
Then he just used the field radio to confirm he had the right address and stepped through the device for the second time in five hours.
The Korean facility as it was called at the highest levels of the Japanese government and military caused opportunities and problems.
The find could solve all of Japans energy needs but the problem was how to exploit it.
The recent invasion of Manchuria had caused embargoes to be placed on Japan on top of the tariffs the depression had caused to be enacted.
So Japan had to find a country which could supply what they required who was willing to ignore the American embargo.
They found that partner in Weimar Germany which was desperate for any type of foreign trade.
Chancellor Heinrich Brüning knew he was taking a risk but Germany needed a solid trading partner and when the American banks had withdrawn their loans he became desperate so to keep people working he made a deal with the Empire of Japan to build everything they required.
What the Japanese wanted surprised Chancellor Brüning but it brought in much needed foreign exchange and with that money he could strengthen the military so that they could battle the paramilitary forces of both the extreme left and right wing parties.
Adolf Hitler was having a tantrum.
Chancellor Brüning's policies were having far too much success.
So much so that Chancellor Brüning brought the German navy up to its full allocated strength of six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers but made sure they were stronger than anything the victorious powers had.
But his greatest masterpiece was the creation of heavily armed national police to combat the paramilitaries of the left and right of the political spectrum.
The national police were army divisions in all but name but having them categorised as police meant the he could get around the cap on the German military forces as there was no cap on the amount of police that Germany could employ.
And it was just a coincidence that the tractor factories that were building so much equipment for Japan could be converted to the production of panzers should the need arise was merely a coincidence.
Hiro Yamamoto couldn't believe what had happened in the year since he stepped through the device.
As far as his eyes could see drilling rigs were being installed to bring the oil bounty of the world to Japan.
The engineers had even found a way to transport the oil easily.
They would simply shove part of the oil pipe into the event horizon and pump the oil through.
In Korea the device had been raised and a collection tank built underneath the device to collect the oil after it was pumped through for it to be then sent by pipeline to the nearest port for transport to Japan.
There was even talk of a much grander pipeline across the seabed to Japan.
But that was very expensive and would require spending vast amounts of treasure.
Still it would make the use of tankers less but it was still a long-term project.
Adolf Hitler frowned the NSDAP's popular vote had stalled at twenty percent due to the trade and other policies of Chancellor Brüning.
While this meant that he couldn't form a majority government Chancellor Brüning's policies had created the industrial potential to fuel a great war machine should the need arise.
And the National police was a ready trained body of men who could join the German army at a moment's notice.
All he needed to do was wait for Hindenburg to die and then Chancellor Brüning's support would disappear.
The second world on the list that had been discovered in the facility was even better for the Japanese than the first one.
This world was pristine with land suitable for farming all the crops and animals that Japan needed to feed itself.
Further exploration on both worlds discovered an unheard of bounty of resources that Japan required.
The problem with exploiting the resources came down to manpower.
So a decision was made to forcibly conscript Chinese males into forced labour battalions.
This solved the labour problems for the Japanese and the Chinese could hardly run away and seek help from other Chinese who would hide them.
And to the Japanese army they had an endless supply of Chinese slave labour that they could call upon and all the government had to do was ignore the Americans endless demands for them to withdraw from China.
Seeing his national police had stopped the increasing unemployment issue he still needed employment programs so Chancellor Brüning had large eight wheeled armoured transports designed for the National police.
These vehicles could carry fourteen men along with the driver, gunner and commander.
Though lightly armoured against rifles and small arms it was armed with a twenty millimetre cannon and two machine guns.
The victorious Entente powers complained that Germany was developing tanks in sheep's clothing but as these vehicles were so different from tanks they could do nothing more than object.
The Japanese were very interested in the police riot vehicles.
And much to Chancellor Brüning's surprise the Japanese army placed an order for two thousand of these robust vehicles when they realised that they were small enough to fit through the device and could transport troops and goods over large distances without being concerned for rough terrain.
Adolf Hitler contemplated the political situation in Germany.
Chancellor Brüning's policies were bringing Germany out of hyperinflation and hyper unemployment yet he had done nothing to change the crippling restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles.
He freely admits that the creation of the National Police had resulted in improved employment and the virtual destruction of both his and the communist's paramilitary arms.
That didn't concern Hitler as it removed some of his opponents in the NSDAP.
Still Chancellor Brüning only remained in power with the backing of Reichpräsident Paul von Hindenburg who was in a sickly state so all Hitler had to do was wait.
As the largest party in the Reichstag when Brüning lost confidence then he would have to be asked to form government or the political instability of Germany would continue.
Kaigun-shōshō Isoroku Yamamoto smiled the world his second cousin Rikugun-Shōi Hiro Yamamoto had discovered were proving to be the best thing that ever happened to Japan.
The oil had started flowing reducing Japan's need to spend valuable foreign exchange on purchasing the oil from the Dutch.
And the other resources including food were starting to flow from that marvellous device that the Empire had found.
With all of Japans needs being met by these new worlds Japan could concentrate on the conquest of China.
But he was concerned that the USSR might try to grab the gem of the Japanese Empire so the Imperial Japanese Navy and army were concentrated to the north to ensure that the communists couldn't claim the prize.
So concerned was the Naval High Command that plans were made for a naval attack and invasion of Vladivostok should this become necessary.
Even the trade agreement between Japan and Germany was good for both nations.
Germany's economy was improving and was building the entire infrastructure that the new worlds needed while Japans own manufactories continued building what the military deemed important.
Isoroku Yamamoto laughed at the American embargo of Japan.
The gaijin fools own economy was suffering because of their embargo for Japan would have purchased American vehicles were it not for the embargo.
Now the needs and abilities of both nations closely bound the economies of Japan and Germany together.
The new United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull was concerned with the growing Japanese influence in China.
This wasn't his only concern others were the close trading relationship that had developed between Japan and Germany after the US embargoes on Japan.
Then there was the big one, the Germans were circumventing the Treaty of Versailles but in ways that the lawyers at the State Department said weren't really covered by the Treaty of Versailles so were technically legal.
More concerning was the reports of large scale conscription of Chinese males into forced labour who were then marched into Korea and disappeared from trace.
The German elections in March of 1933 saw Adolf Hitler's Nazi party fall just 37 seats short of a majority.
Even though he could have formed a coalition government with the DNVP Hitler decided to wait as Paul von Hindenburg hated him as much as he hated Paul von Hindenburg.
Everybody knew that Paul von Hindenburg was unwell and probably didn't have long to live.
Adolf Hitler decided he would wait for Paul von Hindenburg to die and when he did Chancellor Brüning would lose the no confidence vote in the Reichstag.
Besides his policies weren't all bad and Hitler could merely expand on them to eventually get rid of the Treaty of Versailles.
Rikugun-Shōi Hiro Yamamoto watched the Chinese labourers as they built the railroad to the new mining precinct.
He didn't pay any heed to the condition of the Chinese even as one fell and died in front of him.
They were here to provide the unskilled labour force that the Japanese Army needed for the mines and infrastructure projects.
Then his mind drifted to the leave he would have.
He had heard that a new batch of pleasure women were coming tonight and Hiro thought that he might try to get a personal one for his own use.
After all it was an annoyance to have to do his own cleaning and a pleasure woman of his own would save him much time to enable him to spend more time with his duties.
Chai Min Zhang didn't like what had happened to her.
But as she went about her duties she thought that her situation could have been worse.
She had been kidnapped by the Japanese army and then sold as a slave to one of their officers.
While Hiro took her to his bed whenever he wanted at least she wasn't in an army brothel and only had to accommodate one man.
Chai decided that she would perform all of her duties diligently, as it would be in her best interests to do so.
As a pleasure woman her situation was the best she could expect and at least Hiro treated her better than how she heard the other pleasure women are treated.
The death of Paul von Hindenburg on the 2nd of August 1934 saw Chancellor Brüning lose the no confidence vote in the Reichstag.
The resulting elections saw the NSDAP fall just short of a majority government.
With no Reichpräsident the first vote of the Nazi and NDVP controlled Reichstag was to consolidate the powers of both offices into the office of Reichskanzlar.
His official title was Führer und Reichskanzler.
With the power of both Reichpräsident and Reichskanzler firmly in his hands his cabinet passed the enabling act that enabled Adolf Hitler to enact laws without the involvement of the Reichstag. It passed in both the Reichstag and Reichsrat and Adolf Hitler signed it into law.
Adolf Hitler knew that he was several years behind his schedule but strangely the policies of former Chancellor Brüning put him far ahead in others.
Hitler decided that he would continue and expand on Chancellor Brüning's policies particularly those regarding the trade agreements with Japan.
Besides now that he had time on his side and a growing economy he could spend more on infrastructure and military spending for his vengeance war against the communist Bolsheviks and the French.
But first he would have rebuild Germany's military and regain the lost territories from the Treaty of Versailles.
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 18th June 1935 was a naval agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany regulating the size of the Kriegsmarine in relation to the Royal Navy.
This agreement was made by Great Britain without consulting either France or Italy in the hope of limiting German expansion.
Adolf Hitler saw it as a means to legally expand the Kriegsmarine beyond the limits set by the Treaty of Versailles which he was determined to renounce once Germany was strong enough to withstand a French attack.
Adolf Hitler wasted no time once the Anglo-German Naval Agreement had been reached immediately laying down two 35cm armed battlecruisers.
But he soon became aware of the cause and effect of the trade agreement with the Empire of Japan.
Although the trade with the Japanese reduced unemployment and brought in much needed foreign exchange the effect of the trade agreement reduced the amount of steel and other resources available to build his war machine.
Germany was in a position where it couldn't do both so Hitler had to choose between the continued trade with Japan or accept that the rebuilding of his war machine would have to be delayed.
Knowing that the people were not ready to return to the state they had been in during the great depression Hitler decided that he would just have to let his timetable for rearmament slip.
The USN's Office of Naval Intelligence was growing greatly concerned with Japan's withdrawal from the Second London Naval Treaty.
The Imperial Japanese Navy posed a serious threat to the US Pacific fleet.
But strangely the trade agreement they had with the Germans was actually slowing the German naval rearmament efforts to the point where the Germans were not considered a realistic naval threat.
The economic assistance that the Germans provided the Japanese was however really concerning.
Japan had been rapidly industrialising Korea from what ONI had discovered and this must be stopped at the first instance if hostilities were to break out between the USA and Japan.
Adolf Hitler was happy he had remilitarised the Rhineland without any of the victorious Entente Powers doing anything other than objecting.
This raised his standing and popularity with the German people as it was the first sign that he was going to dismantle the hated Treaty of Versailles.
The Japanese Empire was building its strength on the back of the worlds that the Stairway to heaven had led them too.
The scientists attached to the program speculated that there might be more worlds out there ripe for the taking but that would require extensive experimentation with the control device and that was something the military wouldn't allow.
The stairway to heaven was essential to Japans continued military and economic development and no experimentation would be allowed to interfere with the empires developmental needs.
For now the Japanese scientist just had to manually calculate the addresses and then text them when there was a moment when the stairway to heaven wasn't in use.
The British government was secretly pleased by the German - Japanese trade accord.
Whatever the Japanese were doing in Korea and China it had drawn most of their militaries attention t those areas so they were threatening the British Empires holdings.
And because the Germans were supplying much of the tools and equipment the Japanese required this left only a small amount of production capacity left for the Germans to rebuild their own military.
The American embargoes of Japan and proved to be a godsend for all the wrong reasons.
Sure they had to allow japan to dominate China but that was a small price to pay to avoid a greater war.
Adolf Hitler contemplated Germany's situation.
Sure the economy was continually improving but he had little excess production capacity left to build the military machine he would require for the conquest for the French and the hated Bolsheviks.
After several hours he decided to further delay his rearmament program in favour of doubling Germany's industrial capacity in hardened underground facilities that could be harmed easily should war arrive.
The advent of the Spanish Civil war gave Germany the opportunity to test military weapons in a live environment and many were found to be lacking.
Adolf Hitler ordered a review of German military equipment in comparison with current military equipment used by other countries.
Spies were also sent out to find what designs other countries either friendly or potentially hostile were developing to ensure Germany was beaten again.
The government of the French Republic was getting increasingly concerned and annoyed.
Germany was slowly and steadily rearming while blatantly ignoring the Treaty of Versailles.
If that wasn't bad enough the economic penalties of the Treaty of Versailles designed to break the German economy were being circumvented by the Nazis and the fiscal policies.
And what were the victorious powers of the Great War doing about these flagrant breaches of the Treaty of Versailles, well the answer was nothing.
The British were appeasing the Germans, the American more concerned with the Japanese and the Italians were in Hitler's pocket.
Only the Soviet Union seemed concerned by the Nazis but they wouldn't commit to any action.
So France just had to sit back and wait while hoping their allies would come to there senses over what a threat Nazi Germany was to peace.
The Japanese scientists involved on the stairway to heaven project had finally achieved success.
Using the known address for the earth as a base they had substituted glyphs and managed to connect to two new planets.
They were now arguing with the military to allow the exploration of these planets.
As they already knew six of the glyphs to return to the Earth any expedition only had to find the point of origin glyph on the destination world's control device to be able to return home.
Yet the Japanese military didn't want to interrupt the flow of resources through the stairway to heaven or the flow of slave labour that their new worlds were so dependent on to meet Japan's needs.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was concerned his policy of embargoes against Japan had failed and that it also had some appalling unforseen consequences.
His embargoes had caused japan to look to China and Korea and had discovered unfounded wealth that had boosted their economy in unexpected ways.
Furthermore needing a trading partner that could provide precision engineering in areas the Japanese had yet to develop had seen the Japanese enter in to a trade agreement that had seen both countries grow stronger at the expense of trade with the United States of America and others.
While he had created this policy to get Japan out of China the reverse had in fact occurred and Japan was more entrenched than ever exploiting the Chinese and China's resources for the sole benefit of Japan.
The only option left to him now was war but without an attack by Japan there was no chance that congress would vote for an unprovoked war because of his failed foreign affairs policies.
Josef Stalin looked at Korea with covetous eyes.
Japan had gained great wealth from Korea and he wanted it for his own uses.
But the Japanese had heavily fortified Korea to the extent that a major war would be required for the Soviet Union to secure it. For now he would just plan and wait for the perfect opportunity to seize what should belong to his empire.
In 1938 the Anschluss plebiscite in Austria was 99% of Austrians voted yes to Anschluss.
Many who had voted yes in the plebiscite had seen the German economic miracle and German's renewed strength and what to be part of something better.
With the plebiscite vote an overwhelming yes, Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg signed it into law and immediately resigned enabling Austria to be absorbed into the Greater German Reich without a shot fired.
The same happened with the Sudentenland later in the year with neither Great Britain nor France doing anything to assist Czechoslovakia.
Josef Stalin finally decided to test the League of Nations and started conflicts with both Finland and the Japanese Empire.
Adolf Hitler was both pleased and annoyed by the by the actions of the Bolsheviks.
What pleased him was the new demand for increased weapon supplies from both Finland and Japan.
The annoying part was that these sales would stymie his own military build-up.
He had already promised the Japanese ambassador to supply them as many panzers and armoured as possible.
This had allowed him to offload all his older models that were outdated by modern standards.
But on the other hand it also left his military forces without the vehicles they needed to conduct offensive military operation.
His spies had also delivered the plans and schematics for a new Bolshevik panzer the T-34.
Adolf had already sent this to army for them to copy and produce a prototype that is better than what the Bolsheviks had planned.
The Soviets were unimpressed by the German assistance to the Japanese and the Finns.
The armament sales were bad enough but in the case of the Finnish army German "volunteers" were appearing in increasing numbers using surplus German army equipment that had been "sold" to Finland at very reasonable terms.
It was almost as if the Germans were fighting an undeclared war against them.
This was something that Josef Stalin wouldn't stand for and started pressuring the German Border states to let the Red Army pass through their borders so that the Soviet Union had put the German in their place.
The only nation even remotely receptive to this request were the Czechs who were still smarting over the Sudentenland issue.
Adolf Hitler was laughing to himself.
He was attacking the Bolsheviks and getting combat experience for his soldiers while Germany was protected from direct attack from the Bolsheviks due to their need to cross other borders to attack Germany.
The Poles certainly weren't going to allow the Bolsheviks to attack Germany as this would give Germany the perfect excuse to recover the lost territory from the Great War while still being seen as a victim of external aggression.
Personally he would love for this to happen but he doubted that it would as the cowardly French and the British wouldn't honour their defence agreement with Poland should Germany be attacked first.
The only area of concern was Czechoslovakia but even they knew that if they invited the Bolsheviks in they wouldn't leave.
For now Hitler would continue supporting Japan and the Finns while building up Germany's military strength for an all-out war against the Bolsheviks.
The Japanese Prime Minister, Mitsumasa Yonai was growing more concerned by the minute at the actions of the Soviet Union.
The Soviets had already launched three major operations against Korea that Japan had pushed back but at much cost in men and treasure.
He sighed in relieve at the thought that at least the stairway to heaven was still safely in Japanese hands.
If it hadn't been for that marvellous device then Japan would have been much poorer and not able to afford the military expenditure required to keep the Soviet Union away from the most vital asset Japan possessed.
He decided that it was time to negotiate with the Germans to see if they could formulate a plan to destroy Stalin and the Soviet Union once and for all time.
It didn't matter if he had to promise the Germans as much of the Soviet Territory as they wanted as Japan had whole worlds it could expand into and with continued German assistance the development of these worlds boosted Japanese power beyond the reach of any earthly power.
Josef Stalin was not happy the short war with Finland that was supposed to only last a month at best was still dragging on and showing no signs of abating.
Not only had the Soviet Union not gained anything the Finnish army was growing in strength thanks to those so call German "volunteers".
He decided to solve the German problem once and for all time.
Seeing that the Poles and the Czechs weren't co-operating he would launch a two pronged attack against Germany going through those two countries their wishes be damned.
The attacks would be launched when the ground was dry and perfect conditions for tank combat.
Adolf Hitler smiled at the first prototypes of the German copy of Bolshevik T-34.
The Panther was better quality in all regards and was armed with the powerful Krupp 88mm L52 cannon that was to be the standard for all German tank guns.
Happy with the demonstration he ordered full scale production of the Panther panzer even knowing that even more powerful models were under development based on the Panther and T-34.
The Japanese scientists had finally been able to convince the army to allow the exploration of the new worlds but it could only be done during the breaks in the scheduled delivery of supplies.
The Soviet invasions of Poland and Czechoslovakia was met with outrage and condemnation by the rest of the world.
Though threats of war were made if the Soviets didn't withdraw these threats were ignored by the Soviet Union.
The only things that hurt the Soviets were the embargoes that the League of Nations placed on the Soviet Union.
Strangely it was the Empire of Japan and the Greater German Reich which were most vigorous in enforcing the embargoes.
Between them they prevented the Soviet Union from using their Pacific Ocean coastal ports and those on the Baltic Sea to get supplies they could produce.
This left the Soviet Union with only its northern Arctic ports and those in the Black sea to get the resources and equipment that they couldn't produce.
Adolf Hitler was a happy man.
Shortly after he had heard of the Soviet invasions of Poland and Czechoslovakia he had place his military on high alert.
The paramilitary police units that he had his predecessor had built up to be army divisions in all but name had been transferred to "military" control for the duration of the crisis.
But what was better were the Polish and Czech governments begging for assistance.
Assistance that he wouldn't give or allow to cross his borders until all the outstanding issues from the Great War were resolved in Germany's favour.
And the best thing about this situation is that regardless of what happens Germany wouldn't be seen as the aggressors.
The Soviet invasion of Poland and Czechoslovakia wasn't going well and the attack on the small portion of the Greater German Reich that the Soviets could reach had been fought to a standstill.
What was worse for the Soviet Union was that the other nations in Eurasia were moving their armies to the borders they held with the Soviet Union striping some of the Soviet strength to protect its own borders.
Josef Stalin swore that he would deal with these upstarts particularly Turkey and Romania once he had crushed the Germans and conquered Europe.
Winston Churchill was not a happy British Prime Minister.
He had been advocating allying with the Soviet Union against the German threat and now the Soviets had proven to be greater threats to European peace than the Germans.
Now he was facing a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons one that said had the numbers to pass.
It was rumoured that the King would ask Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley of Ancoats to form a government of National Unity should the no confidence vote succeed.
Winston shook his head muttering can't these idiots see what a threat the Nazis are?
But for now he had the fight of his political life one that he would most likely lose.
Rikugun-Shōi Hiro Yamamoto stepped through the stargate to one of the newly found addresses.
Once he arrived he was dismayed to discover that the control device was damaged.
Knowing that it would be several hours before his superiors called to check to see why had hadn't dialled back he decided to explore the castle that he was in to see if there was anything of importance here.
Hiro was left stunned when he discovered a machine that appeared to project atoms into the air.
He was so fascinated by this machine that he nearly missed his check in call from his superiors.
When he described the machine and the fact that the control device for this stairway to heaven was broken there was much discussion by his superiors and the scientists involved in the program.
Several scientists volunteered to step through the stairway to heaven even knowing that they might not be able to return just for the chance to study the alien machine.
Eventually it was decided that the alien machine was of sufficient importance that a small group of scientists, engineers, soldiers and slave labourers would be sent to move the stairway to heaven and to stabilise the castle that contained the alien machine.
Hiro Yamamoto did have one request that his pleasure woman Chai Min Zhang be sent with the others who were being sent.
When he made this suggestion the other volunteers requested the presence of pleasure women to make their lives more comfortable and to perform the mundane tasks that are beneath men of their stature.
The arrival of the Japanese volunteers soon changed the whole outlook of the Japanese government in relation to the stairway to heaven.
The sheer amount of information and knowledge that the alien database possessed staggered the Japanese government and they in turn poured more money into the program safe in the knowledge that the information from the alien device will pay for itself a thousand fold once this knowledge is started being used on the Earth.
Sir Oswald Mosley's first act as the prime minister of a British government of national unity was to send an expeditionary force to Poland to help them resist the Soviet invasion.
He also got the German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler to join the war against the Soviet Union by formally agreeing to nullify the Treaty of Versailles.
It would be up to Adolf Hitler and his Greater German Reich to negotiate a settlement to Germany's outstanding issues with the other countries who were a party to the Treaty of Versailles.
Winston Churchill knew what he was about to do could be considered treason but he believed in his heart of Hearts that the Soviet Union was the lesser of the two evils between the Bolsheviks and the Nazis.
He knew that British soldiers would have to pay the price for his actions but he believed that he was doing the right thing.
With his last doubts cast aside he posted a package to a friend in France to be passed onto the Soviet ambassador.
The package contained detailed information on what Great Britain was deploying to Poland and other information that would be invaluable for the Soviet Union to quickly conquer Poland and drive deep into Germany before they were strong enough to push the Soviet Union back.
Once that package was sent he sent another letter to the French Prime Minister extolling that now that German was committed to a war with the Soviet Union it was the perfect time for France to achieve its goal of breaking the power of Germany once and for all time.
On the alien world Rikugun-Shōi Hiro Yamamoto found himself the defacto governor of the planet for the Japanese military.
Scientific investigation of the alien machine proved to the Japanese that the aliens who had built the castle had been far more advanced than the Japanese Empire.
The discovery of four distinct languages two of which were vaguely similar to Latin and Norse Runes excited the scientists that had gone to this alien world.
These discoveries raised the importance of the planet to the Japanese government.
So much so that winches, cutting tools and several tankettes that were of no use in the wars Japan was currently fighting had been sent to assist in moving the stairway to heaven to more stable ground.
Josef Stalin was incensed when he read an intelligence report that the Nazis were using a copy of the T-34 in large numbers against his own armoured forces.
He decided to have the NKVD investigate this issue and act against the saboteurs who were acting against the interests of the Soviet Union by giving the Nazis vital state secrets.
What he didn't realise was that Lavrentiy Beria would use this to purge his political rival powerbase that would in a couple of years cripple the Soviet research and development programs that would have been vital for the Soviet war efforts.
Adolf Hitler was pleased with the war against the Bolsheviks.
The use of the 88mm armed Panther panzers had pushed the Bolsheviks back almost to their own border with Poland.
What was best from his point of view was the fact that the Poles had suffered massive losses in protecting their territory and pushing the Bolsheviks back.
This was excellent news as it meant that they would be too weak to force his people to withdraw from Poland when the war ended.
The Soviet Ambassador to France Yakov Surits read the letter from Winston Churchill with great interest.
Knowing the real time value of this information he arranged for it to be flown straight to Moscow so that the Red Army can benefit from this intelligence gift.
The British Expeditionary Force arrive in Poland as planned and immediately started their deployment in what was assumed was a safe area as the Soviets seemed more interested in fighting the Nazis than the broken remnants of the Polish army or the arriving units of the British Expeditionary Force.
This change quite suddenly when a fresh shock army newly arrived from Siberia burst through the depleted Polish units protecting the arriving British Expeditionary Force and smashed into the British Expeditionary Force's flank causing a massive disruption to the British Expeditionary Force.
The situation was only resolved when four Waffen SS divisions under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich including his own division, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler smashed into the flank of the green Soviet shock army.
With the Soviets trapped between the reorganising British Expeditionary Force, the remnants of the polish units and the Panzer Corps consisting of the SS Division Leibstandarte, SS Division Hitlerjugend, Panzer-Lehr-Division and the SS Division Götz von Berlichingen.
With the Soviet forces trapped Sepp Dietrich proceeded to destroy them in place.
Any Soviets who surrendered were massacred by the German, British and Polish forces.
Soon an investigation would begin on just how the Soviets knew when and where to attack the British Expeditionary Force.
Adolf Hitler was touring one of the new underground Panzer factories producing the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther medium panzer.
But what he was really here for was to view the prototype E-75 panzer mounting the powerful 105mm K 18 L/52 gun.
He hoped that once the engineering issues with the design were resolved then the E-75 would become the first heavy panzer in production that could take on the Soviet IS series in front on battles.
Sir Oswald Mosley was dismayed by the attack on the British Expeditionary Force.
It was obvious from the very beginning of the investigation that somebody with high level connections had to have leaked the information of the deployment of the British Expeditionary Force.
He decided to turn the investigation over to MI5 whose long-term head, Vernon Kell immediately started to investigate those who had access to the information.
As the investigation proceeded one name kept popping up in all the interviews that were conducted and that name was Winston Churchill.
Vernon Kell briefed the Prime Minister and more resources were assigned to investigate Winston Churchill.
One other thing that Sir Oswald Mosley proposed was the merging of the German and British atomic and jet fighter programs.
He and Adolf Hitler signed a joint understanding two months later where German atomic scientists joined Tube Alloys with a greatly increased funding care of the German government.
Kaigun-shōshō Isoroku Yamamoto smiled at the completed plans for a naval attack and invasion of Vladivostok.
The decision had been made to launch an attack on December 7th 1940.
Once it was complete the Imperial Japanese Navy would then interdict all merchant traffic headed to the Soviet Pacific Ocean ports.
Once this was done the Soviet union would be cut off from sea borne trade as the Germans had cut off the Baltic Sea trade routes and the Royal navy had cut the Arctic Ocean and Mediterranean ones.