League of Nations Expeditionary Forces,
Base Camp Bravo, Town of Tanska

The coffee was good and strong thankfully Andrei found as the frosty air steamed in front of him as he yawned once again. It had been long tiring days to get this position established and his first good night's sleep in weeks had been interrupted by a damned earthquake of all things. A minor one true, but enough to wake him and damage recent construction when a mobile crane toppled over mid construction; no one had been killed at least but it'd taken hours to sort out the mess. Or it should be by now at least.

"Comrade Staff Sergeant Mackenzie, you have successfully cleared the damaged machinery from the site?" he asked the Australian Engineer as approached. He'd have preferred Red Army combat engineers but the British and Australians who had been assigned had done a good job so far. Building a military base with prison camp and attached small town had been no easy task they'd been given from him. [1]

The man saluted "Colonel Sokolov Sir. We've successful cleared the crane and the tractor trapped beneath it, as well as the concrete supports that fell with the crane. Slabs are undamaged but the tractor is a write off, the crane...few days in the repair shops back at Base Camp Alpha will be required. We're probably looking at a delay on the new hangers without it I'm afraid" he finished motioning to the series earthen aircraft and helicopter hangers being erected around the new airfield.

Andrei sighed 'Just what I need, and Pradesh has been pushing to get some fighters based here for scouting within the week' he motioned at the incomplete largest of the hanger structures. Like the others an in-theory hardened structure under that earthen dome "Is the primary capable of being finished without the heavy crane?"

Staff Sergeant Mackenzie rubbed the back of neck a moment then waved at the other hangers "Yes...but I'll have to divert heavy equipment from the other jobs to move the remaining supports into place. Which do want me to prioritize?"

"Aircraft hanger and the maintenance bay..." he replied after taking a sip of the coffee to wake his tired mind, and fight the chill in the air "...the Rhino's [2] were build to operate in Siberia and the weather has been good so far. They'll hold a few more weeks with proper maintenance. The fighters though need to go under cover no matter what they say about how 'rugged' these Hawk fighters [3] your commonwealth Canadian comrades built"

"Ah there fine birds I hear Sir, we used to fly them back in the nineties I recall. They'd fly off a dirt strip the air-force told us" the engineer half shouted as the sound of a Rhino filled the air as it lifted a heavy concrete slab to its destination at the end of the new runway "...but we'll finish the primary hanger first and foremost as you order Sir. It shouldn't take more than two or three days to get it operational. Assuming no more of these earthquakes of course"

"Well hopefully there won't be Comrade Mackenzie, the locals at least seem to indicate their incredibly rare here at least" [4]

Though whatever the damage caused here that at epicenter was likely to be much worse. Considering the lack of technology available to the locals, though they should have a clearer idea when the various forward Recon companies reported in over the next few days. Overall the situation here and in the civilian settlement was actually better than he'd imagined when the alarms had gone off last night. The damage had been negligible, and the fearful chaos that had erupted amongst the prisoners and native civilians had been brought under control fairly rapidly and without violence. Listening to the Staff Sergeant, and the earlier reports from his British compatriot, indicated that while there were going to be delays on the encampment they were in truth minor and easily overcome.

"Excellent work Comrade Staff Sergeant. I'll let you return to your work" he answered with a salute as he headed back towards the staff rover and his next destination of the day; the civilian town. He'd always found it useful to talk to the NCO's and lower ranks for an accurate picture of how things were progressing. Even in the Red Army after all he'd found ambitious, or lazy, junior officers had a tendency towards...rose coloured...reports on unit performance and progress. Preventing that developing out here on a front line command was vital in his opinion.

With the events of the night and the repair activities in the aftermath it was no surprise to see the Base bustling with activity as he passed an infantry platoon in the middle performing laps at the exit. Even the town itself was full of humans and non-...actually it was demi-humans they seemed to prefer...circulating around in discussion at the rough market area they'd erected. One unexpected development he'd encountered as his driver reduced speed as they approached, was that people were rapidly drifting in from the surrounding areas to want to trade, explore rumours or even to settle. If things continued at the rate they were going the town's population could easily double in number within a few months.

'Though why should I be surprised?' he mused as they passed a large crowd eating food being served from an army mobile kitchen unit 'hot food, shelter and warm beds must be very attractive to your average peasant or tribesman eking an existence on the fringe of this Empire...'

A sudden alert ping in his ear piece distracted Andrei from his thoughts as he pressed on his neck-comm "Colonel Sokolov here. Report?"

"Sir we have two fast moving targets coming up from a southerly direction on radar, they'll be here in less than two minutes at current speed" the voice on the other side informed him.

"Enemy dragon flight? How did we miss them?"

"No Sir, they're too high and too fast...Sir they look like jets from the profile, they just appeared on our screens Sir. And we've confirmed with Base Alpha their not a test flight" came the reply and Andrei sucked in breath. Jets here? That should be impossible. Had the Americans found a means to access or had this supposed Second Gate already opened and local forces entered? [5]

"Bring the Base to Alert Status. But do not engage the enemy unless they initiate hostile actions" he ordered back calmly then turned to his diver "Driver halt the vehicle" he commanded and once he had done so hoped out and began searching the skies in the direction that the voice in his earpiece began calling out approach vectors and altitude and the sounds of the base going on alert began to ring out from where he'd come. Even as the crowd of locals began to look around curiously he continued to scan...

...and there amidst the clear blue sky were two jet contrails in the distance and two fast moving specks before them. Ones that were evidently silent to hails on standard mil-comms, and seemed to turn back south immediately after the base must have come in sight for them. He reached for his neck-comm

"Get General Pradesh on the line. I'm returning to Command now and we need to conference immediately"

Today evidently not going to be a restful day it seemed...

[1] Because their developing a larger area for their operations the Anglo-Soviet forces are moving slower than the JSDF even though they've arrived earlier in TL to them.
[2] ITTL Soviet Heavy Helicopter Transports.
[3] An older Canadian ITTL design abit like the current British Harrier jet. It's from the 80's and largely phased out of modern forces ITTL.
[4] Timeline, if anyone hasn't guessed, is just immediately after the JSDF just bombed the Imperial Senate after the Noriko situation in the throne room.
[5] A reasonable assumption based on what they know. That and the base is still being built long range radar won't seem vital vs other things up against a low tech enemy.