Operation New Dawn

20: 44

SNA Naval Base Yamato, Okinawa, Japan

The fishing boat docked on the port, and Mei walked down with others. She was wearing her white military jacket over the diving suit. As she was getting down, she saw the whole base was busy. Soldiers were running all around, going up and down the frigates and battleships, getting them ready for war.

Just as she stepped on the hard concrete floor of the port, a leading seaman ran up to her and saluted her. The LS then said, "Admiral Nakamura is here. He has summoned you in the briefing room in 20 minutes."

Mei nodded and said, "OK. I'll go."

She then went towards the living quarters, straight to her room. After a quick shower, she put on her uniform and went to the admin building. She climbed to the 3rd floor and pushed through the big door in front of her inside the briefing room.

It was a huge rectangular room with red carpet cladding the whole floor. A small stage with a lectern in front and a big screen mounted on the wall behind the stage. The screen showed a regional map of the Great Japan Sea with two red markings. One on Joseon Naval Base and the other on Yamato Naval Base. A dotted red line was connecting the two. There were a few chairs placed in rows and columns in front of the stage. The first row of the chairs was almost full. With soldiers wearing full uniforms. Mei realised by looking at the badges that all of them were at least a lieutenant commander or above.

She went forward and sat down on an empty seat. A few moments later, a Japanese man in his late 40s entered the room from a door on the right side of the stage. The man had a toned body even at this age, sleek black hair with black eyes, and a look that, by looking at it, anyone would be able to say that this man had survived through some stuff.

The man went straight on the stage and stood behind the lectern. He slid his fingers on the tablet kept on the lectern, and the photos Mei took started showing up on the big screen one by one. As the officers saw the pictures, an audible hum filled the room.

The man stopped, coughed and said, "Let me introduce myself first, as most of you haven't seen me before today. I'm Admiral Shin Nakamura, 14th SOG division. I was deployed on the Pacific defence line during the Third World War. I'm currently the acting member of the general's council of the Seven Nation Army." After a quick glance at the officers, he continued, "Now. Let's talk about what I'm doing here and what you're looking at. Captain Aphrodite, please come forward."

Mei got up and went up to the stage. The admiral said, "Please introduce yourself."

Mei turned towards the officers and said, "Hello, everyone. I'm Captain Aphrodite. I'm a specialist stationed at New Eden, and I specialise in espionage and assassination."

"Now, can you please explain what we're looking at?"

Mei continued, "These pictures were taken by me just a few hours ago from the Joseon Naval Base in Busan, South Korea. As you can clearly see, it's pretty obvious that South Korea is getting ready for a large-scale military operation. If we mix that with the peculiar insignia in their uniforms and the military movements of other bordering countries of the Seven Nation and their allies, I think it's safe to assume that something big is on the horizon. They're most probably planning an attack on the SNA."

"Thank you, Captain. You can go back to your seat."

After Mei went back and sat down, the admiral continued, "It is exactly as Captain Aphrodite said. We might be on the brink of another large-scale war."

A commander raised his hand. "Yes."

"Sir, if that's really the case, why don't we just attack first and take the fight to them?"

Another officer, Mei, determined him to be a rear admiral and replied, "No, we can't do that."

"Why not? We definitely have the power necessary."

"Cause we only have these pictures. No other definitive proof. if we attack with only this, it'll be pretty easy for the South Korean government to say something like the soldiers were getting ready for a military exercise and blame us for provoking a war."

The admiral added, "Exactly as the rear admiral said. People's beliefs in SNA have been going down for the past few years. First with the Berlin Nuclear disaster, then the exposition of Project Spectre. Although we can say that we've cleared our names, we haven't got back the belief the people had on SNA. I don't think we ever will. So, a scenario like that is going to ruin SNA's image more, which we can't afford."

The commander asked, "So, what do we do?"

"We play the waiting game. Now that we know that there is an attack coming, we can be prepared for it. And once they attack, we retaliate with everything we have."

Another officer, a lieutenant commander, said, "But sir, wouldn't that risk the civilians living in the border areas?"

The admiral's facial expression changed to a sad one as he said, "We have to give our all so that doesn't happen. But still, people will die. That's inevitable. All we can do is keep their deaths in our hearts and move forward. Cause we don't have another choice." After a brief moment of silence, the admiral looked back up and said, "Okay, let's get ready, everyone. We have a small cheat time thanks to the typhoon. Let's use that time to prepare. If they hit us with bricks, we'll fire back with a freakin' boulder."

Same Time

13: 31

Watson Tower, Manor Royal Business District, Crawley, England

On the topmost floor of the tower, Annabelle was sitting in the CEO's chair in her office room and typing away on her keyboard and scrolling on her mouse. After a few minutes, her hand movements stopped. Her eyes widened, and she started shaking. She slowly picked up her phone and dialled a number with the caller ID, "Samuel Clark, Chief of R&D"

The whole time her eyes remained glued on her screen. The screen showed a document with the headline, "Operation New Dawn."