Taipei, Republic of China 11 Jan 2020

"It was a good speech, Lai."

"I’m not saying it wasn’t, Chen," Lai answered. "You and I both know that. But what matters right now is that Xi knows that."

Of course, he wished it was him up there at the podium, but Vice President was better than nothing.

"I’m sure he got the message. Granted, I doubt the PLA will be rushing across the strait anytime soon."

"Especially not right now," said the new Vice President. "The Americans might have their hands full if they escalate this conflict with Iran."

"Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. For our sake, if nothing else."

"Indeed. Besides, the reports show that China may have their hands occupied."

"Really? A potential pandemic, yes?"

"And a deadly one for us, if we don’t lock down the borders now. And with that, Chen raised a glass to his successor. "To Taiwanese independence."

"To Taiwanese independence," Lai echoed.

Then they downed the champagne in the darkness, to the sound of crashing from outside.

Presidential Residence, Taiwan

"...The best of luck to you, Tsai," Han Kuo-yu told her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight to you as well, Han," she answered as the line went dead. She turned to her cats. "And a goodnight to you two as well."

The cats simply sat there, and stared at her.

Tsai sighed and shook her head. She could convince an island of over twenty million to vote for her, but the cats were another story.

Still, tonight had seen another victory Taiwanese independence, instead of the Kuomintang’s calls for cooperation with the mainland.

She’d always found that a bit amusing.

After all, the Kuomintang, the same party that once plotted to take back the mainland, now wanted to cooperate with Beijing.

She wasn’t a historian, but she had a pretty good feeling that this wasn’t what Chiang had in mind. Or what Sun had in mind, for that matter, though she was pretty sure Chiang probably went against his vision after the Shanghai massacre.

A quiet meowing from Xiangxiang broke her train of thought.

"Goodnight, you two," she repeated, her voice a mixture of assertion and amusement, "We have a long four years ahead of us."

The lights went out for, and the cats began to growl. The lights came back on, and the cats continued to growl.

"President Tsai," an aide announced as he walked in, "We need you in the Presidential Office Building. It is an emergency."

"Is it Beijing?"

"We don’t know, Ma’am. But Minister Yen, Admiral Huang, and Director-General Chiu will meet you there."

"Lead the way," she answered. The aide nodded.

Tsai turned back towards her bedroom, and gave her cats a quick glance.

It would be a long four years, after all.

Ishigaki, Okinawa, Empire of Japan

Higa Akira looked out over the beach, the shore illuminated by the moon and stars.

Not that there was much for her to do on these islands, besides swimming, fishing, and keeping her distance from the local garrison.

Even if the newcomers had only been here for decades and claimed it as their own, her family had been here for far longer.

A boring life, yes, but that was the least of her, admittedly mild, grievances.

It was at that moment that the earth began to rumble, and the ground began to rumble, and she fell off her perch.

Shaking her head, she pulled herself up and began running.

She knew she needed to get to high ground.

Now.

Chiang Kai-Shek Park, Taipei, Republic of China

"Well then," Martin Li said to his friend. "Looks like you were right, Mike."

"I’m always right," the Marine officer chuckled. "Well, mostly right. You’re just not trusting."

"It comes with the job, Michael. That and sometimes, I don’t know what’s going on through your head."

"This about the tanker thing?" Chen shook his head. "It’s a good posting."

"Oh, I’m sure of it. I’m just wondering why in God’s name you’d want to be crammed into it."

"Eh. Guess I just don’t mind claustrophobia. Besides, you’re one to talk about questionable decisions."

This time, it was Li’s turn to laugh.

"I don’t think you have the clearance."

"Heh. Probably not. But if it hits the fan, try to send something my way."

And let’s hope I don’t have to pay for my commander’s meal when it arrives.

"Will do. Which reminds me, you keeping an eye on Wuhan? Something weird’s happening over there."

"You sure you should be telling me this stuff?"

"Relax. It’s OSINT stuff you could find in a couple hours. World Health Organization and social media stuff."

"How bad are we talking?"

"Mainland’s going to the WHO, so it’s something. I dunno, Mike. Here’s hoping it’s not SARS all over again."

"God-willing, it isn’t, Marty."

Beneath them, the ground shook, and a bright light filled the sky.

And then it went dark, before the lights went bright.

"The fuck was that?!"

"Dunno." Li glanced at his phone. "I need to get to Shilin. You should probably get back to base."

"Yeah. You know what’s going on?"

"Hell if I know. Fifty-fifty chance it’s either the Mainland or an Act of God."

"Let’s hope it’s an Act of God," Chen muttered, before running off into the night.

Kaohsiung City, Chinese Taipei

Discord still wasn’t working.

Rachel Fong tried resetting her laptop again.

Nothing.

It had to do with that bright flash outside.

*Was Beijing finally invading? No, they couldn’t. I’d have been informed, right?

Right?

Now, she knew that the MIB didn’t know, either. But right now, there was the ever-so-slight chance that her employer had thrown her under the bus.

At least the power works. Internet, too.

She tried loading Discord again.

Nothing.

Well, nothing on her private server, anyways.

So she tried DMs instead.

‘Lee, it’s Fong. Something happened, here. I don’t know what it is, but that wasn’t us, right?’

She hit Enter and sent it, but got nothing.

So she tried again.

And again.

And again,

Nothing.

Then a ping.

"Lai? Why is she messaging me?"

We’re not supposed to communicate unless it’s an emergency. I guess this counts.

‘Fong, what is happening?’

‘I don’t know’

‘Was that us?’

‘I hope not. Have you heard anything back from home?’

‘…’

‘Lai?’

‘Nothing. Have you?’

‘Messages aren’t sending. I’ll see if any of my contacts see anything.’

‘Thanks.’

Rachel closed her laptop and opened her phone, dialing the first coworker she could find.

Or at least the one MIB agent she’d gotten to know.

"Hi, you’ve reached Martin Li’s phone. I’m not available right now, so just leave a message after the tone."

"Martin, it’s Rachel. Something happened over here. I’m headed to the office ASAP. You should get in contact with them, too."

Satsuma, Meiji 44

Captain Yagushi’s eyes were blurred from the flash of light, and his ears were barely doing any better.

"What was that?" he asked his officers, "An attack?"

"Unlikely," said Commander Fukuyama. "The Chinese don’t have a weapon like that. Or the Americans. Or anyone else in the world."

"Whatever it was, it came from Takao," said Sakurai, the navigations officer.

"Are you sure?" Fukuyuma pointed out the window towards the tall buildings in the distance, "That looks more like New York than Takao."

"It’s the direction we’ve been traveling since we left port," Sakurai answered. "Though communications have gone silent for the last few minutes."

"I see," said Yagushi without a bit of irony. "Get the men to their stations. I want them ready in case we enter combat."

"Aye, Captain," said Fukuyama. "And you?"

"For the time being, you will have command of the Katori, Fukuyuma. Sakurai. Continue our heading towards Takao."

"Aye, Captain."

Before Fukuyuma could act, a loud whirring began to circle them.

"Get the men to their stations!" Yagushi shouted. "I want those guns loaded and ready!"

"Aye, sir!" Fukuyuma said before relaying the order. "Any communications?"

"None," answered Oda, the Comms Officer. Both Yagushi and Fukuyuma could barely hear him over the circling sounds outside. "I’ll continue to hail them."

"Good."

"This is the Coast Guard Administration of the Republic of China!" a voice shouted in broken Japanese from a megaphone. "You have entered our waters and have refused communications. Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded!"

"Republic of China?" Sakurai repeated, "This has to be a joke."

Fukuyuma turned to Yagushi.

"Orders, Captain?"

"Maintain our course, but hold your fire. I don’t want to start a war over a mistranslation."

"Understood," he said before relaying the command. "How long to port?"

"One hour," Sakurai shouted. Fukuyuma could have barely hear him over the whirring winds around him. If anything, they’d only grown louder.

"You have five minutes to comply before we will board your ship by force!" the same voice shouted again, "Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded!"

This time, something flew past the bow, and Fukuyuma could’ve sworn there were people inside of it.

Sakurai unholstered his pistol, and turned to Fukuyuma. The acting-Captain nodded, and unholstered his as well.

"We can take them," Sakurai muttered. "We have one of the strongest ships in the world."

"I’d rather not start a war over a misunderstanding," Fukuyuma insisted. "And I could have sworn that something had flown past our bow."

Sakurai nodded.

"Send a distress signal," Fukuyuma instructed. Oda looked at him for a second, then nodded. "And cut the engines. I’ll negotiate with them."

"Commande-"

"We don’t know what is happening, Sakurai. But if we are boarded, I want us ready to scuttle the ship. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Despite his disagreement, he knew that Fukuyuma was, for all intents and purposes, Captain of the Satsuma.

A minute later, and Fukuyuma was at the bridge, with a bullhorn in hand. To his shock, there were a half-dozen ships surrounding his own, and just as many vehicles circling the Saitama like vultures.

He turned to the one hovering at the bow. "This is Commander Fukuyuma of the Satsuma! We are a Japanese warship en route to the port of Takao!"

He waited a moment, unsure of what would happen next. Would they open fire? Would they try to take over the Satsuma?

He glanced over at his men, some of whom had grabbed rifles and were aiming at one of these flying machines.

"I see," the voice answered. He could have sworn its owner was a bit confused. "Very well. We will escort you to port, but we will return fire if fired upon."

"I accept," Fukuyuma agreed, and returned to the Captain.

"We could have fought them," Sakurai answered. "We have over nine hundred men with us."

"And they have vehicles that can fly, Lieutenant. For all we know, those vehicles can launch torpedoes and depth charges onto us."

"This could be a trap, Commander."

"If they wanted to kill us, they wouldn’t have negotiated."

"Still, I don’t like this."

"Which is why we’re going to scuttle the ship if they try to seize it," said Yagushi as he turned to Fukuyuma. "We have our orders, and we will see them through."

Fukuyuma nodded, and so did Sakurai.

And with that settled, the Satsuma headed off towards the city of lights before her.