While the anti-terrorism exercise was underway, China was going through the middle of the night.
However, on the other side of the planet, it was noon in North America.
Normally, most of the Pentagon employees would be enjoying a cup of coffee, sitting in their air-conditioned office, or chatting with their colleagues about international politics or the game on Saturday…
However, today was different.
From eight o’clock in the morning until now, the entire Pentagon was like a tightly wound music box; everyone walked around briskly with tension in the air.
The reason for this was because of the anti-terrorism “exercise” that was happening tens of thousands of kilometers away.
Inside a conference room in the Pentagon, a wall covered in screens was displaying satellite images taken from the Okinawa base in Japan. Even though the escape modules flying through the sky could only be seen as a glimpse of light, the landing impact area was clearly visible…
Everyone in the conference room looked at the screens and held their breaths.
After a minute or so, the president spoke.
“Play it back…”
The Secretary of Defense nodded toward a worker, who took a deep breath and pressed a button.
The video began to play on the screen.
Everyone in the conference room witnessed the escape module breaking through the atmosphere, releasing a cloud of smoke on its impact.
Even though they were thousands of kilometers away, it was as if they could smell the smoke through the screen…
After a while, NASA Director Carson spoke.
“F*ck sake! Terrorism exercises my as*… What kind of terrorism exercise uses this kind of equipment?”
Of course, he was angry.
But for some reason, the entire conference room became silent. Several senior officials looked at each other, including the president.
Director Carson noticed this silence, so he paused for a second and remained quiet.
After a long time, Kevin, the Chief of Staff, broke the silence.
“The people inside the capsule didn’t die, this is impossible…”
The Pentagon aerospace expert pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, “The speed of the airborne capsule through the low altitude was fast, but its speed upon landing is actually not that fast. The smoke is likely not due to the impact. It was probably due to weapons, such as smoke bombs—”
The president interrupted the aerospace expert and spoke.
“Is the analysis report done? About the equipment identification.”
The Pentagon’s Defence Minister and Intelligence Chief looked at each other. The Intelligence Chief spoke.
“The report is out…”
Soon after, a report was delivered to the conference room.
The president took the report and began reading it line by line.
Time quickly passed by.
Everyone was waiting for him to finish reading the report.
Kevin was sitting next to the president. He felt like the president’s fingers were trembling.
Actually, Kevin was right.
Even the President himself didn’t know how to explain what he was feeling.
Less than 50 minutes of flight time.
Theoretically, this capsule could deploy to any corner of the world within an hour. Whether it was Antarctica or the Amazon forest, the White House or the Pentagon…
There was no place on planet Earth that was safe. Any office building could be broken into at any moment.
More importantly, these paratroopers could bypass any legal airspace!
This sounded a little scary…
Somehow, the conference room went into chaos.
“It’s time to create strict international conventions to limit this evil weapon. We should increase our airspace altitude! We should also expand the international treaty and prohibit unconventional weapons entering outer space orbit! Not a single bullet should be allowed in space!”
“Are you crazy? Our airspace altitude limit is only 35 kilometers! You want to raise it higher? Even if we do raise it, what can we possibly do if they disobey our laws? It’s not like our missiles can reach their spacecraft.”
Airspace altitudes were not strictly defined by international laws. Generally speaking, the lowest airspace height for a recognized satellite was 100 kilometers. In the United States, the upper limit for aircraft was 35 kilometers. After all, America had aircraft that could go beyond 35 kilometers, allowing them to “legally” fly over certain areas.
However, anything beyond 110 kilometers wasn’t bound by international laws.
Even if the most advanced air defense radar could detect aircraft traveling in this area, the means of enforcing this law were quite limited.
Forget about a spacecraft that could maneuver and change the trajectory.
Even hitting a stationary satellite at that altitude would be difficult.
It was almost impossible for them to stop the aerospace paratroopers.
“Are we just going to let them patrol over our heads? China is provoking us! We should take the necessary responses!”
“But that won’t ease any political tensions, it will only make it worse!”
“Make it worse? So we’re supposed to just surrender?”
The conference room was a mess. The workers split into two sides, yelling in each other’s faces.
“Enough!”
An angry roar interrupted the argument in the room.
The president slammed the report on the table and looked around the conference room. He then looked at his Chief of Staff and spoke.
“Kevin, I want to hear your opinion.”
Kevin went silent for a while.
“… Their military exercise is not necessarily directed at us.
“According to the CIA, this exercise might be for Professor Lu’s visit to St. Petersburg in August. It’s for them to respond as quickly as possible in an event of an unlikely scenario.”
The Secretary of Defense frowned.
“He’s visiting Russia?”
Kevin nodded.
“Yeah, apparently, he’s attending the ICM conference.”
Secretary of Defense: “…”
Pentagon officials: “…”
Even though they knew how important Professor Lu was to the Chinese government, they couldn’t believe that the Chinese were willing to provide military support for a scholar attending a conference…
They had no idea what to say.
Kevin looked at the president and spoke.
“According to the CIA’s report, this is a good opportunity to get rid of any tension between the two countries… My suggestion is to stay cautious before we find out more about their intentions.”
“I know this,” the President said impatiently. He noticed that everyone was looking at him, so he spoke.
“Of course, just in case, I’ll call the CIA director.”
Half of the people in the conference room were relieved.
Even though Kevin was relieved, he didn’t show any emotion.
Ever since the Cold War, America had been a super country. But now, they were the ones who were worried about other countries.
Kevin smiled bitterly and nodded.
“That would be wise…”