I begin to ask, “By…” when several more explosions happen shaking the house again. “By who?”

She bends down and looks me in the eye. “I’m not 100% sure, but I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.”

You can probably surmise who the first country is that comes to mind. I’m almost rambling as I state, “But… Wouldn't that be declaring war on Japan and the United States? That’s insane!”

Dad’s voice comes from behind me as he says, “Insane or not, it’s happening. Nor does something being crazy stop people from doing it.”

Jenny nods. “Even more so since they are facing a carrier battle group and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Whoever they are, they are about to have a really bad morning.” She straightens up, looks around and then calls out, “Sherman!” He comes trotting over, and she continues, “I want prisoners, and have communications contact NMCC. I want to know where they came from. This is not the end of this.”

He nods and says “Yes, Ma’am” He walks off speaking into his lapel mic.

A couple of rather tense hours later, we’re informed that it’s safe, and we exit the basement. Jenny heads off in an extremely fast walk, and I almost have to run to keep up as I follow her to the communications office. No sooner does she walk in than she demands, “Well?”

A colonel turns and says, “No identification on any of them, and none of them are talking, but with the way they fought, we’re assuming that they are Chinese Special Forces and they were using Chinese equipment. Furthermore, NMCC says they deployed out of Keelung, Taiwan.”

She spits out, “Idiots!” Then sees the look on the colonel's face and shakes her head. “Not you, colonel. The Chinese.” She sighs. “Alright. Inform NMCC that the US is to move to DEFCON 1 immediately. I want all of pacific fleet, and all of our Marines, on station here within 36 hours. Bombers and fighters are to be stationed out of Guam and Japan within 24 hours. The Army, I want here within 72 hours. Colonel, please inform the coalition forces of what’s happened and request their support. Gentlemen, we didn’t ask for it, but we’re at war." She grimaces and shakes her head. "Alright, get me the Japanese Prime Minister.”

About half an hour later, a sleepy looking Prime Minister Koya appears on the screen and immediately asks, “Ms. Kobayashi? President Wilson? What’s going on?”

“We were just attacked at Sora’s summer house on Okinawa by forces who deployed out of Taiwan.”

He doesn’t look happy, nor does he look all that surprised. “I assume you have a plan of action. What do you need from us?”

“I’ve already placed US forces at DEFCON 1 and am moving them into the area, but PACFLT is 36 hours out. I need you to deploy the JMSDF to screen the rest of the archipelago. I have a carrier battle group deploying around Okinawa as we speak. I’ll also be deploying the 15th MEU to Okinawa, and I would like to begin evacuating the population as quickly as possible.”

“Of course, whatever you need. My staff will begin making the calls immediately.”

“Thank you. Sora, her family and I will be leaving Okinawa shortly, and Admiral Cross will be taking command of the situation.”

He nods. “So, what is the plan?”

“I’m going to… punish the Chinese rather severely for this. Taiwan and Hong Kong will be free again, and any military ships or planes they have in international waters or airspace will be taken out. I’ll then offer them a chance to talk. If they refuse… Well, let’s simply say that they wouldn’t want to refuse.”

They talk for a couple more minutes, and then he disconnects. She turns to me, “Get your things together. You, my dear, are leaving immediately with a rather large escort.” I start to say something, but she interrupts me. “I’ll be right behind you. The secret service won’t allow us to stay either.” I give her a tight hug, then turn around and head upstairs without a word.

Forty minutes later, we’re loaded up, and my Osprey lifts off, only to be surrounded by two squadrons of US Navy fighters. We’re immediately ordered to go to maximum speed regardless of the fact that we were still over land. I doubt that the precaution was necessary since the fighters and Osprey are stealth aircraft, but after what happened, I’m not willing to argue. I can’t say that I was surprised when no one said a single word during the flight home.

Back at home, security around us has been so heavy that I feel like I can barely breathe. I’m not kidding in the least. The JSDF deployed a brigade of soldiers and a full company of tanks to guard the house. None of us can go anywhere without it being planned in advance. Hell, simply stepping out of the house to take a walk around the compound gets us followed around by a platoon, or more, of heavily armed soldiers.

Thankfully, I was able to attend the lift off of our spacecraft, Captis. With it being unmanned, Helios ran for orbit at full power, which was like watching a bullet being fired. Lots of noise, but really nothing to be seen since it reached orbit 4 seconds later. Ninety minutes after that, it was on its intercept course for 19355. Now it’s merely a waiting game.

Fourteen of the member nations joined the US and Japan in the conflict against the Chinese. For five days, the US’s Hammer of God satellites rained down destruction on any ship or plane that dared to venture more than 19 kilometers from the coast of China. It cost them 12 of their 14 carriers groups before they finally got the message and docked or grounded everything. Chinese submarine forces effectively no longer exist since the coalition navies had a field day tracking them down and sinking them. Then the bombing of all military bases in Taiwan and Hong Kong began. Nine days later, nothing larger than a pebble remained of those bases. Coalition forces basically marched in unopposed, kicked all Chinese government officials out of both countries and are busily setting up democratic governments for the people again. By all reports, the population was extremely glad to see them, especially in Taiwan. The number of ‘reeducation camps’ the Chinese had set up there was astounding.

Jenny did exactly what she said she would after they freed Taiwan and Hong Kong. The coalition gave the Chinese a chance to finally talk. And talk they did since I think they were afraid that the coalition would start attacking their mainland if they didn’t.

They immediately blamed everything on a couple of rogue officials and troops for the attack on Jenny and me in Okinawa, as if I believe that. It seems they had the idea that if they had the two of us, the coalition would cave and give them everything they originally demanded. Personally, I’d have never given them anything, and as far as Jenny is concerned, the US government has a no negotiation policy.

I’m still pissed at the damage they did to my property there and yes, I know the Marines were responsible some of the damage, but they wouldn’t have if we hadn’t been attacked in the first place. It’s going to cost me 13 million yen to fix all the damage done.

Anyway, the cease fire agreement limits Chinese activity to within the mainland territory, period. Civilian flights or ships are allowed in and out, and are subject to inspection at any point, but that’s it, and they were warned that any military flights or ships that left their coastline would be sunk or shot down. Needless to say, they are whining about Taiwan and Hong Kong, but Jenny has stated that they are free nations and no interference from China will be tolerated.

You know, all of this could have been avoided had they simply been reasonable instead of trying to play the bully and throw their weight around. As it stands, they’ve been refused admittance to the coalition for the next ten years and thereafter, assuming they behave, it will be on a probationary basis for another few years.

Thankfully, the government finally removes the troops from our house and lifts our movement restrictions so that I can get more work done. I could do some of the work at home via laptop and video call, but not all, since far too many want to meet with me in person.

I’ve had Erica tell me several times that a project manager has been bugging Katsuo to see me. Erica tried to speak with him in my place when she told him that I was unavailable, but he flatly refused and reiterated that he would only talk to me. I tried talking to him on a video call, but he said it was too sensitive to discuss that way. I couldn’t see it since Athena would be securing the call on both ends and very little could have broken the encryption she would be employing. Regardless, I let it go and told him that I would meet with him on the 25th. For his sake, I truly hope it isn’t a waste of my time.

In the interim, I had a long video chat with Enrico Perez. Yet another project that is limited by power requirements. What I mean is that while distance isn’t a problem, the power to send the transmission through quantum space climbs as distance increases. Now, thankfully, the scale isn’t exponential or we’d be in trouble and never be able to meet the power requirements. Another issue is that we need receivers off of Earth at various distances to perform proper tests for him, and we’re still working on accomplishing that.

[Friday, July 25]

Mama is back to picking out my outfits for work. We came out of the bathroom and my outfit was laid out for me again. Navy blue, short sleeve button up blouse; pleated, sunflower yellow skirt that falls to mid-thigh; ultra sheer, yellow stockings with an ivy pattern; and lastly, my navy blue slingback heels. Of course, she also laid out my jewelry for today.

I’m going to say it again, I do not mind in any way, shape, fashion, or form that Mama does this since it’s one less thing I have to deal with during my day. Plus, she’s awesome at putting together outfits that look elegant and stylish. I don’t know how many times Mama and Dad have said, ‘How you present yourself is how the world takes you.’ That is especially true as a woman. Even my lovely little Chinatsu is finally coming around. Ryu is getting there, but we’re going to have to keep pushing him in that direction since he’d much prefer a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

So, back to the day. Usual morning, then the large caravan to DTI. Dropping by Katsuo’s office, I tell him good morning, and he spends a few minutes catching me up on things. Then same thing with Erica. I finally make it to my office around 10.

“Good morning, Akari.”

She looks up, smiles and replies brightly, “Good morning!”

“Where’s Alla?”

Alla is the assistant that Akari hired to help her. Alla is Ukrainian, and she typifies what people think women from there look like. Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes and extremely well built. So much so that Akari had to ask Katsuo to reiterate that this is a workplace and not a bar due to the number of men hitting on her.

“She was running late and hadn’t eaten yet this morning so I sent her down to the canteen to get something.”

“Alright. Would you call Jason Coleman and tell him that I’m ready to see him.” She nods. “And it would be lovely if you would bring us some mocha coffee. I have a feeling that I’m going to need it to get through today.”

We head into my office, and I sit down to begin catching up on a few more of the progress reports I missed. A few minutes later, Akari comes in with our coffee and pours for us. Ever since we moved her from TGR, Akari refuses to allow us to do it for ourselves since she says we have an image to maintain.

Sipping my coffee, I skim through the reports, and a few minutes later, Akari announces him, followed by a knock on the door. Setting aside the report I was reading, I call out, “Come in.”

He’s all smiles as he walks to the front of my desk, and I gesture for him to take a seat. Once he has, I say, “Good morning, Mr. Coleman. What can I do for you?”

He never stops grinning as he replies, “Good morning, Ms. Kobayashi. By the way, it’s merely Jason. My father is Mr. Coleman.” I nod. “I assume that you know what I do here?”

“Mr… Umm… Jason, there are over 53,000 people working at DTI, and while I know many of them, you are not one of them.”

He scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, I’m one of four FTL project managers.”

I nod and say, “Okay.”

“My specialty is physics, specifically string theory, and my team has been following up on work that began in 2033 into dimensional theory. The most important aspect of that is how to use the differing dimensions to step outside of our reality and achieve faster than light travel.” He leans back and crosses his hands on his stomach. “Our reality is 3 dimensional, meaning that if we want to, oh, go to Mars, we have to know its X, Y, and Z coordinates relative to our position.”

Now, I know this, but I don’t feel like interrupting his train of thought at the moment.

“The problem is that in our reality, we can not exceed the speed of light. So, back in 2033 they asked, ‘What if we could slip into another dimension to get around that limitation?’ They found that on a quantum scale, it was easy to slip into other dimensions. Further experimentation showed that there were actually dimensional bands. Each dimension had 8 bands, from alpha to theta, and each band had a differing length. In other words, the higher band that you transferred into, the less relative distance you had to travel to reach somewhere.”

“Jason, please don’t think of me as being rude or uninterested because I find what you are saying fascinating,” I gesture to my desk, “but, as you can see, I’m quite busy. So, I’d appreciate it if you could get to the point of all of this.”

He sheepishly nods. “Sorry, my wife tells me all the time that I should have taught since I’m the type to use 10,000 words to explain something when 10 would suffice. To sum everything up, we have a working small scale dimensional drive. We call it the Side Step drive. We’ve been able to successfully transport small objects from DTI to MIT.”

He has my complete and undivided attention as I sit up straighter in my chair. “How big and how fast?”

“So far, 50 cubic centimeters and it takes a microsecond or so for it to arrive.”

“How far is MIT from here?”

“Approximately 11,000 kilometers.”

Smiling happily, I state, “That’s fantastic, and thank you for telling me. So, I’m quite sure that isn’t why you wanted to see me. What do you need from me?”

He leans forward, places his elbows on his knee as he looks at me. “More space to work and much more power. So far, we can only access the beta band due to the power requirements. More power means higher bands that we can access, resulting in a faster relative speed.”