CHAPTER 2

Date: December 3, 2070

Time: 12:00 PM

Place: Iruki Defense Center. Yasuno, Japan


A Hovercopter is descending to the platform with a letter H. Nanding watches as the ground got bigger in his eyes and wondered where the center is since all he sees are blades of grass and no buildings in sight.

Four security guards escorts Nanding and four others to a smaller platform and instructed them to hold tight on the handles. The platform descends to the ground and Nanding saw that the center is built underground. After what seemd to be a mile underground, they transferred to a bullet train that speeds them to the all the way to the center. A japanese man in his forties is waiting for them.

"Mr. Hernan Taymo?" said the japanese in clear english.

"Yes." Nanding replied. "You must be Mr. Sonoka?"

"We met at last Mr. Taymo." said Sonoka, clasping his hand. "Come, the other delegates are waiting for us. I hope you have a fine trip?"

"Well to be honest, I did not know what to expect." said Nanding. "I was told the conference will be held in Tokyo, I felt a bit disturbed when the copter flew us all over here."

"We have to change the location of the conference at the last minute." said Sonoka. "You will know about it."


THE CENTER is filled with large monitor screens that shows the world's entire map. There are at least a hundred small icons red and blue that is scattered all over the screen. There may be at least a hundred person working on their workstations.

In the middle of the room there is a large round table with at least fifty chairs. The delegates are seated unevenly and already hot on the topic. A think man with glasses is standing and talking to the others.

"... have to think of a way to defuse the situation. Diplomacy is the key here gentlemen."

"We have been doing that since the last century." says a man with a balding head. "But that did not stop them and neither will this. The time for talk is over. We need to act."

"Excuse me gentlemen." interrupts Sonoka. "Before we continue, I would like to introduce Mr. Hernan Taymo, recently appointed ambassador from the Philippine Goverment."

"So, the Filipinos finally decided to come out after all?" says the man with a balding head. "Perfect timing isn't it gentlemen?"

"Mr. Taymo, is here to represent his country and join the ASIAN ALLIANCE. Insulting our newest member will not help our cause." says Sonoka. Then Sonoka begin introducing the others. "Mr. Sung Tai Jung of Korea, Mr. Nobi Iko of Japan, Mr. Jusuf Ambang of Indonesia and Mr. Ali Bawati of Malaysia."

"A pleasure meeting you all." says Nanding.

"There were more of us but the other delegates could not come." says Sonoka as they sit down.

"Is there a problem?" asks Nanding. The man with a balding head who is Nobi Iko scoffs.

"That is an understatement." then he stood up and clicked a button on the panel. A holographic display of the countries in asia appeared on the middle of the table. "Three months ago, we detected UCAT ships in international waters, just beyond our territories."

He clicked a button again and the hologram projects another image. "This is taken two months ago. Notice the yellow ones? UCAT ships. The number of ships have doubled in size."

He clicked on a button again and the hologram projects a stream of unreadable texts. "Our satellite intercepted this code. Using decryption technology, we were able to extract this piece of code." The stream of unreadable texts stopped. Then the computer prints out the code in bold letters.

A574

Nanding looked at Sonoka. "A574. What does it mean?"

"We don't know yet." says Iko. "But this we know. When the stream of texts are displayed on the computer monitor, it resembles a large square with the codes A574 scattered around it." He paused before continuing. "We think the stream of text is some sort of a map and the A574 are---"

"Target points." says Bawati.

"Exactly." says Iko. "But since the stream of texts are multi-dimensional and encrypted in multi-bit, it will take some time for the decrypter to fully extract it."

"Well," says Nanding who is trying to grasp the topic, "have you compared the map to the positions occupied by the UCAT ships?"

"We did that already. They don't match." says Iko taking a seat. "It is hard to speculate but we knew from the images in our satellites that the UCAT ships are taking their positions in the asian region."

"What about the WNL?" asks Nanding.

"What about them?" says Iko. "They claim the UCAT is on a routine exercise only. After that, we are unable to call them. Something is afoot here and I don't like it."

"But showing aggression could result to war." says Sung Tai Jung. "You know that they are only waiting for us to make that move."

"We need to defend ourselves! In case they plan on invading us." says Iko. "We know the Americans and the Europeans are more militaristic now more than ever. We also know that the war in the middle east has deprived them of the wealth and pleasures they enjoyed a century ago. The rift between Asians and Caucasians caused them to lose market share and it is affecting their economy. With the UCAT as the WNL's military arm, they have the biggest armed forces in the entire world. They can invade a country in just a snap."

"What about China?" says Jusuf. "China is a member of the ASIAN ALLIANCE."

"China is having internal problems now." says Sonoka. "A coup d' etat is happening in China right this moment that is why the Chinese President is unable to attend this conference."

"My god." says Nanding. "Is the President safe?"

"He is safe." says Sonoka. "But for the moment, we have to plan on what to do next and we must exclude China for the meantime."

"There is one course of action." says Iko.

"Oh no." says Sung Tai Jung shaking his head.

"The UCAT warships have not yet exceeded the combined armed forces of the ASIAN ALLIANCE. But as warships keep coming in, we may not be able to stop them when we finally decides to do it. So, before it happens, I suggest we attack."

"No." says the Korean delegate.

"We cannot wait for them to complete the build-up!" says Iko. "If the ARAB LEAGUE let the UCAT complete their build-up when war is just starting in the middle east, they would've been overwhelmed. Remember that the UCAT is a powerful enemy and they are equipped with advanced military hardware. When that happens, even China cannot save us from total invasion."

"I agree." says Nanding standing up. "I don't usually condone force and I hate all sorts of violence. But we have to combine our armed forces and attack them while they are weak."

Iko laughs at Nanding's remarks. "We have armed forces ready for deployment anytime." says Iko. "What about you? What can you contribute? Don't tell me you still fly Tora-tora's."

The delegates snickered at this rude remark. Nanding's face becomes hard for a moment. Then he eased up and slowly smiles.

"We have our... planes ready to deploy." he says. "Oh, we have ships too. You know, the ones that can carry small planes on the deck?"

The delegates laughed again thinking it's a joke but Sonoka stood up and motioned them to shut up.

"Alright, it's done then." says Sonoka. "As agreed this center will be the Head Quarters of the ASIAN ALLIANCE, the command center. We will be sending data and information to your command centers by the minute. We will be communicating on a rotating frequency. The code patterns will be given to you as you leave this conference. Can we expect compliance from everybody?"

The others says YES, including the Korean delegate who really has no choice at all. "Good. We'll broadcast information in 1800 hours. Good luck to us gentlemen."



Same date

Time: 2:22 pm.

Place: Somewhere in Korean waters.


The country is in red alert and Korean warships are deployed all throughout the peninsula. Underneath the waters, three submarines are armed and ready, just waiting for the order to launch.

A man who appears to be the captain of this submarine flicked on the communicator. "Beta-1, the champagne is ready."



Same date

Time: 3:06 pm.

Place: Somewhere in Japanese waters.

Three submarines are also waiting.

"Beta-1, champagnes are ready to pop."



Same date

Time: 4:17 pm.

Place: Malaysian and Indonesian waters.

Submarines are hidden underneath. A UCAT logo is displayed on the side.

"Champagnes are ready Beta-1."



Same date

Time: 5:22 pm

Place: Philippine harbor.

Warships are in position and waiting for orders. On the coast line, children are happily playing.

Underneath the waters, a message is being intercepted.

A green light on screen means a message is being intercepted. The serviceman from the PWS-Bonifacio clicked on the light and it showed a stream of unreadable texts.

"Captain, we are intercepting an encrypted message."

"Really? Can you detect where it is coming from?" asks the captain.

The serviceman punched a few keys and the display in the monitor changed to reveal the line of messages coming in and one coming out.

"What the heck is that?" asks the captain. Suddenly, the warship's computer detected a launch from underneath.

SHHWOOOOSSHHHH!!!

ENEMY LAUNCH! ENEMY LAUNCH! The waters seemed to explode as three missiles shoots up from underneath. The children on the beach stopped playing and gazed at the missiles flying towards the clouds.

"I want to know where those missiles came from! Target by ground to air!" shouted the captain. "And mobilize the screamers!"

On the flight deck. Six X24 Screamers hovered then shoots in the air in pursuit of the missiles. GA101 ground to air missiles are launched ahead of them.

"Arm particle charges. If our own missiles failed, it's up to us to destroy those missiles." the team leader says then punched a button on the panel. His screen shows a list of weapons. He chooses the M1200 Particle Gunner. The screamers formed a V-formation with the team leader on the lead position. The missiles are still farther ahead of them.

FWOOOOSSHHHH!!! The GA101s inboard computer calculates the distance. It is still too far away. Unless the allowable distance is reached, the missiles won't fire. The team leader is monitoring the data sent by the GA101 computer.

"Damn!" says the team leader. The GA101's fuel capacity is almost depleted and yet the allowable distance is not yet reached. On the ground, the captain of PWS-Bonifacio shakes his head.

"The missiles are not going to cut it." he says then he flicked a button. "X24s! You have permission to engage!"

The GA101's flew out of position, having reached their range already. The X24s zoomed past the falling missiles.

"Transfer 55% of your power to the hyperengines. We need to close the distance." says the team leader. The screamers are flying up in a perfect vertical position. The engines roared as it fights for control. At this height and speed, air pressure is fluctuating and the engines are having a hard time fighting gravity. Fortunately, the jet's built-in sensor relays were able to calculate this and responded with appropriate power for thrust. Finally, they are closing in on the missiles.

"Wait for my command!" says the team leader. The jets screamed in the air faster than the speed of sound. The missiles are almost on sight. The monitor screen switched to auto-targeting and displayed a list of targets to choose.

"Target the base of the missile!" the team leader commands. His monitor beeps to let him know that his pilots have complied with the target.

"Alright!" says the team leader. "Fire!"

BADABADABADABADABOOOOMMM!

Charged particles shoots from the M1200 port accelerating at the speed of light. The particles hit the fuel tank of the nearest missile.

KAPLANG! KAPLANG! KAPLANG! The fuel tank was ruptured! The missile veers to the right then with a powerful blast, it explodes in the air.

KABWAAAMM!!! Metal fragments blanketed the sky and threatens to hit the jets.

"Evasive maneuver!" the team leader commands. The screamers spins out of formation dodging metal fragments and debris. Some fragments the size of a fist hit the wings of the screamers and did not caused any damage. However one larger fragment hit the cockpit of the third jet causing a large crack in the canopy.

"We're hit! We're hit!" reports the pilot of the third jet. They heard another CRACKING sound, then another and realized the crack is getting larger.

"Team Leader I have sustained damage, I need to disengage, over." reports the third pilot.

"Disengage number three." orders the team leader and the third screamer pulls out of formation.

"One down!" says the team leader. "Two more to go!"


MEANWHILE in Japan. The japanese was also taken by surprise when three missiles shot up from the waters. Japan's ground defense immediately activated a radar scrambler to confuse the missiles. However, the missiles continue to go up far away from the scramblers range. Ground lasers are fired but is unsuccessful. Seven ground to air missiles are then launched and four N202 Jet fighters are mobilized. But it was all in vain. The missiles are so far up it couldn't be reached in time.

The same is happening to other countries. Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, even China which currently has a loose armed force because of the coup d' etat. The Iruki Defense center is currently monitoring the activity. Nobi Iko is looking at the printout and the missiles in the monitor. Looking on both, he finally deduced where the target points are.

"It's in the air!" he shouted. "The target points are the countries in asia!"


BACK in the air, the X24's succeeded by knocking out the second missile. Like the first missile it exploded sending multiple metal fragments to the screamers. Again the remaining jets spins out of formation to evade the fragments. The third missile is a bit far away so the pilots floored their engines to reach it before it does any damage. They are so far up that the earth's curvature is very visible to the pilots now.

Suddenly, something sparked from the missile. The computer from the lead fighter jet suddenly beeps up.

DETECTING ENERGY SURGE...

The team leader's eyes suddenly became wide. An energy surge could only mean one thing. The missiles are getting ready to detonate.

"Evasive action! Evasive action!" shouts the team leader. The X24s break formation but it was too late. The missiles have reached the height of 60,000 feet and exploded simultaneously! .

KABWAAAMMM!!! The missiles that the UCAT submarines launched from Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam the Philippines etc. explodes creating a chain reaction that blocks all satellite communications in asia. The large monitor screen in Iruki Defense Center suddenly goes blank. Iko is standing, clutching the printout in one hand and whispered in a weary voice.

"Now it begins."


BACK in Philippine territory. Images from the satellite suddenly goes blank.

"What happened?" exclaims the serviceman manning communications then punched a few keys to refresh the screen. "Did we lose signal?"

"How did we lose signal?" asks the captain.

"I don't know captain," says the serviceman, "but we're cut-off."

"Don't tell me something out there is jamming us?" says the captain.

"It's not just us captain." says the serviceman.


BACK in the air, the pilots are fighting to regain control of the aircraft. The engines are down and the system is erratic with the control lights going up then down then up again until goes down for the final time. The jets spins faster out of control.

SHWOOOOSSHHH!!! The jets dived uncontrollably through the clouds. No engines and with stabilizers and friction shielding offline, the jets are heating up very fast!

"Mayday! Mayday!" shouts the team leader in vain. Electronics are dead. With hydraulics offline in the cockpit, the pilots are absorbing the jet's G-force as it plummets to the ground.

Realizing the jet can no longer be activated and literally on the verge of passing out, he managed to pull a lever above his head and the cockpit exploded sending him out in the air.

POOOMM! His parachute opens up. For a while, he seems to have passed out. But in just a few moments, the team leader opened his eyes and saw other parachutes in slow descent.

"Thank god." he says as he realized his team made out in time after all.


IN SPACE the UCAT satellite detected the explosions and the energy blanketing the entire region, transformed automatically to reveal a laser weapon hidden inside its under belly. The satellite moved towards the satellite used by Japan's defense center and locked on target. The laser fires a bright blue light and Japan's satellite explodes. The UCAT satellite moves in to destroy the other satellites. Firing and obliterating one after the other.



Same Date

Same Time

Place: UCAT Command Center

Fleet Commander Trudd is watching the large monitor screens. The screen shows the progress of the satellite as it obliterates one satellite after another. He smiled then clicked a button on the panel. The screen insets the face of Vorheus.

"Fleet commander, phase 2 is almost completed." says Vorheus.

"Very good captain." says Trudd. "When all the satellites have been destroyed, initiate Phase 3."


TO BE CONTINUED

CHAPTER 1

Date: November 27, 2070.

Time: 4:25 PM

Place: Somewhere in the Philippine Sea


Large waves splashed a large metal wall in the middle of the ocean. No not a wall. A hull. A carrier ship. The USS Melvin Springer, 430 m long is like a sword in a big ocean cruising at 35 knots. The Springer is one of the navy's biggest ships. With 2,100 officers and 60 fighter jets with maximum hypersonic speed of Mach 5, the Springer is a force to reckon with.

A serviceman is manning the radar, chewing gum as he plots each turn of the needle. Everything seems to be fine. Why shouldn't it be? He is sitting on the most advanced carrier ship of the U.S Navy. No foreign power would dare attack a warship as invincible as the Springer.

Past tense.

A blip appeared on the radar screen.

"Captain." the serviceman called. The captain, a bald headed man whose name is Steve Vorheus is seated at the center of the bridge and sifting through some reports. His head turned to the serviceman.

"I think something is out there." said the serviceman.

"I have no use for that 'something', give me details." the captain responded. The serviceman punched some buttons and the color of the screen changed. The captain smirked at his Exo. The Exo smiled and said to the captain, "You know he's only been with us for six months."

"He won't last a year if he don't keep up." the captain said then he looked at the serviceman again. The serviceman appeared to be having some difficulty with the controls. The captain sighed stood up and walked over to the serviceman. The serviceman glanced at the captain then to the screen.

"I... I can't figure out what it is." the serviceman said. The captain looked closer then punched a few buttons. The screen changed again but the computer did not provide any information except the words UNKNOWN.

"We got something ahead of us but the damn computer can't figure out what it is!" the captain said then he punched a button on his commwrist. "Flight Deck, I need visual of bogey at 12 o'clock."

On the flight deck visibility is hazy. A storm is passing by and the sea is a bit rough. Three serviceman on the tower glanced the area with binoculars. After some time the officer on the flight deck punched a button on his commwrist.

"Negative captain. No sign of bogey---"

"What the hell."

A large construct of steel and metal approached the Springer. It is a warship of a different design. It is more rounded than most carriers, but like the Springer, the warship appeared to have several fighter planes on its deck.

"Would you look at that?" the exo exclaimed.

The captain shook his head. "No wonder the computer listed it as unknown."

"Sir, a message is coming through." said a serviceman.

"Patch them through."

An audio message emanates from the speakers. "This is the PWS - Lapu Lapu. You are cruising within Philippine territorial waters. We demand that you turn back."

The captain laughed then looked at his Exo. "Did you hear that? The punk doesn't know what's coming at him." He clicked a button on the panel. "Lapu Lapu this is the USS Melvin Springer. Be advised that you are facing the world's most advanced carrier ship in history. I have weapons that can reduce your little ship to slag. So if I were you, I would turn back to whatever dock you came out to and stay there. Do you copy?"

A bit of silence emanates on the Springer's bridge as they wait for an answer. After a few seconds the speakers acted up.

"USS Springer. Be advised that we are prepared to use force when and if necessary. You have been warned. Turn back."

The captain looked insulted this time. "Lapu lapu, I am not used being ordered around. Especially when I am inside my ship. You dare give me a warning? I'll give you my warning. You go back to your shithole and let us do what we are sent here to do!"

The captain glanced at his Exo who is standing right beside him and whispered. "I want the AF-209 ready just in case."

"Sir do we really need to be this aggressive? After all, we are inside their territory." the Exo said.

"You know our mission as well as I do." the captain said. "I'm not letting these monkeys think we are weak."

"Okay, you're the captain." the Exo said then he punched a button on his commwrist. "Ready the pilots."


The flight deck filled with pilots dressed in their jumpsuits. Each one goes over his own jet with a quick lift from the jet's belly. One by one. The jet's engine fires a glowing yellow light.

"Woohoo!" a pilot shouts. "It's game time!" Five jets hovered on the platform. Then like a group of birds, the jets flew in a flyby to the Lapu Lapu.

"I don't want any weapons fired yet. Wait for my signal." the captain said.

"Understood." the jet's team leader said then they circled again for another flyby when something is picked by their radar. Before they could react, they were thrown aside. Something very fast just passed them and confused the aircraft's guiding mechanism. The lead pilot regains control of this jet.

"What the fuck is that?" said the team leader.

"I don't know but it's fucking fast!" said another. "But I'm betting that something came from that ship." Then he maneuvered his jet towards the Lapu-lapu.

"Steam man what are you doing?" said the team leader. Steam man does not answer but locked his sights to the ship's tower, gripped on the trigger then smiled. "Game over you son of a ---"

BADABADABADABADABOOOMM!

The Lapu-lapu's turrets ripped Steam man's jet to pieces, exploding in mid-air. The rest of the squadron saw what happened.

"Mayday! Mayday! Steam man's down! Steam man's down!"

"God damn it!" the captain banging his fist on the panel. "We're on red alert! All squadrons! I want that ship sunk to the bottom of the sea!"

The AF-209's started to rise from the platform. But before they can achieve the proper altitude, ten X24 fighter jets or Screamers as they were called from the Lapu-lapu appeared out of nowhere and fired multiple plasma bullets ripping the jet's bodies. One by one, the AF-209's fall and exploded on the flight deck.

"What the fuck is going on!" the captain screamed as he saw his priced jets exploding above. He turned to his Exo. "How did they do that?"

"The design of those jets. It's... different." said the exo.

The captain stared at him then punched a button on the panel. "They want to play rough eh. Well they pick the wrong ship to mess this time. Ready torpedoes!"

"Sir we got incoming!"

Above four X17 Bombers descends from the sky nose down. Its belly opened then fired multiple AS missiles towards the Springer.

"Fuck!" the captain exclaimed. "Shoot down those missiles!"

Laser beams fires like a web. Inside the missiles a circuit flared. The missiles as they fall was enveloped in a white semi-transparent shield. The beams hit the missiles but the shield deflected the beams away.

"They've got reflectors on those projectiles!"

The missiles broke through and exploded one by one on the deck and tower. Explosions rocked the Springer damaging it as the deck cracked and crumbled down beneath.

"Son of a bitch!" screamed the captain then he pointed to a serviceman. "Where are my goddamn torpedoes!"

"Sir we got reports of extensive damage in flight deck, tower, engineering and arsenal."

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! An X31 Lawin fighter jet unloads its armaments damaging the Springer's port bow. A hissing missile destroys a part of the aft. Steel and metal fell down to the sea as the Springer struggles to stay afloat.

"We've lost control of weapons!" a serviceman shouts. "Turrets, rockets to air, lasers... They are all offline!"

"What else do we have left!" screamed the captain.

"Tactical nukes captain!" the man from the armory shouts back at him. "That's the only one under our control."

The captain's eyes glared at the red button on the center of the panel. He walked towards it, flicked the protective cover up and placed his thumb over the button.

BROOOMMM! Another explosion rocked the Springer. The visuals go down then goes up again. Above, emergency crews struggle to put out the fire while the X24 screamed above. Inside the bridge, an audio message from the Lapu-lapu is heard.

"Turn your ship back to international waters captain. This will be your last warning. If you still refuse to comply, we will unleash everything we have on your ship. You have 60 seconds."

The captain grits his teeth. His muscles tighten. His finger is almost on the button. One push and the Springer's five tactical nukes will launch towards the Lapu-lapu.


Inside the Lapu-lapu's bridge two people are looking at the monitor. From the side a serviceman reports. "Captain, the Springer is still powering up weapons."

The man sitting in the middle nods. The one sitting next to him, a woman speaks up. "Should we strike now?"

The man doesn't respond. He's in deep thought. He's calculating what to do. Finally he smiles as he looks at the monitor.

"No need." he says. On the monitor, the Springer is starting to turn around. Slowly, but at least it is turning around.


Inside the Springer. The captain's face is flushed with anger. As they complete the turn around, the captain flashed a finger on the monitor.

"Sir," his Exo gets his attention, "what do we tell high command?"

The captain's jaw shivers in anger.

The Springer cruised away. Three X24 Screamers escorts the warship as it heads to international waters. Inside the Lapu-lapu, the crew is ecstatic with joy.

"We beat them!" said the woman who is the Captain's executive officer. "I can't believe we beat them."

"That's not just a ship mind you." says an officer. "It's one of the world's deadliest warship. Read the words: Deadliest warship."

"We got lucky." said the captain.

"Don't be so modest captain." says his Exo. "Our jets performed exactly as they were designed. We didn't even have to fire a single missile."

"We got lucky." repeats the captain then he stood up and faced the two officers. "But luck's got to run out. So we have to be prepared. We risked showing ourselves to the americans. By now their own World Nations League cannot help but know about us."

The captain paused then he took a deep breath. "Communications. Patch me through to head command."

"Yes sir." the serviceman nodded.


Time: 8:44 pm. Same day.

Malacanan Palace. Or to be more specific. The new Malacanan Palace. The President is pacing back and forth inside his office. He just received the news and he just called his advisers to meet with him. The President is around fifty years old and was known more as a pilot than a politician.

A knock on the door gets his attention. Laura his secretary peered inside.

"Mr. President, they are here."

"Thank you Laura." said the President. "Send them in."

The President proceeds to his chair. Then the door on the left opened and three people came inside the room.

"Roberto, Nanding, Lirio." The president paused as they all shook hands with him. "Thank you for coming. Sit down sit down. We have a big problem in our hands right now."

"How did it happened?" asks Nanding who is the President's political adviser.

"An American warship sailed inside our waters." said the President. "They came close to one of our processing plants and the Lapu-lapu was dispatched to warn them away."

"However," the President continues, "the warship refused to go away. So things got ugly after that."

"The Lapu-lapu is forced to attack the American warship, um the USS Springer." said Roberto who is the Secretary of Defense. "The Lapu-lapu is successful in sending them away."

"But," the president lifts his finger, "our shroud of secrecy has fallen aside. They can't help but know that we have the technology that is equally advanced as what they have now."

"Better." said Lirio who is government's top R&D Head. "Based on the reports of Captain Sikara, the fighter planes did most of the job. The Lapu-lapu doesn't even have to use its own weapons. Well, they used the Plasma Repeaters to destroy an attacking aircraft but that's just it."

"This is not good news at all." said Nanding. "We've hurt one of them and they are sure to come back at us. The Americans did not anticipate we could come up with these kind of weapons. They'll use this knowledge against us."

"What are you saying?" asks Lirio.

"I'm saying they'll make us their next target." says Nanding. "Did you remember how our relations with them broke down fifty years ago?"

"Yeah. The Malacanan bombing." Lirio said. "But they never admitted fault on that and there is no concrete proof they were behind the bombing."

"The Americans are still paranoid that every terrorists in the world is out to bomb one of their cities." said Roberto. "Knowing we possess the weapon and the technology to destroy one of their warships, we've just become a threat to them."

"And it's just a matter of time before they announce to the world we are harboring terrorists and make plans to invade us." said the President then he stood up. "Well my friends. I think it's time we came out in the open."

"Expose ourselves to the world? Mr. President--"

"The world already knows Nanding." says the President. "For fifty years we are a closed country. We concentrated on internal affairs, feeding our people, upgrading our equipment and strengthening our armed forces. We managed to do it in secrecy. But we always knew, that eventually they'll find out our secret."

"The Americans have always interfered with the government ever since they granted us their so-called independence. I say our true independence day is the day we broke off with them." says Roberto.

"We are walking on murky waters." says Nanding. "The Americans are stronger in numbers."

"We are also stronger. A lot stronger than what they original perceived." says Roberto.

"They have no idea about our technology. They doesn't have a clue of what we are capable of." says Lirio.

"We can't fight the entire United States Armed Forces. You know they can always ask support from the WNL. The UCAT for example." says Nanding.

"The UCAT is no longer as strong as it was." says Roberto. "The Arab League have managed to soften them up for the past fifty years."

"We are just one country." says Nanding. "If they attack, and you know eventually they'll do, we'll be overwhelmed. We need help. We need allies."

"That's where you come in." says the President then pats Nanding on the back. "I'm sending you to Japan to reintroduce the Philippines to the asian world. You said we need allies right? Who better than our asian neighbors. I want you to be our new ambassador."

Nanding is wide-eyed and for a while he could not speak.

"Um Mr. President. I'm just a politician." says Nanding.

"You can talk to people," says the President. "and you are wiser than you think. Of all the people that could fill this job it is you I trust. I have faith in you my friend, that's why I'm sending you."

Nanding is speechless. But the President urged him on.

"Tell me you'll go to Japan my friend." says the President.

Nanding looked at him, then to Lirio, then to Roberto who smiled and gave him a nod. He took a deep breath then slowly nods.

"When is my flight?"


Date: November 30, 2070

Time: 9:30 pm.

Place: World Nations League Headquarters

UCAT Section seventh floor. Captain Vorheus is seated on a table waiting for Fleet Commander Trudd. He wipes the perspiration on his head although the room is very cold due to centralized airconditioning. Vorheus hated this place. Of all the places he needs to go, this place is definitely off his list.

"Captain? He will see you now."

The secretary lets Vorheus in Trudd's office. It's a big office with wall to wall carpeting and a number of stuffed animals hanging on display. A large head of a lion was hanging on the middle of the wall. Vorheus measured the length of the lion's jaw and the size of its teeth, then felt a tingle of fear in facing a large animal like this in wild.

He heard a THUD in the room. He looked back and saw Trudd holding a long elephant gun looking at him.

"You know, when I shot that animal. He didn't die quickly." says Trudd who walked closer and points his gun to the animal's head. "I have, to shoot it nine times before it finally dies."

Trudd moves closer, gazed at the animal's jaw and smiled. "You know he almost got me. That big jaw of his grabbed my leg and tried to rip it to pieces. He's got a strong bite. Very strong."

"What happened then?" asks Vorheus.

"What happened?" Trudd laughs then his face became serious. "I pointed this gun to his body, right next to his heart... Then I fired."

The barrel of the gun hits the jaw of the animal. Trudd's face looked menacing as he seems to relive that moment of his life.

"His heart was ripped to pieces. But his jaw held on to me. He didn't let me go even when he died." says Trudd.

"It's a magnificent animal." says Trudd then he looked at Vorheus. "A true predator."

Trudd walked away and goes to his seat placing the elephant gun besides him. "Now Captain. I want to know how a backward country with an airforce that doesn't fly and a navy that doesn't swim, was able to beat a technologically advanced and deadly warship under your command?"

"They were not as backward as we think they were. Not anymore sir. Their warship is designed differentenly. It is every bit as advanced as our own. Their fighter jets... damn they were fast. Faster than what we have. They were able to shoot down all my squadrons in 10 seconds flat."

"And you let them get away with it!" shouts Trudd his eyes have that menacing look again. "Do you know how this little incident cost the United States Navy? It showed that we are no longer invincible. Hell, by now every nation in this planet has that in mind captain. And it's all your fault."

"Sir, my mission is to observe the coast and retrieve whatever information is available." says Vorheus. "I was given orders to attack should anybody try to stop us."

Trudd leaned back on his chair and looked intently at Vorheus. Then he snatched a cigar, cut the tip and puts it in his mouth. "Captain." Trudd said as he is lighting his cigar. "You know our mandate as well as I do. The World Nations League is counting on my leadership to gain control through A574. Nothing matters else matters. I won't listen anymore to this crap. We are stronger, more advanced, and we stop at nothing captain. Do I make myself clear?"

"What are my orders sir?" Vorheus asked.

Trudd tossed a folder at Vorheus. Vorheus opened the folder, read the content then looked back at Trudd.

Trudd smiled. "Do you think you can handle that?"

"Certainly sir." Vorheus replied.

Trudd points a finger at him. "Then do it."


November 30, 2070

Time: 11:18 AM Philippine Time

Location: Somewhere in the Philippines


It's a sunny day, not much cloud in the sky. Plantations blanket the whole area. Several people in white clothes are harvesting fruits and putting it in robotic boxes that wheeled on its own back to the processing plant when filled. Like the day before and the one before it, there weren't much to see here.

Was.

A deafening roar filled the skies. Two X24 Screamers on a routine scout passed over the plantation. From the ground, the jets looked marvelous. Able to swerve in any direction even at top speed make the Screamers a valuable asset in the Philippine Navy.

"Hey! Not so fast!" radioed Vergara to the lead pilot.

"Why? Afraid you'd be left behind?" replied Arrate the lead pilot. "Come on, it's a free flying zone. Let's kick in the hypersonic!" Arrate punched a button and his engines roared as it speed up beyond supersonic.

"Hey!" radioed Vergara but Arrate is pulling away. "Damn it, here we go again."

The two jets kicks in at Mach 2, then 3, 4, 4.3, 4.6, 4.9... The whole panel lights up as the computer takes over full monitoring of everything it can detect in the skies. All at once, the computer picks up other jets cruising a thousand miles from them, mountains in direct collisions and many others.

"Blast off!" shouts Arrate. His jet roared at Mach 5. Vergara's jet followed closely behind him. Arrate swerved 180 degress to his right without slowing down, creating sparks of friction in the air. Vergara's jet anticipated the move and swerved at just the right time.

"Holy shit." says Vergara. His stomach seems to have exchanged position with his heart with that turn. "Arrate! Are you going to get us both killed?"

"Wahooo!" Arrate screamed. He just passed Mach 7. The computer now has full control of the hydraulics in the cockpit to keep the pilot from passing out. Already hypersonic, the pilots feel as if they were only riding a bus.

"Come on Vergara, keep up! You were always a slow poke, man." Arrate radioed.

"Slow poke you say?" Vergara said clenching his teeth. His jet passed Mach 6.7, then 6.8... 7.0

Arrate noticed Vergara is catching up and floored the jet to maximum speed. But Vergara is still catching up. Mach 7.5, 7.6, 7.8, 7.9

WHOOOMMM!!! The jets looked as if it's on fire, passing Philippine waters and catching the attention of the coast guard who accidentally spilled coffee on himself. The jets roared as the engines fight for control while it swerved to one side to avoid going over international waters. Vergara's jet gets the upperhand as it overtakes Arrate's jet with the turn.

"Anak ng ---" Arrate exclaimed.

"Who's the slow poke now huh?" Vergara said as his jet pulls away. The scream of their engines and the resulting sonic booms echoed far and wide and catching the sensor of a UCAT warship in international waters. The captain watched the action, marveling at the incredible speeds attained by the jets.

"That's a fine piece of hardware." says the captain. "What a pity it will all be destroyed soon."

TO BE CONTINUED

PROLOGUE

Ever since the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in 2001, the U.S have been aggresive in hunting down the terror network that is responsible for the act. The U.S along with the U.K were eventually joined by other countries in Europe and formed the UNITED COALITION AGAINST TERRORISM or UCAT to combat the growing terror problem. The UCAT was successful in destroying the terror networks in the middle east and for some time, the world lived in peace.

But all of it changed in April 13, 2013 when a new terror group calling themselves the AL TAH'R detonated 13 dirty nukes in the U.S and other countries in Europe. In desperation, the western powers moved out of the U.N, formed the WORLD NATIONS LEAGUE and ordered the UCAT to inspect the countries in the middle east and asia and apprehend the terrorists responsible for the bombing. The Arab countries resisted and responded by forming their own ARAB LEAGUE. The countries in Asia which is led by China and Japan also resisted the UCAT and formed an alliance of their own. Faced with non-compliance from their former allies, the western powers decided to exercise the full strength of their coalition.

In June 28, 2013, four days after the U.N officially disbanded, the UCAT attacked Iran which they suspected to be harboring terrorists. The ARAB LEAGUE quickly responded and the desert sky fills with fighter jets firing rockets and launching bombs on target. For two months, the UCAT fought the ARAB LEAGUE and discovered this won't be an easy victory. The ARAB LEAGUE having an advantage on their own ground was able to push the UCAT farther back to Iran's border. The western powers grew more desperate and they pump more resources to the UCAT making it one of the world's biggest armed force. The war continued for the next forty years.

Meanwhile in Asia, a progress in fuel technology has been achieved when the combined Filipino, Japanese and Chinese scientists came up with H2OF, "Water Fuel" or "dense water" is a fuel derived from the waters in the ocean. Using machines invented by the scientists, WATER FUEL is mixed with reprocessed hydrocarbons and other mixtures but when burned is environment friendly since the byproduct of WATER FUEL is pure oxygen. Asians began using WATER FUEL as an alternative to petroleum while the war in the middle east is raging. When the war continued for the next three years, they converted all internal combustion engines to use WATER FUEL and started trading WATER FUEL and machine conversion units to interested countries. Since WATER FUEL is best harvested at the bottom of the ocean where water is a lot denser like the Philippine Deep, the Philippines eventually became the major supplier of WATER FUEL raking in revenues that amounts to trilions.

The western powers realized that WATER FUEL will eventually compete with their petrol exports tried to stop the asian countries from exporting through economic aids, modernization and other tasty stuffs. However it is already too late since the smaller countries that would've jumped on the offer are now wealthy and getting richer by the minute. Because the U.S and the Philippines has a long history of friendship, the U.S steps in and tried to talk the Philippine Government out. However their request was denied and relationships between two countries soured from then on.

Like the rest of Asia, the Philippines became a better country since the invention of WATER FUEL. Tension and unrest is now a thing of the past. The promise of a better economy prompted the people to set aside their differences and work to achieve that goal. Unknown to the U.S, the Philippines have been secretly lowering large pipes in the Philippine Deep as early as 2008 that will eventually become part of the WATER FUEL Re-Processing Plant. When the fuel was finally ready, the pipes are already in place and the Philippine Government was able to open the plant that pumps dense water that will eventually become WATER FUEL. The Philippine Goverment pumps out the first 1000 barrels in its first month for its own consumption. As the months goes by and as more reprocessing plants were built, the pumping plant was able to produce 1,500 to 4,000 barrels a day. The Philippine Goverment began exporting WATER FUEL to other countries.

The invention of this new kind of fuel couldn't have come at a better time. The experts estimated that all fossilized fuel will run out by 2039. However, because of higher consumption due to overpopulation and the continuing war between the UCAT and the ARAB LEAGUE, the experts now predicted that fossil fuel will eventually be gone by 2025. However, the western powers need as much cash as they can to finance their war. By their estimates, it will cost more to convert their oil rigs to pump WATER FUEL and a lot more to build one from scratch. So when the Asians refused their offer, they bring the war to them. On September 29, 2018. UCAT ships began massing near Borneo. Their target is the least defended country in asia.

The Philippine Islands.

However, satellite images of their ships has been picked up by China and Japan who found the presence of UCAT ships in the asian region unacceptable. Before the UCAT ships have finished massing up, they were confronted by Chinese, Japanese, Korean Malaysian and Indonesian battle carriers with demands to leave the region. The WORLD NATIONS LEAGUE did not expect this face-off and since the war in the middle east is still raging, they decided they could not afford another war which would effectively compromise their resources. The UCAT ships left the region after five days of stand-off but not without casualty. Malacanan Palace was bombed by suspected UCAT spies killing the President and his cabinet. However, the operation was a clean one and the suspected bombers were never caught as reported.

The ASIAN ALLIANCE begun combining their armed forces with China providing most of the weapons and Japan providing much of the technology. The Philippine Government budgeted 22% of its total exports to the ASIAN ALLIANCE as fuel but also declared that the Philippines will become a closed country to concentrate on its own affairs. The other countries did not take this well but the Philippine Government stood by its decision. By 2020, the Philippines closed its borders and has remained so for many years.

2070. Fifty years after.

Fossil fuel is already gone. Oil rigs have been empty for many years. The war in the middle east ends in a stalemate and the attention of the WNL shifted to Asia where the asians are controlling the production of WATER FUEL and enjoying a war free region. Desperate to replenish their resources which was exhausted in their decades old war in the middle east, the WNL authorizes the UCAT to compile information regarding all armed countries in asia and implement a slow build-up that will result in the invasion of these countries and control of the world's biggest export of WATER FUEL.

TO BE CONTINUED