The clowns are getting really bold, Aron said, reading his weekly report.

[Theyre becoming variables that might disrupt our plan, sir. Are you going to stop them?] Nova asked.

I really should, since theres a chance they might start a war before were ready for it, Aron said. The missions he had ongoing hadnt been completed yet, and he would need them to be in order to set the stage for the fight for dominance among humankind.

[But do you think theyll listen to us?]

Theyve already distanced themselves from the Chinese, thanks to our trade with them. And since its highly unlikely that China will accept North Koreas return, at least not without paying a price for their so-called betrayal, its also highly likely that they would listen to us instead. Theyve already pressed a thumb on the scales in the wrong direction and seem to have not thought about the situation the entire world is in, Aron mused as he came up with possible ideas on how to deal with the situation in North Korea without letting it devolve into open warfare before he was ready to take the stage.

[I think, based on the speed our forces are completing their tasks, we can risk North Koreas refusal. Everything should be ready by the time the Kims suffer the consequences of their rash actions,] Nova said after taking a moment to check on the progress of the ongoing missions. All four of the forward operating and logistics bases had already been completed, and the Reapers and Nyxians had been spreading them from there. Soon, they would have forces available all over the world; and it had only hinged on the initial four.

Besides, if the rest of the world tried starting a nuclear war and devastating the planet, they just might get an unexpected result when they tried. Nova couldnt help but look forward to that inevitability.

True, Aron said with a nod.

[So will you have Alexander cancel his diplomatic visit to North Korea?]

No need. The visit to North Korea is just a stop on his way back from Taiwan, so he can deliver our request then. Itll work better face to face instead of exchanging messages through diplomatic courier pouches. Alexanders visit to North Korea was now set in stone.

[And what about the sensor tech the space-capable nations have politely requested that we hand over?]

Aron waved his hand magnanimously. Give it to them. They cant produce it anyway, so theres no need to keep it a secret. He smiled at the mental image of the looks on everyones faces when they realized that little fact.

[Will do,] she replied.

The countries that had requested Arons tech had been planning on increasing the pressure on Eden in order to make them buckle to the more powerful nations will. But they were quite surprised when the Edenian government simply published the schematics on their official Pangea account, letting the entire world have access to them without even trying to argue against the request. The only issue was that every country had wanted the tech for themselves, and the schematics being made public would prevent them from getting the leg up on their competitors, as theyd originally planned.

When they tried making a fuss about it in private, Edens response boiled down to: We were asked by multiple countries, so we figured wed give it to everyone.

There was nothing anyone could say, so they could only gnash their teeth in frustration and get to work reproducing it. But there was a problem; everyone who had seen the schematics almost simultaneously realized that the equipment would be impossible to produce in any reasonable time frame, as the entire process would need to follow a natural progression. They would need to make the tools they would use to make more advanced tools that they would use to make more advanced tools... and the cycle would repeat a number of times, wasting precious weeks with each iteration.

As that was happening, the US government quietly pulled the naval fleets they had in Japan and the South China Sea to interdict trade to and from North Korea. When people caught wind of the interdiction fleets, the situation was brought up at a press briefing and the White House Press Secretary announced that the trade interdiction was a response to a recent escalation in North Korean aggression.

Tensions around the world increased, as the move by America could possibly provoke another escalation on the part of the loose cannon, Kim Jong-Un, and the Doomsday Clock ticked down to 20 seconds to midnight.

North Koreas response to the interdiction fleet was to pull some of its forces from the DMZ and deploy them, along with quite a bit of their long-ranged artillery, to the coast, where they began construction on larger bases. The forces would build the bases and occupy them until such a time as the US and Japan, who had joined the American interdiction fleet to cover the gap left by the overextended American navy, withdrew their fleets.

Although the situation in Korea caused a commotion in Japan, it was mostly for the sake of argument. Even the staunchest conservative would have no problem with the economic attack on Korea. There was even an old saying in Asia: the only thing China and Japan will ever agree on is that they hate Korea. The three countries had a long tradition of cooperation and competition that was highly complex, but it boiled down to all of them having, at one point or another, allied to deal with the third. China and Korea hated Japan, and Korea and Japan hated China just as much as Japan and China hated Korea.

The whole thing would have been rather silly if it hadnt been accompanied by millennia of bloodshed.

The North Korean response caused people to watch in anticipation, wondering what Eden would do in this tense situation, considering the upcoming diplomatic visit schedule. Michael Jackson had never eaten as much popcorn as he was at that very moment.

Beijing, China.

We can take advantage of the situation to break the bond between Eden and North Korea by causing an incident during the diplomatic visit. Itll show them that the trouble North Korea brings isnt worth what theyre getting in return, an MSS operative said.

So will we just let them acknowledge Taiwan as a country? Right now is the perfect time to annex them, since the worlds attention is on the visitors. So long as we do it fast enough, nobody will have time to react and we can use the incoming aliens as a shield against retaliation by countries that have defense agreements with Taiwan. After all, a prolonged war now would be disadvantageous considering the aliens, Wang Yi replied.

Then we should make a plan for the Edenian diplomatic mission to Taiwan as well. That way we can make them reconsider their relationship with both countries.... But we have to be very careful, since they may retaliate and even consider it an escalation of hostilities, another member of the MSS suggested.

We should consult with the chairman and move forward based on his vision, but I dont think we need to take a potential retaliation from Eden seriously. After all, theyre small and weak, and dont have what it takes to make us take them seriously, the head of the MSS said, then tabled the topic for a later discussion with Zi Jinping.