Later that evening, Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office. It was a rather late address, due to needing to delay it in order for the initial airstrikes to proceed uncontested. He could have held the address earlier, but General Mattis had convinced him that giving a nuclear power advance warning would be a terrible idea.

After the traditional opening statement, Trump said, Due to the unprovoked and cowardly terrorist attack on our allies in South Korea perpetrated by the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un, I approved an immediate armed retaliation consisting of a huge bombing mission to remove their nuclear capability. As of thirty minutes ago, North Korea is no longer a nuclear power. He gave the camera in front of him a smug smile, thinking it would reassure the citizens that there would be no chance of a nuclear war.

After that, he continued his address, vilifying North Korea and branding them terrorists. He swore that he would chase the perpetrators responsible for the attack that caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties to the ends of the earth and that he would uphold Americas responsibility to police the world and support and defend their allies in South Korea.

And in order to accomplish this mission, I have ordered our forces in South Korea and Japan to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone jointly with the South Korean forces to take out the rogue government of the North Korean terrorists.

After mentioning that, he paused, then continued, During our investigation of the initial assault, we discovered a disturbing truth. North Korea didnt act alone. They were aided by the government of Eden.... As he continued his address, people were surprised. With just a few words, he had tarred Eden and North Korea with the same brush and included them in the upcoming American counteroffensive, thus removing the need for him to declare war on them individually.

Early the next morning, the news broke in America that China had also been carrying out an investigation of their own regarding four of their jets being shot down while they were on routine patrols over the Chinese mainland. Their investigation had revealed that the ones who had shot them down were from Eden as well.

Given that the Edenian jets had been granted permission to operate by Taiwan, China issued an ultimatum to both countries: either they surrender and pay reparations within twelve hours, or China would respond with what they described as overwhelming force, as they considered that a state of war existed between China and the two belligerents.

While all of that was going on, Russia had silently begun their special military exercises in Ukraine. It was an invasion in all but name, backed by the might of the Russian nation in full. That it happened at the same time as the American invasion of North Korea and the ultimatum being issued by China was only a coincidence.

The chaos had finally broken out, and Eden, who was dragged in by treatiesat least on the surfacehad been painted as the villain and everyone just knew that the fledgling country would soon be wiped off the map by the much more superior militaries of two world superpowers. Behind the scenes, it was all about the greed and lust for power of people who had more money and power than they could ever use in three lifetimes. But they were practiced enough at just this kind of political theater that nobody other than the people involved would ever know of their involvement.

Or so they thought, anyway.

Despite giving Taiwan and Eden twelve hours to surrender or suffer, China only waited three hours before attacking. A swarm of cruise missiles flew across the Taiwan Strait, targeting radar stations, air defense installations, and military bases. China unleashed everything they had in an attempt to degrade the defenses in Taiwan as much as possible before they sent in their ground troops.

However, just as the first round of incoming fire was detected making its way toward Taiwan, a stream of tracer rounds came from every direction, taking down missile after missile. It didnt stop everything, of course, but thanks to a solid priority intercept system, the damage was extremely limited and spread out, so as to maintain as much of Taiwans defensive strength as possible.

Even so, Taiwan knew the situation couldnt be maintained for long. Everyone knew that getting involved in a shooting war with a behemoth like China was a bad idea; after all, anyone would run out of bullets long before China ran out of bodies. And Taiwan knew that Chinese airstrikes were inevitable. Their anti-air installations would eventually be taken out, either by stealthed jets, bombing runs, or even good old fashioned collaborators taking them down from the inside. Once that happened, the small island nation of Taiwan would be all but helpless.

China, far from being discouraged by their initial attacks failure, sent a second wave of cruise missiles. They had plenty of them stockpiled and wouldnt feel the pinch even if they had to fire them for the entire duration of the twelve-hour ultimatum.

Soon, the second wave was followed by a third, then a fourth. Each round of fire came after an interval of about fifteen minutes, which gave Taiwan ten minutes of preparation time between them... in theory, at least. In practice, the Taiwanese military was running around like a headless chicken, frantically reloading their guns, changing out warped gun barrels, restocking countermissile batteries, and so on.

Plus, the damage inflicted by each wave might be minor, but it would only continue to grow over time.

Our friends in Taiwan are requesting immediate support. Should we send it, or argue that were fully occupied by dealing with America? Alexander asked Aron. He had reported the request the moment he received it, also noting that they had signed a mutual defense treaty during the diplomatic visit a week prior.

Naturally, well assist them. Let them know that well uphold our obligations under the treaty, but that we need all of our forces to deal with America, so our aid will be of the long-ranged variety.

Aron turned to the empty seat next to Alexander and said, Aeolus.

Alexander felt a breeze and heard the ringing of wind chimes from the seat next to him. For some reason, it reminded him of a childs giggle. He had met Aeolus before, and nodded a greeting to the nearly invisible shimmer that hovered over the seat of the chair next to him.

[You need something, grampa?] Aeolus said. His voice sounded like wind chimes and was somewhat garbled, but still somehow recognizable.

(Ed note: Look up speaking piano on YouTube. Its a really interesting phenomenon, kind of like a version of pareidolia. Heres an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6e2c0v4sBM )

Work time, Aeolus, Aron sighed and massaged his brows.

Aeolus stopped chiming and a transparent, light blue humanoid figure appeared where he was sitting, a small nicety the AI implemented when it was time to focus on work instead of play. [Yes, sir. Im up to date on the situationwhat do you want done?]

Take out all of the Chinese missile silos in Fujian Province, Aron ordered, then turned to Athena. Athena, issue a warning to America that if they truly move on Eden, well respond in kind and they wont like the result. He wanted to end things as soon as possible, so he had to provoke the biggest possible attack from America. An alpha strike with overwhelming force wouldnt work nearly as well as a cocky threat; overwhelming force would make them cautious, but a threat like that would make them mad, and mad is exactly what he needed them to be.

After all, a sound beating would save more lives in the long run, and human resources were still resources.

[Yes, sir,] Aeolus replied, then his figure flickered in the equivalent of a blink. [The birds are in the air.]

[Message delivered, sir,] Athena said, then the meeting room changed. Alexander, Aron, and the AIs in the meeting now appeared to be floating in the air above the Edenian task group, which had been pulled from its presidential escort duty and diverted to the beleaguered Taiwan.

You notified Taiwan, right? Aron asked Alexander.

Yes, my assistant sent the notification the moment you made the decision.

Good.

Aron turned to Poseidon and asked, Are we in range?

[Yes.] Poseidon nodded.

Fire a saturation attack all along the coast of Fujian province. China wants an answer to their ultimatum? Fine. Lets give them one.

Editor notes: I'm afraid I've only got one chapter in me today, folks. I had a pretty significant surgery last Friday and thought that because it was a laparoscopic procedure I'd recover fast and wouldn't be too hindered. But the recovery's not going as I expected, so I may need to severely limit my time spent upright for a few more days. (Last Friday as in a week and a half or so ago, not just two days ago)