Chapter 1

I woke up like I usually did; sleep deprived and ready to get the day over with. Even with the occasional upsets, army life had become an arduous chore. It was a few hours later before I heard. The news came as an announcement over the loudspeaker.

"Attention all servicemen, we've been placed on high alert due to a terrorist attack in Tokyo."

The reactions on my fellow soldiers' faces were mildly shocked at most, these types of attacks had become commonplace. Luckily, my routine remained boring. However the news told a much more interesting story. "A NEW FRONTIER" claimed one Japanese article. "OVER 50 THOUSAND DEAD" said one from the US.

"Must remind you of college." said Glenn, one of my friends on the base.

"Nah, I never wrote for these sites." I said.

"Cmon Ian, don't tell me that there wasn't a section in your journalism class about clickbait." said Glenn.

"Maybe… But it wasn't called that." I said.

"Really? Because I seem to remember an article called "Ten ways to get a real-life waifu"."

"That article was one of the many reasons I didn't become a journalist."

"And now we're stuck here."

"Pretty much."

That was the extent of most of my conversations with Glenn. I'd met him in college and we'd been good friends ever since. In fact, he was the one who got me to join the military. I'd been having a bad time in my aforementioned journalism career and a one day he went up to me and said,

"Ian, I'm probably joining the army. Want to join? It's not like you have anything better to do."

Of course that's not exactly what he said, and it wasn't the only reason I quit journalism. Still, this conversation with him was what made me finally give up on my college career. And I really did have nothing better to do. Although I thought I had very good reasons, I was still very naive at the time. After some time in the army, due to random chance, Glenn had been assigned to the same base as me, although he wasn't in my unit.

Back on the base, life continued mostly as normal, with the news turning to speculation about the other side of the Gate instead of its immediate dangers. The headlines became more about, "A NEW RESOURCE WAR" which scared me far more than more than ill-equipped Romans, or whatever the invaders were. In fact, the atmosphere of the base grew grimmer as the Japanese Diet deliberated on possible courses of action. It was eventually decided that the land beyond the Gate would be designated as Japanese territory, letting the JSDF wage war against the "terrorists" in "Japan". This too did not sit well with me. So it was with great trepidation that I walked to the office of my superior officer. The man could be best be described as brief; brief in height, and brief on words. I saluted him.

"Private Bader, at ease." said sergeant Fee, who also had a brief last name.

"Yes sir."

"You've been assigned to the JSDF base on Okinawa, you're to prepare to leave by 0700 tomorrow." He handed me a folder, "Details can be found here, good luck."

"Of course sir."

I saluted and left. That had been a, and I hate to say it, brief conversation. I went back to my bed to read the packet.

The packet, like many world changing objects came in an unmarked manila folder. Well it wasn't quite unmarked, on closer inspection I noticed a faint Army watermark on one corner. Inside the folder there was a large CLASSIFIED stamp on the first page of a packet. Inside the packet, there was a short message:

PRIVATE BADER. YOU HAVE BEEN RE-ASSIGNED TO THE JSDF-USPACOM JOINT OPERATIONS TASK FORCE. PLEASE PROCEED TO XXXXXXXXXXXX. ON XXXXXX AT 1000. DISCLOSURE OF PLACES AND DATES TO INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT CLEARANCE WILL LEAD TO A COURT MARTIAL.

I was very confused by this message, and I had every right to be. I hadn't had any reason to believe that I'd be reassigned so why had this happened? Why had I been assigned to this secret mission so suddenly? On my way out the next day I said goodbye to my friends. Glenn may have guessed something was up, but he didn't let it on. This wasn't the first time I'd said goodbye to him after all.

The trip over to the base was uneventful, as one would hope for a super secret classified mission. Luckily the army had arranged helicopter transport for me, so I didn't have to drive through rush hour traffic. I'd experienced it on my days off before, and it'd been way more than I was used to. Upstate NY rarely had more than a steady stream of traffic, unless you went down to NYC. I was thinking about all of this as my very loud transport craft landed on the roof of the JSDF base.

Welcome to chapter 1! Chapter updates will come soon.