February 10, 2042. San Diego Naval Base, San Diego, California, USA

Newly-promoted Rear Admiral Oscar Jansen was just assigned to the San Diego Naval Base when he received word that he would be going to the Pearl Harbor Joint Base the following day. The message was sent to him just mere seconds after he stepped foot on the base. No other details were mentioned but it didn't seem to be an ordinary one. It wasn't marked urgent so he just casually filed it in the inbox of his communications tablet. He had more important stuff to do today, such as to meet up with Admiral Russell Henderson for a meeting regarding the Unidentified Aquatic Organisms' attacks in the Pacific. He was also going to meet his new secretary. He was regarded as one of the youngest admirals in the Navy, with him being only 24 years old. His speed in rising through the ranks would mostly be attributed to luck and his skill in tactical warfare, according to most of his colleagues.

The soldiers finished unloading his luggage from the Chevy Tahoe LSSV and started bringing them into the HQ. He casually tucked the tablet under his arm and followed them into the building. They were taking the stuff to his temporary office in the meantime before the meeting. As he was walking several other personnel saluted him, the norm since he is an admiral. The soldiers and him entered the room and placed his bags on the floor. He dismissed them afterwards.

The tablet alerted him that the meeting would be starting in less than 15 minutes. He immediately rushed out the door and bumped into someone as he was doing so. Luckily, neither of them were knocked down, only being put slightly off-balance which they quickly recovered from.

"Eek!" the person exclaimed in a feminine voice. The person happened to be a brunette wearing the Service Khaki.

"Oops! I'm sorry! I've got a meeting to go to right now!" he said, not waiting for a reply and leaving. However, the woman called out to him.

"Admiral! Wait! I'm going with you!" she shouted, chasing after him. Jansen turned his head around in surprise while lightly sprinting. The woman caught up to him.

"Forgive me for-*gasp*- earlier, sir! I'm your-*gasp*-n-new secretary! Yeoman First Class Penny Cartwright!"

Jansen nodded quickly in acknowledgement, "Nice to meet ya! We're gonna be late!"

Looking at his watch, the time was already 7:52. He quickly picked up the pace to the point where he was literally jogging through the corridor, with Penny following suit.

"Sir! Please slow down! We can't run this fast in here!" she said, barely missing a janitor.

Jansen, still running, replied, "The meeting's at 8:00 sharp! Henderson's really darn strict when it comes to this stuff!"

Henderson was Jansen's superior, mentor and family friend. They met during Jansen's tenure as a lieutenant, but he already knew him since he was his father's friend. He acted like a second father to him, or maybe uncle would be a more appropriate term. He was very strict when it came to being punctual all the time, a certain trait Henderson was infamous for among his subordinates, Jansen himself being one.

The Operations Center was not far off but it was still a long distance away, on the other side of the Headquarters building. The time was already 8:09.

"Oh great," he thought. "He's gonna kill me when I get there..."

The cream-colored halls were mostly empty since most of the clerical employees were in their offices, giving Jansen and Penny the chance to run. They were very late and apparently they would receive a lecture from Henderson about the importance of punctuality. Jansen remembered the countless times he had to go through that, and it wasn't just him who was subjected to it. After a while, they finally arrived at the Op Center. Looking at his watch, Jansen saw that the time was already 8:13.

"Oh shiiiiit," he said under his breath. He turned to check on Penny, who was out of breath.

"Oh God...*pant* I'm really-*pant*-outta shape..." she said as she caught her breath as she tightly clutched her clipboard to her chest.

Jansen rolled his eyes as he stifled a laugh, "Come on now, Miss Cartwright. Let's, uhh...go inside."

He pushed the doors open. Many of the officers were there already, while Henderson was almost finished with discussing the current attacks by the UAOs in the Pacific.

"As you can see here we have recent attacks on several coastal cities during the past few weeks." Henderson said, pointing at a hologram of Earth with the mentioned cities marked red. "The first attack was on Tokyo. Then it was Macau, Taipei, Hong Kong, Port Moresby and Jakarta. Sightings were reported near Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Colombo, and now here are also sightings coming from India, Africa and the Middle East." he continued, with each city and country lighting up as he mentioned their names.

"Due to this, there is a huge chance that they might move on to Hawaii and the West Coast. We've already lost Guam and because of this we're moving most of our forces in the Seventh Fleet to Pearl Harbor to maximize the defense and hopefully intercept any force that tries to enter our territory." he continued. During this he caught sight of Jansen and Penny as they entered the room. They stood near some of the radar monitors since the other officers where occupying the space near the hologram table.

"Any questions?" He asked, looking sternly at all of them. Then one of the officers raised his hand.

"Yes Cpt. Remwick?"

"The reports mentioned that the UAOs couldn't be harmed by conventional weaponry. Is that true?" he asked.

"Well, yes but-"

"Sir. Footage recovered from news organizations showed that the UAOs seemed to have appeared out of nowhere during the attacks. How do we even have a chance to know when they strike?" another officer cut him off.

All the other officers started asking questions of a similar type, causing some commotion. Henderson quickly spoke up.

"Alright! Enough! I know you guys have a lot of questions but frankly...I don't have the answers to them right now. We're completely in the dark about how we can fight back, but we need to regardless. There's a lot of people depending on us on the West Coast right now, and because of that, all of you are obliged to do your jobs. We are the only things standing in between those...'aliens' and them."

All the others stopped talking immediately.

"Now, there's also another thing I need to mention. After arrival at Pearl Harbor we will be undergoing the testing of that new XM-03 Laser Cannon from Europe." Henderson said.

"The what?!" Everyone in the room asked in surprise.

"Yes. You heard that right. The DoD and DARPA have had the laser brought in for testing of its so-called 'special ability' on one of our ships for the UN's weapons program. Strangely, it's ability is so classified that we won't learn more about it until we actually see it for ourselves tomorrow." he continued.

"Anyway. Meeting is over. You're all dismissed. Remember, we'll be leaving at 0500 hundred tomorrow."

The others left the room after saluting. Jansen and Penny were about to slip away when Henderson called their attention.

"Admiral Oscar Jansen... You're late," he said with a serious tone.

Jansen froze in horror.

'Here we go...' he thought.

"I'm...very sorry, sir. I won't let it happen again," he said after turning around to face him, expecting his superior to give him a lecture on the importance of punctuality.

Instead, Henderson patted him on the back instead, surprising the Rear Admiral.

"Ehh...I can let you off for now. You just got here didn't ya? I wasn't expecting you to be on time anyway. I assume you got to know your secretary already?" Henderson's tone suddenly changed to a friendly one as he pointed at Penny, who was fixing her uniform.

"Not really... I actually bumped into her on the way here..." Jansen awkwardly said. Henderson chuckled.

"Oh, I see. Well, I gotta go. I still have stuff to sort out with the Chief of Naval Ops. Get as much rest as you can, Oz. We'll be leaving at the exact time tomorrow so don't be late for that this time." Henderson said, patting Jansen on the back again as he walked out.

"Oh and welcome to San-Di-Ego, Jansen! Enjoy the place while you can, huh?" he called to Jansen as he walked off.

"Umm...Admiral?" Penny asked Jansen as they walked out of the room.

"Yeah?"

"Y-You seem close to Admiral Henderson. A-Are you two...friends?"

"He's a family friend. Dad knew him."

"Oh. Oka-."

Suddenly, a grumbling sound was heard.

"What was that?" Penny said as she looked around .

"I think that was me. Hahaha... I haven't eaten anything at all before I got here. Could ya show me where the mess hall is?"