A few words from the author: readers are appreciated, reviewers are appreciated even more.

Please note that some of the parts in this story are somewhat improbable.

Allergy Warning: this fanfiction was produced in a factory that processes fruit and nut products.

"Chinese"

"Japanese"

"English"

Enjoy

February 11, 2010; 1945 local time; Air Force One

The President, Joint chiefs of staff, and the Cabinet were sitting around a table discussing their options when an aide opened the door.

"Mr. President?"

"Yes?" The president responded.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your meeting, but we have Prime Minister Akamatsu on the phone."

"Put him through."

"Yes sir"

The aide left the room and the president picked up the phone.

"President Shrub here."

"Mr. President, we have a large problem."

"How large?"

"At around midnight our time, Sapporo and Chitose were attacked by the Chinese."

"What? How?"

"The survivors report that it was an airborne assault with heavy fighter cover. Currently the Chinese have taken both cities, the airport, and are moving south."

"Good lord. Are you asking for military aid?"

"Not yet, we may be able to handle the Hokkaido situation on our own. . .

but I fear that Hokkaido is just the beginning. . ."

February 12, 2010; 0745 local time; Japanese submarine Hikari, somewhere in the East China Sea

The claustraphobic bridge of the submarine was a bustle of activity. Each sailor manned their post and did their duty. Captian Tokuhiro had just recieved news of the attack and his nerves were stretched; it could be said that they were stretched to the limit, but that would not do it proper justice. A more appropreate description might be that his nerves were like a small rubber band that had been attached a tree in Alaska and pulled all the way to a random telephone pole in Egypt. He was just about to go and get another cup of coffee in the mess hall when he was approached by a sonar operator.

"Captain?"

"WHAT?" The man snapped back as the rubber band that was his last nerve broke and shot towards Egypt with a speed that would make Chuck Yeager(1) say "Damn, what the hell was that?".

The bridge fell silent, the quiet beeping and whirring of the machinery were the only sounds. The captain regained his composure before clearing his throat and asked, "What is it sailor?"

"Captain, we're picking up a large amount of noise coming from the south, it sounds like a large shipping fleet."

"How large?"

"We estimate over fifty vessels, but we can't be sure."

The captain dismissed the seaman and turned to the navigation officer.

"Plot an intercept course"

He then turned to the dive officer.

"Take her down to periscope depth."

He turned to a communications officer.

"Contact Maritime Defense command, tell them we are in pursuit of an unidentified fleet of ships and have someone from the mess hall get me some damn coffee!"

Febrary 13, 2010; 1009 local time; Outskirts of Kyoto

Keitaro scooped another load of dirt into a sandbag held by Shirai. He and his friends had been working overtime ever since the base had recieved word of the invasion on Hokkaido. Keitaro found himself becoming very nervous, although war had been in the back of his mind ever since he had arrived in Kyoto, it never went very far from the back burner. Now that Hokkaido had been invaded, the war started to hit home, hard.

By now most people knew what the "tsunami defences" really were, but the majority weren't going to complain and those who did, were ignored. The main roads into Kyoto were being fortified and reserves were being called up. Concertina wire(2) was strung in front of the positions, buildings of strategic importance in the city were requisitioned by the government and used as strongpoints, and the "signal flare launchers" were supplemented with AA rockets.

Keitaro briefly wondered if Motoko's sister would show up to offer her support, after all their family had sworn to protect Kyoto; but quickly dismissed the thought after he accidently dumped a load of dirt all over Shirai's head.

February 13, 2010; 1509 local time; Temporary GDF training facility

"Move! Move! MOVE!"

"Hostiles, closing on the left flank!"

"Gimme some suppression fire!"

"I'm hit!"

Keitaro and Haitani dragged Shirai back behind a crude sandbag wall.

"You really should lose some weight Shirai." Haitani said as they ducked behind the wall.

Keitaro raised his rifle and fired several bursts at the advancing squad of men. Haitani did the same.

"I'm hit!" Haitani slumped backward on the ground.

Keitaro continued firing before crouching behind the sandbag wall.

Keitaro spoke into his headset. "Echo four-two to all friendly units! Echo four-two to all friendly units! My squad is pinned down by enemy fire! We have taken heavy casualties, requesting assistance!"

Keitaro kept his head down and fired randomly over the wall with his rifle, looked to his right and saw an enemy pointing a rifle at him.

"Game over" the man said as he pulled the trigger.

(1) Chuck Yeager was the first aviator to fly faster than the speed of sound.

(2) Concertina wire: Razor wire that comes in coils for easy storage and deployment.