America Stranded in a Fantasy World

Chapter 33 "And there's a thunder 'cross the land, And a fire in the sky"

Announcement: Holy shit, I actually released a chapter on schedule! As I said in the previous chapter, you can now vote for how you want this series to be structured. The original 1-2 POV chapter-by-chapter swap, or 1-2 similar/relevant POVs for an entire volume(however long that given story/campaign arc is).

Wattpad only: Okay, due to there actually being no "voting" feature unlike Scribblehub or Royal Road. You can either make your opinion known here or go vote on those sites! (Yes I know this is redundant as I did get comments both public and private from chapter 32. But no harm in asking again.)  

CHAPTER 33

"And there's a thunder 'cross the land,

And a fire in the sky"

September 8th, 2040: Office of the Joint Chief of Staff's Chairman, The White House

Rubbing his face with a mix of exhaustion and annoyance, Edwards scowled at his email inbox. Eighty-five days. Eighty-five exhausting days since the transfer and the Armed Forces' attempts at de-escalating from DEFCON 2 to 3. Unsurprisingly, the near-constant change in readiness was starting to take its toll. Then last night President Dresden dropped a bombshell and ordered REDCON level 2 (Readiness Condition) for all military installations along the west coast--with all other mainland installations being moved to level 3. At the time, none of the joint chiefs questioned it as the operation to make contact with the drone carrier was nearly ready. The preemptive move was seen as simply a safeguard. After all, who wouldn't want to pull out all the stops for something like this?

Taking a break from his computer, Edwards stood up and slowly strolled around his office, only stopping at a picture frame from when he was a sergeant, and underneath a quote he lived by while serving.

"We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing."

"We are now qualified to do anything, with nothing." He scoffed. "That qualifies now more than ever." Turning to face the sole window to his office, Edwards looked on as a very late-season thunderstorm raged outside. "Maybe it's time to make operations for Special forces insertions. It'll be easy enough to destabilize Plusieurs, Ruppriecht and the small kingdom of Tsarlato into no longer being a threat for a while. Autoriario, Utspraakriech--and by extension, The Parliyorlik Theocracy were another problem. Do too much destabilizing, and cause a power vacuum, well, it might do more damage than intended. Possibly even leading one of the empires into aggressively expanding in the area. Then again, if it keeps Americans safe, and their focus away from us, is there really a downside?" Continuing to ponder on his own limits to which he would serve The United States his attention was only broken when the door to the office was thrown open; and in the frame, a Secret Serviceman stood tall.

"Sir, I need you to follow me. Presidential orders."

Without wasting another second, Edwards complied and followed the agent through the winding halls of The White House... though he quickly noticed that they weren't going in the direction of the Oval Office. Heading down towards the official basement, Edwards was led to a very normal-looking door. The agent opened the door which led straight into what looked like overflow from the archives. The room was filled with shelves upon shelves of files, books and loose papers. Walking to a shelf in the far corner, the agent pulled down a few books, revealing a metallic scanner.

"Sir, please place your left hand on the scanner." The agent motioned to the biometric scanner. Doing as he was told, Edwards placed his hand on it and, after a few seconds, the bookshelf slowly swung open, revealing an open elevator. "Sir, please make your way inside."