Jayden did not sit.
He stood in Charlotte’s office long after the satellite feed of Franch had gone dark, his eyes fixed on the blank screen as though staring hard enough might reverse what had already happened. The destruction gnawed at him in a way he had not expected, not because he doubted the brutality of the Sovereign Protocols, but because it forced him to confront a question he had deliberately avoided for years.
If they did that to Franch, how long before they ca for Nortasia.
The thought settled deep, heavy and uncomfortable.
Nortasia had been prepared. Overprepared, so would say. Fortified cities, layered defense grids, ch divisions refined and upgraded under Paula’s direct supervision, soldiers trained not just to fight, but to adapt, to think, to survive. And yet Franch had fallen in hours.
Jayden’s hands curled slowly into fists at his sides.
"How," he murmured, not looking at Charlotte, "did our allied forces not slow them down at all."
Charlotte hesitated before answering, which told him everything even before she spoke.
"They tried," she said carefully. "But the Sovereign Protocol units didn’t engage the way we expected. They didn’t push through resistance. They bypassed it, isolated command centers, and neutralized targets with precision strikes that didn’t give our forces ti to regroup."
Jayden exhaled slowly, his mind racing.
Paula had assured him they had a fighting chance. She had shown him prototypes, data projections, simulations where human-engineered ch suits stood toe to toe with anything extrapolated from alien technology. So what was going wrong.
Were the Sovereign Protocols simply that far ahead.
Or had Nexus never intended for humanity to truly catch up.
Before he could voice the thought, Charlotte straightened suddenly, her hand moving to the console beside her as fresh data poured in.
"Jayden," she said, her voice tightening, "they’re attacking Espana."
His head snapped up. "Already."
"Yes. Multiple entry points. Air and atmospheric descent. Sa pattern as Franch."
The room felt smaller.
Before he could respond, an incoming audio channel cut through the silence, Harper’s voice breaking in without preamble, sharp and urgent beneath the faint roar of background alarms.
"Jayden, listen to ," Harper said. "We’ve got visual confirmation. Thousands of Sovereign Protocol units are approaching Dominion City from the skies. Not scattered. Not probing. This is a full-scale advance."
Jayden closed his eyes briefly, grounding himself, then opened them again.
"Hold your position," he said evenly. "Engage only when necessary. Buy ti."
Another alert chid in before Harper could respond.
Then another.
Then another.
The Acting President of Nestonia appeared on the central display, his face pale, his usual diplomatic composure completely stripped away.
"We are seeing airships," the man said, his voice strained. "Countless groups. They’re not hiding. They’re arriving openly."
Almost imdiately after, the Acting President of Icelandia joined the channel, speaking over a backdrop of sirens and frantic movent.
"Our skies are filling," she said. "This is not an incursion. This is an occupation attempt."
Jayden felt it then, sharp and undeniable, the mont when the scale of it finally settled into his chest.
They were attacking everywhere.
Not sequentially. Not strategically in the human sense.
Simultaneously.
"They’re forcing a decision," Charlotte whispered.
Jayden straightened.
"Yes," he said quietly. "They are."
He stepped forward and manually linked every open channel, every allied nation, every surviving leadership node still capable of receiving a signal. The system complied instantly, projecting his image and voice across the world to command centers, bunkers, war rooms, and shelters buried deep beneath cities now under alien skies.
For a mont, he simply stood there, letting the silence stretch, letting every eye settle on him.
Then he spoke.
"Leaders of Earth," Jayden began, his voice steady, carrying without strain. "People of this world who can hear right now. I will not lie to you. What is happening today is worse than anything we have ever faced. Not because these enemies are stronger than us, but because they believe we do not matter."
His gaze hardened.
"They did not co to negotiate. They did not co to test us. They ca to decide whether our world is worth keeping, and they are making that decision with fire."
Across countless screens, faces shifted, fear visible, anger simring beneath it.
"I know so of you are afraid," he continued. "You should be. Courage does not exist without fear. But understand this clearly. If we fall back now, if we surrender our skies and our cities without resistance, then Earth does not survive as a ho. It survives as a resource."
His voice rose slightly, not in volu, but in force.
"This is our world. Every street, every ocean, every ho buried beneath those bunkers belongs to us. Not to Nexus. Not to the Sovereign Protocols. To humanity."
He paused, letting the words settle.
"I am asking you to fight. Not for . Not for Nortasia. But for the people who trusted us to be ready when this mont ca. Fight with everything you have. Fight with strategy, with resolve, with the last blood in your veins if that is what it takes. Do not let them take this world from us without paying a price they will never forget."
His eyes burned.
"Get the upper hand wherever you can. Adapt. Survive. And rember this. We are not alone. Every nation standing right now is standing together. Today, Earth does not bow."
Silence followed.
Then, one by one, confirmations ca in. Firm nods. Steeled expressions. Leaders straightening their backs and turning away from fear toward action.
Acceptance.
The connection closed.
Jayden turned, already moving toward the exit, his mind shifting fully into command mode, when a familiar voice stopped him.
"Jayden."
linda stood in the doorway, her face tense, eyes sharp with worry she was trying and failing to hide.
"You can’t go out there," she said. "Not now. The island is already surrounded by thousands of our ch units. This is one of the safest places on the planet."
Jayden slowed.
"The country needs its president alive," she continued, stepping closer. "After this. After whatever happens. They will need you."
He looked at her for a long mont, the weight of her words sinking in.
"I understand," he said quietly.
Then he reached out, placing a firm, reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"But they won’t need ," he said, his voice calm and absolute, "if they don’t stay alive."
Her breath caught.
"I have to make sure they do."
He stepped past her without another word.
Down the corridor, Temi stood silently, watching him go, one arm resting protectively around Jayden’s young half-sister, who stared up at him with wide eyes, too young to fully understand what was happening, but old enough to feel the gravity of it.
Jayden t their gaze for just a mont.
Then he turned and walked on.
Toward the war that had finally arrived.
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