Since Victor "rose to power," The Pentagon hadn't slept soundly!
Recently appointed…no, rather, reappointed, Richard Bruce Cheney sat in his office, took off his glasses, and rubbed his temples painfully.
He hadn't anticipated...
that he would retake this position within just a few months.
His previous tenure had witnessed the shocking "Black Hawk Down" incident that killed many soldiers during the US-Mexico century-old conflict. He was dismissed, and his successor, General Carl Vorno, ended up dead!
This left him terrified. Had he not "wisely" withdrawn earlier, perhaps he would have been the one mourned at a memorial service. Just when he was preparing to retire with his wife to a farmstead, Acting President James Dan Quayle personally visited him, hoping he would serve as the interim Defense Minister.
Nobody wanted the position at such a time!
"With only four months until the election, once it's over, I can leave," Richard Bruce Cheney muttered to himself.
Continuing in this role would shorten his life.
He just hoped he could pass through calmly...
without anymore incidents!
But how did the old saying go? The more you worry about something, the more it happens.
The knocking was urgent!
Richard Bruce Cheney suddenly looked up, his pupils shrinking as he fixed his gaze on the door, held his breath, and half-opened his mouth in panic, considering hiding under the desk.
But he thought better of it, considering it unbecoming of his stature.
As he hesitated, the person outside had already pushed the door open.
"Defense Minister, Ja…ah? What are you doing?"
Richard Bruce Cheney gave a sheepish smile, looking at the pen in his hand, "I just dropped my pen, was picking it up. What's the matter, you seem frantic?"
The subordinate then remembered he had important news to report, and said urgently, "The Japanese Navy's destroyer 'Hokkaido' in the Gulf of Mexico has been hit by a missile attack, they're requesting our help."
Just knew it couldn't be good news!
Richard Bruce Cheney felt a headache coming on.
The Japanese were famously deferential.
Old Bush once vomited directly at a state banquet in Japan upon seeing sashimi. He remembered almost being turned into "Japanese sashimi." The incident at Father Island was horrifying, and the Japanese Prime Minister at that time was extremely concerned, almost going as far to eat the vomit himself.
What was this called?
Gifted in position, cannot refuse!
Following MacArthur, Japan had always been the United States' "little brother" in Asia, a containment against the Soviet flank. If war broke out, the U.S. Military could launch planes from there.
He had no martial honor, producing a son without integrity, and there was no one more despicable than him in the United States.
If the U.S. Military were to intervene, believe it or not, that so-called "peace agreement" would instantly be torn to shreds, and they'd start firing at the border!
Richard Bruce Cheney scratched his head in frustration, feeling an itchy scalp, scratching hard and grumbling, "Why did those Japanese have to provoke Victor? Did they eat too much raw fish and got parasites in their brains?"
The subordinate, standing beside him, opened his mouth, "But they were still some distance from Mexico's 12-mile territorial sea when the Mexican side initiated the conflict."
"It takes two to tango. If the Japanese hadn't been so arrogant, do you think Victor would bother them? Clearly, they brought it on themselves!"
Richard Bruce Cheney stood up and slammed the table, shouting, "The Japanese are just looking for trouble!"
The subordinate listened, dumbfounded.
Wait, no—Defense Minister, are you a Mexican spy?
But it just proved that saying.
Strength and strategy, there are always great scholars to defend my cause!
"Don't rescue! This is a conflict between Japan and Mexico, it's none of our business," Richard Bruce Cheney decisively refused.
"Wouldn't that look bad, after all, Japan is an important ally of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region…"
"The Soviet Union is gone, anyone can be our ally! Don't meddle."
Richard Bruce Cheney scolded with furrowed eyebrows, but perhaps feeling that this argument was too weak, he pondered and added, "Block the signals from the Gulf of Mexico. As long as we don't receive them, it's not our fault."
The subordinate wanted to say more, but seeing the Defense Minister's expression, he could only nod silently and leave the office, finally unable to resist muttering a few words under his breath.
The Pentagon still had the Defense Minister calling the shots.
Inside the office, Richard Bruce Cheney gazed out at the high-hanging moon and sighed heavily, "Troubles never come singly."
"Officer, no one is responding!" The communications soldier began to grow pale, his voice trembling. Otsuka Koji also looked equally desperate.
He knew he had been abandoned!
As soon as the word left his mouth, all the soldiers on the bridge fell silent, their eyes complicated as they looked at him. They were all proud, who would willingly surrender?
But who wanted to die?
Just as Otsuka Koji was about to order the white flag raised, Deputy Captain Yamamoto Benji, eyes bloodshot, stormed in with others, "Otsuka! Are you betraying your country?"
"I have fought to the last moment."
"But you haven't committed seppuku yet! We Navy men should go down with our ship, there are no Japanese soldiers who surrender!"
Otsuka Koji frowned, sizing up the other man, Yamamoto Benji was very traditionally Japanese in appearance: bow-legged, short, with a stern face, and a known "extremist" on the ship, always demanding artillery fire on Soviet ships because his father, grandfather, and uncle were supposedly taken to Siberia to plant potatoes.