Pentagon, International Affair
"Morning Mr Dowager."
"Morning Clarkson."
"Working on the weekend again huh?"
Thomas Dowager chuckled. "I only worked on the weekend. I party five days a week, ya know?"
"Hahaha, must be nice."
Thomas went through the usual security. ID card scan, three-stage biometric scan(eyes, fingerprints, DNA), confirmation by the office. After the usual guard, William Clarkson, received the go ahead from his office, Thomas tipped his fedora to the guard, and entered the elevator.
Thomas was a peculiar man. He was a young man, a solid built only in his late 20s. Yet, he dressed like a noir detective. Black suit with white stripes, white wingtip, and his signatory purple fedora. To be honest, he looked more like a pimp than a spy. But it's the weekend, and he's good with his job, so nobody can say anything to him.
The elevator brought Thomas underground. Where the floor to his office was. He had the whole floor. Even his floor was weird. It's a large empty space. At the end of it was his assistant, Eleonore Braxton. Her cubicle conjoined with Thomas's office. Those two were the only people here.
"Good morning Sir."
"Morning El. What's on the agenda today?"
"You have a briefing from the special task force on the Israeli-Palestine relationship, the NATO requested your supervision on their expansion program, and the Generals wanted reports on China."
"Oh, well then. Guess I'll be busy in the archive."
"No need sir. I've already requested all info regarding China to be available on your server."
"Oh, great. Thanks El. When's the meeting?"
"1430 sir."
"Very well then. Would you handle the briefing then?"
"Yes sir, I'll just follow the docket we set up last week, right?"
"Yup. Then, I'll be in my office then."
"Okay sir."
###
"Ah Mr. Dowager. The man of the hour. Welcome to the meeting."
Thomas took his seat at the other end of the oval conference table. "So sorry I was late. I got so immersed reading the reports on China, I didn't checked on the time."
"No worries. Your attention to details is the reason you are here with us today."
"I'll do my best. So," Thomas jumped right into it, "what can I help you gentlemen today?"
"We've began to feel the pressure coming from China. That country does indeed poised itself as one of our greatest economic contributor. Unfortunately, they began to demand more than what was earlier agreed to. And we can't have that?"
"Huh? The way I see it, even if we fulffilled their requests, it won't affect the States profit margin too much. Any reason why we don't want to pay?"
"Well, in economy, more money is always better." They all laughed, including Thomas. The person continued. "But China is a big country. If they're treated as equal, they might surpass us. And we don't want the Russian Space Program mishaps to continue."
"Understood sir. So, do you just want my...point of view?"
The gentlemen on the table looked at each other. The man at the head of the table continued. "We were hoping, that you could come up with a...plan of action, that would...nullify the threat."
"Well, off the top of my head, we'd do what we always do. Remove the current head, and put one of our own. Easy."
"Not that easy, Mr. Dowager. The Chinese are a loyal bunch. They would die for their president."
"Ah, I see. Give me a moment then."
And the gentlemen of the oval table just sat there. Watching Thomas on his notebook, flipping through the notes, writing on possible outcome. By the end of it, he was smiling.
"I take it, you found a better solution?"
"I might have."
"Tell us..."
###
China was in chaos. Lots of rioting happened. It began with the indipendence of Taiwan, who signed a backed indipendence declaration backed by the USA. Hong Kong, took the chance and asked the Great Britain to intervened. They too got their indipendence. People of the mainland, all saw the lavish lifestyle of the newly formed colonies, began to demand the same. Thus, so it is. The people of China themselves handed their country to outside power on a silver platter.
China had changed. Its new nickname is the Asian United States. Gone was the beautiful honour and pride of Asia, replaced by the beautiful facade of capitalism.