The tension in what remained of the presidential palace was suffocating. President Mariano Velásquez sat at the head of the war council, his gaze locked onto the battered map of his country. The Amerathian air raid had devastated Bogotá, but it had done more than just destroy buildings—it had exposed Gran Colombia's military vulnerability to the entire world.
General Rodrigo Ibarra stood beside the map, tracing a line with his finger. His uniform was stained with soot, and the bandage on his arm from the previous day's attack was still fresh.
"Mr. President, we can no longer ignore the reality of this war. Amerathia's bombers have changed everything. We can't even take down those aircraft as we don't have a weapon to counter it. The Amerathians would surely use their flying steel to drop their bombs, leaving us with no choice but to catch them with our bare hands."
