January had passed fast into February. I had been freed from mandatory observation quicker than normal and sent home. This made me very happy. The zone’s effect and chill had been deemed a minor exposure and I was soon out and fancy-free. As I had no injuries there was no other reason to keep me. I had arranged to get more psychological support time in, which made Command happy. I need to deal with my anger before I did something bad. What had almost happened in the graveyard had scared me.

I was in my home “weight room” watching the international section of the news feeds as I worked through my increased weight set. I was doing far more weight than I was a few years ago. My increased muscle mass on my upper torso was clear evidence of this.

“The humanitarian crisis in Korea has been brought under control the Government in Seoul has reported.”

The collapse of North Korea was a fast thing. The largest zone in the world was now located there. It covered the central third of the country splitting the peninsula more effectively than man ever had. The northern third was now under Chinse control while the rest was now part of the sole Korean nation. The Koreans quickly called for aid and received it. Not much is known about what is happening with the Chinse-controlled section. But rumours indicate it was not good.

“President Roe publicly thanked the nations that helped avoid what many believe could have been the worst humanitarian crisis of this century. She also pledged her nation’s full support to the international fight against the zones.”

The map on the screen and images showed the old 38th parallel border being dismantled and moved slowly to where the zone boundary had stopped expanding. This was being done to stop incursions from the new zone. Reports hinted that this was still happening. About 40% of the North Korean population was not accounted for according to the UN but this was hard to confirm due to the Chinese blocking access to parts of the border region.

“In other news, the situation in America is reaching a critical point. The Federal Government has reached the point where a full shutdown is about to take place as the national budget has not been agreed to by the remnants of the Democrat and Republican parties.

The US military has been able to keep the peace between the pro-federal and pro-coalition factions in some areas. But in several cities, local martial law edicts have been brought in to stop rapidly escalating violence. However unconfirmed reports indicate that desertions are happening with the US military. Which has been denied by a Pentagon spokesman.

President Garcia has not ruled out enacting her emergency powers to keep the federal government running. This has been condemned by many of her opponents.”

In November it looked like it was about to kick off in America. The US military came in hard and told both sides to back off. This kept the bulk of the peace in the nation but clashes are increasing again. No word on the national zone count which was telling.

“In Europe, the Euro Corps has confirmed the closure of three zones across the continent. This comes with the announcement of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Ukraine becoming full members of the Union.

The Commission President has called today a historic day that shows that the world is coming together to combat the threat of the zones.”

I would not go that far but most of the world is working together. That is a good thing no doubt. But I had noticed that the bulk of maps being shown had been scaled down again from the original nation ones. So, three closed but how many new ones I wondered.

In Britain, we had remained at the same amount when closures and new breaches were taken into account. As far as I could tell so had Japan, and the rest of CANZUK was the same. It was harder to tell with the rest of the world. At least no major breaches had occurred like in the former nation of North Korea.

“Screen off.” I shut down the screen with a voice command as I had finished my training and need to shower. I knew that sooner or later I would be called again and had to enjoy the peace when I had it, I had issues to deal with.

## ## ## ## ##

In a meeting room at UKZC Hamilton and Holsan had finished a series of meetings and briefings. They were leading back in their chairs reviewing the information they had been presented with on their e-pads. It had been a long day and was not over yet for the two men.

“Well then. That was a lot” Holsan said rubbing his eyes.

“I agree.”

“Where shall we start?” Holsan said looking at Hamilton.

“We will start with Operative Harrington. We have waited long enough for all the data to be reviewed.”

“The mission he was on during New Year’s Eve went well. Major Hawk’s report was positive about how the operation was implemented and handled. The closure went smoothly as can be expected. Operative Harrington encountered and eliminate three unique threats with no major issue.

These new type two grave threats are a note for concern. He has checked and no others have been encountered as of yet in other Grave-type zones. They are in some ways much harder to eliminate. We have updated our allies accordingly.

The only thing of note was at the end Operative Harrington seemed distracted. Hawk has made several suggestions on equipment and training alterations. All should be approved nothing extreme has been suggested.” He said summarising what was on his e-pad.

“Overall good news than from the field from him. Dr Holland’s report shows his mental state is still classed as stable but with some concerns and his physical mutations have also stopped for the moment.” Hamilton thought out loud. Holsan nodded looking at his e-pad.

“Sgt Gey did note that he seemed overly aggressive and angry during the mission end. He is however engaging with our psychologists more now which they have classed as a good sign. We will continue with our plans for him unless any issues arise. Next to the RCT. Their mission last week was also a success.”

“Yes, a Creature type zone. They encountered heavy resistance at the breach. Operative Wong and McGregor were both injured. Wong was the worst and will be out of action for an estimated 6 months. McGregor will be back in action in about a month. Smith is still on the extended Operative training rota helping the next class.

That leaves Operatives Griffon, Goldsmith and Grey on active duty. Operative Grey is however showing increasing signs of mental instability. He is not handling the tempo of missions as well as the others.”

“Can we reassign Operative Smith back to the unit from his training duties?” Hamilton asked.

“Yes, but I think we should be looking at the next crop of candidates for replacements. Smith has also been pushed hard that is why he was transferred in the first place.” Holsan replied.

“Very well. Have Smith on stand-by and start looking at the next candidates. I will inform the Cabinet of the planned changes. Next.” He lifted his hands and rubbed his tired eyes.

“Reports out of Europe are noting increasing zone appearances over the last six months. Nothing they are not able to handle but it is now putting increasing strain on their operative pool. They are again trying to have UKZC send operatives to support them.”

“After the incident with Operative Harrington and the French actions that’s doubtful at the moment. But I will raise the issue.” Hamilton shook his head.

“Canada Zone Command is growing increasingly worried about the US.”

“Are not we all? The country is a powder keg one match and the violence so far will seem like a schoolyard brawl. The issues of the last thirty years have polarized them so badly. I will recommend that we offer whatever support we can to the Canadians. The central plains are going to be needed if lose the American farms to conflict.” Holsan nodded taking notes.

“Australia and New Zealand report they are containing their zones.”

“Some good news at least. That along with Korea finally getting on top of the collapse of the North.” Hamilton replied.

“Russia and China are still not playing ball.”

“As to be expected at this point. Along with the problems in the Middle East. But the rest of the world is working together at least.”

“Anything on the diplomatic front I should be aware of?” Holsan asked looking at Hamilton with a side-eye look.

“Come on Robert. I know you have been hearing the rumours. Do not be coy.”

“Alright, Roger the rumour mill is buzzing with gossip about the number of high-level talks with the Japanese in recent weeks.” Holsan said with a chuckle. Hamilton snorted.

“Yes, there have been talks.”

“About? We are already in a full sharing agreement with them and a lot of other countries. What more can there be?”

“They have floated the idea of joining CANZUK.” Hamilton replied casually interested in the reaction. He was not disappointed.

“Bloody Hell! That’s one hell of a shift. But why?” Holsan exclaimed.

“From what we can tell several reasons. First is the US situation. As you know they have pulled out from across the world. That includes the Korean and Japanese bases. Leaving a massive security hole in many places.

The second is we are the least affected by zones interfering with our economies. Europe is getting hit hard on that front. The rest of the world has different issues.

Finally, Russia and China are the big questions.” Hamilton laid out the main points.

Both men went quiet thinking over the global situation and how it was developing. After a few minutes, Hamilton spoke.

“Unofficially what were the results of the ECLIPSE scenario?” Holsan frowned at the question.

“Between you, me and these four walls. Bad.”

“How long did we last?”

“Best case a few years at worst a few months.”

“Main issue?” Hamilton enquired.

“Manpower. What else? We simply do not have the personnel to stop a wave of cascading breaches creating events like what happened at the start. We will be simply overwhelmed. We both know we are straining right now. The scenario showed massive civil collapse would happen in the first few weeks. The chaos that causes would only accelerate the end.”

“Yes. Parts of the cabinet are floating the National Mobilisation Act again.”

“You know that I oppose that for many reasons. But... But now we might be forced into it if things keep going.” Holsan was clearly dejected.

“Truly that bad?” Hamilton asked clear shocked at what his colleague had said.

“Yes.” That was all the reply he was given.

“So, the reports are accurate. We are pushing the Operatives and support teams too hard.”

“Yes, we are and now it’s beginning to show. We are having increasing shortages of people that will soon be having a knock-on effect.”

“So, we have reached this point then.” Hamilton lamented.

“We knew that this day was most likely to come. It is due to the people we have that it had not arrived sooner.”

“The public will not react well to this, not well at all!”

“What age bracket will they be implementing you think with the act?” Holsan asked.

“It will be 18 to 25 age range to start. With restrictions on eligibility.”

“That will not go down well.”

“I know. Parents will do anything they can to get their children exempted. This is going to impact the working class the hardest. They are going to be the hardest to convince.”

“The Act should have as few loopholes as possible.”

“I know. The problem is Ministers have a habit of adding them to help out their family, friends and donors. The draft bill has few but I expect that to change.”

“The public will not tolerate that!”

“Agreed. The problem is the cabinet does understand the scale of the backlash they will face when it comes to light. And it will most assuredly when the bill is read in Parliament.”