Everything was proceeding according to plan. After yesterday's sensational "diplomatic hostage" incident, users of the Global Positioning System suddenly discovered that in some remote locations they couldn't receive a signal, or their coordinates were offset. This was the preliminary result of the "satellite annihilation campaign." As expected, the Eternal City still found a few experimental armed satellites; however, they posed no real threat to the Eternal City's void fighters. In just one night, they had wiped out more than a dozen geosynchronous satellites over North America.
Meanwhile, the non-combat personnel aboard the S.W\.O.R.D. space station were still methodically transmitting footage of those political bigwigs' daily life on the station back to Earth. The war correspondents and photographers they'd brought up earlier weren't documentary specialists, but filming and basic editing were more than within their wheelhouse. At dawn, Victor von Doom placed a call to Solomon; his update was on his secret meetings with several nations.
At the meetings, the other side demanded that the specifics of the alien fleet's approach not be released to the public for the time being, so as to avoid worldwide panic and economic fallout. Only if this condition was accepted would those de-escalatory videos be allowed to air. Victor von Doom believed they could agree to this temporarily anyway; after all, the initiative on whether and when to publish ultimately rested with Latveria. With the Eternal City's technological edge, if Solomon wished it, the entire world could receive concrete news of the alien fleet.
Solomon agreed. From beginning to end, he had known this was a war he could not win alone; some concessions were necessary.
He had a rough measure of Thanos's personal strength, but it was that fleet that was the real threat. Although current human military technology couldn't handle threats from outer space, it could still strike alien forces once they landed on Earth. He agreed to share part of their technology to raise humanity's military level in exchange for the production materials Latveria needed for development: to build a spaceport to berth the interstellar warships to come, and to complete the S.W\.O.R.D. station as an orbital port for cargo and personnel transfer. As for wars sparked by coveting technology, Solomon had never lost sleep over them—just as he had said at the Vienna International Centre, he had the ability to teleport into any opponent's home for targeted elimination, and the annihilation of three carrier strike groups had already shattered the U.S. Navy's confidence at its root. Whatever American public opinion might be, from the moment he issued his declaration, the Pentagon actually did begin withdrawing most of the U.S. Navy from Europe, and the White House was left only with harsher economic sanctions and similar measures to punish countries willing to cooperate with Latveria.
To counter Latveria, NATO's European members were all stirring, seemingly eager to flex their strength; even if they couldn't match military force, they would at least keep pace with American media in condemning Latveria rhetorically. Yet NATO's European military assets had long since been placed within the Eternal City's strike envelope; the button could be pushed at any time. Both Victor von Doom and Solomon, however, were putting their emphasis on economic sanctions.
Back in their talks prior to the Latverian War, Solomon and Victor von Doom had prepared for this. The technology the Eternal City provided could fundamentally strengthen those countries' risk resilience and counter the West's technological monopoly. These technical supports would be released in batches from low to high complexity, covering metallurgy, medicine, agriculture, engineering and manufacturing, and more. But those were only the lower-level technologies, replacements within existing industrial systems. The scientists from friendly countries would, once the Latverian Academy of Sciences was established, go to Latveria or even to Mars for academic exchanges to learn theories and techniques far ahead of their time. Scholars from Hungary had already been brought to the space station to begin their studies, factories in Hungary were already being modernized, and in the future they would gradually break free of the Western-dominated manufacturing tech monopoly. Latveria's generosity had more than a little of the old Soviet style.
"Heading out this early?" Bayonetta rubbed her eyes. "I thought there wasn't anything big on your schedule today."
"A state visit." Solomon shook his head and handed her a glass of chilled vodka. Jeanne was, as always, a heavy sleeper; he wasn't about to wake her. "Victor still has business to handle. He's finding the talks are moving even slower than expected—no matter how hard the delegation works, they won't finish in seven days. I need to make a few visits personally. Stephanie argued all night with the other side over the specifications of the aircraft. They don't want me wearing power armor, and they don't want the craft carrying weapons of mass destruction, because they think… it's dangerous. Which is understandable. No one expects to sit down and chat with a heavy main battle tank. What happened in Vienna also showed them how fast orbital support arrives. No country can tolerate that risk—not even those establishing diplomatic relations with Latveria."
In truth, it still came down to the meeting at the Vienna International Centre. There were too few things that could restrain Latveria; violating the rules of the "international order" would inevitably provoke pushback. When a lion charges into a flock of sheep, the first reaction of the lambs will naturally be to bleat and scatter. It takes immense courage and trust to sidle up to the lion.
Latveria had no interest in winning other countries' "trust," because such trust only applied in a largely peaceful international environment, and would be worthless once the alien fleet invaded. It wouldn't apply to the shape of the war to come. That was why Solomon said Earth's political order was a child's game. There weren't many species in the universe that, after so long a development, still failed to unify and reach for the stars. Aside from the Xandarians (an immigrant state—space America), the Kree, the Skrulls, and other interstellar species all unified after brief divisions. Humanity must do the same. That competitive plane had no room for the weak. To achieve Solomon's goals, they had to forge a relatively secure human commonwealth of the galaxy, to birth a new philosophy and ideology—and the answer lay in history.
There is nothing new under the sun. History had already pointed the way. That was the answer Solomon offered the world.
"If I'm not misunderstanding," Bayonetta swallowed another sip and licked her lips. She pretended to ponder, then narrowed her eyes and jabbed her finger hard at Solomon's waist. "Are you bragging about your gun barrel?"
"Oh! Dirty girl!" Solomon couldn't help but laugh. "There's also a TV address to record—that's the more important bit. The Latverian people need a spiritual pillar. A single copy of Unified Truth isn't enough. I have to show the Latverians my resolve and the steps we'll take next."
"Home for lunch today?"
"Of course!" Solomon said. "Aren't we taking Miriya to tour the school today? We've got to talk to the teachers as parents and set up her coursework." He suddenly looked around, then patted Bayonetta. "Hurry up and get dressed. The kid's coming in."
A moment later there was a knock at the bedroom door. Miriya, in a puffy pink onesie, barefoot on the cool floor, stood in the doorway drowsily hugging the plush toy Daina had bought her. "Daddy!" she said in a thick accent. Once she felt safe, she simply closed her eyes and went limp asleep in Solomon's arms. Solomon sighed helplessly and showed the child in his arms to Bayonetta—he had personally faced Sister Gaby to explain why he wouldn't let her see the child, which sent the nun, whose mental state had been slightly improving, right back into a breakdown. The girl's talent was astonishing, but her odds of falling into corruption were likewise far higher than most. Since taking her in, Solomon had been gradually building for her a Praetorian-like mental protection barrier, helping her resist the indescribable whispers and temptations of the outer dimensions.
"Leave her to me." Bayonetta gestured for Solomon to lay Miriya on the bed, then carefully pulled the covers up over her.
"This is no way to convince anyone you dislike children, my dear witch," Solomon teased. "You're very practiced—and very fond of her, I think."
"I do dislike children," Bayonetta whispered, annoyed. "But I'm not the one who throws a kid ten meters in the air and repeats it twenty times!"
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