Chapter 781 - 742 Mars

Canada, British Columbia, Victoria.

Inside Akal Airport, local officials were forming a welcoming party, silently awaiting the arrival of their guests.

They had received notice just last night that China and America were about to hold commercial talks in Victoria and needed the local government to provide a venue. The request came from America, and naturally, the authorities could not refuse.

But why were these two entities holding business talks here?

The Victoria authorities simply treated it as some intriguing little episode, preparing no more than the necessary protocols.

The sky began to fill with the roar of engines, and the people on the ground craned their necks for a while before seeing two C17 transport planes land safely under the escort of four F15s.

The persons disembarking weren’t the officials they had speculated about but rather a group of fierce-looking American soldiers.

The soldiers drove Humvees straight from the C17’s rear cargo door to the reception personnel, which was quite impolite.

"We are the Marine Corps; who here is the mayor?"

The famous Ma Run, a special aide to the President, had already recognized their uniforms. However, he was quite annoyed by their rudeness and tried to step forward to question them.

However, the leading soldier didn’t listen to his nonsense and directly presented credentials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Ministry of Defense. According to the document, Ma Run would temporarily take control of the airport to protect the privacy of the participants, and the authorities needed to step aside and cooperate.

The mayor did not doubt the authenticity of the credentials, but it was clear to him that this was in no way a "business talk". Given the recent turbulent world situation, it could very well be some secret agreement.

Rationality overcame emotion, and the mayor promptly left with the city hall staff, putting the entire Akal Airport into a controlled status.

Not long after, a Y20 arrived, bringing another squad of fully armed soldiers.

Once unrelated personnel were dispersed, the first 777 passenger plane finally approached for landing.

Those who came off the plane were surrounded by bodyguards and put into cars that had been brought over by the transport plane, unrecognizable to any onlookers.

FInally, a C832 arrived, its passengers similarly concealed, hurriedly leaving in their own vehicles.

The two groups of different guests met inside a seaside manor, and the uniforms on both sides were not uniform, obviously involving multiple parties.

Jack Sullivan stood up and shook hands with Xu Rang; the two were old friends. But Lu Jianfei and the Pentagon’s Kevin clearly met for the first time, with all protocols thoroughly observed.

The personnel from both sides took seats on either side of the manor’s long table, following which Xu Rang’s secretary opened a notebook with the prominent title:

"Solar System Joint Defense System Treaty Preparatory Meeting Minutes"

...

David Ussnor was also included in the meeting team, but he had an inconspicuous role; the Chinese side saw him as a recorder and didn’t pay much attention.

This meeting was very important as it pertained to the construction principles of two future space forces and the establishment of a corresponding space order.

In the long run, the matter of extraterrestrial civilizations would inevitably become public, or rather, the construction of space forces was irreversible.

In such a situation, it was essential to establish relevant norms and also very necessary to restrain others.

After several preliminary exchanges, both sides referred to it as the "Solar System Joint Defense System". Whether there were extraterrestrial civilizations or not, disclosing it would not cause inconsistency.

After all, there are too many things in the universe that can threaten humanity, not to mention small asteroids or giant meteorites; even a sizable solar storm would be enough for Earth to handle.

This was also the breakthrough in tearing apart the "Outer Space Treaty", where one must first free oneself from its shackles to develop space armed forces unhindered.

The preparatory meeting firstly needed to ascertain how to amend the "Outer Space Treaty" or outright replace it, then like the naval treaties after World War I, agree in advance on the scale and scope of space forces to avoid strategic misjudgments due to lack of transparency.

If one party does not have enough information and believes the other side is using the guise of extraterrestrial civilizations to target "allies", the consequences would be dire.

The other details can be discussed after the "Defense Treaty" passes through the United Nations; in any case, space armed forces are still non-existent for the time being.

Both sides were very seriously engaged in the discussion of their next moves, but David was somewhat weary of these earthly affairs and every now and then glanced towards the covered windows where one could faintly discern the moon’s outline.

Just yesterday, the astronauts of Artemis VII and VIII settled into the hardened inflatable segment, making Columbus Camp America’s first substantial fixed base.

Although it was just one segment, these types of structures are easily mass-produced, not to mention that inflatable segments have the benefit of being light in mass and volume. As soon as they are proven reliable, NACA could rapidly produce a bunch and throw them up there.

However, David’s thoughts weren’t here but on the unseen Mars.

Judging by the time, Tianwen-1 should be arriving at Mars these days, right?

...

Beijing time, October 12th.

Measurement ships several thousand kilometers away, to the northwest, southeast, and the Aerospace Development Committee’s monitoring network were all searching for the same target, continuously verifying if the signal was distorted.

Besides the early-pass Typhoon, Tianwen-1 Lander, which launched first, would be the quickest to reach Mars.