The American public had never been known for their good temper. Whenever they were unhappy, they staged sit-ins, marches, and protests.
This time was no exception. After only half a day of brewing unrest, all kinds of demonstrations erupted in cities across the country.
The protesters had only one central demand: a detailed accounting of exactly where the military's money had gone.
How the hell could that be made public? What country's military budget didn't have hidden expenditures? Classified projects, in particular, were impossible to discuss.
Besides, although these people claimed to want military spending disclosed, they were really just venting their frustration.
After all, who wouldn't feel aggrieved when so much money had been spent with so little to show for it?
The President could only be described as utterly overwhelmed.
The investigation, which had run through the latter half of last night and into this morning, had finally produced its findings. John had made no obvious mistakes, apart from ordering the fleet to intercept the missile.
But under those circumstances, wouldn't anyone have ordered an interception?
Now that things had come to this, who the hell was going to take the blame?
A Global Hawk had disappeared. Were they supposed to say it had lost its way? Without even a crash site, explaining this to Congress would be difficult.
Then there were the utterly humiliating results of the military exercise. By now, the whole world was probably laughing at them.
The image of dozens of ship-to-air missiles chasing the Huaxia Missile had also spread across the American internet, where it had been dubbed the year's most shameful photograph.
If figuring out how to answer to the public gave the President a headache, the report stating that neither radar nor spy satellites had detected the Huaxia Missile's flight path