Thank you again for your support...
Lewis finished speaking his last words at the conference table, officially concluding the meeting with agricultural and livestock representatives.
This was supposed to be Connor's job, but he's on the phone right now, so his deputy will have to work overtime.
Lewis walked out of the conference room with the documents in his hand, joking and laughing with several clerks as he met them. He maintained his usual gentlemanly image and demeanor, showing no trace of the panic he had displayed when he shouted loudly that morning. He even managed to get a cup of coffee from an intern.
But all of this ended when his secretary came looking for him...
"Sir, can you get in touch with Mr. Connor?"
"There is something very important right now: news from New York Harbor!"
"What happened? Was there an accident at the docks?" Lewis calmly took a sip of the coffee the young girl had made, savoring it with his tongue. He felt it was a bit too sweet; he should suggest she add less sugar next time.
"Fleet!" the secretary uttered, simultaneously unfolding a tablet on his arm. "Look here! A large number of warships have suddenly appeared in the waters off Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York!"
Lewis quickly swallowed his coffee and coughed twice. "Where did this warship come from?"
"Didn't we already conduct a sea search this morning?"
This usually composed old gentleman couldn't remain calm once again.
Unidentified warships have appeared outside New York Harbor?
Was this morning's search in vain?
He intended to ask that question, but then he saw the video on the tablet.
From the helicopter's perspective, the fleet, vast and mighty, bursts forth from the Spacetime Tunnel...
What's even more terrifying is that the sea, which is more than ten kilometers long and wide, is now densely packed with gray-white warships!
Those are massive vessels that weigh tens of thousands of tons and are worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, how come they're as common as small sampans here?!
Lewis's hands went weak, and he almost dropped his coffee. "What movie is this? Aliens attacking New York?"
"Obviously not, sir." The secretary was also sweating profusely. "This was a live broadcast from a local New York television station; they filmed it from a helicopter."
To prove this, the secretary clicked on the live stream account, which was indeed a local New York television station.
Moreover, the live stream has been going on for quite a while.
Even more terrifying is that the helicopters used by the TV station for live broadcasts have all been replaced, while warships are still being sent out in an orderly and continuous manner.
Lewis shuddered. He shoved the coffee cup into his secretary's arms, grabbed the tablet, and ran off, completely ignoring the fact that most of the coffee inside had spilled on his secretary.
"Mr. Connor!"
" Connor ~~"
The old gentleman's elegant shout echoed once again in the corridor, and the lawn and garden outside the window seemed to be intoxicated by it, with the flowers, grass and trees swaying with extra vigor.
In the office.
Connor had just finished a phone call with Meng Anping and was seething with anger, not knowing where to vent it, when Lewis burst into the office, panting.
Behind him were several guards who had raised their hands in a gesture of interception.
"What's wrong, Lewis?"
Look at this!
Lewis immediately handed over the tablet, but even this small gesture almost failed due to excessive muscle trembling.
"Sit down first..." Connor immediately stood up to reassure his old friend, but the other man gestured for him to look at the tablet first.
Connor picked up the tablet again, looked at it for about ten seconds, and then turned to Lewis with a bewildered expression.
"What's wrong?"
Lewis then remembered and quickly added, "This is a live broadcast from New York Harbor!"
"Live broadcast...?"
Connor's brain simply couldn't grasp the connection between the special effects on the tablet and reality, so he double-checked:
"Are you sure this isn't some movie special effect or a prank? There are always plenty of bored troublemakers..."
"No! Connor, this is the reality!"
This is a live broadcast!
"Countless warships are appearing in our waters from a strange, wormhole-like device!"
" Connor, this is real, it's happening right now! You'll probably hear about it from other sources soon!"
Just as he finished speaking, the phone on Connor's desk suddenly rang.
Connor had just picked it up and held it to his ear when his secretary rushed in in a panic. Their eyes met, as if they had gained the ability to communicate telepathically, and they understood each other in that instant.
"..."
Half a minute later.
Connor looked down at the tablet, then looked again.
To the northeast, it's hard to imagine that New York in that direction is now facing an alien landing.
"This is absolutely insane!"
Connor paced back and forth in his office, his secretary beside him anxiously saying, "Sir, this is extremely urgent."
"We haven't been able to establish contact with those warships yet..."
In reality, no one dared to approach.
If it were just a few warships, it wouldn't be so bad, but now those warships have crammed such a large area of sea into it like a bathtub, and with that massive black curtain hanging over the surface, the atmosphere is incredibly oppressive. Who would dare to approach?
Even helicopters broadcasting live on television were targeted by anti-aircraft guns the moment they descended slightly.
Connor was still pacing, but he asked a question:
"Meng's call still not connected? Damn it! This must be the Joint Fleet he was talking about! The question is, where did these guys come from?!"
Lewis, anxious enough to personally dial the number, shook his head, indicating that the call still hadn't gone through.
All we can do is wait.
Half a minute later, Lewis's expression twitched slightly, and everyone immediately crowded around again.
But Lewis hung up before Connor could answer the phone.
"They said Meng is resting now, and that the Joint Fleet has arrived. They suggested we prepare for his arrival."
The scene fell silent immediately.
How to handle reception work?
Connor turned his attention back to the tablet.
How many warships are there now?
No statistics are needed; people in the live stream's comment section are constantly counting:
"180 warships now, including 23 aircraft carriers, Connor..."
Lewis opened his mouth, completely at a loss for what to do.
They only have 14 aircraft carrier fleets domestically, but if you remove the nuclear submarines here, that makes 23 aircraft carrier fleets, and so on!
What if there are nuclear submarines lurking underwater in these waters?
Lewis was startled when the thought popped into his head, but fortunately he quickly remembered that this area of the sea was already very close to the land, and even if it was a deep-water harbor, it wouldn't be deep enough for dozens of nuclear submarines to swim in.
Just then, the secretary brought another message:
"Those warships contacted the port on their own initiative, they said... they..."
"What did you say?"
They said they were on a friendly visit, so they asked where the berths available for them were...
???
Connor's brain nearly short-circuited.
It's one thing for them to come all the way here themselves, but then they have to ask me where the parking space is?
Before you go back, do you need to fill up the gas tank?
No, no!
Why are you already thinking about them going back?
Connor shook off the thoughts in his mind, took a deep breath, and decided to make a ruthless decision to order a mass attack on that sea area, burying all those fleets there!
As a result, he inhaled so deeply that his stomach swelled up, and he didn't dare to give the order.
Has he gone mad?
To wage war against an opponent who can open a time portal in their own backyard?
This isn't a sci-fi war movie...
"Sir? The berths at the port?" the secretary prompted.
Connor rubbed his forehead. "Get the New York docks to cooperate fully and arrange berths for those warships. As long as they can dock, there shouldn't be any accidents."
He's genuinely afraid of something going wrong and things escalating.
Twenty-three carrier strike groups—no, it seems to have grown to twenty-four now—plus a spacetime portal. Anyone with eyes can see that they can't win.
"Oh, right, arrange a flight for me to New York immediately. Since they're here for a visit, I naturally have to go too."
As he spoke, Connor had already stood up.
Lewis followed closely behind.
The secretary left immediately to make the arrangements.
New York Harbor.
Connor's orders were relayed down as quickly as possible.
Then the port operators looked at the hundreds of warships outside and began to worry.
It's not that there aren't enough deep-water berths.
The key issue is that there aren't enough vacant parking spaces.
It's important to understand that New York Harbor has always been a major global port, and this has become even more so after the two riots.
Oil and even fresh water need to be transported back to China by giant ships, and these resource giants often end up here, so their ports are actually busier than before the riots.
This has led to an unusually high volume of traffic at deep-water berths.
Moreover, although it is called the New York Harbor New York Harbor, its area is actually quite large, with a total of 16 port areas, 6 of which even extend to the western border New Jersey.
With so many warships, a single port area cannot possibly meet the needs.
To stop all these warships, they first need to relocate the cargo ships docked in the port, which is another troublesome matter. It's already considered good if the ships can be moved within a few hours of leaving port; that doesn't even include the warm-up time...
This isn't something you can just move as you please. That cargo ship is over 100,000 tons; it doesn't listen to humans!
So what do we do?
Everyone looked at Connor's command, which was placed on the table.
Then I looked outside and saw the warships drifting on the sea.
Looking at myself, if I don't handle this well, I might end up hanging on the wall.
"Let's clear some berths first and let some warships dock," someone suggested, at least to show some sincerity and give those aliens outside an answer.
Stop the smaller one first, then the larger one.
If a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier is difficult to park, wouldn't a 10,000-ton destroyer be even easier to park?
True to their word, all of New York Harbor's dozen or so port areas were quickly mobilized to free up berths.
At the same time, all operations were halted, emergency procedures were initiated, and all ships were cleared out, regardless of their condition.
The most important thing now is to get those old men blocking the river mouth to stop and come in!
So Zhang Tianyuan, who was on one of the aircraft carriers, soon saw a small boat cautiously approaching the large formation of aircraft carriers around him.
That's what we're here to communicate.
President Zhang and the commanders of the Joint Fleet fully understood the port's difficulties, so they readily agreed to the proposed solution: a destroyer would be guided to a berth for rest and repairs.
The other warships continued to squeeze in, and if they still couldn't fit, they could move out a little further.
Once they leave this area of the sea, the outside world is still quite spacious.
The helicopter in the sky was still broadcasting live. The reporter saw a destroyer arrive and stop inside the port, and breathed a sigh of relief, saying to the viewers:
"Things don't seem to be as bad as we thought."
At the same time, countless viewers breathed a sigh of relief.
Anyone could tell something was wrong from that scene just now.
The fact that a warship has now docked in the harbor is undoubtedly a sign of de-escalation.
However, this is only for North America audiences...
Many viewers outside North America were greatly disappointed by what they saw, expressing their regret.
Once the first destroyer had come to a safe stop in the harbor, Connor's helicopter arrived in New York.
Without stopping anywhere else, he landed directly at a heliport in New York Harbor.
What is it like to see more than two hundred warships lying across the sea with your own eyes at the beach?
Looking out, the sea was filled with island superstructures and various radars. He wondered if all of these radars, if turned on at full power, could cook all the fish in the sea.
Moreover, there were also some civilian cargo ships mixed in. These cargo ships were not necessarily smaller than warships, but they were completely overshadowed by these warships that filled the sea, and were reduced to mere appendages.
Most people will never see such a scene in their lifetime.
Connor and Lewis suppressed their turbulent emotions and turned their attention to business.
They came here for a "visit".
Now it's time to meet the people who came to visit them.
Connor instinctively walked towards the destroyer that had just successfully docked, but halfway there he suddenly realized something was wrong and turned to Lewis, saying:
"What just stopped was a destroyer, just an ordinary one among two hundred warships..."
"If you were in command of them, which of these two hundred warships would you be on?"
Lewis stopped in his tracks.
He understood what Connor meant.
In this Joint Fleet, the person who truly holds power is absolutely not on a destroyer.
It has to be at least one of those dozens of aircraft carriers.
So even if they went to that destroyer, they'd only find a few small fry. If they really wanted to find someone in charge, they'd have to go to those warships at sea...
Lewis silently ordered someone to prepare the helicopter again.
Connor then sent people to inquire with the officers and men on the destroyer about which ship was their command ship, and at the same time, sent out a message in advance to coordinate and ensure that the destroyer wouldn't be bombarded before their helicopters got close.
Once all these tasks were completed, the entire Joint Fleet had arrived.
The total of thirty carrier strike groups, with two hundred and forty warships, acted like a giant lock, completely blocking the area outside the Hudson River Estuary.
The scene is particularly spectacular when viewed from the air.
Even after Connor landed on the command ship, his heart was still beating a little fast...