I saw everything

Chapter 384 Fall
The internal strife in Little Venice, and the covert struggle between the Asian Union and the Northern Union, did not directly affect other parts of the world.

Even the Southern League, which was nominally the leader of Little Venice, acted very ruthlessly.

Of course, this doesn't mean the Confederate States of America was truly cold-hearted; rather, it means they were powerless to do anything about it. After all, as a loose alliance, there were many internal divisions.

In this respect, the NATO is no less impressive.

After all, the current North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has three main forces: the American-British faction, the European Union faction, and the Lucia faction, which can be further subdivided.

In such situations, when they discuss many issues, it often takes a long time to come up with a solution after multiple compromises.

Such as this time.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters are located in the Houses of Parliament in London, Great Britain.

Representatives from various factions within the Northern Alliance are engaged in a heated debate.

Clang clang clang…

Deputy Speaker Theo Oliveira tapped the table with a small wooden mallet: "Member of Parliament Flint, please maintain order in the meeting room."

Despite being named, Congressman Flynn showed no fear and continued to make his own statements: "Gentlemen, I agree to abandon the International Space Station, but what about the new space station to replace it?"

EU representative Hahn Robinson squinted, then retorted sternly, "There is no need to build any new space stations now. We should concentrate our efforts on advancing on the moon. If we don't take action, the moon will only be occupied by the Asian Union in the future, which is something we absolutely cannot allow."

“Heh…” Flint sneered, “Do you Europeans even have any space power? It’s all thanks to North America. You have no idea how difficult and expensive it is to go to the moon.”

Hahn Robinson's face darkened further: "Wasn't the $100 billion, €1000 billion, and 800 billion rubles we invested last year enough?"

One union with three legal tender.

It's even worse than the Confederate States of America.

Although the Confederate States of America was in disarray, they still managed to create a Southern Dollar as the Union's legal tender.

Like the Asian Union, which had already unified its currency and adopted the Chinese Yuan, this was essentially a restoration of the original name of the Chinese Yuan. This name did not have much of the meaning of Seris; rather, it was a relatively common term.

The main reason why the Northern Union has been unable to achieve currency unification is that the three major internal factions are unwilling to compromise.

The power to issue currency in Amelica rests with the Federal Reserve, which is a private enterprise and not Amelica's state-owned enterprise.

The EU and Russia would naturally not agree to hand over their currency issuance rights to private companies like the Federal Reserve.

Therefore, the three parties held their own opinions on this point and refused to compromise, which prevented the work of unifying the currency from progressing.

Without the existence of the Asian Union, the probability of them uniting would be even smaller than winning the lottery in Seris.

Currently, the three main members of Beilian also hold differing opinions on the development direction of the aerospace industry.

Amelika wants everything: a new International Space Station, a lunar base, and a Mars expedition.

The EU, on the other hand, wants to focus its efforts on building a lunar base instead of the new International Space Station project.

Russia also has its own agenda. Their idea is to support the EU in building a lunar base, but the space missions cannot be entirely handed over to North American companies. Russia should take at least a quarter of the orders.

The result is that the three parties are now unwilling to compromise and are constantly bickering at the joint meeting.

Of course, among the more than 300 members of parliament, there are some rational people, but faced with the complex web of interests and entanglements among all parties, it is difficult for them to change the current mess.

Representatives from several EU member states in Central Europe were whispering amongst themselves.

"Rudolf, what do we do now?" The round-faced old man adjusted his glasses and looked at Rudolf, the representative from Austria-Hungary next door.

Rudolf stroked his beard, his eyes filled with disappointment and helplessness. He knew very well that if it were ten years ago, and the three parties—America, the EU, and Russia—united, America would most likely have been able to suppress the other members.

However, after being repeatedly attacked by Seris, Amelica's strength has declined significantly. In particular, after losing most of its overseas bases and agents around the world, Amelica is no longer able to fully suppress the EU and Russia.

This situation will lead to a consequence.

That is, once three equally powerful forces unite, it will be difficult to quickly complete the discussion and decision-making process unless their interests are highly aligned.

"Sigh! I also want to persuade them to put aside their differences and finalize the cooperation as soon as possible, but unfortunately, interests influence everyone's judgment." Rudolf sighed.

In fact, he did have some ideas in mind, such as declaring war on the Asian Union and forcing the various parties within the Northern Union to put aside their differences by initiating a war.

Unfortunately, he also knew that this idea was suicidal.

The reason the Asian Union isn't fighting the Northern Union isn't because the other side isn't strong enough, but because they feel it's unnecessary. If the Northern Union were to declare war, America might be able to hold out with North America, but Russia would definitely be the first to be wiped out, followed by the European Union.

Therefore, Lucia would definitely be the first to oppose this strategy.

If it's about fighting the Confederate States of America, then Lucia might agree, since the two sides don't share a direct border, and Lucia looks down on the Confederate States of America's strength.

But when it comes to playing in the Asian League, Lucia would just be cannon fodder, and they clearly don't want to be that cannon fodder.

This is the current internal problem of the Northern Alliance.

Each party within the organization has its own agenda, and when faced with a situation, their first thought is always their own interests.

The debate in the meeting continued.

Although there were no incidents of shoes being smashed, fights breaking out, or hair being pulled, the atmosphere was still very tense.

Rudolf stood up: "Gentlemen, if you continue arguing, another day will be over. This topic has been discussed for eight days. When can we expect a result?"

Flint, Hahn, and the others finally calmed down a bit.

Rudolf sighed slightly: "Well... I know everyone needs to consider a lot of implications, but the situation on the International Space Station is very serious now. There are still three astronauts on board. Shouldn't we discuss sending them back to Earth first?"

“Congressman Rudolf’s suggestion is excellent, let’s discuss it first…” Deputy Speaker Theo Oliveira quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

A nervous-looking staff member appeared next to Theo Oliveira and whispered a few words in his ear.

Theo Oliveira's expression changed upon hearing this, and his voice faltered. After a moment, he banged the small wooden hammer hard.

Clang clang clang…

After seeing Theo Oliveira's expression, everyone sensed something was wrong and quieted down to see what had happened.

Theo Oliveira took a deep breath: "Ladies and gentlemen, just now, the International Space Station was hit in the core module by a defunct communications satellite. Of the three astronauts inside, one has been killed, and the remaining two are trapped in two separate modules."

"what?"

"this…"

"Oh my god, this is really bad news."

"What should we do now?"

Rudolf immediately stood up and asked seriously, "Which spacecraft can be launched immediately? Also, how much longer can the International Space Station be maintained?"

Theo Oliveira looked at the staff member who was reporting, exchanged a few words in hushed tones, and then pulled the microphone to reply: "The spacecraft that can be launched immediately is SpaceX's Dragon 305, but it will take at least five days to prepare."

Hahn immediately understood the implication: "Vice Speaker, how much time does the International Space Station have left?"

"According to NASA's assessment, the International Space Station is expected to re-enter the atmosphere in less than 50 hours," Theo Oliveira could only answer truthfully, because there was no point in hiding it now.

After all, Asia Union, another dominant power in low Earth orbit, must have already observed the problem with the International Space Station. "Why did this happen? It was only hit; is the main structure of the International Space Station so fragile?"

"It's probably because it's been in service for too long, and many parts are aging."

"By the way, which country's satellite was the one that collided with?"

Theo Oliveira replied awkwardly, "It must be SpaceX's satellite communications."

The expressions on the faces of the people present varied.

They all know more or less about the famous SpaceX, after all, the Starlink system, which has been a hot topic in recent years, is SpaceX's business.

Of course, this industry is not only operated by SpaceX, but also supported by the military forces of Alicia.

However, in recent years, the topic of Starlink has shifted from its convenient communication capabilities to its risks and threats.

In recent years, companies such as Haifeng Group and Pollen Company have collaborated to develop communication airships, which are now used in many areas of the Asian Union and the Southern Alliance.

The emergence of communication airships has had a significant impact on the communication satellite industry.

Even with the continuous support from the Northern Union, Starlink still sees no hope of profitability. If it weren't for the annual funding from the Northern Union coalition, the project would have gone bankrupt long ago.

There are two reasons why the Starlink system is becoming unsustainable.

One is the competition between communication airships.

Another issue is that Starlink satellites have too short a lifespan.

The former makes Starlink unprofitable, while the latter keeps the overall operating costs of Starlink high.

After losing markets in Asia, Oceania, South America, and Africa, Starlink can only serve its home market of North America.

As for the other two core regions of the Northern Union, the European Union, due to its dense population, relies mainly on ground base stations for its communication systems.

Although Lucia is sparsely populated, its small population means it has limited market potential.

When the overall user base is small, Starlink either has to increase service fees or reduce the number of Starlink satellites deployed, but both of these methods lead to a dead end.

After all, high service fees will further reduce the number of users.

Reducing the scale of Starlink satellite deployment will create service gaps or lead to a decline in service quality, which is also a way to drive away customers.

In fact, in an era of deglobalization, products like Starlink that require global market support are destined to be difficult to profit from.

Unless those Starlink satellites can operate effectively in low Earth orbit for a long period of time, which must be around 10 years, given the current overall cost of Starlink satellites, they can only survive on subsidies.

However, these Starlink satellites are designed to be inexpensive consumables, and because their orbits are relatively low, they are easily pulled into the Earth's atmosphere by gravity, giving them a lifespan of only two to three years.

The Starlink satellite that crashed into the International Space Station was a low-Earth orbit communication satellite that had been decommissioned six months prior.

The meeting continues.

Rudolf frowned: "Could we ask the Asia Alliance for help? They should have backup spaceships."

"this…"

The others looked at each other.

Some people looked grim.

Some people looked conflicted.

Some people had no expression.

Someone's eyes flickered.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Rudolf became somewhat angry: "What do you mean? Are you just going to watch those two astronauts sacrifice themselves?"

Representative Jensen from North America reassured him, "Representative Rudolph, I think we can discuss this further. Perhaps NASA can use technical means to keep the International Space Station afloat for a while longer."

However, Rudolf, who had been working in the EU for over thirty years, immediately understood the unspoken meaning: "Just wait to die!"

The others joined in the discussion.

However, these people's statements were either completely impractical or empty rhetoric.

'How pathetic!' Rudolf didn't speak, but coldly watched their performance, because he knew he couldn't change anything.

These guys basically shared the same idea: to stall for time until the International Space Station re-entered the atmosphere, then they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

As for seeking help from the Asian Union, that option was not among these people's choices.

Looking at his watch, Rudolf realized it was already 5 p.m. Without a second thought, he grabbed his coat and left his seat.

He drove back to his small villa.

Rudolf saw his son, Rudolf Jr., who had also just gotten off work.

As Rudolf, the doctor, poured water, he asked, "Father, you seem to have something on your mind?"

"Andy, I'm thinking of resigning." Rudolph leaned back on the sofa, his voice filled with exhaustion and disappointment.

"why?"

"The Northern Alliance is beyond saving."

"..." Only then did Rudolf notice that his father's face looked as if he had aged more than ten years in an instant. After a while, he smiled and said, "I respect your choice."

After Rudolph spoke his mind, he seemed much more relaxed: "Andy, let's immigrate to Australia as a family!"

"this…"

“Listen to me, child. There is absolutely no hope for the Northern Union. If we stay here, we can only watch it rot away day by day, and one day it might even affect us,” Rudolf warned, knowing some of the facts.

Looking at his father's unwavering gaze, young Rudolf hesitated for a moment: "I need to think about it for a few days. After all, I need to consider Anna's and the children's thoughts."

"Well, that's it!"

Just now.

An emergency news report was broadcast on the television.

The debris from the disintegration of the International Space Station fell directly into the South Atlantic Ocean.

Passing ships captured streaks of fire streaking across the water.

Little Rudolph stared wide-eyed at the television screen: "The International Space Station has crashed?"

"So fast?" Rudolf frowned.

"Father, do you know?"

"I just got back from a meeting where we were discussing this. They said it could last at least fifty hours, but it's been less than two hours now?" Rudolf's suspicions grew.

(End of this chapter)