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[center][h3]Cooperative Dirigible Fleet 1, above Kansai Region[/h3][/center]

The monitoring screens aboard the bridge of D-108-the flagship of Fleet 3-were alight with action. Radar readouts marked the locations of allied craft as the gigantic hulk made its way across the sky, crews scanning the ground below. It was an odd room to have in a dirigible, to be honest. Where one would expect to see men in Victorian-era uniforms shouting commands through bronze pipes as their ship laid a trail of steam across the sky, there were men and women wearing the sky-blue uniform of the Cooperative Air Force, all scurrying about as they checked their assigned screens. Instead of propellers driven by steam, this ship was pushed forward by jet engines running off of biofuel. As it turns out, steampunk isn't all that practical.

"So, how's the growth gone?" Said the admiral, sitting in his seat in the center of the bridge. Before him there was a collection of screens hanging down from the ceiling, displaying the ship's altitude, heading, and condition. Essential pieces of information for a man controlling an airship.

"We don't need to drop any more seeds so far." Called out a woman sitting just next to the admiral, facing away from him towards her screen. Her wood-like hands tapped out commands on the keyboard at her station, showcasing one of the more common and least human of the mutations seen in the Cooperative. "All the native species have taken a perfectly fine hold... the kudzu still has a stable growth rate, it seems."

"Good, sounds like we won't have to call in the army to burn down any forests. How are the trees doing?"

"Perfectly fine, concentrations are still at pre-war levels."

"And the big picture?"

"Oxygen levels are up again, though we've noticed a steady increase in methane emissions. An out of the ordinary increase..."

"You mean they exceed the projected values? How is that even possible, our animal population estimates don't have a large enough margin of error to allow that. Link with our fleet in Siberia, get their data."

"Done sir, their instruments concur with ours. Methane levels are abnormally high, and before you ask, there haven't been any eruptions."

"Hmm... understood. Send the data to the climate scientists back on the Endurance, they know more about this than we do."

"Roger that." Said the woman, turning back to her screen. It was but a few mere moments before she once again turned her head to face the Admiral. "Sir... we've got an anomaly here."

"What kind of anomaly?"

"I'm seeing buildings, intact ones. Free of overgrowth... konchok sum khenno! Movement! We've got movement down there!"

"All ships, battle stations!" Screamed the Admiral into the microphone which was hanging down over his mouth through the hair that covered every inch of his face. "We have unidentified contacts on the ground! I repeat, all ships, battle stations!"

The lights on the bridge went from a comforting blue to a bright, utilitarian white. Everyone leaned into their consoles a bit closer, tapping the corners and swiping their hands across the screens to bring up their battle displays. Everyone reached up into the compartments above their seats, pulling down oxygen masks and attaching them the best their faces would let them. Some brought down goggles which they obscured their eyes with. The same people put on gloves, fully connecting them with the turrets they controlled though VR links.

"Do they see us?" Said the admiral, turning to face one of the men wearing goggles.

"We'd be hard to miss, but there's no sign of any weaponry that can touch us."

The admiral tapped his screen, bringing up the program that operated the radio.

"I'm sending a message." He said, adjusting the settings before flicking the button on his microphone that connected it to the ship's transceiver.

"This is Admiral Kagiso Mah of Dirigible Fleet 1, if you are picking up this transmission, know that we mean you no harm! We are here on a routine mission and are armed only for self defense. Do not fire on our vessels!"

He repeated the message after saying it in English, this time saying it in Japanese. Having been assigned to the area, he had been forced to learn the language in case he ended up in contact with other survivors. It seems as though that was just what had happened.