“I will not continue to sit and observe this farce,” Titeneva said, shooting to her feet and throwing the translation earpiece on the table before her. “Listen to me very carefully. If the Security Council will not act, Russia will. Russia will not cooperate with any nation that opposes our desire for security against the American military space program, and if Russia detects that the United States is militarizing any aspect of their space hardware, Russia will consider that an act of war and will respond accordingly.
“Russian president Gryzlov has authorized me to inform you that Russia will no longer support manned or unmanned supply missions to the International Space Station,” Titeneva thundered on. “Further, Russia demands that the modules on the International Space Station that belong to Russia must be disconnected and made ready to transport to their own orbits immediately. The Russian modules are hereby considered sovereign Russian territory and must be vacated and surrendered to Russian control.”
“Detach the Russian modules?” Paula Ells retorted. “It’s not a Lego toy up there, Daria. The modules were Russia’s contribution to an international partnership. That partnership pays for the modules’ upkeep, and the partnership pays Russia for use of the modules and for Soyuz support missions. You can’t just take your bat and ball and go home—we’re talking about twenty-ton modules traveling thousands of miles an hour orbiting hundreds of—”
“I do not want to listen to your tiresome American aphorisms, Ells,” Titeneva said, “and I told you never to call me by my first name in this or any other venue! Russia will not allow the so-called partnership to use modules built by Russians if the international community will not do something to assure Russia’s national security interests, and we certainly do not want any nation antagonistic to Russia to freely use our modules. You will vacate and surrender them to Russia immediately, or we will take action.” And at that, Titeneva turned and departed the chamber, followed closely by Naryshkin.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
ONE WEEK LATER
James Ratel entered the back room of his dojang south of the city of San Luis Obispo to find Brad McLanahan already doing push-ups on the linoleum. “Well well, five minutes early . . . much better,” Chief Ratel said. “And you came ready for a workout. Maybe you are trainable after all.”
“Yes, Chief,” Brad replied, hopping to his feet and standing nearly at attention at the edge of the blue mat.
“Are you warmed up?”
“Yes, Chief.”
“Good,” Ratel said. “So far we’ve been concentrating on strength training, and I’ve seen progress. From now on you will continue these exercises on your own, on your own time. You don’t need to go to a gym for a good workout. Push-ups, crunches, dips, and pull-ups, all to muscle failure, with no more than ninety seconds rest in between. Every week I’ll test you again, and every week I expect to see improvements.”
“Yes, Chief,” Brad responded.
“Today will be your first self-defense lesson,” Ratel went on. He handed Brad a package. “From now on, you will wear a beol, or training outfit, what is called a gi in Japanese. Once we start more practical training, we’ll do it in street clothes so you’ll learn the feel in a more realistic way, but for now you’ll wear this. You have thirty seconds to change.” It took Brad less than fifteen. Ratel showed him how to properly tie the white belt, and then they were ready.
“We’ll start with the most basic self-defense tool first.” Ratel picked up a simple wooden walking cane with a pointed crook and two grooved grips carved into the wood, one near the crook and another farther down the shaft. “Many years ago, after the First Korean War, a South Korean master taught a school of self-defense called ‘Joseon,’ in which he used canes and farm tools for self-defense. The style was taught because during the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War Two, and during the North Korean occupation, South Korean citizens were not allowed to carry knives or guns, but canes, walking sticks, and farm implements such as rakes, saws, and thrashers were very common. A U.S. Army serviceman noticed that the canes were used by the locals as very effective self-defense weapons, and he developed a method for training others on how to use a walking cane for self-defense. It became known as Cane-Ja, or cane-discipline. For the next several weeks you will walk with a cane and carry it with you at all times, even if you travel on an airplane or go into a school or courthouse. After you learn Cane-Ja, you will advance to other, more violent forms of self-defense, where the cane may not be necessary, or that can be used if you lose or break it.”