Lost In World: Philippines

Chapter 2: In The Unknown

Pag-asa Island, West Philippine Sea

Naval officers are busy prepping the two frigate ships of the Philippine Navy, they are tasked to look for any possible trace of their neighbors, and if needed, they are to trespass Vietnam's territorial waters.

The Pag-asa island has been upgraded, the airport has been completely modified, now capable of receiving dozens of aircraft, a naval base was built on the island as well, and currently, there are five ships assigned to the island, three frigates, one corvette, and one destroyer, they have been guarding the surrounding waters and protecting Filipino fishermen from Chinese militias and coast guards.

Inside the ship's ammunition storage, three officers can be seen transporting cannon shells into the ship's OTO-Melara rapid-fire cannon, "Hey, are the brass sure about this? The last time we cruised toward the west we were met with a Chinese fleet patrolling the area, won't they get angry with this?" An officer asked.

"The Chinese? Oh well, if they ever attacked us, the sanction put on them will get intense, just like Hong Kong, some of China's territory, especially in the Tibetan area and Xinjiang might declare independence, with now Russia completely divided and crippled, I don't think they have the balls to harm against us, after all, US and NATO are watching." The officer said confidently that the Chinese PLA navy won't stop them, by 2030, Russia became a divided nation of six, Finland had taken back its old territory, Ukraine survived the Russian invasion and is now a prosperous nation, and Japan got rights over the Kuril islands, at the same year, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan joined NATO, it is once an organization of the nation led by USA, UK, Germany, and France to protect weaker nations against Russia, but with Russia now gone, NATO almost lost its reason to exist. "Almost". Luckily, China is still there thus prolonging the existence of NATO.

"I see. Anyway, now that I think about it, why we didn't join NATO as well as the japs and Koreans?"

Another officer pondered, "I guess the past and current president doesn't want more string attached to us, despite us having a mutual defense treaty with the USA, malacañang wanted a more neutral foreign policy, after all, we do a lot of trades in the middle east, south america, and east africa which are all not in good terms with the USA."

"Fair enough." After some more chatter, the crew finally reached their destination and started to load the ship's autocannons.

° ° °

Two Jose Rizal-class frigates started to move away from the island, the said ships are the BRP Miriam Defensor Santiago and BRP Sergio Osmeña.

Inside the bridge of BRP Santiago, crews and officers are busy monitoring radars, communications, and weapon systems, standing in front of the helm is Captain Jesus Valencia.

Time skip. Approximately 3 hours later.

Speaking on the radio is Captain Jesus, exchanging information with his counterpart of the BRP Sergio Osmeña, Captain Maria Gomez, the first-ever female ship captain of PN.

"Anything suspicious Captain Maria?" Capt. Jesus asked.

"None so far, we should have encountered at least Vietnamese fishermen or Chinese militia, however, so far, not even drones are insight of our radars." She replied.

"Hmm, weird, this is just too quiet, I don't have a good feeling about this."

The two ships continued to sail for another hour, and both crews of the ship saw large numbers of seagulls and pelicans.

"Pelicans? Aren't they already extinct in this region around the 1960s?" Captain Jesus asked, and a crew then replied.

"No idea sir, but perhaps there were still some pelicans that survived or were they came from Australia brought by a storm." The crew suggested. There were some incidents of birds coming from Australia brought by strong wind and storms, one of the catastrophic effects of global warming.

"I guess s—"  the Captain was cut off his words when a sailor yelled.

"Land ahead! Captain, there's land and some ships!" An observer announced.

Captain Jesus used his binoculars to observe the said land, there he saw large numbers of seagulls flying, he also saw the land, there are some silhouettes of small houses and what would seem like a wooden fort, what intrigues him though was the wooden ships, specifically, galleons and other variety of smaller types of wooden ships docked on the wooden port.

"Did Vietnamese hire new militias?" A crew asked.

"No shit, Vietnam has a lot of militias but I don't think they will hire militias who are using a freaking galleon." His mate retorted.

Captain Jesus then ordered his crew to launch a drone to get a more clear picture of the port and its surroundings. Not long after, one drone from BRP Santiago has been launched and cruised towards the port.

Meanwhile, at the port, the people are busy doing their usual tasks, just like an average life of a 17th-century citizen. The town lord who is currently having his tea on the balcony of his mansion is observing his subjects work, merchants dock their ships to trade. The market is filled with commoners buying food, furniture, tools, and slaves. At the top of a hill, the lord's mansion stood, behind it is a large farm, the breadbasket of the town, and the lord's serfs and peasants took care of the farmlands.

The lord's knight and soldiers are keeping order in the town and protect them from monster attacks, a reinforced wooden wall protects the whole town, except for the farmlands and houses of serfs and peasantries deeming them not worthy to be protected, though they hold an ounce of importance, simply, the town lord doesn't care.

As he sips his tea, the lord notices a large bird flying and circling the town, it was too big to be a seagull and too small to be a wyvern.

"Perhaps a new type of bird? Why doesn't flap it's wing though? Oh well, it doesn't look too interesting, guess ill play with some slaves today!" The lord then left the balcony and headed towards his slave room.

° ° °

Captain Jesus and his counterpart, Captain Maria we're both eyes widened, the feed they see from the drone shows a small town of around 5,000 people, and it wasn't a simple town, it was a medieval-like town, the people are dressed in extremely outdated dresses, tunic, and some well dressed wealthy-looking persons with them colorful coats.

"... I'm quite speechless, so the brass wasn't lying huh?"

"I–it seems so..." The drone operator then started to take photos of the town, from the galleons, port, houses, people, and a mansion made out of cobblestone which he assumed the town lord's residence.

"SHIT!" The drone operator grumbled as a flying lizard-like creature started to tail and attacks the drone, he was immediately ordered to retreat, but before the drone leaves, he was able to get an image of the flying lizard, with a seem to be a human in iron and leather armor riding it.

° ° °
March 5, 2040

Metro Manila, Philippines

In the National Capital Region, the situation doesn't look very well, ever since the "transference" incident, the Philippines has experienced the worst economic decline since the Covid-19 pandemic, and the growth rate has declined to a staggering 7%, way too low compared to the past growth of 14%, many industries, and companies, especially manufacturing companies are now getting low on raw materials, the country's export has been completely cut off, global costumers went and a vast quantity of cargos filled with cars, electronics, machinery, consumers, fruits, etc are all stuck in various ports and stations.

Communication is getting chappy, many commercial and privates satellites were gone, oil price hikes, consumers getting more expensive, and job loss is becoming often due to companies and small businesses losing resources and customers, ever since the transference, the country has been experiencing catastrophic effect, economically and mentally, and a chain reaction is in effect.

Protesters are beginning to flock to the roads and streets, the unrest is beginning to rise. The Philippines is in a dire situation.

•••

A/N: Finally done with this chapter, I hope my English isn't that bad, or at least it's understandable. Anyways, the next chapter will be released tomorrow or the next day, I was supposed to make this chapter a little bit longer, however, it's getting too late and my eyes can't keep an all-nighter, so I will just make this one a short chapter. I hope you like this chapter.