K-2

On the southwestern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii lies a crescent-shaped bay about a mile across. The name of the bay is Kealakekua (pronounced key-ah-la-ke-ku-ah) Bay. Kealakekua Bay is famous as the place where British explorer Capt. James Cook was killed by Hawaiian islanders in 1779.

The bay is also famous from a geological perspective in that it was formed about 110,000 years ago when a chunk of the Big Island fell off and slid into the sea. Scientists estimate that when this part of the Big Island fell into the sea, a monstrous wave was generated, completely covering the nearby island of Lanai, which is over two thousand feet tall.

Currently, there are ongoing seismic studies on the Big Island to evaluate the possibility of whether such an event could happen again. If such an event were to happen again, it would be the greatest natural disaster in recorded human history.

In this story, this event is referred to by scientists as K-2, an abbreviation of Kealakekua 2. When the K-2 event becomes a reality, the political and human events following the disaster have a huge impact on the future of the United States and ultimately result in the resurrection of a new nation, the sovereign nation of Hawaii.