Washington D.C.
United States of America

Battle of Iwakuni D+2

President Allen and his advisors had been monitoring the political situation in Asia and Europe intensely since the start of the war, especially after the Chinese media came out with an official statement showing that the PRC government insist that the war remain conventional and it reserved the right to retaliate if the IPSDC/NATO Coalition decided to do a first strike using nuclear warheads. Something that was perfectly in line of their "no first use" doctrine.

The world leaders were still in a state of disbelief as along with the Invasion of Japan, reports of domestic insurgent activities inside American soil continued to came out, which not even major cities were spared, such as two separate drone attacks on New York City's government offices and Wall Street stock exchange attributed to a group named "Intercontinental Army". In response, President Allen had made it clear that every American citizen, not just law enforcement and military, is responsible to secure every single inches of the soil, and that both domestic and overseas operations are equally important to the nation's security and it's allies.

Speaking on domestic attacks, China and it's Latin American proxies namely Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Peru had masterfully infiltrated it's special operations forces and intelligence agents coupled with it's ever-sophisticated cyber and information warfare tactics. This method, in turn, exhorted American citizens and non citizen migrants to take up arms against their own soil.

Alongside the Intercontinental Army, other known domestic insurgent groups include secessionists such as the "California People's Republic" calling for the namesake's state secession, followed by the predominantly Indigenous "Turtle Island Liberation Army", and predominantly Afro-American "True Black Panther Party". From the other side of the equation, significant groupings include the 'Heritage Guard', 'United American Born Citizens', 'Brotherhood of New American Revolution' and several resurgent Klan chapters, predominantly in Southern states as well as the middle America.

The general atmosphere means hundreds, if not thousands, cases of reprisal against anyone suspected to aiding and abetting the domestic insurgents, with many such attacks involve racial and religious identities, which in most cases had absolutely nothing to do with the insurgents.

Compared to the his administration's actions, Allen and his people were more than aware on the danger of unrestrained vigilantism, and so in several briefings, he had addressed it directly in several briefings. He was hoping to get the American people to trust the primacy of the justice system as well as the newly-formed Inter-Agency Task Force to Combat Domestic Insurrection (ITF-CDI) with Homeland Security as lead agency as well as the Justice Department, augmented by the Armed Forces and federalized National Guard empowered by the invocation of Insurrection Act that allowed the military to be used in internal security role, further aided by the revival of State Defense Forces, also called Local Defense Volunteers, incorporated within state National Guards.

These state-based entities alongside local law enforcement and even private military contractors deputized existing armed civilians served as a legal vehicle to regulate the usage of arms as well as to root out the more ideologically extreme elements, infiltrators, and criminal ones inside such armed outfits, especially those linked with drug trade.

Inside the Hive, a secured alternate bunker under the Pentagon linked by a secret subway to other important government facilities such as the White House, Capitol, and Washington Reagan National Airport as well as the Union Station, the senior advisors were meeting to discuss the recent developments. The President sat down across from the DHS Secretary and jumped right into business. "Secretary Wickramasinghe, have we identified any additional Chinese and their proxy cells in the last couple of days?"

The President was hoping they had finally rooted out the last of them.

The John F. Kennedy White House Situation Room, the official command center, as well as the underground Presidential Emergency Operations Center has been declared as compromised and officially unusable due to discoveries of multiple Chinese malwares inside it's communication system. Only selected people know the truth about it's current usage, however.

"So far, with Statesman Project is going on despite multiple attacks targeting it by the Chinese... we have apprehended forty‑six suspected Chinese operatives and 250 sympathizers, including five State Assembly and almost a quarter of its Senate members across the state of California. We caught them prior to their execution of a massive attack. One of the prisoners said their goal was to sabotage important military facilities across the state, in particular Vandenberg, Plant 42, and Camp Pendleton using Indigenous and migrant-background operatives with goal of greasing California's secession."

"We've captured over 5.400 assault rifles, nearly 8,000 lbs. of Semtex, 25 MANPADS, 45 anti-tank rockets, and up to five dozen Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) as well as five thousand small drones for it's delivery system, the same thing that hit Norfolk, Guam, and Hawaii at the start of the war, as well as Coronado and also nearly wrecked Langley (AFB). It was a huge success, and soon in coordination with the DOD, we'll reprogram and redistribute these little things to the National Guard and State Defense Forces minus some as evidence in court." reported Secretary of the Homeland Security Gregory Wickramasinghe.

Breathing a sigh of relief at finally catching a big break, the President replied, "This is a big deal; I want this brought up during the press briefing. Make their faces known to the public, and see if there is some footage that we can release as well. The public needs to know that we are making progress against these fifth-columnists and are seeing real results. Has the Statesman Project identified any other significant threats yet?"

Secretary Wickramasinghe continued saying, "We have, a lot. I will only show the most prolific ones here, people. Other than the groups I mentioned before, we have more than ninety Chinese nationals and Chinese-Americans that had been working in a variety of jobs in the energy, telecommunications, and utility sector before the war. We now believe they may have been directly involved in the massive communications blackout with the Williams Communication's routers and switches three days ago and some are and have been arrested. In addition, we have identified fifteen known recruiters for their foreign legions, the International Anti Imperialism Brigades. Furthermore, until today, we've identified and arrested 1.644 service personnel across all branches of the military that have ties in one fashion or another to the PLA and any of it's adjuncts, or simply want them to win in order to advance their own domestic extremist agendas here in the United States - extreme left and right alike, expect more. All of these individuals had Top Secret clearances and worked in sensitive areas within the military-"

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Felix Meliala, an Indonesian-American USAF officer, interjected, "- We are going to place them on trial for treason as expeditiously as possible. Sorry for the interruption, Secretary Wickramasinghe."

The Homeland Security Secretary nodded and continued, "That's alright... In addition to the military members, 2.544 government civilian employees and 856 government contractors have been arrested so far and counting. A lot of these people were mostly in our urban areas, especially in the West Coast as well in the East... not all of these individuals had direct ties to the PLA; some had ties to it's front organizations or harboring anti American or European sentiments with all the reasonings..."

"...This won't be the last, I cannot guarantee everyone here about that. But those detained are going to be charged and tried for treason once all the evidence has been collected, with all their rights shall be guaranteed..." The Sri Lankan-American smiled; he had sense of pride, feeling vindicated for having pushed so hard to make such controversial surveillance program operational.

"Where do we stand on getting the Great Lakes' area communications grid fully restored, both here and in Canada?" asked the President's Chief of Staff.

Wickramasinghe brought up another slide with some additional information regarding the various status updates and explained, "As of right now, we have about 80 % of the grid back to being operational, confirmed as well by our Canadian counterparts. There are still some issues with data speed, but that will get resolved as more of the routers are replaced and upgraded. We and the Canadians are finally starting to get the parts we needed from the UK, Netherlands, Israel, as well as here in the American and Canadian soil, in particular those Free Chinese owned TSMC; it's now more of an issue of replacing the burnt out switches and routers throughout the grid. It's going to take some time. The aerial drones and aerostat blimps are helping to plug the holes and gaps in the grid for the time being, especially for essential services {e.g. financial and payments, law enforcement, medical, sanitation, agriculture, education, energy, and defense industries]. The ROC government in exile here in Iowa in particular had told me that they cannot be more grateful for our hospitality."

The President smiled at the Sri Lankan-American secretary. He was impressed by the ability of his staff to see the problem and find a way to quickly solve it - in this case an aftermath of a particularly debilitating Red Chinese cyberattack. This close collaboration between the private sector, allied and partner nations was key to getting the good part of the area's communication system back in operation.

Leaning forward, the President praised his team. "Secretary Wickramasinghe, your team has done an outstanding job getting the net back up and running. I am also glad you put forth a strong case for going live with Statesman. I was skeptical about using this Red Chinese-looking playbook initially, with so many legitimate concerns even with it being mostly geared towards those directly involving our national security and vital sectors in the economy, not the public in large... and I know there are many others here in this room were as well. However, within the parameter of it's check and balances and our justice system, I know that the results so far are promising, or the speed in which it found these traitors within our midst every time. I want this program to stay 'Eyes Only ,' and keep the circle of people that know about it small. The less people that know about this the better."

The President's Chief of Staff, Luke Hayward, asserted, "We need to get these successes to the press. Lord knows the people need something; they will never forget about how those Reds rendered Vinson and Roosevelt mission kill before they proceed to overran Taiwan, followed by the Reagan, and don't forget Truman and Eisenhower in Norfolk... we're lucky that Ike is about to finish her repair soon... Many knew someone who died aboard the carriers and many other ships, in Taiwan, in Korea, and also in Japan, as well as those who were taken POWs and were not yet exchanged... We also cannot forget those whose families were affected by those insurgents, especially law enforcement officers nationwide. That said, people are pretty pumped up about the story on how the Japanese and South Koreans as well as what the rest of our forces there are fighting well despite their losses. The details will surely be better served by our generals and admirals..." the tall Afro-American said, surveying the group.

"Especially about the Big Stick (1), as remember, it was once my ship!" replied the President. 

"Don't forget our Indian allies, Mr. Hayward" said the Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), Admiral Juan Manuel Marquez, from his alternate headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska, dual-hatted as IPSDC Supreme Allied Commander for Indo-Pacific or SACINDOPAC.

"So far," he immediately put on an Indian map for the entire cabinet to see. "despite some penetrations, Indian forces are still generally holding with local counterattacks on lowlands that the Reds managed to obtain footholds in places like Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Kashmir... Yes, they managed to occupy Nepal, but it's Royal Army are distinguishing themselves under Indian command. We also must be grateful for their naval and air forces as well, especially in routes leading to the Straits of Malacca and other Indonesian straits alongside the latter country as well as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. They were also helpful in our effort to strangle their trade by joining our privateers in capturing Chinese merchant vessels, preferably intact; heck, even Somali or West African or Yemeni pirates that were pain in our asses once got themselves useful in this fashion, confirmed also by my CENTCOM and AFRICOM counterparts."

"Very well, Admiral Marquez, how are our other Asian allies are doing so far?"

"Alright, Mr President." he began. "In South East Asian theater, Indonesia had announced a second round of draft with 750.000 new service personnel planned, with the third batch had completed their training, mostly for deployment to the Philippines and the Mainland SEA, but at least one army division and a fighter squadron will be sent to Korea. We need fresh blood to at least hold the line, General Meliala knows how his own kinsmen do things, and how we need time for Koreans to recuperate... and Indonesians and many more shall be useful for that job, with their own guts and blood..."

"For naval forces, Indonesia had also launched six more of their pre-war British designed frigates, a good addition to escort duty while Singapore had commissioned six more heavy corvettes with similar firepower as the former, for example, plus several squadron worth of ocean-going long-range sea drones..."

"In the Philippines, there was no significant change so far as our Filipino allies are holding the line supported by an Australian-New Zealand brigade plus element from Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea, then a Singaporean combined arms battalion under its command and finally the Indonesian first airborne division are currently getting themselves bloodied side by side - one of the latter battalions had been rendered combat ineffective, in fact."

He continued. "On the other hand, there are still constant air and missile raids against Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and as far as Indonesia with two cruise missile strikes hit their largest city, Jakarta, three days ago..."

"... Now we're heading to the mainland SE Asia. Off the coast of Sihanoukville, in Cambodia... the shaping operation continued as marines of Thailand, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, and the French are gathering in Malaysia ready for the go signal to assault the chain of islands, here, incl. the infamous Koh Tang..."

"Currently up to four Chinese missile batteries in Cambodia had been confirmed destroyed. Our 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and a Singaporean Guards task force are also being prepared to reinforce then as needed, our allies' ships are not a disappointment, overall... especially Australians..."

"...In Korea, there are still back and forth change of territory around the DMZ. The North Koreans are willing to absorb horrendous losses engaging South Korean ground robots just to prove their worth to their Chinese big brother as well as the IAIB legions. In the sea, our drone ships continue to interdict Red supply lines, particularly those bound for their troops in Kyushu and Honshu in Japan. Speaking of Japan, they had began their counterattack with their main axis is from Iwakuni, the city where we once had a whole carrier air wing housed in." Marquez continued.

"Excellent. Those people had long proved themselves as worthy allies, unlike what some isolationists believe." the ecstatic President replied.

Changing maps on the holographic display, the admiral began showing Northern Pacific and the Canadian sector. "The Canadians' interdiction of Chinese Navy in Northern Pacific area are intensifying; side by side with our SUBRON (Submarine Squadron) 11, DESRON (Destroyer Squadron) 7, and Unmanned Combat Vessel (UCV) Squadrons 7, 15 and 25. Their Japan-tech Canada-class boats are racking up kills against Chinese boats, ensuring that the sea lanes in this sector between North America and Japan/Korea continue to stay open. They are also continue to provide air support over this area."

Defense Secretary Marek Sikorski suddenly raised his hand. "Sorry for the interruption, but I think we have to know this; our first batch of fully unmanned F-42 Buzzard fighters has been put into service with two fighter wings bound for Korea and one for the Philippines soon. We're also ramping up production of the optionally-manned F-36 Kingsnake fighters that will replace the F-16 as well as the development of the F-45 Warhawk II, the actual cornerstone of the NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) Program itself as well as the Navy/Marine Corps own NGAD; that everyone had already know as the F/A-38 Phantom III..."

Allen smiled at his SECDEF; both men knew the real truth about the usage of the new fighters.

"...Mr. President, I have no intention to disparage the F-35 or F-22 with it's problems, but I hope that the Warhawk and to the lesser extent the Phantom will be ready for production before this year ends. On the other hand, It's still going to be close to a month, maybe two, until we have most of the aircraft from the boneyards ready to go. Even then, we are gradually losing pilots faster than the replacement process. We've shortened the training period for our pilot program, but that means our pilots will be less trained and experienced when they go into battle. We are also calling back into service a lot of retired pilots especially in training capacity as well as defectors and willing POWs from China."

Some generals and admirals were sometimes got annoyed on how the retired Major General, career paratrooper and Green Beret SECDEF interrupted their brief to add further information or questioning them, on the other hand, Admiral Marquez took it wholeheartedly.

"Any bright spot is welcome, Mr. SECDEF. In fact, we need it more than ever." Then he continued on as if it never happened.

"They will get their experience, just like the rest will - through direct combat. Those fighter drones came just in time, and aircraft from the boneyards will surely help. My concern is that intel have viable leads about the Chinese's upcoming new fighter, the J-37. and from what we have heard so far, it uses some sort of new technology that makes the aircraft much less visible than ours, even the B-21s. If that is the case, then this new fighter is going to cause us some major problems."

Allen responded. "Now, what is the state of the cargo haulers, Ship, planes, etc?"

"Another good news from that department is that we had phased in 10 Liberty Lifter seaplanes, wish we got its kinks figured out earlier when Taiwan needed it the most." bemoaned the SECDEF. "and five more on construction." 

Then came the verified report on the state of merchant cargo ship production in the US as well as Europe - including Turkiye - and friendly Asian countries before the President returned to his chief military advisor. "General Meliala, before we go for Europe, I want to ask you about our space domain situation."

"That will be the purview of General Banks, Mr. President." Just as the CJCS finished speaking, one of the displays changed to the office of the Chief of Space Operations, General Mark Banks, from his HQ in Petersen Space Force Base Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"With production of Blowgun and other warheads are gaining speed, we are continuing our bombardment operation against Mainland China. At the same time, we are still soliciting for ways to take out the Tiangong completely, not just jamming or spoofing it when we're launching the Gyrfalcons, with the fact that a straight up satellite on satellite attrition battle won't be sustainable in the long run, hence there were multiple space ceasefires to allow cleanup of any debris." Banks continued.

"Oh, before I forget, the Tiangong had been modified to allow it's lasers to intercept some of our missiles. Bottom line; we won't be unopposed forever in term of reusable rocketry and suborbital bombing. I expect that two months from here, the Chinese will be able to perfect their equivalent to the Gyrfalcon."

The President sighed a little before replying.

"With amount of things are on track so far, I can't be more grateful, a lot of reason to do so everyday... Now, how our NATO European allies are doing, so far?" asked the President to the CJCS, wanting to get a sense of the current situation, military-wise in particular.

"Mr. President, as there are more and more Chinese operatives and IAIB recruiters being uncovered and rooted out inside European soil, they were stepping up, not only for overseas service but also for home service particularly against the terrorist guerillas of many stripes plaguing the continent and an always possible direct involvement of Russia with Chinese war effort later on, they have began calling up their reserves and some were even reinstated their own draft. Britain, France, Poland are really stepping up. Each country had announced a draft of total 500 hundred soldiers while the Germans and the Italians are drafting 300 hundred more. Protests are many, but they kept it under control. The rest, is here" Meliala pointed on the corresponding slide.

Then, a holographic image of the EUCOM commander, dual-hatted as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR), General Samuel Matchison, US Army, came to life. From his European post, he had been participating in the meeting via conference call. Now he presented his point.

"There are also continuous progress of our overseas international training program for selected Asian allies here - Japanese, South Koreans, Free Chinese, Vietnamese, Free Burmese, etc - in the European soil specially in British, French, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Polish training areas, separate with their own recruits... including pilot training. We estimated that this month, we would have up to 50 to 100 new free Asian pilots for various platforms..."

Looking at the short videos from Europe, the air of anything but pride radiated inside the room, especially from the President.

"On the other hand, even with the Russians are keeping themselves quiet so far with Ukraine after last year's cross border clashes and artillery duels, the EC won't take any chances as they are ramping up their military-related production such as the latest German Leopard 2A7, British Challenger 3, Turkish Altay, and French Leclerc XLR as well as much newer Franco-German-Italian-Spanish Panther fourth generation MBT, the latter will be more than a match for Russian T-14 Armatas and Chinese ZTZ-99A2 and upcoming ZTZ-23s. I have to put a special note to the Ukrainians, while neutral, they also participated in supplying some of their Russian-heritage arms and tech to select allies of ours [with experience of operating Soviet systems] like Vietnam, Malaysia, and India. Even the Serbians, of all people, allowed their munitions to be sold to private intermediaries that we know are doing their part."

Matchison continued. "The Polish, of all people, had proudly announced that they are the first NATO European country to reach 1 million 155mm artillery shell productions per month as well as 500 thousand small drones. This is a competition we all want to see..." 

"About status of forces deployment" continued the general. "The Germans had their 9th Armored Brigade en route to Korea while France had also prepared their combined arms battalion task forces of the 2nd Armored Brigade to sail in order to reinforce and relieve their existing forces in Korea - the 1st Korea Brigade... supported by the following air unit: a composite squadron of Luftwaffe Typhoons and combat drones, a joint Franco-German squadron of upgraded Tiger attack helo, and C-130J Super Hercules squadron, for start. A curiosity will be Spain. Instead of Korea or Japan, they opted for a deployment to the Philippines. Intel said the China want to keep their foothold in that area as well in Japan as long as possible to allow their ship to break unmolested through the Second Island Chain and beyond, into Hawaii..."

"From the sea, the Germans announced that two latest UUV-capable Type 218 submarines are to be delivered to the Singapore Navy in addition to two similar model for their own use."

"Let's hope for the best about the Russians. General Matchison. I hope President Kuznetsov and his generals and admirals keep their pledge." replied the CJCS.

Sighing deeply, the President felt another migraine coming on.

"I hope so, but now let's get to the main point, with all due respect to our allies - do we have sufficient forces, right here and right now, to actually hold on to the First Island Chain and prevent the Chinese for landing troops in the American soil?? We have to be grateful of our assets and allies who sounded the alarm... If not, then this is the time to bring up any issue."

Everyone in the room sat silently thinking for a moment about what the President had just asked. It was a good question that needed to be addressed before any realignment of forces is executed. Defense Secretary Sikorski sat back in his chair and exhaled forcefully, and then leaned forward surveying everyone at the table before continuing.

"Mr. President, we are at a tipping point right now. With the Middle East will always require our presence, our allies are showing it's worth. However, the Chinese can still break through our defenses by throwing more troops and their foreign legionnaires into the mix added by the mention of their suborbital strike capability by General Banks. On the other hand, I hate the idea of abandoning Europe as well as the Middle East completely except of some naval escort against uncooperative Yemeni pirates, especially with the fact that our supply lines to India and mainland South East Asia are using the Suez route as well as to keep our eyes on the Pakistanis, as they will soon or later join the Chinese anyway thanks to Kashmir...

Sikorski regained his composure. "But with our pressing need so far, it has to be done. The Israelis know that and were ramping up their defenses just in case, especially with Hamas and Hezbollah are still around as well as the recent resurgence of the left-leaning PFLP."

Sikorski let the Director of National Intelligence William Schulz took over for quick explanation about Israeli situation, about how multiple recent attacks inside Israeli territory were attributed to the PFLP, with multiple lead of possible Chinese sponsorship.

Then, Sikorski continued where Schulz left off. "Even with their war-footing, they helped us a lot in terms of equipment as well as our allies, by licensing a lot of their tech. Some will cry war profiteering, but as those things work as intended, we can't be more grateful than that. In fact, we used them to consult about Statesman, even with the increasing reports that Israeli weaponry are ending up in the possession of those communist foreign legion."

The steady decline of the US as a global influencer thanks to it's constant wars in the Middle East and the rise of China had given the latter an opening they had longed for. After nearly 70 years of planning, China finally had the technological and military might to not just challenge the US nearly alone, but potentially remove them from their superpower status.

The Secretary of Defense spoke up for the group again, saying, "I believe in miracles, however, with the fact that Chinese military productions as well as recruitment for their foreign legion were increasing despite our sustained sub-orbital bombing and cyber ops campaign thanks to raw materials and other supplies from Russia and Central Asia, as well as their overall good harvest, highest of the decade, in fact, I do not believe that we will be able to hold our presence in Asia for more than six months, in a most pessimistic scenario."

The President knew Sikorski was right; there was only so much the US could do with the current forces and equipment they had at hand especially with the growing insurgency inside the home soil. The military boneyard near Tucson, AZ was already being scavenged for equipment that could be reactivated and so too was the Navy's reserve fleet ever since the war broke out. Even with current increase of production rate of materiel that was enough for a new NATO-wide Lend-Lease program that's currently underway, Allen and his people were still longing for more time to allow the full potential of the American economy to do it's magic. However, it was time that the Free World did not have.

"You bring up some good points Secretary Sikorski. We can only defend and win if we prioritize our resources in the best manner," responded the President. He looked down at his tablet for some information before continuing. "What we need to do right now is to determine the plan of action."

General Meliala saw this as his opportunity to step in and provide his military opinion. "We might as well retain a division there and the V Corps HQ for training our Asian allies there alongside the Europeans while the rest - and this will include the 173rd Airborne BCT - will head for Australia and Indonesia, as well as accelerating redeployment of our air assets from bases in the Middle East such as from the Ali al-Salem Air Base to the Indo-Pacific area. In other words, we move the Middle East and for the lesser extent Europe to the backburner, or as a transit/staging area."

"Your wish had came true now, Mr. President." said Hayward, invoking one of the President's campaign promise to further reduce American presence in the Middle East, with the increasing public opinion including some of the ruling party's factions that believed it as the main cause of the incessant violence in that region.

"We must be grateful also for the British who filled us up since the last decade, particularly in Bahrain and Oman; a return to the East of Suez. That's also explained why the Royal Navy and Air Force had reported being engaged by Pakistani drones around the Persian Gulf; even when Pakistan is not yet officially at war. Probably Chinese operated."

"The Emiratis and the Omanis are particularly furious with the recent provocations. Expect a call soon from their Foreign Ministers to us as well as a stepped up opening of their potentials for our collective effort."

"Back to Indo-Pacific, until we substantially increase the number of our carriers, we are not going to be in a position to take China on and win in the long run, in light of their ballistic missile capability resilience that had been mentioned before, even with our suborbital missiles and our submarines were targeting them routinely. With that said, I recommend that we focus on increasing our presence in Australia. We will still send boots to Philippines, Korea or Japan, but it will be relatively minor compared to what we are going to do here in the American soil. We have just receive substantial intelligence showing that Alaska and the entire West Coast is incredibly vulnerable to China and possibly Russia, and a beefed up presence could be the difference in deterring or preventing an attack there. We have to thank our partners, particularly Japan, who pointed this out."

The said info showed that after sometime, Red China had figured out that might not need to capture the whole Southeast Asia or Japan or India after all despite it's resources and it's territorial claim, as it could quickly shift attention to mineral rich Alaska and even Texas, the technology hub in California and Washington State, and the fertile farmlands of the American West Coast as well as Hawaii, the latter was pointed out as a possible bargaining chip.

"I also recommend that we begin a full mandatory civilian evacuation of Hawaii and Samoa, Guam and the Marianas as well. The Chinese will certainly make a move for them, proven by the fact that they once occupied Solomon Islands, before being driven out by primarily Australians, French, and Indonesians. The point is, they will come back with a vengeance. Once cut off, the civilian population on the island will begin to die off."

Meliala continued "Furthermore, we have deemed Hawaii's value as "degraded" thanks to multiple attacks against Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Schofield, and some other facilities at the start of the war. The Governor of Hawaii had long since reactivated their State Defense Force under the name Hawaii State Guard or HSG. We had supported them in preparation for guerilla war on the island and to establish a continuous surveillance operation of the facilities in case they fall to the Chinese, but there is nothing we could do for the civilians. I recommend we begin evacuation of the residents immediately, with options of letting volunteers to stay especially those with guns or emergency services and military service experience that the HSG will surely need... while we still have time."

Secretary of State Lucy Liu spoke up, "This is not going to look good in the public eye, Mr. President. I understand the need to prioritize our resources, but it could appear that we are abandoning our allies and essentially surrendering to China. I believe with the Russians are keeping their neutrality, we are free to reduce some of our forces in Europe, for example, and relocate them to Asia. Is there some way we can continue to keep military pressure on the Red Chinese?"

Sikorski understood the Chinese-American concern as well and added, "She is right, Mr. President. Some will interpret that that we are surrendering to China and ceding Asia to them. However, right now, with our remaining carriers are keeping the Chinese busy in thr vicinity of the Second Island Chain; thanks to our drone tankers in support of interdiction operations against Red shipping as well as supporting our Japanese, Korean, Free Chinese, Indian, and other Asian allies. in particular the mining ops against their ports, as well as the continuous flow of supplies to them, we can keep the public and the Chinese from believing we have abandoned Asia."

Meliala concurred. "These are good points Mr. President; I have to agree with their assessments. It is important that we make the Chinese believe we have not completely surrendered the fight to them, especially in light of our planned withdrawals from the Hawaiian island, if we do in fact move forward with that plan. Also, let me be clear here why I will still send our boots to Korea and Japan and Australia... is because that I personally believe in an idea of riposte shall any American soil be invaded as well as to finally break through Red defenses from Korea, hence I planned to send the 1st Cavalry Division there."

The President knew the next months were going to be critical to the direction of the war and its outcome. The decisions being made right now would have a profound impact on the future history of the world. "Then it is settled."

* * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * *

Following what was probably the most important meeting of the war, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs immediately began to get things moving. Twenty four thousand Army soldiers who had just completed training were being transferred to Australia and Indonesia to reinforce Army's 23rd Infantry Division "Americal" and elements of the 2nd Marine Division guarding two batteries of ground based long-range hypersonic missiles already stationed there.

Newest equipment, including those produced in converted Japanese and Korean-owned heavy equipment and automotive factories in the US and Canada, such as the M1A3 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and 50mm cannon-armed M6 Truscott Infantry Fighting Vehicles - designed by German company Rheinmetall and named after World War II era General Lucian Truscott - were prioritized for the home service troops so fewer of these were earmarked for overseas units mostly to replace losses suffered by, for example the Korean-based 2nd Infantry Division.

Meanwhile, elements from the recently raised 5th Marine Division has been sent to Alaska and Canadian West Coast to aid the Army in defending critical naval and land points that could be used by either Chinese, and possibly Russian, forces, and they began to build a host of defensive forts, minefields, and ground-based missile positions in cooperation with the Canadian Armed Forces as well as the British who had military presence in the said Commonwealth realm. In addition, more Marines under active 1st Division as well as activated reserve 4th Division were deployed to Philippines and outlying Pacific islands, subjected to reinforcement by Australian or Indonesian-based forces as part of delaying action against a possible Chinese naval offensive.

China had solid presence in Laos, Cambodia, and in the Military Junta-controlled areas of Myanmar as it also faced the Indian Armed Forces that were fighting side by side with pro-NUG civilian government People's Defense Forces and allied ethnic minority groups. Meanwhile, while the entire former North Vietnam area including the nation's capital Hanoi were either occupied or a gray zone, and down south, the Chinese were still heavily engaged with the Vietnamese in it's southern major cities like Hue and Da Nang, as well as with the Thais from the direction of Laos and Cambodia.

Even with the loss of it's South China Sea man-made islands and it's supporting facilities by primarily sub-launched Tomahawk and CONUS-launched Blowgun missiles and subsequent long range strikes from the Philippines and Malaysia as well as missile batteries in Australia mentioned before, it proceeded to expand it's holding at northern areas of Luzon, in the Philippines.

The economy was one of the few bright spots. The US had reached as close to full employment as possible with the massive expansion of Armed Forces since the Second World War and the thousands of infrastructure, agricultural, transportation, and construction projects across the country, both in anticipation of more Red Chinese raids which fueled multiple exodus from major cities, as well as to house refugees for Asian nations affected by the war and detainment camp for suspected fifth columnists. In light of the new revelation by the intelligence community that the communists had directly put United States territories on it's sight to expedite the end of the war, the US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) were increasing it's ranks with 750,000 new soldiers, sailors, Marine, airmen, and guardians, not include the auxiliary civilian militias/State Defense Forces, to the point that in case of the ground component, a second field army was created to handle the surge, the Tenth U.S Army, responsible in handling the Eastern part of the country.

In addition, 200.000 Chinese refugees and asylum seekers were under various stages of training for service in the ROC Armed Forces in exile, and as many as 250.000 IPSDC-wide recruits and officer cadets were also being trained by NATO to reinforce each nation's military.

Throughout this period, the US government continued to operate underground until possible threats were satisfactorily addressed, especially cyberattacks as well as drone attacks. With agreements on both parties to keep the war conventional, it's time to start relocating back to White House and the Capitol. However, as the relocation was underway, several companies of PLA Special Forces and allied units, later identified as Cuban Army's "Avispas Negras" Black Wasps special forces units backed by UAVs began to attack older Presidential bunkers and government residential areas, and even managed to kill a number of high ranking Congressional leaders and other officials. In addition, two separate attempt to crash the Wall Street and Nasdaq was registered and repelled, as well as numerous plain old bank robbery attempts nationwide.

The Chinese-led insurgency and attacks on officials and civilians in general only served to fuel American public's willingness to carry firearms openly, making it more challenging for law enforcement nationwide to determine if an attack was about to happen or there was just a group of armed citizens who are doing their best protecting their loved ones as they were doing their daily activities. With assistance from the Statesman program, the offending PLASOF and Cuban SF teams were hunted down. Few surrendered but most of them were killed. With the receding threat, the President wanted the government to return to the surface as soon as possible, which happened three days afterwards.

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A/N:

Yes, in this story, Nepal never abolishes it's monarchy.

(1) Big Stick referred to the "negotiating peacefully but willing to use force if anything goes wrong" foreign policy espoused by 26th President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. It's also a nickname for a US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier named after the said President, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).