Washington D.C.

United States of America

Battle of Iwakuni D+2

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.

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. The said fact was the reason why the government actually has yet another alternative. Enter the Hive, an alternate bunker under the Pentagon linked by a secret subway to other important government facilities such as the White House, Capitol, Joint Base Andrews, as well as Reagan National Airport and the Union Station. From there, President Allen and his advisors had been monitoring everything 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.

Today's main update would be from INDOPACOM as the main prosecutors of the war.

"The latest CCP maneuver in the UN continued to use what happened in the Golan Heights to justify their invasion"

Commander of the INDOPACOM, dual-hatted as Supreme Allied Commander Indo-Pacific or SACINDOPAC - highest ranked military officer within IPSDC alliance Admiral Juan Manuel Marquez nodded from one of the screen, referring to historical and ongoing Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, despite the previous and current administration never publicly acknowledged the situation on the ground.

The Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to INDOPACOM David Jones went on with the analysis. "Same as how the Russians regarded Chechen rebels and Ukraine, that's how the Chinese thought on Taiwan, a rebellious province... However so far, count your blessings, admiral, we have this alliance because no sane government in the region believe that military force are justified in this regard, especially with so many cases of violation of their seas.... Much more since Ukraine, and we have to be grateful on this administration's ratification of UNCLOS."

Allen was aware on perceptions about how the diplomat sometimes irked multiple senior staffs within the said Combatant Command and how he wished to heard something new from the man just like what the INDOPACOM commander looked like, but with Secretary of State Lucy Liu's trust of this man, the admiral knew better.

Luckily for the officials, Liu waved her hand, signaling his subordinate to cut it out.

"Madam Secretary" The President asked " can you please provide us with the latest updates on where major nations are leaning on this conflict, and the key diplomatic initiatives that aim to end the war?"

"Mr President, most African nations continued to sit on the fence, with exceptions: Tanzania, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, and Alliance of Sahel States members (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger) came out in support of China and North Korea despite revelation of atrocities in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and more... The rest may not be supportive of the SDC, but there are still silver linings: Nigerian agricultural and oil exports are mostly to our allies today, South Africans keep selling medium and large caliber ammunition as well as some unmanned air systems and armored vehicles; mineral exports from Congo, Botswana, Angola, etc are mostly to ours now, while Kenya are using it's Major non-NATO ally status to allow transit of our forces, thanks to Britain for that, same case as Liberia and to our own surprise, Somalia of all people, I have to give the Turks a credit."

"Overall, while Africa as expected made things a little tricky in the UNGA, it does not change anything in the Security Council. It remains, as it has for the past three months, gridlocked. The Russians, Chinese, and three non permanent members: Pakistan, Peru, and Algeria continue to prevent any significant action from that body.

"On the other hand, Latin America mostly leaning our way. The Panamanians had invoked the Rio Treaty in response of drone attacks against their Canal along with ransomware strike, from Nicaragua." Liu continued. "While Central America in general are now militarily engaged against Nicaragua with Mexico as lead nation, details are all DOD and SOUTHCOM's purview... down south it was a mixed bag. Recent attempted assassination of Brazilian president put their people's mood to our side. On one side. Its export trade with China is about three times that with the United States. However, most trade has ceased over the last three months with the blockade of Chinese ports, and the Chinese using food reserves instead of imports. In foreign direct investment, most of the foreign investment in Brazil is from the Netherlands, the US, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan. We, and some of our allies, have reminded the Brazilians of that, particularly as their export earnings are down. The Chileans however have more bellicose stance, they have seized multiple Chinese fishing vessels in the vicinity of their EEZ, similar to Colombia, Ecuador, and even Argentina despite the latter are more neutral in outlook. Same as Venezuela and Uruguay, with their FDIs nowadays were mostly from our allies, despite their previous trade relationships with China and ongoing one with Russia, neither two appear to want to assist the Chinese in any way. The Paraguayans are the most vocal, they are talking to us about how they can contribute further other than taking multiple Taiwanese refugees as much as their land allows. Then, the bad news are from Peru and Bolivia as they recently came out in support of China, and don't forget many of Chinese cyber ops also originated from both countries."

"Thank you Mrs Liu, good brief as always." replied the President.

Finally the Admiral took over, looking at his staffs and proceeded with things.

"Mr President... The SDC activities across the western Pacific continue to develop and broaden. The program to establish and restore strategic bastions in Guam, mainland Japan, northern Australia, Natuna Island, Morotai Island, Manus Island, and the Ishigaki Islands are well advanced, as well as reinforcing the Korean-established ones in the peninsula. Each of these bastions features the mix of multilayered sensor and missile defense systems with our and allied ones, as well as cyber and electronic attack security capabilities. as well as ground and air-delivered long-range strike capabilities based within them. This includes missiles as well as detachments of the new B-21 bombers. The contractor is rushing these new aircraft and their accompanying Valkyrie drones - also standalone capable - off the production line. The accelerated production of the B-21 bombers, as you know, is now one of the Big Ten in our defense production strategy."

The main display screen inside the Hive changed into a map of the western Pacific and Indian Ocean with large 3D domes over the locations that she had just listed. Each of the domes was connected by bright lines, with other lines extending back to Guam, Hawaii, Australia and CONUS as well as India and European continent. "These bastions are also major logistic hubs for the alliance. They provide transshipment points for all kinds of weapons, ammunition, fuels, food, you name it. They are also holding depots for units entering the theater and for the large numbers of reinforcements for units already in combat in Japan, Korea, and Mainland South East Asia. These are our own alone, with the fact that multiple SDC members have their own nodes, as you can see here..."

The President's put his eyes on part of the map showing French-ruled New Caledonia at first, however his attention soon went on the Andaman and Nicobar Island bastion, an Indian initiative with it's own weapon and sensors, and how its mostly Russian-heritage missiles in concert of other military assets and support from similar Indonesian base in the nearby island of Sabang hammered the Myanmar Navy and coastal areas of the pro-Chinese military junta-ruled country hard upon the general declaration of war.

The map changed with focus on the chain of islands south of Kyushu in Japan that extended down through Okinawa, and thence to the Philippines. "So far, the cordon within this area are mostly holding, but as we can see, we are also being engaged in the Second (Island) Chain, particularly months ago in the Solomons as well as in the nearby Papua New Guinea as we all know. Frankly, with the losses they took early on and ongoing ones, and their subsequent priority to keep a secure sea passage between the mainland and Taiwan as well as other occupied regions such as Northern Philippines, they have limited capacity to break out. The vast majority of their fleet has always been frigates and corvettes with minimal blue water capacity, with exception of their submarines and their fanatical and elite crew. Overall, it has got to be hurting them. we all know that they have established continental trade routes and are being helped by their own reserves and trade through Russia, Syria, Central Asian States, and for the lesser extent, Pakistan. This is in addition with intermediaries registered in countries as follows; the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Greece, Turkiye, Serbia, Iran, Cyprus, and even the following British OTs: Cayman, Bermuda, and BVI - even with the increased enforcement by authorities there... But the point is. They can't keep this up for the long term."

"That is true, Admiral Marquez" replied the President. "But it is also true of our own forces. Alliances, particularly in wartime and short term objectives, have a shelf life. We must ensure that the shelf life of the SDC will last just a bit longer than what the Reds can stand."

"Indeed Mr. President."

"How's situation so far with the allies?"

"Alright, Mr President." Marquez started. "In South East Asian theater, Indonesia had announced a second round of draft with 450.000 new service personnel planned across all their service branches, with the third batch had completed their training, mostly for deployment to the Philippines and the Mainland SEA as complement and attritional replacements of three of their army divisions already there, 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, Demographic bonus, people... now with the fact that we need to buy more time... 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 as well as two Italian-made light frigates, all in all a welcomed 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 capital, Nusantara, 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 (in combination of air, missile and drone strikes). 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 and attack boats 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 and their unmanned companions are racking up kills against Chinese boats that managed to enter the area far enough via passage of Russian Far East' territorial waters. Such mission ensured that the sea lanes in Northern Pacific sector between North America and Japan/Korea continue to stay open. They also continue to provide air support over this area."

"Next" he immediately put on an Indian map for the entire cabinet to see. "Indian Theater - 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, Bhutan, 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; 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."

The President went on to the situation in the homeland "Secretary Wickramasinghe, please tell us about influence operations."

"Good morning, Mr President" the Secretary of the Homeland Security Gregory Wickramasinghe began "The Chinese influence strikes on Western social media platforms have continued to evolve, based on what they have learned from our reactions over the past two months. A very sophisticated information operations out of their military and civilian organizations is still on going. The Chinese have also co-opted many criminal organizations worldwide, and these are only magnifying their reach. Their content mills are working at what seems like hyper speed. The Russians are also aiding, with data analysis as well as in the operational conduct of influence missions. Other countries with highest signature of active support (including by local criminal elements) include Cuba, Bolivia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the whole South East Asia with state-sponsored activities in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, Then; Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Palestinian territories, Central Asian states, Mexico, Iran, Romania,  Bulgaria, Italy, Lebanon, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, Serbia, Eastern part of Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela, and Peru"

He paused for the moment than continued.

"Counter-influence operations have received massive investment from all SDC members and us in the past two months. This has included new transparency initiatives, public education campaigns and school programs, even homeschooling groups are also doing their part, as well as multiple AI-based analytical and counter-influence algorithms operational in countries like Indonesia - particularly with that country's longstanding distrust with us in the grassroot level. Same case as Malaysia."

Wickramasinghe's staff pushed a button and changed the map. "What you see here is a part of Statesman, the live (cyber) attack and defense map of the world. This is a 'to and fro' battle that is measured in micro-seconds but with impacts that are strategic and potentially long lasting. As we all know, every major piece of public infrastructure, military and civilian manufacturing, civil and military communications, and the entire transportation architecture of the US and allies, and even some neutral ones like Switzerland has been targeted. "We have also seen the conduct of the full range of hybrid attacks against civilians and military families in the homeland. This has included sending threats to the families of military personnel, medical, racial and religious disinformation to cause societal division and prop up extremist militias, theft of personal data, promotion of peace movements, and false information about poor morale in our military forces abroad and in the homeland."

The level of detail, and the granularity of targets portrayed on the map, impressed even the President.

For the next part, the one in charge was the Secretary of Justice Gunther Schulz.

"Have we identified any additional Chinese and their proxy cells in the last couple of days?" Allen was hoping they had finally rooted out the last of them.

The German-American lawyer replied. "The Project helped us apprehend 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. It basically a trigger for major companies to finally be active participants in alliance counter-influence operations"

Schulz continued. "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, ground and air, 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."

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 Project identified any other significant threats yet?"

"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...."

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 highest body of homeland defense effort is given to an 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.

"... In addition to the military members, 2.544 government civilian employees and 856 government contractors have been arrested so far and counting. Next, Currently reported citizen arrest of suspected collaborators had reached 1.500 nationwide, with drop of violence acts related to such arrest...

"...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, and 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 be guaranteed..." The Justice Secretary smiled; a sense of vindication alongside the Secretary of Homeland Security for having pushed so hard to make such controversial surveillance, analysis, and counter-influence system, the Statesman, operational.

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

This time Secretary 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 and Secretary Schulz 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's more intrusive parts 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 constantly revised parameters 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 and online. 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, as well as resistance in Taiwan and even inside Mainland China. 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!" the President interjected.

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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).