Hawaii now erupts with racial violence. The Hawaiian Nativist Party seeks independence from “supremacist” America.
2036: China’s Thirteen Demands are read in the U.N. Amid the worsening glaciation, they find massive appeal. Demand # 1: America and its Grain Union allies must distribute their abundance equally throughout the world. Demand #2: America must accept third party nutrition inspectors at its granaries and warehouses.
The Hawaiian rebel government seeks foreign help. China sends an invasion fleet. America sends its carriers. The Chinese launch a surprise attack on American satellites and other space assets, combining it with a massive cyber-assault on the U.S. Crippled by the cyber-attack on their datalinks, the American fleet is destroyed in the Battle of Oahu.
General Sims—the former Joint Forces Commander in Alaska during the Chinese invasion—runs as an Independent and wins the Presidency. He signs the Non-Nuclear Use Treaty, pledging that America will never again use nuclear weapons first. He also agrees to begin food shipments through the Chinese-dominated U.N. Some economic sanctions against America are lifted. At the same time, the President declares a state of emergency and begins construction of the Rio Grande Defensive Line due to the 700,000 PAA troops in Mexico.
2037: Seeking to escape forced induction into the South American Federation, the Cuban dictator asks for German Dominion military assistance. The first GD airmobile brigade arrives in Cuba.
Terrorists detonate a low-yield nuclear weapon in Silicon Valley, destroying much of the critical American high-technology center. Evidence points to Chinese involvement.
By the end of the year, the PAA’s Mexico-occupation troops number two and a half million. Free Mexico Army assassins kill Mexican President Felipe.
2038: Claiming American provocations, China accelerates its troop buildup. Over four million soldiers occupy Mexico. The first South American Federation troops arrive.
President Sims orders a preemptive satellite assault, using the strategic ABM lasers to knock out all foreign objects that enter American space. He cuts off all grain tribute to the U.N.
The PAA, the SAF and the GD sign a secret accord against America.
2039: Nearly six million PAA troops occupy Mexico, combined with three million SAF troops. The GD moves the bulk of its long-range hovers into Cuba.
-1-
The Stumble
The stumble into war began in the bedroom of Colonel Peng of the Fifth Transport Division. He lay naked on top of Donna Cruz, a Mexican teenager with raven-colored hair and the sensual moves of a serpent. The moment of ecstasy quickly arrived and Peng cried out in release.
He rolled off her, yawned and closed his eyes. No wonder soldiers volunteered for duty in Mexico. Yes, war loomed, but the abundance of willing and attractive females in this land was truly staggering. Peng had never won a marriage permit as Chinese law dictated. He wondered if that had been a mistake.
“Colonel?” the girl asked. “Are you asleep?”
He opened his eyes. She sat beside him. What marvelous breasts and such a flat stomach with its outie bellybutton. Oh. The flatness of the stomach was because she seldom had enough to eat.
The rationing in Mexico was strict. The country’s painfully-grown crops first fed the “invited” soldiers protecting the Socialist-Nationalist Revolution. That meant nearly ten million mouths, ten million hungry foreigners. Afterward, the Mexican government employees took precedence, the Mexican Home Army and then munitions workers. Every Mexican possessed a ration card. Peng’s young temptress had a third class card, no doubt why she supplemented her lifestyle as his girlfriend.
Does she have other “boyfriends?”
“Colonel?” she asked again.
It was atrocious Chinese, but at least she could speak it. Actually, it was much better than most Mexicans achieved.
Peng yawned, idly wondering why he became so sleepy after doing it.
“Do you have a present for me, Colonel?” she asked, smiling as she batted her eyelashes.
“Yes. It’s in the third drawer, my dear. I have a package for you. Why don’t you get it?”
She scooted off the bed. Peng raised his head to examine her wonderful butt. It swayed seductively as she padded across the floor. Only in Mexico could he have won such a beauty.
She opened the third drawer and squealed with delight, taking out a large package wrapped in red paper.
“It’s heavy,” she said.
“I have sausages, whiskey for your father and other delicacies for you. There are also several hundred pesos within.”
“You are kind to me.”
He closed his eyes and lay back. Kindness had nothing to do with it. He was a supply officer and had learned a long time ago that spreading delicacies around solved many problems, including a loveless life. Let the fighters win glory on the battlefield. He would use his position to “buy” what he needed.
“I can return four days from now,” she said. It was a long bicycle ride from Mexico City where she lived. He had been thinking about purchasing a room for her nearby. Many officers did that, but Peng had been saving his money, sending it to his aging mother in China.
Peng smiled as he became increasingly sleepy. Four days from now and he would neigh like a stallion as he enjoyed another night with this amazing creature. Yes, four days and—he frowned.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
Through the mattress, he felt her climb back onto the bed. Her warm hands rubbed his chest. She always told him how she loved his smooth skin. It wasn’t hairy like a gorilla.
“I’m going to be busy four days from now,” Peng told her.
“Oh,” she pouted, taking away her hands.
Peng yawned. It was getting hard to stay awake. “I’m going to be very busy moving Blue Swan. Another shipment arrives, from Japan this time.”
“Couldn’t you get away for just a little while?” she asked. “I really want to see you again, Colonel.”
Peng smiled faintly. The girl was amazing in bed but otherwise unimaginative. She never seemed to understand he had tasks to perform.
“No, my dear,” he mumbled, beginning to fade away. “I have to oversee everything.” She probably couldn’t understand that. “Blue Swan is critical,” he explained. “It is the can opener that will pry apart American defenses. It would be my death to slip away to see you, delightful as that would be. I…”
Colonel Peng’s head tilted until his right cheek sank against the pillow. He drifted to sleep. Thus he never saw Donna Cruz stare at him in amazement.
The next night, Daniel Cruz stared bleary-eyed at his teenaged daughter. She paraded through their tiny living room in a red dress. She was stunning, his daughter. It amazed Daniel that he had ever produced such a pretty girl with such long, raven hair.
“Where did you find the money to buy that?” he asked.
She frowned.
It hurt Daniel’s heart to see that. He should have told her how beautiful she looked. It’s what he would have told his wife. She had died three years ago. Everything had gone sour afterward: his wife dying and his daughter learning to whore herself out to the Chinese. He knew where she’d “earned” the money to buy a red dress like that.
Daniel picked up a glass, swirling the brown-colored whiskey at the bottom. He sipped, letting the alcohol slide down his throat. A moment later, the pleasant burn and the numbing in his mind began. This was good whiskey, better than he’d had in a long time.