- a short story set in the near future...
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The White House
October 17, 2021 3:00 a.m.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have just concluded an emergency teleconference to discuss reports that Communist Chinese forces have invaded Taiwan. At the same time, five of the U.S. Space Command's key military spy satellites have been destroyed, leaving U.S. forces virtually blind to activities both on the ground and in the air in East Asia. There are also unconfirmed reports that tactical nuclear weapons have likely been used to destroy critical Taiwanese naval facilities and air bases. Casualties are unknown. Status of Taiwanese military forces are also unknown as virtually all communications with the island have been cut off. Only garbled shortwave radio transmissions are getting out.
The Secretary of Defense has the responsibility of waking the President and providing him with a hastily prepared situation report.
The President tells Defense Secretary Austin to meet him in the Oval Office. Shutters are closed and curtains are drawn over the windows. The Secretary of State and heads of the CIA and DIA join them shortly.
Secretary Austin speaks first: “Mr. President, you will notice in the report that we have determined that our force structure would normally allow us a number of methods of responding to this action by the CCP. However, our lack of satellite intel confines our effective response to a limited nuclear strike against those strategic military targets on the Chinese mainland that we know, with a high degree of certainty, would be used to stage and support an attack on Taiwan. The consensus is that we should not launch this strike before we have made an attempt to communicate directly with Chairman Xi. Of course, any delay in putting our response in motion greatly reduces our chances of resolving this crisis to our benefit.”
Austin pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath, then asks: “What is your order, Mr. President?”
Biden, after a lengthy pause of his own, squinting at the papers before him, slowly looks up and says:
“Guys, this menu makes no goddamn sense to me at all. Just get me a Big Mac... with cheese... a-a-and a little cup of that soft-serve ice cream, too. Yeah, that's my order.”
THE END
.
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The White House
October 17, 2021 3:00 a.m.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have just concluded an emergency teleconference to discuss reports that Communist Chinese forces have invaded Taiwan. At the same time, five of the U.S. Space Command's key military spy satellites have been destroyed, leaving U.S. forces virtually blind to activities both on the ground and in the air in East Asia. There are also unconfirmed reports that tactical nuclear weapons have likely been used to destroy critical Taiwanese naval facilities and air bases. Casualties are unknown. Status of Taiwanese military forces are also unknown as virtually all communications with the island have been cut off. Only garbled shortwave radio transmissions are getting out.
The Secretary of Defense has the responsibility of waking the President and providing him with a hastily prepared situation report.
The President tells Defense Secretary Austin to meet him in the Oval Office. Shutters are closed and curtains are drawn over the windows. The Secretary of State and heads of the CIA and DIA join them shortly.
Secretary Austin speaks first: “Mr. President, you will notice in the report that we have determined that our force structure would normally allow us a number of methods of responding to this action by the CCP. However, our lack of satellite intel confines our effective response to a limited nuclear strike against those strategic military targets on the Chinese mainland that we know, with a high degree of certainty, would be used to stage and support an attack on Taiwan. The consensus is that we should not launch this strike before we have made an attempt to communicate directly with Chairman Xi. Of course, any delay in putting our response in motion greatly reduces our chances of resolving this crisis to our benefit.”
Austin pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath, then asks: “What is your order, Mr. President?”
Biden, after a lengthy pause of his own, squinting at the papers before him, slowly looks up and says:
“Guys, this menu makes no goddamn sense to me at all. Just get me a Big Mac... with cheese... a-a-and a little cup of that soft-serve ice cream, too. Yeah, that's my order.”
THE END
.
