In the Shadow of the Dragon

[JamesSavik]

 

Originally published as Twilight, the name was changed to avoid the inevitable confusion with the dreadful sparkly vampire story.

 

For the first time here at GA.

 

Five Colorado teens face the outbreak biological and nuclear warfare and civil disorder at home.

[Maximoff]

I'm surprised noone posted on this story yet. I thought it was well written and I found myself reading chapter 1 to chapter 25 in one go. 

Everything seemed well-researched.

 

My only question is... What was Europe doing during these days? It seemed like all they did was argue in the UN.

 

Will there be any sequel to this? 

[Finn]

Because of the otter above, I read it too. Pretty much at the same time.

 

Things do seem pretty technical, and I wonder how you... got to know it? Are you military? Ex-military? Painstakingly researched every last drop as you posted? Military stuff interests me somewhat, as I dabble in a specific kind of roleplay elsewhere on the net, and knowing this kind of stuff comes quite in handy, when you're about to fight a war.

 

There's some stuff I question, mainly because I'm a picky little creature. I understand life and fate was fluffed up somewhat, but it still nibbles at me. No sane men would throw nuclear weapons so freely as these guys did. But I guess that A) some are pretty insane, and it's part of the desperate and fear-enduing atmosphere?

 

Additionally, I found it kind of short. Did you rush it? I'm pretty sure there were some stuff you could've explored further, and the ending seems... plain, compared to the rest of the story. xD

 

But, overall, pretty cool. Haven't read any modern military shenanigans from anyone but those peeps I play with--mostly because if I cbf to research them and I'm afraid it'll consume days of my life. And it would.

 

I wonder about the Europans as well, considering that the US likely have rushed into such a war alone. There's also the US other regional allies, especially the ones that are aligned with her specifically as protection from China. Even if the war was just a false alarm, the US would've probably still reached to those guys. Additionally, I don't think it's particularly easy to take another country by surprise anymore, especially when that country begins with "United States" and ends with "MURICA!". Massings are noticeable, as we saw with the North Koreans.

 

But, nitpicking. Liked it, ultimately. /me salutes.

[JamesSavik]

Finn- the whole thing was orchestrated by a cabal of Chinese generals that were planning on taking over the whole of China and a big chunk of the Pacific Rim.

 

If three of the Chinese boomers had volleyed their missiles at the United States from the Philippine Sea, everything West of the Mississippi would be a radioactive wasteland. If the Iranian nukes had made it to New Orleans and Houston, the United States would have just plain been over.

 

Their operational concept was to provoke a nuclear exchange between the US and China. They would be there to pick up the pieces. The American President put a bullseye on the Generals by letting slip (falsely) that they had leaked the position and plans to the civilian leaderships emergency bunker.

[Finn]

Yeah, I noted that second part. Can't for the life of me understand who'd be crazy enough to purposely start a nuclear exchange though. I now guess your angst-filled Chinese generals, though.

 

The United State's might been hit hard, but I can't imagine we'd take it lying down. I'm hesitant to say that we'd unleash Armageddon, if we were crippled that badly, but it's a concrete possibility, I think. The Chinese generals also forgot about Europe, it seems. They might be relatively weak now, but if the United States was snipped, I don't think they'd just bend over for the Chinese. Nor the rest of the world, really. Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, India... they'd all be scared shiteless of the Chinese, to the point where they'd probably cooperate with the remains of the United States against China... assuming no one immediately blew China to bits, considering the latter just launched a nuclear attack--even if it wasn't their government proper.

 

Which is why I kind of whined about the time. The whole story only spans a few months, right? It might've been easier to get a scale and an understanding of the overall situation if I knew when things were happening in relation to one another. The nukes would gain an immediate international response, from pretty much every country on the planet. Condemnations, mobilizations. Hell, the attacks on the US in the Middle East alone should've drawn the US' allies into some mobilizations. When the US received the Iranian's intel, it would've probably also shared it with it's immediate allies, maybe even the Indians, as the Indians don't quite get along well with the Chinese.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you could've explored more into the international politics and happenings. Would've definitely made me love it more, if it showed how close the world was prepared to jumping on 1/5th it's total population. But, then again, the story was suppose to be about the kids. *shrug*

 

Kudos nonetheless... Certainly made my finger itch for some international power play.