October 23, 2077.
They say that War never changes. Since a man first learned that he could kill other men, He has. Ten thousand years of progress, regression, rediscovery and loss have led up to this point. The world is a husk, dry and bled. The only countries in the world still worthy of that title are America, and China. Both have been at war for a decade, but with America having finally gained the upper hand, the Chinese are forced to consider their last resort.
Poseidon Oil Rig, 175 miles off the coast of California.
"Mr. President, it seems we have finally reached the point of no return. As you are aware, the Chinese primed their nuclear arsenal several months ago, but our boys in china seem to think that the Chinese are ready to launch."
"Is there anything we can do? Anything to push this back?"
"I'm afraid not. Between the closure of the U.N a few years back, and the Chinese enforcing a total blackout, we have no way to determine the Chairman's true intent."
"Alright. Damn it. I'm hesitant to sound the alarm though. If we send everyone into the vaults, we may lose what little faith the public has left in our alert systems."
"We can sound a general alert, have the news comment on the tension and get our bases on high alert."
"We can't allow the public to know how close we are to the edge."
"They are going to figure it out eventually. We already have riots, anarchists, Our T-60 boys are barely holding the east coast together. Our T-51's on the west coast aren't faring much better."
"I know "
"Are we sure it wouldn't be better to just allow the launches? Maybe we don't deserve America anymore. I wonder what our founders would think of where we've ended up."
"That is irrelevant. We made our choice. We waged this war. The founders could never have imagined a time when people can cause their own extinction. We cannot allow the past to affect our future"
A harried attendant rushes into the room, obviously out of breath.
"Mr.… Mr. President…"
"Calm yourself, what is it?"
"The Chinese, they've fired"
"No!"
"Sound the alarm! Open the vaults! Move to DEFCON one, and get me the council, NOW!"
"Sir, what will happen to us?"
"Everyone on this Rig is safe. God help the rest of America. God help us all."
Sorry for the delay, new stuff inbound weekly though! This chapter is not repesentative of my actual chapters, those will be 1000-ish words.