Jack of Harts

The fall of Palau and Okinawa to China’s unstoppable juggernaut changed politics in Micronesia forever. They’d been spending the last half century slowly moving towards independence from America, while at the same time seeking close alliances with the nation that liberated them from the Japanese Empire. Watching a new, or very old depending on your point of view, empire arise crystallized their choices with remarkable clarity. As the largest and most populous island in Micronesia, it fell to Guam to accept most of the refugees fleeing from Fallen Asia. It also fell to Guam to be the target of China’s first step into the realm of those nations capable of conducting blue-water invasions. China had spent the last half century building its navy up from being barely able to patrol the brown-water straights between it and Taiwan, to boasting the best blue-water designs the First World nations sailed with. And it was those ships they used to attack the rag tag collection of refugees at Guam, defended by the waning military power of an America caught firmly in the chaos of its Second Great Depression.