Jack of Harts

The Caroline Islands are dominated by two political entities. Occupied Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia. Officially registered as a single State for representation in the United States of America, the Federated States are one of America’s primary front lines with Red China. They are heavily militarized, and the southern tip of America’s Great Pacific Firewall is planted firmly in the Caroline Islands. It is primarily built on the small coral atolls that dominate the area, spread across hundreds of kilometers to keep individual security failures from crashing the entire network. Whenever Chinese hackers break the systems on one atoll, it is dropped from the firewall, burned with extreme prejudice, and a new, fresh firewall section is flown or shipped in to replace it. Individual atolls, or even entire atoll chains, may be compromised on any given day or hour, but the Great Pacific Firewall as a whole continues to shield America from the truly massive number of cyber attacks it receives each day without collapsing.

Palau is an island nation in Micronesia conquered by China during the Second Great Depression. It has been developed into a chain of luxury resort islands for the elite and rich Chinese leadership in the centuries since. It is far enough away from Mainland China to keep its air and water clean, and Chinese who travel there get the novel experience of walking in open air without smog protection. Its proximity to Australian and American territories makes security there a paramount concern, and it has been a hotbed of intelligence activity since the fall. Many people like to joke that more spies live and work in Palau, per capita, than any other place on Earth. And some people aren’t joking at all when they say that. Every major intelligence agency on Earth plays the Great Game there, seeking to compromise or influence rich and powerful Chinese leaders. And the Chinese leaders are happy to see what enticements they can acquire at such times. It is actually a game back home to boast about how many suspected Western spies they dallied with during their vacations, while flaunting whatever shiny baubles they came home with. All suitably scanned by Chinese intelligence to guarantee no compromise of security, of course. The Chinese are proud, not stupid.

The Republic of China Navy died defending Taiwan in the last days of that nation, except for the old destroyer ROCS Kee Lung and a handful of surviving frigates and submarines. They led a rag tag fleet of civilian and military transports to Japan, and then on to North America when that nation fell to the Chinese advance as well. They found a new home in Vancouver, and slowly rebuilt in the decades that followed. They soon transitioned into space as humanity expanded into the solar system and beyond, and have maintained an impressive fleet for such a small nation in the centuries since. China has always been quick to attempt to absorb Free Chinese settlements into Greater China, so Free China is quick to shoot them. This alternating cold and hot war between the two Chinas continued until The War came upon us all. And then it turned hot indeed. The Free Chinese had a bone to pick with their cousins, and they supported the Western Alliance campaigns with gusto. And I cannot overestimate how much it helped us to land on a conquered Chinese world with the Free Chinese military at our sides.