Twilight’s crew broadcast the footage of the Salafi/Shia fighting throughout the Islamic State of Detroit and that sparked demonstrations even the news media could not ignore. Moderate citizens protested the attacks before the capital and Salafi police “dispersed” them with riot clubs and rifles. Many citizens died and full-scale rebellion soon erupted. That was when the government deployed their defense robots against the people and Twilight had had enough of watching. She waded into the fight in the physical and electronic worlds with the other AIs on her flanks. The network used actual news footage of the real life fighting as a base for the fight scenes to make them as realistic as possible and ratings rose as they marched towards the Twilight series finale.
The one great religion of China is the almighty yuan, and it is a jealous god. All other gods are relegated to less favored status at best, or driven out at worst. The pursuit of yuan drives China to the future and its high priests are the businessmen who dole it out to the people. Their word is law and their whims are commandments. Those that live in China are one among many, the best and smartest of a race who believes themselves superior to all other humans. They live in luxury and comfort that kings of old would have envied. Those that live in the colonies are often the undisputed master of an entire world or star system. Perhaps not as comfortable, but the true rulers of China are always looking for the next best way to make a fortune.
Most people forget that Venus and Mars were our first big run at weather modification. They weren’t always places you could walk around in without shirtsleeves you know. Same for Luna and all those moons around Saturn and Jupiter. And we tended to play a bit when we left our Sun behind too. The various planetary Weather Services were all real good at holding things together long before The War came. The Chinese were just the first people to weaponize weather the way they did. They did a lot of damage before we caught on to their tactics. But we got them back in the end.
Salafi Muslim guns kept a semblance of peace and security for their friends in the Islamic State of Detroit. Though their “modesty police” had driven the non-Muslims out of Detroit, and now happily roamed the Shia neighborhoods in search of naked ankles or uncovered heads in need of a lesson. Twilight’s crew was nearby when a crowd of Salafis pulled a teenager out of her home for the crime of living with her stepfather’s sons. The penalty for being alone with men she had no blood relation to was death by stoning, but the neighborhood came to her defense and the street quickly devolved into a violent riot between Salafi and Shia Muslims. Twilight’s crew got it all on camera.
Named the Wang Chung Five by Western Alliance Consolidated Intelligence before they learned the Chinese name, the Steel Hammer is one of the older tanks in use by the Chinese Liberation Army. It carries armor plates heavier than cars, a main cannon capable of destroying many enemies with a single salvo, and miniguns, missiles, and mortars for dealing with lesser enemies. Or enemies hiding behind terrain because they are afraid of the main cannon. The Steel Hammer was one of the more common War Era tanks in the Chinese Army, and continues to serve to this day in garrison and militia units.
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