The Final War (alt-Draka story)

[NecronLord]

He's talking in a WW2 era context there, as I understand it.

Put another way, citizens get the Royal Tiger, Janissaries get the T-34.

[Junghalli]

He's talking in a WW2 era context there, as I understand it.
Put another way, citizens get the Royal Tiger, Janissaries get the T-34.

Ah, the Draka/serf ratio in general would have been much higher in that era, since they didn't have Southeast Asia, India, and western Europe which is where the bulk of their serf population is concentrated in this ATL. They actually have a fairly good numbers advantage over the US if nothing else, the Dominate has to have at least 2 billion people, probably more (even with all of NA, the PIs, and bits of SA the US can't have more than half a billion or so).
By this period I figure the Janissaries would basically be the Dominate's regular army (with an elite officer corps of Draka) and actual Citizen divisions taking roughly the same roles the Marines do in the US military.

[stuartdruc]

He's talking in a WW2 era context there, as I understand it.
Put another way, citizens get the Royal Tiger, Janissaries get the T-34.

Ah, the Draka/serf ratio in general would have been much higher in that era, since they didn't have Southeast Asia, India, and western Europe which is where the bulk of their serf population is concentrated in this ATL. They actually have a fairly good numbers advantage over the US if nothing else, the Dominate has to have at least 2 billion people, probably more (even with all of NA, the PIs, and bits of SA the US can't have more than half a billion or so).
By this period I figure the Janissaries would basically be the Dominate's regular army (with an elite officer corps of Draka) and actual Citizen divisions taking roughly the same roles the Marines do in the US military.

Maybe as a relative proportion of the total Draka armed forces. However, consider that in Stone Dogs, the Draka citizen population was over 100 million, and that they have an economy that's been geared up for industralized warfare and a high level of military R&D since at least their Great War (if you assume a TL similar to Drakafic or Stirling's).

I'm imagining an Janissary corp about the size and tech of the Red Army in, say, the 1970's, but with much better leadership and logistics. Combine that with a Citizen force with 1990's technology, a high level of initiative, and a higher troop to support ratio than the US's (I read once that that something like 12% of US troops were front-line troops in WW2 --imagine what the Citizen force ratio must be like with all those Serf Auxilliaries!).

They've got both quality & quantity on their side, and the element of surprise in Operation Xerxes (which I still think doesn't make sense -- I can't imagine the US sending 300K troops to Britain and being at what amounts to a peacetime footing at home before the attack). One contradiction I see: you mention the US having satellite recon of the Draka attack on Britain, but they don't see the massive troop buildup before 9/11? Even the AfD did better than that in Stone Dogs.

OTOH, they've got both the US and USSR to fight, and not quite as much of Europe and China under the yoke as in the Stirling TL. The fact that they're going for a quick strike and launching the attack with the standing army by sea's their biggest obstacle.

That reminds me: given the world map, how do the Draka even HAVE a Pacific fleet that can reach the US West Coast in a TL where Russia and Eastern China are hostile neutrals and SE Asia and India are the only Draka holdings ? The Indian Ocean's a LONG way away, there's Philipenes, Hawaii and other US Pacific holdings along with the Aussies, and the Pacific is much bigger than the Atlantic.

Still, keep up the good work. Even with some errors, this is the most entertaining Drakafic I've read to date.

[Junghalli]

Oh for the love of God... I still can't get the damn image-link to work. Must be something wrong with my software or something. Maybe Chewie can help me out again.

Anyway, some fluff, follow the link for the revised world map.
http://photobucket.com/albums/a24/Jungh ... d_600w.jpg
I've made the following changes
(1) Had Iceland federate with Great Britain as per Captain Chewbacca's suggestion (he pointed out its strategic location, it would have been taken by somebody in a universe with a political situation like this one).
(2) Gave British Guyana to the US, also as per Captain Chewbacca's suggestion.
(3) Reduced the number of countries in South America to be more consistent with Sterling's original timeline.

I should have another chapter ready by tomorrow.

[Junghalli]

Maybe as a relative proportion of the total Draka armed forces. However, consider that in Stone Dogs, the Draka citizen population was over 100 million, and that they have an economy that's been geared up for industralized warfare and a high level of military R&D since at least their Great War (if you assume a TL similar to Drakafic or Stirling's).

This TL diverges from Sterling's during the Eurasian War, for the record. Operation Barbarossa doesn't suceed, so we still have a Soviet Union. The result is that toward the end you basically have a race between the US/Soviets and Draka to take as much Axis holdings as they can for themselves. I figure on problems starting very early in the war between the Americans/British/Soviets, and Draka when we realize we've allied ourselves with a bunch of Mongol-Nazis who've basically just jumped in so they can make a huge land grab for Eurasia.
I'll try to post a timeline as soon as possible.

I'm imagining an Janissary corp about the size and tech of the Red Army in, say, the 1970's, but with much better leadership and logistics. Combine that with a Citizen force with 1990's technology, a high level of initiative, and a higher troop to support ratio than the US's (I read once that that something like 12% of US troops were front-line troops in WW2 --imagine what the Citizen force ratio must be like with all those Serf Auxilliaries!).

Sounds about right to me but the tech level would be a bit higher, this is a more advanced universe (something between OTL and Sterling's scramjets in the sixties tech development, closer to OTL but still a good ten or fifteen years ahead of us).

They've got both quality & quantity on their side, and the element of surprise in Operation Xerxes (which I still think doesn't make sense -- I can't imagine the US sending 300K troops to Britain and being at what amounts to a peacetime footing at home before the attack).

True, where they're lacking is a well balanced military like the US has here.
The US wasn't really on a peacetime footing, it was more that it wasn't on a total war footing. Read Bush's speech: what he's talking about is extreme measures like mobilizing the entire reserve.
Xerxes wasn't a total suprise, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't have seen the fleet coming. But they probably expected them to do what the Japanese did in WWII, attack some islands and Central America, and that's what they were gearing up for. They didn't think the Draka would be arrogant enough as to think they could actually conquer the whole United States, and attack the middle fourty-eight states.

TOH, they've got both the US and USSR to fight, and not quite as much of Europe and China under the yoke as in the Stirling TL.

Correct, the lowlands of China (where all the population is) is Soviet, as is Eastern Europe.

The fact that they're going for a quick strike and launching the attack with the standing army by sea's their biggest obstacle.

They're going for a quick strike because they know once the unholy war machine of a continent-spanning US gets into gear they're in trouble. The Dominate; with a large percent of their military force constantly tied down keeping their own population in line, a heavy reliance on a mystique of themselves as invincible a la the Spartans, and what would realistically be the least productive economy of the three superpowers, is not very well cut out for attrition warfare.

That reminds me: given the world map, how do the Draka even HAVE a Pacific fleet that can reach the US West Coast in a TL where Russia and Eastern China are hostile neutrals and SE Asia and India are the only Draka holdings?

They do have some Pacific coastline in Indochina (OTL Vietnam), they'd probably keep a large force there so they could retain some influence in the Pacific.

Still, keep up the good work. Even with some errors, this is the most entertaining Drakafic I've read to date.

Thank you.

[NecronLord]

They've got both quality & quantity on their side,

They have quantity or quality. They don't really have both in the same units. They don't have quantity of quality. That's something the USA would have here.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Poor Jung. Photobucket provides an embedded-picture link, just copy and paste the one with IMG-tags.



P.S. The middle Guyana, (dutch Guyana I believe) would have been taken by Brazil at some point. I forget precisely when.

P.P.S. Now I DEFINITELY want a proxy character.

[stuartdruc]

They've got both quality & quantity on their side,

They have quantity or quality. They don't really have both in the same units. They don't have quantity of quality. That's something the USA would have here.

Definitely NOT the Janissary Corps, which is clearly quantity vs. quality relative to other armed forces. And the Citizen Force has quality vs. quantity relative to them. No question.

My point is that in a post-Eurasian War Drakaverse, the Draka Citizen Force is still large enough (assuming the 100+ million population in Stirling's world is remotely the case here) that given their higher front-line troop % due to serfs filling support roles, the years of intense training, and the Citizen Reserve requirements, they have both relative to the US. Man for man, the Draka are better than the Americans, and gun for gun, tank for tank, they're better. At least on the ground, anyway. And there's still a lot of them, depending on how much they're held down occupying much of the world.

What makes the Draka such a threat to an enemy is their ruthlessness, the willingness to spend as many Janissary lives as possible to achieve a breakthrough, and the sheer size of the combined Draka+Janissary forces.

What America has on its side is some better aircraft, geography (the Draka DO have to cross an ocean and establish a beachead in the face of now-fanatical enemy air and sea forces), high morale, and at least until the 9/11 of this timeline, the threat of MAD with their ICBM force.

At least my read of the Drakaverse is that going into the Final War, the US and Soviets have more control over how expensive they make a conquest -- meaning too many Citizen casualties or too many Janissary ones that could lead to a revolt -- than being strong enough to constitute anl existential threat to the Draka and defeating them absolutely. IF they fight separate battles, that is. If the Americans can indeed make conquest too expensive, and convince the Soviets to ally with them, life can be considerably different.

The real question from a Draka POV is the expensiveness of the conquest; that's what makes them Draka. They wouldn't roll the dice with, say, a 60/40 chance of victory, but they'd do it at , say, 80%. If they don't try, they're not fufilling their "destiny of the Race", and if they back off, they think they're going to collapse. To them, life is about getting that 80%.

OR maybe I've drinking too much Stone Dogs' Kool-Aid!

[Junghalli]

The landing boat lurched dangerously as it moved ponderously across the rough sea. It was a cheap and rickety contraption, little better than an open steel box with a weak engine attached, and the waves tossed it around with disquieting ease. There was no storm, but it was cloudy and windy and the air was very wet. To Jenny, who had spent her whole life in equatorial Africa, the cold was almost beyond enduring. She pulled herself into a violently shivering ball of cold flesh, her legs folded up against her body and her arms tucked into them in a desperate effort to conserve warmth. The metal body of her rifle was like dry ice in her hands. Every once in a while water would splash into the landing boat, its coldness shocking her as it struck her face and body and leeching away her body heat as it soaked into her pants and uniform jacket. Her teeth clattered in her mouth like maracas.

She felt Amber Nsemi’s thin, almost mummified hand tap into the soft flesh of her neck. The contact was painful, like being poked with a stick, and she tried to shrug it off.

“How are you doing?” Nsemi asked.

“I’m s-s-so cold” she said, trying to still her rattling teeth long enough to give an articulate response. “Is it always this cold here?”

Nsemi shrugged. “It’s the end of summer here, I think.”

Jenny gave a groan of despair and tried to pull herself into a tighter ball. What was the winter going to be like?

“You’ll survive” Nsemi said. “Here, take one or two of these.” She held out a handful of small yellow pills. Jenny took one and forced it down her throat. She gasped as the drug took hold of her. Her heart beat furiously and she felt adrenalin charge through her bloodstream. She was no longer cold, in fact sweat beaded on her forehead. Her body itched with the urge to get up, run, jump, do something to get rid of the new energy whirling around inside of it.

“Give me another of those” she said.

Nsemi shook her head. “You don’t want to overdose. A lot of new people take too many of these-they loose their wits. Your head hurt?”

“Uhh” Jenny nodded and put a hand over her aching, throbbing forehead. It felt as if a hydraulic piston was being gradually driven into her skull, slowly pushing through her skull and pressing the soft meat of her brain. Last night the Draka officers had opened the ship’s stores of whiskey. The Sergeants and more experienced men hadn’t drunk so much, but most of the new conscripts like Jenny had gotten stumbling-around drunk. The whiskey was cheap and strong and burned Jenny’s throat like iodine but it relaxed her and eased her fears. In the hotel she often shared drink with the guests, but she’d never guzzled up alcohol like that before and she hadn’t realized the price she’d be paying for it the morning after.

“I should have told you” Nsemi said. “Never get drunk the day before a battle-unless you like fighting with a hangover. And if they ever pass it out right before the battle take very little-you definitely don’t want to be fighting drunk, ever.” She took out another couple of pills. “Here, take another one. It takes the edge off.”

Jenny gratefully accepted another yellow pill and swallowed it. The rush of blood to her head actually made the ache worse, causing fresh spasms of pain, but it also gave her the strength to focus through it. “Thanks” she said.

“Alright!” the Egyptian Sergeant (the name tag on his jacket read SALIM) shouted. “We’re going to be hitting the beach in a few moments. Remember the three rules. One: stay down. Two: stay with your fire team. Three: do what your Corporal tells you. Get your gear on and get ready now.”

Jenny slapped the heavily padded helmet on her head, pushing her hair flat to get it out of the way. When she’d been a wench it had been allowed to grow down to her shoulders. Sergeant Salim had given her a pair of scissors and a band and had her cut it to a more sensible length and tie it back. She pulled the clasp of the chinstrap closed. The constricting leather made the skin of her cheek itch, but she made sure the strap was as tight as possible because even she knew the helmet would save her life if she got hit in the head.

The landing boat came to a stop, the driver letting the engines idle. Machine gun bullets pinged off the front. The driver released the lock, allowing the front part of the landing boat to fall open. For the first time Jenny got a good look at where she was going. The landing boat’s ramp disappeared into foaming white water. Not far away was a small beach, and beyond that some buildings.

“Go! Go! Go!” Sergeant Salim yelled. “Move it now!”

Jenny hesitated for a second, dreading the thought of having to go into the ocean. Nsemi (it was impossible for Jenny to think of her as Amber, the habit of referring to people by their proper names was as deeply worn into her mind as the assumption that they should call her by her first) grabbed a handful of her jacket and pulled her along and down. She didn’t resist as she was dragged into the water, she knew this was her best chance to avoid being shot. Still, her body rebelled at immersion into the cold, rough Atlantic. It felt as if she were being shoved into a tub full of ice water. She struggled to pull in oxygen between the passage of the waves. It was better than the alternative though. Many Janissaries tried to wade through the thigh-deep water and went down with weeping crimson wounds. Sometimes they would groan, sometimes they would thrash around a little like a dog that had been shot, and sometimes they would collapse like a pile of sandbags without even a sound. Their blood turned the water around them light pink. A couple of times Jenny had to push floating bodies out of her way. They were still warm. Her hands started to find something slimy and icky. Sand and rock, overgrown with seaweed.

“This is the worst part” Nsemi said. “We have to get off this beach… somehow. This is when we’re most vulnerable.”

Jenny crawled onto the dry part of the beach. She felt vulnerable. Men fell around her. One crawling figure groaned and fell limp as five bullets tore into his back, as if to show her that even close to the ground she wasn’t safe. The horrible salty-iron smell of blood was thick in the air, so thick she could taste it in her mouth, along with the smells of gunpowder and diesel fuel. Her stomach threatened to heave up and she clamped her throat tight to keep from vomiting. The sand scratched her hands like finely crushed glass, harsh and abrasive. The beach was littered with dirty old food wrappers, refuse, broken bottles, and other things she prayed she wouldn’t find herself touching as she moved.

“Raboud!” Sergeant Salim shouted to one of his men who’d managed to crawl close to the machine gunners. “Grenade! Throw it!”

Raboud stood up and heaved one of his grenades at the concrete barrier the American machine gunners were hunkered behind. It was a suicidal gesture, costing him his life, but the grenade landed behind the barrier and momentarily stopped the machine guns.

“We have them now!” one of the Draka Tetrarchs shouted. “Charge!”

Nsemi pulled Jenny up. She was relieved to no longer have to touch the sand with anything but the heels of her boots, even if she now noticed that her uniform was completely soaked with freezing water and clung clammily to her skin. She supposed the one good thing was that if she pissed herself nobody would notice.

Men began jumping over the concrete barrier and a vicious firefight broke out between the Janissaries and the surviving American GIs. But the Americans were tremendously outnumbered and it was all over in a matter of seconds. Jenny had never been particularly athletic and couldn’t jump over the barrier, she was forced to do an undignified climb and roll maneuver that almost landed her in the lap of a dead Yankee. The man had dozens of dripping wounds from grenade shrapnel. He could have been a thin Draka if not for the unfamiliar insignia on his shoulder pads. She quickly pulled herself up and surveyed her surroundings. She was on a broad street, tree lined. There was a small car parked at one curb, broken glass from its windows scattered over the street. There were a few scattered houses on one side and what appeared to be a parking lot on the other. She had just taken stock of her surroundings when gunfire opened up from a nearby stand of trees. They must have moved one of the machine guns into there.

“You six, take that thing out!” the Draka Tetrarch shouted and pointed to a group of Janissaries. No sooner had he done so when he fell over, a red stain spreading across the front of his shirt. Jenny again felt an urge to throw up when she saw what had happened to his back. There was a hole in it so big she could have stuck her fist in, with pieces of his spine sticking out like red candy canes. He groaned weakly and tried to crawl away.

“That house! Sniper! Send a team to take him out!” Another Draka officer shouted immediately before a piece of his head was sent flying into the air, splattering the Janissaries next to him with hot blood and brains. Another group of Janissaries began moving in the indicated direction. Jenny felt herself being grabbed and pulled behind the car. She winced as broken glass crunched under her legs and she felt pieces of it stick to the legs of her pants but obeyed. Nsemi guided her from shelter to shelter as the Janissaries gradually began to move, kept down by heavy fire from several machine gun nests. Tree stands and houses were sprayed with flamethrowers, eventually forcing most of the defenders out, but at the price of what Jenny could only think of as a horrendous cost in casualties. There were Yankees in every conceivable hiding place; behind stalled cars, houses, dumpsters, anywhere where a person could find some cover. They would peak out to take a few shots at the advancing Janissaries with their rifles and then retreat, exacting fees in blood for every few meters of ground covered. Snipers in hidden perches would take pot shots at any Draka they saw, leaving the job of coordinating and directing the movements of the Janissaries mostly to experienced veteran Sergeant like Salim.

They were in the process of clearing out the town’s small dockyards when Nsemi shouted in alarm “Oh shit! Stryker!”

“What?”

“That thing!” she pointed to a road that lead up to the dockyard. She saw a hint of movement behind a row of buildings and an odd vehicle rolled into view. It was squat and heavy, with lots of wheels. A turret on the vehicle turned towards the Janissaries.

“Get behind something you fools! Take cover!” one of the Sergeants shouted. The turret came to life, spitting out bullets and felling men by the dozen. The survivors rushed behind whatever cover they could. Seeing that help had arrived the Yankees who had been pinned down rallied and began retaking ground. They were strengthened by more men who had accompanied the vehicle. Every time a Janissary put his head up to shoot one, or even just retreated, its machine gun would take him out instantly. Some Yankees moved to cut off the road that was the Janissaries’ main means of retreat. Little could be done to stop them since the Stryker laid down heavy suppressing fire for them. Several recruits, seeing that they were doomed if things continued this way, tried shooting at the Stryker with their assault rifles.

“You’re just wasting bullets!” Sergeant Salim shouted. “Where the hell is our RPG?”

The guy who had it got pasted back on the beach” Corporal Grava shouted back.

“Fuck!” Salim cursed. “I need an RPG over here!” he shouted. “Anyone who’s got an RPG now would be the perfect fucking time to use it you know!”

Jenny felt a shadow falling over her. She looked up to see three Yankee soldiers. For a second they looked almost as surprised as she did. Then they started raising their guns. Nsemi already had her rifle up and shot two of them. Jenny raised hers and shot the third. The rifle punched hard into the soft meat of her shoulder and the man fell, his hand momentarily moving toward the crimson holes in his body and then going limp. Jenny was momentarily distracted by the sight of a bright flare shooting from behind a tree stump and hitting the Stryker. It exploded and left a big crumpled dent where it hit. The vehicle rolled disjointedly on shredded tires and busted axles, but it kept firing.

“Another one!” one of the Sergeants shouted. “I need another one!” Another RPG shot out and this time the Stryker went dead. As some of the Janissaries cheered Jenny heard a low gurgling moan. She looked down at Nsemi. Streaks of bright red slashed through the woman’s uniform; her blood mixing with the seawater soaking the cloth.

“You’re hit” she observed.

“Yeah” Nsemi gritted her teeth in pain. “I think I must have been shot about nine or eleven times just now. The flak jacket saved me but… Oh God this hurts so much.”

“What should I do?” Jenny asked.

“Just… just put me down. Please.”

Jenny shook her head numbly. “No, don’t say that!”

Nsemi turned her head toward Jenny, her face tight with pain. “I know I took a gut shot. Listen, you need a surgeon to fix that and I’m not going to get one.”

“I can’t…”

“Do it goddamit!” Nsemi shrieked. “Do you have any idea how much it hurts to have three bullet wounds to gut and holes in your arms and legs that go straight through from one side to the other? I am in too much fucking pain to argue with you! If I’m not worth the trouble of saving then I at least, deserve the same fucking consideration as a rabid stray dog! I don’t want to spend an hour like this waiting for blood loss to finish me off!”

Jenny took out her pistol and put it to Nsemi’s temple. Nsemi shook her head. “Don’t waste the bullet, you may need it. Break my neck.”

Jenny grabbed Nsemi’s jaw and the back of her head. She rolled it around back and forth a few times until she was sure she had a good grip, then took a deep shuddering breath and twisted it as hard as she could. There was a horrible wet crack and Nsemi’s body went limp. Her hands shook and she looked down at the corpse with a kind of incredulity, unable to quite believe what she’d done. She’d barely noticed killing the Yankee soldier but he’d just been a human figure standing over her. Nsemi had been a friend. She remembered the strange feeling of power she’d have the first time she’d held the assault rifle. The feeling of being able to point it at somebody and shoot and kill them. Now she felt just the opposite; she couldn’t wrap her mind around actually being able to end this woman’s life. Even if she had just finished the job the Yankee rifles had started. Her hands were still clean even, but then why shouldn’t they be, from breaking the neck?

“Come on!” Sergeant Salim yelled. “We’ve got the on the retreat again, move!”

Jenny numbly petted the side of Nsemi’s face, then turned around and began shooting again. She was on her own now.

* * *

“Sir, you better take a look at this, they’ve really got it in for us this time.”

Sergeant Barrows scowled as he turned toward Corporal Hernandez. “Another squad of Janissaries?”

“More like half a platoon” Hernandez said. “Take a look for yourself.”

Barrows crawled over to the balcony of the slummy East LA apartment complex his squad was hiding in and peeked down through the railing. He cursed. Gathered in the street below the apartment block were several box-like vehicles that he recognized as Enyo pattern Janissary APCs. He cursed again when he saw two more vehicles role up. These were also essentially rolling boxes, but with big transverse cannons mounted on them: Despoilers. The Despoiler pattern APC was really more of a superlight tank: the transverse cannon was a decent antiarmor and antitank weapon, even if the vehicle itself was a rickety tin death trap. The backs of the Enyos and Despoilers dropped open and khaki uniformed figures started piling out.

“I count a platoon at minimum” Hernandez said. “Guess we should be flattered.”

“Yeah, well, we did take out two squads” Barrows said. “They’re starting to move their mechanized and tank divisions into the city, they’ll want to deal with trouble spots like this. Methodical bastards. We better get out of here; we can’t hold out against that many apes.”

“Sir, didn’t our orders say not to give them an inch of ground if we could help it?” Private Rodriguez pointed out. She was a tall, muscular Hispanic woman. The Army had permitted women into all ranks for quite some time now; it worked for the Draks so there was no reason it couldn’t work for us, but they were still fairly rare in frontline combat positions.

“When feasible Private” Sergeant Barrows said. “We can’t hold out against that many. I know there are still civvies in this building but there are people who need protection all over LA and nobody’s going to help them if we die for some dickwaving gesture.” This was the brutal reality of fighting the Draka; often you had to resign yourself to leaving those you were sworn to protect in the path of grievous harm.

“Heh, heh, one second” Private Carmelo said. “You’ll never believe what’s going down a couple of blocks to my three-thirty!”

“What?” Sergeant Barrows asked, curious.

Carmelo laughed. “A squad of Draka just got taken out by a bunch of Bangers!”

Barrows rolled his eyes. “And these are the guys who are supposed to kill five GIs for every one of them we kill. Well, at least those damn hoodlums are making themselves useful for a change. Now let’s get out of here, those bastards are already in the stairwell.”

“It just doesn’t feel right” Hernandez said. “Leaving all those people to them…”

“Well, hopefully when they run into us going down the stairs they’ll figure we’ve escaped. There’s nothing we could do that would make a difference-too many of them to take with us and not enough of us to hold the building.” At Barrows’ signal the squad began descending the building’s crummy, dirty stairwell.

“Get ready!” Barrows said, locking and loading his weapon. He descended right into the path of a bunch of Janissaries. They had expected some frightened civvies making a break for it and weren’t prepared to meet a fully armed squad. Half of them were taken out before they could react, but four of Barrows’ men died in the resulting firefight. “Go! Go! Go!” Barrows screamed as his men raced down the stairway and into the building’s laundry room. He surprised two Janissaries and killed them before escaping out the back door and into some bushes.

“Where do we go now?” Rodriguez asked.

Barrows shrugged. It was hot outside and sweat was running down the coffee-black skin of his face. “My guess would be our HQ in this part of the city.”

“No such luck” Hernandez said. “It’s been bombed and gassed by the DAF.”

“Shit!” Barrows spat. “That means we’ll have to go to the next nearest one-a quarter the way across the sprawling clusterfuck of a city. Or hope to run into one of our own roving units. OK boys and girls; remember we’re deep in what is now enemy territory. You stay quiet, stay low, try to avoid getting spotted.”

“Got it Sarge” Hernandez said.

“Vamanos” Rodriguez assented.

It wasn’t easy moving through Draka occupied Los Angeles. Enyos, Despoilers, Hoplites, and Thor main battle tanks cruised the streets both singly and in groups. Every here and there they would see artillery pieces being moved in. Once in a while they would pass the wreckage of American and Draka vehicles or the dead bodies of soldiers. In such places the stench created by blood slowly cooking on the hot concrete was almost unbearable. Once in a while gunfire would sound: the last resisters being eliminated. The GIs stayed low, crawling behind bushes, fences, wrecked vehicles, and every other available cover, not moving while Draka units were passing by. Their progress was tediously slow: crossing a single city block became a complex undertaking. About half an hour into their trek they became aware of a persistent screaming.

“Jesus Christ, what are they doing to that poor bastard?” Barrows wondered. “Skinning him alive?”

“Something like that, knowing the Draka” Private Newmeyer commented.

“Yeah, somebody’s getting fucked” Rodriguez said, looking through her binoculars. “I mean that literally by the way.”

“Bastards!” Barrows growled. “Damnit, how many of them are there?”

“About four or five men” Rodriguez said. “One guarding the door and the others-um-distracted.”

“Let’s take ‘em!” Private Espinoza pounded his knee with his fist. “We’ve got the numbers!”

“Whoa, whoa, let’s not go off half-cocked here” Sergeant Barrows said. He took his binoculars back from Rodriguez and scanned the area. He couldn’t see any other Draka units in the immediate vicinity.

“I don’t see anybody” he said finally. “Those fuckers started Miller Time too early. Rock and roll.”

Barrows lead his squad cautiously around the back of the house, hugging the wall. They ducked low, behind the small stairwell, so the Draka doing guard duty wouldn’t see them as they approached. He was thinner than Barrows would have pictured him, and young looking. He looked too normal, in a way. He could have been some Midwest farmboy if not for the uniform. He was smoking a cigarette; off-guard. Good. He probably thought all resistance in this part of the city was effectively crushed and there was nothing to worry about. He was about to get a rude fact check. Newmeyer jumped out in front of him, holding his AK-47 right in the Snake’s face. The Draka started reaching for his pistol, then thought better of it and reached for the sky instead.

“Childs, take charge of that prisoner!” Barrows ordered. “Break down
the door!” Rodriguez kicked the door down and the squad rushed in. They rushed into the living room to find five Draka in the process of gang-banging a Hispanic woman.

“Surprise, surprise mutha fuckers!” Barrows yelled as Rodriguez skillfully blew apart the head of the man presently engaged in porking the unfortunate woman with her pistol. The others reached for their guns and it was all the excuse Barrows’ men needed. Rodriguez pulled the woman out of the way and Barrows and his men purified the place with cleansing AK-47 fire.

“You OK?” Rodriguez asked as she helped pull the woman’s clothes back into their proper positions. “Their leader… he took my son! He…” the woman gasped, unable to bring herself to articulate the Draka’s repellent preferences.

“Behind you!” Espinoza shouted. Sergeant Barrows whirled around to see a Draka emerging from what he presumed to be the bedroom. The man was pulling his pants up with one hand and trying to bring his assault rifle to bear with the other. Five AK-47s fired at him simultaneously and he dropped to the floor, looking as if he’d been shot emerging from the can.

“MacReady! Check the bedroom!” Barrows shouted. MacReady went in. Immediately thereafter could be heard the sound of vomiting. The mother whimpered, obviously not taking this as a good sign.

“MacReady!” Barrows started walking to the bedroom. “Report Private!”

MacReady popped back out, visibly shaken and with a trace of vomit around his mouth. “You don’t want to go in there sir. Don’t worry ma’am, your son should be OK… at least physically anyway. He’s unconscious right now but he should recover. Sarge, you may want to have the Medic take a look just to be sure.” He looked down at the dead body of the Draka Decurion with measureless loathing. “Shootin’ was much too good for this fucker.”

“Childs!” Barrows called. “Bring in the prisoner!”

Private Childs lead the captured Draka in at gunpoint. “Well well well” Barrows shook his head in mock amusement. “You got any commentary on this little shindig you had going here?”

“I had nothing to do with this” the Draka said. His voice shook. “I swear on my mother’s grave!”

“Let me at that motherfucker!” Rodriguez screamed. “I’ll rip his eyes out and shove ‘em up his ass!”

The Draka was visibly terrified, sweat beading on his forehead, his limbs trembling; a man waiting to be killed. Barrows stared hard at him. “Listen you sick degenerate pedo cuntslime. I would take great pleasure in having your worthless carcass thrown to a bunch of rabid dogs. I would like to personally cut your wang off and shove it so far down your throat you choke on it. It would bring me tremendous personal pleasure to slit your filthy throat. Now give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you this instant?”

The man said nothing, merely waited for his fate. Barrows pulled out his pistol, brought it to his face, and pulled the trigger.

The Draka screamed and clutched his cheek with his hand, to find that the bullet had merely grazed his face. Barrows grinned as he walloped the Snake in the jaw with the butt of the gun, causing him to spit out blood and several teeth.

“And to think, I didn’t even kill you” Barrows said. He turned back to his men. “Cut their balls off and shove ‘em in their mouths. Leave them here as a warning of what happens when you fuck us.”

* * *

The capture of New Haven was not going well. Chiliarch Vandervender could see that very well. The initial landings had gone OK but Krypteria had underestimated the enemy’s strength in the area by what Vandervender judged to be at least three hundred percent. Worse, the Yankees had shown an unexpected willingness to bombard their own city rather than let it fall into Draka hands. Valkyrie bombers escorted by Rapier fighters made quick passes over New Haven, dropping their loads on any areas of the city the Draka had managed to secure while the Rapiers fought off the desperate efforts of the DAF to keep the bombers away. Artillery pounded the town docks and beachfront areas of the town mercilessly. In the meantime the Draka were forced to fight their way through ferocious resistance by well-armed, well-equipped, and extremely motivated Yankee units.

“We must withdraw!” Merarch De Vreese protested. “The Yanks are putting up too much of a fight. We’ll have to pull back our forces and try attacking them in a more vulnerable spot.”

“Ridiculous” Arch-Strategos Lamley hissed venomously. “We are The Race! We do not retreat! We shall not withdraw simply because the enemy puts up a half-decent fight. We did not come to rule a third of the planet by backing down in the face of a little adversity!”

“This is suicide!” De Vreese shouted. “This is not, as you put it, a little adversity! We are facing an army that is stronger than us!”

Lamley raised an eyebrow. “We have the advantage of numbers, equipment, and skill.”

“If you think that you need to open your eyes and watch their planes shooting down ours, their helicopters strafing our forces with impunity, and their Abrams tanks crushing the Despoilers like the tin cans they are!” De Vreese roared. As if to confirm his words the Spartan APC Lamley had converted into her mobile command post shook violently.

“What was that?” Chiliarch Vandervender said.

“Chopper Master, incoming!” the Janissary gunner reported.

“Shoot it down!” Lamley barked.

“Please Master! I am trying!” the Janissary pleaded. The APC shook again, this time more violently. The lights died.

“What now?” Lamley snapped.

“The engine’s blown!” the Janissary driver said. “Master, we’re dead on the ground.” He popped open the engine compartment and coughed as acrid smoke blew into his face.

“Well, fix it!” Lamley commanded.

“I can’t!” the Janissary said. “A shell penetrated the engine Master. It’s totaled.”

Lamley pulled out her pistol and shot him. The Janissary slumped over, a small bloody hole in his skull. “Anybody else care to tell me about our difficulties? Get some reinforcements up here!”

“There are no reinforcements” De Vreese said somberly. “Our units are being wiped out. They’re too busy just trying to survive.”

“Master!” the Janissary gunner screamed. “They’re coming back for another pass!”

“Destroy them!” Lamley commanded.

“With the cannon on a wrecked APC?” Vandervender asked quizzically. “Our last tank escort died to an infantry antitank cannon five minutes ago. We’re done for Arch-Strategos.”

“You mean…” she gulped, feeling fear for the first time.

“Yes” Chiliarch Vandervender confirmed. “We’re going to die. For our country.”

“Fuck my country! I want to live!” Arch-Strategos Lamley shrieked. She began making a run for the door, but that was when she felt a fine chain wrap around her neck, cutting off her air supply. Her wench leaned over her and whispered into her ear.

“I’ve been dreaming about this moment for a long time… Master. No, you’re not leaving. You’re going to die, and I’m free now, if only for an instant.” She pulled the chain tighter. Lamley fought desperately to pull it off her neck but the woman’s grip was tightened by years of hate and suppressed rage and pain and she refused to let go. Lamley’s vision began to dim and she collapsed to the floor. Her wench grinned in a terrible ecstasy of rage, remembering all the ways her perverse and twisted master had abused her. At last, justice was hers. The other Draka were raising their guns, aiming them at her, but that no longer mattered. She embraced the hot kiss of death as the American Apeche helicopter launched its heavy antiarmor missile and obliterated her and everyone around her.

[Junghalli]

My point is that in a post-Eurasian War Drakaverse, the Draka Citizen Force is still large enough (assuming the 100+ million population in Stirling's world is remotely the case here) that given their higher front-line troop % due to serfs filling support roles, the years of intense training, and the Citizen Reserve requirements, they have both relative to the US. Man for man, the Draka are better than the Americans, and gun for gun, tank for tank, they're better.

Unlikely. Even in Sterling's original timeline the Draka lagged behind the allied powers technologically. Citizen Corps equipment is maybe a little better than US Army equipment. But the US Army has good equipment all around, whereas the bulk of the Draka military (the Janissary Corps) is of low quality.
Basically what Necron Lord said. They have small quantities of excellent quality and vast quantities of low quality, what they don't have (and we do) is large quantities of high quality.

What makes the Draka such a threat to an enemy is their ruthlessness, the willingness to spend as many Janissary lives as possible to achieve a breakthrough, and the sheer size of the combined Draka+Janissary forces.

To be perfectly honest I think Sterling overestimates the advantage ruthlessness gives them, or to be more precise he underestimates the ability of generally nice people to become very ruthless and determined themselves when their backs are to the wall. This is one of the most irritating aspects of the series to me.
You're generally correct though, they're basically the Red Army with better equipment and some very good elite forces.

What America has on its side is some better aircraft, geography (the Draka DO have to cross an ocean and establish a beachead in the face of now-fanatical enemy air and sea forces), high morale, and at least until the 9/11 of this timeline, the threat of MAD with their ICBM force.

Also an absolutely terrifying military-industrial complex. Imagine the industrial capacity of a US that controlled an entire continent. The Draka have more raw resources but in terms of productivity history has pretty conclusively proven slavocracy<=communism<<<capitalism.

At least my read of the Drakaverse is that going into the Final War, the US and Soviets have more control over how expensive they make a conquest -- meaning too many Citizen casualties or too many Janissary ones that could lead to a revolt -- than being strong enough to constitute anl existential threat to the Draka and defeating them absolutely.

You are partially correct. Operation Xerxes is sort of like Operation Barbarossa; a plan concieved of with considerable underestimation of the true capacities of the enemy and the obstacles the situation presented them with. Realistically the Draka are unlikely to actually be able to conquer the US, although if things go very well for them I suppose they might reduce it to a rump state of OTL US and Canada.
Likewise the US by itself might concievably be able to liberate most of the Draka Eurasian territories, but they don't have the men to tackle Africa and India.
The Soviet Union has the men to defeat the Draka but it doesn't have the tech.

IF they fight separate battles, that is. If the Americans can indeed make conquest too expensive, and convince the Soviets to ally with them, life can be considerably different.

Correct. Combine US tech advantage with Soviet numbers (they do have the bulk of the OTL Chinese population) and the Draka go down. I'm setting up the incident that will start the Soviets going to war with the Draka, but it won't happen for a little while yet.

[stuartdruc]

Quote 1: Private Childs lead the captured Draka in at gunpoint. “Well well well” Barrows shook his head in mock amusement. “You got any commentary on this little shindig you had going here?”

“I had nothing to do with this” the Draka said. His voice shook. “I swear on my mother’s grave!”

Quote 2: “Fuck my country! I want to live!” Arch-Strategos Lamley shrieked. She began making a run for the door, but that was when she felt a fine chain wrap around her neck, cutting off her air supply. Her wench leaned over her and whispered into her ear.


Hmmm..it sounds like neither the captured East LA scumbag quaking with fear nor the thin-skinned Lamley took that monolithic Race attitude class in boarding school. What, no "boys will be boys" or "Glory to the Race" nonsense from either of them? I guess this isn't the Stirling Drakaverse.

I take it that the New Race never got started here, either.

BTW, what part of the U.S. did Jenny and company land in?

[Junghalli]

Hmmm..it sounds like neither the captured East LA scumbag quaking with fear nor the thin-skinned Lamley took that monolithic Race attitude class in boarding school. What, no "boys will be boys" or "Glory to the Race" nonsense from either of them? I guess this isn't the Stirling Drakaverse.

The Draka are heavily indoctrinated but they are human after all. They have human reactions, motivations, emotions etc. Frankly the way Sterling portrayed them as something approaching an actual superior race annoyed me immensely, it felt almost like the books were Draka propaganda and not an unbiased account.

I take it that the New Race never got started here, either.

Correct, this universe isn't that far ahead of our own, nowhere near the level of creating superhumans.

BTW, what part of the U.S. did Jenny and company land in?

Somewhere in the Maine/New England area. Most of the Draka army is headed for the upper west coast. Their long term plan is to swing around the Appalachians and advance down the St Lawrence river to capture the industrial Great Lakes region and the Midwest wheat belt.

[stuartdruc]

Unlikely. Even in Sterling's original timeline the Draka lagged behind the allied powers technologically. Citizen Corps equipment is maybe a little better than US Army equipment. But the US Army has good equipment all around, whereas the bulk of the Draka military (the Janissary Corps) is of low quality.

I'd argue that in the Stirling TL, the Draka are a step behind in things like electronic warfare, ballistic missles, and naval forces, but a step ahead in terms of tanks, artillery, guns, and small-infantry tactics. Still, I'll concede your point in your Drakaverse. You're the author, after all, even if this world seems to cut out some of Stirling's uniquely Draka "qualities" like massive pragmatism, groupthink fanaticism and a paternalistic attitude toward serfs as humans to domesticate for their own good. Do your Draka still have the intense R&D of Stirling's?

Correct. Combine US tech advantage with Soviet numbers (they do have the bulk of the OTL Chinese population) and the Draka go down. I'm setting up the incident that will start the Soviets going to war with the Draka, but it won't happen for a little while yet.

I look forward to it

[Junghalli]

I'd argue that in the Stirling TL, the Draka are a step behind in things like electronic warfare, ballistic missles, and naval forces, but a step ahead in terms of tanks, artillery, guns, and small-infantry tactics.

Partially true here. The Draka airforce is quite good but also very small, since it's all-Citizen. The Draka navy was always small and relied heavily on subs. The Draka army I've already covered. Their mechanized divisions have kind of a schizophrenic philosophy; on one hand they like massive armor protection for their Citizens, on the other hand they're big into speed and mobility over staying power. So they alternate between very big, tough, heavily armored but slow vehicles and things like the Despoiler.

You're the author, after all, even if this world seems to cut out some of Stirling's uniquely Draka "qualities" like massive pragmatism, groupthink fanaticism and a paternalistic attitude toward serfs as humans to domesticate for their own good.

They're not factually all that different from Sterling's Draka as far as I can tell, the main difference is in how they're portrayed. Read my above post, the most irritating thing about the Draka series was that the books seemed to read almost like Draka propaganda. They almost sounded like a genuine superior race, with us poor regular folks constantly having to struggle to keep from being left in the dust.

[1123581321]

This is pretty good so far.

Why is Archona not a radioactive wasteland yet? Where is America's nuclear response? Come on, they nuked the Eastern seaboard. In all honesty, all of our birds would have flown before their opening strike even landed.

[NecronLord]

Do your Draka still have the intense R&D of Stirling's?

Even if they did, it would be totally rediculous for them to out-compete the United States or the rest of the 'Free Peoples of the World' in scientific development. Without Sterling's later homo servus, there is no reason to assume that serfs can be trusted to research. This means that the Drakans, because of their total lack of upward mobility will have far less innovation and also less scientists over all (small citizen population).

Add to that that anyone with an iota of common sense is going to refuse to supply the Draka with access to the Soviet or Western scientific communities, and probably burn all papers in universities and so on before they're taken, and the gap isn't going to be closed even by conquest.

Realistically, they'd lag behind technologically and be destroyed in the end. Perhaps an interesting way to show such a disparity (especially in electronics, which I'm told even Sterling has them as being inferior in) would be an Alan Turing-style curb-stomping of Draka encryption by the United States.

[Chris OFarrell]

What would be REALLY cool is if the USAF rolled out the FA-22, to show off their technological edge. Say that it has been under construction for a while (make it capable of mach 2 supercruise with the obsession of speed here) but with the same stealth technology the current version has, the super manoverability and so on.

It would be classic to see the terrified looks on the Draka faces when a formation of their bombers suddenly gets illuminated less then ten klicks away by a half dozen aircraft they can't see

[Ryoga]

This is pretty good so far.

Why is Archona not a radioactive wasteland yet? Where is America's nuclear response? Come on, they nuked the Eastern seaboard. In all honesty, all of our birds would have flown before their opening strike even landed.

My guess is it's because there are three superpowers in this TL. The 'one flies, they all fly!' philosophy was fine for our timeline, because the Russians were the only threat. In this case, if the US blew its nuclear load on the Draka, what would it do if the Russians decided to exploit the opportunity?

[Junghalli]

Sorry, no new chapter to give you yet, but there is some fluff. Here's a timeline I made for this universe. I'm going to have to post in in sections because the whole thing's too big to post at once.

1776 -Outbreak of American Revolution. Major Patrick Ferguson invents early breechloading rifle.

1779 -France, Spain, Netherlands* declare war on Great Britain.

1779 -British fleet under Admiral Lord Cochrane lands occupying force in Capetown.*

1780 -Colonel Ferguson's loyalists victorious in battle of Kings Mountain.* Several Loyalist units, including Tarleton's Legion and the newly formed Ferguson's Legion, re-equipped with Ferguson breechloaders.* Savage partisan warfare throughout Southern colonies.

1781 -General Cornwallis besieged at Yorktown in Virginia, surrenders to American rebels and their French allies.

1782 -British naval victories in Caribbean, occupation of Haiti and Trinidad.*

1783 -Second Peace of Paris. American independence recognized; British Florida and her conquests in Caribbean are exchanged for possession of Dutch Cape Colony.*

1783 -Loyalty Acts passed by British Parliament: the Cape is renamed the Crown Colony of Drakia, and all colonials who fought or otherwise suffered for their loyalty to the Crown are offered transport and land grants; so are the Hessian and other German mercenaries in British service at the time. Legislative Assembly meets in Capetown. General Patrick Ferguson is first Governor-General.

1780–83 -First Loyalist refugees arrive in Capetown. Conquest of Southern Africa begun; border pushed to Tugela River.

1783–86 -95,000 Loyalists and their families (not including some 10,000 slaves) arrive; 10,000 Hessians soon follow, with relatives and families arriving in a steady trickle from Germany. At this time the Dutch-Afrikaner population is less than 9,000, and is soon assimilated through intermarriage.

1784 -Founding of Virconium (Durban, South Africa), and Venta Belgarum (East London, South Africa). General Banastare Tarleton becomes first Commander-in-Chief.

1784 -Diamonds discovered in northern interior. Founding of Archona (Pretoria, South Africa).

1785 -Gold discovered on Whiteridge (Whitwaterstrand) and in eastern Archona Province (Transvaal). First steam engines imported. Output reaches 1,000,000 ounces by 1786.

1786 -Drakian Legislative Assembly passes Indentured Labor and Master and Servant Acts, establishing system of debt-peonage for conquered nonwhite population. This rapidly becomes indistinguishable from chattel slavery, which is also practiced.

1786–90 -Rapid growth of economy and population. Export trades in diamonds, gold, copper, sugar, woo1, salt, hides, ivory, etc., established. Drakian ships active in Atlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. Zanzibar seized in 1789; Aden, 1791. Free population reaches 175,000; slave/serf 2,000,000. Transportation Directorate established to build road network to mines and settlements of far interior.

1788 -Colonel Freiherr Augustus von Shrakenberg retires, receives 20,000 acre land grant under Maluti Mountains, South Interior province (Lesotho). Marries Alexandra Hugeson, of a New Jersey loyalist family.

1790–92 -Universities of Cape Town, Virconium, and Archona founded. Anglican bishoprics established in Cape Town and Virconium.

1792 -Conquest of Northmark (Rhodesia/Zimbabwe); settlement and development proceed. Gold output exceeds 2,000,000 ounces annually.

1793 -First coal mine in northern Natalia. Outbreak of French Revolutionary/Napoleonic wars.

1790–96 -Period of rapid growth continues, with serious slave/serf revolts in 1792, 1794 and 1795–97. Slave Code of 1797 grants all freemen power of life and death over "slaves and other bondservants." Militia Act of 1792 establishes peacetime conscription and reserve service to age 60. Women's Militia Auxiliary founded as volunteer group. First Janissary Legion recruited from slaves bought in West Africa.

1795 -African Mining and Metals Combine founded. Granted monopoly of large-scale mining, leases smaller deposits to discoverers. School of Mines founded in Archona.

1796 -Richard Trevithick arrives in Virconium from Cornwall, appointed Inspector-General of Steam Engines by Mining Combine.

1799 -Founding of Diskarapur (Newcastle, South Africa) and Shahnapur (Maputo, Mozambique).

1794–97 -French population of Santo Domingo/Haiti flees before slave revolt. 11,000 arrive in Drakia. Royalists from European France follow.

1800 -Free population reaches 350,000. First iron-works, machine shops, shipbuilding yards started as Revolutionary/Napoleonic wars render imports uncertain. Cotton becomes important crop. Large-scale public works in roads, harbors, irrigation.

1800–02 -Conquest of Egypt (occupied by French).

1803 -Revolt in Egypt suppressed; 300,000 rebels deported to Sinai work camps to begin construction of Suez Canal.

1803 -High-pressure steam engine perfected by Richard Trevithick. Construction of Archona–Virconium railway line begins in 1805.

1807 -Ottoman Empire declares war on Britain due to Drakian refusal to evacuate Egypt. Drakian forces seize Cyprus, Crete, Tunisia. Suez Canal completed.

1812 -Americans overrun and annex British North America.

1815–16 -Peace of Vienna confirms Africa as British/Drakian preserve. Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique purchased. British veterans and Napoleonic refugees immigrate. Madagascar conquered.

1820 -Cache of papyrus manuscripts found in Western Desert by Drakian Camel Corps patrol. Virtually all lost works of Classical literature and philosophy recovered (e.g., Sappho, Euripides, Aristotle, etc.). Classical revival affects Drakian culture. Foundation of Alexandria, growth of Combines. Petroleum first used as motor fuel, 1831.

1820–40 -Rapid growth of export agriculture and manufacturing/transport. Abolitionist groups in England and northern U.S. begin cultural/political campaign against Drakia for alleged "depravity" and other violations of Victorian middle-class norms. This produces defiant anti-bourgeois sentiment in Drakia. Thomas Carlyle immigrates to Drakia.

1800–40 -"Drakia" becomes elided to "Draka" in popular usage. Free population reaches 1,000,000. Conquest of North Africa requires mobilization of over 150,000 men for most of period 1825–1850. Increased employment of citizen women produces legal reforms, franchise agitation.

1848–49 -Mexican–American War. "Young America" faction forces annexation of all of Mexico over objections of President Polk.

1850 -First transcontinental railway (Shahnapur–Luanda). Katanga copper discovered. Mombasa–Nile line built. Conquest of Sudan and Senegal. Brass-cartridge repeating rifle adopted by Draka forces. R.J. Gatling settles in Diskarapur, develops world's first practical machinegun.

1854–57 -Draka expeditionary forces assist British in Crimean War and Indian Mutiny. Dominion of Draka Act, 1858, grants "responsible government" to Draka (practical sovereignty in effect). Hall process patented by Ferrous Metals Combine, enables steel to be produced as cheaply as wrought iron. Rival Bessemer method quickly eclipsed.

1854 -Cuba, Philippines, Hawaii, Haiti, and Santo Domingo annexed by United States. Japan opened to Western trade. "Empire of Central America" established by Southern adventurers under command of William Walker; extends from Guatemala to Panamanian territories seized from Columbia.

1860–66 -American Civil War begins as President Douglas bombards Savannah. Dominion of Draka provides massive clandestine aid — repeating rifles, gatling guns, steam warships, steam-powered warcars — to Confederacy. Union casualties exceed 700,000, including large numbers of Mexican conscripts. Mexican territories achieve statehood. Douglas assassinated in 1865 by Confederate fanatic; Vice-President Lincoln inaugurated.

1866–70 -Louis Pasteur, at Shahnapur Institute of Tropical Medicine, establishes mosquito vector of malaria. World total of private autosteamers reaches 100,000, 75 percent of them in Dominion of Draka. Panama Canal under construction. Taiping Dynasty established in China, failure of effort to modernize. Bismarck unites Germany. Antiseptic surgery, anesthetics.

1865–68 -150,000 Confederate refugees settle in Dominion of Draka. Central American Empire annexed by United States. Freidrich Nietzsche immigrates to Dominion.

1872 -Steam turbine perfected by Alexandrian Technological Institute. First rigid dirigibles. Archona and Alexandria become first cities to establish telephone networks. Uruguay and Paraguay annexed by Empire of Brazil. Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador establish Republic of Grand Columbia.

1879–82 -Anglo–Russian war, fought largely in Bulgaria and Afghanistan. Dominion of Draka rescues British from defeat; Odessa destroyed by Draka dirigible raid; worldwide condemnation of 50,000 civilian casualties. Draka introduce land mines, submarines, poison gas. Austro–German alliance with Ottoman Empire, construction of Berlin–Baghdad railway. Uprisings in Congo Basin result in large-scale deportations and unrest.

1882 -First transAtlantic flight by Draka dirigible, from Apollonaris (Dakar, Senegal) to Recife, Brazil. Women's Auxiliary Corps made permanent part of Draka forces (in noncombatant roles). Free population of Dominion reaches 10,000,000. Bondservant Identification and Control Act requires fingerprinting and neck-tattooing of all serfs. Security Directorate founded as successor to General Constabulary. Karl von Shrakenberg born.

1883 -Revolt of serfs in textile mills of Alexandria (Alexandria, Egypt) suppressed; 150,000 dead. Cape Town–Alexandria railway completed.

1890 -Nomenclature Amendment Act makes popular term "serf" for debt-peons official.

1891 -Libyan and Algerian oil fields discovered. Submachine gun developed by Technical Section of Draka armed forces.

1897 -Diskarapur Institute team achieves heavier-than-air flight with steam-turbine aircraft. An internal-combustion model flies in France a year later.

1898 -Hawaii, Cuba, and Philippines become states of U.S. Guatemala and other Central American territories follow. William Jennings Bryan President.

1899 -Military reform in England produces general election. Chinese–Japanese war; Japan annexes Formosa, Hainan, Korea, several ports. Thermionic valve invented. Radio broadcasts.

1900 -Japanese–British naval alliance. Anglo–German naval armaments race begins. Germany, Austria, and Turkey sign Triple Alliance. France and Russia form Double Entente. Britain begins staff talks with France. Motion pictures with sound become common in U.S., shortly later, elsewhere.

1905 -Russo–Japanese war, catastrophic Russian defeat; first instance of battleships sunk by aerial bombardment. Japan annexes Manchuria, establishes quasi-protectorate over weak Taiping government of China; attempts at occupation bog down. Revolution in Russia produces limited constitutional monarchy, administrative chaos. Experimentation with internal combustion engine for ground transport, esp. for military purposes. Wars in Balkans, etc. Women declared liable for peacetime conscription for noncombatant and second-line tasks in Dominion. Steam turbine used for railways.

1914 -Dominion of Draka has free population of 28,000,000; serfs, 210,000,000. Total population of U.S. reaches 140,000,000. GNP of both nearly identical, but with great differences in distribution, etc.

1914–19 -Great War between Triple Alliance and Entente powers (joined by U.S. in 1917, under President Theodore Roosevelt). Draka defeat Austrian and Turkish forces, occupy Middle East, Thrace, Bulgaria. Widespread use of dirigible bombers, firestorms and poison-gas bombardments. Biplane pursuit fighters developed as defense. Civilian casualties in the 500,000–3,000,000 range in all major combatants except the Draka and U.S. Turbocompound engine developed; antibiotics, self-loading rifles, portable machine guns. Tank introduced on stalemated Western Front by both sides in 1916. John von Shrakenberg born.

1918 -Eric von Shrakenberg born. Draka Women's Auxiliary Corps abolished; women integrated into military. More noncombat and near-combat tasks opened to female personnel.

1919 -Unconditional surrender of Germany. Peace of Versailles. Draka refuse mediation of Powers, annex all conquests, enter period of economic and diplomatic isolation; last ties with Britain cut off, "Dominate" becomes official title. U.S. also enters isolationist phase. Defeat of attempt at Prohibition in U.S. Marijuana becomes major social problem, Mexican gangsters prominent in many cities. "Jazz Age."

920–22 -Second Russian Civil War between rivals to succeed Lenin. Stalin victorious. "Hermit Kingdom" established, forced-draft industrialization.

1921 -Mussolini takes power in Italy, seizes Dalmation coast and Montenegro. Japanese dethrone last Taiping emperor and annex all of China not overrun by Draka.

1925 -Dominate invades and annexes Afghanistan. Prolonged resistance results in death of 65 percent of population; wars of pacification in other areas of New Territories. Gradual abolition of remaining restrictions on female personnel in Draka armed forces, with complete unification in 1933. Hormonal contraceptives. Advances in quantum theory.

1930 -Stock market crisis leads to mild but chronic recession outside Dominate. First chain reaction observed. Closed-circuit television. Eva and Asa von Shrakenberg born. Death of Mary von Shrakenberg.

1931- Erica Lamley is born in Cape Town, Drakia Province. Natalia Setzer born in Durban, Drakia province.

1932 -Hitler elected with majority in Germany. F.D. Roosevelt elected President in U.S.; declares "New Deal" for lower classes, Hispanics, etc. Limited recovery.

1935- US military opens all grades to minority applicants.

1936–37 -Civil war in Spain, Franko takes power.** Germany takes Austria. French and British abandon Czechoslovakia; Sudeten War follows. Clashes on Draka–Japanese and Draka–Soviet borders. Experiments with electrodetection (radar) in several countries. Dominate begins long-term project to harness nuclear energy. Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi move to U.S. Broadcast television becomes popular.

[Junghalli]

THE EURASIAN WAR

1939 -Poland overrun by Nazi forces, USSR annexes eastern third of the country.* Eurasian War begins. Nazi–Japanese alliance. Transistor invented in Toronto, State of Ontario. First commercial tape recorder.

1940 -Fall of France. Battle of Britain.

1941 -Germany launches Operation Barbarossa. Battle of Stalingrad. German Army bogs down in Russian winter.** Stalin signs agreement with Draka Archon: the Draka will get Italy and southeast Europe in exchange for putting pressure on the Axis southern front. Dominate attacks Italy and Franko Spain, begins push into southern Europe from Greece and Bulgaria.

Imperial Japan attacks U.S. on December 3rd, destroys entire American Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. Hawaii, Philippines, many minor US possessions overrun, West Coast raided, landing attempts in Panama repulsed. U.S. declares war on Japan and Germany. WWII begins.

1942- Japanese begin roundup of 900,000 'North Americans' (U.S. citizens from the mainland states); West Coast raided, Acapulco bombarded by battleships lead by Yamato.

Combined Russo-Draka offensive under Arch-Strategos Edgar Tull meets Draka Spanish Army under Arch-Strategos Estelle Finbogasson in northern Italy. Italy cut off from the rest of Europe. Spain and Vichy France overrun by Draka, much of southeastern Europe occupied by combined Russo-Draka forces. Tensions begin between Draka and Soviet rank and file over some of the Draka's more extreme pacification doctrines, occassional "fragging" incidents of Draka advisors in Red Army divisions.

Technological developments 1940–1943: millimetric wave radar. Reaction-jet fighters in Dominate, Germany, U.K., U.S. Helicopters deployed for observation, casualty evacuation by Draka, U.S., Germany. All-transistor programmable digital computer (U.S., 1943); first nuclear power reactors, plutonium (US 1942, Dominate 1943). Long-range liquid fuel rockets, Germany.

1943 -U.S. jet fighters and glide bombs inflict severe defeat on Japanese navy in Battle of the Sea of Cortez, defeat attempt to land in Baja California. Japanese. U.S. submarine fleet begins destruction of Japanese merchant marine on huge scale. Red Army begins advance across Poland.

September-December- American aircraft carriers meet, defeat Japanese navy's main strike force west of Hawaii. Reconquest of Hawaii begins; well-armed Japanese garrison resists fanatically. American forces begin "island hopping" to retake their occupied minor Pacific islands. Japanese begin to strip forces on Asian mainland to meet Alliance threat. U.S. submarines sink more than 40% of Japanese cargo tonnage, begin economic strangulation of Japanese heartland as food, raw materials and petroleum cut off.

1944 -Los Alamos Project detonates first fission bomb (plutonium, shaped-charge implosion type, 40 kilotonnes) on February 1st, in New Mexico. US begins to send soldiers to assist Draka-Russo alliance in defeating the Nazis but tensions immediately rise when American soldiers witness Draka "methods" firsthand. Widespread "fragging" and many incidents of friendly fire, claimed by American soldiers to result from their attempts to defend civilian populations from the depredations of the Draka. Popular disgust with the Dominate begins to rise, many American pundits claim that the war in Europe is misguided and the Nazis are actually the lesser of the two evils.

April-May- Dominate completes conquest of Italy. Rape of Rome. Moussilini flees into exile in Germany.

August-October- Paris falls to Draka offensive, mass exodus of French nationals to the United States. When footage emerges of Draka attrocities in France and Rome popular disgust with the Draka reaches an all time high. Roosevelt breaks off alliance with the Draka but continues to support the USSR. Negotiates with Stalin to make sure as little of Europe as possible is occupied by the Draka in exchange for continued US support, Stalin agrees to pull back from alliance with the Draka and has the Red Army concentrate on seizing as much territory as it can with US aid. US lands troops in French Guiana, officially to "restore order" (it is widely understood that the actual reason is to keep it out of Dominate hands).

December: Tokyo destroyed by American bombers; Imperial family and most high government officials killed, casualties exceed 150,000. New government of fanatical younger officers takes power, vows revenge. Widespread starvation in Japan as imports cut off; 80% of merchant tonnage sunk. Most remaining naval units destroyed in Battle of Philippines.

1945- Sweden, Norway, Denmark occupied by Russo-American forces. Netherlands and Portugal annexed by the Draka. Russo-American forces begin advancing into Manchuria. Kyushu invaded, occupied at the cost of 250,000 American dead. First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

August- Draka launch Far Eastern offensive from Bactria, march into Tibet and overrun Southeast Asia. Fearing possible Draka invasion Red Army occupies Indonesia in strength. Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Russo-American divisions arrive at eastern border of Germany.

1946- Draka begin advancing into southern and western Germany. Munich overrun and Stuggart comes under seige. March 15 Hitler dies—officially of heart attack, actually poisoned by agents of Admiral Canaris, head of German Military Intelligence. Coalition government of military, Nazi party, SS and anti-nazi conservatives takes power, with Herman Goering as Chancellor. ("Fuhrer" is declared a unique position which only the inspired Adolf Hitler could bear. New government begins making sending out peace feelers to Stalin and Roosevelt.

April- "Stuggart Airdrop" begins. US drops paratrooper brigades directly into the path of advancing Draka divisions. German forces in their path secretly ordered to surrender or retreat by German government so that the Americans can effectively form a cordon around Germany and the Draka can advance no further (the two countries are still officially allies against the Nazis, although relations are quite poor by now). Draka military and government outraged but can't do anything without destroying their alliance with US and Russia. Stalin begins negotiating free Germany's surrender.

May- Osaka destroyed by American atomic bomb. Germany officially surrenders to the Soviet Union, Germany and Denmark become Soviet sattelite republic. As a show of his new pan-European communist solidarity Stalin permit Goering to remain in office. Draka furious at being forced to settle for a thin strip of western and southern Germany.

June- Russo-American forces wrap up the occupation of China and Korea. Taiwan occupied by USSR. Japanese remnant divisions prove exceedingly stubborn, in one case needing an atomic bomb to be dealt with. US develops the first cruise missiles.

July-August- Draka begin marshalling invasion fleet to take Japanese mainland (with tacit support by Truman and Stalin in a variation of the "good cop, bad cop" tactic). Japan surrenders unconditionally to Russo-American alliance.

October- Warsaw Conference is convened to decide the future of territories taken by Draka and Russo-American alliance.
Stalin and Truman agree on a proposal to restore the sovereignty of the conquered European states and Japan, with the Soviets permitted to retain East Poland, Indonesia, Manchuria, and Korea and the Draka permitted to retain their South Asian conquests. Draka Archon walks out of the conference, refusing to conceed any of the Draka's "rightful spoils of war."
The conference gets nowhere, and in the end the new boundaries of Europe are de facto drawn up according to zones of occupation. Soviets take northeastern Europe, lowland China, and Indonesia. Much of Europe and southeast Asia is now "under the yoke." US benefits the least from the war, merely retaining French Guiana and a few insignificant islands over the long term. Limited clashes between Red Army and Draka divisions in some areas where ownership is contested, leading to so called "East European Brawl" of late '46 and early '47

THE COLD WAR

1947-Strategos Eric von Shrakenberg married to Sofie Nixon, Nova Cartago (Bizerte, Tunisia). Civil ceremony, Johanna and Karl von Shrakenberg witnesses.

Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb. Switzerland surrenders to Dominate after mass famine. USSR and US begin covert planning for "Operation Daybreak"; a planned combined US/USSR attack upon the Dominate.

1948- Dominate of Draka tests its first atomic bomb, Operation Daybreak is shelved indefinitely.

Johanna von Shrakenberg married to Centurion Thomas Ingolfsson at Claestum Plantation, their Tuscan estate. Eric and Sofie von Shrakenberg witnesses; Karl von Shrakenberg, Dominarch John Teesdale also present. Frederick and Marya Lefarge born, Hospital of the Sacred Heart, New York.

First fusion bomb exploded at Bikini Atoll by US on February 4 1948.

1949- First integrated circuits developed at the University of Ontario, USA. USAF tests first supersonic aircraft. DAF follows suit later in the year.

1950 -Strategos Eric von Shrakenberg retires from active list, appointed Senator, junior member of Long-Range Strategic Planning project. Publishes The Price of Victory, novel of war experiences. Security Directorate fails to have it banned, due to Senatorial immunity, and it becomes a best seller, esp. among young war veterans.

1951- Draka governor of France assassinated. Draka impale ten thousand Parisians along the Champs Elysees in retaliation, Dominate blames OSS infiltrators. Minor skirmishes between DAF and RAF over English channel.

1952- Japan reconstructed under the Marshal Plan. Japanese sovereignty is restored. Draka begin amalgamating new European and South Asian provinces, new Janissary divisions raised. European Janissary divisions will become the best in the Dominate, particularly notable is the Germanic Janissary Corps. Its officer corps is largely composed of former SS men converted to a form of Neo-Nazism that holds the Draka as the true Master Race and the Aryans as their chosen right-hand men. The Draka encourage this sect in much the same way as they encourage subservience-emphasis strains of Christianity and Islam in their other territories, with tremendous success. This school of thought remains prominent among the Germanic Janissary Corps up to the Final War, and they remain the most professional and dedicated Jannisaries in the Dominate. In an unparalleled gesture of magnanimity the Draka allow them to retain their national symbol-the Swaztika-in their division emblems. Industrial areas of Europe reconstructed and the European Provinces become the Dominate's industrial heartland. Resistance continues-backed by CIA and British OSS-and is met with vicious reprisals. Middle East remains a trouble spot due to the actions of numerous fundamentalist Islamic resistance organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad etc. which have sprung up in response to Draka invasion. Soviet Union begins crash modernization program in its Chinese and Indonesian republics.

The world's first nuclear powered submarine; the DNS Sapho, is launched from Haiphong Shipyards in Draka Indochina. Soviets test fusion bomb. Dominate tests fusion bomb.

1953- Uprising in Barcelona overruns Security Directorate H.Q. Draka personnel evacuated by helicopter and city destroyed by nuclear bomb. Films of survivors shown over occupied Europe.

1954 -Yolande Ingolfsson born, Claestum Plantation, Italy. Myfwany Venders born, Arethustra Plantation, Sicily. The USAF puts the B-70 Valkyrie bomber and Rapier escort fighter into service. They will remain the USAF's standby bomber and escort until the Final War. Mark Sheppard is born in Kingston, Maryland.

1955-60- The Dominate military begins shift from war-oriented military to occupation-oriented military. Increase in importance of Janissary wheel brigades, helicopter and Airborne Citizen forces. Emphasis on mobility, rapid response, and cheapness. Relations begin to sour between the US and USSR with overthrow of US-backed governments in Brazil and Argentina by Soviet-backed Communist revolutionaries. The Cold War becomes a three-front conflict. Anti-colonialist movement in peripheral territories of UK, USSR, and US eventually leading to disastrous Indian Debacle of '72.

1955- The Soviet Union puts the first sattelite; Sputnik, in orbit.

1958- The Soviet Union puts the first man in orbit.

1965- The American Apollo 5 mission puts the first man on the moon.

1968- The US military opens non-combat ranks to women. Jake Setzer is born in Durban, Drakia province.

1969- The Soviet Union launches its own moon mission.

1967- Cuban communist nationalist Fidel Castro begins armed insurrection in Cuba with covert support from the Soviet Union. The revolt is swiftly crushed by the US military and Castro is driven underground, but it is the final nail in the coffin of cordial US-Soviet relations.

1971- Soviet Union puts Space Station Mir into orbit. Argentine-UK War: Argentina seizes the Falkland Islands.

1972- Bowing to anti-colonialist pressure at home and abroad the United Kingdom grants independence to India, British Guyana, and Australasian Commonwealth members. Unfortunately the Indian independence movement apparently failed to take into account what sort of neighborhood it would find itself in, and the result was a disaster. The Dominate takes advantage of the situation and annexes India. Indian Republican Army is large but grossly undertrained and underequipped and the war drags on for two years only due to the sheer size of the Indian Republic (which includes OTL Pakistan and Bangladesh). Indian Republic Army puts up fierce fight in Bombay, city is razed by Strategos Erica Lamley. Dominate now the world's most populous country, followed by the Soviet Union, with the US at a distant third.

1973- Australia, New Zealand, and the Irish Republic reamalgamate with the British Empire after seeing what happened to India. Iceland also sues for (and is given) amalgamation into the Commonwealth, fearful that its strategic location makes it vulnerable to conquest by either the Dominate or the USSR. British Guyana consents to become a member of the United States.

1974- Dominate wraps up conquest of Indian Republic, now India Province. French Guiana is last US possession to be given statehood prior to the Final War. US puts Space Station Freedom in orbit.

1975- United States establishes first permanent moonbase.

1976- Communist dictatorship in Argentina declares war on US backed regime in Chile. Argentine-US War: US overthrows Argentine communist regime and takes possession of the Falklands as compensation.

1977- First Russo-Drakian War. Draka seizes the eastern borderland, carves Mekong Province out of Soviet China.

1979- Dominate of Draka establishes its own permanent moonbase.

1981- Soviet Union establishes its own permanent moonbase.

1982- The United States puts the stealth bomber into service.

1983- The US military opens combat positions to qualified females.

1986- Communist seperatists attempt an armed seccession of Venezuela from the Republic of Grand Columbia. Venezuelan War: US assists Grand Columbia in putting down the rebellion. Mark Sheppard distinguishes himself in the war.

1989- The United States puts the stealth fighter into service.

1990- Communist seperatists attempt rebellion in Ecuador, quickly crushed by US/Grand Columbian Army.

1991- Soviet Union launches Mars mission, establishes permanent Mars base. Soviets unveil their new ultra-stealthy Red October class submarine. Red October launched from Northern Fleet base in Arkangel under command of a decorated Lithuanian Captain named Marko Ramius. "Chechnya Problem" begins to become a matter of concern for the USSR.

1993-94- Second Russo-Drakian War. The Draka attempt to seize the southern Soviet sattelite republics. Invasions of Georgia, Kirgizstan, and Kazakhstan are miserable failures, decimated by the Red Army. Tetrarch Jake Setzer is brevitized to Strategos due to huge Draka losses to the Red Army, distinguishes himself in Battle of Barga. As a reward for his skill and bravery he is allowed to retain his rank. Draka carve Turkmen and Pamir Provinces out of southern Turkmenistan and the Pamirs.

1995- The United States puts the Aurora hypersonic spyplane-the world's first hypersonic aircraft-into service. In response the Dominate builds the Phoenix hypersonic air superiority fighter. Castro resurfaces with a failed attempt to blow up the WTC towers in New York with a truck bomb.

1996- The US puts the Eagle hypersonic air superiority fighter into service to counter the Phoenix.

1999- Kurds in northern Mesopotamia province attempt mass rebellion against the Dominate. Rebellion is crushed by mass use of poison gas. Bloody reprisals and massacres follow.

2000- Florida election mess. George W Bush is elected President of the United States, although many believe his opponent (former Clinton Vice President Al Gore) actually got more of the vote.

2003-Draka force attacks Britain and Ireland. Major cities and military bases all over the UK and its territories are destroyed with Draka ICBMs. The United States sends 300,000 men to help Britain against the Draka.

June-September- The Draka begin preparations for Operation Xerxes. CIA detects this but underestimate Draka arrogance; believe they plan to strike at the Carribean and Central America like the Japanese in WWII. US Army division are pulled away from mainland US and Canada to reinforce those parts of the country.

September 11 2003- Cities along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Baja/California border are destroyed by Draka ICBMs. Battle of the Atlantic. The Final War begins.

[Junghalli]

SOME NOTES

(1) The portion of this timeline prior to the Eurasian War has been essentially copied and pasted from Sterling's own timeline. The first point of divergence is a fascist victory in Spain but this is not particularly critical, I basically put it in there simply to give the Draka a good excuse to annex Spain without having to worry about Soviet retaliation and thus stick as close as possible to the spirit if not the letter of Sterling's original Eurasian War scenario. The main divergence is the failure of Operation Barbarossa.

(2) This mark* indicates a divergence, either from OTL in the early portion of the timeline or from Sterling's TL in the opening stages of the Eurasian War. This mark** represents an event that is inconsistent with Sterling's TL but it roughly consistent with OTL. I have only marked the critical divergences because frankly otherwise it would take too much effort.

(3) I was originally going to have the Japanese effect successful landings in Panama as happened in Sterling's TL but this would be highly inconsistent with President Bush's assertion that Operation Xerxes was the first time in hundreds of years that a foreign enemy has invaded US soil. Granted Bush has been known to make the occasional bizzare off-the-cuff error in his speeches, but this would be an extremely significant battle and an American in this TL would have to be supremely ignorant of his country's own history to make such an error!

(4) The general disgust with the Draka in America and the USSR (to a lesser extent) and thus the essential collapse of the Draka alliance with America and Russia could be considered a timeline divergence of its own, but I find it only realistic. Frankly one of the most unbelievable aspects of Sterling's TL is that he had the Draka cleverly exploit Nazi and Soviet attrocities to turn the AFD against them but in the same breath we are told that the AFD swallowed Draka attrocities with little or no problem-and to be perfectly honest the Nazis and Soviets were pikers compared to the Draka when it came to cruelty. "Oh you have gulags, how cute! Our whole country is a gulag to 4/5 of the population and we're feverishly expanding its boundaries as we speak!" Any wartime alliance between the Draka and a society with a basic concept of essential human rights would very quickly run into some very big problems. I believe that, realistically, you would see things like the Stuggart Air Drop even in Sterling's TL with the Soviet Union taken out of the picture. Personally upon reading Sterling's TL I was simply shocked that the US didn't ally with his relatively benign Pan-European Alliance under Goering who, while certainly hardly angels, looked positively benevolent next to the Draka (let's face it, looking bad next to the Draka takes a lot of work-it's rather telling that in this TL I had Germany essentially run into the embrace of Stalin for protection). Certainly a few concentration camps would be easier to overlook than a national policy of wholesale massacre, torture, and enslavement. But I've tried to keep this timeline reasonably consistent with Sterling's, so there is no US-German alliance here.

(5) As you may see I don't think I have so much nerfed the Draka as powered up their opponents. The thing that irritated me about the Draka series is that the Draka were treated almost as a genuine superior race: half the time the rest of the world was simply clueless as to what they were up to and the other half one got the impression they were struggling mightily to keep from being left in the dust by a foe that essentially outclassed them. So I've tried to rectify that and make the US and Russia act with the same intelligence and determination that the Draka do.

(6) While the Draka do have a fairly decent R&D department and hasten the arms race simply by existing I personally find Sterling's breakneck tech development to be rather implausible, so while this universe is more advanced than our own it is not very different from today's world in terms of technology-although obviously its politics is extremely divergent.

(7) You will notice that there is no Civil Rights movement in this TL and the US military becomes integrated very early. Mostly this is because the "Imperial" America of this timeline would incorporate huge populations of minorities and thus almost certainly be a more tolerant place than the OTL American Republic. Empires, by their very nature, tend to be more tolerant than smaller and more homogenous nation-states although there are exceptions of course (just look at the Draka!). The Draka would probably also inadvertently contribute to this, as they would provide a reviled counterexample which the US would want to distance itself from as much as possible. If the Dominate, land of opression, treats its minorities like animals then of course the US, land of the free, will want to be a good counterexample and make them into equal citizens.
Women's integration into the military is also much more advanced in this TL, again an effect of the Draka although one opposite to the "counterexample" effect described above. If the Dominate Army can roll over a third of the planet with something close to 1/3 of its soldiers female then this would silence a lot of early arguments about women being unsuited for combat roles, although the "counterexample effect" might counteract this somewhat (the US Army certainly would not want to appear to be imitating the Draka!).

[Junghalli]

My guess is it's because there are three superpowers in this TL. The 'one flies, they all fly!' philosophy was fine for our timeline, because the Russians were the only threat. In this case, if the US blew its nuclear load on the Draka, what would it do if the Russians decided to exploit the opportunity?

Precisely! That is exactly what's going on.

[Junghalli]

The camp was filthy and squalid, nothing more than a square block of the city that had been flattened with bulldozers. Chain link fence borrowed from a now abandoned construction site encircled it. There were guards posted at the entrances and a machine gun nest looked down on the camp from a nearby rooftop. The top of the fence had been wrapped with barbed wire to make it impossible to climb out. Strategos Ingollfson wrinkled her nose at the smell of human sweat and waste that blew in her direction. She looked disdainfully over the prisoners as if they were insects in a collection jar. Their clothes were quickly becoming filthy and beginning to fray. Their hair was matted with grease and they had stubbly beards starting to grow in. Already many were beginning to look a tad gaunt as the effect of lack of food made its presence known. The Draka had little food to spare for prisoners: the Legions had taken only enough supplies to last them along the advance down the St Lawrence River. Just as the planners of Operation Barbarossa had expected the Wermacht to live off Russia the Legions were to live off the Midwest wheat belt. Ingollfson walked over to the edge of the enclosure and took a bullhorn from one of her bodyguards.

“Who speaks for these people?” she shouted into the bullhorn, her voice boosted into blaring volume. “Who is of importance?”

A man walked up to the edge of the fence. He was balding and his sparse white hair stuck out in wild tufts from neglect. He had a suspicious, bovine expression and wore an Armani suit splashed with mud. A small girl clung to his leg.

“I’m the Mayor of Portsmouth” he said scratchily, his throat obviously parched.

Ingollfson took out her canteen and took a sip of warm but nonetheless refreshing water. “Thirsty?” she asked.

“Yeah” the man rasped.

She smiled thinly and put her canteen away. “Yes, I imagine you must
be.”

The man licked his lips and otherwise made no reaction, but Ingollfson could see his muscles tighten with suppressed rage. He thought this was a form of sadism. She felt amusement at that, and a stab of renewed pain. As if such a tiny, petty gesture could in any way relieve the emptiness within her heart. No, to the contrary it frustrated it, like an inadequate drop of water on the tongue of a man dying of thirst. It was an infinitesimal taste of justice, and her heart howled furiously for more.

“Strategos Ingollfson, I thought I would find you here.” Ingollfson turned to see Chiliarch Masters step out of a jeep and walk towards her. “I have some plans I think you should look over.”

“Not now Chiliarch” Ingollfson said harshly. “I have business to attend to first.”

Masters looked over the filthy, dejected prisoners. “What kind of business Strategos?”

“Personal” she half-purred, half-growled. She turned back to the Mayor. “Is there anything we can do for you Mayor?”

The Mayor licked his cracked lips again. “We haven’t had food or clean water for the past two days. We’ve already had several children die of thirst. Some sanitation would be nice too. And maybe more space.”

Ingollfson looked down at the child hanging onto the man’s leg. “You daughter?” The man nodded.

“Where is your wife?” Ingollfson asked. “Do you have one?”

“Somewhere over there” the man cocked his head toward the crowded bunch of people.

“Your daughter has a nasty cut on her arm” Ingollfson observed. “Somebody should put some antibiotics on it or it may get infected.”

The man shrugged. “We have no medicine.”

Ingollfson felt her heart leap savagely into her throat as if it wanted to fly through her clenched teeth and throw itself upon the man, pummeling him with blows of pure rage and grief. Now was her chance for vengeance. She pulled out a simple eye dropper, filled it with clear fluid. She stroked the soft plastic and rubber lovingly, as she had once stroked Myfwany’s face, and she felt the familiar rope close around her throat and force liquid into her nose and eyes.

“Here, I’ve got some antibiotic” she beckoned to the little girl “hold out your arm. There’s nothing to be afraid of. It won’t hurt.” Distrustfully, reluctantly, but still compliantly the girl held out her arm. Ingollfson let a little of the fluid drip out on the angry corkscrew cut on her forearm and rubbed it in with a napkin. She was careful to avoid actually touching the liquid. “There. It should start working any time now.” She started walking away.

“Thank you ma’am” the man called back to her. She was careful to not turn around so he couldn’t see the hideous emotions that played in her eyes and kept her voice controlled and neutral. “You’re welcome.”

“What the fik was that all about?” Masters demanded.

Ingollfson turned to Masters and smiled. It was an outwardly pleasant expression, because her inner emotion was not something that could be shared. “That was no antibiotic Chiliarch Masters. That was clear water, containing the dormant form of a certain virus. It was derived, I was told, from something found in blood samples taken from Congo natives that had been sent to destructive labor draining the swamps-and it’s a good thing that’s where they were sent. It was a rather nasty little bug. Attacked the immune system. The person wouldn’t die of the virus itself-he’d die from the opportunistic infections that would follow. Oh, in its original form it was nothing too scary. It took years to do its work, and it could be spread only by sex or perhaps other fluid exchange like blood transfusions. But we made some-alterations-to its structure. The new form is much more virulent, destroying the immune system in weeks, and it can be spread by any fluid contact. Touching wounds, or blood, or spit. The Virunga Biocontrol Institute has been waiting for a chance to test in on a human population.”

“Ah” Chiliarch Masters said. “I’ll be sure to notify my men to avoid any contact with the prisoners.”

“That would be a good idea” Ingollfson said as he walked off.

She closed her eyes and leaned against a Janissary Enyo parked on the muddy ground. It wouldn’t be long now; the virus would soon be spreading through the camp. The packed and squalid conditions would provide it with the perfect environment to jump from host to host. It was an excellent weapon in that it would not have any one easily recognizable set of symptoms. Instead people would start to get fevers, or flus, or coughs, or septicemia. It would be different for each person, depending on which opportunistic infections attacked them first. Within a month people would begin to die. Children and the weak would go first, then the healthier members of the populations. Mothers would loose sons, sisters would loose sisters, daughters would loose mothers, wives would loose husbands.

Then she thought to herself then, my dear Myfwany, they will have some idea of what it is like for me to live without you. It is inadequate, for soon enough the virus will take them and they will be out of their misery, but it is a taste. She stopped to wonder, for a second, why she felt this mad compulsion to spread her pain to others. Because she had just tasted revenge and she knew, deep down, that it did not help. It was an instant of relief, and then the dagger was sunk back into her heart and burned there as hot and venomous as ever. She had heard once, from someone, that revenge was motivated by the simple, deep conviction that if one screamed and kicked hard enough one would get what one wanted. That if she hurt these people enough, made them desperate enough, they would give her Myfwany back. It was irrational, ridiculous, but she supposed it had a certain ring of truth.

It will not stop me from doing this though. I made a vow to you, upon your death, my dear Myfwany. And I will honor my vow.

* * *

Tim Davies clenched his teeth as he push his knee out as far as it would go. His leg muscles burned but he was damned if he was going to give any sign.

“Nervous?” JM Jimmy Hannigan asked with a grin.

“A little” Tim admitted. “I don’t like the idea of fighting the US Army-I hear it’s really advanced.”

“Bah!” Jimmy waved dismissively. He was young, fresh out of training and still with freckles on his face. He had short, disorganized red hair. An intimidating, powerful Draka warrior he definitely was not, which might have been why Tim generally seemed to get along with him pretty well. “Americans… good technicians, not very good fighters from what I hear.”

“I wish I shared your confidence” Tim said, remembering Decurion Carpenter’s words. He considered doing some push-ups but gave up on the idea and sat on his bunk instead.

“I hope you’re not going to give up that easily on the battlefield” Jimmy teased.

“I’m sure the Yankees doing their best to blow my head off will do wonders for my motivation” Tim shot back. “Of course, then again my heroic plan is to hide behind the nearest convenient overturned mailbox until the shooting stops and then pretend I was, like, totally hard in the mess hall afterwards shooting fifty Yankees and screaming taunts at the cowardly enemy.”

“Sounds like a good plan” Jimmy joked. “My heroic plan is to see if I can find her” Jimmy tossed Tim a piece of paper. “I ripped it out of one of some American magazine. I had a roommate in school who kept a bunch of them piled up under his mattress.”

Tim unfolded the picture. It showed a statuesque blonde woman in a state of near nudity, wearing an enticing come hither expression, with one long-nailed hand lightly touching a beer can. There was written, in large blue letters at the bottom of the page COORS LIGHT. Tim thought she looked quite pretty.

“I hate you” Tim said. “Now I feel frustrated.”

“Yeah, I guess that must suck when you can’t find anywhere to be alone for ten minutes” Jimmy joked. Tim gave him the two finger salute. There was a cough and they looked up to see Decurion Carpenter standing over them.

“Junior Monitor Hannigan” she said. “If I were to inspect your rifle, sidearm, and field equipment would they be in proper battle-ready condition.”

“By the standards of the Legion they’re good enough. By your standards… You are obsessive Decurion.” Tim desperately sawed at his throat with his index figure, trying to communicate to the other JM that he should shut his mouth before he got them both in trouble.

“No, the standards of the Legion are inadequate” Carpenter said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Against a bunch of overweight lawyers and businessmen? What are they going to do-sue us to death?”

“JM Hannigan, if you think this is going to be a walkover let me just disabuse you of that notion right now” Carpenter said. “You are going up against the second finest soldiers in the world and the best equipped army in the world. Don’t forget that. Now I’m going to inspect your equipment in ten minutes and it better be spotless or I’m going to make you do push-ups until you drop-literally. Infinite number of push-ups; you stop when you pass out.”

Tim dragged out his weapons case and started oiling his T-50A assault rifle. “You just couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut” he grumbled.

* * *

The USS Havana, operating out of the USN’s frontline submarine base on Ponta Delgada in the Azores, lurked below the waters of the Bay of Biscay, keeping watch on Dominate freight traffic and standing ready to interdict anything headed in the direction of the UK. The Draka had been completely pushed out of Ireland but there was still a stubborn pocket or two hanging on near the Channel. With the situation back in the States being what it was the US couldn’t commit any extra men to exterminate them and they continued to cling stubbornly to life, slowly being starved out by the British Army. Everyone was on edge, waiting for the orders they knew had to come. The orders to send some nuclear fire special delivery to the Draka industrial cities in Spain and France.

Captain Wilson was reading a magazine in his cabin when the order came through. He grabbed his key and ran through the corridors of the Havana, still dressed in his undershirt, hastily pulling his uniform on. He was a tall man with brown skin, a small moustache, and short wiry hair.

“Captain on the Bridge!” the Warrant Officer shouted.

“We got Order 18” he said to his second in command, Commander Ballesteros. It was not a question.

“Yes sir” Ballesteros said. “Here are the targets.”

Wilson had thought himself prepared for this, but when he read the list he gulped a little. Lisbon, Porto, Granada, Barcelona, Oviedo, Seville, Bilboa, Zaragoza, Malaga… “Jesus” he muttered. “Have you confirmed this?”

“Already did it three times” Ballesteros said.

He reached for the PA speaker and drew it close to his mouth. “Attention! Attention!” he called out. “Men and women of the Havana. We have just received an Order 18 directly from the Commander and Chief of the armed forces. That, as you all know, is the directive to launch our nuclear missiles.” He grinned. “Today America strikes back.”

Wilson turned to Ballesteros. “Give me your key.” Ballesteros handed his launch key to Wilson. Wilson in turn gave his to a gunnery officer. When all three keys were provided the missiles could be armed and ready to launch.

The gunnery officer took a deep breath. “Missiles primed and ready Captain.”

Jones nodded. “Do it.”

[admiral_danielsben]

Please slowly torture every adult Draka citizen to death....

EDIT: Normally I'm not all that fond of mass genocide, but i think ther Draka might be a case that I would approve of it. The only real-life government that I can think of that could be considered so depraved would be Pol Pot's Cambodia, which only lasted 4 years. The mass enslavements and deaths, lacking even the moral compunction that the Nazis had (although the Nazis were pretty darn evil), and most importantly a system in place that continually impresses this on a population to the point that anyone who opposes the institution of mass slavery is either laughed off or knocked off (possibly enserfed themselves?). Having massive numbers of people fleeing to Stalin's relative mercy is telling... I hate hate hate communism but I'd rather live in almost any communist nation (barring Khmer Rouge Cambodia or perhaps North Korea, in which case I'd probably commit suicide) then as a serf under the yoke. And it's frankly obscene how the Draka, in Stirling's original universe or in the more realistic ones, do so well with essentially a feudal command economy.

[LordShaithis]

Psst. Here's a copy of Stirling's ORIGINAL timeline before they forced him to make it more realistic.

1750 - Drakia founded.

1751 - Draka invent machine guns.

1753 - Draka conquer all of Africa.

1764 - Draka invent tanks.

1780 - Draka conquer Asia.

1802 - Draka invent jets.

1803 - Draka conquer Earth.

1812 - Drava invent the Death Star.

1813 - Draka invade mars, anally violate the martians, blow up planet.