I liked the story, thanks for writing it! One thing about the nuclear calculations of the US that I am confused about though—surely under any scenario with the satellite destroying weapon there would be Mutually Assured Destruction? i.e. as soon as the US shot down the satellites, China would launch their nuclear arsenal. They likely would not wait to find out what happened. They may even have a “Dead Man’s Switch” already rigged for the satellite network. That the US didn’t see this (at least initially, as is the premise) seemed a little unrealistic. Although I guess in real life governments often do crazy things in high stakes situations (cf Covid).
I liked the story, thanks for writing it! One thing about the nuclear calculations of the US that I am confused about though—surely under any scenario with the satellite destroying weapon there would be Mutually Assured Destruction? i.e. as soon as the US shot down the satellites, China would launch their nuclear arsenal. They likely would not wait to find out what happened. They may even have a “Dead Man’s Switch” already rigged for the satellite network. That the US didn’t see this (at least initially, as is the premise) seemed a little unrealistic. Although I guess in real life governments often do crazy things in high stakes situations (cf Covid).