CPC Headquarters
Beijing, China
CPC General Secretary Jiang Limao had come to power in the heady days of the Second Cultural Revolution, when the party's old guard had been swept out in a dramatic-- and in some cases bloody --uprising by dissident factions who felt the establishment had gone too far down the road toward capitalism. He had stayed in power by knowing when and how to take advantage of opportunities, and the chaos engulfing America in the wake of the alien attack on Los Angeles presented his greatest opportunity yet.
"Comrades", he said to the uniformed men seated around the conference table, "the hour has come for China to assume her rightful place as the dominant power in Asia. Therefore, I hereby order that the plan we discussed at our last meeting be implemented starting twelve hours from the time this meeting is adjourned." He didn't get into further specifics-- but then again, he didn't need to. The generals present in the room knew full well what he meant; some of them, in fact, had helped draft the plan in question.
In short, the already horrendous situation out in California was about to get ten times worse...
