Pacific Alliance Nations (P.A.N.)
In
1983, the Soviet Union’s Early Warning System, Oko, detected multiple inbound US nuclear missiles. On duty was Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, whom at midnight was there to see the Oko system detect four inbound missiles. Knowing of previous malfunctions with the system, Petrov at first thought the information a computer error, but within ten minutes the system detected sixteen missiles on course for the Soviet Union. Petrov followed protocol and alerted his superiors, whom for years, held the opinion that the US was going to strike at any time. The Soviet’s policy at this time was immediate and compulsory reprisal. The US and their allies struck back with nuclear and conventional forces.
The war lasted six days.
During the war, a faulty Soviet missile, intended for Seoul, Korea went way off course and hit the city of Dandong in the Liaoning province of China. The US suddenly had an unexpected ally. The Soviet Union would counter strike against China for fear of their communist brothers pouring over the border and invading.
North America and Eurasia were devastated by the nuclear impacts, but most damage was done by the radiation, nuclear fallout, and firestorms. With infrastructure gone, cities and forests burned, throwing up additional ash and pollutants into the atmosphere. The USSR, believing the vast forests and steppe that separated their cities and towns would save much of their population, did not expect the firestorms that would rage throughout their forests. World temperatures began to fall by 10°F. Where the soil was not contaminated, North America and Eurasia had extended winters and extremely shortened growing seasons.
One of the nations in the northern hemisphere to survive with minimal destruction was Japan. While four Soviet strikes targeted the nation, much of the government and infrastructure was intact. Over the next few years many people would die due to starvation and disease, but the nation as a whole would survive. Food production was paramount and the surviving fishing industry was nationalized.
The same could be said for the Pacific nation of Kiribati. With so many ports-of-call destroyed many cargo ships and passenger liners would anchor off of various islands in the Pacific. Kiribati would benefit from this. While the cargo ships contained may things the island nation could use, again staving off starvation was the first thing to take care of.
The effects of the nuclear winter would have a profound effect on the world as the polar ice caps took back some of the water it had slowly been losing due to climate change. While never significant, the growth of land area on the islands in the Pacific was noticeable and help maintain the population.
As fishing was very important to the survival for many coastal and island peoples around the world. Japan and Kiribati were both smart in converting any possible sea transport into fishing boats. Kiribati had also turned many of the cargo and passenger ships into floating gardens. To protect these gardens and fishing fleets navies were quickly formed out of the coastal defense ships. Where conflict may have erupted between the two nations, the horrible Six day war had made leaders in both nations more cautious. This eventually led to talks of alliance and eventually unification between the two countries as the Pacific League.
Ten years later the nation of Palau would accept admittance into the alliance. Changing the name to the Pacific Allied Nations (PAN) a constitution would be formally written between the three nations.