13. Final Author's Notes and Thank You

A/N: So, uh... yeah... This is pretty much how it would go, I think, at least that's how I kind of saw this going when I came up with this little fic a year ago. By the way, this is at Author's Notes section, cause I wanted chapter 12 to be the finale and leave that on its own, with the Author's Notes being a section on its own especially given how long this one is going to be...

Anyway!

First things first, Sasio is a character Cpl. Isaac, the author of "A Pile of Empty Brass", came up with for his fic, which I may or may not be in touch with him for its future updates... maybe...

I know these last two chapters almost felt like filler and... yeah, to be honest. I think I could have ended in chapter 10, and I know a few of you agree, but there were plot threads that hadn't been closed yet, such as Hardy, the gods, and how the US would manage the land post-imperial defeat, plus... you guys REALLY liked Charlotte, huh? I mean, my goodness was she a breakout character! I know she didn't get to ultimately go with Dennis and Tyuule but... well, that was never the plan with her character.

Still, I'm happy you guys liked her!

When I first came up with this fic's concept, I wasn't even sure how far I'd take it. But man, I'm so happy you guys have followed it this far despite its glaring mistakes (some of which I still haven't been able to correct). This was just so much fun to write and respond to reviews, and it's just been a great year writing this little alt. History fic.

But you guys took it a step further... a TV Tropes page, video reviews... Askashiq from Reddit even says they're working on doing a reading of this for their YouTube channel: Aexton Rebel"!

... what can I say but thank you all so much for the support and, hey, go give these people some love, too. I mean that.

Anyway, that's about it for this story...

Tyuule was always a character who I think should have been focused on more in the original Gate series, and I'm glad at least here I was able to garner some interest in her and, hopefully, made her an interesting lead to follow as she helped defeat the empire that enslaved her people while also slowly healing from the wounds of the past with another lost soul.

I always wanted the ending for this to be bittersweet, as even if the two leads are still together, healing, the scars of war don't just go away, I mean... you don't just kill hundreds of people on your own and come back the same, regardless of it being justified or not, nor does one recover from so much physical abuse so easily... usually... there are exceptions, which is why it is often difficult to write about such topics. Even with this aside, just because life is improving in the special region and will historically improve on earth, that doesn't mean the problems are solved or can ever all be solved as we saw in the aftermath of World War 2. New eras come with new problems, after all, and as much of a red-blooded American as I am... let's be real here, we're not God, we can't fix everything and everyone.

It isn't all bad, and it isn't all good, that's just how it is sometimes in history. Overall, I do like to think things will turn out for the better as we have seen in history that we are not in the same spot we were in a hundred years ago, morally or technologically. But I won't tell you things are going to be "solved", just that these character's stories have had their resolutions.

But enough preaching, let's look at how this timeline might develop in the...

ALTERNATE HISTORY OF THE FIGHT WE CHOSE:

THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION:

Obviously, this has a lot of potentially different implications as many of Kennedy's real-life policies did pass after his death, so as Alt. History Hub argued in his video, it's possible he'd have a harder time passing some acts. I wasn't even 100% sure if he would win the 1964 election due to the controversy of the 1960 election, but... honestly, given his popularity at the time and managing a successful crisis, I think he has a pretty good chance at re-election and had that happen here.

I had him win because of his popularity and the fact his opponent, Barry Goldwater, lost in a landslide in 1964, but I feel I have to also bring up that it IS possible he may not have won, but given the fact he ended the war with the Empire, passed popular policies and is both anti-communist but pro-peace... yeah, I think he had a pretty good chance of winning, especially with him helping end slavery in another continent.

Of course...

POLITICS:

Yay, the most controversial stuff! I'll keep this as brief and as open as possible, cause... well, you know how it is...

Right, so, MLK's and RFK's assassinations might still happen, and who knows, maybe even JFK would see another attempt on his life, but maybe not.

Regardless, the so-called "New Left" would likely still exist and see some division within its ranks. A great example would be the Black Panthers, which had so many varying views in their ranks they eventually fell apart not because of FBI intervention but because of differences in ideology, and that kind of sums up the "new left". A lot of ideas and goals, but too many disagreements on how to actually achieve them.

Now, while groups like the Black Panthers will likely still appear as many of the left-wing movements we know from our timeline, without Vietnam it's possible they won't have the amount of support they saw. Maybe they'd follow a different line of argumentation, like how MLK was already arguing for a degree of wealth redistribution in his final days if it meant helping black people out of poverty (though even a part of MLK's argumentation had to do with the billions being sent over to fight the war in Vietnam). It's possible the introduction of Demi-humans would even spark some possible arguing points for the New Left, but I'm not sure if they would see the same opposition or support they saw in the late 60s, where they were accused of treason for not supporting the troops.

In fact, odds are the American Right also doesn't try to keep up with the left in terms of aggression due to there not being a Vietnam War to really fight over. Odds are, American Right-wingers will stick to their pretty consistent messaging of small government and fewer taxes. Yeah, the Demi-Humans will very much spark debate and likely see some appearance of "human supremacy" groups, but I don't think it will be as bad as some shows or movies like to portray. By the 1960s, the US was already a fairly tolerant nation comparatively, despite a lot of casual racism.

Odds are we would still see a rise in American conservatism after the 1970s. If not because of the revelations of some an alternative version of the Church Committee finding CIA and government abuses (even without Vietnam, I think this information would come out one way or another), or because of the failures of the New Left being too divided, odds are we would see a political history to our own, but maybe a touch less intense...

Maybe... this could be my optimism talking.

VIETNAMESE UNIFICATION BY THE 1960S:

This is the biggest change timeline-wise other than JFK surviving. Vietnam would not have lost the same amount of people in a decade-long conflict that ruined the nation, the level of animosity against the US might not be the same. Of course, whether this leads to a cooling of relations with Vietnam and Vietnam turning back on many of the communist policies for practical reasons sooner rather than later is up in the air.

The bigger issue would definitely be what other communist nations do now that Vietnam won its war and is promptly doing its own thing. I've chatted with some readers, at least one of them believes it's possible for Vietnam to become similar to Yugoslavia, as in... a communist nation that was a bit more neutral in the Cold War, but I'm not 100% sure. Vietnam was very close with the USSR and China before China did its thing.

If China tries taking Vietnam earlier in this timeline, it's very possible we see a bloodier conflict in southeast Asia than what OTL China saw when they tried to take Vietnam in the late 1970s, maybe even further split among communist nations.

In fact...

SINO-SOVIET SPLIT:

This could easily go in two ways.

Maybe the Gate appearing helps unite the two major communist powers again... but given that during the early 60s, we saw the USSR and the US somewhat trying to cool off while China was actively pursuing a more totalitarian stance, it's possible this doesn't happen and the split is worse than in OTL, especially if the ideological split is bad enough that we see an even more destructive border conflict by the late 60s.

The bigger question is if China can become more moderate given the circumstances, and given their border conflicts in the 60s and 70s... I think it's possible the PRC becomes a bigger boogeyman to both the western nations and even its own communist allies, as the USSR would have been slowly installing reforms that gave people more freedoms while China somewhat did the opposite for a while.

Regardless, I think it's more likely that the USSR and China will still be relatively split instead of finding more common ground.

Would it lead to a major war?

Maybe not. Their border conflict may still happen, and maybe fear of the US having more resources could push to it being longer or more destructive, but I'll leave that idea up in the air because...

AN ALTERNATE COLD WAR:

Given the number of smaller conflicts, from border attacks in Korea to communists insurrections in Algeria, it's impossible to say how much of a difference the Gate would make on the ideological conflict. More likely than not, it would create another front eventually, but that front would be impossible for communists to really hold any ground in, at least until the continent modernizes enough.

I implied the US would get involved in Thailand more now that the Vietnam conflict was avoided, but it could arguably have been any nation there. I mean, later on, we would see a major border conflict in Korea, so maybe that one escalates a bit more, or maybe a communist uprising elsewhere sees the US get involved to the point that it could lead to a similar conflict as long and deadly as Vietnam. Maybe if the Kennedy Administration maintains a policy of sending special forces or limiting our involvement so that we could avoid something like Vietnam in the 1960s and make it to the point that the US and USSR support proxy wars almost exclusively instead, then we might never see a war like Vietnam, but I think something would probably slap the American people in the face sooner or later.

Yeah, the war in the Gate revealed SOME problems within the military, but not in the way the Vietnam war would have, and it's possible we may see an even more depressing 1970s. Again, maybe not, but as I said, something could happen and it escalates to American involvement becoming necessary. South Vietnam was always going to fall, and due to the Gate opening, the Kennedy administration would have had the excuse to bail out, but the same can't be said for every conflict, then it would seem that the US is retreating. I think it's possible the US would either get more involved in some conflict where the lessons we learn in Vietnam would be harshly taught, but what conflict that is could be anyone's guess.

At the same time, maybe not, simply because of how popular the policies may have been, but it's impossible that the US would be "sunshine and rainbows" from here on out as the jobs created under World War 2 would fully dry up by the 1960s, and we would see more unemployment and race relations would still be tense, especially now with the existence of Demi-humans exclusively in the United States. Add to it the fact that the CIA's actions will come to light sooner or later and many of the questions about government accountability and spending will likely still result in Americans losing some degree of faith in the US government leading to a very similar 1980s, where I can easily see Reagan or someone with a similar attitude and policies winning on exactly the same policies he campaigned on in OTL.

Meanwhile, demi-humans in the special forces would be quite the formidable force, especially since the US was already moving away from directly involving itself in other conflicts, preferring to give backing in proxy wars the same way the USSR did. Maybe the Kennedy administration would help cement that by pulling out of Vietnam and involving itself on a smaller scale in Thailand, but it's also worth reminding everyone that Kennedy constantly butted heads with the American military, and it's possible another president would reverse his policies, whatever they may have ultimately been.

Still, Demi-humans will likely lead to more effective American and, more than likely eventually, NATO operators. I barely even skimmed the idea of Gorgons in this fic, and it's easy to forget what they can do for interrogations. Forget MK Ultra, all you need is a gorgon in the same room with the prisoner and you'll know everything you need in a few minutes! I think this is going to give the US and its allies a very clear edge when it comes to intelligence and clandestine operations, which will either lead to a more aggressive USSR or a quicker Cold War.

Either way, the Gate and its resources will very much change how the Cold War proceeds.

SPACE RACE:

Yeah, we are NOT going to see a "For All Mankind Scenario" here. But I do think we would see a more consistent interest in exploring space, and its possible future administrations would prioritize it to the point some things would change. Maybe we would get to the moon later as there are now two solar systems to look into?

Odds are space exploration would at the very least be a bit more consistent here than in our timeline due to there being two solar systems to explore and maybe more resources to find. Not sure if we would build bases on the moon here, and I very much doubt we would see the scenario we saw in Prey (2017) where the US and USSR help each other go further and further, but I do think the Space Race would see a bit more of a boost with this entirely new world to explore which would very much spark interest from governments around the world, I would argue.

Who knows? Maybe China and Russia would begin looking to space to find resources to match those found in Falmart and they'd begin colonizing the moon and stuff even if the US made it there first.

Maybe...

Overall, this would likely change a bit, too. I know the "Sky Full of Fire" trilogy explored this a bit more. Very good reads, though, so if you want to see Gate and space exploration, do check it out!

...

Well, with that said, I'll leave this thought experiment here.

I'm a bit tempted to come back and do a bit of a rewrite of some scenes here and there, so maybe you'll see that sometime in the future, but right now I very much have to focus on my other works. But maybe someday I'll come back to this in some form.

We'll see...

Thank you ALL so much for keeping up with The Fight we Chose! Classes weren't exactly forgiving, and my schedule was all over the place, so I apologize if I wasn't very consistent with the uploads. I do hope these last chapters were still enjoyable reads, so do let me know your thoughts.

Very special thanks to Airsoft AL for his video reviews and now that it's over you guys should check out his channel (AAAirsoft Media) because he'll be interviewing me, so... voice reveal soon? I'll probably just be answering questions directly there so if you have them either send it to him or leave them in the review section here!

Very special thanks to everyone here who's read and given me advice from TopHatGuy to Apollonir.

And one last time, to you guys working on the TV Tropes page, you are awesome! I can't tell you how cool it is to see the section change with the story updates. Hope the story remained enjoyable as it concluded, cause, seriously, thank you all!

Remember, reviews and advice are always appreciated, and if you have any questions or suggestions, I'm more than happy to answer them via PMs.

Thank you all so much for reading!