To commemorate my ooh, what could it be? what might be worth commemorating? 3,000th comment yes, he said comment. So odd, not celebrating ficlets written. I’m posting a challenge! Woohoo and all that.

I’ve been thinking a lot about defense lately, what with the to-do over our missile defense program in Europe. Defensive strategies can be a tricky thing. Thinking back over the cold war, it was almost entirely a war of escalating defenses. And then they make defenses against our defenses.

I guess my point is that sometimes defenses are offensive, and sometimes the best defense is a good offense. It’s all very muddy. That’s why this is such a bad challenge, I can tell already.

Your challenge then is to write a ficlet about flawed defenses, either on a planetary, global, local, or even personal scale. Put me in the mind of the person making the defense but give me a hint how that defense might be seen by others. Perhaps even hint at consequences? Really anxious to see where you can go.