War of the Worlds

by UN Peacekeeper

We always thought if we face any kind of alien incursion they would come from the skies. We were wrong they came from the Oceans instead. Man-Eating Giants invaded our cities, they were hell bent upon the extinction of the Human race. We fought and Drove them back. The World united under the banner of UN as we ventured into the Unknown land from where these beings originated from.

2. Chapter 2 : The UNEC

NOTE1: Howdy folks! Welcome to the second chapter.

WARNING! Possible manga spoilers ahead for those who don't read the manga.

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Chapter 2: The United Nations Expeditionary Corps

Florida, UNEC Staging PointLibertas

One year and a half after first giant attack

Fifteen kilometers west of Port St Lucie was the NATO administrated UNEC – short for United Nations Expeditionary Corps – base, Staging PointLibertas. A temporary FOB was established here since the defense of Florida 18 months the United Nations decided to establish a multinational military expedition into the other world, the base quickly grew in size. It served as the gathering point for NATO, Brazilian and Mexican forces that will be part of the expedition.

It was one of the three bases of its kind, the other two being in Asia. Staging Point Tianxia– roughly translated as "under heaven" in Chinese – was near Shanghai under Russian and Chinese administration. Troops and ships from China, Russia and India were mustering there.

The third base was Staging Point Sasebo-Okinawa under Japanese and Korean administration. It surprised the world when Japan and Korea agreed to share the base, considering the historic rivalry between the two nations. But national rivalries tended to give way when man eating giants threatened your name was given due to the fact that the land forces were gathering at Sasebo for the past months while naval forces were in port, but Okinawa was being prepared as the main base once the expedition starts.

One might ask himself how Asian nations got involved in the expedition, how they grudgingly put aside most differences to cooperate. Just a month after the crisis in the Bahamas, Florida and Cuba, giants came out of the sea on Chinese and Japanese shores from the East China Sea. With information on the enemy shared by USA and Cuba, the Chinese response to the threat was swift and brutal. Casualties were naval forces were able to defend Okinawa with some assistance from US Navy ships present in the second theatre shattered Earth's feeling of safety. With the possibility of those monsters making an appearance anywhere on the globe, the United Nations Security Council took steps to defend the people.

Alas, Libertas is the largest one of the three. NATO ships were 10km from the coast while thousands of soldiers and their gear were on the HQ building, in a bureau,were the two commanding officers of the NATO force: a now full Admiral Isaiah Rutledge and Major General Finley Winters of the United States Marine two were looking over the little mapped area on the other side of the portal.

"This place is perfect for the ground base," Winters said as he indicated a spot on the landmass' coast.

Rutledge who was studying the little topography of the sea floor shifted his attention to the landmass. The General's finger was on an elevated plateau. Very defensible with some gun emplacements since one side is facing the ocean other three sides are rocky slopes or soft ground with some unfavourable angles. It would be a challenge for any giant to climb uphill under heavy cannon fire. Especially when the plateau is the tallest natural formation on a radius of a few kilometres and you have cannons at your disposal to use.

"It's a good spot, but the coast is rough. The only feasible way to efficiently keep you supplied is if we use this beach 1 kilometre to the south. Best spot for amphibious landing. But it'll stretch defenses a bit."

"We don't do any land manoeuvres with the giants stalking us. We clear the area first."

"Indeed. It's curious that there hasn't been spotted any giants for months. UAVs picked up a few heat signatures characteristic to them 20 kilometers off the coast," Rutledge said. "But they… changed their behaviour in the past months. I don't know what it is, but they're flogging inland."

The Marine General seemed to think about it. "They seem to be attracted to large groups of humans. Either there's another portal somewhere on the island… or there are humans living in that world," he hypothesized.

"Sir, no giants have been spotted on Earth land since a year ago," an intelligence officer told him. "Nothing on satellite scans. Nothing picked up by plane or helicopter flights. I think it's safe to say that the portals in the Bahamas and the East China Sea are the only ones."

"Goddamn, those buggers… if it wasn't for them…" Winters cursed."Anything new on our new allies, Admiral?"

Rutledge sighed. Thinking of the Russian, Chinese and Indian forces didn't bring much happiness. "It'll be hard. The Chinese don't trust us and we don't trust them. The Russians are willing to cooperate more than the Chinese, but there is still the issue of a divided command. They don't want to subordinate their men and hardware to a NATO senior officer. And the Pentagon's going nuts that we won't do that either."

"So… it's a segregated command," Winters concluded.

"Pretty I reckon that we will have the most influence on the mission. After all… it's the US who's bringing an aircraft carrier and a battleship," Rutledge commented. "The President wanted to give me overall command."

What the Admiral was referring to was the battleship USS Wisconsin, an Iowa class battleship from the Second World Iowa battleships were the last class of battleships to be built. After the war, they've been mothballed before being brought back to active duty on numerous occasions: the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Operation Desert to the last year, the Wisconsin didn't see any sort of action. Now, along with the Kitty Hawk, she was reactivated and spearheading the expedition into an alien USS Kitty Hawk is a Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier. She was mothballed in 2009 and reactivated in the past year for the expedition. She took part in several exercises with NATO and Asian forces in preparation for the expedition.

"They will have to play ball if shit hits the fan," Rutledge further added. "NATO is accountable for 60% of the UNEC strength. This should be beyond petty politics and bullshit. Patriotism to mother Earth first, to our nations second."

"You sound like you're fighting an interplanetary war,"Winters laughed.

Rutledge gave him an odd look, somewhat of realization. "Now that you say it… it really the world is not Earth. Not if you take astronomic observations into account."

Winters gave him a bewildered look. "What are you talking about? Rumor in the Corps has it that it's an alternate Earth."

"You haven't been briefed yet?" Rutledge asked him.

Winters shook his head before answering. "No, the briefing for all Marine and NATO officers is scheduled for after the weekly meeting."

"Well… first of all, that planet's natural satellite, while it resembles the moon, it isn't our moon. Totally different formations on its surface. Then the day is off by several minutes. The stars aren't right either. We're looking at a totally different sky on the other side," the naval officer replied. He paused for a moment of dramatic silence. "A whole new world… so similar to our own. Of course, the laws of physics are still the same…"

What he didn't mention were the many national interests to exploit the resources of that the threat of overpopulation and the prospect of saturating the planet of resources, Earth's greatest nations were now seriously looking into colonizing the moon and Mars, and starting a real space age. If they were to extract the resources from the other world it would prove a boon in that direction. On a cultural level, some see the threat posed by the giants as a good long-term influence. It further shapes the sense of global unity. Mankind against the Universe's perils.

"Well, I'll be damned… Tomorrow will be an interesting briefing, Let's get back to planning…" Winters said.

BREAK LINE

UNITED NATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR ALIEN THREATS

GENERAL REPORT NO. 12–20/07/2018

UNEC SOLDIER FIELD MANUAL

GIANT THREAT ASSESSMENT

[DOCTOR DANA HOFFMAN]

The giants – or titans, as we prefer to call them [see Greek mythology] –have proven to be a major threat to not only our nations but our species. If they were to appear in huge numbers I doubt we would have had the means to effectively deal with them. Thankfully, they originated from a single place and were in low enough numbers for our military to dispatch them quickly [relatively]. The following report is a summary of the investigators' conclusions on the enemy, possible strategies to counter and contain them, and biologic analyses based on intel gathered from captured specimens.

The very first thing we noticed was their peculiar physiology. They do not require any sort of food to sustain themselves, yet for some reason they consume humans. We tried to feed the test subjects plans, vegetables and various animals (goats, sheep, cows, chicken, horses, deer). The test subjects didn't even come close to the animals, instead focusing their attention on the personnel. It is safe to conclude that they do not require nourishment to survive – a theory further consolidated by the discovery of vomit them, hunting humans isn't out of necessity, but more out of entertainment or something along those lines.

DNA tests were extremely difficult to conduct due to the nature of their blood. As soon as their body fluids come in contact with the air, they start to evaporate. But tests were successful nonetheless and we discovered that their DNA is, as expected, very much like a human's. Every specimen presents individual genes resembling 100% that of an everyday homo sapiens sapiens. The major difference stems from the extra DNA that we believe gives them their gigantic proportions. Unfortunately, their DNA does not explain their regenerative capabilities. At this moment, the best explanation we have for that ability is "magic", as it defies every law of physics. Their ability to sense human population centers on vast distances is also outside our understanding.

Their intelligence is fairly low. They have no tactical thinking, no significant cognitive process going on in their minds. The titans' strength lies in their survivability first, and numbers second. This raises the issue of how to neutralize them. After reading field reports, we concluded that the titans' weak spot is somewhere above the chest and below the further tests we have concluded that the weak spot is behind the neck, around the nape. Severe trauma to the area is required to kill the titan, otherwise it will simply heal back.

Melee weapons are adequate to kill a titan if a big enough chunk of the nape is sliced off. For firearms, 7.62x51mm armor piercing bulletscan pierce the titan's neck from the front and cause enough damage to the nape. This is available only for titans smaller than 5 meters on average.12.7mm incendiary and armor-piercing bullets are more than adequate as larger titans – although we only had two specimens for this test –a 30mm caliber armor piercing round is recommended to pierce the neck frontally. Ballistic tests have shown that a 25mm cannon is the minimum required. That does not mean that small firearms are not effective against large titans. Infantrymen equipped with rifles chambered for the 7.62mm should be able to kill even a 14 or 15 meter titan if they have a clear line of fire into the nape and can saturate it with bullets. Beware that the weak area MUST BE saturatedwith damage so that the trauma is severe enough to prevent any regeneration. We are fully aware of the standardization agreements' existence, but 5.56mm is not the best option here. It is, nonetheless, an option if the armor piercing bullet is employed.

Other weapon systems that are effective are the recoilless rifles and light calibre antitank weapons [Carl Gustaf, AT-4, M72 LAW, SMAW, etcetera]. In extreme situations, these can be used to blow off a titan's leg or cause enough injury to gain tactical superiority for a few moments. Ballistic tests and simulations showed that such a weapon can kill a titan if hit in the vicinity of the nape, or from the neck, from a negative angle, so that the explosive force and penetrating material will shoot diagonally upwards into the neck and nape.

For minimal casualties, it is obvious that engaging them from a distance and making use of air superiority is the solution. It is recommended that they are engaged in combat by attack helicopters / tanks / IFVs / wheeled tank destroyers / other aircraft on open ground [fields, treeless areas, etcetera] so as to take advantage of our long range newly designed and produced HE shells for 105mm and 120mm cannons are real titan killers and should be used with impunity by the armored forces.

For infantrymen, while it is extremely hazardous to fight titans in open field without armored or air support, it is not a hopeless fight. As advised earlier, make use of antitank weapons to gain an advantage, however small that advantage is. The end goal is to survive the encounter more than killing the enemy. Infantry is best suited for urban combat. Tall buildings will give them the advantage of high ground. A fireteam can flank a titan and shoot its exposed nape from behind.

One more major advantage we have over them is their lack of activity at night. The captured specimens showed a day/night cycle, just like reported by the soldiers during the counterattacks in Miami, Havana, and the Bahamas. When deprived of sunlight, their movement speed and mobility, in general, will be reduced significantly. They enter a cycle similar to cold-blooded reptiles. Night attacks by infantrymen on them might prove very successful. Although be warned, they do react to the presence of humans in large groups, even during nighttime. Along with this line of thought, a winter campaign will favor humans if the skies are covered by thick clouds for long periods of time. The concept applies for long, severe thunderstorms.

These giants simply follow the nearest humans. This simple and mindless behaviour offers ample space for traps to be planned. But one should not be quick to judge all individuals of this bizarre species as dumb. They are still new to us, they are alien, and they are somewhat human. The possibility that some individuals present intelligence is not zero. We barely understand them. Do not underestimate this enemy. Report everything you observe on them to the United NationsResearchInstitute for Alien Threats.

Alien world, 15km off the coast of Paradis Island

UNEC Fleet, USS Kitty Hawk

Admiral Rutledge was following the data feed coming from the other ships of the fleet, as well as the data coming from the ground force. They had engaged a group of titans near a forest just10 kilometers from the barely established forward operating base – FOB Olympus.

They had crossed into the other world through the two portals, one near Florida and the other in the East China Sea. The two fleets nearly rammed each other as they came out in the new world. After tense moments of maneuvers, a tragedy was avoided and the ships fell into formation.Kitty Hawk and helicopter carriers / amphibious ships were in the middle of the fleet. The ArleighBurke, Farragut, Bystryy, Kirishima, Yi Sun-shin and Gettysburg were in the middle as direct escorts for the aircraft carrier and the helicopter carrier / amphibious assault ships.

Other ships, such as the Lancaster, Bayern, Santa Maria, Moskva, Gaziantep, Sanming and Takanami were scattered in groups in the fleet to defend the logistics and other transport were two groups of warships aside for other operations: battlegroup Ise with the ships Ise, Akizuki, Fuyuzuki, Montreal and Incheon, and BattlegroupWisconsin with the ships Wisconsin, Mistral, Zeffiro, Lanzhou, Themistoklis, Rajput and Ranvir.Battlegroup Wisconsin was supporting the ground troops with helicopter combat missions and cannon fire on clusters of titans. They held the missiles back for the main fleet and Battlegroup Ise were 15 km off the coast.

FOB Olympus was still under construction. The main defenses had been set up on the first day of landfall. The stationary defenses consisted of 40 A407 100mm antitank gun M1977 manned by soldiers of the Romanian Army's contingent to the expedition. The guns were going to be replaced and some found their worth in the new world. Tanks and wheeled assault guns / tank destroyers took defensive positions between the strongpoints established by the antitank strongpoints, each with 8 guns, were watching the fields and hills from their position of vantage.

The FOB already spanned on a surface of 2.7 square kilometers on the tallest natural formation on the coast near the portal. It already had a large motor pool, barracks, an R&R area, command center, a small hospital and a helicopter pad. A small coastal landing zone for debarkation was set up near the FOB for easier logistics ops. The base was already home to 4,000 soldiers of various nationalities: American, British, French, German, Romanian, Turkish, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Canadian. The base was still expanding to accommodate the full ground force of the expedition, that being the Brazilian, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Japanese contingents.

"Sir, 1st Combat reports that all hostiles have been neutralized. They are pushing forward," a comms operator said.

"Very well. I want a full report of the engagement from Colonel Alistair in an hour. Report on everything, including the behaviour of the titans before and during the fight. God knows the eggheads won't give me a rest if they don't get that intel," Rutledge said.

"Aye, sir!"

"Funny. Most military men don't call them that," a woman in civilian clothes said as she crept near the flag officer.

Rutledge turned on the spot to find the source of the voice. "Doctor," he acknowledged her presence. "It's better than 'giants'," he answered. "What are you doing here?"

Doctor Dana Hoffman, the leading expert in titan biology and head researcher for the newly founded Research Institute for Alien Threats, or RIAT for short, was part of the expedition. She reasoned that she would obtain best results with fresh data from the field. And even better when you are in your subject's natural environment – the alien world. She and her small team had a few rooms aboard the Kitty Hawkas their personal quarters and laboratory.

"I was getting bored in the lab. Decided to come up and see what's new," she replied. "What's this about a battle with titans?"

Rutledge turned to the tactical map – an extra large monitor with a rendition of the local map in reality –and observed the advance of 1st Combat Unit through the wilderness, in what was for all intents and purposes titan territory. "The boys were somehow ambushed by a small group of titans as they passed by a nearby forest. They must have been sticking beneath the rich canopy of the trees if our UAVs and planes didn't detect them on thermal scans."

"The bigger they are, the more heat they radiate around them," Hoffman said as a matter of fact. "The operators and pilots should have been suspicious when they found a pocket of warm air."

"We will keep an eye open next time, doc."

"When do you estimate that the troops will reach the walls?" she asked.

"General Winters and I put itafter a day of to tactical and logistic reasons, the armored force will be taking a longer route."

The doctor puffed with a disappointed look. "I still wanted to leave with them."

"With all due respect, doc, there was no chance you were leaving with Colonel Alistair's unit. Those titans are still around out there and there is no telling what we could encounter. Yes, we have planes and helicopters in the air to clear a path and do recon. But that doesn't mean we are secure at all points. I've seen firsthand how ugly a fight can turn against these monsters. I was there, fighting off the coasts of Florida, bombing Grand Bahama and evacuating Freeport. There was no chance I and Winters would allow an untrained civilian on the front line," Rutledge said.

Hoffman turned to look at the map. The mapped part of the region was showing everything as seen from high in the air. There was a fair distance between the wall and FOB Olympus, around 70 kilometers. The wall itself was spotted by short range UAVs three days ago.A flight of F/A-18 Super Hornet jets was dispatched to ascertain the size of the construction and look for signs of living intelligent life, presumably human.

"It's remarkable, you know?" Hoffman chimed in over the background sound of reports and military jargons. "That wall is 50 meters tall. Imagine the resources it must have taken to build this large structure. At least we know that humans live here."

"Don't get your hopes too high, doc. That wall was built to keep those things out. That means that the locals are technologically inferior to us, unable to effectively fight the titans. Thus they're seeking refuge behind those huge walls. There are at least two of them according to early space between those two circular walls is abandoned, but packed with signs of human presence in recent history."

"Then that means that the wall must have been breached and they retreated to the second wall?"

"Exactly."

"Have you tried to contact the humans living inside the second wall?" Hoffman asked to which the admiral nodded.

"We tried. But no response came on radio-" he said before the doctor interrupted him.

"You said this landmass is a large island, didn't you?"

Rutledge frowned at her interrupting him but didn't say anything about it. "Yes. Estimates put it at the size of approximately 1.2 times the surface of Madagascar."

"Could these human be the last survivors of this parallel world's humanity? I mean, they built these huge walls on an island. But that didn't seem to stop the titans from advancing on them. Furthermore, to effectively breach this kind of defenses means that the titans are not all stupid. The specimens we've experimented on were too stupid to do it. I need further data on this," she quickly concluded.

Rutledge stared at her for a moment before speaking. "Something like that. Thing is, they are not the last survivors. We've picked some strange radio signals bouncing off the ionosphere of the planet. It's safe to assume that these are not the only people left."

"Maybe other strongholds of humanity have developed radio to communicate with each other. Maybe there are more walled communities like this one. And this one simply fell behind in technologic development due to their isolated location?"

"Maybe. We will have to wait and see. Our current objective is to consolidate and expand FOB Olympus, clear the immediate area of titans and make contact with the survivors of this community. I'm preparing recon operations across the ocean."

"Sure am curious what we will find… Imagine if we could harness the power of these titans to generate energy. Their body temperature is-" Hoffman began before Rutledge lost all interest in her monologue and returned to his duties. He had a few calls to make and speak to General Winters and captains.

UNITED NATIONS EXPEDITIONARY CORPS

The UNEC was established in the year following the titan attacks on the United States of America, Cuba, Japan and China as the United Nations' military arm in the alien world. It is composed of a naval force, the United Nations Expeditionary Fleet, and a ground force, the United Nations Expeditionary mission is to defend the entry point to Earth from any hostile forces, conduct reconnaissance ops in the new world, and make contact with any intelligent life.

Notable ships within the fleet:

NATO [15]:

- USS Kitty Hawk–United States, Kitty Hawk class aircraft carrier

- USS Wisconsin – United States, Iowa class battleship

- USS Arleigh Burke - United States,Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer

- USS Farragut - United States, Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer

- USS Gettysburg – United States, Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser

- USS New York – United States, San Antonio class amphibious transport dock

- USS Fort McHenry – United States, Whidbey Island class dock landing ship

- HMS Lancaster – United Kingdom, Type 23 Dukeclass frigate

- HMS Albion – United Kingdom, Albion class amphibious transport dock

- HMCS Montreal – Canada, Halifax class guided missile frigate

- FS Mistral – France, Mistral class amphibious assault ship

- FGS Bayern – Germany, Brandenburg class general purpose frigate

- ESPS Santa Maria – Spain, Santa Maria class general purpose frigate

- ITS Zeffiro–Italy, Maestrele class antisubmarine frigate

- HS Themistoklis– Greece, Elli class frigate

- TCG Gaziantep – Turkey, Gabya class frigate

China [7]:

- Tianzhu Shan – Yuting III class landing ship

- Daqing Shan –Yuting III class landing ship

- Daiyun Shan – Yuting III class landing ship

- Lanzhou–Type 052C class destroyer

- Sanming– Type 053H3Jiangwei IIclass frigate

- Xiangyang – Type 053H3 Jiangwei II class frigate

- Luoyang - Type 053H3 Jiangwei II class frigate

Russia [4]:

- Bystryy–Sovremennyy class destroyer

- Moskva – Slava class cruiser

- Peresvet–Ropucha class landing ship

- Oslyabya– Ropucha class landing ship

India [3]:

- INS Rajput–Rajput class guided missile destroyer

- INS Ranvir – Rajput class guided missile destroyer

- INS Magar – Magar class landing ship

Japan [6]:

- JDS Ise–Hyuga class helicopter carrier

- JDS Kunisaki–Osumi class landing ship

- JDS Akizuki – Akizuki class destroyer

- JDS Fuyuzuki–Akizuki class destroyer

- JDS Takanami – Takanami class destroyer

- JDS Kirishima – Kongo class guided missile destroyer

South Korea [3]:

- ROKS Incheon – Incheon class frigate

- ROKS Yi Sun-sin - Chungmugong Yi Sun-shin class destroyer

- ROKS Hyang Ro Bong–Go Jun Bong class landing ship

Total: 38 warships and amphibious vessels (auxiliary vessels not included)

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NOTE2: Thank you for reading this chapter. This is the final chapter fully written by Apollonir. The next chapter is going to be like a joint venture. As It was 50 % completed when I acquired the full story from him.

NOTE3: As you can see, Earth is about to come in contact with the people living within the three walls. Next chapter will focus on that. I wanted to add that in this one, but better to split them. When will they arrive? What will they find when they reach the walls? How will they synchronize? Read the next chapters to find out!

THIS CHAPTER IS BROUGH TO YOU BY Apollonir AND REPOSTED BY UN Peacekeeper.