"Ok... left stairway, fifth door, seventh corridor..." Saratoga mused.
"Seventh door... here!"
Opening it, she was ushered into a large office, she headed towards Nagato.
"Long time no see, how's ya doin'?" she asked with sarscram. Normally, they'd be in constant contact every night, but seeing each other in person tended to be better than having a phone between the two. Nagato's tone, however, was dead serious.
"I think there's one thing that we'll be talking about. It concerns the kanmusu I talked about yesterday."
"I see."
The two kanmusu took a brief detour by Akashi's workshop to look over Providence's equipment. The repair ship had only begun to analyze the newcomer's rig, since repairs to Fubuki's combat weapon systems had kept her up into the night—but Saratoga did notice what looked like a motto etched into Providence's weapon. It wasn't in a language Nagato understood, but Saratoga smiled and said she'd tell the battleship later, and they both entered the briefing room, along with over a dozen high-ranking military personnel and kanmusu from both Germany, Japan, Australia, England, and of course, the United States.
After a few minutes, a single figure entered the room. In appearance even without her rig she was downright intimidating. Standing at a full six feet, six inches tall, she readily towered over every other kanmusu she'd seen. Her uniform consisted of a white collared shirt, olive jacket, black necktie, and a matching short skirt. Brown knee-length boots and an olive beret finished the picture, and her eyeglasses were glowing eerily, before she fiddled with something on its side and the glow disappeared in a flash. Running a hand through her auburn short hair, she directed her steel gray eyes towards Saratoga.
"UNSC Providence, USS Saratoga." Nagato said, nodding at the olive giant.
"USS Saratoga, UNSC Providence."
The newcomer introduced as Providence nodded, and shook Saratoga's extended hand in the same crude style as someone who'd just come from the Mojave.
"Salutations, USS Saratoga. I presume this is the first time we met."
After the rounds of introduction and greeting were over, Saratoga sipped her tea and nodded at Providence.
"No offense, but your appearance had caused quite the stir back there," she remarked. "Reportedly the noise travelled all the way to Hokkaido."
"Didn't expect such weak armor," said the battlecruiser. "My targeting computers had, needless to say, a major league headache trying to hit them and yet aim over the horizon."
At first it didn't compute.
"Huh?" said both carrier and battleship in unison.
"Right, right, you have no idea of how it's like where I came from, huh? Guess I'll start from the beginning, por fávor."
Saratoga took the opportunity right away.
"Ok, so in starting, what does 'UNSC' stand for?"
In centuries Nagato would never had asked a question like that; it simply wasn't the Japanese way. Rumors would spread about, discussions would circulate, but a direct confrontation or inquiry was put simply, unthinkable in Japanese culture. For an American, it was literally at the top of the list of things to do upon meeting a new friend.
The response was immediate.
"United Nations Space Command, the military, exploration, and scientific arm of the UEG."
Both Nagato and Saratoga looked at each other with the same shock in their eyes.
"United…"
"Nations…"
"Space Command?" Nagato and Saratoga finished together, with bewildered looks on their faces. The entirety of the meeting room looked at each other with the same bewildered looks on their faces, some even spat out or choked on their drink.
Providence didn't seem to care about that.
"The UNSC, the military, exploration, and scientific arm of the UEG, of course. Would you like for me to explain how I'll fit in this 'Operation Artic Sea' of yours or a detailed history first?"
"I think..." stammered Nagato.
"Um, by First Contact Protocol, Article One, Paragraph Four, Sentence Two, mandates a "full detailed history of the entirety of the UEG past to present to be presented on the other civilizations. Considering that you're literally Earth in the 21st century, I'll skip the ancient history part, and head onto the present."
"Ok..."
Providence then removed a single pellet the size of an egg from her pocket, and placed it on the table. Almost immediately, a hologram of a girl almost identical to her sprung up.
"Greetings everyone. Hopefully nobody's flying off a cliff these days."
The entire room proceeded to turn and stare at the hologram that had just sprung up out of nowhere.
Saratoga could only stare in shock at the hologram in front of her. The other kanmusu and admirals also stared at it, too. Raising a hand, the hologram, of all things, talked.
"Greetings, I'm Halifax. The 2nd-generation Smart AI of the UNSC Providence." it, or rather, she, said.
"Of course, said battlecruiser is right here in this room," she said, "And a hardened veteran."
"Ok...?"
The hologram then projected an image of the solar system.
"We'll start with the year 2050. At that time, space travel became extremely commonplace with the first space elevators being constructed at New Mombassa, Kenya and New Horizons, Mexico. As such, at the time, the nations of the world, decided to join their space agencies, NASA, JAXA, CNSA, ESA, and so on, into one agency. It was named the United Nations Space Administration, the UNSA."
The hologram then projected an image of a multicolored emblem, a star map with an anchor and stars in the background on a large ship as it rose from the ground, engines burning plasma blue. Trailing cyan, it rose into the sky to the awe of many spectators on the ground, as the flags of over a dozen nations waved in the background.
"This resulted in a wave of interplanetary colonization, leading to the settlements on Luna, the asteroid belt, the Jovian moons and Saturn's moons. Mars and Venus were terraformed successfully, allowing colonists to stay and move about unhindered. Titan became a hub, with methane being harvested from its atmosphere on a regular basis. Mining of the gas giants for cheap deteurium and helium-3 also began, prompting research into interstellar travel now that humanity's energy concerns were over." Halifax continued, and projected an image of Mars and Venus. Formerly dead, dusty worlds were now lush green worlds with jungles and paradise. Mining stations on the Moon and the gas giants brought surprise and awe to many, especially the gas giants as the orbiting stations inserted tubes into the planets and collected the recourses. It was a testimony to humanity's union, and what they can do.
"Despite that, dark clouds would soon form," said Halifax.
"As the colonies developed and colonization of the Sol system became widespread, the mid-2100s saw a rise of old ideologies. The Koslovics, in particular, were a communist group dedicated to receiving the glory days of communism and elimination of capitalist influence throughout the Sol system."
An image of a Koslovic rally was shown, where thousands of people cheering for the speaker. "And the Friedens, a violent movement based on a fascist ideology that originated in Katreus city of Europa, opposed the Koslovics and the perceived oppression of the UN. They declared peace could only be achieved once every single presence of their oppressors was destroyed all across the star system—including on the homeworld itself, no different from the Nazis." Halifax said as the holographic image switched to the image and video to a gathering of Frieden fighters cheering to a burning effigy of a UN official.
"Eventually, the tensions resulted in the Interplanetary Wars."
The holographic images switched to show a documentary of the war. UN troops pinned down in a station over Jupiter, brutal fighting erupted in the cities all over Sol, UN and Koslovic forces clashing over Mars, civilian transports destroyed without mercy over Venus at the hands of the Friedens.
"With the war, the UN established the UNSC—the United Nations Space Command—reorganizing the militaries of the world together as one unified military. The war would rage on for a decade untill the Treaty of Callisto formally ended the war in 2178 and disbanded the Frieden and Koslovic movements.
"The Interplanetary Wars was the most devastating war humanity fought at the time with nearly a billion loss of life and over few trillion dollars' worth of property damage and economic hardships." Halifax listed the losses and damages the Interplanetary Wars brought upon humanity in their timeline. "The massive scale and destruction of the war caused all national governments to nearly collapse or rendered powerless as the surviving superpowers merged together to form the Unified Earth Government. Many other poverty-striken nations merged with it, also. Thus, the Unified Earth Government became a full-on governing entity, the once fractured human race unified under a single banner."
The holographic image then switched to a video of the first president of the UEG on the podium addressing the crowd below as a giant banner flowed across the screen, the president stating the prosperity humanity would have now that they were united, under one banner, to do everything to benefit not individual nations, but humanity as a whole. The national anthem played, which Nagato noticed as having an identical instrumental to the song "Glory be to thee, Hong Kong", but the lyrics proclaimed boldy humanity's ambitions to explore beyond the unknown.
"The decades following were wrecked with poverty and devastation by the war. Eventually, a slow recovery was made obvious, but then two scientists made an invention that forever changed human history, ending the poverty age and kickstarted humanity on their journey across the stars," Halifax said.
"The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine was a technological marvel in its own right. By manipulating the foam-like structure of the universe, transverseable wormholes were opened. These wormholes could be opened into other holes, until one was reached that intersected with the intended destination."
The image then showed the two scientists receiving the Nobel Prize for such an invention. Newspapers, TVs, and the entirety of humanity rocked with such an invention, and as a headline described it, "We now have a path to the stars".
"The technology revolutionized humanity. The first colony ships began taking off as the UEG began colonizing planets around the Sol system. Colonies developed, population boomed. Poverty ended for good for humanity. Thus this age was referred to as the Domus Diaspora, or the Colonial era."
The image then showed giant ships, the size of cities, taking off to the skies once again. Planets that were originally dense jungles and wilderness became farms, factories, and cities with skyscrapers that dwarfed anything that the present Earth accomplished.
Nagato stared in awe at the sight, and Saratoga shared similar looks. Everyone in the room did the same.
"And so, humanity began their first step towards being a Level 2 civilization with the construction of the first sun generators aimed at generating cheap and plentiful energy for domestic purposes, leaving the ground-based reactors for space travel," continued Halifax.
The inage showed stars, stars, and more, with large panels around them. Light reflected from them and onto collecting stations, which semt the heat into water, turning it to steam to run turbines. After that, the steam was exposed to space to cool down and repeat the cycle. What was formerly a dream had become reality.
Admiral Olson of the US Navy broke the silence.
"The Interplanetary Wars, untill that point, was the most devastating. I presume that a second one would ensure, like the World Wars?"
"Yes, there is," responded Providence curtly.
Halifax said nothing, as she began the next chapter.
"In the 2400s, humanity ruled over 800 worlds stretching across over a thousand light-years in any direction from Sol," she said. "With that, the UEG had considerable difficulty ruling all them, resulting in corruption and unrest. Negotiations began, resulting in a state of government similar to the United States of the 21st century, with the UEG being the supervisor, but every planet was like it's own republic, with locally established laws and traditions, with the basic principles labeled in the Constitution. However, it also saw the emergence of the communists once more, and sought to eliminate capitalism and impose a dictatorship. Tensions resulted in the nuclear bombing of New Haven in 2495, resulting in over two million dead. The UEG followed with military force, and thirty years of variable-intensity of conflict resulted."
The image displayed a long war, with forces on both sides fighting, in streets, cities, and over worlds.
"However, one day, everything changed." Halifax said, her voice trailing off.
Providence knew why.
The war with the Covenant. she mused.
"If anyone here is rather sensitive, I suggest you refrain from watching this as it is rather...disturbing."
A sigh came from her.
"Fifth of April, 2525," Halifax began.
"The Insurrection had been raging for thirty years. Many enemy forces have been neutralized, but the threat still remains. On that day, history changed, forever."
The image showed a planet, a lush green paradise, a beautiful world.
"Harvest. Humanity's furthrest colony from Earth, at 1,225 light-years. Home to over three million souls, six botanical gardens, and a lush green paradise for any outdoorist. Contact was lost with this ill-fated colony on that fateful day.
"The ship sent to investigate went missing. Suspecting rebel activity, three frigates were sent to investigate.
"On that day, humanity changed forever."
The image switched from the lush green world... to hell. Entire swathes of the planet were afire, raging firestorms crackled across the surface. Rings of flame stretched for thousands of miles on its surface.
Everyone gasped at the sight, and Saratoga along with the kanmusu present stared at the planet, clear shock written on their face.
"One unidentifiable ship was present."
The image of an unknown massive vessel that had purple bulbous portions and curves, and overall resembled some sort of predatory aquatic creature appeared.
"All attempts to hail it failed. The only message of fate was received, and changed us forever. A day that shall live in infamy."
"Your destruction, is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument."
The words sent a chill through Nagato's spine, and so did everyone else.
That being said the ship opened fire.
The UNSC ships retaliated at the same time, and the shots simply bounced off some kind of invisible barrier around it as it effortlessly plucked missiles out of the air. The plasma torpedoes it launched proved devastating, burning through armor plate like a hot knife through butter.
"They called themselves the Covenant. A religious hegemony of multiple alien species that rule a large amount of space, all united by their worship to an ancient alien race they based all of their technology from. They claimed humanity needed to be cleansed from existence for their gods and for the Great Journey to continue. Thus, the Covenant declared a holy war, a holy crusade of genocide against all of humanity."
"The war for humanity's very survival had begun."
The holographic image then projected a single UNSC fleet, facing down against the Covenant. The UNSC immediately fired salvoes of anger, only to be effortlessly tanked by the enemy. The Covenant responded, plasma torpedoes burning through human armor like wet tissue paper as they went straight through the defensive perimeter.
On the ground, the images showed gruesome battles as UNSC forces and local militia alike joined forces against their common enemy. Grunts, Jackals, and Elites committed the most unimaginable feats ever, shooting, hacking, even tearing apart humans be it civilian or military. Saratoga swore she even saw a kindergartner with a shotgun fire at the enemy, only to be ripped apart next to the mutilated bodies Saratoga guessed could only be her parents. Left and right, the military tried their utmost to drive them back, and were brutally massacred in every way imaginable. Tanks one-shotted the enemy vehicles, only to be swarmed by sheer numbers and their crews burned alive.
"The White Doctrine and the Cole Protocol was created. The former, in fact, called for evacuation of all the colonies to form a giant battlefield for humanity to wage gurerrila warfare—the perfect style for such a situation.
"And, the tide began to turn."
The video projected a feed of a single frigate staring down an entire pack of three enemy so-called "CCS-class battlecruisers" over a lone glassed planet. The Covenant fleet opened fire, and the frigate let loose its point defense with whatever form of flak shell that dispersed the plasma torpedoes. The ship then fired its MAC, not once, nor twice, but thrice, in rapid succession, the first two blasting the lead ship's shields off as the third caused its center to cease to exist altogether. Two glowing spots appeared on the front of the hangar bay pods, and two beams laced out at the enemy, the beams connecting and disabled them at once, their shields popping pathetically as their engine glows sizzled as they disappeared. Two glows appeared on the frigate's bow, and six plasma torpedoes laced out at the enemy, all but reducing them to nothing but molten slag.
"In 2531, humanity managed to reverse-engineer the enemy's weapons and successfully replicate them. The new line of battlecruisers, the Warlock-class, Artermis-class, and the Concordia-class carriers all made use of this new weapons technology. The first use of the EMP cannon was a resounding success, and refitting of every ship in the UNSC Navy began immediately."
The image then showed an entire fleet of UNSC ships, facing down the Covenant once again.
The enemy fired a volley of plasma torpedoes, and the UNSC fleet fired a spread of missiles. These missiles detonated some point in front of the UNSC fleet, forming a dense circular energy field that stopped the torpedoes before dissolving. But that was enough a lull. The UNSC fleet immediately fired their MACs, the 600 and 900 ton armor/shield piercing depleted-uranium slugs slung at around 40% lightspeed in three-shot bursts devastating the enemy outright, the slugs piercing shield and armor alike before vaporizing the enemy cruisers where they hit. The UNSC carrier then launched a large swarm of angry hornets, engaging enemy Banshees and Seraphs, twisting and turning with insane agility, swatting Banshee and Seraph alike with dazzling zero-gee maneuvers as their cannons lit up the surrounding space with orange and blue tracers. Engine trails lit up the area as Stoski cruise missiles and disruptor torpedoes obliterated Covenant cruisers wherever they hit, blasting apart shields, armor, and hull.
"And so, came the Naval Auxiliary Forces."
The image then projected something that Nagato herself was familiar with: kanmusu. Dressed in uniform and sporting rigs in the same style as Providence, they jumped out of the hangar bays on specialized carriers—more specifically the Phoenix-class fleet assault carriers—and into the midst of enemy fleets, plowing straight through while avoiding everything that they could throw at them, landing inside the enemy's hangar bays and proved unstoppable with their enhanced Titanium-A plating being able to deftly shrug off every infantry-scale weapon they could field and blasting enemy tanks to kingdom come, before tossing a grenade onto the reactors and jumping out with engines on the redline. It wasn't the sort of combat that Nagato or Saratoga (or anyone in the room for that matter). It was that badass first-person-shooters that Saratoga often played on online servers with her—in space—plus, they were literally kanmusu in space. Performing agile maneuvers that no fighter could match, they dodged enemy shots and fire with superhuman agility, swinging their point-defense guns to stich nearby Grunts and Hunters with ease.
Switching to the first-person camera of one of the many kanmusu in space, the frigate-girl swung her MAC around to shred a Covvie battlecruiser, as she spun around to let loose a spread of shield missiles at the incoming plasma torpedoes. Flicking an assault rifle from her armories, she dumped its mag on full auto at a nearby Banshee, the FMJ—ASP projectiles slung at Mach 40 ripped straight through the cockpit and causing said fighter to careen into a Covvie hangar bay, killing hundreds of Elites and creating a gaping hole in the enemy cruiser.
"And so, vegenance."
The image then projected a lone world. Nagato originally thought it was UNSC, but the Covenant emblem and ships surrounding it told otherwise.
"Glorious Interdiction. A Covenant world, and a major staging area."
The image then showed the same world. But it was different. Flames licked across its surface, wreckage littering the orbit. Written on its surface, in flaming letters, was "ALEA IACTA EST" engraved in flame.
A lone frigate orbited the planet, as three Covenant cruisers and a carrier exited slipspace over the world. The frigate then transmitted a message, a message of vegenance. Of anger.
"Your worlds shall burn. Your cities shall crumble. Your empire shall fall. By the hand of divine justice."
That being said, the frigate fired its MAC at the enemy, obliterating a cruiser outright. Two more cruisers shared the same fate, and the carrier itself got its shields blasted off by an EMP cannon hit. While the underpowered shot was nowhere near the supercharged hit that took out the entire planet along with everything Covvie in orbit, it was enough to fry the carrier's entire port broadside. A plasma torpedo hit created a gaping hole on its side, and the carrier entered slipspace immediately after. The feed changed to show the detonation of a NOVA bomb, which completely ripped apart a Covenant world. The feed then showed over 4,000 worlds suffering the same fate, all gone in one fell swoop.
"Operation Vegenance was a resounding success. But, heed that, the enemy attacked and destroyed Reach, by far, our largest stronghold besides Earth."
The feed then showed a colossal space battle. The intensity of it all was beyond words. Ships exchanged fire, MAC blasts and energy projectors crisscrossed each other as missiles and torpedoes answered each other, as Reach's 1,000 Orbital Defense Platforms slung 3000 ton armor/shield-piercing depleted-uranium slugs at up to 120,000 kilometers a second, causing CAS-class carriers to burst into a million pieces regardless of wherever they hit, the debris slung outwards fast enough that they obliterated nearby cruisers shield or no shield. It was a colossal battle that put even the battles in Legend of the Galactic Heroes (the anime she and Saratoga watched together) to shame. On the ground, tanks, troops, marines, and militia alike fought tooth and nail to keep the demons at bay, Warthogs and technicials advancing without falter at up to 240mph, not even bothering to dodge enemy troops, simply opting instead to go roadkill as tracers and rockets lit up the air from both military and improvised artillery, rocket and conventional. Surface-to-orbit missiles, both improvised and military, launched from the ground, crews working round-the-clock to jab them into the launching tubes and sending them off. It was one giant battlefield, one, where humanity united once again, as one entity, against a common enemy. The sight of military and militia alike working together was simply...astounding.
"The many dauntless men and women, children and elderly, they all did their part and chose to fight rather than flight. May them forever Rest In Peace." Halifax said, in a low tone. The look on her face proved that even a computer could feel things, in fact, the AI appeared to be near tears.
The image then showed a glassed Reach, with the wreckage of millions of Covenant ships in the foreground. The image then faded to black. A single line of text occupied the holoscreen.
REMEMBER THOSE DEAD AT REACH, MAY 7TH, 2550—JUNE 14TH, 2552
Underneath, in a softer text, wrote:
May they forever rest in peace. They shall not have died in vain.
Graf Zeppelin wiped a tear from her eyes. Spree, Bismark, and many others did the same. The admirals at the table displayed obvious sympathy, and as the text rolled, raised their hand in salute.
"And, our final stand," said Providence.
The image switched to an image that everyone was familiar with. Earth. Now bustling with thousands of stations, weapons mounts, and garrisons.
"The Final Battle for Earth began in 2551," Halifax said. "Humanity resisted brutally for two more years, despite being outnumbered one thousand-to-one."
The inage panned around to show a list of UNSC and other forces stationed there. Over three thousand ODPs, 1,000 navy ships that made up the First Fleet, along with over 20,000 civilian freighters and pleasure craft hastily armed and put to action. Thousands of waterborne ships lay scattered on both hemispheres, ready to launch everything they had at a moment's notice.
The Covenant fleet then exited slipspace. They immediately launched a barrage of plasma torpedoes, and the prelaid minefield of shield warheads immediately detonated, the circular barriers stopping the volley. The UNSC, or rather, human fleet immediately opened up with everything they had. MACs fired, missiles launched, torpedoes fired, as every ship in orbit of Earth be it civilian or military fired everything they had at the enemy. On the ground, trillions of surface-to-orbit missiles, both military and improvised, launched, covering the entire planet in rocket exhaust as the Onagers and ground-based MACs opened fire. The waterborne ships launched every missile in their VLS, as their turrets filled up the sky with 127mm and 250mm shells weighing hundreds of tons soared skyward, slung at 0.4c. The salvo of anger impacted the enemy fleet, and crushed in the entire frontline. Hundreds of thousands more were rendered helpless by the EMP cannon blasts, and were promptly ripped apart by the missiles. Torpedoes gutted ship after ship, as thousands of boiling mad wasps launched from the carriers and the ground. Every human was determined to do their part. Technicals and Warthogs charged side by side, as Scorpion tanks ripped apart the enemy supplanted by fire from improvised MRLS launchers. The battles erupted across every inch of the world, as ships unleashed missiles and slung shells at hypervelocity from both ground and sea, and similar battles erupted across the skies as single-seat pleasure craft—as common as an SUV, were hastily refitted with heavy machine guns and missiles and proceeded to brutally dogfight with the Banshees and Seraphs and flak and tracers from both dedicated and improvised AAA lit up the sky. Helicopters usally employed for news and/or recreational flying were converted into deadly gunships, raining tracers and missiles onto entrenched enemy formations.
Overnight, the entire Earth became a war machine. Shots lit up the sky and space, with every human on Sol was prepared for. Similar battles erupted simultaneously as Covvie forces besieged Mars, Venus, the Jovian and Saturn moons, and attacked the Asteroid Belt, where pirates and Insurrectionists lay in wait, springing up traps and minefields, throwing the asteroids at the Covvie cruisers with mining ships.
"Afterwards, the Covenant collapsed with a civil war that was triggered by human intelligence," said Halifax, displaying images of Covenant forces fighting each other. "And at last, a ceasefire was called by the rebel faction calling themselves the 'Swords of Sanghelios'. The Treaty of Harvest, as it was called, formally ended the war on December 7th, 2553.
"The Human-Covenant war, or the Great War as it came to be called, was the fiercest and costliest war fought by humanity up do date," Halifax said, pulling up a list of casualties and losses.
"Quadrillions of dollars in property and mechanical damage, and of our eighty-two billion population, over forty billion were exterminated, many of which were either helpless civilians or dauntless militia, many of them under 18.
"After that, the Orion Systems Alliance, the OSA, was formed to prevent such a war from happening in the future, similarly to the UN here in this world.
"That is all. Questions?"
There was a long silence afterwards, only broken by the sniffles if a few kanmusu, especially the carriers.
Saratoga wiped a tear with a handkerchief. Nagato dabbed at her eyes with a napkin, and her admiral—Makoto Sakurako—was red-eyed.
No one forgot that day.
A/N:
Some answers to the reviews:
Placeitaway (what the heck why??):
Sure. I had similar issues while writing this, and one more thing: Providence dosen't mount thirty guns. She mounted thirty turrets. And each turret carried three guns. Also, for the explanation: the Earth is round. Providence's guns are all lightyears ahead of escape velocity, and, her shots when they hit that Abby battleship, it overpenetrated. Yes, that's right. It overpenetrated, vaporized the target, sent shockwaves, but the slug went out into space. In fact, the targeting computers had to lock onto the enemy and yet at the same time aim over the horizon, lest she busted the planet she was on.
The writer's block for my other stories happened to last longer then I'd expected, and the stories that I was reading hadn't been updated yet. So, this chapter. The anthem was actually the song Glory be to thee, Terra! I posted some time ago. Here's the link: https/m./s/13899229/1/Glory-be-to-thee-Terra
Anyways, 直到下次!