April 5th, 70 CE. 1900 Colonial Standard. Aprilius One. PLANT. Siegel Clyne POV.
If anyone were to observe the PLANT Supreme Council then they would instantly notice an air of gloom and doom. It was understandable considering the circumstances, but in the years before in their darkest times there was always at least a sense of optimism that PLANT could move forward and tackle their issues one at a time. Such a feeling of despair had only been seen once before in the aftermath of Bloody Valentine, though at least then PLANT had an assurance for their future through the N-Jammers. Here? They had just poked a mighty and seemingly unkillable dragon, and if said dragon was hostile to the concept of Coordination then they would be destroyed and have all of the blood for the past six weeks, all of the gains and the immense casualties they inflicted upon the Earth be for nothing.
At the conference table Siegel weakly pulled his coffee mug to his lips and then drank as much as he could in one go. He had barely less than 10 hours of sleep in the past six days and while his Coordinator physiology could take far more exhaustion than a Natural's, he was not a man who could live without sleep and thus the current situation was taking its toll. The only thing keeping Siegel awake was several litters of caffeine and pure will, and even then he wasn't in the best state with his eyes dazing when in one place for too long as his vision becoming blurry at a few times this past day. Fortunately they had all agreed that after this last meeting that everyone would go home, get a half a day's good rest, and then come back so that they could run their nations refreshed and mentally collected, so at least he wasn't going to die of sleep exhaustion.
'We were so damn close.' Siegel cursed. He couldn't really get mad at any of his colleagues though, as by then there was a collective guilt washing over them, even for Patrick, that made them aware of how much they had messed up. It would also be hypocritical for Siegel to lash his fury considering he was part of the problem in the beginning.
After finding out about Zeon's existence the council had went into an intense debate on whether the message was authentic or a hoax. Siegel had stepped up and tried to take command with him gradually convincing a few of his colleagues that Zeon could be real, but emotions were too high for a quick and easy resolution. By the time he got a majority of the council behind them with them getting ready to craft a message, Degwin had released his speech to the Earth sphere, implicating PLANT as a barbaric nation that struck the new nation from another dimension unprovoked, feeding into Blue Cosmos propaganda about how Coordinators were a group of people who wished to dominate and destroy all Naturals.
'At least East Asia did the same mistake, and if Zeon saw the horror of the ghettoes and read our history, then perhaps they'll sympathize us and and give us mercy.' Siegel hopefully thought.
Were it only ZAFT that attacked Zeon then all hope would be lost, but with East Asia attacking Zeon after they established diplomatic relations and Zeon experiencing how cruel the Alliance was in their rule to the colonists, with Zeon's supposed history being one of oppression from Earth, then perhaps there was hope after all for a peaceful settlement, and should Zeon have tense relations with the Alliance then they would sue for peace with ZAFT and all of this bloodshed could end.
However, this all depended upon Zeon accepting Coordinators, and Siegel did not have enough of a read on their history and culture besides some strange fixation on a concept called Newtypes to make a firm guess on if they could practice tolerance. Not only that, but by all indications Zeon was an authoritarian regime, meaning that the fate of PLANT would now be decided by the whims of a family rather than its people.
Considering the fact that Zeon seemed to adopt Nazi aesthetics at first glance, the signs weren't good.
The door to the council chambers shot open and in walked Eileeen Canaver, looking just as fatigued as the rest of the council with her eyes being full bloodshot. "The Diplomatic Committee has fully compiled a list of terms that we find to be the most we shall possibly concede to Zeon in negotiations." Eileen declared.
"Before that, how goes the effort to have Orb host the peace talks?" Yuri Amalfi asked as Eileen sat down. Since Orb was the only nation to make peaceful contact and establishment of relations with Zeon, the Supreme Council, and presumably the Alliance leadership, was hoping to use Orb as a tool to butter up Zeon towards their side to lighten terms. If the talks were hosted within Orb and run by Uzumi, a man who was for better or worse a starkly neutral pacifist, then maybe they could appeal to his sense of mercy to calm down the Zabi's and accept lighter terms for what was a war born from miscommunication. If Orb did not host it then most likely they would be forced to go to Zeon, and in Lagrange 2 they would be completely at the mercy of Degwin and his brood.
"When I talked to Uzumi he was fully in support of the idea and wished to do all he could to end both the wars with Zeon and our current struggle against the Alliance. He's trying to push for a conference at Heliopolis and if we and the Alliance agree then it'll occur at the end of the month, though we'll need to accept a cease fire soon."
"Heliopolis is a good location. It's on the opposite side of the Earth sphere and is as far away from Zeon as possible while still remaining in the Earth sphere, so they can't control the environment. From what I read the Universal Century also had a single colony there so Zeon has no emotional connections to it. There is Artemis, but it won't be a threat unless Eurasia has a secret superweapon at the base." Patrick deduced, with the rest of the council nodding in agreement.
"I then spoke to Dozle and Gihren, Degwin's eldest sons, about the matter. Dozle seemed amnicable to the idea, a good thing since he lost thousands from our ships and mobile suits, however Gihren stated that Zeon would not accept Heliopolis as a site unless we recognized their "Liberation" of the far side from the remnants of the Earth Federation. Despite my best efforts he stated that there would be no return of POWs until a hypothetical conference began, but that they'll be kept in the best conditions possible, he didn't budge from this no matter what I tried." Eileen stated, with a look of frustration when mentioning Gihren by name.
"Did they demand for us to withdraw from Lorenz?" Ezalia Joule asked with concern.
Eileen shook her head, "No, they were surprisingly content with Lorenz. All they asked was that none of our forces from there go within 100 kilometers of their lunar cities or Lagrange 2."
"Then I say let Zeon keep those cities. We have no way to capture them, those territories were never ours to begin with, and if the Earth Federation treated Zeon anywhere near as bad as we were by the Alliance then Zeon's free to do as they please with them." Ezalia said, with murmurs of agreement across the room.
Siegel did not exactly feel the same way as he thought that perhaps there was more to the story and that the Federal Remnant should have its own voice. However, this was the settlement of a feud from another universe and as Ezalia pointed out, they had no power to intervene. So for now he had to sit by and leave hundreds of thousands of Earth Federation men and women to the mercy of Zeon. It wouldn't do after all to put the needs of people from another dimension over his constituents and the rest of PLANT, he would be rightly kicked out of office for doing so.
"While it is a tragedy that so many of ZAFT cannot return, we must accept this as a consequence of our lack of rationality and hope for the best." Parnel Jesek said, while no one vocally reacted there was a sad and begrudging agreement, though he saw some like Patrick fume, they all kept their emotions locked in as this was a small price to pay for their aggression.
"If there are no other questions then I shall begin listing the terms." Eileen said, with her doing so after a few seconds of silence.
"The PLANT Republic shall claim full responsibility for the outbreak of war against the Principality of Zeon and acknowledge that its part was one of pointless aggression done through a lack of communication and flawed leadership in the events leading up to the outbreak of hostilities.
The PLANT Republic shall recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Principality of Zeon and strive for the creation of diplomatic relations so that future tragedies such as the outbreak of this war can be prevented and that both nations may engage in a fair exchange of goods, people, and ideas.
The PLANT Republic shall recognize the total territorial claims of the Principality of Zeon. In regards to the Solomon Base, the PLANT Republic shall cede the territory of 500 kilometres in a radius around Solomon Base as rightful Zeon territory.
ZAFT shall be prohibited transit through the territories of the Principality of Zeon unless given approval by the Principality. The armed forces of the Principality of Zeon are given free transit through the territories of the PLANT Republic. After 24 hours of loitering in the sovereign space of PLANT, the Zeon Armed Forces must request permission for continued stay or they must retreat.
As compensation to the Principality of Zeon as the victim of an unprovoked attack, the PLANT Republic shall pay reparations of 250,000 Zeo's to each family of the deceased along with 100,000 Zeos to any individuals who were wounded during the battle of Solomon. These payments shall be conducted within a year. An additional payment of 20 Billion Zeos shall be transferred from the PLANT Republic to the Principality of Zeon, which shall be paid over the course of five years with a mandatory rate of 4 Billion Zeos per year, which said debt being tackled with a 3% interest rate per each year that the PLANT Republic either does not pay the debt within the allotted time or is not able to fully pay the debt beyond the due date.
The PLANT Republic shall not place any taxation on goods from the Principality of Zeon for 15 years, where during such a period the Principality of Zeon is free to tax goods from the PLANT Republic at whatever rate they desire. "
Eileen finished her speech and settled down, with the council descending into a highly uncomfortable atmosphere. While everyone knew that they had to concede something to Zeon in order to get peace quickly and still ensure their independence from the Alliance, hearing such terms out loud was a harsh taste of reality.
"I hope you all understand that what we were going for was a series of terms that give Zeon a sense of complete and satisfying victory while at the same time not placing anything that could cripple us in the long term. I know that this sounds bad, but on the macro-level our sovereignty and power is still reserved with half of the terms I listed merely being an acknowledgement of reality. We'll gain more in the long run once we dictate our terms to the Alliance, and I'm confident that once we're at peace our superior technology, quality of population, and reach into the Asteroid Belt can keep us as nominal equals with Zeon." Eileen said.
While Siegel was more than willing to agree with the logic, there were still many who were unconvinced.
"Why can't we simply move for a white peace? I don't want to make light of the tragedy that just occurred, but it was one battle and the deaths were in the low tens of thousands with Zeon showing that they can destroy our Space Force. Won't a simple acknowledgement of victory be enough?" Questioned Jeremy Maxwell.
"A status quo antebellum is precisely what I'll be aiming for as the round begins, however I doubt Zeon is going to feel too magnanimous considering how Degwin threatened to destroy any nation that dares to oppose their independence while offering peace. Plus in Realpolitik terms, having just arrived they'll try to get as many concessions as they want from us and the Alliance to establish themselves as the dominant power before we can recover from the war or possibly unite against them. What better way to assert themselves by imposing strong concessions against the nation that had just managed to wipe out a majority of Earth's power grid." Eileen said.
"I highly doubt that a white peace is possible. White peaces traditionally happened because there was a need to keep up a balance of power in the world order with said white peace not being inflicted willingly by the participants, but by outside Great Powers or superpowers. This happened in the 19th century with the Concert and later Great Power system, and in the 20th century with the League and UN, the latter of which was to prevent the Cold War from veering one way to the Americans or Soviets. Here there is no nation to keep Zeon in check, they hold all of the cards, and they're riding a high off of capturing the far side of the moon and Lagrange 4 with their precious independence from the Earth Federation. We may not know much about Zeon's character, but greed is a fundamental aspect of Natural nature and showing themselves as superior to the superhumans is too damn tempting of a scenario to let go." Patrick said, being of the highest authority in the room on military history and international diplomacy due to his specialization in history.
"I think Patrick has said it best, a white peace at this point will take a miracle and there is no way Zeon will want a clean victory over us. For now it would be our best bet to hope for the worst and try to be as amenable to concessions as we can without risking key aspects of our sovereignty and national security as Eileen said. At the same time we shouldn't let defeatism rule us. Thanks to East Asia's usage of nukes and the far greater loss of life they inflicted onto Zeon, a majority of their anger will hopefully be inflicted upon them, furthered by the appalling sight of the L4 Cluster. Their revered Zeon Zum Deikun appeared to be a man who was deadset on the freedom and independence of all Spacenoids, so if we present ourselves as fellow Spacenoids that just happen to have altered genes then I think we can get the best deal." Siegel offered, with a look of thanks by Patrick for his agreement with his assessment. While he and Siegel had fallen to the state of rivalry leading up to Uroboros, they had now agreed to lower the hatchet and act for the good of PLANT, and outside of a few heated moments the peace had been kept.
"On the reparations, just how are we going to pay Zeon? Their currency is meaningless to us and in these trying times with Earth's economy likely to be in a depression for the next decade, I doubt they'll easily accept fiat currency." Orson White pointed out.
"I was planning on using our gold reserves since in my talks with Zeon, Gihren said that in the near future they'll likely to transition their currency to a temporary gold-backed form for the coming years until such a time that the international markets have stabilized and they can switch to fiat. Our industry will be heavily affected, but if need be we can ask for loans from Africa and Oceania, and in our rough estimates the reparations will be about $40-$50 billion of their currency at most. We could use other precious metals such as platinum or silver to have a more diverse offering is Zeon is agreeable. Besides I'm sure our trade, even with the lack of tariffs, can cover some of the payment through the indirect revenue of corporate and income taxes."
For the next hour they discussed the terms in detail along with any other potential concessions that they needed to produce, and while there was some grumbling and feet dragging throughout, in the end they had roughly agreed to the format and dismissed themselves with the agenda of tackling the supply chain to their forces on Earth, coordination their forces for a coming cease fire, keeping watch over Solomon, and finalizing the details of the conference with Zeon and Orb.
With a clear goal ahead of them and the council united and focused, Siegel could finally allow himself some measure of rest. After twenty minutes of travel he headed back to his home, with Lacus greeting him and being as much of an angel as she always was by leading him to his bed, giving him some much needed love in the form of a hug and kiss, and informing him that there was a plate of fried rice that she had prepared waiting for him in the fridge when he waked up. Tired and slurring his thanks to the young girl who was far too god of a child then he deserved, Siegel collapsed on his bed and earned some well-needed sleep.
April 7th, 70 CE. 0300 West African Standard. Lagos. African Community. Third Person POV
Deep inside of the command bunker for AFRICOMM, the headquarters of the African Community Defense Force, a meeting had just taken place that would drastically alter the immediate course of the war for the Community. The meeting went on for hours and while there was heavy opposition to the sudden drastic change in strategy, a majority of the flag officers present were persuaded to the President and his plan, thus making the operation go through.
When the meeting ended 53 generals and admirals walked out of the large conference room to resume their commands and adapt for the new commands. Unlike the rest of the world who adopted a traditional pyramid structure for command when dealing with their military, Africa's martial leadership was more akin to a circle, with 54 of the highest ranked officers being in charge of their own seperate departments that were all equal to one another despite the differences in branch and power. These men and women were then under the nominal peacetime command of a rotating Defense Committee made up of members of the Community's Congress who served a single four year term needing to step down. Multiple terms were impossible for the Defense Committee unless the Congress was full of incumbents, which it rarely ever was. Then at the end of the line of command was the President who was the commander-in-chief, with the constitution giving them a high amount of powers in regards to the military which along with the other wide range of executive powers made the African President one of the most powerful offices on Earth, with only the East Asian Presidency and Orb oligarchy having greater authority in their own governments.
This unique structure was adopted in the creation of the African Community so that the Community could not be plagued with the rise of military strongman who could easily overturn the government and rule as as a dictator, destroying the Community's government and threatening to slide Africa back into the old days of warlordism. While observers could claim the military structure to be archaic, with the lack of any coups or rebellion, it had so far done its job.
Back to the meeting at hand, 54 flag officers had walked in, and 53 had walked out, with one remaining in defiance in the hope to somehow change the President's mind. This man was General Paul Diallo, Quartermaster Chief of the Supply Corps who in the past several months had been assigned the near impossible tasks of setting up the Community's war machine to go to war with Earth's Superpowers and their neighbor of South Africa. Diallo had done his duty begrudgingly, however this most recent operation handed to him by his president was going too far.
When President Kwame Bujine attempted to leave and avoid Diallo, Diallo moved quickly and blocked the President's, along with the Secretary of State who was at his side, exit. The Presidential Guard made a wall in front of Bujine, attempting to intimidate Diallo into leaving, however the General stood his ground.
Seeing that the stubborn uniformed mule in front of him would not bulge, Bujine sighed and decided to entertain the man so he could quickly brush him off.
"What is it General? You have your orders and as such I expect you to carry them out. The majority of your peers have agreed that Operation Dayyamu is a sound plan of action, even you have admitted that it will lead to victory. You had your chance to give your criticism, now I expect you to obey." Bujine said coldly.
Despite the obvious dislike that was radiating from his commander-in-chief, Diallo was still undeteered. "I understand sir, and I will carry out your orders. However, before I leave I must for one last time implore you to change your mind. Dayyamu will no doubt lead to victory, however any gains will only be of a minor tactical nature that will not have any bearing on the peace negotiations. The Alliance will surrender in Heliopolis no matter what. ZAFT has stolen their power, the loss of one canal and a peninsula full of sand will not change the outcome. Let us work with PLANT and then save the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers." Diallo pleaded.
The plan in question, Operation Dayyamu, was an invasion of the Sinai peninsula with the ultimate goal of capturing the Suez Canal and opening up the Road to Jerusalem thanks to the advancement of Army Group Egypt and ZAFT's 2nd Terrestrial Division.
In the original plan for the war on Earth, Army Group Egypt was to tie down Eurasia's Arabian and Israeli forces so that they would not be sent to Spain or help in the relief efforts in the face of the N-Jammers. With the African Army stretched thin to protect its borders, the only offensive actions taken would be to the Iberian offensive and a strike into Uganda to capture the Lake Victoria Mass Driver. Once either of these objectives were completed, then enough manpower would be freed to take the Suez and march all the way to Tehran and Constantinople, and that was if the Alliance hadn't caved in by then and given Africa all that they had demanded and then some.
Then things were thrown off course completely by the arrival of Zeon and their war with ZAFT and East Asia. With ZAFT suffering a huge defeat at the hands of Zeon, and the constant presence of an asteroid equipped with fusion nukes and a fleet equal to the entirety of ZAFT at their doorstep, ZAFT was turtling in and preparing for a defense of the homeland while they desperately tried to open negotiations with Zeon. This caused them to neglect their forces on Earth, thus their allies and terrestial divisions were abandoned with the exception of a single supply run that only dropped 30% of the expected supplies.
With the ZAFT Divisions lacking the surplus ammunition and weaponry that they had expected, along with the resources necessary to set up Earthside bases and supply depots, the ZAFT Whitecoats had ordered a halt to all operations. Without the support of ZAFT as their vanguard, the African Army had to pause in their offensive in order to compensate for the absence of their allies as well as any possible moves by Zeon. As such, Africa only held less than a couple hundred square kilometres of territory in both Spain and Uganda, far below their expectations.
When word had arrived the previous day that ZAFT and the Alliance had reached a cease fire agreement with Zeon to take place on the 14th and that peace talks would be held in Heliopolis on the 22nd, there was much hope within the African forces that the war was now over and they could rest easy as within weeks they would gain major concessions from Eurasia and South Africa at the diplomatic table and thus avenge the Century of Humiliation that had been inflicted upon them after WWII. However, their expectations had been proven greatly wrong when Bujine revealed his plan to take the Suez Canal despite the lack of buildup at the front, lack of orbital support by ZAFT, the Eurasian satellite network still being intact, and the inability of the African Navy and Air Force to provide full support with the operation set to take place in 24-48 hours.
At the sight of the generals defiance, Bujine was beginning to fume. Before he could lash out, the President was stopped by the pull of the man at his side on his arm, the Secretary of State Mahamudu Najibe. Unlike his superior, Najibe had kept a cool and collected air throughout the talk.
"General, while you have legitimate military concerns, this operation is of the upmost necessity for the upcoming peace talks. If we do not score a decisive victory against the Alliance then our place at the table will be ignored and we will have made enemies of the world's superpowers with only prestige to show for the losses we have incurred. If we are to establish our position and weaken our neighbors, then taking the suez is a must as a decisive bargaining chip and to show the world the power of the African Community. Najibe said calmly.
Diallo narrowed his eyes at distrust in the Secretary. When Bujine had been elected, he had promised to be a mainly domestic leader who would focus on great works inside of the nation that would push Africa to be an equal to the superpowers despite its lack of access to space. However, upon Najibe being appointed as Secretary of State, Bujine had led Africa down a more jingoistic foreign policy which included an arms build up, greater antagonism towards Eurasia and South Africa, and the recent move to the PLANTs despite the massive unpopularity of Coordination within the Community. Diallo did not know if Bujine had always been a good politician or would have truly implemented his campaign promises, but whatever signs of that promised visionary existed, it had been washed away by Najibe's influence.
"Secretary, while furthering our national interests is all well and good, I do not see how spending so much blood for a single canal, no matter how vital it is, will help us at the peace conference. You do not see ZAFT making a run for Victoria or Oceania launching an invasion of Taiwan. Why can we not just trust our allies and you do your job properly." Diallo said, all but goading the Secretary by calling him bad at his job for necessitating this.
To Diallo's small disappointment, Najibe was undeterred in emotion. "ZAFT and Oceania have no need for sudden offensives as they have already proved their worth against the Alliance. ZAFT ahnillated their space forces in orbit and the N-Jammer is proof enough of their superiority. Oceania has taken out Pearl Harbor and most of the Pacific fleets for the Alliance. Meanwhile, our Navy has been unable to destroy even a plurality of Eurasia and South Africa's Navies and our damage to their war machines is minute. If we are to gain respect, then this offensive shall go through." Najibe said.
The absolute lack of the coming casualties from the upcoming offensive and focus merely on Africa "showing their power" and looking as strong as the other superstates when Africa had already done so with nothing to prove infuriated Diallo. 'Damned politicians, they never know our struggles, always hyping the glories of war and never sacrificing.' Indeed neither Bujine or Najibe had served in the military despite their hard jingoism in foreign policy.
"Sir, what about the Zeon? They are still a complete unknown and unless we have all of our forces at standby, they could come from above and take us out however they wish." Diallo reasoned, trying to appeal to the general aura of fear surrounding the arrival from another dimension.
Unfortunately, his attempt had utterly failed with Bujine waving him off, "We have no space forces and ZAFT has shown to be completely incompetent against Zeon, there is nothing to stop them from invading and winning no matter what action the Army takes. Besides, the Secretary here has kept the peace with Zeon with them not holding us responsible for ZAFT's idiocy, not to mention their agreement to the damn cease fire that is the cause of this offensive despite Zeon holding the cards. At this point you are grasping at straws general, either heed my orders or I shall relieve you of command." Bujine ordered, at this point dropping all pretenses of letting Diallo having his say and using rank.
Not wanting to push the envelope further, Diallo saluted and left the scene before he had to stick around any longer. The General walked out of the room in a fury, marching down the hallway to his station, only to be met with the large form of Admiral Joao Barcona.
Diallo walked past Barcona, with the Admiral following with a tsk of disapproval, "I told you my friend that the man is a stubborn mule and you would only be met with a wall. What exactly were you trying to accomplish? Unless the opposition or terrorists strike him now, you'll be on his list of enemies." Barcona said in concern for his friend.
Diallo rolled his eyes at the talk, "What is the worst that bastard will do, retire me? I was going to in four years, that would just be extraditing the process. I dislike that man but it's not like he's the dictators of old, having a bad reputation is nothing compared to the risk of purge during the Humiliation. Besides, I had a damned good reason to fight, to stick up for the men, if you and the others had stayed with me we could have formed a front and changed his mind. You saw how he insulted the Navy, how could you just let that down?" Diallo asked.
The true reason for the Navy's lack of success in comparison to Oceania is that unlike the Pacific nation whose navy was designed for great blue-water operations spread across thousands of kilometres, Africa's Navy was mainly intended to play defense and hug the coasts from invasion while the bulk of the budget went to the Army and Air Force. Despite this, Bujine had found fault at the Navy for not taking advantage of the N-Jammer and magically wiping out Eurasia's fleets.
"I did not want to take that insult lying down, however at this point it is a done deal and there were too many of our colleagues who were on board from the beginning. The President could always claim to have had a majority support, and if you talk to the common soldier they're just as likely to want to give Eurasia a black eye. I don't like the idea of losing so many lives so close to the cease fire either, but it's not like it's never been done in history. Eurasia is crippled and satellites have shown their forces to be spread out and focused in Europe. With the ZAFT mobile suits at our side, victory will be assured and the Sinai will rightfully return to African hands, and with Gibraltar we can rule the Mediterranean. The only thing that could go wrong is an attack by Zeon, but we have done those space people no wrong." Barcona said.
A feeling of unease rose in Diallo at the mention of Zeon. That damned nation that had thrown the entire war into a loop had so far ignored Africa for the most part, though it was rather understandable given they had no presence in space. It was already bad enough for the Community to be bogged down by the imperialist superpowers that composed the Alliance, but now that a new player had entered the solar system that had more space development than all of the Cosmic Era combined? It was now going to take Africa decades before they could ever hope of becoming a superpower.
"Speaking of, what do you think of the Zeon? For me, I find it suspicious as hell that this nation not only choose to turn one of its politicians into a monarch, but that they so blatantly display Fascist iconography. If it weren't for the lack of racial oppression and their integration of Africans from their timeline, then I would think we were dealing with Europe of old." Diallo said, distrust of the new nation heavily evident.
Barcona nodded in agreement, "I also find the culture and government of Zeon very uncomfortable, but at this point we're only looking at the bare surface and haven't had a chance to read deeply, nor has Zeon had a chance to prove themselves as a respectable state. While their monarchy reeks of something akin to Amin or Mobutu, there doesn't seem to be any clear indication that such horrid oppression is taking place on the likes of those false kings. Since this was a timeline that unified into one world government and discovered fusion power, anything is possible in terms of cultural divergence. Since most of their population is made up of ethnic groups that were oppressed by the West and East, hopefully they find solidarity in us and we can become friends later and use them as a counter to PLANT. For now all we can do is wait and see." Barcona said.
Not able to find any argument, Diallo nodded and then broke off the conversation with a farewell, with him then returning to his office to plan the offensive that he despised. In the coming days, Diallo would find Dayyamu to be both of and against his worst fears.
April 8th. 70 CE. 1100 Eastern Australian Standard. Canberra. Federal Republic of Oceania.
In comparison to the other Capitols of the Cosmic Era, Canberra had a reputation as a rather quiet city. It didn't have the power and authority of Moscow and Washington, the rich culture and history of Beijing or Singapore, or the luxury that Olofat boasted. Canberra was simply a small city where the three branches of the Oceania government lived and operated in service of their country, where one could experience a small slice of Oceania culture and history, and where tourists could experience an okay entertainment and night life that was mostly meant to cater towards overworked bureaucrats.
What Oceania did have in comparison to the other capitols was the status of being a peaceful city. While the other capitols would be inflicted with major protests or political strife, Canberra had always been a center of calm political service with the exception of the S2 Outbreak. Such a reputation was not on display today.
"DOWN WITH THE PATCHWORKER PUPPETS!"
"MCMAHON THE WARMONGER!"
"OCEANIA MUST NEVER BE AT WAR WITH EURASIA!"
Across the city's boundaries, hundreds of thousands of Oceanians had rushed into the capitol to protest the nation's ongoing and unexpected participation in the war against the Earth Alliance. Many were either affiliated with Blue Cosmos or sympathetic to the organization, disgusted that their nation was now run by Coordinator puppets and were killing Naturals to allow ZAFT to dominate the world. However, these people were not the sole force of the protest, and not even the majority.
Many segments of Oceania society were disgusted by the government's sudden entry into the war without the desire or consent of the population. To them it was a corrupt war of imperialism that ruined the peace that Oceania had maintained since the Reconstruction War for the greed of politicians. Many were pacifists and saw the shedding of any bloodshed unless attacked a great evil. The opposition came out in droves for what they saw as blood being shed to secure the Big Two's dominance over the government. Many thought that this wasn't their war to fight, but an unjust attack on the Alliance in service of the elite of PLANT. A heavy plurality were simply scared of the consequences of making themselves an enemy and shedding the blood of the four most powerful nations on Earth, never mind the fact that they were now allied with a nation that unjustly attacked a country from another dimension that had access to nuclear fusion.
While these people were not yet representative of a majority of the Federal Republic of Oceania, they were in the millions and rising each day, with the potential to soon overtake public opinion of the government didn't take control of the PR war.
Watching the heavy opposition from inside The Lodge, the seat of power for the Oceania Executive Branch, President Owen McMahon released a heavy sigh. He had expected that there would be many who would not take his decision to lead Oceania into war against the Alliance well, however, the current turnout was approaching his worst fears. The protests were so large and intense that he could hear the shouts of anger taking place near The Lodge's perimeter, with McMahon needing to call in a couple of Army battalions to reinforce security alongside the Secret Service.
'They may hate me today but when we achieve victory I'll be vindicated. Our great grandchildren will learn of how we took a stand against evil and how our country emerged stronger with it.' Thought McMahon in reassurance, doing his best to stay strong and justify his actions.
While McMahon could acknowledge that from the outside his actions looked like an out of touch head of state who lead his nation to war for personal gain, there were many moral and realpolitik reasons for him to ally with PLANT. First of all was the fact that it was simply the right thing to do. While Oceania had slowly embraced Coordination as the future, most of the world had gone completely reactionary and hunted down children for being supposed monsters and punishing them for a "crime" that they had no control over. Coordination lead to an improved version of humanity and instead of making sure that as many of the next generation could be augmented, nations like the Atlantic Federation segregated or murdered their citizens for having different genes. Oceania had tolerated these crimes of genetic cleansing far too long and when McMahon became President he vowed that he would support PLANT in any way he could to stop the rise of genetic Nazism and create a good future for his Coordination children. PLANT was in the right for their revolution and Oceania should naturally support them on their path to independence.
There were also more pragmatic reasons that McMahon had used to get support within his party and the opposition. For far too long Oceania had been kept in the dirt and forced to exist in mediocrity while the Big Three had monopolized space exploration and forced their neighbors to bend to their whims as toys for a new Cold War. In the beginning of the Cosmic Era, Oceania had been a firm ally of the Atlantic Federation that had been treated with the respect and dignity they deserved. As time went on the relationship became increasingly one-sided in the Federation's favor with them being used as a shield against East Asia with Oceania markets being flooded with Atlantic products and culture while the Federation refused to import from Oceania. While Oceania was restricted on how many resources it could extract from the Pacific in the name of environmental preservation, the Atlantic Federation had free access to the solar system with Oceania only able to look on from Earth in envy.
ZAFT's dominance in space and its technological supremacy with the N-Jammers proved that it would win the war no matter how many men or resources the Alliance had. When ZAFT representatives let McMahon in on the secret of the N-Jammer, he knew that a new world order was being created and that Oceania could either join and rise above its current standing or be left in the dust. Thus, in addition to taking a stand against racism and the naked Imperialism of the Cosmic Era superpowers, Oceania would finally earn its rightful place in the sun and dominate the Pacific.
Or at least this was the plan...until Zeon popped into existence.
Whatever the moral faults of Oceania's entry into the war were, it would not matter in the end due to Oceania's rapid conquest of the Pacific islands with a minimal loss of life thanks to the presence of the N-Jammers, allowing Oceania to destroy the Pacific fleets of the Atlantic Federation, East Asia, and Eurasia with little concrete opposition. Oceania had already proved their success with the conquest of a dozen island chains and the destruction of a plurality of the AF Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, Zeon's existence and ZAFT's inability to perform basic reconnaissance with them shooting first and never asking questions now meant that the nation which had just been crowned as the dominant power of the Cosmic Era was now at the mercy of this Fascist state from another dimension. If Zeon saw PLANT as a threat then they might limit their gains against the Alliance or end their independence altogether, leaving Oceania at the mercy of the Alliance as a target of their wrath for having suffered the loss of power and most likely the deaths of millions of civilians after weeks of anarchy.
So far McMahon had some small measure of hope with his limited interactions with Degwin showing the Sovereign to bear no ill will towards Oceania or their current war against the Alliance, merely wishing for Oceania to pressure PLANT to enter into negotiations and sue for a just peace with Zeon, with the PLANT Supreme Council thankfully being more than willing to accommodate. At the end of the day though, the future of McMahon's nation rested in the hands of a dictatorship, a form of government which in the past has been proven to be sporadic at best with their rule ranging from internal oppression to foreign conquest. While McMahon still regarded the Alliance as the greater evil, Zeon was already showing signs of Fascism and all it took was one insane monarch to transform the nation into an oppressive imperialist state.
McMahon's dark thoughts were interrupted by a new presence within his office, his Defense Secretary Laurie Tuati.
"Hello Laurie, got some good news I hope?" Asked McMahon with a small surge of cheer, rising from his desk and ending his temporary break from running the nation, leaving a plate with a half eaten ham and cheese that would be picked up by the staff later.
So far there had been nothing but good news on the military front, but with Zeon's war against ZAFT and East Asia anything could be expected. While McMahon didn't expect to wake up one morning and find something horrible like Sidney being nuked by the Zeon, the recent deployment of a couple hundred of their ships to Earth orbit was a worrying sign.
Tuati sent McMahon a smile to assure him that everything was alright, "We just received word from General Harkon that the last of Operation Typhoon is a success. Palau is ours and with it the Alliance has been completely cut off from the deep Pacific in the Eastern hemisphere. As of now our part in the war is over."
McMahon's previous somber mood was erased with a sense of jubilation rising through the President. "About damn time! So long as our friends upstairs don't screw things up and keep the peace then we'll be the new masters of the Pacific and those Imperialist bastards will finally have to acknowledge our place at the table. Casualties weren't too bad I hope?"
Tuati shook her head. "Three dead and 29 wounded but in return we took out 73 Atlanteans with a further 117 of them being wounded. Once the airport was secure the island surrendered. Admiral Campbell wants to know if the Navy's going to stop operations and focus on building the Driver with ZAFT or if you want to keep going hunting."
McMahon rested his chin in his hand for half a minute in contemplation. While killing more Alliance ships was always a good thing, with half of the AF's Pacific fleet at the bottom of the ocean along with a third of East Asia's and 10% of Eurasia's, there was no need to continue the fight now that Oceania had accomplished its territorial objectives and time was running out with the recently agreed cease fire. They could instead devote their time and energy to building the Carpentera Mass Driver, finally granting Oceania spacefaring capability through sharing the base with ZAFT and allowing them to receive resources from PLANT and vice versa.
"For now it would be best to keep our fleets in port and not stretch ourselves thin in case Zeon decides to head to Earth. However we should have the Air Force do continual reconnaisance of the Pacific with the network and be on the lookout for any big catches left in the sea. If any Alliance ships come within 100 klicks of our waters, then we'll hunt them, if not let them be." McMahon decided, with Tuati nodding in approval. "Is Kwame still dead set on going for the Suez?" McMahon asked, with Tuati releasing a frustrated sigh that more than answered his question.
"The bastard is too damn stubborn and won't listen to a single word State or ZAFT says. According to Warren, the man believes that unless he takes the Suez that it'll be a bargaining chip that PLANT is willing to let Eurasia keep instead of giving it to Africa as they promised. If they don't get the Suez and Sinai, and maybe somehow make advances into the Holy Land and Arabia, then there'll be a possibility of Eurasia getting a white peace thanks to our newborn Fascist wildcard. So, to better play safe with sorry he's going through the attack. Most likely it'll start either tomorrow or the 10th. Some of his generals are trying to get him to see reason but the man won't budge despite the fact he won't get farther than Gaza by the time the ceasefire hits."
McMahon shook his head with great disapproval, "Idiot. If one of Eurasia's most elite field armies stands firm then the Alliance will get a final victory for the talks. When that happens those suicidal scumbags will believe they can still keep up the fight, and maybe Zeon will believe they can do so and support them. I wish I could beat some damned sense into him."
"If you did so Owen then he'd play the victim card and say it's another example of a white power abusing their African ally." Tuati said, with Owen rolling his eyes in response.
While Oceania entered the war for support of the Coordinator's right to live, the African Community's reasons for entering were purely for self-interest as they sought to dismantle Eurasia's presence in the Mediterranean and Middle East along with hopefully annexing most of South Africa to set the stage for the Community's rule of a united continent. As the nation who got shafted the most from the Reconstruction War, the African Community had developed a high isolationist, or as some would say xenophobic mindset with the rest of the world, especially the West, being its enemies that sought to oppress the continent. While Owen would never deny the crimes of the Alliance towards the Community, the problem was that it was still holding onto its old prejudices and treating its allies with contempt. If it weren't for its enormous manpower and rich resources than PLANT would most likely not get Africa involved, especially since large stretches of the Community still outlawed Coordination.
"The nerve of those people, they think we're only slightly better than the Alliance yet they demand that we whip up a dozen divisions and send them over to fight their part of the war." McMahon grunted. While he was amenable to the formation of an expeditionary corps, such an outfit would take a couple of months to prepare and had to be done after the Pacific was secured, and yet President Kwame Bujine demanded that they send over a fleet and expeditionary corps to take part in their offensive with only less than a week until the cease fire, as if he could organize such a transfer of men and materials in such a short timeframe.
"It's only for another month or two that we have to hold up with them. Once the Alliance surrenders then we can let them play Kingdom in their corner of the world while we rule the waves and spread across the stars alongside PLANT." Tuati reasoned, with McMahon nodding in response. While Zeon's sudden appearance in Lagrange 2 complicated affairs, it didn't change that at the end of the day the Alliance was crippled and fighting a hopeless war while ZAFT and her allies were unmolested. Since Zeon were Nationalists in support of space independence, they would hopefully ally themselves with PLANT, thus allowing Oceania to climb up on top with the winners and in the aftermath ingratiate themselves with their new neighbors, authoritarian tendencies aside.
Wanting to work on defense in more detail, McMahon began to exit his office with Tuati following him. Just as he was about to leave however, a voice on the television had caught his attention.
McMahon stepped back and walked towards the plasma screen. On it was the coverage from the OCB on his main political rival, Senator John Edelston of the Liberals. He appeared to be given an interview in the midst of the crowd of protesters, his navy blue three piece suit in heavy contrast with the relaxed clothing of the mostly blue collar protesters.
"Nearly two centuries ago my great, great, great grandfather served Queen and country and took a stand against the evils of Fascism. When the Empire of Japan sought to dominate the Pacific and enslave and conquer its neighbors, my ancestor did his part in defending Democracy and slaying the evil Axis. It was a glorious moment in history for what was to become our beloved Oceania. A time when the great nations of Australia, New Zealand, and Papau New Guinea played their roles in saving the human race from tyranny and genocide. Ever since then our land has been on a path of liberty with our nation being a shining beacon of hope and stability during the dark transition from Anno Domini to Cosmic Era.
Our nation can no longer claim to be a benevolent liberal democracy, for the past week our villain of a President has manipulated a majority of Congress to go to war without the people's consent or knowledge, to begin a war of conquest against our neighbors while our now supposed "enemies" suffer genocide with their lands under devastation from superweapons of "our allies", in a war that we had no justifiable casus belli to enter. If you believe this sounds familiar it is because ladies and gentlemen, we have overnight become the very same Fascist state that our ancestors fought and bled to destroy two centuries ago. We thought that we had fought the good fight and had destroyed Fascist Imperialism, when the corrupt swamp of Canberra has become such a wicked evil. Ladies and gentlemen, we are Imperial Japan, we are Fascist Italy, we are Nazi Germany. Until such a time that the tyrannical Owen Regime steps down and a new government backs us out of this unjust war of aggression, then the Oceania we have known and loved is dead."
A/N: In the first chapter of the reaction arc we get a look at how ZAFT is dealing with the aftermath of their portion of the First Contact War with Zeon, and a look into the governments of Oceania and Africa and how they're dealing with the war and why they got into it. With PLANT I wanted to show how they acknowledged their mistakes and now that the threat of annihilation isn't hanging above them, they're moving forward with cooler heads. For the immediate future the council is going to be more united and while there is grumbling at the current state of affairs, the council knows it messed up and must atone for its mistake. Also for those wondering why Patrick wasn't screaming bloody murder, it's because at that point his rationality is still mostly present, and being the head of ZAFT and historian that he is, knows that ZAFT is in no position to fight against Zeon, so he must make do with an honorable peace at this point.
Then we get into the bread and butter of the chapter and one of my favorites of Cosmic Crusade so far, an insight into Africa and Oceania, ZAFT's Natural Allies on Earth who despite the incredible story potential they present, get completely neglected in favor of rehashing the OYW narrative of UC. This also sadly applies to fanfics as well with only Delkatar bothering to do any exploration into them with his SI. For the African Community, they are a pretty interesting case as in my interpretation they came out as a nation that suffered heavily in the Reconstruction War and despite the unification, continued to suffer from neocolonialism of the West and East Asia. The Community is a heavily nationalistic state that is centered around Pan-Africanism with a distrust for outsiders, with their alliance with PLANT being primarily one of convenience to strike down the Alliance and help in their rise to power. However, a majority of the Community is socially conservative and thus heavily opposed to Coordination, making for an interesting partnership as ZAFT is now allied with a nation that hates the Alliance yet is also weary of their existence.
For Oceania, their reasons are more noble as the nation has legalized Coordination and on paper is majority favorable to PLANT with them wanting to see the colonies gain independence and be treated with respect. However, these sympathies didn't go far enough for the nation to be fully willing to head to war with the Alliance, thus prompting massive protests and allegation of warmongering with Blue Cosmos elements only being a minority of the opposition. Oceania's reasons also aren't entirely pure as a big driver behind their entry was to dominate the Pacific with the move being done with an incredible amount of secrecy in the Congress, making the people more hostile to the move as being corrupt jingoism rather than pure intentions. Think of Oceania basically as 2003 Britain with Iraq.
Next chapter will focus on a few of the battles on Earth that took place between Uroboros and Heliopolis with a few major butterflies spreading. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!