April 6th, 70 CE. Gulu, Uganda. South African Union. Third Person POV
Out of the wreckage of a Zuma-class APC crawled a single South African corporal. The man moved out of the charred and twisted machine in a slow and painful matter. With every twist and turn his body ached incredibly. To anyone who could see the Corporal at a close distance, they could tell the creation of multiple cuts across his body, the slow trickle of blood which stained much of his uniform, and in a few gruesome places, the absence of flesh with small bits of bone sticking out.
This young man was Corporal Joseph Akello, a born and raised Ugandan who just until a couple of days ago had lived what was in his perspective, a pretty good life. As the youngest of a lower middle class family of five, Joseph had a childhood that was pretty decent by South African standards with a good school, lots of friends, a loving family, and growing up in a city where adventures seemed to pop up by the day. With above average grades and his family's finances tight, along with the personal tragedy of losing one of their own from S-2, Joseph choose to enlist in the Army to seek out a career for himself. Like most soldiers of the Cosmic Era, the military was seen as a valuable safety net as it provided their basic needs for a decade, gave them a decent income, and later financial and education support to pursue whatever career they desired. Such a path was one that Joseph was so close to completing.
Joseph had been fortunate enough by being assigned a post at the Ugandan border with the African Community, one that would keep him close to his friends and family in Gulu. While the job was tough at times, Joseph had learned many valuable skills by becoming a mechanized cavalry driver, and had made many strong bonds. In his seventh year of service, Joseph was close to reaching an honorable discharge and when he did so he would marry his fiancé who was a medic that he served with. He would also begin to look into University life, with ambitions to get involved with the booming South African aerospace industry due to the ambitious agenda of South Africa's main political parties which advocated carving out a place in space equal to the Big Three. Life was good.
When war had been declared on the PLANTs, it had meant little to Joseph. He knew few people in the Space Force, or who lived in space period, he had no personal ties to the conflict and like many South Africans he did not find the war to be a moral outrage as while Joseph was not Blue Cosmos material, he had no sympathies for the Coordinators who he viewed as merchandise babies of the elite to keep them in power and prevent the common men and women like Joseph from rising high. Sure, it was a little odd that South Africa was participating when they owned no PLANTs, but they vastly outnumbered the Coordinators and had nuclear weapons, surely the war would be over by Christmas and the Coordinators would be put in their place with South Africa surely to gain rewards from the rest of the Earth Alliance.
Thus, Joseph tended to his duties of watching over the tense, but silent Community border. Like many South Africans, Joseph had a dislike for the "Commies" as they referred to members of the Community (with the slur being hardly a reference to Communism with its De Facto extinction, the EACP being a Capitalist Oligarchical party in all but name). To Joseph, the Community was a nation full of arrogant people who believed that they had a right to unify the continent simply because of an archaic notion that all Africans had to live under one roof and go back to pre-colonial times to preserve their strength and honor. In the process they carried out extensive cultural genocide against those who preferred allegiance to the nation-states of old and brought scathing persecution to devout Christians and Muslims as they followed Jewish and Arabic Messiahs instead of good African religions. The Community may have promised liberation, but to Joseph it was simply another flavor of totalitarianism, one that hid their lust for power under the masquerade of being a victim.
However, despite the dislike that Joseph and many South Africans had for the Community and vice versa, there was no hard belief from him that war would come between the two states since the war against the PLANTs began. The Community's military was a creature of defense and as such lacked the capabilities to completely conquer South Africa. Even if their zealous leaders wanted to launch an invasion, South Africa had defensive pacts with both Eurasia and the Atlantic Federation which would see the solar system's two most powerful nations come to their aid. In the early Cosmic Era there had been many flashpoints between the two nations, but by the beginning of the seventh decade their strong distaste translated to trade wars, intense sports rivalries, culture wars, and diplomatic chess. When thinking of the South African-Community relationship, most South Africans likened it to the old American-Soviet relationship, one of distrust and hate with rare moments of cooperation, but one that would never lead to war due to nuclear weapons and cooler heads.
That was the attitude that Joseph had going into April 1st, the day that hell was unleashed on Earth.
Joseph had been asleep when Operation Uroboros had commenced, blissfully unaware that tens of thousands of his countrymen were dying in space and that chaos would soon reign over South Africa. When the first N-Jammer's dropped, Joseph awoke to the peculiar sight of the entire base being drained of power. While they eventually managed to get backup generators running, the nearby border towns and cities presented an ominous image of being completely pitch black and silent.
The next two days were filled with rising tensions and immense confusions. Rumors had ran like wildfire of a battle in space where the Alliance had been destroyed by ZAFT, of superweapons being unleashed by the Coordinators. These rumors spiraled out of control to bio weapons which had knocked out a considerable portion of the camp, that ZAFT had nuked the moon and colonies, of a fleet of warships from Mars, everything and anything was possible. Joseph and many of his fellow enlisted tried to receive directions and explanations from officers, but all that they were met with was declarations of "We are attempting to regain control of the situation" or "We are still processing all available information." The situation was only made worse by the distant and growing sounds of violence, screams, explosions, and sirens, all coming from further into the South African interior.
On the 3rd day Joseph had finally received a mission, he and his regiment of ACP's were being sent into Gulu, 'crowd control' they had said. Apparently social order was breaking down at a rapid pace and in order to prevent an explosion of anarchy, some heavy firepower was being called in to help the police re-establish order as an intimidation tactic to prevent widespread crime, and if things did get out of control to lay fire on dissidents and put a hard cork on the situation. While Joseph was not comfortable with his first kills being those of his nation's citizens, he remembered his family, his friends, and his love. If he had to kill fellow South Africans to protect them, so be it.
In the first day of his mission, everything seemed to be working as the presence of the heavy armor decreased a general outbreak of riots and violence, allowing the police to handle things by themselves. Joseph was completely horrified at the sight of his beloved city, with numerous scars popping up every block as windows were smashed, shops were looted, ash was rising, and every now and then smears of blood stained the walls. The only bright spot in this time of darkness was a call with his parents where Joseph had received confirmation that they were safe, with his folks banding together with their neighbors in the apartment complex to form a defense against any invasion by criminal or anarchist elements, along with them his eldest brother's family and his fiancé had taken refuge, but Joseph had no confirmation of his other siblings.
It was the last time he would ever speak with his family.
The next day the world seemed to impossibly take a greater turn for the worse. When conversing in a face chat with one of his friends in the infantry, an explosion was seen on the other end of the call with the video falling to the side, with its last image being that of Community soldiers crossing the border and firing on all South Africans in sight. Minutes later, Joseph received confirmation from his commanders that the African Community had invaded South Africa, declaring war exactly sixty seconds after the first shots were fired. For the first time in over six decades with the exception of the attempted destruction of the Victoria Mass Driver by ZAFT, war had re-emerged on Earth.
The slowly approaching calm over Gulu had rapidly disappeared after the outbreak of war as somehow word has spread of Africa's invasion and the populace had broken into a mass panic with hundreds of thousands of people rushing onto the streets. Most tried to escape the city and head south, some took shelter, and others began a new wave of violence to either take advantage of the situation to do as they please or as an act of necessity so that they could help themselves survive. Whereas the previous day Joseph was lucky not to fire on any civilians, on the second day he was not so lucky with him being forced to fire at a mob that had taken over a police station to grab its weapons, it was a sickening sight but one Joseph believed he had to have done.
Fortunately the crowd control job lasted only a short time as Joseph and his unit were re-assigned to help establish defensive positions around the city, though this was bad news in and of its own as it showed that the Community forces were able to cross nearly 50 kilometers in a day to reach Gulu. With each passing hour the sound of artillery fire drew closer like a thunder storm converging on one's house. The rush of jets started to increase with each passing hour, every now and then Joseph would see an explosion in the sky and some debris fall onto the ground, with one nightmarish sight being that of a South African fighter crashing into a skyscraper.
During the eruption of fighting, Joseph had received news of the existence of some new space nation called Zeon from another timeline, but he had disregarded it as nonsensical rumors spread by some doomsday cultist. ZAFT eliminating Uganda's power and the Community invading were events that were plausible and could be foreseen, but some space country jumping between dimensions? That was nonsense.
April 5th had seen the Community Army enter the outskirts of Gulu, supported by ZAFT's mobile suits with the centurion GINN's walking alongside a heavily armed tank-mecha hybrid and some strange mecha that was crafted in the appearance of a wolf or dog. In his first taste of battle, at first Joseph had fallen back to his training and he and his fellow comrades had done well, nothing to turn the tide of the battle, but they had done their duty and had taken out a small number of Community armor along with supporting South African infantry in defensive cover. Unfortunately, after the equality of the initial clash, each battle had slowly turned to the tide of the Community, mainly due to the lack of tanks and heavy artillery within Gulu and the Community ruling the skies, the lack of airpower most likely due to South Africa focusing on protecting the airspace near the Mass Driver.
Soon Joseph had to exit the defensive lines and withdraw in the city. By sunset the leading general in charge of Gulu had ordered a general retreat to Kampala.
The battle had been lost.
Unfortunately for Joseph and his fellow APC crewmates, escape turned to be near impossible. Their initial route of escape was blocked due to a destroyed building blocking their path. With the lack of heavy firepower to clear the road they had to take a detour, and then another detour, and then another, and another. Everytime they tried to desperately escape, new sections of a growing labyrinth sprouted around the city. If it wasn't destruction by the Community and ZAFT, it was a mess of refugees who had blocked their efforts to flee from the city with a wall of cars and or people. As desperate as Joseph and his crewmates were, they had not fallen so low as to fire on innocent South Africans whose only crime was to attempt to reach safety.
After hours of searching, they had finally found a clear route that would take them out of the city with the discovery of a tunnel that was nearly finished with construction. Jubilant at their chance of salvation, Joseph had stomped the gas pedal hard and speed into the tunnel, taking them into near total darkness, though not much of a downgrade considering the city was pitch black with the exception of fires, searchlights, and the night stars.
After a minute and a half, they were nearing the edge of the tunnel and were about to enter the edge of the city, only to be confronted with the drifting form of ZAFT's bizarre iron wolf. Joseph had tried to change directions and reverse, but such an action presented an opening to the wolf which fired a missile on the side, twisting the metal and killing one of his crewmates instantly from the shrapnel. In a desperate frenzy to escape the wolf, Joseph's APC took multiple hits from the railgun, causing more of the APC to be torn away or twisted inward. When Joseph had returned to the entrance, he was about to finally escape, only to be met with the lumbering figure of a GINN. Without event a hint of hesitation, the GINN reached for its sword and slashed into the front of the APC, missing Joseph's body by mere centimeters, but causing the APC to be sent tumbling toward a nearby wall, with the impact knocking Joseph unconscious.
Now, in the twilight hours of the 6th, Joseph had regained consciousness and had barely managed to crawl out of the APC. All of his crewmates were found to be dead, their bodies torn and mangled in a horrifying picture akin to a Junji Ito work then what could be reality. As Joseph limped through the street, he noticed that much of the heavy firepower had become silent with the only noises present being the occasional whirl of a VTOL, the rush of a jet, or the hundreds of sounds of small arms firing across the city. Unless the Earth Alliance had performed a miracle and had quickly retaken back the city by force, these were signs of a cleanup operation by the Community and ZAFT, Gulu had fallen.
After traveling for what felt like hours but in reality was merely little more than half one, Joseph had stumbled upon his parents apartment complex. To the utter devastation of the young soldier, the once proud building had been reduced to a pile of rubble with most of the floors collapsed and the foundation barely holding firm. Bits and pieces of flesh and blood were scattered throughout the scene, while Joseph found no immediate proof of his family's passing, in his heart and soul he knew that the worst had happened.
The South African collapsed on the ground and screamed to the night sky, a roar that went unanswered save for the continued sound of gunfire. For several minutes Joseph laid there in a near catatonic-state, becoming increasingly unresponsive to the world around him. What, just what had his nation done to deserve this fate? What sins had South Africa committed that they had to experience the horrors of war on their land with countless dead rising by the hour. What did Joseph do to have his life ripped away from him. What? Why?
Joseph was returned back to the world around him when his body shook slightly from what felt like a mini earthquake. Joseph's attention was directed towards a slowly moving titan that was approaching his vicinity, a GINN who was slowly patrolling the streets, lights flashing on and gun raised in search of any targets to hunt.
Seeing the sight pushed Joseph into a beserker rage. How dare this machine come in and destroy all that he loved! How dare this machine side with the Fascist Ultarnationalists who wished to destroy South Africa's way of life! How dare this machine turn the bustling city of Gulu into a wasteland! How dare they!
In this situation, Joseph should have done the smart thing and escape or play dead to not capture the attention of the mecha. Unfortunately, the man was in an extreme state of shock and grief and was not anywhere near the right mindset to think rationally. As such, Joseph withdrew his pistol aimed, and fired it at the machine.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL SPACE MONSTER!" Joseph shouted in a warcry, shooting all seven of his pistols round at the mobile suit, with all seven harmlessly bouncing off the steel chasis. Joseph did not care at the lack of results, he wanted to make the Space Monsters pay, and in his grief-stricken state thought the best way to go about it was to fire his pistol at the metal giant.
The GINN turned to face Joseph, its searchlight shining directly on the man. It at first raised its gun as if to fire Joseph, then lowered it, seemingly lacking the motivation to kill the enemy soldier.
Despite this granting of mercy, Joseph did not care and walked forward, reloading and emptying another clip at the mobile suit, once again to no effect. Joseph reloaded for a second time, and after he did so he fell flat onto the ground. What Joseph did not realize was that his right leg had become heavily damaged and cut, but due to the death of several nerves in his right leg, Joseph did not notice. The strain of traveling around the city had taken its toll and Joseph's leg had its bone rip apart at the knee, leaving a bloody stump. Joseph did not seem to notice or care and he continued to fire at the mobile suit, unleashing all of his ammunition until he emptied his sixth clip, with Joseph then continuing to pull the trigger despite the lack of bullets.
This sad display continued for nearly a minute, with the GINN looking on in morbid curiosity, unsure of how to proceed with the sight. Soon its pilot came to a decision, walking forward toward Joseph. This was not an act of aid however as the GINN kept walking, making no moves to stop and help the man. Within seconds the machine had closed the distance with several meters passing. Then the GINN came to be less than a meter in front of Joseph.
For half a second, the rational remnant of Joseph's brain had hoped that he would be taken captive and the war would end for him as a prisoner with him soon to receive medical treatment to stay alive. This was not to be however as the GINN raised its right leg with its destination being Joseph's body.
"GO TO HELL PATCH-!" Was the last words that Joseph had spoke with his body instantly turned into paste, another cross for the increasingly decimated South African Army.
When a crew of disgruntled mechanics later asked the pilot why he had his GINN's legs heavily stained, with the crew unable to give the mobile suit a good wash, the pilot had simply replied that he had the misfortune of stepping on some cockroaches. That was all.
April 8th, 70 CE. Valley Forge Citadel. Colorado, Atlantic Federation. George Allster POV.
"Now is the time oh valiant sons and daughters of Zeon! Now that we are free from the slavery of gravity's tyranny, with the foul Federation erased from humanity, we shall achieve our manifest destiny and fulfill our Newtype potential! Rise people of Zeon! Let us march forward and plant our flag throughout the Solar System! Let us spread Deikun's will throughout the galaxy! Let us bring the Universal Century to the Cosmic Era! SIEG ZEON!"
"SIEG ZEON! SIEG ZEON! SIEG ZEON! SIEG-"
"Cut the video, I think we've seen enough Nazi crap for one day." Commanded the President of the Atlantic Federation, Andrew Wallace, groaning heavily upon hearing Zeon's motto.
Acting Secretary of State George Allster did as asked and paused the video, leaving it on a disturbing image of millions of citizens of Zeon composing a grand live audience to the rally of Prime Minister Gihren Zabi, the heir to Sovereign Degwin Sodo Zabi of the Principality of Zeon. Across the dimly lit conference room which was a recreation of the situation room for the Security Council, the other attendees gave similar remarks of disgust or discomfort at the words of Zeon's second most powerful man, or perhaps if certain theories were to be believed, its most powerful man.
The video in question was a rally given by Gihren the day before in Zum City, where he addressed the concerns of the Principality of Zeon upon their entrance into the Cosmic Era and how the Zabis would handle the situation. As part of the most recent terms of peace that George had managed to establish with the Zeon, the Atlantic Federation and Principality agreed to share media feed and internet connection in order to best understand the culture and history of one another as well as to be appraised of developments within each nation outside of the official government channels. The security council had decided to watch a highlight reel of said rally created by the state-sponsored news network, ZNN, in order to better gain an understanding of what kind of man Gihren was and how by extension the Zabi's were.
The speech in question like your average call to action of a politician contained mostly vague rhetoric and calls to patriotism. What set Gihren apart from many of the Atlantic Federation's politicians was his thunderous voice, his titanic energy that made him akin to a leviathan in a man's clothing, and one of the highest and most dense concentrations of charisma that George had ever seen in a man. Gihren's words were so powerful and commanding that at times George nearly found himself being drawn to the man, mostly due to Gihren's constant references of Zeon as a struggling newborn nation from a union of colonies that made George on the surface sympathetic to their plight due to the parallels to American history.
But George could not fully sympathize with Zeon however, for while their presented history may be that of a victim of an oligarchical Earth that cast them aside with the people being forced to grow on their own, if one were to look carefully at the hidden signs, one could all too eerily see the signs of authoritarianism.
For starters there was the role of Gihren himself, a boisterous and loud man who yelled in anger for the people to mobilize and make their nation strong and stand above the rest. While one could claim that Gihren is simply using patriotism, the fact that he is the eldest son of a self-appointed monarch with seemingly no checks and balances, wore an ornate black and gold uniform despite a lack of service in the military in comparison to his brothers, and had such a commanding cult of personality that reportedly 1.6 BILLION citizens of Zeon's tuned in to listen to their Prime Minister's speech, was great cause for concern.
There were countless other factors besides Gihren's personal mannerism that worried the leaders of the Atlantic Federation. The numerous officials in attendance who all wore uniforms similar to Gihren. The grand flags of the Principality covering the stage and surrounding environment at every opportunity with obnoxious displays of red, white, and black. The grand portraits of Gihren and his father Degwin at the sides of the nation's founder of Zeon Zum Deikun on-stage. The ceremonial Zakus and legions of infantry that stood in attention. And the two most disturbing factors, the design of the Principality's flag which was too similar in aesthetic to a swastika-adorned party flag, and the people's thundering chant of the words "Sieg Zeon", which were far too close to an ancient cry of "Sieg Heil".
Overall, the first impressions that they had received of Zeon weren't the best, but for the Atlantic Federation, Zeon was perhaps their only chance at victory over the PLANTs and salvation.
"I can't believe we either have to surrender to the Coordinators or submit ourselves to Space Nazis." Said Wallace, stating clear the current conundrum that the Atlantic Federation and the greater Earth Alliance faced.
When looking at Wallace's face, George couldn't help but feel unease at the sight of the commander-in-chief. Despite being in office for seven years, Wallace had always possessed an air of energy and vitality that presented the image of a cool and confident man who was always in control no matter the situation. It was a stark contrast to many two-termers of the AF and US who aged a couple decades in their time in office, yet for Wallace it seemed that all of that absent stress was now being poured into him during this crisis. The man looked to have lost four kilograms, a thin layer of white facial hair now sported his face, his pristine gray hair now had a few more patches of snow, and stress wrinkles with purple eyelids adorned his face. While Wallace was still committed to his duty and did not waver during work, it was most likely that by the time the war ended he would look a couple years past his age.
The Security Council looked to George for some signs of hope with the current dismay of having to work with a nation who was at least confirmed to be highly authoritarian. As the Acting Secretary of State due to Secretary Hood being in a medical coma in Eurasia, one of George's many newly-assigned duties was to head a small committee made up of the active remainder of the State Department to make contact with and form relations with the Principality of Zeon. This included partaking in heavy research of Zeon using the public information given to the Atlantic Federation, so at the moment George was perhaps one of the most knowledgeable people on Earth of Zeon.
"I wouldn't give up hope just yet. While yes, it is highly disturbing that Zeon has completely disregarded the horrors of the 20th century and now openly displays aesthetics and paraphenilia heavily inspired by Nazism, I would say that this is more of a propaganda tactic to rally the people together, rather than a true sign of Neo-Nazism." George offered.
"If that isn't Neo-Nazism than a confederate flag is merely a symbol of southern heritage." Said in rebuke Secretary of Defense Zy'shonne Martin. The towering and rugged giant of a man who was a former Marine General sported a perpetual scowl on his face, a resting expression in normal times, but one that had worsened with the absolute shitshow of a war that was taking place right now, with twitching eyes and clenched fists as small signs of agitation from Gihren's speech.
George nodded to Martin to show his understanding, "I don't condone their language or rhetoric, but when you look at the demographics and facts, admittedly with heavy bias from Zeon's POV with possible censorship, though if they are true then they present a different picture than Nazism. The Principality of Zeon is a high heterogenous state that includes such a high amount of racial and cultural diversity, it makes Eurasia look as white as Scandinavia in comparison. While there are a small collection of racial groups who are dispraportionately in positions of power, this stems more from Zeon's artificial demographics due to emigration mandates from the Earth Federation than systemic oppression. Since the rule of Zeon Zum Deikun, Zeon's racial, religious, and ethnic groups have lived in high unity and coexistence with one another with few if any signs of persecution, with any hate crimes seeing active counter-measures by law enforcement. They even seem to be far more progressive than us in regards to gender and sexual rights, with full recognition of transgenderism." George reported.
At George's words, a shared groan of unease permeated the room at the mention of the "T" word. While the Atlantic Federation was far more socially progressive than the 21st century United States with systemic racism largely having been eliminated and multiple leaps in sexual rights with a gay President (while some other nations of the word still didn't have an LGB head of state), Transgenderism had seen a massive blowback in acceptance with gender reassignment surgery post-birth (which was allowed for complications in the gender of a baby) being prohibited. The movement had once been on a rise to normality and acceptance in society, though the existence of Coordinators caused public opinion to become heavily negative as gender transitioning was seen as a gateway drug to genetic manipulation such as Coordination. Under AF law, anyone could legally recognize themselves as whatever gender they wished, but they could not physically change it.
If Zeon accepted such a taboo topic, then it worried the Security Council that they could be highly sympathetic towards Coordination, a possibility not too unlikely with the frequent mention of the believed to be Transhuman concept of a "Newtype".
George continued, "Within Zeon it seems that the only target of hate is towards people of Earth, though before you panic, this is mostly due to the "oppressive" rule of the Earth Federation whose leadership was mainly composed of those who were born and lived on Earth as part of an "Elite", and as a by-product of Deikun's bizarre belief that mankind can only find salvation by leaving Earth to heal and living in space. With the Earth Federation no longer existing, and the Cosmic Era proving that humanity can still stay on Earth and heal its wounds as our planetary environment is in a far better state than the Universal Century, I believe that with the right approach, we can erase Zeon's bigotry towards our planet and gain them as friends."
"What little I am able to receive from Orb shows that despite the less than a week of contact and the hostile nature of first contact, that Zeon and Orb appear to be establishing formal relations at a rapid pace, all that they have left to do is sign treaties and establish embassies. I'd say that's a good sign for a working relationship between us and the Principality." Said CIA Director Elena Montoya, with George nodding in thanks.
Vice President Sophia Cruz huffed in disagreement, arms crossed and staring down George from her chair. "Just because they play nice with their minorities doesn't mean that we should trust them. All authoritarian regimes try to present themselves as strongmen guiding their poor and helpless countries in times of crisis. Once upon a time Mussolinni was a boastful man who killed the mafia and made the trains run on time, Hitler was just an angry artist who gave jobs to Germans and unified his people, Mao was a man of the people who brought peace to China and ended the humiliations of the Qing. They all start off as nice people using extreme measures, but they'll reveal themselves eventually." Cruz proclaimed. As a woman who before becoming Wallace's running-mate was the Governor of Cuba, she was the most passionate of the council upon learning of Zeon's style of government since her ancestors had suffered under a similar dictatorial dynasty in Castro's Cuba.
George nods in inclination to Cruz, "Like I said earlier, it should be taken with skepticism due to the obvious bias of the nature presented to us as well as visible signs of censorship and state control in the media, but the information that Zeon shared with us doesn't contain the same warnings signs as in previous totalitarian regimes such as the Nazis or Communists. If most of what they state is true, then we can at least be comfortable in the fact that while we are working with an authoritarian regime, we won't lose our conscious by working with a nation responsible for mass horrors. To me, Zeon is nothing more than vanilla Fascism, a state that exists to unite the people to fulfill Nationalistic goals of independence and prosperity, all the while concentrating power in the hands of the Zabi family. Under normal circumstances I would hold them at arm's length and engage in cautious diplomacy, but with the current energy crisis and Zeon having legions of mobile suits superior to ZAFT and nuclear fusion, we either ally with them and try to obtain as much of their technology as possible, or if we refuse then I should start negotiating terms of surrender with ZAFT immediately." Said George.
At George's mention of surrender to the PLANTs, a greater discomfort and total silence entered into the room. As much as the security council had issues with Zeon, they had a far greater qualm about granting the PLANTs independence. Such a worst case scenario had been discussed at times before April Fools, but now, with the physics-breaking N-Jammer technology holding the Atlantic Federation in a period of high crisis with chaos and anarchy gripping most of the nation, most of the AF leadership feared that if they granted victory and independence to the PLANTs, that they would grow in power at exponential rates that by the time the Earth Alliance recovered, they would have developed other reality-warping devices that would keep the solar system Coordinator-ruled.
It seemed that the only way to prevent such a dystopia, to allow Naturals to have some place in the future and for the Earth Alliance to still spread among the stars, was to ally with Zeon, the one nation who managed to stand up to ZAFT at their full power and beat them.
It was national security advisor Benjamin Siegel who spoke next, "You know, the phrase 'Lesser of two evils' exists for a reason. We allied with the Soviets in World War II despite Stalin being just as evil as Hitler, and while we did have the Cold War it all worked out in the end for all parties. Yes by entering into a partnership with Zeon will likely be conceding dominance over the solar system for a generation, but we'll preventing the greater evil of PLANT having a monopoly on space and leaving us to be divided and conquered by their puppets. Not only will we be able to continue the war with Zeon's aid, but we can bring an end to this energy crisis which has crippled most of the nation. We have precedent in allying with dictatorships as America in the pursuit of the greater good, let us continue with that here." Siegel implored.
The Council turned to Wallace for confirmation on how to proceed. When George was young, he like most children had one of their dreams be to become the President of the Atlantic Federation. As George rose in the ranks of the State Department and grew closer to the highest halls of power, he began to saw just how much of a hard burden it was with the President often making the toughest decisions which more often than not, veered into heavy moral gray or sometimes black situations, yet had to be done for the good of the country. This was one of those many tough decisions, one which would likely be heavily judged and scrutinized by historians generations later.
'It's not like you're any better, advocating for an alliance with an authoritarian regime which has only existed for a week.' Told an inner conscious of George that he did his best to ignore.
Wallace had his hands clasped together with his forehead resting on them and eyes closed, whether in deep thought or prayer, George didn't know. After half a minute of silence, Wallace responded, "If we are to align ourselves with Zeon in the interest of ending the energy crisis and winning the war, what would we most likely have to concede George?" Wallace asked, which divided the council into signs of relief and begrudging acknowledgements.
George offered a thankful smile at the suggestion and began to speak what he and the State Department had discussed, "Firstly, if we are to have any sort of positive relationship with Zeon, we need to resolve their current war with East Asia. Either we kick East Asia from the Alliance and cast them out to the Zabi wolves, or we manage to get East Asia to make peace to Zeon with considerable concessions so that Zum City has no ill will towards us or the Alliance by association with Zeon. I have been in touch with Chu and he's finalizing the last of their negotiable terms, all of which are considerable and barring wanton greed from Zum City, should be enough to acknowledge their victory in the war. From what I have discussed with Gihren and Degwin, they seem to hold us in no way responsible for Beijing's aggression, though they have indicated that no matter what they want a strong resolution to the L4 ghetto that sees them get due compensation for injust East Asian rule. They practically all but said independence or a protectorate, terms which Chu himself is willing to concede barring this doesn't change East Asia's influence in the rest of the solar system."
Sighs of relief flooded the room. While Eurasia was the traditional rival of the Atlantic Federation, both they and the Atlantic Federation had experienced various years of detente in the Cosmic Era and large portions of both populations wished for peace between the two superstates with a high level of trade as well as an exchange of people. Any positive feelings could not be said for East Asia who while considered less of a threat than Eurasia, was far more hated for their near Totalitarian governance. The PLANTs were practically the only area that the two nations could strongly work together in and no Atlanteans would shed a tear over their loss of the controversial L4 ghetto.
"Assuming that we bring East Asia in-line, what would we need to personally give up in order to get Zeon to cooperate?" Asked Cruz.
"Under normal circumstances I'd say that there would be many ways that we could create a productive treaty with Zeon, but with the ongoing energy crisis, Zeon knows that we need their support and unless we surrender to ZAFT then they have free reign to grab as many concessions as they can. I'll do my best to prevent this from being an unequal treaty, but we'll have to make significant economic gestures that will give Zeon dominance in our trade relationship probably well til the year 100." George said.
"What kind of concessions?" Wallace quickly asked before objections could be brought up.
"I'd say first and foremost they'll probably ask for a free trade treaty, in the short-term with our civilian manufacturing industry being crippled, Zeon will have a prime market to sell their goods, especially since their history tells of them becoming increasingly isolated from their Earth sphere in trade. The good news is that beyond that I think I can limit the worst of our damages if I keep concessions focused mainly on the cheap export of our raw materials, especially Earth-based products such as agriculture. While Zeon prides itself in their self-reliance, it's evident that even in their propaganda that the "success" of the Zabi's is mainly attributed to meeting the needs of its citizens as well as limited leasure and excess. Most likely they can be self-sustaining and isolated for the near future, but the majority of their population will still be economically stagnate due to limited resources. If we give them a discount pick at our raw materials then the Zeon consumer will be able to live in decadence and that'll jumpstart their economy. Such policies will probably piss off the Green Democrats, but it'll grant millions of jobs in a time of crisis and give us a highly stable source of revenue. Once that comes in, we can kickstart the economy and make the trade game more equal." George explained.
"Isn't Zeon pressing for sovereignty over the Far Side of the moon, won't that make our supply of raw materials negiligble?" Cruz questioned.
George sighs at the reminder. "In the long-term in regards to our precious metals, yes, and they'll gain a heavy advantage if they refine the Helium-3 deposits there before a proper colonization of Jupiter can begin. However, this will take many years and even with their titanic industry I predict that in the absolute best case scenario that it'll take them five to ten years to do so, and Trillions or Tens of Trillions of Dollars depending on what is necessary. We on the other hand have an open connection to the Belt, our established mines on the moon, and our mines in North America, so we can provide them metals at a good price which should help alleviate some of the massive economic losses we are take until we restore the energy grid.
Like I said before though, we have access to Earth-based materials that will be heavily scarce in Zeon. They never have to ration or tax water at high prices if we can convert our saltwater and sell it to them. We can sell paper and other lumber based goods which Zeon will never be able to properly compete with. With Eurasia's damage in the war we'll likely retake our place as the world's breadbasket and, after making sure the majority of our population is well feed through this crisis mind you, can make Zeon reliant on our crops and meat like how America did to Europe in the 19th century. These aren't the best solutions, but it's one that will give us a much needed lifeblood to the economy to prevent complete collapse and give us some leverage over Zeon that'll set a foundation for us to be equal trading partners instead of Zeon becoming the new British Empire and directing the solar economy at their whim for the next couple hundred years."
"What about the fleets of the Federal Remnant, I assume that taking the men and women who served the nation that was their colonial overlords would be priority number one on their list?" Martin inquired heavily. The man had been involved with George over the dealing of the remnant, and while Martin was very eager to gain hundreds of thousands of new uniforms and the Federation's fusion reactors and beam weaponry, there had been an edge on Martin as he knew like George that by harboring them they were heavily risking a war with Zeon.
"That's actually the most surprising factor about my talks with Zeon. I have repeatedly tried to clarify their position on the Federation fleet, and I made it quite clear that if Zeon views them as enemies of the state who need to be captured that we will end their asylum, however Degwin and Gihren have been rather quiet on the whole affair. They claim that the situation is fine as it is and so long as we are not actively aiding the Federal Remnant in their war against Zeon and prevent them from leaving our bases, Zeon will not attack us as co-belligerents of their enemy. Every time I try to get a firm answer on what they want, they keep on deflecting the topic and promise that the final agreements will be made at Heliopolis."
"I don't like it, smells like a goddamn rat's nest." Martin commented. A sentiment that George heavily shared. From the propaganda-infused media of Zeon, he had received an image of the Principality as loathing the Federation with all of their being, treating them like a great devil that needed to be wiped out on a holy crusade. While Zeon will never get a chance to punish the entirety of the Federation for their perceived crimes, they had a Remnant of their government who choose to do battle with them and with whom they could do whatever they wanted, with George entirely willing to throw them to the Zeonic wolves, yet Degwin and Gihren were showing heavy restraint in the manner, George even dared to say that they tried to put up a front of apathy.
'There's no way in hell the Alliance will let any member of ZAFT live freely with clemency after the war. How could Zeon, a nation that seems to hate this Federation more than we do the Coordinators, be so casual with the last of their enemy?' George wondered.
"What do you think they're doing?" Siegel asked.
"My guess is that they're letting us continue to host the Remnant Fleets to use it as a casus belli to attack and drive us off of the moon. Not only are we allied with the nation that attacked and tried to nuke their base, but we are holding their most hated enemies. The Zabis will use this as justification to launch an offensive against us and conquer our cities. After that they conquer the PLANTs, and then us." Martin proposed.
Montoya injected her thoughts, "While it does make sense for Zeon to do so, I think we're falling back on the stereotype of them being Space Nazis and not looking at the facts. They tried to establish relations with the PLANTs, and they were friendly with East Asia until they were attacked. I don't like their domestic policies, but foreign-policy wise they appear to be rational actors and at the very least don't want to conquer the solar system. It's important to remember that East Asia decided to attack because they thought that Zeon was one big charade for ZAFT, and ZAFT most likely did the same thing in believing that they were us. Let's not act like those two and ruin the opportunities given to us from hysteria. The fact of the matter is, Zeon has complete military supremacy. Sure we can give them a good beating, but at the end of the day they can wipe out our fleets with fusion nukes and mobile suits. If they wanted to attack us, they would have done so now. They've been earnest in cooperating with Orb to push for the peace conference, and as such while I will not entirely discount the possibility of a manipulation towards conquest, it's heavily unlikely at this point."
George nods in agreement, "As it stands right now, if we manage to convince the Federation Space Force to defect to us, we'll have recovered our losses in the war so far and gain the potential for millions of immigrants from the far side cities. Those people have critical knowledge towards the technology of the Universal Century that we can use to solve the crisis and win the war. Not only that, but the physical fleets will give us the opportunity to reverse engineer their beam technology and revamp our ships if Zeon decides not to help us militarily. We should not kick them out until it's clear that Zeon will no longer tolerate our association with them."
The meeting then continued for the next half hour to determine the specifics of how George should approach Zeon as well as how they should coordinate with their allies in allying with the Principality and keeping them in the war. Wallace would then call the meeting to be adjourned, which didn't so much mean it was the end of the work day then it meant "Go work on your respective projects and we'll meet back here in 6-8 hours for a general report." In George's case, it meant connecting to what was left of the State Department and making sure the Alliance still existed and keeping the peace with Zeon so that they weren't under assault in their most vulnerable.
It was a stressful job that George had to undergo. In the past week he had a total of about 20 hours of sleep with rest being heavily sporadic depending upon the workload and accelerating occurrence of crises that was facing the Atlantic Federation. With the initial shock of ZAFT's attack fading and communication being established with most units of the military, and it seeming like ZAFT would not strike again with the shadow of Zeon at their shoulders, Wallace had promised the Council that soon they would get an opportunity for more rest, though with the situation at hand it most likely translated to a couple more hours of sleep than a true break.
George shook his head at his negative thoughts, resolving to focus on the task at hand and not let his fatigue slow him down.
'In the end Flay and I are lucky. We're safe in one of the most secure bunkers in the world while most of the country is going to hell with millions dying. I shouldn't complain.' George thought, counting himself extremely lucky and thankful in a dark way that Hood had a heart attack in Europe and George had to take his place instead of being abandoned in Virginia, which from all reports was barely hanging on.
The current situation faced with the Atlantic Federation was heavily grim with most of the nation in a state of anarchy. Current estimates by the Defense Department predicted that in the absolute best case scenario of if the N-Jammers were to stop by May 1st, then the death toll would be at minimum 10-20 million.
Fortunately the situation wasn't completely lost or else Wallace would have sued for unconditional surrender. Discouting the potential solution of an alliance with Zeon, the Atlantic Federation could with time go back to some level of function under martial law and a complete conversion of the economy into an emergency command structure. The Canadian States along with Alaska managed to survive nearly unscathed due to their heavy reliance on renewable power, making them an island of order and safety in a sea of chaos. The American West Coast was still alive thanks to its hydroelectric supplies, with California thankfully functional due to the Hoover Dam. Most of Texas was running on emergency power thanks to its extensive network of solar and wind energy stations, though the National Guard along with the Texas Rangers and urban police were fighting desperately to retain order in Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas-Fort Worth. The Tennessee Valley was also completely untouched. Lastly some of the more rural Northern and Western Mexican states that had statewide solar relays were surviving with little difficulty.
Outside of these areas though, there was anarchy and collapse with the only areas providing order were the counties with an extensive military presence. The entire Caribbean was in the middle of what was best described as an apocalypse. Dense cities such as Mexico City, Chicago, Miami, and New York was an open war zone with neighbor against neighbor, Washington was under siege with an hysterical populace trying to storm key government facilities for answers. The South, Plains, and Mexican states were full of isolated communities under heavy risk of total collapse without the lifeblood of trucks to come through.
Even if ZAFT were to turn off the N-Jammers by April 1st and in impossible benevolence not give any terms to the Alliance besides independence, the Atlantic Federation was most likely going to be crippled for generations from the damage. Without a miracle, the scars of war were likely to not heal until Flay was a grandmother.
With such horrid conditions, George counted his blessings and in a rare moment since he had lost his faith, had prayed to God in thanks for Hood collapsing and him being appointed provisional SecState with him and Flay being able to seek sanctuary. While George had the upmost respect for his superior, if it weren't for him being away in Eurasia and falling into a medical crisis at the time of the N-Jammer, George would have been left with Flay to navigate the harsh chaos of the Washington metropolitan area. While George would do anything to protect the life of his little girl, he was not confident that barring using his status to immediately seek shelter with the Capitol Army, that he and Flay would survive.
Fortunately, such a case was not going to happen for the near future. The Valley Forge Citadel, a massive underground military complex based off of Fort Seward in Alaska, was the best defensive fortification of the Cosmic Era. Being built after the end of the Reconstruction War to house the government in the midst of nuclear war or an invasion, Valley Forge was a marvel of modern engineering where kilometers deep in the Rocky Mountains, a city that always housed an army of 100,000 lived and protected it. The Industrial-complex present within Valley Forge was enough to supply a couple of field armies for years. It was meant to be the final bastion of democracy where the Atlantean government would lead a reclamation of the Federation through survival or rebirth after defeat.
George had no idea which path Valley Forge would go on in the coming years, and it scared him deeply.
Going on a small journey through the base that lasted more than ten minutes due to the immense size of the structure he found himself in, George went not to the building that housed the remnants of SecState, but a small residential complex that housed the families of the security council as well as the highest ranking military officers on site within the base.
After going through the necessary checks with the guards, George traveled to the room where he and Flay were staying, hoping to spend at least an hour of quality time with his daughter before he went through the hellish work of coordinating with the Alliance. George had gotten a brief okay with Wallace, seeing as how communications lines were established and a ceasefire was soon to be reached with no risk of escalation with Zeon.
George reached the room that housed him and Flay, but paused when he noticed that the door was left cracked open with the lights on, a curious sight since Flay had been cooped up in dark or dimly-lit silence for most of their time hear.
George was about to enter and investigate, when he heard the voice of his wonderful anger, "You can't call Uno when you have two cards, that's cheating!" Flay said, George being in disbelief when he heard passion in her voice, not the dull fear that had been consuming her.
"But one of my cards matched the last one, so I would only have one, therefore I called Uno." Said a voice that George recognized as Abraham Cruz, one of Sophia Cruz's sons.
"But you can only call Uno when you placed your second to last card down, not when you're holding it up. That's cheating!" Flay protested.
"Allster, I'm a politician's son, sly underhanded tactics is in my heritage." Julio said.
"Julio, we're all politician's children, that means we all can cheat, including Flay in the future." Said Andrew Wallace's daughter and youngest child, Robin Wallace.
"You better give him a skip, reverse, or draw card Robin or we're not going to be friends anymore." Flay said in a teasing manner, producing a round of laughs from all inside.
George peeked, doing his best to hide his presence, and was glad to find Flay playing a game of Uno with the children of the President, Vice President, and National Security Advisor, a group of eight huddled around in a circle having an intense game.
George nearly dropped a tear at the sight. While it wasn't anything to be emotional about at first glance, with how Flay was now it was a massive improvement from when she collapsed. Throughout the ride on Air Force One, and in the first couple of days at Valley Forge, Flay absolutely refused to leave by his side. Any time George got out of seeing distance from Flay, she would have a panic attack and frantically shout for her father to return. George couldn't even use the restroom without Flay panicking and demanding she be in the same room with him, forcing a compromise where Flay maintained a vigilant post at the restroom door, or if the restroom was large enough, to stand outside one of the stalls.
When George had to conduct meetings for the security council in the first days of the crisis, he had tried his best to leave Flay with the other families, promising that he would return and call or text her every hour, yet she still refused. After begging Wallace, he managed to have Flay seated next to him at the security council meetings and accompany him to work so long as she signed confidentiality forms not to spill state secrets on threat of arrest for treason. The other members of the council protested this move, only to be silenced as they saw Flay sat in complete silence, in a near-catatonic state with her only movements being frequent checks on her father. Flay was so unnaturally quiet that at times George nearly forgot she was there, until he looked at her and his heart broke out at the silent suffering his daughter was going through.
On the third day he managed to with a miracle, have Flay stay at the residential complex with the other families present. The First Lady had promised to keep a watchful and protective eye over Flay and try to encourage the other children to socialize with her to help her heal, something which she was optimistic about since her daughter Robin and one of her sons also went through the same experience that Flay and hundreds of millions of others, both on Earth and in Zeon as reported by their media, went through on April 1st. George had received reports that at first Flay would do nothing but sleep or lay in her room in dark silence, with small improvements only recently of joining the other children and sitting in quiet subduing with only occasional smalltalk.
Yet here Flay was, fully engaging in a card game with her peers, seemingly invested and entertained. George had worried greatly that the efforts of the other children, all of various ages, to befriend Flay and break her shell would not work. Outside of her recent condition, Flay had always been difficult at making friends since starting school. While she was never a cruel or vicious child and always presented an image of kindness, she was extremely picky in who she choose to be her friends and was heavily uncomfortable when outside her social comfort zone. It made the sight all the more wonderful to George.
While Flay was not yet completely recovered, with still-darkened eyes full of sorrow and anxiety and a guarded body language, at least she was actively engaging in the interaction before her and had some level of enjoyment. This was a remarkable recovery from the trauma-induced depression that George feared she had fallen into.
Satisfied that his daughter was somewhat happy and on the road to recovery, George turned and promptly left the building before she noticed his presence, thanking Mrs. Wallace for her efforts on the way out. While George wanted nothing more than to be with his daughter, he knew that if he walked in at that moment, all the progress Flay had made could be lost and she would relapse into her protective state. It was best to let her be a normal teenage girl for now and slowly get her more comfortable with his absence. George resolved to share a meal with Flay later and nudge her towards sharing her experience and having her play with the other children later.
As George traveled to the provisional State Department, he made a solemn vow.
'I will ensure that my nation comes through this war intact, and that through peace I can create a world where my little girl can smile everday.'
A/N: Hello everyone, this is Part 1 of 2 of the Alliance sections of the Reaction Arc. Here we see part of the South Africa and Atlantic Federation's sections with South Africa facing hell as they are on the frontlines of a massive African/ZAFT onslaught, and the Atlantic Federation is falling apart despite not seeing battle on the homefront with George and the others trying desperately to keep the ship held together, which may force them to work with Zeon despite the massive warning signs surrounding the Principality.
For the Alliance section, while part of me wanted to cover the political situation regarding South Africa, it would pretty much be a repeat of the Atlantic section, just with more focus on the war strategy against the Community, which isn't as important as the Battle of the Sinai was. I wanted to show an everyman POV which I got with Joseph, and how it was absolute hell for anyone in the Alliance with arguably even worse lives than those of the Earth Federation soldiers in combat, and also the tragedy of the conflict as while the Alliance is in the moral wrong, many of those who fought were just normal people who weren't Blue Cosmos material and simply trying to survive or defend their homes after Uroboros. Joseph is one man, but he is someone whose fate will be shared by millions by the time this war is done.
Next we have George, and a set up of the Atlantic Security Council, who will all get highly detailed character explorations with more chapters later in the story. I wanted to get a full look at their personalities and beliefs, but that would take way too long when I wanted to focus on how they react to Zeon. Everyone except George is an OC, and the security council are full of "moderates" who hate the PLANTs and want to win the war, yet don't want Coordinators to be driven to genocide. Some of you may be confused on why they were so quick to lambast Zeon when the Atlantic Federation has done just as bad, and on some levels worse than Zeon, but there's a reason for their reaction. Firstly, this is very early in the war when the Atlantic Federation didn't let Azrael and Blue Cosmos run the war and tried to fight it cleanly. Many of the leaders still have some moral code, and the actions of the anime were either taken by them in radicalization, without them due to absence, or were ones they could not control; all of which are circumstances that I will hint as to how it could have happened with developments in the war. Second, the Atlantic Federation as I am envisioning it, is a paradoxical state that both fulfills and goes against the stereotype of genocidal regimes.
While the Atlantic Federation could be said to be like Nazi Germany in regards to Coordinators, on literally every other social issue they are far from Nazism and Authoritarianism. As we'll see later, while it is corrupted, the Atlantic Federation at its core is a genuine democratic state with its leaders up til now trying to abide by the principles of the constitution and freedom. The AF is far more socially progressive than 2020 America with it having a post-racial society and being fully accepting of religious and sexual minorities. Out of the Big Three as we'll see later, with the exception of their Coordinators, AF citizens have pretty high living standards and don't have institutionalized human rights abuses towards Natural minorities like Eurasia and East Asia. If it weren't for the existence of Coordinators, the AF would be a genuine force for good, hence their caution and disgust towards Zeon which models its government and culture off of Nazism and openly embraces rule by dictatorship. Unfortunately, Coordinator bigotry is a near terminal cancer which is slowly killing the AF's morality and twisting it into the monster it was by Destiny. We'll see this morality paradox and how its public and secret leaders operate with the division of power soon. Just know that the situation is not the black and white of Destiny, but very messy and near indistinguishable shades of dark gray.
Next chaptercovers the second part with East Asia and Eurasia. Stay tuned for more!