April 10th, 70 CE. Fort Zhou. Shaanxi. Republic of East Asia. Chu Huizhong POV.
Deep within the massive subterranean citadel that was Fort Zhou, the heavily morbid Chinese politician that was Foreign Minister Chu Huizhong traveled at a slow and exhausted pace towards the President's office. He had just gotten out of a fourteen hour session of what was left of the Foreign Ministry to come up with terms of surrender to Zeon. Since the newly-existed nation did not demand East Asia's unconditional surrender, there was still some chances that East Asia could come off of this disaster that the globe was increasingly referring to the First Contact War with its power intact. East Asia would not come out with its pride and honor though.
'Two centuries, it only took us two centuries to return to humiliation.' Chu lamented, internally dreading the fact that history would remember him as the man who signed the treaty that would be East Asia, and by extension China's first great defeat in two centuries. Chu could only hope in a dark fashion that President Zhang would be cast as the greater villain if this was truly the start of a dark age for East Asia, and Chu was only remembered as the unfortunate messenger who had to place ink on paper.
Despite the Qing being nothing more than memories and skeletons, the Century of Humiliation was a lasting psychological scar that hung over all of Chinese East Asia, who as the Hegemon of East Asia meant such bitter scars would be the driving force for East Asian policy. Despite two centuries of a greatly altered geopolitical status quo, the Chinese people never forgot how after millenia of being the center of the world, they were made into the backwards playthings of the West with their nation exploited to fuel the evils of Imperialism, nothing more than a map to draw lines on with pillage and plunder being the primary economic activity of China. When the People's Republic of China was established, China vowed to always be strong and never bow to the West. While China would never be the equal of America and Eurasia, they were always on the rise. And with the creation of the Republic of East Asia, were now the self-proclaimed masters of the East.
While the Reconstruction War may have been a disaster due to the inability to destroy the Equatorial Union, the cession of Hokkaido to Eurasia, and the limited unification of Korea, Taiwan, and Japan when the East Asian Founders sought to unite all of the Far East into one brotherhood, it was still considered a victory due to the avenging of the Second World War and the birth of a true East Asian nation. For the next sixty years, East Asia vowed to continue to rise in power and one day eclipse the Big Two of the Atlantic Federation and Eurasia, vowing to never again be the third place runt.
Then East Asia was dragged into a war against superhumans and thanks to corrupt and idiotic flag officers, declared war on a trans dimensional space nation. In the past ten days East Asia had done more to damage itself than the entire 19th century.
All of this came from the two foreign policy mistakes which Chu had tried desperately at first to correct as Foreign Minister, and upon meeting the slow-changing iron will of the EACP, worked to contain. The L4 Ghettos and the PLANTs.
'It would have been better for us to have never gone into space than to be stained with those blights.' Thought Chu, though it was a seditious line of thinking that he would never dare voice.
In Chu's line of thinking, the state of affairs for the two should have been reversed. While the removal of unruly Japanese and Korean citizens may have been a necessity to assimilate both nations into the Republic and prevent the rise of Nationalism, the L4 colonies should have been given a quality of life equal to Earth so that way the unruly minorities could become loyal citizens through the paternal care of East Asia that gave them better lives in space than on Earth, showing that East Asia was the way, not the destructive and toxic nationalism of their cultures.
At the same time, PLANT should have been left to rot with nothing more than the bare minimum to sustain themselves, isolated from the rest of humanity. Why the hell Chu's predecessors in both the Communists and Technocrats thought it was a good idea to make each PLANT have a quality of life superior to Earth and give them a next-generation infrastructure that focused the economy on processing asteroids from the Belt and producing high-tech products, was absolutely beyond his comprehension. Yes, the Coordinators with their skills could act as a valuable cast of labor that could act as a trade weapon against the other superstates, but as Chu had learned from interactions with Coordinators during his days as a student, give Coordinators the bare minimum of resources, and they will excell at all and dominate you until you are worthless. Were it not for Chu's family being generational members of the CCP then EACP, he would not have had any potential to rise in his career through the chaotic period where Coordination was legal and tolerated in East Asia.
Chu wanted desperately to reverse these policies, to provide and shelter potential citizens while casting out Superhuman Elites that threatened the natural order of society. Unfortunately for Chu, on space policy the EACP was akin to firefighters who contained a wildfire and pat themselves on the back for the good job they did in preventing its spread while leaving the core of the fire still blazing hot. He had long learned to not openly challenge the policy, if he did then his career was over and not even a defection to the Technocrats could save him and his family from ostracization and political blacklisting.
So like a good politician, Chu kept his head down and followed the party line, becoming guilty by association for the disaster of the First Contact War.
While travelling, Chu felt a heavy weight in each step of what the reaction of President Zhang was going to be like. Unfortunately for him, he would get his answer early when he turned around the corner and nearly bumped into President Zhang Jingguo and Defense Minister Xiong Aiguo.
"Mr. President." Chu greated with a bow, with Zhang and Xiong responding as well. "I have...just returned with the list of acceptable terms of surrender from the Foreign Ministry. Provided that Zeon does not seek to impose harsh terms and our allies stand by us, I believe we can come out of this tragedy in a managable state." Chu said in a diplomatic form.
To his great relief, Zhang didn't appear to be angry with him, resigning to reality with a sigh. "Very well Foreign Minister, let us come to my office and we shall get this business done and over with." Chu accepted with a nod and fell in-line behind Zhang with Xiong next to him, the Central Guard flanking the group as they walked.
In the middle of their journey, Xiong turned to Chu. "Before you deliver the bad news, the worst has been behind us. We just came out of the operation room where General Park has contained the fools within EASC responsible for this mistake of a war. The operation was performed smoothly with only three casualties, no fatalities." Xiong informed, with Chu noticing a fiendish smirk on Zhang at the mention of the capture of Wei Gang and his cohort, the dishonorable disgrace who had siezed power from Zhang in a coup then launched the attack on Zeon, culminating in a battle which caused East Asia to lose near 3000 ships and the L4 colonies.
"That is good to hear, I assume that the traitors will be executed shortly?" Chu asked, with him being in surprise when he received a dismissive wave from Zhang.
"No, I'm going to keep those bastards alive until the end of the wars. If our attack against Zeon and future surrender is going to lead to the decline of our nation, I want the nation to see those rats as the criminals who lead us down this dark path through their treason. We'll hold off trials until peace is made with ZAFT, then create a grand show that'll make them more despised than Wang Jingwei." Zhang affirmed, sending a slight shiver down Chu's spine at the absolute certainty and ruthlessness that he displayed.
While East Asian "Democracy" was far more liberal than the controversial Mao period with a authoritarian democrat system that created a semi-two party structure between the near-monopolistic Communists and Technocrats, East Asian politics was still a tense and cutthroat game. Play within the rules set in place within the system at the beginning of Cosmic Era, and defeat could mean a shameful exit from politics, though a loss that left one with their life and little penalties besides the loss of power. Defeat when playing outside the system lead to a collection of fates where a swift death could be considered a mercy.
Chu witnessed enough of these irregular losers to know that what awaited Wang and those who sought to seize power at his side or command would make them beg for an honorable exit via suicide. He was already aware of a small number who choose to engage in seppuku upon learning that Zeon's existence was authentic after Pezun. It was disturbing how one of the few cultural traits carried over from Japan upon its annexation was ritualistic suicide within the military and government.
Still, at the end of the day Chu could barely bring himself to show any sympathy for the idiotic bastards. Thanks to them, East Asia had performed their own Pearl Harbor by pissing off a titan of a space nation with fusion nukes and a grand armada with mobile suits. The fact that this occurred after the calamity of what the Alliance know knew as Uroboros, which was driving East Asia to near collapse thanks to its near total usage of nuclear power and 85% of its citizens living in dense urban sprawl made East Asia the worst off victim of the operation.
Yet despite all this, most of the leading members of the ruling EACP still wanted to find a way to salvage the situation not just to survive, but to fight on and claim victory against ZAFT and PLANT.
What Chu would give to turn back the clock and retire in honor after many years as the Ambassador to the Atlantic Federation instead of taking the golden ticket of becoming Foreign Minister.
'In days my job turned from the greatest thing in my life to my worst curse.' Chu lamented.
After a couple of minutes of travel, the group arrived at Zhang's office, and settled down with a tired and resigned Zhang facing Chu while a more emotionally neutral Xiong sat at his side, watching Chu like a hawk.
"Foreign Minister, would you please rip the Band-Aid so to speak and read out all of the terms?" Zhang asked with a heavy hint of disgust and self-loathing due to being the first East Asian president to surrender to another nation. Even if the Alliance were to win a total victory against ZAFT by the end of the year, Zhang would always carry this stain on his legacy til the end of time.
Knowing that he could not delay, Chu pulled out his datapad to read the list of terms.
"First off is the recognition of Zeon's sovereignty and the establishment of diplomatic relations with most of the standard diplomatic language and conventions as we would towards other nations. Moving on to hard concessions. We would concede the entirety of L2 as Zeon Sovereign Space. We would recognize their current gains on the Far Side of the moon and will at first try to limit further territorial expansions to the surrounding areas within a 100 kilometer radius. At the end of the day we shall try to preserve current territorial claims to the far side, though if need be we shall recognize the entirety of their control to the far side." Zhang and Xiong nodded in acceptance. Due to the interference of the AF and Eurasia, the far side of the moon had always been neutral ground with the concept of a partition being continually pushed back to preserve the balance of power. Thanks to this, Zeon was about to gain half of the moon, but at least it was due at no cost to East Asia.
"If Zeon shall try to push the ability to settle in L1 and L3, we should allow them to do so, but if they gain colonies at L1 we'll try to impose a colonial limit of half the total number of Earthborn colonies. While the aftermath of our war with PLANT will most likely see at minimal a recession, I would recommend that the Space Ministry would work towards the establishment of at least 20 colonies in L1, two more lunar cities, and the elimination of the current settlement restrictions so that we can be within striking distance of Zeon in regards to space power. I have spoken to my counterparts in the Alliance, and so far they are open on eliminating such restrictions." Chu informed.
"What about the L4 colonies?" Xiong asked to directly get to the elephant in the room.
Chu sighed and continued, hoping that the duo would not shoot the messenger as while he was partially responsible for creating the terms, he had just as much desire as them to carry out. "Considering the unique national character of Zeon with their Spacenoid Nationalism and hatred of Earth, we find it unfeasible to be able to retain the L4 Colonial Sphere. For now we are hoping to grant independence to the L4 colonies and leave their loss as the main price of negotiations. Even if we grant independence to the colonies, we will most likely have to recognize the continued presence of Pezun, as well as possible Zeon colonization within the Lagrange Point. In the worst case scenario, we may have to evacuate the entire Lagrange and cede it to Zeon. If given permission, I would like to use this point as a bargaining chip in exchange for limiting Zeon's gains on the moon and keeping them out of L1 and Orbit."
Fortunately for Chu, the two most powerful men with East Asia appeared to be understanding of the situation, with Xiong looking increasingly sick though making no protests against the idea or sending hostility towards Chu, while Zhang curled his fists and had a far look of hatred, though he didn't look at Chu and forced himself to nod. No matter what, Chu was at least glad that his boss could accept reality unlike the traitors on the moon.
"Would it be possible for us to sell the L4 colonies to Zeon?" Xiong asked, hoping for some good-old fashioned American imperialism to gain something of a victory out of the situation. Say what you would about the old United States, at least they had the decency to pay the defeated for annexing territories and invested in the reconstruction of their opponents.
Chu held back the urge to laugh at the proclamation. While he too would have loved to sell the damn ghettoes to get some much needed capitol for dealing with the crisis, based on what he knew of Zeon's current national character, there was no way the Zabi's would be seen as paying Earth for the liberation of their Spacenoid siblings, especially when their infant military had trashed East Asia. "I'll try, but I currently see it within the realm of impossibility. Did Hitler pay the Czechoslovakians for annexing their nation? Did Stalin compensate the Finns for the damages of the Winter War? Did Eurasia submit to EU demands of compensation when they took over the Arab world?" Chu asked, pushing forward the current unlikeliness of Zeon's magnanimity.
"What about the ships belonging to the Earth Federation that have defected to us?" Xiong pressed, hunger in his eyes to have the defectors of the Earth Federation be convinced to fight for the Republic. Out of the scramble defection that occurred after the Battle of Granada, East Asia received the least number of ships with 31 total ships. The lack of willing defectors, with even South Africa gaining more than 100 ships, was a state of affairs that Chu believed to occur due to East Asia's racial homogenity. The Earth Federation of the Universal Century was a one-world government that tried to do away with the concept of Nationalism and the nation-state, and while China by all accounts appeared to be a major player on UC's Earth despite its loss in the Third World War, it was only one state of over 200 hundred members of the Federation.
The Earth Federation's high diversity among its Space Force likely made most of its servicemen who were sent to the Cosmic Era leary of East Asia as out of all the member-states of the Alliance, it had the least in common with the Earth Federation in comparison to the heavily diverse Atlantic Federation and Eurasia. Chu's suspicious were confirmed by 25 of the 31 defecting captains being Chinese or of Chinese descent.
"I know you are anxious Minister to reverse engineer their Minovsky technology, but as it stands I highly doubt that Zeon is going to let the nation that attacked them freely accept defectors from their oppressors. I highly doubt that we will retain the ships and personnel, the former being near impossible, the latter being highly unlikely. I'd like to use the Federation ships as a bargaining chip to lessen the other terms, I'd rather not lose major influence in the Earth sphere and a high debt to Zeon just to retain some a small fleet, no matter how revolutionary their technology is. Our best bet would be to use all available methods to obtain information from the rest of the Earth Alliance if they are allowed to keep the defectors. I hate the fact that we have to rely on others, but if it means a light peace, then so be it."
Xiong visibly deflated at the news, most likely hoping to obtain the Minovsky reactors to get the economy back in gear and refurbish the Space Force so that they would be more useful than the steel corpses they currently were. While they were a godsend in terms of military technology, Chu would not bring his nation down for a couple of toys.
"Returning to the topic of finances." Chu began, taking a deep breath at going over the most hated part of the treaty terms that he had to devise. Getting rid of the L4 colonies and making various territorial concessions was something Chu could live with and a scenario that East Asia could more than bounce back from. Zeon's own history proved that the future of humanity was not by staying in the Earth sphere, but by expanding into the outer solar system, with the Jovian sphere being the key to the next golden age. What worried him most were the possibility of financial reparations, which the Zabis all but said they were going to pursue at the conference. If the reparations ran into the Trillions of Yuan, then East Asia was going to add multiple years of a recession at minimum to its calendar. The war may have been short, but with Zeon showing clear supremacy over East Asia, they could send any pricetag they wanted.
"In order to prevent the creation of a heavy state debt to the Principality, I shall try to push forward the main issue of reparations being to the families of the Zeon soldiers who lost their lives at Pezun. This way Zeon can have their precious victory while the citizens who lost the most can accept Nationalist success and a generous stipend for their fallen sons and daughters."
"Have we established a conversion rate with Zeon's currency?" Zhang asked with trepidation. No matter what the Ministry of Finance tried to do, they could never make the East Asian Yuan the dominant global currency as international transaction was usually done with the leading Atlantic Dollar, followed by the Eurasian rubble with Orb's yen being the preferred personal currency for personal dealings between the global wealthy due to the nation's status as the main center for offshore banking and tax havens thanks to its tight confidentiality, designed to draw in investors with the fall of the Swizz banks.
Before April 1st, the Yuan was set at a rate of 3.28 to the Atlantic Dollar. If Zeon tied their currency as an equal or even superior to the Atlantic Dollar, then East Asia was in for a world of hurt in debt.
"Did Zeon even establish that whether or not they would use fiat or commodity currency? I thought you said that they were moving to a gold-backing." Stated Xiong. Bringing a greater air of unease into the world. While Fiat currency was the norm for the modern nation-state due to the dangers of a finite reserve which made Bretton-Woods a near disaster for the United States, Zeon had no ties to the Cosmic Era economy and as such creating a fiat currency right after the loss of Trillions of Credits (The Earth Federation's preferred currency) in investment to the UC Sides along with their resource shortages would make a fiat structure hell for Zeon to organize. If their currency was backed by gold, they could strengthen their newly-created currency and present an air of financial stability with the recent outbreak of what was being termed the Fourth Great Depression due to world's loss of a majority of its economy with Uroboros. Gold-backed currency would present plenty of long-term issues for Zeon, but in the short-term they would be secure while making trade and capitol exchanges with the Cosmic Era nations a living hell.
"From my conversation with Gihren, he has indicated that until the end of the Heliopolis Conference at minimum, the currency of the Principality of Zeon, the Zeo, shall be backed by an emergency gold reserve in order to stabilize the post-event economy and fulfill lost assets and capitol for its citizens. He has indicated a willingness to convert towards Fiat, but this will depend on how we integrate them into the IMF and World Bank. Even in our best estimates if Zeon were fully pledged to convert to Fiat, such a transition would take at minimum a year, meaning we have to deal with their gold-standard." Chu said.
"And what conversion rate have they established?" Xiong asked again.
Chu took a deep breath and slowly released "They're still finalizing conversion rates to try and accommodate for Cosmic Era gold, but at the moment, the estimates are anywhere between 1.69 Zeos to the Atlantic Dollar to 2.4 Zeos to the Atlantic Dollar, and that's based on the March 31st Atlantic Dollar." Chu said, with looks of high fear on Zhang and Xiong. While the conversion rate as it currently stood was not a disaster for East Asia, it was far too strong for their liking. For soon, the Atlantic Dollar was bound to collapse once the market stopped its freefall, and when it happened, the Zeo was going to be the top currency for many years.
"We...are definitely going to have to deplete our emergency reserves." Zhang concluded, something that Chu was glad of as that was another bombshell that he had the misfortune of informing. Currently East Asia had 21,833 metric tons of gold in reserve along with 45,909 metric tons of other precious metals that could be used as acceptable currency backing. Provided that Zeon were not seeking to impose Versailles-level terms on East Asia, then they could hopefully get out of negotiations with little to none fiat debt as possible.
"Other reparations which are within the realm of concession are the payment for their lost ships, mobile suits, and nuclear weapons along with other military hardware that was destroyed at Pezun. In terms of state-to-state reparations, the maximum limit that we are willing to tolerate is a total debt of 50 Trillion Yuan to Zeon, and 25 Trillion Yuan to the nation-state of an independent L4 cluster unless they had been annexed by Zeon." In total the maximum pricetag would amount to 9% of East Asia's GDP at the start of the year. A major wound but not impossible so long as the energy crisis was fixed soon. "During negotiations I will try to push forward the familial reparations and military equipment reparations as the primary, if not only form of reparations, but with Zeon high off its victory this is more than likely to come up. Unless negotiations are likely to break down, I'll try to put a ceiling of 30 Trillion to Zeon and 10 Trillion to L4." Chu said.
Silence reigned for more than a minute, as the pricetag along with the other concessions made the peace look more and more like an unequal treaty with each word spoken. At the end of the day though, this was all that peace negotiations with Zeon were to result to, an unequal treaty with Zeon sucking East Asia dry of financial and material concessions at a time when the economy was nosediving into oblivion and the nation was under siege by ZAFT. All of this due to the self-imposed deception by power-hungery generals on the moon.
'Wang deserves everything that comes to him.' Chu thought, losing any sympathy for the man as he read these terms out loud.
Zhang broke the silence, "Is there any possible alternatives towards the loss of capitol?" The President asked in desperation.
"There is, but we would be sacrificing any pretense of an equal trade relationship with Zeon." Chu informed.
For the next forty minutes, Chu delivered the rest of the terms to the President, with Zhang along with Xiong's occasional input approving what was conceivable and what East Asia could not surrender under any circumstances. With a key framework of the President's limits, Chu exited the office with Zhang promising to present the terms to the surviving leadership of the People's Congress as soon as feasible gathering of the Congress could be conducted, which Zhang was hoping to do right before the Heliopolis Conference began.
Sometime after Chu left the office and began to focus on organizing the East Asian diplomatic procession to Heliopolis, he realized something disturbing. Not once during their conversation had Zhang brought up the possibility of surrender to the PLANTs. While Zeon was the more immediate threat with their supremacy over ZAFT having been proven, it was still PLANT who had held the nation hostage with the N-Jammers and it was them who East Asia had been fighting a war with for over two months. Chu initially assured himself that the President was simply obsessed over making peace with Zeon, as Chu himself had in the heat of the moment forgotten about the war with PLANT. He resolved to meet with Zhang to clarify East Asia's participation in the Earth Alliance later, but a sinister thought plagued him throughout.
What if Zhang had no plans to surrender to ZAFT?
April 12th, 70 CE. Fuengirola, Spain. United Sovereign States of Eurasia. Arturo Canales POV.
ZGMF-1017 GINN. Greencoat Margaret Cho.
Outside of the city limits of Fuengirola, a collection of artillery was battering away the city that they had sworn to defend. By now more than half of the city was in the hands of the African Community and ZAFT, and despite the cease fire's enactment in two days time, Africa and ZAFT showed no signs of slowing down their advance, desperate to claim as much land before Heliopolis to force Eurasia to give greater concessions. While Eurasia could have just retreated and given their enemies land to spare damage to their city and potentially kill civilians, the military leadership in Moscow was adamant that they had to plug the leak and prevent the fall of Iberia so that they could come out of Heliopolis either with a chance to continue and claim victory, or at least face a depressing defeat instead of a mortal wound. As such, they had to stall the advance and kill as many Africans and ZAFT Coordinators as fast as possible.
Jorobi Squad. Alpha Company 387th African Infantry Battalion.
In the midst of this gathering of thunder-makers, was an artillery battery that contained one Corporal Arturo Canales, the one of the few members of the current Spanish National Guard who was from the city of Fuengirola, with Arturo firing hundreds of rounds every day at his home, destroying memories and precious treasures of his with each shot.
La Calles de Adolfo Suarez. 49 Volkswagen Prancer. 38 Ford Avalanche.
Growing up, Arturo had wanted to become an architect, one who would follow the many Spanish greats such as Atoni Gaudi, Antonio Plasios, Alejandro de la Sota, and many more. This passion had started from when he was a small toddler, obsessed with building wondrous and fantastical constructs with Legos. Arturo wished to join the current generation of Eurasian Cosmic Futurists in transforming the nation into a glorious fusion of their classical heritage and the Cosmic Architecture that would make Eurasia a masterpiece of a living painting. Arturo as a hobby would also create models of space colonies in orbit, on the moon, and beyond, hoping that part of a lasting legacy would be to make humanity's imprint on the stars come from his own image and influence. Unfortunately for Arturo, such a rise was long and difficult.
Fuengirola Palacio de Justica Municipal.
Like much of the planet, Arturo's family was hit hard by the S2 virus with his father and one of his sisters dying from the virus. With the Third Great Depression that followed the S2 virus, Arturo's family of four children and his unskilled housewife of a mother fell into destitution like hundreds of millions of families across the world. Arturo had to work constantly from a young age to help his family make ends meet, and while he had good grades, they were not the perfect performances of Coordinators which most universities that Arturo applied to were searching for. With little hope of a scholarship to get his Architecture degree, Arturo like many young men sought to improve his life by joining the Army, a path that he had never thought of until the harsh realities of the job market and higher education rammed onto him.
Escuela Secundaria de Rodrigo Mass.
Arturo shared the sentiment with most enlisted of the Earth's militaries that joining the armed forces was an easy way to reap a stable income and numerous education and employment benefits, with absolutely no danger from the career choice as wars were extinct with the military only being used in prestige contests to show who can create the biggest guns. When choosing his MO, Arturo choose to be an artilleryman, a career choice motivated by the desire to be stationary and not go through the hellish lifestyle of the infantry, and one that he hoped to do well in as his architecture studies helped him to identify weak spots in buildings and target them with maximum (hypothetical) destruction. Arturo didn't mind that he was entering a profession which was an antithesis to his dream job, all he had to do was perform drills and engage in mock battles that stimulated the ludicrous idea of an African or Atlantic invasion. So long as Arturo did his job, he got paid and access to college, an easy exchange.
Lieutenant Makabe Deng. Master Sargent Kofi Ammadi. Private Narube Banza.
After four years of service, Arturo was able to transfer into the reserves and enter into college. He was in the middle of his last semester, dreaming of graduation and honorable discharge so that he would pursue his career with all the passion that he could. Then the failed ZAFT attack on Victoria occurred, and all reserve units were called to active duty to prevent an invasion of the homeland. Arturo was deployed close to home at the Gibraltar base. He cursed the Coordinators of ZAFT for interrupting his education, but took comfort in the fact that the war would be over by the end of the year and he could return and finish his studies in the winter, or at the most extreme the next spring. HIs tour of service was just a way to earn extra money before he graduated, that was all.
Triente Precinto de Policia.
Then, Operation Uroboros occurred and the end of the world was upon Eurasia and the rest of the Alliance.
Corporal Yuri Vasenky.
When Arturo woke up on the morning of April 1st, he found himself in a living nightmare. All power had been wiped out across the Iberian peninsula with only a few spots of light spread throughout, including his base which fortunately had an emergency generator. As if the beginning of the collapse of modern civilization wasn't bad enough, the sky was polluted with thousands of African aircraft, either dropping bombs onto Spain or dropping soldiers and vehicles. The African Navy sent hundreds of tons of explosives onto the mainland to clear the way for their Marines. Worst of all, scattered reports indicated that the dreaded mecha of the Coordinators had arrived at a size that was far greater than the force that attempted to take Victoria.
Doscientos cincuenta y cuatro Calle de la libertad.
Arturo did not know how he managed to evacuate the Gibraltar base while it was under attack, through a combination of dumb luck, and perhaps divine intervention in a few extraordinary circumstances, he was one of the few thousands to evacuate the gateway to the Mediterranean, while the rest were killed or captured. After a few days of chaotic travel, Arturo met up with a forward unit of the II Corps of the 3rd Army, the backup towards Gibraltar base in case it was under attack. When Arturo saw his fellow soldiers, he had hoped they would bring news that the war was over. Instead, they told him that it was still underway, shoving him behind an artillery battery with complete strangers and forcing him to shoot at the enemy or face imprisonment for treason.
Canino Fuengirola Park.
Thus, Arturo did his duty and operated the battery, doing his job very well as he managed to kill hundreds of the enemy. Still, despite the holy devastation that Arturo sent towards the enemy lines, it meant nothing in the long run. With each hour the batteries were forced to pull backwards, being pushed further and further north to escape the African/ZAFT horde. Every day meant a couple of kilometers. It didn't matter how many successful shots Arturo sent towards Africa and ZAFT's way. He could have killed thousands, and it didn't seem to matter. To Arturo, it was like being a grain of sand on a beach during high tide. However, instead of the tide backing down to low, the high tide kept on rising and rising, transforming into a seeming tsunami that had no peak, with it presumably only going to reach a point where none could escape its mighty wrath.
Two Katsina-Class APC's.
No matter what he did, Arturo was only a small player in the grand scheme of the war. Even if he was the perfect soldier and every single shot managed to claim a kill against the enemy, there was nothing he could do to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. All Arturo did was create more graves and food for the crows, that and destroy centuries of Spanish culture and heritage with the demolition of towns and cities. Arturo dreamt to become a builder, yet the only architect that he was now was one of death and ruin.
Sargent Hassan Magola.
All of Arturo's failures culminated in the Battle of Fuengirola, where he was brought decimation to the city that he had loved and considered to be a son of. While Arturo was kilometers away from the city and he could not physically see the places that he targeted, in his mind he could see every house, every shop, every street, every alley, every tree; every precious little detail that he had experienced blown to smithereens. The only saving grace for Arturo was that he had not targeted his neighborhood, yet. For it was only a matter of time for Arturo to destroy his childhood environment, for just hours ago it had fallen into ZAFT hands.
Los Hermanos Panaderos.
In the afternoon, Arturo was in the middle of launching shells towards the enemy as he had done for the past week. He had given the coordinates for what was thought to be a company of African soldiers and his men were about to fire, when an Afghani private came rushing towards the group, telling them that they needed to stop.
Arturo went up to the man, "Private, why the hell are you ordering us to cease fire?! You are not my superior officer!"
The young man, who must have been just out of high school by his small stature and dirtied baby face, shook his head. "You're right, sir, I'm not your superior but I speak for ours. General Saliswa has ordered a full retreat 20 kilometers north. We are to form position at Line Theta and hold until the cease fire resumes." The private explained, showing on his face that he was just as unhappy about what he was saying as Arturo.
At the order, Arturo's face rose to become a flaming red, heavy wrath in his tone. "WHY THE FUCK ARE WE RETREATING?! I've had to destroy my home city for the past day and we have laid waste to numerous African Armor and mobile suits. We've begun to reclaim some of the city's districts and we are RETREATING?! I never even received an order from the General, how do I know that you aren't lying?" Arturo shouted, his fingers itching and swinging towards his pistol, something which absolutely should not happen with a soldier, and Arturo had no intentions of shooting the messenger, but laying waste to his hometown and the stresses of the war were taking its toll on him.
"Sir, despite our success in the city, the African Air has heavily damaged or destroyed most of our supply lines, In addition, most of our local satellite network has been taken out by African aerospace, thus requiring my coming here in person than a cease fire being declared over satellite. I hate the news I'm delivering sir, and I can only sympathize with how you must feel know, but if we don't leave soon, then we will die or become captured rats for the Coordinators."
Arturo turned around and let out a flurry of curses in Spanish, throwing his helmet on the ground in rage. The rest of his battery crew were also livid, though they all wore expressions of sympathy and sorrow for what their new comrade was going through. After ten seconds of collecting his breath, Arturo put his helmet back on and composed himself. "Alright, we'll start to pack up, but we have a shell locked and loaded. Can we at least give one last round to the bastards?"
"Be my guest Corporal." The private stated, then saluted and scurried off to another battery crew. Sighing in depression and defeat, Arturo turned towards his crewmates, "Alright amigos, last shot so let's make it count. Grid F-7, let's send as many of those Commie and Coordinator scum to hell!" Arturo commanded, with shouts of agreement from his crewmates.
Juantia Canales.
With one last shot at the horizon, the men and women in uniform of the United Sovereign States of Eurasia packed up their battery and equipment, and joined the mass migration northwards to escape the coming southern horde.
As Arturo and his fellow soldiers left the scene, he took one last look to the city, praying that his mother Rosa had managed to escape and that he would be reunited with her at the end of the war.
A/N: With this the Alliance section of the Reaction Arc is over. Here we look at East Asia's planning on how to deal with Zeon after Pezun and the point of view of a common Eurasian soldier. For East Asia, we got a first glimpse into their government which was completely nonexistent in Seed proper. All characters presented in this chapter are OC's. For those wondering about the state of East Asia, the government is best described as a reverse Co-Prosperity Sphere organized as a spiritual and legal successor to the People's Republic of China, carrying much of the PRC's culture in modern day. East Asia is an authoritarian democracy with a semi-dynamic two party system between the dominant Communists and their opposition, the Technocrats. Other parties exist, but these are the big two. Despite being the heirs of Mao, the Communists are Marxists in name only with the party embracing Capitalism and Corporate culture being heavily dominant in all facets of East Asian life, especially in the government, though for better or worse East Asia is not under the control of a LOGOS-like organization and the government has the final say.
The East Asian government fully realizes that they made a huge mistake with Pezun and have taken immediate steps to pursue peace with Zeon by presenting much of their flag officers as rogue traitors and openly signaling that they are ready to discuss terms of surrender. Still, the price tag is high and if East Asia is still intent on continuing a war with ZAFT, then any peace with Zeon that is not status quo antebellum is going to be a crippling strike to the nation. Perhaps in most situations East Asia could get off lightly, but this is Zeon, the nation driven by Gihren's Greed. Will Zeon seek victory through domination, or will the Zabis display uncharacteristic mercy? This will be revealed in the Zeon section soon to come out.
Lastly for Eurasia, there's not too much to say, with the story being pretty simple in the presentation of another grunt whose going through the hell of war with their nation being invaded. I realized after I had finished the section that I had basically repeated Joseph's story, but I was too exhausted to rewrite and I just wanted to drive the main point of how war is hell and ordinary people were roped into a conflict they had no understanding of with ZAFT's invasion and Uroboros having devastating effects. Part of me wanted to write a scene at the Kremlin, but it wouldn't have consisted of much besides politicians and generals in panic and trying to preserve the front lines. Eurasia will have its proper political chapter one day, I promise.
Also just in case you were confused, those Italic lines in between near every paragraph, those were descriptions of Arturo's artillery attacks. Whether they were soldiers, civilians, animals, or places, Arturo racked up a high kill count and went from an aspiring builder to the destroyer of his hometown.
Lastly, I would like to address a common concern with my readers, mainly when will Kira, Lacus, Athrun, and Cagali enter the story. Right now I have not written them despite being the protagonists of Seed as there is simply nothing I would gain from their point of view since they are not important. Kira is a normal teen. Lacus is a pop star with zero political power. Athrun is still at the academy. Cagali has not been proactive at anything concerning power. If I wrote them it would just be taking up time and text away from other critical points of view during this period. Rest assured, we will see appearances from them soon during the Heliopolis arc, with Cagali making the most impact at first.
Next time we delve into my most hated portion of SEED, an organization that I have wished for so long to flesh out and make realistic to fit the lore, LOGOS! Join us next chapter as we explore the inner machinations of the faction that was presented as Seed's true antagonists, and see how these blue and pure plutocrats react to Zeon's existence and try to move forward. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!