Are monthly updates alright?
Names:
America - Alfred F. Jones
Southern Italy - Lovino Vargas
Utah - Ryan Jones
Colorado - Cody Jones
Jammu and Kashmir - Rakhi Abdullah
Iran - Farshid Rajavi
January 11, 2045
Ación, Spain
The jeep crashed over the pothole-filled country road. Somalia gritted her teeth as they passed over a particularly hard bump, nearly losing her grip on her backpack as they did so. Outside, the trees lining the side of the road lashed from side to side, and every couple moments they were illuminated by a blue flash of lightning. The sky was a dark gray, and rain, a blue that was several shades darker than normal, splattered against the windshield in giant droplets.
Iceland was to her right, hands practically crushing the steering wheel of the modern-era jeep they were using for this mission. He was dressed in a borrowed[1] Spanish Army uniform, the camouflage jacket nearly covered by the white rain parka they'd both donned.
"How much longer?" Somalia grunted, doing her best to keep a grip on the backpack she was holding on to his lap. "You're a terrible driver!" She grunted, cut off by another pothole. "And Spain's roads need to be maintained!"
"Not all of us have the money to keep our country roads perfect," Iceland responded in a clipped tone, tapping at his GPS. The screen was flickering, and the icon representing their car was jumping back and forth across the screen as the satellites above them struggled to find a connection through the storm. He glanced out the window, squinting through the pouring rain, before slowing down and parking off the side of the road.
"Finally," Somalia muttered, flipping up the hood of her parka. Bending down, she opened the glove compartment and passed a face mask to him. Made of a smooth Kevlar, the eye openings were covered with fiberglass, and there was an air purifier in the mouth so they could breathe. "I already miss our hybrid cars," she added as she and her ally pulled the masks on and donned a pair of gloves. "See any holes?"
"Nope. Me?"
"All clear." Somalia pulled on her backpack opening the door and stepping out into the torrential rain. A gust of wind nearly blew her off of her feet, but she managed to hold on and slam the door shut.
The rain hissed as it fell to the ground. As it hit Somalia's mark and parka, it sizzled, smoking on the fabric for a short moment before fading. With this hissing in her ears, she stumbled over to the back, helping Iceland unfasten the poles from the top of the jeep. Equipment in hand, the nordic nation led her into the underbrush off the road. The plants, half-dead from the rain, came up to her thighs, and the hissing sound multiplied in volume as they splashed through several puddles and into a small clearing.
"Here," Iceland said, motioning to the middle of the grassy expanse. Taking his pole, he tilted it up to face the sky. As he did, another large gust of wind burst through the clearing, nearly pulling Somalia off her feet and causing Iceland's pole to fall and hit him in the shoulder. He let out a short cry of pain, both mast and nation crashing to the muddy ground. " Ertu að djóka?! " He shouted to the wind, hurrying to stand once again. " Ég mun finna þig í fjöru[2]! "
"You good?" Somalia asked, hurrying to help him pull up the mast against the wind. Her ally grunted in response as they finally got it upright, and twisted the handle in the middle. The pole instantly stabilized as, out of sight beneath the grass, the beam extended a good meter into the ground below.
"There," Iceland breathed, rolling his shoulder with a wince. "That's going to be bruised in the morning."
"I didn't know you could be so… colorful." Somalia snorted despite the situation, earning her an odd look—or as odd as a look could get through their fiberglass lenses.
"You don't know Icelandic." It was a statement, not a question. Iceland pressed the button on the pole's midsection, and it expanded slightly, revealing a small compartment. Above them, the top fourth or so split apart into a radio dish of sorts, tilted northeast and towards the sky. "Sorry for switching like that, by the way."
"I've been around my fellow Africans long enough to know when someone's swearing," Somalia replied. "Believe me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of one of Kenya's rants, especially when she's speaking in a dialect of Kikuyu you know hardly a word of."
"I wasn't exactly… swearing." Iceland didn't elaborate any further, though, as Somalia took off her backpack and pulled out a small piece of machinery, perhaps the size of her hand. It was covered in a rubber casing to protect it from the rain, but Somalia wasn't taking any chances, swiftly clicking it into place in the center of the mast.
"I hope this works." She said, letting the matter of language drop. "I've dropped so much time into this thing…"
"It has to," Iceland tried to reassure her, though his voice wavered in such a way that the attempt fell flat. "At least, for Spain's sake."
It had started a week ago, when a storm had formed off in the North Atlantic. Usually, this would be no cause for concern, except that this storm had very… odd properties, like something between a gaseous form of RF Shielding[3] and hybrid energy-infused acid rain, all rolled up into one. It had sunk several ships in the area, before finally making landfall on the northwest coast of Iberia, where they were now. The hybrid energy contaminating the storm, uncontained as it was in the rain, was killing off plant life in the area and disrupting their harnessed hybrid energy so that they had to resort to using modern technology, and contained minor corrosive properties—which, if you were out long enough, would cause injury, hence the minor protective gear. Though a joint HERA and UN effort had been able to evacuate most of the area, at the rate things were going the storm was going to engulf most if not all of Portugal and a good portion of Spain. It'd be a humanitarian crisis almost at or even worse than the level of Yemen back in the late 2010's[4].
They couldn't let that happen. And luckily enough, this would be a good field test for the project HERA-minus-the-UK and she had been working on. Somalia let out a breath, unhooking her walkie-talkie from the side of her backpack and holding it up to her mouth.
"Iceland and I have set up our end," she announced, kneeling down to have better purchase against the harsh winds. "You guys copy?"
"Virginia and I are set up, over." America's voice crackled through the speaker, faint and distorted through the storm. They waited for a couple minutes, Iceland kneeling next to her as they listened for news.
"Spain and I are also ready," Romano's voice finally echoed them, and Somalia allowed a breath of relief to slip past her lips. "Are you all in position?"
Iceland pulled a remote out of Somalia's backpack with her, and nodded. The electronic sported only a single button. "Yes, sir," she reported into the walkie-talkie.
"On three," America announced. There was another gust of wind, and Iceland grabbed Somalia's arm for support. "Two… One!"
Iceland pressed the button, and there was a sudden rush of energy as a low, rumbling roar emanated from the mast. Somalia couldn't help but clutch at her head as it passed them, a sudden headache springing up. It was over in a moment, but it took her longer than that to recover.
"You weren't kidding when you said this had a kick to it," Iceland announced, rubbing at his forehead. "I can't see a thing!"
"The blindness is only a temporary side effect. It'll pass," Somalia replied instinctively, blinking her own black spots out of her eyes as she stood up on shaky feet. Reaching into her backpack brought out another gadget, and the screen beeped as Somalia held it out in the rain, which was slowly beginning to subside. She grinned as she checked the readings on the screen. "Besides, it worked!" She thrust it at him so he could see, before remembering that he was still blind. "No hybrid energy detected! It's safe to take off your gear."
"At least there's that," Iceland mumbled disgruntledly, fumbling to pull off his face mask before finally succeeding. Somalia followed suit, relishing the sensation of the cool, slightly tangy water splattering on her face.
"That was… amazing…" Spain announced through the walkie-talkie, his voice now crystal-clear.
"Of course it is," she replied, standing up. "America and I have been working on it for months now. What do you feel about that for a test run?"
"I think it was successful," Romano's voice cut in as Iceland rubbed at his eyes again, his pupils finally beginning to focus. "It's official, America. Your design for the hybrid energy EMP worked."
"And on such a large scale, too!" said nation announced, voice cracking slightly with excitement. Iceland reached out a hand in a silent ask for help, and Somalia grabbed it and helped him stand up on shaky legs.
"Easy for you to say," the nordic nation grumbled, raising his free hand to his mouth and continuing to balance on Somalia with the other. "Ergh, I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Iceland's experiencing some rather extreme side effects," Somalia reported to the others, awkwardly patting the near-heaving nation on the back. "He had some blindness and now he's reporting nausea… I better take him back to the car and get us out of here in case the storm worsens. Are we still meeting in Valladolid tomorrow? I'm sure there's still some residual damage to the land we'll need to take a closer look at."
"Portugal wants to speak with us, too," Spain added. "He's reporting sightings of that shadow-thing on his land, and he wants to help us research the effect of this storm on us."
"Yeah, we'll be there," America agreed. "And get Emil checked out by a doctor soon, will you? We don't have any documented side effects to that extent."
"I will. It's time we get going; we'll see you in Valladolid. Somalia and Iceland checking out." Without waiting for a response, she turned off the walkie-talkie and clipped it to her belt. Deciding it'd be best to let Iceland lean on their conjoined arms as he stumbled alongside her back to the van, they left the equipment behind for a later trip to get back.
"'Iceland and Somalia'" the former nation of the chuckled loosely as they reached the road. He glanced at her, his blue-violet eyes glittering in the drizzling, purewater rain. "Now is that something you predicted saying a year ago?"
"Not at all," Rihana laughed, and helped the ailing nation into the car.
April 17, 2045
Centennial, Colorado, United States of America
"Well, that went just swimmingly!"
Alfred barged through the front door of Cody's house, the wooden door frame slamming into the wall with an audible bang! and no doubt leaving a large dent in the wall. The resident state jumped at the unexpected intrusion, pulling off her VR headset in surprise. Ryan, curled up on the couch with an ebook in the crook of his arm, nearly fell off, his tablet succeeding in the endeavor as he shot up to catch sight of his father.
"Jesus Christ!" Cody exclaimed, while Ryan hurried to sit up. "Warn somebody before you barge in, Dad!"
"Language, Cody," Ryan muttered by force of habit as a second person followed in after Alfred. It took him a couple moments to recognize the foreigner as Southern Italy. Italy might be America's closest ally these days, but to be honest, Ryan had been trying to stay out of international politics after WWIII and hadn't seen him since the war. "What's going on? I thought you were in Dallas for the weekend."
"I was !" Alfred all but shouted, brushing past them and towards the stairs. "Cody, where are your uniforms? I left mine with you."
"Uh, in the guest closet, I think. Why?"
"¡No tenemos tiempo! ¡Maldita sea, soy demasiado joven para esto![5]" He was already halfway up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
"Dad, you're speaking Spanish again!"
"¡Bueno! ¡Dios sabe que lo voy a necesitar!" There was a slamming of a door upstairs and the thumping of footsteps overhead.
"He's been reading reports in Spanish for the last two hours," Romano said by way of explanation. He was wearing a button-up shirt and slacks, but seemed slightly disheveled. He leaned on the side of the couch. "Which one of you is Colorado?"
"I am, but you can call me Cody," Cody replied, rushing to put away her VR gear. "The nerd over there is my brother Utah, or Ryan."
"¡Cody! ¡Ponte el uniforme de cadete, vamos a la academia!" Alfred called from upstairs.
"What? Why are we going to the Academy?!" Cody exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "That's, like an hour away! And I was going out to dinner with Ryan tonight!"
"Cody! I mean it!"
"Fine!" The redhead let out an exaggerated groan and stomped up the stairs to her room.
"You're Utah?" Romano peered over at Ryan with a disinterested gaze, and he had to repress a flinch. "Little less than I expected, but I suppose you'll do. You're the diplomat of the family, I hear."
"Uh, not really." Ryan was quick to put down whatever ideas the foreigner had real quick. He did not want a part of this. "Cody was the one who planned the whole China thing, I just talked a bit."
Romano shrugged. "We'll need a talker. Heaven knows Alfred's a terrible diplomat, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't deal well with… ah, what's the word… idiozias. "
"What's even going on?"
"Cuba's Order and the NSAO are shooting hybrid energy missiles at each other."
"What?! "
"Yeah. Apparently their last meeting didn't go too well. Bastardos decided enough was enough and started shooting at each other three hours ago, but they keep on intercepting the missiles and keeping them from hitting the ground."
"And NATO?"
"Germany and France are working on a statement to declare our neutrality. Though the NSAO and Cuba's Order aren't officially at war yet, a declaration could arrive at any time, and if Cuba does it first we might be obligated to help Venezuela. Apparently some Air Force Academy students have a project that'll help us see what's going on or something."
"Oh." Right, the US Air Force Academy was around 50 minutes south of here, and the officers-in-training there often helped work on new tech for the military. If there was something to help them, it would be there.
They lapsed into a somewhat awkward silence after that. Ryan sighed, biting his lip as he pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to Cali, cancelling his plans to come over the next day and help with relief efforts with her most recent wildfire. It was too bad; he was really looking forward to helping out.
A couple minutes later saw Alfred stomping back down the stairs, now dressed in the navy blue overcoat and slacks of a Major General and pinning his name tag to his jacket, shoes untied. A moment later Cody followed in the light blue polo of an Air Force cadet, hat in her teeth and pulling her hair into a bun. She was sending dark looks at their father, which Alfred was pointedly ignoring.
"Come on," he said curtly. Despite having switched back to English, his voice still had a distinctive Southwestern accent to it. "You two will be okay without uniforms."
Romano shrugged and followed Alfred out of the house. Ryan shared a helpless look with Cody, who shrugged in a frustrated manner. The elder state resisted the instinct to pinch his nose.
What had they gotten themselves into this time?
April 19, 2045
Mashhad, Iran
Mashhad was a beautiful city. It had been far too long since Rakhi had taken a pilgrimage there; in the thirty or so years since she had last visited, hybrid energy had almost completely taken over. More cars were in the street and people on the sidewalk had a general friendliness to them that had been absent in the previous generation. To the northwest, she could just make out the spiralling towers of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza[6] peeking out from between the rising buildings.
It was a pity she wouldn't be here for more than a day, too little time to go and see the shrine for herself. India would surely take notice if she stayed any longer, and though her bid for independence had so far been successful, she wasn't keen on him finding out that she was friendly with Iran. She was already toeing the line by holding the information about Mortantite's harvesting over his head; she didn't need to push him over the edge and attack en force, consequences be damned.
A knock at the door drew her out of her thoughts. Rakhi nodded to her guards, tucking several strands of hair back into her hijab as she turned away from the hotel's balcony and to the front door, where a dark-haired man was just being led inside by her bodyguards. Rakhi stood upon his arrival, and the two bowed loosely to each other in way of greeting.
"Salaam alaykum, Jammu and Kashmir," Iran said.
"Salaam, Iran," Rahki said softly, returning to her seat. "Though with your consent I think I'll just refer to you as Farshid from now on. As far as the rest of the world goes, this meeting never occurred."
"As you wish, Rahki," Farshid replied somewhat curiously as he took the seat opposite the new country. "Now, I assume you're here for a reason? You've hardly left Jammu and Srinagar[7] since your independence, and we've hardly talked since the partition."
Rahki sighed heavily, playing softly with the hems of her sleeves. They didn't have long together; it was probably best that they get to the point.
"I need a favor from you, Farshid," she announced. The elder nation's eyebrows went up.
"And why me? Of all the countries around you, why Iran?"
"This is why." Rakhi gestured to one of her bodyguards, who brought forth a sleek black suitcase. She took it and set it on her lap, where he could see it easily.
"You're not going to open it?" Farshid asked. Rakhi shook her head.
"I'm afraid I don't want to take that risk," she confessed. "You see, Farshid, inside this case is a crystal, around 10 centimeters long and 4 wide, and is purely made of condensed Hybrid Energy. When we found it in my land, it was unlike anything we'd ever seen before, and I think it could be an asset to a certain country. But India is monitoring me too closely for me to tell anyone about it in my lands. I need you to deliver it for me."
Farshid frowned, running a hand through his beard. Silently, he raised his eyebrows to signal her to continue.
"I know you've invented a sort of teleportation by using hybrid energy gates," she continued. "And that South Africa helped you develop them and so is the only other country to have this tech." She patted the briefcase. "Send this to South Africa with instructions to pass it on to Australia. Make sure no one outside of those absolutely necessary know about this transaction."
"This invention isn't yet open to the public yet," Farshid commented. Rahki held his gaze evenly, impressed that he was taking this revelation so well. "I'm sure now that you've revealed the existence of your spies to me, I'll weed them out."
"Who says they're human?" Rahki replied with a wink. "Besides, I have to protect my people somehow. "
"And that is why I'll do this favor. But if I discover you're plotting against me or the Deep Sea Alliance, you'll have a bigger problem than India over your head."
"Good thing I only have good intentions in mind, then." Rahki stood up and passed the briefcase to Farshid, who took it gingerly. "But in all honesty, thank you, Farshid. Australia will need this."
"So you say," Iran replied softly. "So you say."
[1]-Iceland has no army—their only defense is a token coast guard. He had to borrow a uniform from Spain.
[2]- The first phrase roughly translates to "Are you joking/Are you kidding me?!" except with more crass connotations. The second is an idiom/threat of sorts, literally meaning "I will find you on a beach," while figuratively, he's telling the storm he'll have his (violent) revenge. Both of these have come from translation websites, so I'm fairly confident in their accuracy.
[3]- A solution used for blocking radio frequency interference. It involves the construction of an enclosure to reduce the electric and magnetic transmissions from one space to another.
[4]- A reference to a humanitarian crisis occurring in Yemen due to a combination of violence, cholera, and famine, and is currently ongoing as of the time of writing in October 2019.
[5]- Spanish -
"We don't have the time! Dammit, I'm too young for this!"
"Good! Heaven knows I'm going to need it!"
"Cody! Put on your cadet uniform, we're going to the academy!"
[6]- The largest mosque in the world, and is the epicenter of millions of Muslim Shia pligrims every year. Jammu and Kashmir, from what I can find, has a sizeable Shia population, so she has an interest in the mosque and Iran as an ally of sorts in general.
[7]- Jammu is Jammu and Kashmir's capital in the winter; in summer, the capital is Srinagar.
Top Regional Powers:
The Americas: (1) U.S.A. (2) New Order Venezuela (3) Cuba (4) Canada (5) Brazil
Europe: Information Unavailable
Africa: (1) Ethiopia (2) Somalia (3) South Africa (4) Algeria (5) Eritrea
Asia & Oceania: (1) Members of ASEAN (2) India (3) Australia (4) China (5) Japan