Chapter 9 Aftermath Pt. 1
"When Glasnost came, I was angry. Physically, fully angry. I had never felt more betrayed in my life then I did at that moment. I wanted to wrap my hands around the neck of the General Secretary and squeeze. But I reined in my anger, I broke a few doors, both literally and metaphorically, and started a plan."
Supreme General Nikolai "Izbavitel" Malashenko
May 1991
"It's not active." Commander Adana said bluntly as she sat in her command bridge of the Line Cruiser Transparent.
"Reports from Admiral Trisun and General Arterius clearly stated and have been confirmed that the relay was open." Her Turian XO, Phaste, replied in a perplexed manner.
"Well I know the Salarians are going to insist on opening it up anyway just to make sure. May as well crack this one open to be sure." Adana said reluctantly, dealing with the STG captain was tiring, and the little bastard loved to prove it too.
"Understood ma'am."
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August 1991
"The last relay cluster we could find is not active, we have found no signs of tampering and we can't find any more relays." STG captain Tunipher explained sadly. "We have found zero traces of the patrol fleet, but if we could check those relays that were unactivated…"
"As the Hierarchy's representative in the manner, I'm afraid that we must cut our losses. It's been three months, we've found no sight nor fringe of the fleet. There's a million ways the fleet could have been lost. We may be facing another Helestro Incident." Phaste said heavily.
The incident he referenced, Helestro, was an early Council exploration fleet thought permanently lost. Lead by Matriarch Hidayana, the ten ship fleet went to investigate the Helestro Cluster of relays, but the exiting relay of the pair had been destroyed by some unknown force thousands if not millions of years ago, and they were now thousands of lightyears from the nearest active relay. And to their horror they found that every relay in the cluster had been destroyed violently, and all the planets in the systems had been stripped to bedrock with nary an atmosphere even.
Trapped, their only hope of escape was Standard FTL, a process that would take decades to accomplish, with thousands of hazards and equipment failures. Hidayana would never live to see the greatest exploration accomplishment in Citadel History, as she died of injuries sustained in a shuttle accident half way through the journey, but the discovery of the Quarians and several other minor species was attributed in her name and honor, as her fleet emerged 72 years later with only one missing ship and only 100 of the original crew dead from various causes.
Adana sighed, "We'll keep an eye on 314, but as Phaste said, we must cut our losses here."
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1991
UN Building, Geneva Switzerland
"What's so important about this? I still can't get a reliable phone call to China, what will this AIM do?" Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Vigleik Eide asked as he and the rest of the committee ate lunch.
Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Gordon Sullivan looked over, handing him a paper, "From what we can understand the Turians, and indeed all of the alien species have some form or another of the internet for battlefield purposes. For civilian purposes it has nearly unlimited uses, but for a military application, the ability to instantly communicate worldwide as long as you have the base infrastructure in place is valuable. It also allows for individual soldiers to work together much more efficiently as what they see, their comrades can see. We've been trying for years to get that to work, but the reliability and hacking potential has made it impractical it until now."
"Still, it's not exactly important now." Eide replied.
"On the contrary comrade," appearing from behind with his own tray of food, the Russian liaison General Kovka arrived, "it represents an opportunity for investment."
Eide looked a bit more intrigued with Sullivan smiling, "You see, the internet can do much more than just allow instant communication from what I can tell. The processing power of thousands of supercomputers allows for simulations more easily. It can convey video and sound like a TV and act like a tape player. Using it we can perhaps even make stock markets and other economic activities much more efficient. This last part is where we come in. Investment. It's a very capitalist thing of me to say, but if we invest the money we would otherwise invest in joint operations we can produce a future revenue stream for our expeditionary forces and eventual space naval capacity."
Sullivan and Eide looked between one another. "That's an interesting idea coming from you."
"Well I studied economics comrades. And I'm fairly confident that military investment in technologies like this would be beneficial from a funding point of view…"
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January 1992
"In unrelated news, for the first time in decades, human astronauts have arrived at the moon, but this time to stay." One news anchor, his hair bright blond, his smile clean, spoke as he looked to his co host.
"Indeed Jay." Jay's co-host smiled, as she read her lines, "Thousands of workers are arriving to the moon to begin mining operations for reconstruction. Many are excited for this opportunity."
"I would say this a once in a lifetime opportunity, but the UN says otherwise! Right Sam?" Jay laughed out.
"Indeed Jay, UN Representative Zhao Xi Zhang has announced that the moon will be host to Earth's first space ship yard and extra planetary colony!" Sam said happily as she looked over to Jay.
"They also added that they are in the midst of constructing the largest defensive effort so far, with plans to fortify the moon into a literal fortress as well as a colony. The UN is asking for volunteers to join in the efforts of construction and inhabitation for what they call the Georgy Zhukov Lunar Defense Line."
"In related news, the UN has also announced the Audie Murphy Space Fleet Research Center, to also be established on our moon…." Jay excitedly explained.
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April 1992
"Watch out Martian fans!" Jay said with characteristic excitement, "The Red Planet has seen its first human explorers!"
"Thats right folks! Mars has seen its first human explorers, Russian Cosmonaut Vasily Vatutin, alongside his comrades Astronaut Joseph Gulliman and Chinese Astronaut Jin Huang. Establishing a small research post! We even have them on a live teleconference today!" Sam said with uncharacteristic levels of exuberance.
A new screen popped up showing the trio of men in chairs, the window behind them looking out into red soil and space. They each greeted the reporters and viewers in their native tongue.
"For our foreign viewers today, fear not! Our translators are working live right now, for you!" Jay said with a bounce in his voice and pointing right to the camera.
"Our viewers have had many questions for you as you made your planned journey." Jay explained as he looked at the men, "Tell me Mr. Gulliman, one of our most asked questions is what you are most excited about on this trip."
The Southern man smiled before nodding his head, "Well me and my friends here all agree its most exciting to learn of our fellow man, I would never have thought I'd fly a ship with a Russian and a Chinese man in my lifetime, and most certainly not to Mars. But the best part is the data we've received, Mars is exceedingly rich in natural materials the moon has so far lacked!"
Jay smile and nodded, before a translator next to them asked the next question in chinese and english, "Comrade Huang, the people are most curious on your mission, specifically what in all you hope to accomplish."
Huang thought for a moment before replying twice in the languages, "The Turian's most important strategic resource is an anomalous material collectively called 'element zero' which has mass affecting properties that our scientists are still having trouble coming to terms with. We have none on earth obviously, and we hope to find some here."
The Russian translator then spoke, "Comrade Vatutin, many have asked if they too can one day be like you, do you have any thoughts?"
The Russian grinned widely, "Unlike meat in the Soviet Union, one day, all may find it trivial to come here!"
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November 11 1992
Blackburn, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Doing the Turian's equivalent of a grunt as he lifted a piece of masonry, Legionnaire Third Class Opila Jaunicia carried what had to be 100 pounds of concrete with his partner, Legionnaire Third Class Fonic Phonica, all the way to the steadily growing rubble pile, where large construction machines manned by humans loaded it up into trucks. Where it went no Turian knew, but this had been his life for the last year essentially, carted off from one end of this island nation to another to clean up the mess the navy had made. Even a planetary cycle later there was just so much rubble to clean up he feared that the rest of his life would be looking at drab grey concrete and black tarmak. And he also knew, not all of it was caused by the Navy. Already they had lost five people to unexploded bombs both old and new.
From what he could ascertain, this wasn't particularly rare on this island. Judging by the looks of the Humans.
They were clearing a road, and as they cleared it more and more trucks filled with long wood caskets, as long as a human was tall, drove down the road. Following on foot dozens, if not hundreds, of people had passed in the last few hours alone. "What's so important over there you think?" Fonic asked as they dropped the concrete carefully so they wouldn't hurt themselves.
"Does it really matter?" Opila asked as he wringed his talons. The humans had done their best to provide them gloves, but they weren't the most comfortable of things.
"Not really, but they take all those black boxes over there and we only see them come back empty, and all those Humans follow the trucks over there..." Fonic said as they went back to the pile that once was a building.
The foul stench hit them first, the smell of rotting meat. It had been pretty common, humans trapped under rubble, dying, decomposing. Whenever they found a body and released the air it had made them regurgitate, but by now, they were used to it. Just the thought wanted to make Opila vomit his rations. It wasn't natural to be used to it.
A human with a paper mask over his mouth walked up, his name, as they learned from a variety of charades and continuous use was "Private Billin" or to some such. He was the human in charge of his work team. Looking at the rotting remains of the long crushed human, dressed in drab blue overalls which was all that was holding the body together.
For Private Billin this was also not the first time he had seen such sights. He had been in charge of their group for coming on half a planetary cycle now. He looked unmoved. "Clear it all up." He ordered. He spoke in his language, the Turians had been around long enough to know its basics, but the Humans had confiscated any form of technology they could use. Which also meant they had to learn the language the old fashioned way or get stuffed in a cryo pod like everyone else. And their biological structure meant it was very difficult to speak the human's more throaty language compared to the internal sounds and chirps a Turian would make.
"Okay birds, let's get the big rubble of off this poor pyjack and someone grab a body bag." Sergeant Illis ordered. Working together they got the body out in a couple minutes, zipping up the remains they could find into the bag. Billin grabbed an adhesive sticker, in an unintelligible language to the Turians he stuck it on the bag's head, and wrote on it.
This continued an hour more, clearing up rubbled until they had finally cleared the 3 meter high pile of rubble to ground level, and then they would have to clear out the basement. "Lunchtime!" Billin yelled out. Like a dinner bell they all got into formation in front of Billin.
The Humans had no way of producing the food they would need to eat, and despite the losses they had taken in the short land war on the planet, the Turians still numbered at well over two thirds an army group, almost 78,000. Thankfully to avert starvation the humans had immediately started to ration out what was left, and they asked for volunteers to be put into medically induced comas to save on rations so they could be fed through IVs.
But still that wasn't enough so they had immediately rushed to the sky, to find even more food, and possibly a solution. Well the most permanent solution they had found had been to stick most of them into stasis tubes. It had been difficult, but thankfully as it was standard issue, they had captured enough intact troopships that weren't glowing like a lightbulb, and upon landing them on the planet immediately connected them to their power grid to keep them running. So now at least 65,000 of his fellow soldiers and sailors were permanently in those things.
Hell in this small human town, there was barely 50 Turians cleaning alongside thousands of humans.
Upon receiving their rations Billin flapped his hands at them, "Sod off now. Stay in sight you little shits."
Most of the team went off to where there were still seats, or they worked together to pull flat pieces of masonry into impromptu tables. They began to eat slowly, typically a Lunchtime would last for around an hour before they returned to work until the sun went down, or a bit after if the street lights worked.
The sky was as grey as the concrete, and the mood not much better. Silence reigned as they ate in a little circle, keeping to themselves, out of sight of the moving trucks and the lines of people. "So what do you think those trucks are carrying?" Fonic asked everyone suddenly, as they tore open their packs. The nutritious if bland wafers inside only eatable thanks to the humans giving them little shakers of safe to ingest spice, and their hunger.
There was silence from some members, the Sergeant included, Opila just started to munch on his wafer. "Well, with some observation I think they're coffins." Naval Armsmen Shorus Kephilam suggested.
"Really?" Fonic asked as he took his first bite after liberally sprinkling the spice on his wafer.
"Yeah. You see over that hill to the west? Past the play fields and line of trees. There's a building with rows and rows of white and grey markers around it. It's not very big but they have those plus shapes that the humans like so much. Anyways I read a few of them and they have two dates on them, an earlier date and a later date. They also have names. I translated one, 'Private Jeremiah Philips, 1900-1918'. I think it may be a military cemetery." Shorus explained as he bit another piece off the wafer.
"When did you have time to see this Armsmen?" Illis asked quietly.
"Do you really want to know sir?" Shorus replied.
"Not particularly, but I want to know where you are if you suddenly disappear at night."
"Well remember when I disappeared for an hour with Billin? I asked him about where all those trucks were going and he showed me. Wasn't as busy then as it is now though sir. It wasn't a very big cemetery before, but now it's getting pretty big." The navy Armsmen explained as he took a mighty gulp from his canteen.
Opila just ate his ration silently.
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1993 December 13th
Quantico, Virginia
"You mean to say, that for the last 72 fucking hours, all of you have been playing this video game?" Major Kirk Skinner kept a calm voice but he was so shocked. He looked upon his two lieutenants sternly.
"Yes sir. We uh… Got carried away when Sergeant Snyder brought it in as a resource." Lieutenant Scott Barnett explained.
"And I'm sure you were thorough in your evaluation of the resource." Major Skinner nearly snarled, "And did you come up with anything?"
Both officers shifted in place, before Lieutenant Luis Velazquez spoke up, "We haven't made any headway into the alien holographic tech, we think we are lacking the input device. But we think we actually came up with something we can use for the Doom game."
Major Skinner raised an eyebrow, "It has a multiplayer feature, by connecting a few computers together we can fight each other or in teams. That took up at least 24 hours alone, but we found we could coordinate ourselves on the maps and work as a team. While it doesn't beat out actual field training, we think we can use it to train people en mass if we give some guidance and makes some tweaks to include scenarios. We can simulate teamwork, ammunition discipline, and environmental conditions."
Skinner mulled it over, it was better than nothing, "Okay then, anything else?"
"Those Hell soldiers that look like the Turians are pretty killer… Fuck yeah, just gibbed Johnson!" Sergeant Snyder yelled from the room over.
"The game is also very popular, lots of people are talking about it, if we want to we can also distribute the software like the developers did. We can even sponsor LAN parties for prospective recruits and have them learn that way, drum up some more enthusiasm for joining the military now that everyone is getting drafted." Barnett explained.
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December 29th 1992
Articles of the Creation of the Human Alliance
Foreword
After the end of the World War Three, on the date First of August, 1990, humanity knew that no longer could we be fractured by internal war between brother nations. The unwarranted and questionable attack lead by General Arterius and Admiral Trisun will be considered by all courts of human Law an illegal transgression upon sovereign Human territory, and any more criminal actions undertaken by Turian Hierarchy forces or any other foreign party will be considered criminals and punished to the utmost of the law.
Nine Articles of the Human Alliance
1: The Human Alliance is the military, administrative, and colonization arm of the United Nations, and therefore, Humanity. They will have a Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branch.
2: All nations not a member of the UN, have acknowledged they will have no say on the matters of extra-planetary governance, and any and all nation states/cities/planets/ect, ethnic groups, culture groups, and others, are allowed to send observers and/or representatives to their respective senate.
3: The Human Alliance's mission statement is to uphold the rights and liberties of all of Humanity, and any other Species who wish to join us. These rights and liberties are outlined in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Failure for member personnel or nation states/cities/planets/ect will result in punishment from fines to armed intervention.
4: From this day all members of the Human species, born or raised as a Human is a member of The Human Alliance, with an equal vote, voice, and rights as any other Human being upon full citizenship.
5: The Human Alliance Colonization effort is to be organized upon a decentralized administration with an overarching Federal Government, individual Nation States/cities/planets/ect. will maintain their own local sovereignty in manners of criminal justice, taxation, military recruitment, local laws and customs, and other common rights of states.
6: All colonial expansion is to be handled through the Human Alliance administration, any settlements, camps, outposts, ect, not created by or with the permission of the Human Alliance will not be considered member nations among the Human Alliance.
7: Colonies that have not reached the point of self sufficiency, or who do not wish to, at the time, to become self governing, will be maintained by the Human Alliance who will provide basic necessities, law and order, military protection recruitment and training, and representation to their overarching administration.
8: It is treason, punishable by death, to engage in piracy, or to purposefully aid foreign criminal or elements hostile to the Human Alliance or Earth.
9: For full citizenship within the Human Alliance and all benefits with it, all members of the Human Alliance, born or raised as Human are required to participate in varying levels of mandatory military service. All are subject to conscription barring extreme mental or physical disabilities. Extended military service is however, not required for citizenship.
9A: The establishment of the Grand Army of Humanity, they are the only military force allowed access to interstellar travel for military purposes of invasion. They are also permitted to Federalize any nation states/cities/planets military forces for the purpose of the greater defense of the Human Alliance.
9B: The establishment of the Grand Fleet of Humanity, they are the only military force allowed access to interstellar travel for military purposes of invasion. They are also permitted to Federalize any nation states/cities/planets military forces for the purpose of the greater defense of the Human Alliance. Independent nation states/cities/planets, are allowed to construct both orbital stations and defense ships for their respective defense and training purposes, the loss of ships while under the jurisdiction of the GFH will be prioritized for replacement.
9C:(Amendment, March 1991) Following the Soviet Union's collapse and the subsequent loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in economic assets to both private and public persons and organizations, the establishment of the Federal Police, whose duty is to protect Humanities' and therefore the Human Alliance's interests in law enforcement. They are invested the power of the Human Alliance's Judicial system, and may bring up and press charges against persons, private organizations and companies, and nation states/cities/planets/ect. themselves if necessary. They are also invested with the power to settle disputes between two member nations. They are not allowed to intervene on purely local matters unless they breach other binding federal laws or violate the safety of the Human Alliance.
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April 10th 1994 Geneva Switzerland
"Are you sure?" Special Representative of the Secretary-General, or SRSG, Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh asked.
"We have VIDEO, eyewitnesses, and mountains of dead bodies. If YOU don't make a decision RIGHT NOW, I will make it for them and stop the fighting myself with force." Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire declared, more like screamed, into the telephone. He had grown interminably angry with the politicos back at the UN, and after the death of ten of his men who had been protecting Prime Minister Uwilingiliyimana, he was a step away from doing something that would get him dishonorably discharged.
Booh-Booh was about to rebuke the man when his door was slammed open, "What are you doing Representative Booh-Booh!?" A livid Russian yelled, a handful of photographs and reports in his hand.
"Force Commander Malashenko! How dare you interrupt us?! We're in the middle of a very important call with Lieutenant General Dallaire on the evolving situation in-" Booh-Booh's Secretary reputed, only to be cowed by a fiery look from Malashenko.
"Fuck you're evolving situation. The Lieutenant General sent me these reports as well since it also affected my department!" Force Commander of the Human Alliance Russian Military Forces roared out, "And I've learned you have failed in your duty to uphold Article 3 of the Articles of the Creation of the Human Alliance!"
"It's been three days, we've had trouble confirming-" Booh-Booh tried to protest but was cut off.
"Confirming my ass! As this falls under my department's purview, we have taken control of the situation! As of this moment UNAMIR has been transferred under the Human Alliance Army and Federal Police. Now tell the General Lieutenant to secure a dropzone in the city he is in for my force to arrive and start evacuations by 2100 hours local time!" Malashenko declared, security for the building behind him, baffled on what to do in the normally quiet offices of the UN.
"You're walking a fine line! The Human Alliance has only just been formed and you have little power to-" Booh-Booh tried to protest, standing from his desk, unbeknownst to him, from the phone the sound of gunfire could already be heard, Dallaire having taken to his orders with gusto, not even bothering to hang up the phone.
"I'm afraid Representative Booh-Booh, it is no longer in your hands, the Human Alliance Articles supercede all matters of international arbitration. All my colleagues agree, we either act now or not at all. Now you can either be known as the man who helped stop genocide, or the man who interfered and contributed to it!" Malashenko declared then left the room not even waiting for a response mumbling in russian.
Booh-Booh was both livid and shocked, "Uh Representative Booh-Booh, the security council is calling, and they're saying that we have to work under them now and to assist in any way we can."
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Kigali, Rwanda
Dallaire had no hesitation, he was a veteran of the Third World War, he had seen many men die under his command to both the Russians and the Turians, and many civilians dead or wounded. He had fought in Europe and had been mildly successful.
But the war had irrevocably changed him, he knew that he was not the man he once was. The loss of each of the men under him had scarred him, burned into his mind. And the sight of thousands being killed and him doing nothing had infuriated him, made only worse by the loss of ten of his men when they had been captured and executed by the Rwandan Government forces.
Getting upon the defensive wall, the streets just beyond it were clear, he had disregarded orders before and killed any aggressive force in sight of the base, leaving hundreds of tutsis cowering under the shadow of the walls. But until then he had done no more than that.
"Good news my friends!" He boomed out in French, "Force Commander Malashenko has given us our orders! We are to secure a landing zone for reinforcements to arrive by 2100 hours." The cheering from his soldiers was deafening, which seemed to lessen the sounds of slaughter outside.
"First armored battalion, from up we're taking the futboll stadium and the airport! Infantry mount up! Reserve Battalion, I want you here and to secure any refugees in the compound, if anyone attacks you or the refugees kill them! Make sure no one is smuggling in weapons."
The gates to the base opened up, and a five man fire team began to move the tutsi survivors into the compound, once the press of civilians was clear the roar of tank engines nearly sent the civilians into a panic as the armored vehicles began to leave.
Taking his place in his command vehicle, he went into the ritual state he always went into during battle. Almost meditative his face lost its snarl, its focus, and instead his attention diverted to the various electronics in his command vehicle. He even had a few new items since the war, some courtesy of the Turians, others built due to experience in the war.
"Colonel Marchal, all battalions ready. Over." Colonel Luc Marchal was his XO, an efficient man, devoid of colonial baggage and had a knack for integrating armies of lesser sophistication.
"Good work Colonel, I want you to remain at base and keep track of my forces and to coordinate with the Human Alliance Forces to arrive. Over." Dallaire explained as his armored vehicles crunched over the dead bodies in the street. No one was even phased at the sound of bones crunching and organs squelching.
"Understood sir. We're starting to get fire from sector 3 again, my snipers are handling it now but we're running out of mortar and HE rounds." He explained as the sound of a crack of a bullet nearby resulted in Marchal lowering the radio and firing with his own side arm. "We will hold. Over and out."
Assured of that, the lead AMX-10P IFV was impacted with an RPG. Shrugging off the damage like it was nothing, the turret turned to the responsible building and proceeded to fire at the support struts for it, collapsing it and crushing everyone inside.
Piles of bodies were everywhere, and the newly recruited members of the force fought to not throw up. The lead AMX turned the corner and came upon a government checkpoint, the government forces had civilians all around them, and piles of bodies too.
The civilians, some of which had been looting the bodies began to run, the government forces, or those that were the least staunch, also did. The spattering of fire was returned with the HMGs of the IFVs.
"3-1 B, take up that checkpoint, direct and protect any civilians looking for protection." Dallaire ordered as they steadily ground their way towards the Stadium.
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As it turned out, most of the military and militia had been too caught up in their murder of others to put up any real resistance to Dallaire's forces, the airport had been secured in minutes, with the execution of any who resisted. While the stadium had been entirely unguarded. Already the stadium had a few thousand expatriots, moderate hutus, and tutsis with dozens streaming in by the minute. The genocidaires had attempted counter attacks, and the only time they really made any headway, Russian helicopter gunships had strafed the attacking forces while Chinooks dropped in supplies and ammunition and began to evacuate the civilians.
By design, Dallaire had essentially destroyed all the buildings surrounding the Stadium and Airport, having evacuated any hiding civilians first. In all directions, the outer layer of buildings had been reduced to deny the genocidaires any cover to fire from. And from that moment he proceeded to send out strike teams to kill any roaming military or mobs, and to evacuate buildings of hiding civilians. From that logic, he found those who hid or stayed indoors were to be considered non participants, anyone outside who did not immediately surrender a participant to be executed on the spot.
It had worked in quelling the violence in the district his men were in but the rest of the city was in chaos and Dallaire could be satisfied in knowing he at least did the best he could until reinforcements came of which he was eagerly waiting for.
"Sir, the US marines report they are five minutes away with a division of men." His radio operator informed him.
Nodding, Dallaire smiled, "Excellent, make sure their arrival proceeds without issue."
As he watched, Force Commander Malashenko had also requested all neighbors of Rwanda close their borders and arrest anyone who tried to cross over them from Rwanda. He had been unusually polite and he suspected that is what ultimately convinced the other nations to comply. The exertion of power by the Human Alliance months after its charter had been signed was worrying to some, but after the evidence had been represented worldwide, populist cries were let out for why it wasn't done sooner.
Already though, the possible death toll in civilians was catastrophic, if his estimations were correct, then it was possible nearly a quarter million or perhaps even more were murdered already, and that was the lower level estimations. The upper level was half a million, in three days alone.
The greenest of the marines, when they got to their posts and into the streets, couldn't help but be horrified at the scale of carnage that had erupted.
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April 29th 1994
Mars, Southern Hemisphere
"You sure Vasily?" Joseph Gulliman asked his russian partner as they rode in a modified Turian shuttle, with Jin huang piloting.
"I'm certain. I detected an energy spike and signal coming from here. Going by the Turian's files, it was encoded in Prothean." Vasily Vatutin replied as he manned the sensors. "I have it locked now."
Jin remained quiet as he redirected. It was only half an hour later when they landed, and each of them were in awe at what they saw. A pillar, more likely a pylon antenna was sticking from the sands of the planet.
"ISA command, this is Mars mission, we've found something. We think it's alien."
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June 28th 1994
Mars, Southern Hemisphere
Many of the workers today were war criminals. All of them were from the Rwandan Genocidaires. To sentence them death was a waste of resources the Federal Police thought as a waste and hypocritical, instead, they were sent to work for the rest of their adult lives for the state and the betterment of mankind.
Right now that meant digging up ancient ruins on Mars. Tomorrow, it may mean working in the great plains of the United States growing corn, the next, it may be working in a Russian factory alongside Turians.
As was the fate for those who crossed Humanity.
The work, while hard, was hardly dangerous. And a few Turians had been brought in to help with the excavation as foremen. This had been calculated to show the world that genocide and murder was a crime greater than the Turian's own.
Two months of work, with a few weeks spent solely setting up the life support for the workers, the work had yielded fruit as Opila led his work gang and cleared out an entry way, an ancient airlock. Talking in his radio he relayed the discovery back to the command center on a nearby hill which was overlooking the entire endeavour.
The black humans before him, who worked in their suits to clear the entryway spoke a different language than the one Opila learned. But thankfully he had been given a translator and speaker so they could understand him.
They didn't much like him or their captors, and he didn't like them either, if the reports were true of their crimes than he saw that they deserved nothing more than their current fate, and should instead have killed themselves for such a dishonorable act.
"Alright, you see those lines there? Those are the airock's seals. Clear them of dust and debris. You two dig to the right, be careful that's where the panel will be." Opila ordered as he watched them work. They weren't enthusiastic or energetic in their work, who would be? "If we get this cleared up before the headman arrives I'll make sure you all get an extra ration tonight." He incentivized. A tool he had learned from his own human foreman Private Billin. They seemed to look to one another before speeding up their work.
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When the science team arrived they found the team had finished their tunnel and had cleared out the entry way and panel, with Opila personally working with Fonic to get it powered back up by using a spare battery. Private Billin was about to ask them what they were doing when the control panel lit up and the holographic sigils started to appear.
"Finally." Opila flanged out as he was helped up with a tug by Billin.
Their resident prothean expert. Really the only person who could barely read prothean, was Legionnaire Shulrus, who had been previously working in Germany, looked at it with interest.
Major Parker, the military representative of the Human Alliance, motioned for Shulrus to explain. "Voychek, Pro'thaa suu'um Katha euryup." He explained to Opila who nodded and explained as best he could in english.
"Alright, basically it's a simple prothean airlock. So simple an intelligent animal could open it without much trouble." Billin nodded and stepped beside to Shulrus, who carefully mimed the actions necessary and the symbols to hit. All the while gently and quietly cooing in his own language as if talking to himself.
"Legionaire Jaunicia, what's he mumbling?" Billin asked pointedly.
The Turian just did the equivlenet of a shrug, "He only learned Prothean in school. Which was ten of your years ago. He's…. rusty. Thats the right word right?" Parker nodded.
"Well will that get us killed?" Billin asked the obvious question.
Transmitting the question Shulrus looked thoughtful for a moment, before replying with a word they all understood, "Us."
"No." Opilia said simply. As he said that the ancient door slowly creaked open, revealing a dark empty room.
"Alright Opila, Stay next to Shulrus and make sure he doesn't wander off, Billin, keep an eye on them, Sergeant have your squad keep a cordon around us, we're pretty sure that it's safe but best to be sure." Parker ordered.
Opila remembered hearing about Parker, supposedly he was a war hero, and had survived a nuclear strike and helped avert a second. Unconsciously, Opila deferred him a lot of respect, "Yes sir." He replied as he stood near Shulrus.
Shulrus did his best to explain the various sights they saw, from simple machinery, to blast doors, consoles, and the odd esoteric item. Most of it looked alien, even to the Turians, but they kept moving forward, until they reached the central chamber.
Both Shulrus and Opilia couldn't believe their eyes. What they saw was amazing, a full intact prothean archive, once Shulrus translated the room name and they saw inside. Both were speechless and the humans didn't even realize the importance of the find.
Their amazement didn't end, and in fact spread to the humans as well, when a hologram appeared before them of a prothean, something almost no one had previously found, "At last, you have found my gift to you… I am just sorry it required the blood of so many of your kind first..."
Unit Chatter:
Technological Overkill Doctrine (American Union of Nation's) Infantry callouts
Affirmations:
"Yes sir?"
"What do ya need?"
"Si?"
"Message loud and clear sir."
"Do you need something eh?"
Move Order:
"Yes sir!"
"Consider it done."
"We'll get some Mk 1 Eyeballs there sir!"
"Hustle up boys and girls!"
"Andele, Andele!"
"Yes sir! Obtenez vous déplacer avortons!"
Enemy sighted:
"Infantry spotted sir."
"Armored vehicle sir. Lasing them now sir."
"Aircraft! Keep low!"
"Over there! The flares!"
"Contatos manchado, identificando."
"Fuck, heavy infantry."
Attack Order:
"Firing sir!"
"Stop gawking, start shooting!"
"For Earth!"
"Hold until relieved!"
"Turkeys! Roast 'em!"
"Froggies! Boil 'em!"
"Space babes! Keep those Biotic Barriers strong!"
"Termie trash! Take them out!"
"Fogo, fogo, fogo!" (Fire, fire, fire!)
"Détruis les." (Destroy them)
"Shoot the rear! Shoot the rear!"
Attacked:
"Taking fire!"
"Sir! That was a close one!"
"Jenkins, get your fucking head down!"
"Las barreras cinéticas son bajos!" (Kinetic barriers are low!)
Target destroyed:
"Target eliminated!"
"Incinerating corpses."
"Maybe they'll have something good eh?"
"Área resecured señor." (Area secured sir)
"Hey Jenkins, kick 'em to make sure they're dead."
Taking casualties:
"I know I said die trying, but I don't want to die today!"
"Saint de nous protéger!" (Saints protect us!)
"Estoy perdiendo los hombres aquí!" (I'm losing men here!)
"Taking hits!"
"A medic, a medic for my drone!"
"I can't hear him breathing!"
"NÓS. ESTAMOS. MORRENDO!" (WE. ARE. DYING!)
Taking capture point/Objective:
"Secure it now!"
"Drones securing. Waiting for medevac."
"Setting up sensors."
"Mantén tus ojos abiertos." (Keep your eyes open)
"Soyez prêt à tout." (Be ready for anything)
"Rally 'round the flag boys!"
Stop Clicking me:
"Enemy are jamming communications squad!"
"Stop! Just fucking stop you imbicilic limp saucissonner baise face six!" (Stop! Just fucking stop you imbecilic limp dicked fuck face six!)
"Is command drunk again?"
"Por qué siempre nos dan las radios defectuosos?" (Why do we always get the defective radios?)
"*Heavy sigh* Yes sir. Alright. Yeah. Uh huh…."
American Union of Nations Combat doctrine
Technological Overkill Doctrine, or TOD, is the official state sponsored doctrine for the American continents. Those born and raised in any of these nations are automatically shipped to training camps which specialize in TOD.
From there they learn the basic and advanced tools of their trade. TOD brigades are especially tooled out for technological force multipliers, from advanced hardsuits, radar guided artillery, and fusion based laser weaponry, a TOD division can be counted on to have the most advanced hardware the Human Alliance can offer.
All brigades are mechanized, and have a sophisticated support logistics train and personnel to maintain and supply these weapons. Typical vehicles include the M188 "Coaster" IFV, Type 55 trucks, M1A9 "Bannon" MBT, and AH109 "Illiad" Attack Helicopter.
Armament:
M50 Avenger Assault rifle
Grenades
Demolition charges
A6-60 Combat Armor w/ Inbuilt combat support equipment
Support Package Tree:
The overkill part of TOD, for the AUN, they specialize in reconnaissance and artillery warfare. In the smaller skirmish based warfare they prefer, fights go to those we with the better initiative and equipment quality. Their support tree reflects this, while they aren't numerous, the soldiers you do get will certainly hurt more than average.
A: World Rangers: Special Forces unit, the World Rangers were formed by Russian Spetznaz, US Army Rangers, and British Special Air Service at the dawn of the 21st century. Each Ranger is a veritable squad on their own, armed with the latest in stealth and combat technologies. Their arrival means the beginning of something bigger.
B: "Poke ball" motion sensor balls: Gotta catch them all! Especially in the act! These handheld black balls are mobile miniature motion sensors capable of being thrown by hand or shot by a grenade launcher for extra distance. Capable of detecting enemy combatants ten meters away with reliability, they unfortunately have a short battery life.
C: Off Battle Artillery Barrage: A battery of standing by Howitzers are given a target firing 30 pound artillery shells for 1 minute.
D: World Ranger UBCV: The World Range Universal Battlefield Command Vehicle is one of the few hover tanks the Human Alliance has access to. Capable of arriving and fighting in any combat environment, it is also the most heavily armed and armored hover vehicle made use by the Human Alliance at nearly 45 tons.
E: UAV Recon bombing: Drones revolutionized bombing and reconnaissance, and the handheld drone is a common item with any Human soldier. The bigger versions are more than capable of holding a pistol. These lean 10 meter long and 15 meter wingspan aircraft combine tactical bombing and field reconnaissance into one neat package. Holding four 1 ton bombs, World Rangers often make use of these extensively.
F: Orbital Bombardment: One of the few armies able to use orbital bombardment in a tactical setting, especially in the danger close settings that would forbid even regular artillery.
G: Fusion Nuclear Bomb: A one kiloton nuclear bomb. Certain to kill anything and destroy everything in its path. Larger bombs are used as an opening strike against an enemy spearhead, disrupting enemy formations making them easy pickings and vulnerable to the type of warfare the AUN prefers.
Authors Notes:
Greetings from Blood Raven, the new co-author for the story, and former beta for this story! I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter, it took a while but it's only part 1 so I decided to cut it in half so I can finish the other half. Which should come out much sooner than this one.
I hoped you enjoyed!
If you want more content like this, Phuripat has Through Their Eyes: Remastered, if you like Gundam!
I'm also the co-author for Terran Federation: Contact, go check it out!
And finally I write my own Fanfiction XCOM: Impact