Chapter 6: Cards Down, Bets Off
It had been two months since that fateful day.
Grimm had invaded like a tsunami, before strangely receding. A few nations had fallen to the Grimm, but for most, the people of what was formerly Earth had been able to withstand the onslaught.
Despite all that time, most of the nations and kingdoms hadn't really chosen to interact with one another. Choosing instead to focus on their own citizens and dealing with the Grimm in their own borders. Of course, there were a few exceptions like Vale and America, but these temporary alliances were few and far.
But today, that was going to change. Today the representatives of almost all nations and kingdoms across the entire world were to be gathered in one place. The only completely neutral island kingdom on the planet.
Vytal.
The tensions were running just as high as the security measures. If some off-shoot terrorist group wanted to take out a whole parcel of world leaders, this was their one chance to pull it off. Too many ambassadors and representatives were attending, there was no way to keep this meeting secret.
Now they were, just minutes away from the start of the first contact meeting. Whatever happened today would likely change the course of history.
Forever.
This was it. She'd been preparing for this next hour for the last few weeks. It all built up to this. Time to make it happen. It was dangerously likely that her team, as well as herself, would only have one chance. Hopefully no one screwed up.
"Madam President. They're ready for you." A blacksuit-clad agent reported to her.
Wordlessly, she strutted down to her respective council seat, a tiny flag of America engraved in brass on a small wooden placard just on the table just in front of her. A quick glance at her would only reveal her stone-cold pokerface. On the inside, however, it was safe to say she was at least a bit nervous.
Before she even knew it, the rest of the rotunda was filled as well. The room was colossal in size, easily fitting all council members of both Earth and Remnant combined. There were almost as many council members for these new lands as there were for Earth.
Strange, the President noted, considering the fact that her spies had reported there were only 4 nations...er, "Kingdoms", as they were known. Which also brought up the strange point that there were no kings to be seen anywhere either.
The cameras were rolling, the whole world was watching, and the meeting was about to start. She needed to focus.
"The council of Vale would like to thank all those in attendance for accepting to meet here. We assume that all delegates know that we are gathered here today as a sort of 'first step' for all of us?"
The room was silent for a moment, no one disagreed with the Valean councilman.
"Very well then. Over the course of the last couple of months I think it's safe to say that quite a few problems have arisen for all of us."
Now a Swiss councilwoman spoke up. "Hmmm yes. Most notably the 'incident' between Menagerie and Australia."
From her seat, the president could see the tension between seething up between the two representatives of the two aforementioned regions. What were their names? Ah yes. George and Alcea.
"We're….still looking into it." Alcea reported through gritted teeth.
An awkward pretense of a silence filled the room. No one was quite sure what to say or do for a second. No one except the President. This was her window of opportunity. Time to act.
"With all due respect, ladies and gentlemen, I think it's about time to change the subject. We came here to share and discuss new information, not reheat old conflicts. We will deal with it in time, but for now I believe we should focus on more positive aspects of our respective regions."
"Agreed." Many delegates reverberated in unison. They knew this was not the right time to deal with international incidents.
"Now, while we have already learned much from each other via the information trade, there is one subject that I am inclined to bring up with all of you. Specifically the 4 kingdoms and Menagerie." The president announced.
While the Kingdom members look around, skeptical and suspicious of this sort of language, they continued to listen. The terran nations on the other hand, sighed as if they knew what was to happen next, but knew they couldn't stop it.
A projector screen unrolled from the top of the room, followed by an actual projector, loaded with only a singular playing disk.
"I think it's time to reveal the Terran nations greatest weapon. And the reason why I'm sure none of you will be invading our countries any time soon." She said as she pressed play.
Slowly but surely, they footage faded from black to a serene brown desert landscape. Mountains dotted the horizon as a flurry of gentle breezes kicked up loose sand and carried it away. Though the film was aged and grainy, it looked like something you'd see on a postcard.
"This is a desert in a region within America known as Nevada. The area you're seeing is roughly a quarter of the size of Vacuo's capital city."
With no warning, a blinding white flash filled the screen, enveloping the whole room. Most of the terran national representatives had seen this footage time and time again, and had come to dread it's presence. The Kingdoms on the other hand, were caught completely off guard.
The flash began to die down, and one could make out the outlines of a massive mushroom cloud with a fireball curling inside of it. Eventually, the cloud finally died down, leaving the once serene desert void of any trace of what was once alive there.
An uneasy silence filled the air. People forgot all about the brewing hate between Australia and Menagerie. Finally, an Atlesian representative, a general, spoke up.
"What...is that?" He asked.
"That…." The female leader of the America began. "Is a nuclear weapon. It's the reason why the world has almost ended on multiple occasions, and ironically it's the reason why the world has been somewhat more peaceful in the past few decades."
"How many of these weapons do you have? Ten? Fifty? A hundred?"
"As far as the civilian population is concerned, we have 15,000 of these spread across eight countries. In reality we have a little over 45,000. America and Russia alone possess almost 80% of these weapons." Madam President foretold. Instantly, the faces of every kingdom's representatives went white with fear.
They knew that if even one of these 8 countries so wished, they could end the world. Remnant and her people, their accomplishments, their history, even their future. It could all be vaporized in a matter of just a few hours.
"Don't worry, everyone. We've had these weapons for nearly a century and haven't used them since then. In the meantime, let's shift our focus towards something….less destructive. From what we've heard, your civilization's dust has some...drawbacks."
The screen shifted over to a video, a red bolded text on the bottom right blinked. "Live" it said. This was not a recording, but actually happening at that very instant. In the video, a strange twisting multi-colored metal structure could be seen in the distance.
"Uhhh G-See this is Caenavron. We are go for takeoff."
"Understood Caenavron. Prep for takeoff in T-minus 10."
"Final check on Avionics complete."
"9"
"Fuel connectors have been cut."
"8"
A thick white gas bellowed out from the bottom of this structure. Like a smoke machine one could see at a rock concert, times a thousand.
"7"
"External tank connectors are stable."
"6"
"Life support systems are green across the board."
"5"
"Burners lit."
Suddenly the white cloudy gas erupted in focused blast of pure fire. Like the blast from a dragon of legends old.
"4"
"3"
"All ground based connectors have been cut."
"2"
"All thrusters full power."
"1"
The towers next to the white-colored behemoth fell to the ground as the strange machine flew directly up. It was like seeing a whale take flight. It shot up like a cannon round, leaving a massive plume of smoke and steam in its wake to mark its departure.
It went on and on and on, until it was barely but a glowing orange speck in the sky. In the meeting room, there was no sound. No one spoke. No one even whispered. They all just sat and stared at something many of them had never quite seen before.
"External tanks detached. Caenavron to G-See, we have achieved orbit."
Madam President turned to the rest of the delegates who had gathered. "This is what our civilization is capable of. I'm sharing this with you because I'm certain that once we open free immigration policies between our respective territories, people will learn of this anyways."
Kingdom council members murmured to themselves over these most recent revelations. This was certainly a shock to be taken in.
"We will discuss this at a later precedent. For now, I believe that it is fair that we share some of our own history." Vacuo suggested.
"Hmm yes. How can we learn to work with one another if we do not know one another?" Mistral pointed out.
"That is why we took the time to put together some of our most well made documentaries. They should be excellent in explaining our culture." Atlas suggested.
Instantly, an aid replaced the Terran projector with an Atlas made one containing a documentary disc. On the screen a red background popped up, covered in white text.
World Of Remnant
Play?
The cabin of the space shuttle shook with such an intense might as it slipped the surly bonds of the Earth.
Oxygen equipment and electrically powered light quickly came online as the rumbling stopped. The crew and it's vehicle were now in orbit.
"External tanks detached. Caenavron to G-See, we have achieved orbit." The commander of the shuttle spoke into the microphone. Immediately he could hear claps and cheers from Ground Control at the successful mission.
Honestly, this was the most quickly put together mission the commander had ever been on. They had little time to prepare as the old shuttles from the early 2000's had to be reactivated to accommodate for his nation's needs.
But what the hell, they managed to pull it off anyways.
"Ah whoops. We need to go back. I think I left the stove on." The person next to the commander said jokingly. Earning her a few laughs and chuckles from the rest of the crew.
But there was little time for celebration. They were astronauts. America's elite in both physical and mental capabilities and skill. They had a job to do. The commander quickly shifted channels to pick up the frequency from the International Space Station.
"I.S.S. this is Caenavron of the United States. Requesting permission to dock."
"Kzzzzzzzzzzt"
Damn. Nothing. Maybe he was on the wrong frequency by accident? The commander checked the radio again. The state-of-the-art machinery appeared to be picking up the exact coordinates that had been assigned to it.
"I.S.S I repeat, this is Caenavron of the United States. Requesting permission to dock."
"Kzzzzzzzzt" Hmm? Still nothing? Something wasn't right. They had been receiving OK signals from the ISS for months, so why weren't they responding?
The commander decided to get his head away from the electronics and onto a swivel. He needed to get his head outside the cockpit to see what the hell was going on. As he peered out the shuttle window, and what he saw horrified him.
The ISS was...destroyed. Pieces of space debris sprayed everywhere from it's wreckage. From the starboard side of the shuttle, a piece of white hued debris bumped into the space vehicle.
One glance at it made the commander wish he hadn't looked. It was not debris, but rather, a Russian cosmonaut adrift in space.
A dead one.
"Jesus. What the hell happened here?"
Like a rising storm, black gas began emanating from the station that had once been the shining beacon of space programs across the world. It approached the shuttle, slowly at first, then it began to pick up speed.
"What is…" The commander asked. As he looked into the gas, he put two and two together.
"Pilot! Get us out of here, now!"
But it was too late. The thick fog enveloped the spacecraft before anyone on it could react. In just a few seconds, the entire shuttle was covered. There was no hope, there were no screams, no struggles, no final words or thoughts.
Just like that, Space Shuttle Caenavron disappeared, and was never seen again.
AN
Heeyyyy Im part of a RWBy discord now. Go check out YangAF on tumblr for more info and whatnot.
Anyways I'm really really really tired and I'm gonna go now. Enjoy chapter.