Chapter 6 – Keyes Proposal
(2150 hours/ August 11th 1997/ UNSC In Amber Clad/ Location High Earth orbit.)
Captain Rawley had just landed aboard the Stalwart Class Frigate – UNSC In Amber Clad. Captain Keyes, Dare and Fischinger as well as Noble Team and Blue team. Everyone who was going down to begin with had moved up to a mission briefing room as to finalise the operation's details.
"Commander A259, who is being deployed where within the conference hall?" Keyes asked.
"Gunnery Sergeant Buck will be attached to Captain Dare with Noble Six. Blue Three will be attached to Captain Keyes with Staff Sergeant Johnson. Blue Two and Pvt 1st Class Crespo will escort Major Rimal. Corporal Miles and Pvt Jenkins protecting Captain Fischinger. Lance Corporal Agu will be a second sniper on the balcony alongside Blue Four with Pvt O'Brien as their Spotter. Pvt Bisenti will be Noble Three's Spotter. This means that no matter what there will be two people protecting one of the officers. Should the worst happen, Blue Four will link up with Captain Fischinger's escort. Cpl Agu will link with Captain Keyes team. Pvt O'Brien will link u with Captain Dare's team. Pvt Bisenti will link up with Major Rimal's escort and Noble Three will link up with the rest of Noble team and Captain Rawley. Either the extraction point becomes hot and has to take off without the officers and escort meaning that Noble Three will link up with the escort team taking the most fire and help them to LaGuardia Airport for extraction. Should the bird be shot down, Rawley will be evacuated by myself and Noble two then link up with Nobles Four and Five. If possible try to link up by Queensboro Bridge or East 34th Street Ferry Terminal to cross the East River to Long Island. There are three routes to the extraction point. One crosses the river using the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, another via the East 34th Street Ferry crossing and the final one is via the East 90th Street Ferry Terminal. The extraction point is near the nearest docking tube of Terminal A to Police building 137 for LaGuardia Airport. The Extraction route is roughly 6.1 to 6.5 miles long. When deciding on a route out to the emergency extraction point, listen to the Spartan and or ODST in the group. They have done these types of operations before and will find the safest route out for everyone. There are going to be three more Pelicans ready to deploy. Two carrying more ODSTs and the final one for our extraction. If you get separated, find out where you are and make your way to the emergency extraction point. We will not leave anyone down there, if you miss the extraction time, you will have to wait for the second retrieval slot. There will only be two retrieval slots. The first will be roughly Three hours after you make contact that there has been a complication. The second will be three hours later." Carter explained to the group.
"Now that everyone is aware of the full plan, get some rest and be ready for the big day." Keyes said. "Dismissed everyone." He finished.
Everyone left the room to either their assigned quarters or in the case of the Spartans, to the armoury to acquire their weapons to check them over before tomorrow hoping they wouldn't need them. After that they headed for the cryo bay to rest for the night.
While the mission briefing had been going on, In Amber Clad had moved down to a position near enough to Manhattan to be seen but not so close that it would cause a mass panic and military action against the ship, and held station there in the dead of night. The next morning was going to be a shock for the ambassadors and the residents of New York.
(1330 hours/ August 13th 1997/ UN Building/ Location Manhattan, New York, USA)
It had been a day since the President of the United States had revealed the existence of the Stargate program to the rest of the world. The reactions from the rest of the world weren't all positive to say the least.
The Captain proposed the idea of having the UN as the governing force replacing the current governments of the world. He also suggested the integration of all world militaries into the UNSC. The world could vividly remember the speech that this 'alien' made at the UN.
One Day prior
(1000 hours/ August 12th 1997/ UN Building/ Location Manhattan, New York, USA)
The aliens had parked one of their ships close to Manhattan but still in international air-space, with an exclusion zone around the ship to ensure passenger aircraft couldn't crash into it, in full view of the world as effectively a display of power. This had made everyone jump having realised that the ship was there now.
As the UN representatives and heads of state/rulers awaited this Captain's arrival, they were chatting about what advances they could bring with them and the possible cost of such advances. At exactly 1000 hours, a green blob left the side of the ship and flew to the front of the UN building. As Captain Keyes, Dare, Fischinger and Major Rimal stepped off the aircraft, seven massive armoured beings stepped off just behind him with two remaining onboard. There were also four smaller armoured beings and four obviously humans wearing some form of BDU. All of the others barring the officers were carrying rifles and shotguns of one variety or another.
Two of the armoured beings stayed back at their aircraft to guard it while the other soldiers stayed one step behind the captain. He walked right up to the centre of the group where the major world leaders were situated.
"Good morning, I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Lyonesse. These are my subordinates, Major Parvat Rimal of the UNSC Army, Captain Olivia Fischinger of the UNSC Air Force and Captain Veronica Dare of the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI. I hope we are able to come to an agreement with what I am to propose." The Captain said in a loud voice so all the dignitaries could hear.
"I am President William Clinton of the United States of America. With me are Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, the Presidents of France, Germany, Russia and China." President Clinton introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you ladies and gentlemen, may I be so bold as to suggest that we move indoors as to have our meeting so you may be able to deliberate upon my proposals." Keyes said. With that all the dignitaries and UNSC personnel went into the UN building where the News reporters from around the world were waiting to view the conference.
Captain Keyes, Major Rimal, Captain Fischinger Captain Dare, Blue Two, Blue Three, Noble Six, Johnson, Jenkins, Buck, Mickey and Dutch stayed in the corridor just outside the room till the UN conference began and they were called in. Noble Three and Private Bisenti had run up to the roof of the UN building to set up his overwatch position while Blue Four, Corporal Agu and Private O'Brien had done the same in the conference hall. As they walked in the news cameras immediately zoomed in on the Spartans. Keyes then stepped up to the podium with the Kelly and Johnson stood behind him while Fred, Noble Six, the ODSTs and Marine remained with the rest of the officers in case the conference hall was attacked.
"Good morning, as you are no doubt aware, I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Lyonesse. Before we answer who, we are, we need to tell you when we come from. My fleet and I escaped the planet Reach which when we are from is a colony of Earth. The date when we left was September 19th 2552." This caused a stir from the assembled crowd. "Now we have answered where we come from, who we are is easier to explain. We are the United Nations Space Command. We were established in 2163 by the United Nations after the colonies of the Jovian Moons, Luna and Mars began to revolt from Earth's control. These revolts began in the 22nd Century with the rise of the Koslovic and Frieden movements. The Koslovics were a neo-communist group based on Mars. After they took over three major mining facilities violently, they were declared Terrorists. The Frieden Movement grew out of Catreos on Europa. These were Neo-Fascists who formed in response to the Koslovics in the Jovian colonies and quickly turned to violence. in 2158 the Friedens targeted a UN embassy in the Europan city of Thinea levelling the building with military grade explosives. the Friedens were quickly branded as terrorists as well. In 2160 the Friedens attacked the Colonial advisors sent to Io. This lead to three months of fighting between the Friedens and Koslovics. This was the start of the Jovian Moons Campaign. The UN was forced to call upon national militaries to fight the campaign and their distributed nature lead to disorder and confusion. the Death toll for this campaign was high for both sides. A series of bombing in 2162 sparked the Rainforest wars, a 19 month conflict that spread across South America reigniting violence in the Sol system after several months of peace at the end of the Jovian moons campaign. The Mars Campaign was a part of this war. The Neo-Friedenists emerged as an offshoot willing to negotiate with the UN. These disagreements lead to the battle of Delambre on Luna. The wars brought a lot of suffering to Earth's inhabitants and caused an enormous famine. The Mars campaign was caused by the assassination of the Frieden's leader Naja Milka en route to a command post in the Europan city of Pelagon. A large scale campaign was launched against Argya Planitia, the hub of Koslovic activity because of it's shipbuilding capabilities. the UN force that was to become the United Nations Space Command was sent to the most combat intensive area. the battle lasted two full years as UN forces bombed the Koslovic remnants. this was the first successful strike by UN forces against the Koslovics and the first deployment of UNSC Marines. In august 2167 Vladimir Koslov, the leader of the Koslovics, and his family were killed in a bombing near lake Autolycus on Luna. despite some difficulty for the UNSC, Europa, Io, Ganymede and Calisto all experienced large scale invasions by the UNSC Marine Corps. This resulted in the destruction of hundreds of Frieden bases and weapon storage depots. The remnants of the Friedens and Koslovics were eradicated by the UNSC through a series of bushfire conflicts. The UN penned the Calisto Treaty giving the UNSC jurisdiction in all Earth's Colonies being signed by representatives of all three sides in 2170. The United Earth Government was also formed at this time. The UNSC became the single military force for Humanity. As to how we time travelled and travelled to an alternate reality, we do not know whether it was a malfunction in our Shaw–Fujikawa Translight engine or something else. But it gives us an opportunity to help create the world we lived in without the damage that was caused by my reality's mistakes." Through out his speech about their history, images were being put onto the screens behind Keyes showing some of the conflicts that had occurred. This caused a fear in the chamber at what the dignitaries were hearing as well as relief that they had yet to get to that point in time.
"The proposal I am making is that the Earth transitions from a multi-governed world to a world with one government where everybody is heard. The militaries of the world will be folded into the UNSC to reform the Army, Navy, Air Force, Maine Corps and Office of Naval Intelligence. In exchange for this we are willing to share our technological capabilities with you and help you reach for the stars. Thank you for listening. Before I leave, I am sure there must be at least few questions." Keyes spoke as lots of discussions exploded around the room trying to decide whether to agree to this.
A hand raised to ask a question. "What would happen should we refuse your offer?" was the question that made the room fall silent. "We shall leave you and go to the Epsilon Eridani system to attempt to settle Reach but still support you should you go up against extra-terrestrial life that wishes genocide upon the human race." Keyes said nonchalantly leaving the dignitaries at least a bit happy that they were willing to go help in the case of extra-terrestrial invasions. "Mind that is becoming more and more likely now with the Stargate running." Keyes said off-handily. This left Whitmore very pale as the stargate had just been exposed to the world. "What's a Stargate?" Someone asked from the crowd. "Well, it's a big ring that creates wormholes connecting together two gates allowing for travel across vast distances. I have been informed that there is one in the Cheyenne Mountain complex operated by the US Air Force." Keyes said causing everyone to look at President Whitmore. One of the reporters then asked about the Spartans and ODSTs. "The Spartans are the soldiers who have helped inflict such heavy casualties upon our previous enemy that was intent on the genocide of humanity. They are in effect one man walking armies and aboard my fleet, including the nine that I brought with me, there are 40 Spartans. The ODSTs or 'helljumpers' are soldiers who are dropped from orbit in a small pod and fall to earth to be a fast strike force. There are hundreds of ODSTs in the fleet. Their unofficial motto is 'feet first into hell'." This caused looks of abject horror amongst everyone as this Captain clearly had the strongest military force on the planet. The questions kept streaming in asking what they had to offer in the field of medicine. Keyes answered talking about Biofoam and the multitude of vaccines for diseases that had yet to be discovered yet as well as flash-cloning which allowed for people to have new organs faster and not having to wait for a donor. This was taken as a major medical breakthrough with the medical expert within each delegation arguing for them to take Keyes up on his proposal. about an hour pasted with questions for each of the UNSC officers who one at a time took the stand when asked a question.
Keyes, Dare, Rimal, Fischinger, Blue Two, Blue Three and Noble Six made their way back to the Pelican to extract. While on route Blue Four joined them at the door. Everyone boarded and the pelican rose into the air. Carol Rawley took her pelican to the roof of the building to pick up Noble Three before heading back to the UNSC In Amber Clad. Once they had arrived aboard, the Ship took them into high orbit linking up with the rest of the fleet. The Pelican was then flown to the Lyonesse before the passengers disembarked.
(1200 hours/ August 13th 1997/ UNSC Lyonesse/ Location High Earth orbit.)
Captain Keyes was stood on the bridge of the Lyonesse watching as his crew and those of the fleet were preparing for a possible missile strike from the planet surface.
"Cortana, has there been any progress with the UN yet?" Keyes asked worried for the safety of his fleet.
"Not yet Sir, they are still deliberating." Cortana answered a moment later.
Keyes gave a nod while still looking forward so what worried.
"Captain are you sure you are, okay? You seem... stressed." Cortana questioned him.
Keyes turned around with a tired look on his face. "I am currently debating whether what we did was the correct course of action, knowing the instability and fragile relations of the governments at this point in Earth's history." Keyes told Cortana. Keyes began to wonder why it was him who was thrown this literal change to reality. He was also debating the possible effects that his decision would have on both the future in general and humanity.
"Captain, the only way we will know is by seeing what the future presents us." Cortana said sounding like an old philosopher. "No matter what my belief on the uplifting of a people who I deem unsuitable for such change is, you have made a decision that definitely give hope to the future of the human race." Cortana continued.
Keyes silently agreed with her thought process. 'Only time can tell whether I have been a fool or not' Jacob thought.
"Cortana, how are the surface scans going on possible forerunner installations?" Keyes asked Cortana hoping for some more tech they could use to beat possible extra-terrestrial enemies.
"Send the Providence to the sites to begin excavation. While you are doing that get me a status update on the point defence weapons of the fleet." Keyes instructed his comms officer, Lieutenant Dominique. "Lieutenant Hikowa, how are the ship's point defence turrets?" he asked his weapons officer.
"All point defence guns operational and ready to intercept incoming missiles, Captain." Hikowa responded
"Captain, I'm picking up that our arrival has created multiple reaction among the general populace. The first reaction being that of wonder. An example is a group of people in the UK saying 'Welcome to Earth aliens. We hope you come in peace'. The other reaction is negative but that is mainly coming from the environmentalists."
"Great, just my lucky day.
(1030 hours/ August 13th 1997/ UN Building/ Location Manhattan, New York, USA)
The ambassadors had returned after the previous day had yielded no conclusions as to what should be done. The ambassadors for the major world powers were sat around a table discussing the various courses of action and the stargate program. Some countries were annoyed at the American's attitude that they were superior to all other countries and saw themselves as almost de facto rulers. While most countries that had participated in the second world war suffered from the effects, Germany and Japan being the most prominent, America had thrived in the aftermath growing to become one of two superpowers. Their only opposition was Russia which was now declining.
"What will be done with the technology that you have recovered from the use of the Stargate?" the Chinese ambassador asked Clinton. Before he could formulate a response, the Russian ambassador replied.
"Well, with the Stargate program going to an international level, I am sure we will all get a hand in the technology." Colonel Chekov answered.
"So, in the event that the Stargate program goes international, I assume each country would be allowed to put its own SG teams together. Yes?" The British ambassador asked.
"Well, I would assume so yes Sir." Major Davis answered as the SGC's representative.
"I do not see a problem with the stargate program then." The French Ambassador stated.
The conversation then moved onto what Captain Keyes had proposed.
"Well, when it comes down to the UNSC, I personally think that it would be a suitable idea as we will be needing some sort of defence in orbit and the UNSC is an already formed military branch with tactics and experience in those area." The British ambassador said swaying the French and German ambassadors with that logical thought process.
"I think that the technology that they could give us will outweigh any downsides in the political regard as we will then be able to uplift our societies and solve the problems of overcrowding and food shortage before they become a problem." The French ambassador agreed.
"Well, the UNSC sounds like a fine idea and a well thought out one. However, the UEG is where I find the problem. How will we elect the leader of our world and where will our capital be?" Colonel Chekov asked the ambassadors.
"I am worried about any new diseases that they may have brought along with what will happen to our nuclear arsenals. Where will the training take place for the relevant military branches and where will their Headquarters be?" President Clinton asked.
"I think that this UEG and UNSC will not work and will recommend a military strike against the aliens." The North Korean ambassador told the group. President Clinton, Colonel Chekov and the other ambassadors looked at him in horror.
By the end of the discussion, Russia and America had sided with the rest of the major European powers while North Korea would send word back to commence a nuclear strike.
(1400 hours/ August 13th 1997/ UNSC Lyonesse/ Location High Earth orbit.)
Aboard the Lyonesse Keyes was watching as the three ships being sent to Antarctica were about to move of when his operations officer, Lieutenant Hall, shouted out that she was detecting the North Korean missile Silos were opening.
"Cortana, have all ships informed of the impending strike. Dominique, order all ships to open up the formation enough that we aren't an easy target but have the ability to lend point defence support to each other. Hikowa prepare to target enemy missiles. Lovell prepare to do evasive manoeuvres if necessary." Keyes quickly ordered. "Bring the fleet to Battle Stations."
"Yes Sir!" resounded from around the bridge. Less than a minute later the first of nearly 100 missiles launched in the first wave of 25 missiles from North Korea. The guns took care of most of the missiles as they broke atmosphere being careful not to detonate the nuclear packages. Another wave of fifty missiles launched but were shot down before they were able to reach the fleet. The final wave of twenty missiles were launched near immediately after the second wave and three of the missiles came near the fleet. However, none of the North Korean missiles hit the fleet.
"Order the Autumn, Dawn, and Commonwealth to follow us into orbit directly over North Korea. Have All ODSTs prepared to drop onto the Missile Silos and mobile missile launchers with the Spartans excluding Onyx team." Keyes ordered.
(1400 hours/ August 13th 1997/ UN Building/ Location Manhattan, New York, USA)
Everyone was watching the Radar screen as most of the North Korean missiles didn't even get close to the UNSC fleet and the splitting of the fleet into three smaller groups. One group of what was now known to be a destroyer and two frigates made for antarctica. Another group of the Lyonesse, a cruiser and two frigates made for North Korea while the remaining cruiser, destroyer and two frigates held position.
Five minutes later the world was getting reports that the Anti Air defences around the North Korean missile Silos were taken out by large armoured soldiers and now metal boxes were dropping on the sites at speed.
(1410 hours/ August 13th 1997/ Blue Team Alpha/ Location Missile Silo 14, North Korea)
John and Kelly had just taken out Missile Silo 14 alongside 2nd platoon of the ODSTs taking control of the site. John was hearing reports of Spartan teams taking out most of the missile silos and portable missile launchers across North Korea. Fred and Linda had taken site 5 with ease with their ODST contingent. This was the same story for Red, Green, Black, Sword, Gamma, Noble and Gauntlet teams. The only site that had yet to be cleared was site 4 which now that Sites 3 and 5 were secured Fred, Linda, Jorge and Noble Six would now be moving over to the site to take it with a squad of ODSTs each leaving the other two sites to hold out with just ODSTs.
Operation Unification went off without a hitch as all missile sites and mobile launch platforms were permanently put out of commission and before the North Korean military could respond Pelicans were evacuating the ODSTs and the Spartans back to the fleet. Overall, the operation took about 45 minutes.
(1455 hours/ August 13th 1997/ UN Building/ Location Manhattan, New York, USA)
Back in the UN building the representatives of the world were stunned by the speed and efficiency with which the Spartans and ODSTs completed their mission and evacuated.
"Well, that only proves that they are much better than we are and are more interested in unifying Earth and defending us than conquering us." The United Kingdom's Ambassador said.
With this the North Korean government reluctantly agreed with the UNSC proposal.
Note: The Ambassadors from the UK, France and China were the same as those from the episode Disclosure.