Chapter 4: Northern Winds
With a large swing, the doors to a large office flew open. A man and a woman walked confidently across the sprawl of desks. Numerous eyes poured on the unusually dressed pair. Unlike the rest of the soldiers and cadets on the base, the two wore a dressy uniform that hardly represented any particular branch.
Groups of teachers and students stared intently at the intruders who made their entrance, interrupting the busiest hours of the day. Walking by one of the more decorated and experienced teachers, the woman in blue snorted and smirked as she crossed by. Shaking her head in dismissal the entire way through. Hands in pockets, she disappeared into the labyrinth that was Cascadia's IS Special Warfare Academy or ISSWA.
Like other military academies, ISSWA was a school dedicated to further training both recently graduated and experienced IS pilots in the ways of complex modern warfare on Terra. The school catered to students who were more than qualified to be in an IS. Their instructors even more.
Furrowing her eyebrows in anger a junior officer tried to chase after the unknown woman. An unseen hand from behind tugged her back violently, nearly causing the younger woman to fall on her back.
"Hey what the-" Snapping her head in anger she saw the arm belonged to a high ranking officer, luckily her friend.
"That greatcoat, the really dark blue one in her hands."
"Yeah, what about it?" Another officer questioned.
"That's a Nork."
"She's just from the capital!"
"And the red compass needle pin on her collar? You owe me rounds." The older woman smirked. "That was a one way ticket to hell. Norks are head deep in some dark shit." Julia counseled.
"What are Norks?" A young student piped up.
Staring back the older woman furrowed her eyes in confusion then into sympathy, her students were exchange students after all. Germans.
"I guess it makes sense you wouldn't know about them. A Nork is what we call people from Northern Command. What's left of them at least. They're known for a few things. The first being that they were in charge of defending the Northern Passageways on our of Aurora. The second-"
"The second was that they burned through personnel like an oil soaked rag in a blast furnace during the last war." Another woman interjected, her rank far higher than anyone else in the group.
"Back in the day, before the war, they were known for something else. They had some high quality Mechanized Corps instructors. Extremely talented from what I've been told, apparently some of their Normal instructors have beat Armored Core pilots in exercises." Ashley continued.
"They would have made monstrous IS pilots." Julia remarked, standing next to her superior, and friend.
"How come they never joined?" A student questioned.
"What part of an oil-soaked rag in a furnace did you not understand? They're all dead." Julia answered.
"Wait. Even the instructors?"
"Especially the instructors. Things got desperate back then. Contested landings on Aurora are hard, holding that frozen hell even more. Plus NorCom's whole job in the war was to cause dilemmas. Not problems" Julia noted as she flicked her head to a globe.
Unlike Earth, the Arctic Ocean on Terra wasn't devoid of any landmass. Instead, there laid a large frozen over island. The sheer cliffs combined with tall sharp coastal mountains made the island a natural fortress. Most of the island was inaccessible to boat landings, some beaches only extended a few meters before meeting the sheer walls of a mountain. There existed only seven clear paths from a beach into the island, four of which were inaccessible to vehicles. The only other viable way to enter the island came in the form of aircraft, however, the massive coastal mountains made approach difficult with the intense turbulence.
Despite the harsh entrance, the heavily depressed interior of the island proved to be far more hospitable and meaningful. Inside the large dip lay a vast treasure trove of natural resources that seemed to never end, precious resources that weren't available in such quantities elsewhere.
"NorCom didn't just die, they suffered." Julia pointed at one of the two waterways the large island created.
Her finger traced along the northern Canadian and Alaskan coast, stopping right at the mouth of the Bering Sea. The globe rocked slightly as she tapped it with her fingernails sharply. Looking awkwardly around, the young German women remained voiceless. Eyes stared at the globe, yet the lesson their teacher tried to convey never came.
"What the lieutenant is trying to get at is that we own not only the waterway closest to us, but also the entire mouth of the Bering Strait. There's a lot of ships that sail through the Aurora waterways, all that tonnage gets taxed. But most importantly it's one of a few routes connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific." Ashley lectured, spinning the globe to the south pole.
At the bottom of the globe, where an Earther would normally expect to see Antarctica was instead a giant gray cloud that completely covered the continent and the surrounding areas. Obscuring it like a veiled bride. Multiple bands and rings radiated from the edge of the cloud, each with varying thicknesses, all circumnavigating Terra.
"Who can tell me what these bands are called? Why they're important?" Ashley pointed at the outermost ring.
A few of the Earthers stared at each other in confusion whereas others tried to squint their eyes to gleam the answer off the globe. Their teacher one step ahead of them as she covered the answer with her finger. An awkward silence filled the group as the murmur of the large office seeped into their conversation.
"It's the Akhila Vandella belts. They're important because the belts, along with that giant gray cloud, stop any travel in that area. Any ship that crosses those belts is going to have its hull torn apart by exotic particle radiation." A man with glasses said as he fiddled through a drawer.
"Didn't know you were downgraded to cadet Thomas." Julia casually remarked.
"What? No one was answering." He retorted casually, finally fishing out a bottle from his desk.
Removing her fingers, Ashley confirmed Thomas' answer. The outermost ring drew a line that cut into South America, South Africa, and Australia. The rings were in fact large belts of concentrated exotic particles, so intense that they were known to strip away the hull of a ship piece by piece on more than one occasion. Aircraft weren't spared either. Despite the intense radiation and toxicity, the major concentration of damaging particles was clustered in the bands towards Terra's southern hemisphere. Clogging up any and all South Atlantic sea lanes with hull stripping particles. Only two reliable waterways allowed Terrans to cross between the Atlantic and Pacific due to geography. Both the Suez and Red Sea were rock solid on Terra, compounding the problem of shipping on Terra.
"Here's something your lectures won't tell you. Those bands eject large clusters of clumped particles every so often. It passively poisons the water down there, the currents carry it up north a bit, but by the time it reaches the North Atlantic the particles just…Well fizzle out into...Nothingness? I think? I don't know. I'm an engineer, not an exotic particle physicist." Thomas' hands waved in explanation, trying to teach history and physics via a puppet show of sorts.
"But any sailor worth their salt knows that just because you're outside the bands, doesn't mean you're safe down there. Those clusters might not melt the skin off your bones immediately, but it'll eat through the hull slowly like an acid. By the time you cross the southern canal from the Atlantic into the Pacific, the ship's going to need significant repairs. Aurora's special though, no sea of acid trying to melt your face off. And one side is ours, unlike down south." Thomas rolled his chair over to the globe, pointing to the area that the Germans recognized as the Panama Canal. Noting its proximity towards the South Atlantic Ocean currents
Repositioning his finger to the French coast he traced a path, taking a shortcut through the Northern Passage and Arctic, ending near the Canadian west coast. Near the coastline a massive white spiral was painted onto the globe. Its shape and composition resembled that of a small hurricane. Labeled simply as 'Eye'. The vortex-like phenomenon that connected Terra to Earth.
"It's the only way to get from Europe to the Eye, to Earth, without any issues or delays. Sure, you pay half your cargo's worth in taxes, but at least the water isn't trying to melt you. Plus, once you cross into the Eye it's smooth sailing. Earth's oceans are… Calmer. Way calmer. Money aside, it's probably the most tactically important defensive line we have, we lose it, we lose Cascadia." Thomas finished, fishing through his co-worker's drawers yet again.
"Long story short, the waterway is more important than it looks. Important enough to sacrifice an entire sector command." Julia capped off.
"What about the European theater? There was a tiny snippet about it in one of my first few lectures here, but it was never brought up again?" A student asked.
"Huh. That's interesting, they never even mentioned Northern Command by name during our lectures. Now that I think about it, when Ida and I went to Memorial Hall, there wasn't anything for Northern Command. How come no one talks about them?" A younger student added.
Ashley averted her gaze from the group while Thomas nearly stumbled over himself. Electing to remain quiet, he ignored eye contact while rummaging around, leaving a slightly annoyed Julia to play history teacher. Frustrated, she shot a look at her two co-workers, though only one was silently forgiven.
"Look. The thing about NorCom is that…" Sighing for a moment Julia's eyes fixated on the tip of the globe for a moment, while Ashley's body stiffened.
"Surviving a war doesn't mean that you win it. Sometimes surviving means your friends or allies have to die. It isn't just about your front, there are battlefields across multiple different theaters. It's complicated. NorCom didn't really have the units or equipment for any major counter offensives." Julia started, leaning against a desk preparing for a long lecture.
"And uh… We-They needed-..." Crossing her arms she stumbled, trying to find the right words. "Look. Things got desperate. If NorCom couldn't beat their enemy. Then they needed to slow them down. At all costs. Dilemmas are better than problems."
"NorCom's headquarters were pretty far northeast. Their sector was mainly the Vloran Island Network and our side of Aurora." Julia pointed to the globe, her fingernails hovering over the smattering of Canada's northern islands. Across it lay the large Aurora Island, center stage of the Arctic on Terra.
"NorCom and Center Command shared responsibility for defending the Arctic. Northern Command commanded the islands above our coast, Center Command took care of the coast." Julia pointed at one of the northeastern islands in the Arctic Archipelago. Known as the Vloran Network on Terra. Below them, the long northern Canadian coast stretched westward, Cascadian territory on Terra.
"When the sides suddenly changed, it was like someone had pulled the dining cloth mid bite. Norks got hit with so many ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones that the defensive net ran out of ammo. Pretty expensive decapitation strike, but it worked for the enemy. NorCom's HQ was ground to rubble." Julia pointed to one of the islands opposite the much larger Aurora Island.
"The enemy followed up with amphibious and air operations, practically stealing our side of the Aurora channel and the outermost Vloran islands. A few of the smaller islands were taken over within the first few weeks." Julia's finger diagonally traced back and forth over the northernmost islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
"Your forces on Aurora let the enemy do uncontested landings in their own backyard?" The youngest student was left flabbergasted.
"Oh of course not. While NorCom was getting their world rocked in the channel and the islands near our coast, everyone on our side of Aurora island was getting an even harder thrashing."
"How? How could they let a naval invasion happen in the waterways behind them." The German was left perplexed and stunned.
"Aurora's coast are quite literally giant mountains. It's like this everywhere on our side of Aurora. I think there's one beach. But it's not good or big enough to make a dockyard out of it. All of NorCom's dockyards are on the islands opposite Aurora by Vlora." The Germans begrudgingly accepted Thomas' answer.
"Our enemy on Aurora was an ally, well, they were before they sold their souls. The few salvaged NorCom records showed that we stationed a skeleton crew over on Aurora. Everyone else was needed elsewhere." Julia pointed to Greenland and a large island of the Arctic Archipelago.
"Center, Southern, Pacific, Eastern and Western Command were too busy fighting another enemy." She pointed towards Siberia as well as the interior of both Canada and Alaska.
The majority of Cascadia's territorial claims came in the form of coastal territories as well as the majority of the Arctic Archipelago. Spanning from the middle of Canada's northern coast, Cascadia's claims traveled westward towards Alaska and circled downwards towards the middle of Canada's west coast. While Cascadia's territory extended inwards from their coastal regions, they owned neither the proper interior of Canada nor Alaska. On a map Cascadia resembled a sideways horseshoe, its head pointing towards Russia and the Pacific.
The land inside said horseshoe belonged to that of a longtime rival. Lidl Becket Conglomerate, known as LBC for short. Lidl Becket's territorial holdings put it in a precarious military position, extending deep into the horseshoe of Cascadia, LBC was in a perpetual salient/bulge. To its east lay a massive cloud of swirling Kojima radiation contamination. So strong that it ripped apart the bonds of anything that entered the stationary, but swirling, cloud. Spanning the majority of both middle America and lower Canada, the cloud's reach stretched north covering the North American lakes. A decent portion of LBC's northeastern territory above the cloud had the displeasure of bordering Cascadia, as well as General Armaments to the east. Cascadia's parent corporation with significant land claims across eastern America and Canada. Even more so considering that the Canadian Hudson Bay was solid land on Terra.
The Continental War saw LBC split Cascadia in two, cutting its northern Canadian coastal territories in half, while racing westwards towards the Alaskan west coast. Cascadia's capital. Through sheer stubbornness and great sacrifice Cascadia had not only reclaimed lost land but managed to take a decent portion of LBC's interior Alaskan territory by war's end. Such a limited victory however represented the majority of Cascadia's territorial gains during the Continental War, one that came with a high price.
"Not a single body was recovered by the time our forces retook our side of Aurora. Well, that's how the story goes at least. No records, no personal belongings, nothing… It was like they all vanished into thin air with their equipment. I mean… It was basically two years before the Norks retook our side of Aurora. But come on. At least a body… " Ashley's voice trailed, somberly her gaze shifted away from the group.
"If they went through all that, how come they only have a tiny section in the books. It's pretty odd, isn't it? Like they don't even have a war memorial…Sorry. It's just, even in Germany we still remember. All the good and bad." The oldest student offered.
"Center Command's job was to defend our Arctic coast. When the war started, the corporation below us split Center Command in half. The coast under Vlora was cut off from the west." Using her finger, two digits split Cascadia's northern coastal territory in half. The west towards Alaska, the east under the Arctic Archipelago.
"We couldn't maintain proper communication with NorCom and Center Command's cutoff forces. Electronic warfare on Terra far exceeds anything on Earth. We can do more than just jamming." Julia dipped into familiar territory.
"The only reason we're still here is because our forces in the east decided to fight tooth and nail for everything. I don't think NorCom or the cutoff Center Command forces ever thought they would win let alone survive. Everyone back west felt the same in our hearts. It was a question of when, not if they would die. But… I think they answered the question of when and where, it was the only thing they could control." Ashley smiled despite the absent looking eyes.
"There'd be a period of total communications black out, and then all of a sudden we'd get an update out of nowhere. It was always short. Detailing how many people or how much land they lost. I hated those. Just a constant stream of bad news. But I remember all of us huddling around the televisions and radios, cheering like crazy whenever they'd let us know about a successful raid or the latest enemy casualties. Ultimately in the grand scheme of things it didn't change much for them. They were still dying. But it meant the world for us… That someone out there cared about us."
'Care?' The Germans looked around at each other. Confused beyond belief. Earth was no stranger to cheering the death of someone or a people. But this was a bridge too far for them, what sane people would cheer the deaths of their own?
"Remember what I said earlier? How war isn't just about your frontline? Every second they stalled, every counterattack, every soldier they killed, it all bought us days. It'd have been easier to surrender, to allow hordes of equipment and soldiers to flood westward. Towards us. But they held their ground, slowly bleeding themselves to death everyday." Julia reiterated.
"LBC may have split our colony in half. But our forces in the east split their army in half." Thomas chuckled.
"I…I don't get it. I know you said that being a soldier is just a job in your world. But- How. How could your entire country ignore them? No monument, no documentaries, not even a chapter in the history book? They saved you! I don't…" The youngest of the students questioned in circles.
"History books tend to rely on facts, not stories. We don't have much information about Northern Command or Center Command's eastern forces. Their records never survived the war… Soldiers aren't the only casualty of war." Ashley answered.
"The existence of loud lies does nothing to change the reality of a silent truth." Thomas quoted. "There's a memorial for NorCom and our citizens in the east. It's a tomb for the unknown. But we- They prefer it that way. Fake heroes and stories would be an insult to their lives."
"Stories?"
"You know how you're always complaining how the internet here sucks and is so limited? It wasn't always like that. During the war someone released a series of nasty computer viruses. Lab produced, made by computer scientists, not your average hacker. Some went down to the hardware level. They attacked the motherboard's logic controllers. Shutting off fans, setting fire suppression systems off, messing with sensors, stealthy but excessive reads and writes and a ton more. Other ones used some light artificial intelligence to update, hide and spread themselves like a worm. Everyone got hit by the viruses, only a few people made motherboards, but NorCom had it pretty bad. Most of their physical backups were destroyed during the war." Thomas recalled.
"NorCom lost a lot of soldiers and citizens. The little bit that we know about them comes from interviews and some scraps of recorded information. What we know is that they lost our side of Aurora, fought tooth and nail in the Vloran Arctic Archipelago, helped GA in the east and much more. When we reunited with our forces in the east, Center Command absorbed NorCom's combat ineffective outfits. Everyone else was promptly sent off to Europe by order of GA. Officially that's pretty much all we have on Northern Command. Everything else is…Well stories." Ashley added.
"You know what's the best part? The only reason we know NorCom landed in Europe was because someone from the Expeditionary Group logged it. NorCom's own logs, for their own landing, don't exist." Julia laughed.
"I thought you said Northern Command was absorbed by Center Command?" A student asked.
"Those units had literally nothing left, some didn't even have winter clothes let alone uniforms. NorCom was bled dry. Heavily. The Norks who could still fight were thrown under something called EOG and sent packing to Europe. Only the veterans who couldn't heal on the voyage or were too injured stayed back in Cascadia." Ashley remembered.
"What?" The oldest German was left stunned, a hint of anger in her voice. "You just said NorCom suffered huge casualties. Why would you immediately send them across the world? What about the Northern Command's defensive lines? Who defended your-"
"Easy kid." Ashley calmly voiced, meeting her students' gaze. "GA demanded troops for Europe. Constitutionally we couldn't say no. The NorCom units we sent to Europe were hardened veterans and instructors, they could do more with less. Unlike everyone else, they at least had a chance of surviving Europe."
Ashley looked at the globe of Terra, the sprawling European continent that had set itself ablaze all those years ago had etched itself permanently in her mind. If eastern Cascadia was NorCom's frozen hell, then Europe was their inferno.
"So what happened to them? How many did they lose? What did they do?"
Despite the fact that she anticipated the questions, Ashley shifted uncomfortably. "No one really knows. Their entire command structure was pretty much destroyed along with most of their troops. Europe was worse… Much worse."
An awkward silence hung in the air as the young Germans were left stunned at the words and its casual delivery. The past few minutes had been torturous impromptu history lesson. Yet all of that paled in comparison to what they had just heard. It was as if a movie had abruptly ended mid fight. Frustration gave way to silent anger as a few had hoped to meet some of these veterans. Sighing for a moment Ashley gently clasped her hands together, collecting herself while leaning against a desk.
"When the Arms Forts and troop ships docked at Hope Harbor it was a mess, they didn't bring back many bodies. We still don't know how many Northern Command troops died in the war. Especially in Europe. The crazy thing is we don't even know how many NorCom soldiers enlisted during the war either. So it's literally impossible to accurately find out how many died. That's why the memorial in the east only lists the number of survivors."
Taking a deep breath Ashley sighed with great relief, her eyes opened to a much clearer area. Having sent the Germans off, Thomas leaned towards Ashley while handing her a glass. Giving a silent toast to the end of a history lesson that both lived through.
"How is Trinka these days? Any better?" He asked.
"She's… Some days are better than others. There's still the nightmares and sleep talking, but aside from the shyness that's about it. She's started doing the groceries on her own, so there's that." Ashley said, downing the full glass of whiskey.
"That's good. Good." Thomas offered a sympathetic nod.
"What's with the early celebration?" Julia questioned while downing her glass.
"Come on, do you really think it's business as usual when NorCom of all people shows up? Fifty says that we get the rest of the week off." Thomas said, refilling her glass.
"Speaking of NorCom. Has Trinka seen anyone lately? I remember you said that they finally accepted her proof of service. I hear the trauma therapist works wonders, no fixes, but makes living easier. If you need any names, I have a few that I know." Julia floated.
"She's refusing to see anyone." Ashley sighed.
"Ash! You promised you'd get her to go. I don't wanna see your face on the news." Julia hissed, referencing a string of recent murder suicide by veterans denied the help they needed.
"I know! I know! Look, it'll be fine. She's opening up more and more everyday, A couple days ago she told me a few stories about fishing in the Aurora channel-"
"Ash. Come on. I know she's your wife and all, but you have to take a step back. You can't do this alone, she needs more support. Aurora is barely scratching the surface. What came back from Europe… that wasn't an army. At this rate it'll take another couple decades before she opens up about Europe. "
Grumbling silently at Thomas' words Ashley downed her refilled glass. The alcohol calmed her nerves slightly as she mulled over her friends' words. Neither were the type that sought pleasure in her relationship issues, the opposite was true in fact. For a while she had been venting and discussing the post war pains that plagued her wife. Seeking comfort in the lent ears and advice, yet as time passed the messages started to repeat. In a small way she understood her wife's pain, the shame and dissociation that serving her colony brought. Cascadia was a society that highly valued communal interaction, the scars of war had made fitting in seem like an insurmountable task. Isolation was an especially vicious cycle for Cascadians. For the longest time Ashley was genuinely concerned that Trinka would have been left behind, shunned by the wider community.
The doors to the room opened once more, this time with more care. A young man dressed in blue, like the two before him, casually sauntered in. A cross bag was slung over his thick buttoned up trench coat.
The sudden attention of the entire room momentarily broke his stride. Navigating his way through the desks and students he made eye contact with Ashley for a brief moment. Lightly she nodded, as if she had caught a stray glance from an old friend. Returning the nod, he disappeared into the academy's labyrinth of hallways.
"Uh. Was that?" Thomas stuttered.
"Yeah. That was an instructor. The shoulder patch, compass needle on top of a book." Ashley observed.
"B-But he looks like…What mid 20s? Poor kid's a baby. What the hell happened to his face?" A befuddled Julia stammered as similar thoughts spread throughout the minds of other instructors.
"So, the whole thing about NorCom not recruiting since the end of the war... I guess that's one giant lie." Ashley softly raised, reaching for the bottle.
A/N:
Germans in Cascadia? Seems that Germany is unfortunately the center of the Second Cold War. At least they're united this time.
The fall of numerous corporations after Armored Core 4 and 4A has created some interesting mergers. Some corporations survived; others died. Others thrived. Lidel Becket Conglomerate may be a new name, but like every AC corporation, they're goals are hardly altruistic. And like any good AC corporation, it's made up of numerous subgroups.
Terra may resemble Earth on first glance, but there's some changes. Aurora existing in the Arctic gives some new space to fight over. With the radioactive belts by the South Atlantic, the Arctic is all of a sudden way more important. A few small seas, canals and routes don't exist on Terra. Instead, they're rock solid.