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Phase 16:No one likes the taste of a future war
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Part 1
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Reports of Wakandan air strikes are finally petering off across the globe. In the US, we have reports of explosions and air battles stretching from New Orleans, where Dillard University is on fire in the Southern US, to St Louis, where Wakandan fighters struck industrial targets.
CNN
US citizens are scared, stunned by the attacks, and outraged. Social media is lit on fire with demands for bloody retribution and increasing calls for nuclear retaliation.
CNN
A major battle occurred just outside New York. Social media pinpointed Tony Stark's location in the area of the General Dynamics research and development facility. Emergency services and police were dispatched to the site, which is currently locked under martial law.
CBS
Attacks across the US, China, and Japan, and the first strikes of South Korea suddenly ceased. Experts claim that the likely reason is a possible high attrition rate suffered by Wakanda's Air Force.EuronewsA French government source announced an air raid carried by the Charles de Gaule air wing striking targets within Wakanda as the possible reason the air onslaught ceased.
AFP
NATO officials confirm a successful raid launched by the French Marine Nationale.EuronewsWakandan Air Power attacked Charles de Gaule Carrier Battle Group as it approached the Persian Gulf. Unconfirmed reports point to hundreds of casualties. France's sole nuclear-powered carrier is reportedly still afloat but likely mission killed. This makes a second NATO-affiliated carrier disabled in the same general area if by different nations and weapons. Are we seeing the end of carrier dominance of the oceans?
BBC World News
The French raid confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that Wakanda is a hidden technologically advanced country, with what experts claim is potentially technology literally out of this world. The French Ministry of Defense released videos from air combat above a futuristic city that appeared to be hidden by an enormous holographic field and defended by energy cannons built into the mountainsides around it.
Еuronews
In a short statement, President Obama affirms that all weapons within the United States military arsenal are on the table to defend the people and integrity of the United States and our allies; however, at this time, the US government is not contemplating launching a first nuclear strike. However, any deployment of WMDs or attack on critical infrastructure with the potential to create widespread damage, like nuclear power plants and dams, will be considered unacceptable escalation and will warrant a nuclear response. President Obama also confirmed that this includes such attacks or WMD deployment against targets within the United States or US troops deployed overseas and attacks on our allies.
CNN
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SHIELD site Blue
location classified
United Kingdom
T'Challa sat on a not particularly comfortable chair, wearing a warm suit provided by his host. His little sister was beside him, sipping tea and looking at the wall with a far-off expression on her face. Ayo leaned the wall behind him, with her steely gaze focused on the door to what they all knew was an interrogation room. The Prince knew that warning the outside world was the right call. The same was true about his public call for all Wakanda diplomatic personnel and War Dogs to cease following orders from the madmen in control of Wakanda.
All that was cold comfort. After arriving at this side under heavy military escort, T'Challa had access to a TV and thus the ongoing news of constant attacks by the Wakanda Air Force. The only saving grace there was the targets, which in most cases, had been evacuated. His people thus killed only a few civilians, with most casualties being either military personnel or caused by the world's attempt to defend itself. Of course, morally, it was all on Wakanda, and there was going to be hell to pay. T'Challa knew there were radical factions within the country. However, he had thought that his father, the War Dogs, and Dora Milaje had it all in hand.
Well, they all found out they were catastrophically wrong on that account. Only Dora Milaje didn't fail completely. Otherwise, he and Shuri wouldn't be in this place feeling sorry for themselves and contemplating how they might save Wakanda if at all possible.
The door opened, and an older British woman entered. She wore a brown business suit and carried a steaming cup of tea in one hand and a tablet in the other.
"Prince T'Challa, Princess Shuri, we have much to discuss. I am Councilor Pamela Hawley, representing SWORD, an international organization tasked to deal with extraterrestrial incursions."
"What does that have to do with the crisis at hand?! There are no aliens involved!" Shuri perked up and asked a pointed question.
"Don't get me wrong; it's not the idea of an advanced civilization in Africa built by black people that give people pause. How you managed to remain hidden for so long, and the level of technological superiority your attack has revealed raises many questions. Many believe the most plausible explanation is that you've had alien help if you aren't proxies aliens are using to cripple the rest of the world. Why, some claim that the technologies your attacks have demonstrated to date are literally out of this world. And if this is the case, the consequences will be grave. Then this becomes more than the act of madmen who hijacked control over your country and military."
T'Challa closed his eyes and thought rapidly. He knew the truth, yet it wouldn't paint Wakanda in a better light; on the contrary. Then again, being declared traitors to humanity had all kinds of implications he didn't want to contemplate and were to be avoided.
"The truth doesn't paint my country in a better light than being alien collaborators. For a long time, until the early eighties, Wakanda's intelligence service, the War Dogs, kept stealing or buying technologies from the outside world and sabotaging research and development until the last years of my grandfather's reign as a King. That, combined with vibranium, the foundation of our technologies, allowed Wakanda to gain and retain its position as the technologically most advanced country on the planet."
"Industrial espionage we can provisionally overlook; everyone does it. Buying technology, even if it's classified and restricted, everyone has been doing it as well. Now sabotage to keep the rest of the world down, which will be harder to swallow," Hawley concluded. "Vibranium? Elaborate."
"It is an extraterrestrial material from a meteorite, so that is the only alien connection we have. The material has properties like nothing else on Earth. Vibranium and its alloys allow for the development and practical use of technologies that would be otherwise out of reach for years, or even decades to be practical," T'Challa explained.
"Is that how you got your cloaking system?"
"That's a fascinating story!" Shuri looked properly alive for the first time since the coup. "Our scientists cracked it while researching how to create an energy shield able to protect cities from nuclear weapons during the height of the Cold War! It overlaps with our holographic technology as well! You see, vibranium-based electronics and alloys we use in our holographic emitters allow them to sustain channeling much more energy than mere holograms require. We already knew that because our Warrior's energy shields are based on the same principles! We are using a combination of technologies to project a holographic field around our aircraft, which uses cameras and integrated sensors to create and maintain a coherent illusion that there is nothing to see! Of course, that's only the first step because doing so would only hide a plane from cameras and the naked eye! Next, we use some of our shield principles to bend light and electromagnetic radiation around the vessel in question, making it slide around it as if there is nothing to see! Finally, heat! That is a big problem that requires vibranium-based heatsinks to store. While they are a pain to build and maintain, they can store heat from a cloaked vessel of the size and power we build for up to a day of flight, giving them global reach while invisible!"
"How does that prevent your fighters from appearing on thermal cameras?" Hawley probed.
"That's again the application of the shield technology. Of course, our fighters don't have the power generation for the kind of shield that will be useful in combat or to protect them from a crash any better than their armor, so installing proper shields on them is a moot point! However, the basic technology at low power can be used to absorb the heat radiated by the vessel, including engine exhaust, instead of radiating a large part of it out; it creates a feedback loop to the heatsinks! After all, an energy shield not only has to reflect as much energy as feasible, it needs to absorb punishment, including thermal energy! We use that principle to hide the heat of our fighters! Even better, we can use vibranium heatsinks to turn some of that heat into electricity for use by the vessel in question, which further increases how long it could remain cloaked!"
Hawley was sure this explanation would be invaluable to scientists and engineers worldwide, just like everything this girl might know. It still didn't give a clue on how to actually detect Wakanda's fighters, which was her next question.
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Part 2
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US Congress will vote on a formal declaration of war against Wakanda later today. Due to the threat of air strikes in Washington, the voting will be held remotely, with Congress members remaining dispersed in undisclosed locations for their safety. For most intents and purposes, this will be a mere formality after Wakanda's explicit acts of war against the United States and our allies.
NATO's Article V has been activated by all attacked NATO members and the EU's Defensive Clauses. We have confirmed pledges of honoring said clauses from twenty of the EU's member states, with the rest expected to follow soon after their governments follow through lawful procedures required to formally declare war against Wakanda.
CNN
Within hours of Wakanda's attacks, Israel, India, China, Japan, and South Korea declared war on Wakanda. Singapore followed suit just an hour ago, even though it wasn't attacked. Australia and New Zealand's parliaments are in meetings as of right now, and we expect to hear declarations of war from them as well.
This might be World War Three in a format no one could have imagined.
BBC World News
The casualties of the Second Battle of Britain keep mounting. We have confirmed over hundred and fifty military personnel as dead or wounded, and the civilian casualties are over a thousand. A sad reality is that most of the wounded civilians were injured by ordnance used by the British military in their desperate attempts to fend off the Wakandan raids. That fits with news from Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
Experts claim that this surprising tragic fact has a simple explanation – due to the nature of the stealth systems utilized by the Wakandan aircraft, successfully targeting them proves extremely hard. Many missiles launched at them lost lock on the target and eventually crashed, causing collateral damage. While morally, there is no doubt that the blame lies with Wakanda's illegal regime that took power through a coup hours before the attacks, the realist of the situation leaves much to be desired.
Consequently, we see limited protests against the indiscriminate use of weapons across Europe, matched by groups demanding an immediate end to the war and a sane, peaceful resolution. The most surprising part is an increasing number of counter-protests by people infuriated by Wakanda's unprovoked attacks.
BBC News
Hundreds of thousands protest across many German cities, even as military combat engineers race to disarm live weapons expended during the fighting last night, and emergency services aid casualties and put down fires. In many cities, riot police are out in force, yet despite their best efforts, the situation is becoming ugly in places. We have Greens and left-leaning sympathizers condemning the war and demanding peace, now at any price. At the same time, we see an unprecedented splint in the Green Party, with over a third of their members out in numbers condemning the attacks on universities and fusion infrastructure; they claim to be our best bet for a brighter future.
Those groups are often met by counter-protests by angry and scared people demanding answers. The primary demand is for accountability as to why the Bundeswehr could not protect Germany and its citizens. There are escalating violent clashes between these groups of angry people and anti-war protesters.
Euronews
Martial Law was declared in the worst-hit parts of the US. At the same time, emergency services and military personnel secured possible live munitions after Wakanda attacked America. Despite government warnings, tens of thousands are out on the streets holding vigils for the dead and wounded during the Wakanda air raids in an atmosphere of fear, disbelief, and righteous rage.
CBS
We are seeing more and more demands to bomb Wakanda back to the stone age and salt the ground in retaliation. This includes outright statements that President Obama shows unprecedented weakness as Commander in Chief by not ordering nuclear reprisal.
New York Times
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SWORD HQ
New York
"Councilor Stark, it's good to see you survived the recent unpleasantries intact," Hawley greeted me from a bunker in the UK. Today she was all formal and proper as it befitted the occasion.
This meeting of SHIELD and SWORD Oversight Councils, practically the World Council, was to reach a consensus about recommending all relevant governments a way to handle the ongoing Wakanda issue. Meanwhile, the regular militaries were scrambling to recover from the first round of the war and doing their best to absorb valuable lessons. At the same time, most politicians were busy putting out fires back home and across the world. It was our job, alongside many advisors, to suggest viable strategies to go forward. For the World Council, SWORD, SHIELD, and the Illuminati, this would be a priceless opportunity to make our mark and put ourselves in a position to guide the whole world going forward.
Danvers and Fury were busy updating us on the damage caused, losses inflicted and taken, and what measures SHIELD was taking to deal with the War Dogs, Wakanda's Intelligence service, or at least the significant part that didn't listen to Prince T'Challa's plea to surrender.
I was more interested in what to do going forward. It was clear most of the damage was superficial, thanks to T'Challa's warning and the flawed planning of the people who launched the attacks.
"I am also glad to be in one piece," I smiled pleasantly to Hawley. "I am also thankful to my would-be assassins for all the gifts they brought us."
"Do you already have something useful for us, Councilor Stark? I would have thought that even you would need a few days in a laboratory for that," Secretary Pierce asked aloud, interrupting Fury's update on the War Dogs' hunts.
"Oh, I'll need time to study all captured technology before I am ready to offer conclusions about how feasible it will be for reverse engineering and production. My observations are simple – amazing underlying technology, wasted on impractical if creative and interesting designs. We are looking at people who haven't fought a peer opponent, much less a modern war, in a very long time. This is good. The downside is that many improvements that should make their military orders of magnitude deadlier will be relatively simple and perfectly within their technological capabilities."
"You believe we can't afford to fight a prolonged war against Wakanda?" Fury asked.
"The longer we wait, the higher the price to take them out conventionally will be. At the same time, rushing without a countermeasure for their stealth aircraft would be wasting an incredible number of assets for no good reason. I understand you have a working Wakandan fighter in custody and most of another one relatively intact?" I looked at Hawley.
"The same is true in our case. We have two of their heavy fighters somewhat intact after they took tremendous punishment," Danvers noted.
"Unless their cloaking and sensor systems are intact, that's a moot point. You asked if they have sensors able to defeat their own stealth, right?" I asked Hawley.
"Eventually," Pamela nodded. "Considering they were the only ones with such technology, to the best knowledge of our guests, Wakanda didn't put enough resources into proper countermeasures for their stealth systems. They were working on various ways to try and defeat the stealth, but to no avail, as far as e know."
"This makes it even more imperative to study the intact fighter and its cloaking system. We need ways to track and target cloaked fighters before launching an invasion or even before beginning serious efforts to build up the logistics for one. Otherwise, we will give more targets to the enemy," I pointed out. "Further, from what I've seen of their technology, we want their production lines and scientific know-how intact. After we absorb it, it will push us decades forward, perhaps centuries, in certain areas. I can't stress hard enough how much we need Wakanda's technology to defend Earth better."
"Then you are another vote in the camp not to nuke Wakanda," Pierce nodded in approval.
"Don't tell me people seriously contemplate such idiocy unless Wakanda uses WMDs first!" I snapped. "Shields, armor, a different type of energy weapons to work on, the active camouflage… I can't stress enough how much we need these technologies."
"I must note that according to Prince T'Challa and Princess Shuri, Wakanda's technology is all based on a material called vibranium retrieved from a meteor that hit Wakanda thousands of years ago. It is a finite resource and far from enough to base world defense on."
"Of course not! We need the working examples of the technology and the people who built and designed it to figure out how to replicate it without relying on a finite resource. Doing so will save us a fortune and an incredible amount of time compared to developing those technologies from scratch. And compared to any alien technology we might recover or purchase for reverse engineering, we are talking about devices designed and built by humans. I can't stress this enough! We need Wakanda's industrial base intact. Suppose you must bomb their logistics and resource extraction sites until they're smoking craters. We can dig up their mines at leisure when the war is over, and no factory can build weapons without the right resources feeding it!"
"That is the kind of recommendation and listening that we need!" Pierce nodded sharply.