Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this chapter is going to reintroduce us to an old character, in a role you guys may be surprised to see. I hope it's a pleasant surprise.
Let's get to it.
Banzai Bill 28: Kind of. I addressed this at the end of The Terran Alliance Strikes Back. After the Galactic Civil War ended, Naboo actually voted to apply to officially join the Alliance, and they were accepted. So, they're not just a territory, but a full member of the Alliance, with a seat on the General Assembly.
zachhoevel: YOu'll see soon enough.
Guest: Maybe. We'll see. I mean, I already have The Dark Soldier. I don't know to what degree I'll have dark Terran Jedi
Rico: They're not really militarized. Most of the military facilities from the war have been shut down, and it doesn't have a garrison near as big as it used to. For the most part, just one division is forward deployed to Naboo at any given time, in addition to Naboo's local defense force, and just a few ships protecting it.
Chapter 3- Mr. President
(March 25, 2049)
In the city of Washington DC, it's almost noon. The sun is high in the sky, there are only a few scattered clouds, and it's an overall pleasant day. Most of the city's population is either at work or enjoying the pleasant day.
Deep within the sprawling city, in the corridors of the White House, Vice President of the United States John Hammons is just entering the West Wing after coming from the Pentagon, where had had a meeting with several world leaders and members of the Joint Command. In his briefcase are a few files he needs to deliver.
Hammons makes his way towards the Oval Office and knocks on the door. "Enter," a voice calls out from inside the officer.
Hammons opens the door and enters Oval Office. As he enters, he sees an older man with gray hair sitting at the Resolute Desk, writing away and focused on his work.
"Mr. President?" Hammons asks aloud.
The man at the desk looks up, revealing the face of an old man with a few face wrinkles and several scars, including one over his right eye. However, the smile that spreads over his face is one of a happy man.
"Hey, John," he says.
"President Nantz, I have the files from my meeting at the Pentagon for you to look over," Hammons says, opening his briefcase and pulling out the files, setting them on the desk in front of Nantz.
"Thank you," Nantz says.
"I'm just gonna sit over here and catch up on a few journal entries I missed, if that's alright," Hammons says.
"Of course," Nantz replies.
Hammons goes to sit down on one of the couches in the Oval Office, pulling out his journal and sitting down to start writing, while Nantz picks up the files that Hammons gave him. The first one he picks up is from General Jack Fredericks, the commandant of the Marine Corps. Seeing the Marine Corps label gives him a quick flashback and he smiles.
Michael Nantz had continued his service in the Marine Corps after the end of the Galactic Civil War, ending the war as the most decorated member of the Marines, with two Medals of Honor and a Navy Cross among his collection of awards. However, soon after the end of the war, due to his age and time in the service, he had taken a desk job at the Pentagon for several years afterwards. Nantz had finally retired from the military in 2024, after 3 decades of service.
After his retirement, Nantz had opened a private security company. However, after years in the business, in the 2030s, when first word came of what would become the First Order reached the ears of the Alliance and tensions began to rise with the New Republic, Nantz decided that his time would be best spent trying to help the people of his country and the Alliance, and he ran for and was elected as a Senator from Texas in the US Senate.
Nantz had served two terms as a Texas Senator at the federal level from 2036 to 2048 before he made a huge jump and ran as the Republican candidate in the 2048 presidential election. Due to his status as a war hero and a well-liked Senator, he had ended up winning the election by the biggest margin since President Obama's re-elections during the Galactic Civil War, and just two months earlier, had been sworn in as the 49th President of the United States. This had been followed soon after by his election as the Executive of the Terran Alliance General Assembly after the retirement of the previous Executive, Prime Minister Charles Gladstone of the United Kingdom.
Nantz was settling in pretty well to his new role as President. However, the extensive paperwork was the worst part of the job.
Nantz briefly reviews through the first packet. It's an outline of a new Marine Corps program to replace its current amphibious armored personnel carrier, which he knows is a topic on the agenda of his next meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He skims through it before setting it aside, knowing he'll be more fully briefed on it soon.
Nantz moves onto the next file in the pile, labeled with the insignia of the Starfleet. On the front are the words "Project Reforge". The rest of the front page says that the subject of the report is the progress of the project.
Project Reforge was a program initiated by the Starfleet in the early 2040s. The project was born after the Alliance became aware of the existence of the First Order's Resurgent-class battlecruisers. The Resurgent class had come as a huge shock to the Alliance, especially given that it visually looked identical to the Repulse class, the dimensions were nearly the same, and they had similar levels of firepower. Theories abounded as to why this was, and it could not currently be determined if First Order sympathizers existed within the Alliance who had fed the design data for the Repulse class to the First Order, or if the First Order had simply managed to recreate the class based off of Imperial records.
The numbers of Resurgents also seriously worried the Alliance, given that the Alliance had recently reduced the size of its battleship fleet in preparation for new battleships to come off the assembly line in a few years, and the Repulse class numbered just 25 vessels. Although the backbone of their fleet, the Baltimore and Tokyo class Star Destroyers, could still stand reasonably well against the Resurgent class, they were still outmatched. And with the supposed improvements to the fighters used by the First Order and improvements to point defense weapons, the Alliance's starfighter advantage was slightly lessened.
The Admiralty and the Joint Command had discussed the problem intently. After the Admiralty and Joint Command had conferred, they had made the decision to initiate Project Reforge. At the time the project began, the Starfleet still had almost 200 London class Star Destroyers in service, with about 80 more in reserve, which they were keeping until their replacement, the Tokyo class, reached sufficient numbers. After the project was officially begun in mid 2043, the project saw the immediate retirement of about 160 Londons, with all 160, as well as 50 of the Londons in the reserve fleet, were sent to the Terran Star Forge to be recycled. At the same time, a new order was placed for 63 new Repulse class battlecruisers, which the materials from the recycled Londons was to be used to construct, hence the name Reforge. With the 25 Repulse class vessels already in service, this project would increase the size of the battlecruiser fleet more than threefold. The Londons had all been destroyed rapidly, their materials put into a reserve to be used in the construction of the new Repulses.
Nantz slowly reads the report. The report discusses the progress of the construction of the new battlecruisers. So far, 54 of the 63 ordered battlecruisers have been completed and entered service, with the most recently completed, the Shinano, having been commissioned just after New Years. The remaining 7 are still on schedule. However, by now, the reserve of materials created by scrapping the old Londons is depleted, lengthening the time needed to build the remaining battlecruisers. Although there had been consideration of using the last 27 Londons still in active service, as well as the now 40 or so in the reserve fleet, the Admiralty had decided against it, feeling it was necessary to maintain them, given the current state of affairs in both the Milky Way and Andromeda.
Nantz reads carefully through the report. Except for the top secret project known as Project Starfire, completing Project Reforge has been the top naval priority of the Alliance for years now. Even with the project so near to completion, the Alliance can't afford to take attention off of Reforge until it's fully completed.
Nantz finishes the report and sets it aside. He moves quickly through the remaining files, one of which is a request for the National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division to be moved to active duty and deployed to Christophsis for defensive duties. Nantz signs the request without hesitation.
After about half an hour, Nantz finishes going through the papers. He then looks up at Hammons and says, "John, I'm going to stop for the day. My grandchildren are waiting on me."
Hammons chuckles a bit and says, "Of course, Mr. President. I'll see you tomorrow." He then takes up his briefcase and walks out of the Oval Office.
Nantz organizes all of the papers on his desk, then sets his pen aside. Finally, he steps up and walks out from behind the desk, leaving the Oval Office.
Nantz heads out of the West Wing and along the colonnade back to the Executive Residence. Entering the building, he renders a salute to the guards and exchanges greetings with them.
Once Nantz is back inside the Residence, he makes his way to one of the rooms on the third floor used as an entertainment room. He heads into the room, where several of his grandchildren are gathered around a TV.
"Grandpa!" the youngest cries out with joy, running up to hug him.
"Hey, darling," Nantz says with a chuckle, embracing his granddaughter. He then looks at the rest of his grandkids and says, "Alright, are you all ready for tonight's episode?"
"Yeah!" they all exclaim happily.
"What creature do you think will be on tonight?" Nantz asks playfully.
"I don't know. I'm just excited to watch it!" one of his grandsons says.
"Alright. Well, let's watch!" Nantz says. He sits down on one of the couches in front of the TV as all of the kids settle in to watch.
The oldest of Nantz' grandkids, who is 16, turns on the TV and switches to the Discovery Channel. At first, the channel is in the midst of a commercial.
Then, the commercial ends, and after a second of a dark screen, the into their favorite show begins, showing a series of crazy looking creatures before the words come up on the screen "Crikey! Creatures of Andromeda with Robert Irwin."
After the Galactic Civil War and the Alliance becoming established in the Andromeda Galaxy, the fauna of the Andromeda galaxy became a point of intense interest on Earth, with many biologists beginning intense study of the animals and various creatures across the Andromeda Galaxy.
One of the most famous of them was of course Robert Irwin, son of the famed Steve Irwin and one of the chief biologists at the Australia Zoo. In his 20s, with his mother and sister taking more of a role at the zoo, Robert began doing research on creatures that inhabited the Andromeda Galaxy. In his early 30s, he started a reality show that showed him researching and explaining various creatures from Andromeda, ranging from tiny creatures such as small rodents up to massive species like the rancor and acklay. The show had been a smash hit, lasting for 14 seasons over as many years. Ever since the show had ended when Robert decided to start spending more time on Earth, it had remained extremely popular on the Discovery Channel. And it's now one of the Nantz family's favorite shows.
Finally, after the intro is finished, it shifts to show Robert in the midst of a meadow. "Hey, everybody, and welcome to the show today. Today, we have travelled to the forests of Cholganna, where we will be taking a look at a truly marvelous creature…the nexu. Now, many of the individuals we will be looking at today are ones in captivity, but we will have the chance to go into the wild to view one of these beauties in its natural environment…"
And, I'll end the chapter there.
So, some of you may remember Nantz. He was one of the Marines I featured heavily in The Terran Alliance Strikes Back, where he fought in the Battle of Los Angeles and the Battle of Endor, and was the first Terran to set foot on Coruscant during the invasion of Coruscant. I decided to bring him back for this story, and after some consideration, I decided to bring back as the President of the United States.
Also, Nantz' Vice President, John Tyler Hammons, is a real person. At age 19, he was elected mayor of his town in Oklahoma in 2008, and he currently serves as an attorney. I thought it would be a cool little connection to our history.
Also, that last little bit. I saw a meme a while back about how cool it would be if we got a Star Wars show all about animals and beasts we see in Star Wars. Well, in this universe, I decided to have one, and who better to run it than Robert Irwin?
Now, next chapter is going to be very important to help set up the background of this story. It should be up soon, until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!