"You want us to start detailing our world, Captain?" President Nixon inquired. Cutter gave a calm nod to the man, to which Nixon hummed and sighed, "Alright. Best thing to do is start it as the hosts of this little meetin'," then he rubbed his eyes. He spoke, "Where to begin other than the 1930s… A madman named Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party take control in Germany. Our whole set of troubles basically starts from that sonofabitch."

"Familiar," Cutter offered calmly, "Sir."

"I'd ask how, but I'm gonna save my questions for your turn on the podium," Nixon offered respectfully. He continued, "When the Nazi warmachine steamrolled over Poland, then over France and so on, the US decidedly stayed out of the War for the most part, courtesy of then-President Dewey being in Office. Not even Material Aid to Britain…"

"Well…" The woman next to Cutter, a young doctor with Asian features, whispered, "That's different…"

"Added upon that was the fact the Soviets, under premier Bukharin, collapsed the moment the Swastika and the Fascia kicked down their door. Whole damn thing crumpled like a house of cards… Not to mention the attempted Coup by the second in line after Bukharin, Joseph Stalin," The man told them, causing further surprise. He would've asked if that was different, too, but he kept on going.

He took a sip of water, then told them, "Britain fell to Sealion, which, going by your faces right now, tells me never happened," and he got a nod. Sighing, he kept on going, "We lost our Carriers during the attack on Pearl by the Japs… And Pearl was subsequently Nuked by the Nazis, ending the last bit of resistance and starting the Atomic Age," then he leaned back into his seat and said, "That's about the gist of it. There's a lot more, like the Japs owning Hawaii and having legation ports in Cali, but that's an issue we're solving."

"Not to mention the Jap missile bases in Hawaii being a problem," The Australian PM stated. Cutter, though slightly dumbfound to have the reports given by Serina confirmed(Hawaii's nuking and all in the '40s), seemed rather stoic. The young doctor beside him, however, was taking a lot more notes, thinking it prudent, like Haoyu, to record everything down to the last breath.

Cutter replied, "We did intercept communiques from the planet about the Hawaiian Missile Crisis," with a hint of dismay in his voice. He looked at Nixon again and said, "Well, sir, the world we landed in certainly isn't like our own by any measure outside of the existence of the Nazis, though it was short-lived."

"By all means, captain," Nixon waved to the man, "We told you what kind of boiling pot of tar we're in thanks to the Devil in Germany and his wider control over Europe, though I did it as short as possible, so this meetin' doesn't take ages… We've still got countries to run for what's an overall important, but informal meeting."

"I understand, sir. I'll try to keep myself as brief as you've been," Cutter nodded, straightening up in his seat. He pulled out a small device and set it on the table, then said, "To start with, our timelines differ severely. In 1945, the Nazis and Imperial Japanese were defeated months apart from each-other, though the fight with Japan necessitated the deployment of the first two atomic weapons ever used… By the US, mind you."

He activated the device, showing various stock footage of the pitched battles during the Second World War. He spoke, "We had Roosevelt and Truman as leaders in World War 2, who were more openly proactive in assisting the British and fighting in the Atlantic, not just the Pacific. Come '44, American and overall allied boots were in Europe."

Murmurs echoed from the other members of the OFN in the room, with Haoyu smirking a little as he heard what happened to the Japs. Captain Cutter, however, continued, "The Nazis were attacked from two sides as soon as the landings on Normandy's beaches took place, with the Soviets steamrolling them from the Far East, though sustaining heavy losses. Stalin wasn't one to care for human lives, either."

"Hah," Snorted Nixon, "The West-Russian War points to that much."

"Two vile ideologies going head-to-head," Cutter nodded, "At least it birthed a victory against the Nazis. And the United Nations as it first started…" then he flipped over to images of the Post-War World, "With the development of the atomic weapons of both sides, the Iron Curtain falls and splits Europe in two. Several close calls occur, including the similarly-named Cuban Missile Crisis."

"Huh," The NZ PM nodded, "Talk about a change of pace."

"Indeed," Cutter nodded. He continued, "And come the 1990s, the Iron Curtain fell with the dissolution of the Soviet, leaving Russia a whole country, plus the remaining states around it…" and a map displayed Post-Soviet Eastern Europe. He continued, "To make a long story short? We had and have our own variation of your history."

"This heavily implies you come from some sort of alternate dimension, however," The Aussie PM voiced, laughing a little in disbelief and concern, "Which is preposterous to say the least… Almost impossible."

"We believe the fact they're alien humans with advanced tech, an impossibility of a cosmic magnitude the likes of which I don't think can be calculated," Nixon offered, "But not the fact they might'a just jumped ship from there to here? Honestly… It's hard to believe, but still the most believable thing I've heard so far."

"Doctor Anders is doing research on the matter to figure out what brought us over your version of Earth," Cutter spoke, motioning to the young woman, who perked up and nodded. Nixon sighed, then motioned for Cutter to keep going, the Captain taking the request/order to heart. "Obviously, come the twenty-second and twenty-third centuries, we colonized our system, went beyond and fought a few more wars against resurgent communist and Fascist units."

"We won," He reassured everyone after seeing them tense up. He added, "... Obviously, our biggest problem wasn't going to be some scrappy insurrection or rebellion, though. Universe ain't kind enough for that," and pulled up images on the holographic display of an unassuming planet. The people all leaned forward to watch the images as a dozen of the UNSC's spacefaring vessels emerged.

All were armed with spinal mount guns and missile launchers, plus point-defense weaponry and were dark like the void of space. The world, labeled 'HARVEST' on one of the side-screens that had just appeared, glowed the same blue glow as humanity's homeworld when viewed from above, at least according to the Nazis. Although it was off… Burnt… Scarred. Flames still burned on the surface.

A blue whirlwind emerged ahead of the flotilla of warships. Eight in total. They flew toward it and sounds of the crews calling the ship on coms filled the room. Then, one reply that sent chills up the spines of just about everyone but the personnel belonging to the UNSC. Cutter himself stared, hatred filling his eyes instead of fear…

"Your destruction is the will of the Gods! And we are their instrument!"

Flashes of light danced around the alien ship, a whale-like monstrosity that looked wrong on every level. Blue-glowing beams and boulders of energy seemed to detach from the vessel. Wisps of light that cut the darkness of outer space around the world of Harvest. The UNSC's own vessels replied, their spinal guns flashing with lightning, kinetic projectiles striking what looked like a blue forcefield around the alien vessel.

Doing no damage…

It was then the Covenant's energy weapons cut through the leading warship, beams searing through the Titanium plating of the warships and the large plasma torpedoes of the Cruiser struck. Like the maws of alien sharks, they bit the forwardmost portion of what seemed to be a Frigate, leaving nothing but debris in their weak.

Another struck a side ship, while beams cut into the larger destroyer that was recording this fight, the CMA Heracles. As the feed cut, the Captain spoke, "In 2525, Humanity made First Contact. On the brink of what could've possible been a nasty Civil War, they appeared…" and he pulled open the image and scans of what was called a 'CCS-class Cruiser' in schematics, plus a symbol of two alien, serrated blades, bottoms hollowed out to make space for a sphere. Cutter told them, "The Covenant."

"Aliens," The PM of New Zealand spoke, "That's-"

"Impossible?" Cutter nodded, "To you, maybe. To us, it's been a harsh, near-decade long reality. The Covenant attacked Harvest, one of our most distant colonies. Burned it to ash and occupied what remained while they were figuring us out…" then he pulled up more images, "Joke's on them, though. One of our best had other plans for them."

Images from ground battles soon played, not to mention orbital warfare. UNSC Marines clad in snow battle-dress advanced, firing their weapons toward the Covenant's troops, engaging them up-close. Main Battle Tanks fought in the ruined streets and glassed craters of the world. Then, footage of the same supersoldiers posted around Cutter's crew as guards. Their skills, martial prowess and dumbfounding speed…

Nixon saw one of them, Spartan-092, tank several shots to his armor's chest from a crystal-firing pistol handled by a split-jawed, hunchback alien. He charged forward, slammed into said alien and planted a knife in the monster's throat, then gunned down several more stout, diminutive grey ones clad in what looked like environmental suits.

The entire OFN part of the delegation looked upon the Spartan's breastplate, noting the marks and indents of the impacts from said weapon. Even the faint pink glow of some crystalline shards remained, embedded inside the battle plate. The armor was scarred not just by that, though, but by dozens of carbon scores and near-miss plasma rounds that seared the paint off in some parts, revealing bare metal.

Cutter told them, "We retook Harvest after eight long and bloody years. We paid for our own world again with the blood of our own troops," with determination in his eyes, "And we swore then and there that no other monster would lay a hand on humanity as long as we drew breath. My entire Crew woke up here and now, ready to prove that it doesn't matter who our enemy is. Be it the Covenant or some upstart bastard wanting an Empire on an Alternate Earth, we'd deal with them."

"So, let us help you," The captain then practically demanded, staring at each member of the Delegation, "In any way we can. The OFN needs troops? We have a division's worth of men and women aboard, eager to do their ancestors proud and kick some Nazi ass. You need weapons? We can manufacture them aboard our ship with the right resources. You need tech expertise? We have doctor Anders and her staff."

Ellen nodded to the President and everyone else. Cutter then added, "And do you need to send a message? We have the Spartans," while tilting his head back to Red Team. He turned to the Spartans and asked, "Jerome. Tell me how long it'd take for your team to be ready to undertake ground ops?" while deactivating the device on the table.

"Less than twelve hours if we move now, sir," The Spartan replied, his voice surprisingly a mix of youth and gruff, veteran-like age.

Nixon nodded and said, "While I deeply appreciate the offer, as I'm sure most'a my compatriots and our allies do… I'm just prayin' none of those aliens followed you here, Captain…" with a slight tinge of a joke behind his words. Cutter shook his head, to which Nixon stated, "Alright. Good to know. Ladies and gentlemen? Should we negotiate and talk a bit more, or do we have enough proof?"

Despite some underlying tension, the staff remained awfully quiet. Nixon smirked, then said, "Alright… All in favor of accepting the help of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, raise of hands," only to watch almost everyone lift their hands up. LeMay seemed a tad tense, not lifting his hand at first, but he looked around and saw he was outnumbered. With a heavy, smoke-laden sigh, the man lifted his hand, too.

"Motion carried," Nixon nodded, "We'll get the Documents necessary, but I don't think I have to tell anyone this information is not to leave this room… Any word of this slips to the Nips or Krauts and they might just try to launch their whole Nuclear arsenal against the ship. Or worse, us." then he cast a glance at Cutter.

"We're already moving our ship behind the Moon and setting up Helium-3 mining on the dark side…" The man stated, "They won't be seeing the ship itself, though it might be a bit obvious when we start landing reinforcements…" and he sighed. There was a lot to take into account, but, regardless, they could deal with it.

"Keep yourselves in reserve for now," Nixon said, "We'll call if we need anything."

"Meanwhile, I'll have our intelligence branch joining hands with the OFN's. I bet ONI's looking forward to getting their hands dirty again," Cutter spoke as he interlaced his fingers and leaned onto the table. First parts of a Warplan were already being written up. Good to know, Cutter thought, they were preparing to strike at the Nazis' heart.

It would probably take a few years, though

Present Day, South Africa

"Fuck me," Tibbets murmured, leaning his M16 against his shoulder, "You guys've been around for that long, huh…? Makes sense why Jaz's father was so quiet the first day he came home," and he smirked. He looked at the Major again and said, "A universe where the Nazis and Japs are dead and gone. Christ, that sounds like heaven…"

"Indeed. Save for the Covenant, obviously," Godfather joked, garnering a few laughs. He added calmly, "And we're intending to fix this place's mistakes here and now, make it same as home," then he checked his rifle. Tibbets nodded and looked around at the rest of the OFN member nation NCOs and COs. The Major told them, "If you kids wanna get back to your squads, we're preparing to move on Swinburne. Baby steps to the liberation of the world, oorah?"

Various cheers, some expletive-filled, others calm, filled the cramped room. The Major dismissed them with a nod, then allowed the teams to pack their kits and join the forward troops. Tibbets himself walked out onto the street of Harrismith, rallied up his boys and said, "Let's get the Platoon rolling, boys. Looks like we'll be moving out."

"Sir, yessir," Both lads said, checking their gear over as the rest of the platoon formed up, all of them watching the Scorpion battle tanks of the UNSC roll up to a defensible position nearby the entrance to the town with the UNSC Marines setting up not too far behind them with MGs and everything else. The Major stepped out of the house they used for briefing, then radioed something.

Tibbets blinked and walked with the man, his platoon one of the first at the front of the town just as the first anti-tank rocket flew over their heads. A Panzerschreck launcher, Tibbets soon realized as he and his men took cover all around. The women's regiment and the UNSC troops immediately opened fire on the treeline ahead.

Green tracers erupted from all across it, bursts of rifle fire ranging from old Sturmgewehrs to the Germans' more modern battle rifles and MG42 upgrades filled the air. The return fire of the Marines and US Army troops came immediately after, Bier hefting his M60 and shouldering it before opening up as well.

Mann took cover, shouldering his DMR, then looked over at a UNSC Marine female who pushed forward. He gasped when a round struck her helmet, causing her to stagger as she took cover. However, his eyes widened when she shook off the hit, aimed her own scoped battle rifle and fired at the trees.

"Holy shit," Mann mumbled. He gently poked over the lip of the wall they were taking cover behind, aiming down the scope and slowing down his breath as an explosion rocked the tree-line. A Scorpion battle tank fired, followed by one of their own Clark tanks' 105mm guns, the HEAT shell detonating immediately upon impacting the German-Afrika Schild line.

Despite the seemingly antiquated and lower-caliber guns, the explosions of the 90mm rounds fired by the UNSC's chosen MBT blew up with about the same force as the standard 105mm rounds attached to their vehicles. That was to say, it was a decent blast, considering it splintered several trees and killed a chunk of the Nazis' forward line.

Noticing an officer among the ranks, guiding the troops, Mann grinned, then breathed and aimed for the man's head, leading him a little and slowing his breath and heartbeat even as rounds zipped by his head. Tibbets beside him aimed and fired in semi-automatic at a platoon of charging Afrika Schild troops with bayonets fixed.

One of Aletta's women shouldered her own captured MG42 as the enemy came in and opened fire, sweeping the rough area the enemy platoon was moving through, cutting down several and forcing the others into the little cover that existed between the trees and the village:Dirt and fields. It wasn't exactly cover, but going prone and, as far as John could see, using the corpses of their buddies as makeshift sandbags worked.

He heard Mann's rifle ring and saw a German officer drop dead in the distance, then motioned for his Grenadiers to move up. Two men carrying M79 grenade launchers immediately aimed and fired their 40mm grenades at the Krauts taking cover. Aletta joined them, firing her rifle and watching as the UNSC Marines began to push forward behind their tanks.

Eyes wide, she said, "They nuts?!"

"One of theirs just took a round to the helmet and shrugged it off," Mann replied, aiming and firing his rifle, "It was a broad, too," then he tilted his head toward the woman in the distance, who now climbed over cover and joined the rest of her fireteam as they moved forward. Tibbets nodded to the group, then showed them to move forward, too.

Attaching a bayonet to his M16A1, he jumped over cover, watching their Clarks and the UNSC's Scorpions form a forward line that provided them mobile covers as they advanced. The highest-ranking officers were also calling backup via the radio:Airpower. Overhead, Phantoms screamed and A1 'Skyraiders' droned, their autocannons lighting the area ahead up.

Tibbets, firing on the move from beside the rear exhaust of an M60, spoke to his boys, "Gotta tell ya, I like how aggressive these bastards are!" while watching a trio of UNSC Marines, one of which had their own version of a grenade launcher, lobbing and long-arming explosives at the enemy position. An MG round skimmed right beside him, ricocheting off the tank's plate.

Bier laughed a little, stating, "Damn thing nearly took your balls off, boss!" before shoulder-firing his M60 much to Tibbets's surprise, right into the enemy's line. John snorted and nodded, then turned back to firing as they advanced. An entire battalion-strength unit of US and UNSC troops moved forward, ringing the enemy's bells like hammers.

John paused as he saw an enemy soldier with an anti-tank launcher in one of the nearby ditches. The man had reloaded the weapon and taken aim toward their Clark, but by the time he got the shot on the tank's side, the Lieutenant aimed and domed him, causing the rocket to go wide and strike the treeline.

John looked over to Bier, who was taking out targets left and right with his M14, supporting the snipers of the UNSC and their other designated marksmen as they all took out MG operators and anti-tank units. The tanks' MGs began to rake the area ahead, pinning the Krauts down, to which John quickly reloaded, dropping a spent 20 round magazine into a pouch and slapping in a fresh one before hitting the bolt release.

He showed his platoon, who was with him as well, to follow. The infantry pushed into the treeline, weapons up, while the tanks supported them by taking out anything the Germans would be rolling toward them to try and kill them. Tibbets jumped over the cover of a Kraut MG team, aimed down and switched the rifle to full auto, raking the three bodies operating the 42 with 5,56.

Beside him, Bier dropped onto his stomach against their cover and aimed toward silhouettes in the treeline, 7,62mm rounds being spat out the muzzle of the Pig. Mann was being more precise with his 7,62, M14 cracking the air only when an officer's hat or a German Sergeant's rank pins showed in his scope.

The UNSC Marines to their left weren't slacking either, their strange assault rifles barking, spent 7,62mm rounds trailing behind them. UNSC MG Teams filled the treeline with their own suppressing fire as soldiers with long, high-caliber sniper rifles took arms, legs and even heads off of Afrika Schild and German troops.

One soldier, the same one Tibbets had seen take a bullet to the helmet and walk it off, watched as a German soldier charged her with bayonets affixed. She dodged the first thrust the moment the man came into view, then charged him back, grabbing him by the waist and lifting him off the floor before slamming him down, drawing her combat Knife and stabbing him in the throat.

Her buddies beside her opened up, gunning down several retreating Germans, with two of them taking rounds to their armor, but shrugging it off like it was nothing. Tibbets mumbled, "Gotta get ourselves that kind of armor," before he paused as a German appeared in front of him with a knife. He grit his teeth and, with a grunt, slammed the butt of his rifle into the man's face.

When the Kraut inevitably fell back, the American immediately pulled his rifle back and thrust the bayonet into the soldier's chest, dumping three rounds to kill him. He knelt, aimed and fired at a trio of other German soldiers who were trying to close range, nailing one in the head, shooting one twice in the chest and dropping the third via a lucky burst.

Bier advanced next to him, put down his LMG on a fallen tree and opened up again, holding the belt with one hand while firing the gun with the other. Mann pushed up, too, pulling out his Colt 1911 pistol, racking the slide and aiming, before putting a round clean through the head of a Boer Afrika Schild soldier.

The rest of their platoon wasn't far behind, Bier stating, "The shitboots are falling back!" As Aletta joined them, covered in blood. The Phantoms and Skyraiders overhead dropped tanks of napalm 300 meters ahead of the advancing unit of OFN troops, most of which had halted their advance by the thickest trees they could find, watching the flames spread among the ranks of the surviving enemy.

John looked at her in concern, but she smirked and said, "Don't worry. Not mine," as she dropped a spent magazine and slapped in a fresh one. She pointed to the UNSC Marines on their right flank and said, "Bastards helped us halt a whole Nazi counterattack that way… Krauts ran out of ammo before we got to'em."

John looked down at the corpse of one of the men he killed. He knelt and searched his pouch with one hand, rifle pointed ahead just in case. The only thing he found was a black and white photo of a woman and two young girls, smiling. Sighing and putting the paper back into the pocket, he said, "Would explain why they charged us with bayonets."

"Maybe taking Swinburne won't be that much of a pain in the ass, eh?" Aletta joked. She saw the three men look at her and said, "I know, I know. Not invokin' Murph, boys, just…" then sighed. She looked at the corpses and then back at their own, adding a quiet, but solemn, "We did lose a few of our own, too, in the fighting…"

"How many?" Tibbets asked.

"Four. Mary, Suzanne, Janneke and Renske…" The girl replied. She added, "The four shots a Kraut Sniper had and he took out a nurse, a bookworm, a housewife-turned-soldier and a fuckin' farmer. Glad I ripped the cunt's throat out," with a hint of vitriol. Tibbets nodded in understanding, then looked ahead at the fire as it died down.

The enemy had sent forward basically Militia to die with the minimum amount of ammunition, probably to spare the ammo for the defense of Swinburne, he thought. That meant they were gonna have one hell of a defense line set up there and near Harrismith, considering the lattermost was an important supply hub…

Christ. At least their alien buddies made it easier…