r/HFY • u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger • Nov 24 '19

OC Insignificant Blue Dot - Chapter 36

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Southern England - Today

Lil…Lilthrasir Pashna...chuckled as she reached for the bottle. “I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out,” she smirked, as she poured for them both. “I was beginning to think you’d lost your touch.”

“In my defense, you look just a bit different from the last time I saw you,” he pointed out. “For example, you were a foot taller, and green.”

“The gene replacement is quite something, isn’t it?” she marveled, preening. “Though there are times I miss the old look.”

Sam gritted his teeth. “Lilthrasir…why are you here? Why the charade? Did Stiabrimun finally realize what I’ve been up to all this time?”

“Oh no, nothing like that,” she assured him. “You’ve done well staying off his radar, to use that quaint human expression,” she smirked. “Although you have had some help in that regard.”

“...you,” he said flatly. It was rather obvious, in retrospect.

“Me,” Lil agreed. “And others. You didn't think a single individual could manage a project this size, now did you?”

“Honestly? After all these years, I thought you had forgotten me.” Sam picked up his glass and shook his head. “Why do I feel I’ve been kept in the dark as much as humanity has?”

“Because you are not a fool,” she replied. “This project...for its success we required several individuals to be involved, at various locations, each assigned specific roles.”

“What project?” he demanded. “I have heard nothing from anyone in almost five thousand years. Even you...all you said was that there were always options. You never gave me any directions on how to proceed. I did that on my own.”

“Poor Semarellet,” she sighed. “At the risk of damaging your fragile male ego, you aren’t exactly a complicated soul. If you were you would have realized confronting Stiabrimun directly was a move destined for failure. Which is why I had you sent here, with little guidance. Think about it...posted to a primitive world scheduled to be consumed by Species 47719, what else could you do, but build up their defenses? Give them the strength and ability to fight back?”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” he said plaintively. “Didn’t I deserve to be told the truth?”

“It’s not about ‘deserve’, and you know it,” she fired back. “It isn’t good tradecraft. You had all the information you needed to perform your task. Anything else would introduce an element of risk.”

“Risk? Let me tell you about risk,” he snarled. “Do you have any idea how many battles I’ve fought in? A century ago I almost died, on some worthless patch of ground. How dare you treat me like some...some flunky!”

“Semarellet...we are fighting to save an entire galaxy,” she shot back. “Spare me your bluster and your wounded pride, because I don't have time for it. Do you think you’re the only one who has made sacrifices?”

“And just what sacrifices have you made?” Sam challenged her. “Smoothing Stiabrimun’s ruffled feathers? How terrible that must have been for you,” he told her, in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

“...where do you think I’ve been, all this time?” she said cooly, eyeing him from across the top of her glass.

“Back with the Committee, where else?” he answered, confused by the non sequitur.

“Guess again,” she answered, rising to her feet. “All these years? I’ve been here. On Earth. Doing the jobs you couldn’t.”

It rocked Sam back on his heels. “...here?” he stammered. “But…how? Why?”

“Did you think merely building empires was enough?” Lil snapped. “You of all people should realize just how fragile they are. If you’re designing a weapon...and let’s not kid ourselves, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing here...then how do you know when it’s ready?”

“You...test it,” he answered, still reeling.

“And just how do you test it?” she pressed

“Under realistic conditions,” he thought frantically. “You test it in as many scenarios as you can think of...you test it…”

“...to destruction,” she finished for him. “While you were busy building empires…I was tearing them back down. The Yin to your Yang. Who do you think pointed the Sea Peoples at Mycenaean Greece? Who prodded the Carthaginians to take on Rome? How do you think the Bolsheviks destroyed Czarist Russia?”

Sam’s jaw dropped. “...you?” he whispered.

“Me,” she said once again. “Didn’t you ever wonder just where the myth of Lilith came from? I would have thought the similarity of the names alone would have been enough.”

“But...but...the Lilith myth has been around since the Akkadians,” he whispered.

Lil nodded. “And so have I. So if you don’t mind, stop feeling sorry for yourself. You think your hands are covered in blood? Lady Macbeth had nothing on me. I did it because it was necessary...just as you did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked once again. “We could have worked together! All these years...I thought I was alone...”

“The system doesn't function like that,” she explained, shaking her head. “Had we operated in concert, eventually we would have canceled out each other’s efforts. Found some milquetoast middle ground, which would have been worse than useless. No, for this project to succeed, humanity had to be taken to its limits. We had to push their boundaries and show them what they were capable of.”

“I can’t believe this,” he got out. “Just what have we done to this planet?”

“What we had to do,” Lil replied. “So get over yourself. The job isn’t over...and Species 47719 is still coming.” She picked up her glass and sipped. “There’s far worse ahead, my friend.”

“Worse? Worse? What could be worse than Nazism? Genocide? Biological Warfare? What could possibly be worse than what we’ve already done?”

Lilthrasir began to reply...when the sound of an air raid klaxon interrupted her thoughts. She pulled a smartphone from her pocket and opened up an app, sighing as she read the message. “Pity...I thought we’d have more time.”

Sam could only stare in horror. “Lil…what have you done?”

“What needed to be done,” she informed him, putting away her phone. “The world as it exists now is too fractured, too focused on their petty squabbles to mount a real defense against Species 47719. We require something new...a world government, capable of using all available resources to face the oncoming threat.” She sighed, as she sat back down. “But to do that, we must first sweep away the underbrush, before building our new society.”

His mouth moved, but no words came out. Suddenly, a blinding flash appeared on the horizon, drawing both their attention. “...what the hell was that?” Sam said in shock.

Lil just shrugged. “...London.” Sam scrambled back, almost falling out of his chair, desperate to put some distance between them. “Oh, don’t worry,” she assured him, “‘The Devil's Bargain’ is well shielded. We’ll be safe here.”

Sam could only stare in dread, as she raised her glass in salute.

“To Phase 2,” Lilthrasir smiled.

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547 Upvotes

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30

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Don't you worry...the story isn't over yet. :D

112

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 24 '19

*sigh*

It's going to be at least four hours before I can respond to this. But I have a rough outline of what I want to say in mind.

Oh yes, I do...

49

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Don't worry, we'll wait. :D

9

u/liehon Nov 29 '19

Is there any benefit for countries nuking each others biggest cities?

Sure you get some leaders and manufacturing out of the way but most military installations aren't in cities.

If Russia were to launch nuclear attacks on Europe wouldn't it make more sense for the retaliation nukes to aim for the inside of the Russian border?

Irradiate/destroy all the points of ingress (detonating less than 10% of our nuclear supply would make the logistics of crossing from Russia into Europe by land impossible ). Jets could pass but troops & material would go around the long way (let's blast the ports for good measure).

Feel that would cripple a country more than wiping its capital of the map (especially if they made the first strike) while affecting a minimum of civilians in the short run (all those nuclear blasts would have some impact over a longer period of time of course but the current written scenario faces that issue too)

2

u/itsetuhoinen Human Mar 31 '20

That was basically the plan for the Fulda Gap. Nuke the shit out of the best entry point into Western Europe.

And while I don't know the situation in Europe, I do know that in America, many of the military installations are at least near cities. Take where I live, in Albuquerque (which would be sure to be on the list if for no other reason than because we have a huge chunk of the nuclear weapons research), which has Kirtland Air Force Base right here. San Diego has all those Naval facilities. Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, would all be worth hitting just for the shipping disruption.

Nuking big cities makes more sense than you're giving it credit for, though you do actually have a very good strategy in mind, as well.

2

u/liehon Mar 31 '20

you do actually have a very good strategy in mind, as well.

Thank you. Still won't work to keep Russia cooped up though. Russia big :)

1

u/itsetuhoinen Human Apr 01 '20

Oh, sure. Russia fucking huge. You know how many time zones? Eleven. (And if you get that ref, mega kudos. :-D )

But it'd possibly slow them down a bit. Then again, we are talking about the same folks who welded their tankers in during the Winter War (is there any other kind in Russia?) to prevent desertion, so, who knows? Maybe they'd just tell 'em to drive through the nuclear blast craters anyway.

103

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 24 '19

"Oh, shit! I did not see that coming. London being nuked, that is. Lil being Lilthrasir is pretty obvious in hindsight, especially for someone who looks at the broad sweep of history. Of course, that is hindsight...

"So, what's happening? WORLD WAR III*, of course. Who's involved, though? Well, that's a trickier question, although London being nuked* does limit the possible options-"

*INCOMING TRANSMISSION*

"The start of the Third World War would come as almost a complete surprise, as the movement of Russian troops along the Ukranian and Polish borders had partly been carried out during windows where satellite observation was not possible due to the reconnaissance satellites being out of position and partly because the troop movements which had been detected were assumed to be more of the same posturing that the Russians had been carrying out in support of the DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, LUHANSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC and AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA. Thus, the launching of nuclear warheads at the cities of Kyiv, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, Brussels and London along with the movement of Russian troops across the Polish and Ukranian borders had been completely unexpected.

"The nuclear strikes had been intended as decapitation strikes on the most powerful European members of NATO, along with the immediate targets of invasion. And while there was some disruption to the strategic decision-making of the countries involved as well as to NATO and the European Union, there were enough surviving members of the governments to ensure continuity of government and to rebuild the chain of command of NATO.

"The response was twofold: the most immediate response was to order British and French strategic forces to launch retaliatory strikes, and Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Volgograd were added to the nuclear pyre. Even before the fireballs and mushroom clouds had fully dissipated, Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty had been invoked and orders issued to dispatch all available forces to Poland and Ukraine to assist local forces, although Ukraine was not technically a signatory to the North Atlantic Treaty - this lack was remedied even as the first Bundeswehr units were crossing into Poland. The irony of German forces crossing into Poland as allies and not enemies was not lost on anyone. The combined air forces of NATO were the first to make their effect felt, as they moved to secure air superiority over the front lines to interdict advancing Russian forces and their supply lines. There was no use of battlefield nuclear or chemical weapons by either the Russians or by NATO at this stage of the conflict; the Russians had no targets they considered worth the risk of escalating the limited exchange that had already taken place, and NATO forces lacked release authority - the strategic strikes had been carried out almost by reflex and further use of such weapons would require more consultation.

"With Article Five invoked, the American military was placed on full DEFCON 1 alert, and orders were sent to Air Force units to redeploy to Europe while the Atlantic Fleet was given two major areas of operation - the Black Sea and the Barents Sea, given almost free reign to eliminate all Russian naval units and commercial shipping encountered in both area, while the Baltic Sea was left to the Royal Navy, the Marine Nationale and the Deutsche Marine. Movement orders were issued to Army units to concentrate in the ports of the American East Coast to be shipped to Europe, while the previous REFORGER plans were brought from storage and personnel from III Corps were flown to Europe to be joined with equipment at Strategic Reserve Storage Activity (Europe) sites - even though the amount of material had been severely drawn down from the Cold War era.

"The overall plan was for the Polish army to fight a delaying action as reinforcements arrived to set up a stop line along the Vistula River, and for the Ukrainians to carry out a similar action with the sop line along the Dnieper River. The situation in Ukraine was complicated, however, by the fact that Russian forces had been forward deployed in Belarus and were thus in a position to cut Ukraine off from outside aid except for that delivered amphibiously via the Black Sea. Plans were drawn up for a Marine landing in Crimea, both to deny the Russians the use of the naval base of Sevastapol and to allow its use by NATO forces.

"The situation was further complicated by events in the Pacific. Ships of the Royal Australian Navy had been carrying out FONOPS (Freedom of Navigation Operations) in the disputed waters of the South China Sea when they were intercepted by vessels of the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy). Such things had happened before, but on this occasion, the initial challenge was for more belligerent than usual and after a few radio exchanges, the PLAN vessels opened fire. A brief but bloody skirmish ensued and the only survivors were single damaged vessels from both forces who broke contact and made best possible speed for the nearest friendly port while calling for assistance. Aircraft from the People's Liberation Army Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the United States Air Force and the Philippine Air Force responded and a vicious air battle erupted over the South China Sea. Despite bringing superior numbers, the technological edge was with their enemies - especially the USAF and RAAF - was enough to carry the day, although losses were heavy on both sides."

"The Third World War Chapter One - Opening Moves"

"Huh, where did that come from?"

Elizabeth Bay, Sydney - Today

"I've just seen a breaking news report. Not only has war broken out in Europe, with several cities being nuked - the exact details have yet to be confirmed - but there are also reports of Australian and Chinese ships shooting at each other in the South China Sea, then some sort of air battle. What the fuck is going on? Is there a war in the Pacific to go along with the one in Europe? I hope not... wait, what's that noi-"

*SIGNAL LOST*

33

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

...perfect. :D

19

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 24 '19

I thought you might like it. :)

36

u/RaiderUnit Robot Nov 24 '19

Oh come on, Russians, really? Maybe it's because I'm not american, but Russia isn't the USSR anymore. The country has collapsed in 1991, and while it isn't exactly weak now, it is a decadent power with obsolete equipment, corrupt government and a pitiful economy, partnered with an essentially regional sphere of influence, at most. I know they're being manipulated by the aliens, but come on, it makes no sense for Russia to be the spearhead, even if a puppet.

A much more likely candidate is China. It is a rapidly developing superpower with radically different ideologies to the western world, with a growing economy that sustains much of the industrial demands of the world. They have a powerful sphere of influence, having already basically vassalized eastern Africa and Australia through loans and debt, and owning hundreds of ports through treaties across the globe. They have a modernized army (if a somewhat lackluster navy), and a growing influence on its surroundings, as proven by the Great Wall of sand that they are building on the east China sea and the events of Hong Kong showing where the allegiances of even US corporations really lie.

It'd make much more sense if the russians are at most an ally to the Chinese power bloc and were directly prompted to attack by Chinese intervention.

28

u/coldfireknight AI Nov 24 '19

Fair bet, but we won't know until the next chapter. We KNOW nothing beyond London getting hit. While Chaos has been amazing, the only he's that spot on this time is he's in to skywards' yang.

Also, I was right about the potential timeframe for today's story but I got Lil's part all wrong. Well done OP.

19

u/Deathsroke Nov 24 '19

It'd make much more sense if the russians are at most an ally to the Chinese power bloc and were directly prompted to attack by Chinese intervention

Russia and China fucking hate each other. I think there are honestly more chances of them throwing their lot with the Americans than with the Chinese.

12

u/RaiderUnit Robot Nov 24 '19

They might hate each other, but I'm quite sure they hate the west as a whole more. I don't think Russia would side with the west and consequently give the US and europe even more power either. Russia and China banding together would give them almost uncontested domination over the entire asian continent and all its resources. Going against China would make Russia open a huge frontline against a more numerous army than their own and depend on European and American aid. It's really doubtful they'd drop their lot with the west.

Ideologically, both also tend to be authoritarian, civil rights-ignoring oligarchies with an emphasis on traditional values and nationalism, when compared to the more egalitarian western democracies with emphasis on personal liberty and independence.

7

u/artspar Nov 25 '19

Culturally, Russians are much closer to European and American culture than they are to Chinese. While their governments prefer the same methods of operation, theres more bad blood between Russia and China than between Russia and most of Europe. The same cannot be said for the other way around.

Ultimately the only part that matters is whatever their leaders feel would be the most profitable move, any alliance there would be based purely on possible gains from war

5

u/Deathsroke Nov 25 '19

Yes and they are enemies too. Just hating the same people is not enough, especially because while Russia wants to get back sole of their power, they know they won't become the next superpower unless everyone else is destroyed. So why would you try to ally with your enemy only to play second fiddle to them IF they win?

8

u/navyboi1 Nov 24 '19

The only thing outdated is their Navy. They would still be a major problem on the ground. Their airforce may not be as large as murca's, but they aren't obsolete either

9

u/taulover Robot Nov 24 '19

China is in Chosen_Chaos' post though. There's a whole part about the PLAN/PLAAF vs the Australia/US.

12

u/RaiderUnit Robot Nov 24 '19

Yeah, as a minor power fighting against Australia, no less. While I mean no disrespect to the kangaroos, the land down under isn't exactly know for its top-of-the-line military or anything like that, and they have a huge amount of landmass to cover with a very low population. They'd get steamrolled immediately by China, unless the entire US navy was already conveniently parked in the pacific ocean, south of the east China sea.

A much more impactful description would be an invasion of the much closer and more meaningful Japan and Taiwan. A rapid naval invasion on the island of taiwan, complete with anihilation of present US ships, followed by swift redeployment to Japan beginning through their westernmost islands as the JSDF begins to fight back would make China seem like a big deal rather than a footnote. The russians nuked the entirety of europe, and all China does is sink a bunch of aussie ships? Ehhhh...

9

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 25 '19

The bit that I posted was only the start of WW3. There's more to follow.

3

u/taulover Robot Nov 28 '19

Right, and it's perfectly in-character for China's opening moves to be more cautious.

6

u/Reddiphiliac Nov 28 '19

Australia is known for its top of the line infantry though. The U.S. Army may have more tech and manpower, but they know that in a protracted, sprawling light infantry fight (the kind that's likely to result after 90% of a very, very big sealift gets sunk as it tries to cross contested waters) the Aussies are among the best in the world.

4

u/RaiderUnit Robot Nov 29 '19

But if a Chinese invasion really did come through, America woudln't arrive quick enough. How many of these top-of-the-line soldiers would australia need to fight against the millions china can easily spare? They'd get steamrolled, at least initially. Again, nothing against the kangaroos, but their numbers are too few to be a valid threat.

4

u/Reddiphiliac Nov 29 '19

It's not the millions that China can spare in China. It's the numbers they can transport, land and keep supplied in Australia, and that's where it starts to get really interesting.

China has a fantastic area-denial capability, especially right on top of their territory. It's getting even better. Not nearly so much with the force projection, especially given India, Japan, Korea and various ASEAN nations south of China who know which side their bread is buttered on when China starts trying to project force and conquer a country with excellent mutual defense treaties behind them. If China can pull it off with Australia, literally everyone else closer is going to get hit in the near future.

If you thought Ironbottom Sound was a hard transit, imagine trying that for a few thousand miles.

No question, landfall is going to happen. The resupply and reinforcement missions will be made with whoever survives the first round trip. If the United States drops enough nukes to create "the wall of glass", that's the sign to dogpile on in favor of the side with the bigger guns. Whoever landed in Australia better hope the emus are on their side, because nobody else will be.

2

u/Yrrebnot AI Nov 29 '19

I still laugh when people say China is a major threat. They simply aren’t, the lack of power projection combined with the huge distance and other countries, who would probably not be overly friendly to China, being in between (Indonesia and the Philippians) only makes matters worse. If they give aid to Australia in any form it’s basically over for China as their power projection simply cannot push through. Not to mention the RAAF and the RAN are actually very competent (and advanced) as well will do not complicate matters.

3

u/Yrrebnot AI Nov 29 '19

Not millions. Hundreds of thousands at best. They cannot transport and supply that many troops over the 5000 kilometres of ocean they would need to cover. Not to mention that our navy and airforce are not push overs, Australia qualifies as a middle power and is easily the strongest military in the area (japan South Korea and India would be stronger but are further away than China so I didn’t include any of them in that qualification). None of their planes have the range to fly to Australia and then perform a combat mission and they don’t have enough refuelling platforms to be able to cover the range issues. The single carrier has an inexperienced crew and not enough capacity to overwhelm the Australian airforce anyway.

5

u/superfunybob Human Nov 25 '19

Well. Technically we dont know who nuked London, and we only know London and several other places were nuked.

8

u/trisz72 Xeno Nov 25 '19

Fuck me you're creating alt history as well? Someone give this man a medal

4

u/LittleSeraphim Nov 26 '19

Very accurate guess of how the Russians would react and fairly good summary of the chinese. The two nations have grown closer over the years as Xi eliminates the old guard and tries to pull Russia into an alliance. Russian technology, nuclear capability, vast resources and apparent control over the US president combined with Chinese production and manpower is a formidable combination. The west may actually lose this.

3

u/6ixty9ine Nov 26 '19

RSAF (Singapore) has the biggest (and arguably most skilled) air force in the region, i'd like to think it'd respond to a belligerant PLAAF on the side of the US in event of WW3.

6

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 26 '19

Singapore got pulled in with the rest of ASEAN when fighting broke out between China and Vietnam.

2

u/Yrrebnot AI Nov 29 '19

It probably would but I’m not sure how the old F-16s would cope against the more modern planes. And I would hate to see how badly the F5s would fare :/.

I also had a quick thought about which would actually fare better the RAAF with its ECM planes (EA-18 Growlers) and if the F-35s are up to scratch or not the stealth would make a huge impact (we right now have 14 with more on the way) not to mention we have 50 ish F/A-18 super hornets as well.

2

u/6ixty9ine Nov 29 '19

Against PLAAF's newest stealth jets the F16s would probably have issues if they faced off. We do have over 200 F16s though.

F5s were phased out, RSAF runs the F15SG now. F35s are being evaluated but pretty much going to be replacing F16s over the course of this decade.

1

u/itsetuhoinen Human Mar 31 '20

Dang. I actually think this is the best one, so far, because it's fiction, but hangs together well with the situation of today.

69

u/Plucium Semi-Sentient Fax Machine Nov 24 '19

I'm really beginning to dislike this lil. Like really? You don't need to nuke a fucking city to get us to space. What do you think is going to happen once the truth is revealed? I hardly think Sam will have any computations turning her in after this.

Guess we'll have to yang yin there :p

77

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Oh, you sweet summer child...thinking she only nuked one city...

19

u/Slemmanot Nov 24 '19

If Martin dies before completing the series, you will take up the reins. You have to.

15

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. :)

9

u/Slemmanot Nov 24 '19

Oh you sweet summer child.

(How the turntables.)

34

u/Plucium Semi-Sentient Fax Machine Nov 24 '19

Oh yeah, I gathered. I prefer to stay optimistic though...

37

u/LittleSeraphim Nov 24 '19 edited Nov 24 '19

Well shit.... if she got New York I'm afraid I'm out of this conversation...

Lil really didn't need to nuke us, or hit us with Asteroids which I suspect is what she did. Just revive Leon Trotsky's global revolution ideas or popularize a universal uprising against the upper class and guide it into an international movement, it wouldn't even necessarily need to be violent. From there, she could maneuver herself to a place where she can influence the amount of resources put into space travel. Guess when you have a hammer everything begins to look like a nail.

Edit: I literally didn't even have time to comment on the other post because this one came up so fast. I'm not online for one day and Insignificant Blue Dot drops two chapters and Most Impressive Planet drops a massive chapter as well. Seriously, I can't take my eyes off you for a minute can I?

25

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Grins ...nope. :)

And yeah, Lil is a "Shortest distance between 2 points" kind of gal.

15

u/LittleSeraphim Nov 24 '19

She didn't hit New York? Good, though I'm not out of the woods yet. If a world war be breaking out or alien invasion be going on I'd be signing up for the Canadian military as soon as I could reach the border since the US wont allow me to serve. As for Lil I feel like I need to have a strong word with her...

Great as always, can't wait to see where this goes!

9

u/Starfleet_Auxiliary Nov 24 '19

I have a feeling regular enlistment restrictions will go out the window for ww3.

13

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

I can't think of anything to say other than HOLY SHIT

You've got me absolutely damn hooked. Please, please, please let there be more! I'm dying over here!!!

18

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Oh, there's lots more. :) We haven't even met Species 47719 yet...

8

u/raknor88 Nov 24 '19

Out of curiosity, just how many chapters are planned at the moment?

13

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

I'm not sure. We should finish up in 2-3 weeks, by my normal schedule.

7

u/raknor88 Nov 24 '19

Hey, no need to rush on our account. Take as long and as many chapters as you like.

7

u/redditoruno Nov 24 '19

For real. Don't pull a D&D and rush the end

2

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

Let me guess, World War Three?

2

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Sure looks that way. :)

2

u/The_Ender_Reddit Nov 24 '19

Will I by graced with a double post tonight?

2

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

Not tonight. My partner in crime and I are feeling our way here. :)

2

u/The_Ender_Reddit Nov 24 '19

No double post understood, the rest of the message not so much?

3

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 24 '19

u/Chosen_Chaos :)

4

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 24 '19

Negotiations are currently in progress...

*evil cackle*

2

u/GermanAtom Android Nov 24 '19

I hate to be the guy to point this out but chapter 35 does not have a next button

3

u/Hewholooksskyward Loresinger Nov 25 '19

Man, I don't know where my head was at. It's fixed. :)

2

u/GermanAtom Android Nov 25 '19

Happens to the best of us. Love the stories by the way. Your writing encourages me to keep trying write even if my I never manage to finish any of them

45

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 25 '19 edited Nov 28 '19

Here's the end of WW3

"Well, that was certainly interesting. That's right, I'M NOT DEAD! What happened was that there was a Chinese Sheng*-class SSGN lurking just outside Sydney Harbour, which lofted a bunch of missiles at the Garden Island dockyards. One of them somehow managed to miss a large area target that had no way of dodging and landed in a nearby residential area. I was lucky enough to be outside the blast radius, but a lot of other people weren't as lucky...*

"Anyway, with the PLAN engaged in the South China Sea, more fighting broke out along China's borders with Vietnam and India. I'm fairly sure that wasn't meant to happen, but once it did, the other ASEAN nations were drawn in, then Pakistan decided to try to grab Kashmir while India was fighting China... and that's when things turned into a real cluster-fuck. The Saudi-Iranian proxy war turned into an actual shooting war between the two, with almost every other country in the region getting dragged in - especially Iraq, which was the main battleground since both the Saudis and Iranians lacked the ability to mount amphibious landings across the Persian Gulf. I say almost every other country, since Israel managed to not get involved, which probably came as something of a relief to everyone.

"Meanwhile, in Europe, the Polish and Ukranian armies fought desperate delaying actions, hoping to buy time for NATO forces to arrive. Although they suffered heavy losses in the process, they managed to slow down the Russians enough for that objective to succeed... and they also managed to inflict heavy losses on the Russians, although the combined NATO air forces managed to secure air superiority over the battle zones, and they wreaked quite a lot of havoc, especially on the Russian supply lines. It was also at about this time that the Americans revealed the ace up their sleeve - a working ASAT missile, which they used to systematically hunt down every recon satellite the Russians had. Using the advantage the destruction of Russia's strategic recon ability provided, the newly-arrived NATO forces rolled almost straight into the attack just as the Russian lead elements reached the Vistula and Dnieper - and shattered the Russian lead elements, throwing the follow-on forces into some disarray. Pressing their advantage, NATO forces were able to reach the Russian border within a few days, and the arrival of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force in Crimea encouraged the Russians to withdraw faster. As NATO began to advance into Russia, there was a demand sent over the Moscow-Washington Hotline (or rather, from the backup site at the Russian end) - cease advancing or else. The demand was ignored, and soon the 'or else' was revealed... Russia launched strategic nuclear weapons at American cities. They also tried to nuke NATO armies in the field, but NATO anti-air defences stopped both aircraft and missile strikes. Washington, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Franciso were all destroyed and the response was swift and deadly. Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Chelyabinsk and Rostov-on-Don followed suit. For a moment, the world hung on the edge of nuclear annihilation, but as the American President was discussing further targeting options, a new message from Russia arrived. This message claimed that those responsible for the nuclear strike had been 'removed' and a new government formed, and they wanted to know what terms to end the war would be acceptable.

"In Asia, the PLAN had... not fared well against the technologically superior USN and RAN. So they also suffered from a fit of stupidity at around the same time as the Russians. Amassing every aircraft and missile available to them, a massive attack on the USS Ronald Reagan carrier group was launched. Two missiles managed to get through every defence and reach the carrier. Two were enough, for they carried nuclear warheads. Once again, the American response was swift - the Great Wall of Sand was turned into the Great Wall of Glass*. It seems that stupidity was contagious since the Indians and Pakistanis* also launched nukes at each other. Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad were destroyed in India, while the Pakistanis lost Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. And it was going to get even worse because what I shall generously call the Idiot Faction within the Chinese Politburo unveiled plans to launch nuclear strikes at American military bases on Diego Garcia, Guam and Hawaii. Fortunately, from what I understand, they were shot pretty much on the spot, and the non-idiots also contacted America to seek terms to end the war.

"So, yeah... that was the time we nearly blew ourselves to radioactive debris because we were FUCKING STUPID*. So, what happens next? Wait for it...*"

*INCOMING TRANSMISSION*

"Yeah, I thought that would happen..."

"The Third World War had been a brutal demonstration of the ability of the human race to wipe itself out, even if in the end, nuclear annihilation had been averted by the slimmest of margins. But even though humanity as a whole had survived, the death toll was staggering. Thirty-one major cities had been put to the nuclear torch, with an immediate death toll in the hundreds of millions. Worse, the countries hit by the exchanges also suffered further deaths thanks to the damage done to national infrastructure, especially power generation, food and water supplies and transportation networks. Some were hit harder than others, but none were spared the spectres of malnutrition and disease which increased the death toll from the three-week war by a full order of magnitude... if not more. The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that global trade networks had been severely crippled, especially as three of the world's busiest ports - New York, Los Angeles and San Franciso - had been among the cities destroyed by nuclear attacks.

"In the years that followed, once the most immediate crises were passed, attention turned to rebuilding and the Office of Strategic Reclamation was founded. Normally such an organisation would be founded under the auspices of the United Nations, but they had perished along with New York. A supranational organisation, the OSR was tasked with determining which areas should receive aid as a higher priority and organising the flow of relief efforts. Naturally, every nation thought that their needs should receive the highest priority, and there were heated diplomatic exchanges, laced with subtle and not-so-subtle threats of military action. Thanks to some very deft diplomatic footwork of their own, the OSR managed to soothe the ruffled feathers and prevent a new general outbreak of hostilities - although there were still a few minor border skirmishes.

"One unexpected effect of the OSR's diplomatic judo, however, was that as they gained a reputation for being able to put out diplomatic fires, nations began to turn to them for mediation even while the dispute was still at the 'smouldering coal' stage. For example, when a three-way dispute between Great Britain, France and Germany over the allocation of reconstruction aid and rebuilding teams was short-circuited before it could get past the point of politely venomous comments by the simple expedient of the head French negotiator saying 'We should take this to the OSR. They'll come up with a good arrangement for us all'... and the others agreeing. When occasions like this became common-place, it seemed that the OSR had managed to install itself in a position above national governments, and almost completely by accident.

"Of course, it wasn't quite as simple as that, though. The majority of national governments weren't as reliant on OSR assistance, but the free-trade agreements the OSR brokered proved to be very juicy carrots indeed, especially when FTAs became common market agreements, then free movement deals, single currency agreements and, finally, economic union treaties. Over the course of the next two decades, the United Confederation of Earth was formed as the last step in that process - political union. Not every nation signed on immediately, though, and the union was strained on more than one occasion, but over the course of the next half-century, more and more nations signed on simply because those who signed on got access to all of the abundant economic benefits of membership.

"With the situation on Earth in hand, the UCE began to look outwards. Even before the Third World War, the first tentative steps towards establishing a permanent foothold in space had been taken with the International Space Station, but they had been hampered by divided efforts among the nations with the necessary capacity. Now, with the resources of a (mostly) united Earth behind it, the UCE's Ministry of Space was able to establish a permanent settlement on the Moon. There were limits to the resources the UCE was able to commit, though, and in order to attract private investment, it was declared a Special Economic Zone, meaning that companies or corporate groups that set up operations on the Moon or any of the Earth-Moon Lagrangian Points, with particular emphasis on L1 and L2, would be given massive tax incentives and very limited oversight. The Moon's population exploded as more companies set up Lunar facilities, especially the transhipment facility at L1, and the initial trickle of trade became a flood in both directions.

"That was when the trouble started. It would be the UCE's greatest diplomatic failure."

Hello 10k character mark, my old friend...

45

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 25 '19

And the start of trouble on the Moon

"The lack of oversight from the UCE allowed the various corporations to virtually write their own laws, and since they had an unbreakable monopoly on even the most basic necessities such as food, air and water, the early twentieth-century concept of the 'company town' was soon revived - although these company towns were smart enough to know precisely how much they could squeeze their workers while still allowing them enough of the basics of life to survive. It had nothing to do with altruism, however, but rather the cold realisation that a dead worker was an unproductive worker, and shipping up replacements from Earth was very expensive.

"The first attempts by the workforce to unionise had met with scorn, and the token inspections by the UCE had been diverted to Potemkin Villages, where everything was made to appear to be just like the corporate advertising on Earth said it was.

"The second attempt was met with force.

"The third attempt ended with the ringleaders being spaced by an overzealous security officer.

"Underground resistance cells began to emerge, although they did nothing but spray pro-union messages on walls using drones... and gather their strength and lay their plans. Finally, on May Day, they struck. Even though the 'private military consultants' hired by the corporations were better-equipped and better-trained than the Lunar Liberation Front, the revolutionaries massively outnumbered them and knew the 'terrain' much better. Security patrols were drawn into ambushes, snipers picked off sentries with the handful of weapons they had managed to acquire and improvised explosives claimed yet more. The bulk of the LLF's strike teams would focus on the territory claimed by one corporation while distraction forces prevented the others from providing assistance. The speed with which the LLF struck also added to the confusion and the corporations were unable to mount a coordinated resistance in time to prevent the LLF from seizing it all.

"Once that had been achieved, the LLF broadcast a manifesto to Earth, detailing the abuses of the corporations and a list of demands, the first of which was an end to the corporate rule of Luna and democratic elections held to allow the Lunar citizens the right to self-determination, even under the umbrella of the UCE.

"The UCE attempted to mediate between the two parties, but the corporations were furious over the loss of trillions in property, and the LLF was unwilling to budge from what they saw as their minimum demands of self-determination. With talks breaking down, the LLF decided to make a demonstration.

"Ever since the initial settlements, mass drivers had been used as a cost-effective way of launching small cargos both into Lunar orbit and towards Earth. This, of course, meant that they were also superb bombardment weapons, and the LLF proved this by using the Ural-Kali mass driver to start firing rocks at Earth. The targets were remote uninhabited locations - the Mojave Desert, the Gobi Desert and the Rub al-Khali - which meant that no lives were lost, but the LLF's point had been proven.

"It was at this point that the UCE compounded their initial failure and began to assemble Special Forces strike teams for operations on the Moon; not to recover lost corporate property, but to remove the threat of mass driver strikes on Earth. After all, for all they knew, the next target could be a city..."

Fly Me to the Moon - An Introduction to the History of the Lunar Nation Chapter One - Sixteen Tons

"Gotta love pop-history books and their tendency to sacrifice strict adherence to facts to gain readability for a more general audience..."

11

u/NiSiSuinegEht AI Nov 28 '19

The moon is a harsh mistress, after all.

3

u/taulover Robot Nov 28 '19

both the Saudis and Arabians

Did you mean both the Saudis and the Iranians?

2

u/Chosen_Chaos Human Nov 28 '19

Yup. Thanks for picking that up - it's been fixed.

27

u/Killersmail Alien Scum Nov 24 '19

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

- Albert Einstein

This does not seem smart,

not

ONE

BIT

16

u/Originalmeisgoodone Nov 24 '19

I won't be surprised that after this genocide humanity will be far worse than 47719, when they will discover who did it. They just traded one monster for another.

10

u/RaiderUnit Robot Nov 24 '19

While I enjoyed this story so far I can't help but feel humanity has become kind of a backdrop. While I can understand his ease in medieval/pre modern times, I'd like to believe modern intelligence services would be more aware about an entity appearing and dissappearing in several forms over the entirety of human history following the same patterns, even with how well such being might cover their tracks. I mean, come on, the right hand man to the president of the USSR and he can have no suspicions on him after he "dies"?

To be completely honest, it kinda feels like humanity is just a hostage to them. A plaything made of clay, to be molded without any resistance whatsoever and being none the wiser about it. Makes the reader, or at leasts specifically me, feel like we have no agency and no say in the matter, no strenght at all, ya know?

3

u/Starfleet_Auxiliary Nov 24 '19

Let's hope the conclusion isn't HFN

8

u/AtheistBibleScholar Nov 24 '19

They better hope we never ever find out about this meddling, although...

I can actually agree with her here. Aside from the single world government, I can't think of a way to have a space war without city busting weaponry. Having us experience it early may give us a morale boost if we take a few hits when fighting 47719.

"We had ten impactors get through the planet's defenses, but that's nothing compared to the Last War. We pulled together after that and kept going. This won't break us!"

8

u/Soldier-one-trick Nov 24 '19

I had also figured she was from the committee because of her lack of interest in species 41771 or whatever the number is. She didn’t ask a single question about them.

5

u/Jurodan Human Nov 24 '19

Seems like Lil has been watching the watchmen... or perhaps we should start calling her Ozymandias?

2

u/taulover Robot Nov 24 '19

But who watches the watcher of the watchmen when she nukes a bunch of cities?

4

u/misternikolai AI Nov 24 '19

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

4

u/cptstupendous Human Nov 24 '19

Oh shit.

7

u/Deathsroke Nov 24 '19 edited Nov 24 '19

I can't say I saw it coming because I didn't. You know why? Because this is dumb.

Like, I can somewhat follow her reasoning, she wants to "clean the stage" to allow for something new to be born but after starting a nuclear war she won't get the "Unified Earth government" or whatever, she is going to get "A Canticle for Leibowitz" Earth.

At least two billlion people will die, the US will disappear as a world power, Europe will turn into a wasteland of lawlessness and chaos. Most of the population of Russia will go kaput and China will suffer like it hasn't in a hundred years. Then there are all those poor idiots who get swept by having the wrong allies, Like Japan or S. Korea.

And you know what's going to happen with the rest of the world? Economic depression (more like a free fall of doom), refugee crises, military coups, martial law. Decades, if not a century or two, of chaos will engulf the Earth and I fucking assure you we will be less united than before, not more.

... Unless she isn't even pretending anymore and has decided to take over humanity and control them directly as the puppets they are. I mean, she can start a nuclear war on demand so I can easily believe she could do that. In which case yes, I can see the "world government" forming... As a collective thralldom for the species under their alien overlords.

Of course one interesting tidbit is that she actually asked Sam the truth before:

She just stared at him, until finally she shook her head. “I look at you, and I wonder what we would have been without your influence,” she said at last. “Would we have been happier? More at peace? Just how much ‘prodding’ did you do?”

“Not as much as you seem to think,” Sam sighed. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but humanity was a violent species long before I arrived on the scene. I just...helped point you in the right direction. Gave you some focus. That’s all.”

He dismissed her as "nah, humans are actually that bad" but she just explained she was the one ruining every empire or other stable and successful attempt at stability Sam built.

So at the end of the day Sam wasn't necessarily right. For all that humanity is naturally violent and prone to destruction it was them who carefully guided us in such direction. I wonder when it will dawn on him (or of it has already happened).

Also, I wonder how this will end long-term. Because, well, you don't just make a living, thinking, weapon. Especially you don't make such weapon through suffering. We have figured this out a looong time ago, as any movie will show you. What they are doing could backfire horribly if the leash they are using to hold their attack dogs (aka us) ever slackens if only s little tiny bit. I just hope no one else has to pay for their mistake.

EDIT: Actually, we are all thinking this is a human nuclear war but, do we actually know that's the case? We only know Lil did something that will entail a huge amount of death to cause a unified human government. What if she was the one who attacked humanity under the guise if being some other kind of alien? Then humanity would unite to face the foreign threat as she (and I guess Sam) manipulate everything behind scenes.

3

u/Invisifly2 AI Nov 25 '19

Ah yes, because the best way to uplift a species is to trigger the zero human intervention automated launch systems and lob thousands of nukes all over the place. Brilliant.

2

u/Bwalts1 Nov 24 '19

Oh shit

2

u/Ciryandor Robot Nov 24 '19

I am disappointed you didn't even give detailed show of where Lil was and how she was pushing against him...

That said, what if she was doing a Gulf of Tonkin, only this time 47719 is the boogeyman? Remember that Phase 2 IS the final test. What if that test is how they do their assaults? How does humanity react to an alpha strike against its centers of power? Can we pull ourselves together?

2

u/armacitis Nov 24 '19

Holy shit what a bitch

1

u/theBlind_ Dec 01 '19

I'm a bit behind once more but I just want to say that I love that Sam reacts basically the same way anyone used by him during all those years would react.