Hi all! I'm SultanPepper, or, on Discord, V/I My! (let me know if you get it haha)
This is my first Aurora AAR. I'm going with a United Nations of Earth story, an dplan to write mostly from character viewpoints as opposed to updates (where possible). These first post(s) are going to establish the history of my world, and we'll go from their.
I do plan to do as much as possible from characters. Did I forget to put sensors on that ship? Heavens no, it was obviosuly an oversight by the development board head, who got fired because of it. Is the ship design trash? That's not me, dear reader, that's efficiency. Please do feel free to provide advice and feedback as we go through.
(A note, I live in Aus, so dates are dd/mm/yyyy, and I add an extra 'u' to a lot of words (like colour))
EDIT: TL;DR at the end, so no spoilers for those who want to read it all. It is a full wall of text. Feel free to skip to end.
Let us begin!
23/10/2024, University of Pretoria, South Africa
10:04 AM
A blast of light flared – well, not a blast, really. It was large amount of light, considering the source was a handful of atoms. It was much more than it should have been.
“What are the sensors saying?” Dr Amahle asked.
Silence greeted her question. She turned her eyes from the table-sized experimental machine and frowned at the PHD student gaping at the screen.
“Arno!”
“Yes! Sorry, doctor,” he jumped. “Uh...you'd better come and see this.”
Still frowning, Dr Amahle made her way to his terminal, the other research assistants following. She studied the data.
“Kaya, run a full diagnostic,” she ordered sharply. “Now.”
“Yes, doctor.”
But Amahle knew the diagnostic would come back clean. Their was no fuzziness to the data. Everything was clear-cut.
They had created matter from energy, a game-changing discovery. And what was more, the matter wasn't from this Universe.
11:32, Mahlamba Ndlopfu, home of the President, Pretoria, South Africa
“And we are sure of this?” the large, dark-skinned man demanded, rapping his knuckles on the printout. “It's been an hour and a half. Science takes longer than this!”
“I am certain enough to be talking about it with you, Mr President,” the President's State Security minister, Ebrahim Patel replied. “I went and investigated. I could see it in the microscope.”
“Damnit, Ebrahim,” President Ramaphosa growled. “This is ground breaking, and not what we need! Every major power will be sending teams to 'investigate'. Someone will make sure I lose the next election to a patsy! They'll control South Africa over this! Matter from another dimension? It's ludicrous, Ebrahim. Ludicrous!”
“I agree,” replied the stern faced minister. “America will pour money into your opponents. So will China and Russia. Maybe even the EU. All to take control of government and, by extension, Dr Amahle's work.”
“What do we do?”
“I recommend the UN, sir. There are enough smaller countries that would stand by us just to spite the Super Powers. We hand the research to the UN.”
“And lose it for South Africa? We could be on the verge of limitless resources!”
Ebrahim shrugged. “Maybe, sir. We don't know the extent of this. We do know their's another dimension and so far Dr Amahle has pulled through some kind of metal that defies laws of inertia. We need Un oversight. The Superpowers can't control the UN – too many of them can veto each other. But we can control the technology with the UN's backing.”
President Ramaphosa paced, thinking. Maybe...maybe Amahle's research was wrong. Maybe further tests would dispute these initial ones.
But if they didn't, Ebrahim was right. South Africa would just become a puppet state to one of the Supers.
He came to a decision.
“Keep this quiet for now,” he ordered. “Whatever you have to do, I don't care. Keep it quiet. Let the research continue, and we'll review where we're at regularly. If this is as big as we think, we'll go to the UN and get their protection."
2036, Beijing, China
“The tests have all been confirmed, Mr President. The Amahle Miner can pull a variety of these...” the aide looked down at his notes. “Trans-Newtonian-elements from another, uh, dimension. Along with some gases that appear safe for human consumption.”
President Jiang Lung glared at the aide. “We should have taken their government a decade ago,” he hissed. “The UN has taken control, haven't they?”
“They have, sir,” the aide bowed. “They took informal control of the research six years ago, as you know. Today it became formal. Peacekeepers have been deployed, and the UN has called for reinforcements. Apparently they are now working to clear out some of the rebel forces and armies hidden in African jungles.”
Lung swore. He didn't care about the rebels – they helped keep Africa weak and dependant on China. But the UN clearing them out would make the continent strong, and who knew what these new elements would do.
Whatever they did, China needed to be in control of it.
“I want the plans for the Miner stolen,” he ordered his advisers. “Inform the UN China has no troops to send for their Peacekeeping. And put pressure on South Africa to hand over the tech. They need our trade.”
“Yes, Mr President,” the advisers said in unison.
* * *
New York City, United States of America
“China, America and Russia have refused to send troops, sir,” the Under-secretary-general said dismissively. “Of course they have. They want to control the Amahle Miner.”
Secretary General of the UN, Alisson Xiao, rolled her eyes. “Heaven forbid a smaller country get a leg-up. What of the EU?”
“Still debating.”
“And they will be for another year,” she scoffed. “Give me some good news, Andreas.”
“Australia, New Zealand and most of the Polynesian Isles have agreed to send troops or, in the latter case, more money. As has Canada, the UK and...several South American nations. Oh,” he said glancing through his notes. “Venezuela is. That's not happened in a while. So we will have a heavy presence in South Africa, more than enough to deter a military strike to claim the miracle.”
“I wouldn't be so sure about that,” the Secretary-General replied gravely, getting up to look out her office window. Powerful people did stupid things to maintain their power, and the people giving the Presidents of the three major Supers were prone to xenophobia.
This new Miner that pulled almost-magical elements from another dimension was dangerous. Extremely. All bets were off.
“Inform the Assembly I will be moving my office to South Africa for the forseeble future,” Xiao ordered.
“Madam, that's unprecedented!”
“And so is the Sec-Gen being held hostage to get the UN to capitulate, but these are unprecedented times, Andreas,” she replied, turning back to face him. “I will be in Africa to oversee the...call it the latest phase in human wellbeing. Imagine if we could pull enough through for sustainable constructions and power the world over. I am going to keep a close eye on our Peacekeepers – try to slip in a reference to the fact the Supers have decried their presence and hinted at them being monsters in the past. They can't blame me for going to personally oversee the largest concentration ever of Peacekeepers when they keep saying they need more oversight.” She smiled a crooked smile. “They'll hate that.”
2041, Washington D.C., United States of America
“She should be gone!”
“They don't have limited terms like us, Mr President.”
“No Sec Gen has ever held the post for more than ten years!”
“By tradition, sir, not by law,” the aide corrected.
The President of the USA, Alex Dean, growled. “Fine. Summon the cabinet and get out.”
“Yes sir.”
He glared at the opposite wall for the few minutes it took Cabinet to assembled. Secretary General Xiao had moved her office to South Africa 5 years ago, the same year he had taken office, and had essentially assumed control over the continent. The Security Council did as it pleased, but all the Veto-ing had bogged it down, while Xiao essentially controlled the General Assembly. The African and Middle-eastern bloc's had benefited greatly from the UN's military presence, as pirates, rebels and rogues had been wiped out (not to mention the economic benefits of so many soldiers), and the rest of the world lauded her efforts. She was showing how the world could be a better place by unifying, with Peacekeepers from a hundred countries eliminating terrorists.
Of course, they also controlled the new Amahle Miner and whatever materials it was generating. Reports were fragmentary.
The cabinet arrived, sitting at the long table.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the President began. “Let us discuss options. We are losing our grasp on power. How do we stop it?”
05/04/2042, Cairo, Egypt
Sirens wailed, alerts pinged. AI screamed from speakers.
“COVER. PROCEED TO COVER.”
Peacekeepers stared at the speakers in shock. Cover from what? Their was no fighting in Egypt...
* * *
Bangui, Central African Republic
“Confirm that!”
“Multiple confirmations, sir! Russian bombs dropped on the Cairo base!”
“Sir! US forces are being deployed along the Somali coast!”
“Tell me there are no nukes!”
“None, sir.”
North, East...China was east of Africa, but they'd come from the West. The South was too well defended.
“Alert all Western bases for Chinese assaults,” Peace-General Ahmad Whabbadi ordered. “Get word to the Sec-Gen! Tell me what NATO and the rest are doing! Order all forces to defend themselves, and call on the African countries to mobilise!”
16/06/2042, Pretoria, South Africa
“You have ignored my demands to meet for two months!” stormed Sec-Gen Xiao.
“Speak in such a tone again, and this is over,” Russian President Alexandri Tukov stated coldly. “I am here to accept the UN's surrender of the Miner.”
Xiao glared at the image of the immaculate Russian President. “The three of you have attacked the UN! You-”
“The UN means nothing, Secretary-General,” President Lung said smoothly. “Without us, you are just a bunch of weak countries playing. We will take the Miner.”
“And then what?” she snapped. “Share it? The three of you? Please.”
“The Miner and it's designs will be destroyed,” the US President, Marissa Alvarazo, replied smoothly.
“Oh please, you'll all try to reverse engineer it,” Xiao spat. “You've invaded sovereign soil!”
“We are preventing a tyrant from building a massive army and attacking the free peoples of the world,” Alvarazo replied with a small smile.
“You have a week to surrender Dr Amahli and the Miner, Secretary-General,” President Tukov ordered. “And to resign.”
And the three leaders vanished.
“Idiots,” she stormed. “World War goddamn Three over their egos!”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. The senseless deaths were awful, but she wouldn't appear weak. And the Africans were fighting hard, but support for the UN was wavering as trade sanctions hit.
If they get their greedy, power-mad hands on the TN materials...no. No. I cannot allow it. The world should be united in government, not ruled by one culture!
Her Under-secretary, Andreas, was still with her. He was, somehow, grinning.
“What are you smiling about?” she snapped. “We can't defeat them!”
“I have received Dr Arno's latest research today,” he said cheerfully. “And their has been a massive breakthrough.”
“What sort?”
“The sort that will win any war.”
“Spit it out, man!”
“The TN materials ignore the laws of physics. We knew that,” he started. “But a a jet built from an alloy of them... Alisson, it ignores inertia. It ignores acceleration. It goes to max speed in an instant, and back again when it wants. And according to Arno, the pilot is unaffected by the rapid change. It even ignores friction.”
“What...what does that mean?” She cursed herself internally. She was smart. She could figure it out. But with everything going on....
“A jet capable of 500 kilometres a second. No acceleration. No problem changing direction. Alisson, it can be anywhere on the planet almost instantly! 1.8 million kilometers in an hour! We can defeat the Supers! We...we can install the UN as the proper government of the planet, like it always should have been!”
Alisson Xiao stared at his shining face. Conquering the world wasn't how the UN should come to power, but...
They weren't given a choice.
It was time for America's, China's and Russia's power over the smaller nations to end.
“Get the jet combat-ready,” she ordered. “And build more.”
01/01/2100, United Nations of Earth Headquarters, Unity Island, Indian Ocean
Elliot Sykes sat with a soft sigh in his new chair, a plush and comfortable leather affair that held more diagnostics than a hospital bed. He'd won the election three months ago, and, as was custom, taken the chair on the first day of the New Year.
“Congratulations again, SecGen.”
“Thank you, Artur. But not time like the present to start work!” he chuckled.
Artur smiled. “Allow yourself a day, sir, surely.”
“Never,” Elliot replied cheerfully. “The day is bright, people are well, and the world is at peace. It's time to look up, Artur. I want Trans-Newtonian ships.”
TLDR: TN materials discovered in South Africa, realise a war can start over it. Go to UN for help. America, China, Russia want control of TN materials. UN says no. War breaks out. UN has TN so....wins. Decisively. World unites behind United Nations going into the future.
