David and Earl Gripper ////PAANN Edit Suite

David sat watching Earl pull up the video, his technical wizardry handling the task with ease. He was rubbing his temples. This project had been a complete and utter catastrophe, and David felt the sudden urge to smoke. It wasnt bad enough David had gone from Junior producer to wartime producer to lead producer, in the matter of only a few years. David felt his skills completely lacking for the momentous task before him, Earl atleast was a savant. When the Alliance high command called and ordered him to take the job David swore his heart had stopped beating initially in excitement, then when reality set in about the project, and the budget it turned to terror.

Earl who had not noticed his brothers existential terror at this point said without tunring around “so its still a little rocky near the end, needs a little more work, but overall unless someone comes in with a major revision this is close to the end product.” a few more clicks and a large monitor that hung above them glowed to life and the film started.

A few B roll shots and Stock images of earth scrolled by while a narrator with a good “appeasement value” spoke, his deep voice keeping steady pace as he adjusted his energy to match the introduction music.

“Our species has a long and sordid history, one filled with strife and war. Our planet harbored all of our sins and scars…” as B roll of several older wartime footage played in the background, David cursed his luck, the alliance high command had asked for something provocative and informative like the old school PBS film, but dammit this is almost an exact copy. No longer able to resist the mounting pressure David lit a cigarette.

“Shouldnt smoke in here.” Earl said, turning to look at his brother.

“Fuck off” David said as the narrator continued

“But all this was about to change and our planet and our species would be changed Forever… with the arrival of the Imperial Vanguard”

The title dropped with the music reaching a climax as David took a long drag of his smoke.

Lets go back to the lead up first, 2 years pre invasion long range detection satellites began picking up odd transmissions that were initially dismissed as merely space static. Little did we know however that these ominous transmissions would be our future enemies and conquerors.” more B-roll of long range observation units and giant titanic telescopes staring up at the night sky.

“These transmissions didn't just end though, and after a trans national conference of NASA, ESA, and the CNSA a consensus that these now less random transmissions were possibly the prelude to something bigger, and with that the nations of the world scrambled as news broke that maybe humanity was not alone.”

The music, a calm and leading tune meant to relax the audience played, before rising in the tension of the film.

“While not every nation was concerned with these transmissions most of the worlds military began preparing for the possibility of an invasion. While this was going on long held tensions in the North American Continent began to simmer to the surface, and with increased pressures from the government something snapped.”

B-roll played as an explosive detonates in a DC metro tunnel, and the music turns more Bass based.

“Incited into action, by increasing unresolved national issues a splintered group of citizens and military broke off from the main United States, and declared themselves an independent nation. A civil war was underway…”

“Fuck Earl were keeping in the Domion story?” David asked

“I mean editors said its what they wanted so yea.” Earl replied watching the film play roll of large scale battles and stealth destroyers firing missiles into populated areas.

“This war would only last for 13 months but in that time a little over 17 million people would die on flash fire battlefields, and the entire north american continent would be plunged into war.” the narrator continued

“How much did we include?” David asked

“Uh, 15 minutes or so, we only cover the key points for the Vanguard war.” Earl said

“That's still a bit, are we still under 2 hours total runtime?” David asked

“Yea total runtime without credits is 1:53:49, and were just on budget.” Earl responded as he moved the mouse over the edit.

David only grumbled in response, turning his attention back to the film.

“...after he secured the election from his newly minted nation he declared all out war, in response to the United States continued attempted subjugation. His citizens rejoiced at this fact and flooded the recruitment centers. While all this was occurring China and Europe as a whole began mass producing Weapons and Vehicles, some being sent to the older allied United States, some being sold to the newly formed Western Dominion. This influx of foreign arms and armaments meant neither side was backing down without bloodshed.”

David's face lit slightly as he took another drag, both him and Earl had been recruited later into the War, but both of them had memories of this time. To say this film downplayed the war and only took a macro examination was an understatement. His mind wandered slightly as the film continued.

“... in the aftermath of the battle, with neither side willing to back down, and casualties crossing the 10 million dead, the Dominion decided to attempt an ambitious plan. Instead of taking what remained as the backbone of the United States, the army would send a massive subjugation force composed mostly of automated drones south, any who resisted would be declared criminals under Dominion law. This was part of the second phase of the plan creating a institution of Convicts who would become Soldiers or they would be killed by the inbuilt A.I. that would monitor them. This fighting force would become the nightmares of the Domination Wars, known as The Convict Corps.”

David felt a chill run down his spine as the film played some images of marching power armored criminals wearing dominion badges making their way in formation off screen. His mind flashing back to his days being a producer on a military news network for the U.S. and seeing the calamity and after effect of the Convict Corps assault. With their only option being Fight (and probably die), or disobey (and definitely die), their force had little choice whereas the U.S. forces had to fight and probably die or run. David knew from having worked for a news network how effective having the weapon of morale could be, and the convict corps slaughters were a hell of a WMD. his mind snapped back as the narrator finished his story with explaining the mounting debt of the dominion and the subjugation of the U.S.

“With that the North American continent was cut in half, the Western Dominion taking the continental U.S. and going south, compared to neo Canada, which absorbed Alaska into its borders as a new province. This victory was short lived however as the world was about to be put under fire again. With the arrival of the Imperial Vanguard.”

Earl shifted in his seat, David knew his brother, and he remembered that day. Earl was arrested, for “crimes against the state” (bullshit for being smart and borderline autistic) and the only reason he wasn't sentenced to Convict Corps is because he had a “technical acumen” being assigned to the digital warfare division instead.

“With these issues raging on in the U.N. Earth was unprepared to fight as a unified front, and with that every major nation on earth had drop pods descending on the major capitals. All drop pods had a single purpose, and while humanity didn't know it now, this would become the critical moment.”

Another drag, Davids mind racing.

“The pods bore a simple ultimatum… Surrender or we will lay waste to your people. The Earths nations had varying answers with some offering negotiations, some outright rejecting, and only a few of the smaller nations agreeing outright. With that the vanguard descended, firing massive plasma cannons into the atmosphere in a moment almost every major city in the world was on fire. As the world struggled back to its feet the Vanguard unleashed a swarm as millions of drop pods, gunships, and small fighters descended into humanity's atmosphere. With that the first major battle of the Earthfall Warm was underway.”

The footage showed the far off plasma beam striking New York city and igniting it, news clips played as Kairo, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, and Moscow also all on fire. A death tally showing in the bottom of the screen. 2 billion + depending on which source changed the number slightly.

“Humanity took to the skies, where the Imperial Vanguard had the advantage with orbital guns, Humanities fighter jets and attack helicopters were designed to work in our atmosphere, which made them finely tuned killing machines. Whereas the imperial ships were more general purpose meant for a wider range of environments. A trade they made, with lives. Unleashing mostly the Empires low born or savage soldiers against Earth under standard tactics”

The screen rolled as cell phone shots and clips played showing the human war machines fighting against and winning against the Imperial Air force. It shifted showing the lesser species piling out of a drop pod only to be engaged by dominion Soldiers

“In Dominion Territory, the ground fighting was decisive but with the Convict Corps working as the primary source of foot soldiers backed by veterans working in key positions forced the ground push into full retreat within the first week. The rest of the world who didn't have such a disposable force, or untapped veterans, were struggling. The Empire's ground troops equipped with Armor and weapons never before seen on Earth put up significant resistance, even after receiving aid from the Dominion most nations would spend the better part of a month fighting back against these entrenched positions.”

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The narrator's voice and pitch fluxed with each topic addressing the key points quickly and effectively.

“The battle in the air was still raging on when as a unified front every major satellite in Earths orbit under Dominion Cy-command unleashed the weapons of the Atom against the at that point foreign invaders. Firing all nuclear payloads over 100 Vanguard frigates and corvettes were knocked out of the sky clashing against the surface of the earth in balls of radioactive fire. While over 2 dozen cruisers and the flagship remained in orbit, and did not take the loss of their comrades lightly.”

More shots of raining balls of plasma the size of football fields rained down from the sky to fall on the populace below. Another tally of the dead, 3 billion +.

“With the skyfall incident underway, mass reverse engineering initiatives were beginning to try to figure out the weapons and technology of our imperial Adversaries. Earth still lacked a United front however as a new weapon was unleashed from the cruisers, an army of Djikition Soldiers with a high amount of their natural psionic ability code named, Knights of the Imperial Bond. With these troops humanity faced a new challenge, something we as a species had no idea how to combat, as it had only existed in fiction. Unleashing their natural psionic abilities the counter-counter offensive was underway”

The screen showed crustacean-like power armor troops flinging humans around like ragdolls.

“As Imperial forces continued to make their righteous push against humanity's stalwart defenders, researchers around the world were scrambling to untangle the mysteries that offered the Vanguard such a noticeable advantage. During this time as international aid was still a way off the Knights of the Imperial Bond, descended on Manchuria in force in response, the Chinese nationalist General…”

The narrator continued on, but David's mind had gone elsewhere.

“Hey, does it bug you? I mean this is our history, and we have to turn it into informative PR, thats basically making a lie outta the truth aint it?” David asked Earl.

“Bugs me about the same as when i took this job, War’s over, and we never stood a chance.” Earl responded ever the pragmatist.

“Ok, but our friends and our family are all dead because of this. An attempt at conquering the universe.” David said waving his hands out in front of him in dramatic fashion

“Yea, but one film won't change that, and besides, it's not why you took this job either. You wanted to be famous.” Earl said, laying out David's motivations flatly. David quieted down at that, losing himself in his thoughts as the film continued to describe humanity's futile struggle, as the ground forces continued to lose ground.

“With that hope seemed lost, but it was here in the 11th hour Humanity would pull off a miracle. Black Wolf Industries LLC. working on the reverse engineering initiative discovered two major discoveries. The first was that while they couldn't match the Djikitons psionic power (which they called the Djikit) since it could manipulate electromagnetic and radioactive fields, they could interfere with it, using specific radio waves. The second major discovery was finally cracking the secret to the power armor cores seemingly endless power supply. A new element which didn't exist on earth they called this element Locusnitrium. With these new innovations Black Wolf Industries which up until then had been solely providing drones for the Dominion, shifted its focus, bringing about the creation of a new weapon that would help turn the tide of the war. The mechanical tide known only as the Swarm.”

“The Swarm composed of tens of thousands of repurposed drones, got a firmware, and hardware update, to employ sound based weaponry, and powered by mass wifi generator bots carrying tons of Locusnitrium referred to as Hives. The Swarm could deploy across the north or south american continents in hours, and with the Locusnitrium could have a nearly endless power supply.”

The screen shifted to show tens of thousands of small insect like drones swarming the entrenched positions of the Knights and tearing them apart quite literally, with their lethal sound cannons.

“While this was going on the WHO were making advanced discoveries in biology in alien life…” the screen shifted to an explanation of the psionic powers almost every other species seemed to possess on some level. Then it moved to an autopsy of a Djikition as the narrator described the odd natural phenomenon, the scalpel moved into the organ sack on the Djikition corpse known as the Qwoo, before David interjected. “Fucking hell Earl, who approved this?”

“Editing and that agent from intelligence” his brother responded

“Yea… no, were showing this to high school kids, no autopsy, or atleast not this fucking detailed.” Daid said, too, to which his brother just nodded.

The narrator continued to describe how with these powers the Djikitions or anyone with enough Djikit (psionic power) could manipulate reality in a myriad of ways including levitation, telekinesis, telepathy, spontaneous combustion, gravity wells, electrokinesis. shit only jedi and mass effect bionics had access too up till this point David thought.

As the narrator continued to explain how the Swarm allowed all of humanity to gain some breathing room, enough atleast to agree to a united Dominion lead front. David mused on his brother's words, and the impossibility of the task he had been given. The narrator covered Dr. Illynaa’s (a russian scientist in the reverse engineering initiative) discovery of the universal ship spine. A inherited weakness in all empire ships that connected the bridge to the engineering bay, and everything in between. How every nation was constructing ship parts, robots, weapons, or offering soldiers as part of the new alliance, and how the alliance decided to take its collaborative approach and plan an offensive.

“... with that the final piece of the puzzle was laid out, and humanity had a daring planned offensive. A plan to strike at the very heavens, and swat down the oppressive orbital vanguard fleet. Russia’s and Germany’s Manufacturing plants went into overdrive to accommodate the number of space ready ships needed for the assault.”

The screen showed reels of factory workers welding massive clunky looking assault ships together, the role continued into them slotting the new space ready Locusnitrium generators into the power supply.

“Meanwhile the convict corps power armor was being upgraded, to accommodate new Chemrail technology weapons. These handheld railguns proving themselves time and time again against the powered armored imperial knights. The chinese contribution to the offense came in the shape of small tank like drones the Convict corps referred to as their Shiv’s”

The role continued showing the newly minted and upgraded power armor looking like godlike titans of violence, both arms strapped with mounted chem rail weapons. And their Shiv’s being welded together and linked to their AI’s.

“During the preparation leading towards the assault specialists were employed to extract information from imperial troops, while the layout of the ships and rough troop estimates were supplied the interrogator also discovered some troubling news. The Interrogation of the assaulting Imperial forces held revealed a larger primary fleet was in route carrying with them the greatest weapon the Empire had, a mutagenic bomb. Alliance leadership when informed realized they had only one chance for victory and they needed to get it right. Finishing their preparations and plans for the multi-fronted assault all that was left was to pick a date….” *December 25th 2036* flashed across the screen in a stark white against a black background

“Across the globe Alliance combined arms launched simultaneous assaults against every still held Imperial position, fortified by the Swarm, and Air forces allowed for almost an assured victory. The real gamble was happening in the heavens above.”

The screen showed the mass global mobilization against the imperial forces, then the launch.

“Tens of thousand Surface to orbit retrofitted missiles launched, in cohesion with tens of thousands of assault craft filled with Convict corps, shivs and other autonomous units. The missiles stuck first.”

The screen showed hundreds of flashes bouncing off the shields of the cruisers and the battleship.

“Then the assault craft descended under withering point defense fire, over half the force sent didn't make their destination. But those that did racked against the Imperial ships and drilled their way into the spine…”

The narrator cut out as video played of one troop bounding down into the spine of Words of Unity, a cruiser in orbit. As soon as the “cameraman's” feet touched down he came under immediate fire as the ships defenders poured out from every hallway attempting to repel the borders. The “cameraman” returned fire from his arm mounted Chem rail, gunning down several defenders. The video continued to show the brutal close quarters fighting of the Christmas Day Boarding. After a few moments david realized something was wrong and looked at Earl “wheres the overlay?” he asked.

“Dont have it in yet, will be by tomorrow but he kept messing up the ship names in recording.” Earl replied.

Looking back up at the screen David remembered the script roughly 97% casualties for humanity, and the flagship Oath of the Empire, and one cruiser Winds of the Guildsmith being the only two ships to make it out alive. Overall a victory that led to alliance leadership realizing that the one trick pony they pulled wouldn't work on a larger fleet. Instead committing to the evacuation of earth on massive Ark Station, crammed to the gills with people supplies and organic life. Telling the convict corps or what remained of them, to stay on earth and fight. Given mutagenic viral agents so that they had a high chance of continuing to fight, which they did for 6 more months…after becoming Ab-humans.

“During this preparation alliance leadership reached out to what was left of the command structure of the vanguard fleet and began attempting to negotiate its absorption into the empire. While they took as many citizens and resources as they could and hid amongst Saturn's moons. On large Ark Stations, Humanities history, culture, and citizens were kept alive and hidden. Meanwhile on earth the convict corps fought desperately launching raids against any ship that dared attempt to enter Earth's orbit, but what they were fighting for no longer existed. While the primary fleet may have been tempted to harvest what remains of earth for resources the Stark fighters prevented any attempt, the mutagenic superweapon just made it harder. Eventually Humanity stood down, and the Emperor himself came to certify the claim of peace between the two peoples.”

The screen showed the massive station rotating underneath the storms of Saturn's surface. Before changing over to the mutated earth surface, a four headed deer bounding out of cover form some bushes only to be swallowed up by what appeared to be some kind of tree.

“In the aftermath Humanities united front splintered, with some discontent over the convict corps and the outcome of the war, a faction was formed by veterans from the frontlines and broke off calling themselves the free navy. In addition a number of corporations led by Black wolf Industries also declared themselves as “non” state entities and demanded the alliance not infringe upon their ever growing ambition. 6 billion dead and a planet lost, even the alliance had to work to make its people see the upside”

The movie continued explaining the freeing of the convict corps and who eventually the three factions formed a tentative peace. How humanity survived now amongst the void, and how earth was lost to us probably forever. Yet it tried to end on a high note.

“With the technological advantages gained by the alliance and the warm and welcoming absorption into the Empire Humanity stepped towards a brighter future and joined a galactic community they could only dream of. The empire in turn gained its stalwart adversaries who had earned the respect of the guild of war. While it did cost us our ancestral home of Earth our hearts now have a true hope of something greater, and we walk in step with our once enemies now betters The Empire.”

Outro music and credits played on cue, and the film came to a close

“So minus the editing i have left, and the autopsy note you made any changes?” earl asked

“Were still under budget right? How much?” David asked

“Barely with the edits ill do at a discount well be right up against it.” Earl replied

“Well, fuck it, can always make an extended edition if this goes well. Finish it up Earl and put a bow on it would ya. The Public Access Alliance News Network likes making a statement after all.” David said standing up form his seat and lighting up a new smoke

“But for now” deep inhale “lets go get dinner you did good.” smoke filled his vision as he exhaled. He didnt like it but it really was good work.