It was unusually dark today. It was the thought that kept nagging at the back of my mind, and at the front of my thoughts. It was a normal thought, if you think about it. The sky is cloudy, and there seemed to be a few super cell clouds forming in the distance. There is probably a storm coming.
I looked down from the top of of the building. Meruem Harbour is a massive port situated south of Iceland. Many ships that have been put out of commission we're brought here to be reused and reworked into modern utility ships. The entire port can hold up to 400 active ships at a time, with the underground drydocks hold more than a thousand normally. The harbour wasn't really built for civil use, as much as it was the final resting place of old ships who weren't useful to anyone anymore. As such, many nations regard the island as a museum, holding the likes of the Nagato, the Samuel Key, the New Jersey, and many more legendary vessels that are sadly out of date, far from there prime state during both the Great War and the Grand War. Because of this, the harbour reached a popularity similar to that of Pearl Harbor and the Iwo Jima Memorial Harbour.
It was beautiful, if I say so myself.
The entire place was situated on a coastline mountainrange, with the buildings escalating up the side of a mountain. Because of this, the harbour looked less like a port and more like a countryside town, with a massive pier stretching out to the ocean. From the top of maintenance building, you can clearly see the rising streets and buildings to the back, as well as the array of ships running around.
I took my cup of coffee and looked at the message that was sent to me earlier. It was from the UN Embassy situated here. Must be important.
I looked back the documents that I filed out. The harbour is reaching it's critical mass, which was why we needed other countries to help with redistributing the vessels laid out in this place. However, many of them rejected the offers, with excuses involving resources, lack of manpower and just general refusal, if the last 26 companies were evidently doing what Charlotte told me.
However, despite the many problems that have been happening as of late, at least we have established a deal with at least one of the harbours in France, so there was that.
As I paced back and forth, placing my cup of coffee on the ledge, I checked the international news for anything interesting. It was there that I found something… Confusing.
The international news spoke of bonds being broken off by most of the Mediterranean countries, the Middle Eastern countries, and the Northern African States. The news headline was made last month, and there had been no more events being broadcasted from those countries. They werent even in stock market or the international currency exchange. Most of their current national information was withheld from the general public.
As such, it was jarring to say the least. The most recent news about them was Greece breaking off from the UN, which was both confusing and intriguing. There was no reason for that specific country to break off now. Greece had paid off most, if not all of their loans to the UN, so it shouldn't be doing something so incredulously stupid.
So why?
I walked back to the door of my office and went over to my desk. I should see into this.
Sitting down on my chair, I examined the news of the last decade, looking into every article pertaining to the voided countries. I sat around and searched the wiki and most international news networks when I found something that caught my eye. It was a small article, pertaining back in 2002.
Turkey and Greece made an alliance of sorts. There was a deal that was made by Turkey, that Greece will be given resources for them to create harbours along the Aegean Sea, as well as the Ionian isles. It was a confusing deal, one that many news site wrote off as simply another shipping company trying to make more money. I, however saw the headline and really looked into it. It was there that I found out the truth.
There was no company involved in the signing of the documents. At least, no single business was involved. The Prime Ministers of both were the ones who agreed on the deal between Greece and Turkey. These two countries were in on the creation of island harbours. It was both intriguing, and frightening.
In the following years, more and more Mediterranean countries were in on the agreement, hiding under the guise of their shipping companies being ambitious. There were nothing on the maps as well. The latest satellite pictures didn't have anything to show about the harbours, but from the information I gathered, many islands had at least one port. These ports were protected by massive amounts of laser munitions that were just imported from Germany and Japan in 2012.
The advancement of anti missile technology led to the creation of many laser weapons and defense stations. Their effectiveness ultimately led to them being bought by every single country that had half the mind to protect themselves from any attack, even if such a thought has a very low chance of happening nowadays, with the UN overseeing everything that seems to be out of line. Most of the time, at least.
There were also many developments regarding the new electron energy shields that many scientists in Japan developed. This new invention will definitely change the way we think about science in the future, that much I can say. As for the ships, they were still in ongoing retrofit, but at least the Neo Magnesium was blending well with the design of the ships. That miraculous metal has definitely made more than a dozen engineers and architects cream their pants in delight. To think that Greece would be able to make such a strong, but light metal is very amazing, given their recent history in the world.
"Hmm… but there is still a problem with the whole voided out information regarding those countries… What could it mean? It was just a shipping deal, right? No need to get so serious over it." I spoke out, as I began to look through the technological advancements that happen in those countries in the past few years. I kept an eye open, looking for something that was possibly out of the ordinary.
There wasn't much movement from Greece until back in 2013, where they began a development stage for something called "Project Song Bird." Apparently, Project Song Bird was focused on creating stealth technologies, as well as the retrofitting of several vessels into submarine ships. The first one was understandable, but the second one was confusing. There was only one ship made, and it was codenamed "Project Diver". However, due to the complications of the project, as well as the dangers it created for the testers.
Project Diver was then sold off to the Dutch and every news from it was thrown away.
Sold off to the Dutch? That was… weird.
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The next news from the allied countries was the creation of several military outposts all across the two countries. They were under the guise of police buildings, but the latest scandal involving Bosnia revealed the existence of these outposts to both the public and the UN. When asked, however, they replied that those outposts were placed there in case riots get out of control. The Prime Minister accepted the excuse and walked away.
The next news that came in was the creation of the Neo Magnesium. Strong, Lightweight material that was not only durable, but incredibly tough. Even a small film of Neo Magnesium can stop a 9mm bullet, and a vest made out of the stuff can hold a 50.cal with surprising effectiveness. The release of this metal awarded Greece and Turkey with free reign over whatever they will do in the next few years.
Over the course of the last decade, these two countries were pumping out research stations, mining and excavation works, development on new technologies and the creation of several new age ships, the aptly named "Alexanders". These ships were fast, strong and cheap, capable of fighting off warships and tanking hits from torpedoes and bombs. The next vessel that was created in this time was known as the "Triton". It was made to catch and vessel that sunk the to depths of the ocean floor, and bring it back to a port for repair. It was based of off the tow submarines that were made back in 1942, only more effective now that it was modernized. The design was sold off to the UN and was distributed across different countries, but the Alexander ships were kept heavily disclosed.
Some time afterwards, there was a huge boom in the wealth of Greece and Turkey that they called it their very own "Golden Age of Development". This led many more Mediterranean countries to join the newly founded "New Unified Mediterranean Alliance." Most, if not all of the countries who joined the deal quickly integrated into the way of governing the two powers were doing, and they too, developed much more over the course of a few years.
As the NUMA grew, so did their military might. By 2020, the entire alliance had a total of 50 carriers, 200 heavy cruisers, 300 light cruisers, and over 500 destroyers, with a massive pack of 250 submarines and over 2000 other utility boats. Their Air Force boasted a massive 5000 planes of different sizes and their military held over a million soldiers in active duty, growing by the minute. It was unknown how the Alliance became so powerful, but the world just accepted it as the backwater countries of the UN finally getting their shit together and growing into powerhouses of their own.
As the Alliance grew increasingly wealthy, they set their resources to developing more and more mining and excavation operations over the Middle East, as well as importing a massive amount of metals from China. They also began to set oil rigs over the Mediterranean, and their demand for Oil became lower and lower. At this point in time, all of the countries began to pay off their debts to the UN and the US. As such, the pressure put on them by most countries slowly lightened, until they finally had no more loans to pay off.
Over the course of 22 years, the Mediterranean Alliance became wealthy through their abundance of exports to other countries, as well as the support they received from every other country in the Alliance. It took these countries only 22 years to go from a group barely known countried, to an Alliance the was capable of standing up to the United Nations, including America.
As such, the last news about the Alliance, which was made a year ago, confirmed that the following countries were part of the alliance: Greece, Turkey, The Yugoslavian States, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. Each of these countries are powerful at time and no one knows how much they've grown in power since then. There were no more new regarding the alliance, and as such, there were no more news regarding their refusal of our deals to distribute our ships to them.
Giving up any hope to know just what is happening, I was ready pack my bags and leave. The sky has finally been obscured by the clouds, and the dark stormy sky has just begun to set in. Taking the clue that I should leave before the storm starts, I picked up my belongings and was about to head out of the door, when I received a phone call. It was from my colleague, of course. I answered it and tried to see how everything went.
I already know how I went, but I can't help letting a little flame of hope burn in me.
"Ugh… How did it go, Meredith? Good? Bad? Little bit of both?" I
I tired spoke out as I placed the phone close to my ear. I feel bad for the poor girl. She must be so frustrated from everything that had happened over the past months.
"Absolutely. Terrible. They didn't even consider our deal! They just stared at the documents and handed it back to me! Worst of all, apparently they are moving out of the island!" She angrily spat out as I heard the ruffling of paper on the other side of the line. She was probably looking though her papers to see what went wrong. I know how she acts when she's angry.
"What do you mean? Did they just, throw you out or something?" I questioned, feeling a yawn coming from my mouth. I swallowed the urge to do so in hopes of consoling Charlotte. I really don't want her to apologise for calling me when I'm tired to death. She's going to apologise for venting later anyway. I do feel bad for the cab driver, if she's in a taxi. Probably wouldn't notice the guy.
"YES!!! THEY THREW ME OUT OF THE GODDAMN BUILDING!!!" I took the phone a bit farther from me when I heard that frustrated grunt. I knew that she was going to scream out her lungs, but damn, it was still incredibly loud as all hell. I brought the phone closer to me again, and spoke calmly.
"… That's a bit harsh. Did they have any reason to do so?" My voice sounded very disappointed about the entire situation. To be honest, who wouldn't?
"Well, apparently not for them! This is the 27th european country we tried to make deals with! I swear, I'm gonna move to Bath Iron Works if this keeps up. Sorry for bursting on you." I heard her pitifully speak out. I already knew what was gonna happen, and I won't blame her for it, but damn do I feel like shit.
"Don't be. I can understand the stress you're feeling right now. Alright, how about this, after you come back, we can go for a milk tea. My treat." I did my best to reassure that everything is fine. I've seen many of my colleagues break down after 10 rejections, the fact that this girl can take 27 and still keep going is very admirable. She really deserves a raise.
"Thank you, mam. I'll talk to you later. Bye." She proceeded to hang up. I smiled and took my bags. I didn't have to stay here anyway. Besides, I'm sure that Char could find me. I won't be going far anyway.
I took everything else that was necessary and hid all of my important documents in the vault. Making sure that it was locked, I went ahead and climbed the building, since the rooftops is a very neat shortcut to the street above the pier. I then walked the rest of the way to the nearest tea house, hoping that they have a discount of their milk tea.
As I was walking, however, I heard my phone ring again. When I looked at it, I saw that the caller was the head of security. I answered it and was about to question why I was called, when the panicked voice of the chief of staff loudly alarmed me.
"LINDA! GET OUT OF THE HARBOR! THIS IS CODE 1101, 1102, 1105!!!"
Code 1101. Code 1102. Code 1105.
Invasion Force Spotted.
Invasion Force Showing Signs of Hostility.
Invasion Imminent.
I whipped my head towards the sea so quickly that I thought my neck was gonna snap. When I turned to the sea, and almost dropped my bag. I couldn't believe. I had to be dreaming.
Because way off into the distance, the horizon was rougher that it should be. The stormy could possible explain it, but the storm couldn't possibly explain how the black line seemed to be getting CLOSER.
I felt the world turn cold. I suddenly felt chills overcome my body. My eyes began seeing things it shouldn't notice. Everything was slow.
I ran.
I ran as fast as I could towards one of the emergency entrances to the inside of the underground dry dock, just as the raid sirens began to sound up one by one. It was there that everyone realized what was happening.
Meruem Harbour was being invaded. And no one knows who's responsible.
I typed the passcode for the vault doors to open, and let out a loud scream, telling everyone to hurry inside. I saw other personnels do the same on different levels of the harbor. I guided as many people as I could inside the entry way. It was the only thing I could do.
The last thing I saw before I closed the door was light. Brighter than anything.
And then the door bursted open in front of me.