Leon was sitting around a large table in the small makeshift library that had sprung up in the recreational room of the ship adjacent to the main gym. Around the table were Taylor and Samuel as well as Aden and Chad. Sabine had said she might show up later and where one found Taylor, Terry was usually not too far behind.
It had been just over one hundred and fifty days since the impromptu wedding in the ringed system they had chosen to name Vibrance, and the two were still just as excited about their new status as newlyweds as the day after the wedding. They could be found in each other's company almost everywhere on the ship, generally close together and exchanging muted conversation. They seemed almost made for each other, Taylor loud and boisterous to Terry’s quiet confidence. But together they seemed to mellow each other out and reach a common ground. Terry talked more confidently and Taylor measured his words more often, the two mutually benefiting from each other's company. They weren't here to discuss the wedding, or the Vibrance system, or even anything else about their mission however. They were there in fact as a bit of a deep dive into the history of the last great war, the end of the superpowers, the third and final world war.
Taylor and Samuel had both asked him about tidbits of information on several occasions and he had pulled Aden aside to ask the man if he would be willing to expound on the subject matter. As a resident of New India before he had left their homeworld behind, Aden was uniquely qualified to discuss the war as it was common knowledge mandatory to be taught to all children in his home country.
Leon looked at the young faces around him and unconsciously clenched his bionic hand in sympathetic pain as he thought about war. Realizing what he was doing, he placed his hands in front of himself on the table's surface and turned to Aden. “Aden, where would you like to start?”
The Indian man nodded to him and cleared his throat before raising his hands. He talked with his hands as much as with his voice, using them to accentuate his words and make points. He began to speak quietly but quickly gained confidence at the enraptured crowd. ‘It started long long in the past, during the economic crisis of the early 2030s. A country called the United States of America, I'm sure you have all heard a little about them.” he added with a grin. “Well, these United States were facing an economic collapse as the world's power shifted from the west to the east. The country of China was an old one, thousands of years of conflict had bred a hardy yet militaristic people, their government strict and unyielding. They cut a deal with the United States to help bail them out of their crisis and the US accepted despite the fears of their people. It was a measure of how strong their fear was that they agreed to ask at all.” He said with a frown.
“Why is that?” Chad asked curiously. “If the US was in as much trouble as it seemed, why would they just not ask their allies for help?”
Aden tsked and shook his head before saying “That's just the thing. With the collapse of the Russian oil economy, many of the US’s allies were even worse off than they themselves were. China wasn't a US ally, but in fact a direct competitor for world power, one who was rapidly closing the gap." Aden said matter of factly.
This time Leon saw Samuel twitch as if in surprise. The young man hesitated for a moment before he asked Aden "Why would the US ask a direct competitor for help? Wouldn't that ultimately weaken their position?"
Leon nodded at the comment as Aden smiled and responded. "Yes it did, and that's one of the main contributing factors to the war it seems. The US already owed a large debt to the Chinese government and was loath to add on top of it so they instead promised to pay off their debt in the next twenty years. It was a promise they would ultimately be unable to keep however." Aden finished before reaching out for a bottle of water to whet his throat.
Taylor smiled and said "I know a little about that. The US promised the Chinese territory in the Philippines in exchange for relieving them of a substantial portion of their debt. The US president at the time was quite sympathetic to the Chinese government and worked behind the backs of the military and the American people to get China more than was initially promised. This understandably pissed the military and populace off, and the President was impeached I believe is the word." Taylor said cautiously.
Leon nodded and said "Exactly the word. That president got caught double dealing and was thrown out of office. I have no personal stake in this, but if there is one thing I can't stand it's a double dealin, snake oil peddling, traitorous bureaucrat." He finished with a growl.
The door to the room creaked open right as he finished and Sabine poked her head in and immediately made eye contact with him. He straightened and smiled widely "Sabine, glad you could make it. Did you bring what I asked?" He asked her with a look.
She nodded and walked fully into the room with a small tray of roasted vegetables. The boys were understandably excited at the prospect of food and they thanked her profusely to which she just smiled and waved them off. Leon watched as she took a seat next to Chad and he smiled. She and Chad seemed to be getting along well together, very well. In fact he wouldn't be surprised if they eventually went the way Taylor and Terry had.
Terry was hard to separate from her new husband, but she was busy up in the secondary observation room pouring over astronomical data on their next target. They would be arriving in the system in a few days and she had wanted to make sure there wasn't anything she missed, and he also suspected that she had wanted to miss this lesson in pre-collapse history.
As the others started to settle once more, their snacks picked and their seats settled, Aden began to speak again. "Sabine, are you familiar with the term, cold war?"
She looked up at him for a moment before she answered "Yes, I believe it is the term for a war waged mostly in the shadows instead of on the battlefield right?" She said hopefully.
Aden nodded. "In essence you are correct. There is a bit more nuance to it, but saying it is an information war over an arms war is true. In the later part of the twenty-first century, the US and China were in a cold war with each other. Cyber attacks on infrastructure and public spaces were becoming more frequent as each year dragged on. It all finally came to a head during the terror wars of the late twenty first century. While neither side would openly admit to using such horrendous tactics, it is nevertheless believed that both sides engaged in the wholesale slaughter of civilians using extremist connections." Aden said with sadness.
Sabine covered her mouth and gripped Chad's arm as she breathed "That's horrible. Why would they do that? The people were innocent."
Leon frowned, while it was true that civilians were innocent, the times were different. Explosions in world population meant that human life was becoming increasingly devalued on both sides as their resources were eaten up by an ever-expanding lower class. It had been especially hard on China as their population had always been compact and barely in control to begin with. There were those historians that speculated most of the terror attacks on Chinese citizens were actually perpetrated by the Chinese government to increase hatred for the US and instill a sense of terror.
Aden waved a hand as he used his other to grab a toasted carrot from the tray Sabine had brought. He chomped it down and spoke again as he was still chewing "Yes it was. But such was the nature of war before the collapse. The world's population was steadily climbing into the ten billion and the world's resources were becoming stressed as many of the largest populations occupied extremely compact cities of tens of millions."
Aden paused to let that number sink in. The highest number Earth's population reached before the end of the war was a hotly debated topic, some said only eleven billion, others rated it as extreme as fifteen billion. After the collapse, Earth's population dropped dramatically, at the current day it was only about four and a half billion. So many died so quickly, Humanity had almost been lost, but they held on by the skin of their teeth with a fierce passion for life that bordered on the insane.
Chad seemed shocked but the others were less appalled. "I knew there were a lot of people before the collapse, but I never knew it was so high."
Aden smiled grimly and said "That's nothing, that was in the late twenty first century, by the time the war started the global population was estimated to be well over fourteen billion." Chad gasped out loud and even Samuel seemed a little taken aback. Sabine leaned into Chad as Aden continued. "Think about it. With such large numbers of people it was only a matter of time before the war turned hot. And in the early March of 2120 it did." He said theatrically.
Leon remembered what he had learned of the last great war in his own childhood. He had always been told it was China who fired the first shot, and history supported that opinion, but he was interested to see what Aden had been taught.
"It was a foggy day when a US spy ship called the USS Jamestown was torpedoed without provocation just inside Chinese national waters. Apparently the subs had been trailing the ship in hopes that it would stray into their waters due to the grim weather. The Jamestown was lost with all hands marking it as the first shot of the war. The US sent three carrier groups to the edge of the neutral zone in retaliation, but the President at the time was loath to take any actions that might be construed as openly hostile and never ordered a retaliatory attack. This did nothing to dismay the increasingly emboldened Chinese government who then went on the offensive and brutally attacked the US flotillas without warning." Aden said as if telling a story of someone he personally knew experiencing a tragic event.
Leon frowned slightly, the way he had heard that story explained was a bit different. He had always been told that the US called for peace multiple times over a forty-seven-day period that ended with a US destroyer accidentally crossing the line. The Chinese immediately took this excuse to launch a full scale attack on the three carrier groups that ended with more than twenty thousand US casualties, one of the worst single days in the history of the US, well till the end of the war that was.
As Aden continued, Leon leaned back into his chair, interested in this slightly different rendition of history. "With the declaration of total war came the deployment of millions of troops from both sides. The Chinese had a distinct population advantage and the fact that Russia declared for them almost immediately wasn't helpful to the US either. But the US wasn't without allies. As the Chinese Navy destroyed US bases in the Pacific Ocean, the US and its allies concentrated on the defense of the homeland. The campaign the Chinese waged on the islands of the pacific were brutal in the extreme with neither side asking or giving quarter. It was a bloody fight to the death." Aden finished.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Sabine asked suddenly "Why wouldn't they surrender if they knew they were beat. Why would the US soldiers keep fighting even knowing that they wouldn't make a difference?" She said with a slight waver in her voice.
This time Leon moved to answer. Turning to look at the younger crew members he said grimly "You need to understand that the world population was higher and the value of human life was greatly diminished from what it had once been. The US soldiers fought so bitterly because they knew death in combat was better than being captured. They had seen the footage of US soldiers taken from the destroyed carrier groups as they were tortured or experimented on. Their bodies twisted in agony at the mutagenic effects of horrific genetic experiments. I have seen some of the footage, and I can say that the thought of what Humanity has done to each other in the past almost makes me wish the bombs had not fallen as sparingly as they did. Some sins are too grievous to be forgiven." He finished hauntedly with a faraway look as he remembered the horrors he had been forced to watch in his military years.
Chad looked like he might be sick and even Taylor looked a bit gloomy, his usual bubbly personality muted by the grim atmosphere.
Aden cleared his throat and said "Yes, not pleasant viewing. The US was eventually invaded by a combined Chinese and Russian force across the Bering strait into Alaska about three years into the war, while this stood to be a devastating blow, a combined counterpush made up of US and Canadian forces met the aggressors and halted them in their tracks after the burning of Nome. Pretty soon the invading Chino-Ruso forces found themselves being pushed back to the Bering sea." Aden said with a smile.
Sabine nodded at the thought and looked at Chad as the young engineer spoke up "I think I remember hearing about that. Wasn't there a famous general named Hunter Perkins or something like that who led a counterattack on the Chinese homeland?" He asked Aden.
Leon nodded as Aden responded "General Hunter Parkins yes. He was responsible for the joint US, Australian, and Indian counter attack through southern China. It was about this time that the war really picked up as other countries started to get involved or took the opportunity to settle old scores. This is about the time that the Chaddian wars started." He said.
Samuel made a small motion and asked "What are the Chaddian wars?"
Aden looked to Leon and he nodded. Taking over for Aden for a moment he started "To understand the Chaddian wars you first need to know what Chad was like. Chad was a medium sized territory in the center of the African continent and constantly plagued by wars and conflicts. As one of the most ancient Human empires, it was deeply entrenched in its culture and martial way of life. This sat ill with many of their neighbors who wanted access to their rich natural resources and farmland." He said before motioning to Sabine who looked as if she had a question.
"Did the Chaddian wars start because of what was happening between the US and China?" She asked.
Leon nodded and answered "Yes it did, Chad declared for China and immediately went on the offensive against the US and allied sponsored governments that surrounded it. The Chaddian wars were even more brutal and degenerate than the main US and China war was. There were no holds barred and the use of criminal technologies and banned weapons was rampant." He continued.
Samuel asked quickly "What do you mean by criminal technologies?"
Leon grimaced and said slowly "That's a heavy topic. Pretty much anything that causes unnecessary suffering or wounding or is dangerous to civilian populations after the fighting. Things like flamethrowers, biological weapons, mines, cluster munitions." He listed off.
"Cybernetic enhancements?" Chad asked.
Leon nodded and said "Exactly, lasers and plasma weapons as well as they generally cause painful wounds that can permanently impair a soldier's ability to live a normal life while not always killing them." Leon said with a shrug.
Aden took over and said "The brutal realities of war are a discussion for another time. Right now I still need to finish the story at hand. The Chaddian wars were a significant part of the collapse, but not the root cause. When General Hunter Parkins led his forces up into the south heartland of China it prompted an immediate response leading to a four year conflict known as the Horror war. It was so named for the horrors experienced by the soldiers who fought in it, genetic aberrations that looked like kronenberg monsters, cybernetic super soldiers, biological super plagues that only lasted for weeks but killed tens of thousands. There were even records of primitive nanotechnology being used to corrode enemy guns and destabilize fuel tanks or weapons. It really was a bloody brawl degenerated to its lowest form." He finished quickly.
Leon cut in during the brief pause "You have probably heard the myth that the Chinese forces were nearing a rout which is why they ended up launching the nukes." Chad and Samuel nodded but Sabine and Taylor looked lost. "The truth of the matter is that the Chinese forces started to pull back in lieu of the impending nuclear strike, but the combined US forces pursued them much more aggressively than they had expected." Leon finished with a nod to Aden again.
Taylor piped up asking "They still launched the nukes even though the US forces were now occupying friendly territory?"
Aden nodded "As mentioned before, the value of Human life was heavily diminished at the time and so the Chinese command never even hesitated as they launched a nuclear strike against the allied forces. They also launched their full-scale nuclear attack towards the US probably hoping that the US wouldn't have the time to properly respond." He paused for dramatic effect as he neared the crescendo of the history lesson.
"The collapse." Samuel said softly.
Leon nodded as Aden finished the telling "Unknown to the Chinese, the US had a contingency plan of their own in the form of five MAD class apocalypse carriers, or MIRV submarines. Each MAD class submarine had a total of twenty Minuteman V MIRV's on board for a total of five hundred independently targetable nuclear weapons. These MAD mariners were given the order to unleash almost immediately after Chinese nukes destroyed the Indian front lines and before any of the long-range ICBMs had yet to hit the mainland. The result was that roughly one thousand three hundred bombs, two hundred kiloton all the way up to five megaton, erupted across the globe in the span of a single afternoon. The devastation was beyond believable. Billions of people died instantly and billions more would die later as the world entered a prolonged nuclear winter."
Leon chimed in again "This was the collapse, and should have led to Humanity's extinction, but it didn't."
Sabine spoke up this time "I remember reading about the collapse survivors, many near the blast zones died to the radiation, but others held out in underground fallout shelters or underwater bases. Most of Europe and South America was largely unaffected by the bombs, but the resulting nuclear winter hit everyone equally." She said as if reciting a text she had read in a manual.
Leon smiled at her seeming enthusiasm. He spoke up saying "You have heard the moniker that those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it. And nobody wanted a repeat of the collapse. Shortly after the nuclear winter started to ease up and things looked like they might be returning to normal, the Chilean super caldera, thought to be extinct, erupted and blew the bottom of South America straight to hell." He watched as their grim faces recalled what they had learned of the event.
Taylor spoke up again as he asked "I have seen the maps before the collapse, did we really lose so much land when the seas rose?"
This time it was Samuel who answered "Yes, and the worst part was that most of the world's population centers were on the oceans. The rising water flooded cities and washed away entire small countries. Hundreds of millions died as they fled the floods." He leaned back, satisfied to have participated.
Chad looked horrified at the thought of so much death and Leon had to remind himself that they had never seen brutal combat like he and Aden had. This world of numbers and casualties was new to them, and death was still a taboo topic, not something to be discussed casually. Samuel had a bit of a rougher upbringing with his involvement in secret government programs. He had likely heard stories at least as bad as what they were discussing now.
Aden nodded as Samuel finished. “Yes yes, but the important thing to remember is that despite all the chaos and death, Humanity pulled together. The first few decades after the collapse were the closest that we have collectively been in our entire history. Strong nations helped the weak and many donated their entire lives to rebuilding the world, better and safer than it had been before.” he finished with a smile.
Leon spoke up again and said “It was in the later years of the twenty second century that the United Nations came together as the single governing body of Earth. Sure not everyone listened to them, but everyone that did prospered and was afforded the use of peacekeeping troops for protection and security. As a veteran of that force, I can assure you that the good done always far outweighed the damage, despite what those arschgeige newsies always said.” he finished with a sour look.
Samuel spoke saying “Well, that's all far behind us now. But I'm glad we had a discussion about the collapse, I always was a little hazy on some of the details.”
Sabine just leaned into Chad and said “I don't know, I feel a little worse now actually.”
Chad patted her shoulder and whispered something to her that made her gasp and smile before she playfully smacked him on the chest saying “How dare you insinuate such a thing. Shame on you.” but she couldn't hold back a giggle as she said it.
Leon just watched impassively, those two were certainly a lot closer than they had been when they started this mission. It seemed as thought the isolation was bringing some of the crew closer together. Leon couldn't for the life of him see any problems with that, they were all professionals who would keep their personal lives and work separate.
Standing and stretching slightly, Leon said “Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a nap after all that talking.” Aden huffed and stood as well.
Sabine and Chad stood together and Sabine grabbed the now mostly empty tray. Samuel and Taylor rose after, as the group collectively made its way to the door, Leon ushered them out and said “Don't forget, we are arriving in the new system in three days.” he warned them, as if they could forget.
They gave affirmations to the warning and soon he was left alone with Aden who turned to him and asked “So, what was the actual point of that lesson?”
Leon just shrugged and said “We have all this cultural information on Earth’s history and the effect it had on where we are today as a species. As any one of us might eventually end up being the ambassador for our entire species I figured it was a good idea to bring everyone up to speed on the more pertinent details. I'm going to be inviting some of the others to this same lesson tomorrow if you are willing to help me out again.”
He watched as Aden seemed to mull over the invitation before the man nodded and said “I’ll be there commander.” and walked away.
Leon leaned tiredly on the wall next to him, there was too much to do for himself, he needed to take a break. But who would cover for him as his second in command? He thought about Aden but the man wasn't really qualified to handle emergencies, Samuel was too young and still impulsive. He would have to give it some more thought later. Strolling down the hall towards the ladder, he decided to go and take a visit to the hydroponics section to have a chat with joice. She always seemed to know ways to help out. Maybe this time she could help him come up with a second that he could trust to keep things running so he could stop putting out every fire by himself.
He hummed a small tuneless song to himself as he walked down the hall, confident that things would take a turn for the better soon.