ARES:Gods of War

The Party Part 2:Spring's End

You may build a throne with bayonets, but you will find it hard to sit on.

-Boris Yeltsin, former President of the Russian Federation

The early morning within the Ark was not brought by the usual greetings of the newscasters, nor by the joyful tunes of TV shows. The early Sunday of the 1st of May, 2122 instead found the souls of the Ark waking up to the blaring alarms of the Ark Alert System. A male officer clad in a silver-grey uniform stood at attention on the screens of the millions of inhabitants of the Ark, both within the city itself and in its Outer Rim, where soldiers worked around the clock to ensure the proper delivery of supplies and tending of the wounded.

Wherein normalcy should have once prevailed once more on an easy day where children did not have school and most adults who were not part of the 'essential worker' group of the Ark should have had a free, relaxing day, the image of the greying man within the confines of a highly-advanced building in an unknown area played. Heavenly Ascension themselves, left with nothing to do but wait, watched as a single headline played across the screen below the man...

MISSILIS COUP:CEO SYUEN ANNOUNCES SEIZING OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT BUILDING ALONGSIDE LOYAL STAFF AND MILITARY ASSETS. CRISIS RESPONSE DECLARED AGAINST HOSTILE INSURRECTION.

Awakening to the blaring alarms and the deployment of the Central Governments peacekeeping organs into the streets was an unexpected and terrifying twist of fate. The officer seemed to not be part of the Ark's normal anti-coup response, rather a change of pace. Someone new, someone who looked like he'd been through a lot. And indeed, the man before them was a veteran of something. Something they had no idea of.

When he began to speak, everyone from the average man and woman in a coffee shop to the young boys and girls to the families of military officers and CG staff listened with bated breath. And speak he did, proudly and calmly, "Greetings, citizens of the Ark. I'm aware I'm not the person you were expecting to see during the first few hours of your Sunday. I fully apologize for this interruption of your normal schedule, but I'm afraid it is a necessary evil."

Nobody failed to notice the seven-foot-tall silhouettes of soldiers clad in heavy armor in the rear. They very much resembled the Commander of the LUCKY STRIKES, sister squad to the Counters, but they remained stoic and silent behind the man as he spoke, "My name is Captain James Gregory Cutter. I am not an officer of the Ark's military, or that of the old United Forces of Humanity... No, I am of a new faction. I will keep our introduction as brief as possible. I'm sure many of you have heard rumors of the Green Folk, the soldiers attempting to pacify and heal the Outer Rim. That is us. We are the United Nations Space Command, the exploratory, military and scientific arm of the Unified Earth Government in our world."

Across the many buildings, gasps escaped the lips of all who watched the broadcast. A young woman with black hair and dark-brown eyes stared at the screen, her husband holding her hand beside her as the younger siblings of one certain Commander stared, awed. The Captain continued his speech, "Without delving into too many details right now, I'm here to say we've come in the darkest hour of humanity. To save you all from Missilis's acts of terror and from CEO Syuen's rule." and cocked his head left, "Doctor Anders, Cortana, Isabel, please roll the tapes."

... Horrifying images ranging from the engagement of Chatterbox to the Flood outbreak on one of the nearest Lost Arks to their own and to recently-recovered footage from within the Missilis Military Research Institute(MMR) showing Nikkes and humans alike being experimented on like hey were animals. The woman had managed to shield her children's eyes as she glared at the sight, seeing her son and his Nikkes engaged in battle, seeing Kelly's helmet camera footage, seeing... All of it. She whispered, "That little runt better not have touched my son or my daughter..." with fury welling in her voice. She felt her husband's grip tighten on her hand.