[FEDNET] The Terran Frontier

[Orwell]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE TERRAN FRONTIER: EARTH'S FUTURE

 

 

Troopers from the 64th Moritas, picking through the foggy beaches around the ruins of Crescent City, California.

 

 

"Today, we laid the first brick, and we make a statement to all races of the galaxy: the human spirit cannot be broken."

These were the words of recently reappointed mayor of Fountain, Colorado, Eric Genovese after christening the first new plot of land for development on the ruins of the small town outside of Colorado Springs.

 

Genovese was a citizen when Earth was besieged by the Progenitors; he and his family were shuttled off to Sanctuary and remained there until Sanctuary's fall and the end of the Civil War.

 

Now, he finds himself returning to the city he was born and raised in, only to find it a mess of ruins and scorched earth.

 

"It will be decades- maybe a hundred years before we can restore Fountain to what she used to be. But I'll be damned if I won't spend the rest of my days to see it through to the best that I can."

 

Eric Genovese's story is not unique. He is one of the thousands of Terrans trickling back onto the few patches of territory deemed 'safe' by the Federation.

Civic centers that used to number into the millions are now rendered nothing more than moonscapes full of debris.

 

Osaka, Mexico City, Delhi, London, Paris, Manila, Jakarta- the list goes on, one urban center after the other that was devastated by the Progenitors.

 

 

 

The urban sprawl around Odessa, Ukraine share similar fates with other civic centers across the planet.

 

 

Once a thriving arm of the Tokyo metropolitan area, the ward of Suginami is rendered a husk of its former self.

 

 

Lake Victoria, the largest of the African Great Lakes, now has its waters polluted from ruptured pipelines in addition to having its water levels significantly lowered (up to ten meters).

 

 

 

A projection of human and Progenitor forces on earth. Red resemble the concentrations of neons still left wandering the planet, while the blue patches resemble the 

slowly expanding territories reclaimed by the Mobile Infantry and Fleet.

 

As humanity takes its first steps to reclaim our species' home planet from the remaining Progenitor forces, a new set of challenges besets the waves of incoming soldiers and settlers alike.

 

Some areas, such as Colorado Springs in the United States, Bujumbura in Burundi, and Kaxgar in China have been deemed 'safe' for returning Terrans.

Indeed, with the destruction of the Ark and the end of the civil war, the millions upon millions of Terrans displaced by war now have the option to return to their home planet, albeit in incredibly secure strongholds maintained by the Mobile Infantry.

 

Emotions run high among these Terran diaspora finally allowed to return to just a fraction of their home planet. But some Terrans, many of them citizens, take up the struggle with the Mobile Infantry and Fleet- determined to see earth expunged of any trace of the Progenitors.

 

 

A fireteam of MI resting in the ruins of Bucharest, Romania. The UCF-BC-403 John Pershing hangs above them.

 

Bands of veterans, citizens, and sympathetic colonists have found themselves flocking to these strongholds by the thousands, eager to take part in the reconstruction process alongside the Mobile Infantry.

 

While such gusto and eagerness to rebuild is certainly admirable, there are many Terrans who don't share their same optimism.

Federal researchers have concluded that microbiological surveys taken from the corpses of dead neons show the microscopic organisms that 'hitched a ride' on the bodies of the Progenitors are now being found in such high concentrations in certain parts of the planet that they're killing off and out-competing the native bacteria, suggesting that the biological consequences of an invading alien force might have the potential to severely disrupt earth's natural distribution of microscopic flora and fauna.

 

Correspondents from the ruins of Kingston, Jamaica report the cries and sorrows of those who ventured out to see what became of their homes- a story repeated across the globe. With such devastating levels of destruction, many Terrans believe that it will be decades before earth is restored to the status that it had before its fall, an approximation backed up by Federal researchers who arrived at similar projections.

 

With damages in the upwards of trillions of pounds, it will not only be an incredibly time consuming task, but also a very expensive one- even the most populated of colonies today would cost significantly less to rebuild were a similar situation happen to them. 

 

One of the most resounding messages we received from the ruins of many once-great civic centers was the lamentation from those who knew that future generations will never be able to experience the splendors and sights of earth as they once had, and as their ancestors had.

While many are content with accepting that earth will no longer hold the spot that it once had as a dominant force in the Federation; an economic and political epicenter for our system-spanning society, others reject their attitudes.

 

We spoke with a citizen by the name of Shelly Parks, a native of Leeds, England, who along with her family had been displaced from Earth during the civil war. She finds herself returning to her favorite pub along with a band of multi-national Terrans, many of them veterans, many of them emblazoned by the prospect of reclaiming earth. Parks' favorite pub, The Cross Keys, constructed in 1802, is now nothing more than a pile of rubble; indistinguishable from the rubble that spans block after block in the once prominent English city.

 

 

The skyline of Leeds, England.

 

 

 

Shelly Parks keeps a Morita carbine on her ruck as she picks through the rubble along with her compatriots. Overhead, an unending stream of corvettes and battle cruisers slowly make their way across the smokey skies above the British Isles. 

 

In the rubble, the dusty corpses of one of the many races to try and topple the human race finds itself face down in a murky puddle with a chunk of rebar impaling its torso. Its appearance is wretched; a mess of limbs and appendages of different unrecognizable organisms. Streaks of brightly colored blue score the creature's body. Black, coagulated ichor pools at the bottom of the rebar stake where it lay.

 

"They're everywhere, really. Every nook and cranny, every pond, every stream, every breach. People will be coming across their wretched bodies for years to come. We torch hundreds a day, but there's always more. Always more."

 

One of Parks' compatriots alerts her to a still-living abomination trapped under the rubble of a chemist's office.

 

"We've been doing this for about a week, now. Cleaning up the rubbish, that's what we've taken to calling it."

 

When asked if she had any words for Terrans still abroad, uncertain about the future of the planet, Parks had this to say.

 

"It will never be the same, no. There's no denying that. More than anything, to me, it's about the principle of it. How could we abandon the cradle of our species? Thousands and thousands of years of progress as a race- we can't just leave it to twist in the wind. Even if every city, every district, every block is ruins, those ruins belong to us. I wouldn't be able to look at myself the same way if I had forsaken it. Future generations deserve to know that- no matter what the condition is- this had once been the genesis of our space-faring society. It was here, that there was unparalleled achievement in the face of tremendous adversity. It was here, that we first looked up into the sky and realized our dreams, and it was here that we laboured meticulously to realize those dreams. Even if it's ashes, even if we'll never be able to restore it to what it once was, earth is ours, and nobody else's... and that's what's keeping me here, keeping me working. We still have people who remember what it was like, people who can record their experiences of what once was. And if we have that information, then future generations can ponder about what had been. They'll be able to have some kind of reference, some sliver of knowledge about the greatness that for the longest time, was the only home we'd ever known."

 

 

 

INTERESTED IN RECLAIMING TERRA?

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A CITIZEN?

THE FEDERATION NEEDS

YOU

NOW MORE THAN EVER!

 

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL RECRUITER FOR THE MOBILE INFANTRY OR FLEET AND ASK HOW YOU CAN HELP RECLAIM TERRA!

 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?