Chapter 152: Deepening Conflict
In August 2032, the last soldier who had enlisted in the United Human Federation was discharged, leaving no more soldiers in the federation.
The number of non-commissioned officers and officers also continued to decrease, staying at 10% and scheduled to be transferred to the reserve by next year.
The units and facilities they used were dismantled one by one, leaving only the land behind.
The artificial intelligence army controlled by Lucia replaced the traditional army.
The Ministry of National Defense and other military agencies were disbanded and replaced by the Unified Space Force under Lucia’s direct command.
As the name suggested, this force did not have any divisions such as army, air force, or navy.
The main force was the Earth Fleet under the command of the Unified Space Force, and most of the power projection was done by this fleet.
The fleet’s operational range was the entire Earth, and when it first showed its presence, people who had mocked its arrogant name all shut their mouths.
As the Earth Fleet became the main force of the United Human Federation, various weapon systems became obsolete and discarded.
A huge amount of weapons, from the latest tanks like K-3 to warships, helicopters, and rifles, lost their owners.
Lucia had tried to recycle these weapons, but neighboring countries showed interest.
Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, visited the Korean Peninsula with a military advisory group and expressed his satisfaction after inspecting various weapon systems.
“Korea… no, these are obsolete equipment for the United Human Federation, but they are enough for us. I like all the tanks, armored vehicles, and self-propelled guns… I hope to buy them at a reasonable price.”
Lucia agreed readily as India had a good relationship and the price was fair.
“Actually, we haven’t had any training since the war ended. We will send them to you after proper maintenance.”
“We welcome that. We would like to look around some other weapons with the advisory group.”
“Sure.”
That’s how India started a rush of countries to introduce weapons to the Korean Peninsula.
Korean-made weapons had always been popular for their decent performance at a low price, but the situation had changed completely in recent years.
The K-3 tank, which showed a shocking tactic in the East Asian War, was so popular that many countries competed to introduce it.
It was the only tank that had a chassis made of black metal and equipped with a railgun and an ion thruster.
Black metal was so expensive that even the United States had to settle for armoring it, and the railgun had secured penetration power but failed to reduce power consumption and gave up on mounting it.
It also included a 3D battlefield system using drones, which made it unbeatable in tank warfare.
The K-3 tanks left after giving them to Russia were about 300 units, but they were sold out in no time.
People expected a power vacuum naturally, but they didn’t care anymore.
―They’re going to announce new weapons at a press conference anyway.
—The combat walkers were impressive in performance, but weak in visuals. I hope the new ones are more intimidating.
—Do we even need tanks? The Earth Fleet is floating in the sky.
Lucia had sold all the K-3 tanks she had, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need tanks.
She couldn’t defend the megacity with just the Earth Fleet.
“We’ll need some security forces for the megacity when it comes under attack.”
She felt a bit lacking with drones, androids, and combat walkers.
They were all equipped with ion thrusters, so they had great mobility, but they were too small to exert great combat power.
There was also a limit to the hafnium-2 warheads.
So Arma designed a new Taranula with a power cell.
This was a version that improved the mass production of the Taranula from Earth in 2180 and changed some parts.
It faithfully inherited the performance of the original and even included the function of giving instructions to the surroundings by receiving data from the gravity radar.
It had a long operating time as it had a power cell equivalent to Arma’s, and more importantly, it could detect and fight the enemy by linking with the Sibir satellite.
In other words, Taranula acted as a combat commander.
It couldn’t fly, but it could jump high with its ion thruster and hide and cover itself autonomously.
This Taranula appeared as soon as the K-3 tanks disappeared from the Korean Peninsula.
People were startled by the appearance of a giant spider-shaped mobile weapon, but then they felt relieved and thought it made sense.
―The president wouldn’t just leave a power vacuum.
―It’s cool, but it’s kind of gross because it’s a spider…
―I saw its combat demonstration. It hid behind a building and shot a railgun with its arm. It has a cute side to it.
This Taranula was barely out of the smart factory when it was given to Russia and proved its combat power.
It swept away Ulygarhi’s soldiers who opposed President Mikhailov’s reform plan.
They were called soldiers, but they were more like an army with armored vehicles and rocket launchers, but they were annihilated without leaving anyone behind when Taranula was deployed.
Drones and androids followed and took over Gazprom.
There was sporadic resistance, but it didn’t matter much as a force that could massacre even regular troops was deployed.
President Mikhailov gained courage and proceeded with the purge, and the Russian people cheered.
―The time has come to burn the vampires! For the great Russia, no, for the United Human Federation!
Many Russians wanted to join the United Human Federation because they had a high favorability for Lucia and experienced her technology firsthand.
There were many benefits to becoming one.
Lucia promised equal treatment without discrimination and provided them with a hyperloop train first as proof.
Many Russians were looking forward to the construction of Megacity Russia that he mentioned.
As the United Human Federation and Russia became closely aligned, many countries looked at them with discomfort.
The United States was opposed, but they couldn’t intervene and had to watch.
China and Japan, which were right next to them, were in trouble.
These two countries had hoped to improve their relations with the United Human Federation after losing the East Asian War, but they were still lukewarm.
It was because Lucia didn’t care.
She had secured all the land to build the megacity, and she had no reason to be interested in other countries.
She could introduce technology as long as they paid money, but both countries wanted more.
In short, they wanted to be treated like Germany, but Lucia refused.
“We haven’t been friends for long. Let’s not pretend that the past didn’t happen and just keep a distance. That’s the best.”
That meant they had to pay extra money every time they introduced technology.
For example, Russia, which had risen to Tier 0, was almost free of charge as long as they met some conditions.
They solved the docking station within Russia, but they only had to pay a symbolic ruble for the power car.
Germany, India, Australia and others could introduce power cars at $600 million, and other countries at $800 million.
To save money, Akagi Kenji, who became the new prime minister, pushed for Lucia’s visit to Japan, but it didn’t happen.
―The president’s schedule is too tight. It seems difficult.
―Please try to arrange a visit next year if possible.
―I’m sorry. The schedule is full until next year.
As the Japanese government clung to this situation, there was talk of hurting their pride internally.
―It’s humiliating. Since when have we been dependent on Korea?
―It’s because we lost the war! We have to pay a billion yen in reparations every year. What can we say?
―The reparations make it so hard to budget. Can’t we just ignore it?
―If you want to go to war with the United Human Federation again, you can do whatever you want.
―I’m angry… We lost to Korea of all places.
―Bring back the legendary First Army or something.
Japan was better off than that.
In China, there was a burning claim that they could not admit that they had lost the war.
They said Korea had cowardly stabbed their weakness.
―The People’s Liberation Army didn’t use its main force at all! In other words, we never lost!
―If we mobilize our entire army and attack them, we can easily defeat Korea!
But President Wang Xian was shocked by this claim and cracked down on it.
He felt keenly that if he went to war with Korea again, he would lose everything.
He had worked hard to become the president of China, and he was not willing to lose his position.
He ruthlessly suppressed the warmongers in his party who opposed him.
This led to a battle in Beijing.
He lacked the ability to rule the whole of China.
The People’s Liberation Army did not respect him as a president.
He had surrendered without putting up a fight.
China was plagued by political conflict and economic damage.
They had exhausted their national power by fighting two wars.
They lost a lot of investment when they lost Manchuria. It became difficult to create jobs through real estate development.
A shocking statistic of negative growth came out, and the authorities were very tense.
They would probably manipulate the statistics, but they couldn’t hide it forever.
The Chinese people did not look kindly on the leaders who had lost the war.
The internal conflict was at its peak, and it was only a matter of time before it exploded.
Meanwhile, the United Human Federation quietly did their own thing.
They launched satellites with unknown purposes and declared that they had started developing Mars.
They had moved on to mining resources on Mars after the Moon.
Everything was fine until a Mars probe sent by the United States captured an unexpected sight.
There was a huge base in Mariner Valley.
***
“What a nice base. They hid it cleverly between the valleys.”
“It’s almost half the size of Manhattan. It’s much bigger than the Moon base.”
“What are they making on the outskirts? Is that a spaceship? What is it for?”
“Nobody knows.”
NASA immediately reported this fact, and the White House investigated it.
They confirmed that it was the United Human Federation’s base.
They asked the United Human Federation for the truth, but they got a ridiculous answer.
―What’s wrong with building a base there?
―Isn’t the base too big? And they’re making a spaceship there. Isn’t that a violation of the space treaty?
―The United Human Federation is not a member of the UN.
―Anyway, reveal the size and purpose of the base and the spaceship.
―We refuse. It’s none of America’s business.
When the negotiation failed, the United States criticized the United Human Federation indirectly in the name of the White House.
“Space belongs to all of us. But the United Human Federation is building a huge base on Mars and privatizing it. We don’t know what’s going on there…”
“We urge the United Human Federation once again. Leave Mars in peace. And reveal the size and purpose of the base and the spaceship. The United States will pursue justice to the end.”
It was unclear how revealing the base and the spaceship was related to justice.
The United States publicly criticized the United Human Federation, and other countries became interested.
―The United Human Federation must have a reason to be interested in Mars. There must be something there.
―Maybe it’s something like the ether core that came from outer space. Maybe Lucia foresaw it with her ability.
―Anyway, we can’t just sit still. We have to go to Mars.
Thus, many countries declared that they would go to the Moon and Mars.
Ironically, they could do this thanks to the United Human Federation.
They had found a way to enter space at a low cost, thanks to the technology transfer of black metal and ion thrusters.
The United States announced that they would build bases on the Moon and Mars, and the EU also launched their own exploration.
Then, the United Human Federation announced an unexpected news.
They had discovered a new metal on Mars.
―We decided to call this metal mithril. ―Mithril is a shiny silver metal that enhances the abilities of psychers.
―If you feel insufficient in transforming, come to Terra Island. We will help you.
The psychers around the world were intrigued by the words that could enhance their abilities.
“I don’t know how it enhances abilities.”
“From what I see, it seems like they insert mithril into the body… Wouldn’t that hurt?”
“They said it only hurts a little during the procedure and it gets better over time. There are no side effects either.”
“The condition for the procedure is to stay on Terra Island for a month… I guess I can think of it as a trip.”
There was no problem in going there since the travel restrictions for psychers had been lifted.
Many psychers visited Terra Island with money.
And as they stayed there, they experienced the wonders of Megacity firsthand.
“Damn, there’s so much to enjoy!”
“This is heaven… I can gamble as much as I want and have androids! Why did I suffer so much until now?”
“They said they pay twice as much as before. Should I just settle here?”
There were more than a few psychers who thought like this.
If they thought about it, there was no reason to be loyal to their country in this day and age.
The country had exploited them just because they had psycher abilities.
They paid them decent salaries, but they didn’t have good memories of working until they were exhausted and vomiting blood.
But the United Human Federation was different.
On Terra Island, psychers could have everything they wanted.
A salary of over $500,000, the right to buy androids first, and the benefit of using the United Human Federation’s infrastructure at a low cost.
And above all, they could get a house in the center of Megacity if they registered as citizens!
The psychers who had been paying a lot of rent were tempted.
“This place is amazing… Everything is fantastic.”
“The common language is English and there are many people… It’s not much different from home.”
“…Should I just live here?”
Thus, the psychers who stayed in Megacity for the procedure began to obtain residency one by one.
The countries didn’t care at first.
Getting residency didn’t mean giving up their nationality, and it was beneficial if the psychers came back after the procedure.
But then, the psychers started to register as full citizens one by one.
They didn’t feel any value in returning to their home country after living happily and comfortably in Megacity.
They could bring their families with them, so there was no risk.
And the United Human Federation took care of their assets in their home country.
As the psychers began to abandon their original nationality, the countries were alarmed.
―You should come back after getting the procedure. Why are you staying there? Return immediately.
―The United Human Federation must stop taking away our psychers.
But the United Human Federation calmly answered.
―The psychers join the United Human Federation because they get better treatment. You should improve your treatment too.
―Where in the world is there a place that blocks free immigration? We never forced them. It’s their choice.
―If you try to scrap the psycher visit agreement, the technology agreement will be scrapped as well.
Then the countries realized that they had fallen into Yu Ji-ha’s trap.
That terrible dictator didn’t give them technology for nothing.
He baited them with a huge technology transfer and then lured them into naturalization with all kinds of temptations.
It was infuriating.
But they couldn’t break the technology agreement either.
They were making a fuss about entering space, but it was impossible without ion thruster technology.
Several media outlets in the United States criticized this behavior.
“Lucia’s trademark is to give only one choice. But this is too much. The United Human Federation is sucking up the world’s resources, wealth, and power.”
“And yet they refuse to join the UN and don’t even communicate at all. They need a responsible attitude to rise as a true superpower.”
Just then, a statistic came out that five hundred psychers in the United States had renounced their nationality, and it grabbed the Congress by the neck.
―The psychers are literally leaking out. What is the White House doing? Scrap the agreement now!
―If we scrap it, the technology agreement will also be automatically scrapped. If Congress agrees, we will proceed.
The Baldwin administration was exhausted by the constant boycott of Congress.
He was a substitute in the first place, and his term was too much for him. He already had a lot of criticism that he was a lame duck.
So he was dragged around by Congress’s demands.
If he could have run for re-election, Baldwin would have cooperated fully with Lucia, but reality was not so.
Anyway, at Congress’s request, the psycher visit agreement was scrapped and the technology agreement was suspended.
They stopped any more leakage, but the psychers who were suddenly banned from leaving the country were very dissatisfied.
“Are you kidding me? I don’t understand why you’re blocking my departure. What have you done for me?”
“Congress has always criticized the United Human Federation for being unfree, but look at this now. Where is the free and just America?”
Despite their fierce criticism, Congress ignored their position.
They knew that talking to them would only make things awkward, so they didn’t bother.
The United States was able to prevent the leakage of psychers thanks to their quick action.
They also caught up with about 90% of the United Human Federation’s technology, so they didn’t suffer much damage.
But France was a different story.
The country that shouted for tolerance allowed their psychers to travel and ended up losing 30% of them in less than a month.
They were fed up with the poor treatment and the verbal abuse from President Marie Le Pen.
One psycher even called his arrival to the United Human Federation an asylum.
“Don’t trust the Aether International Research Institute. It’s only flashy on the outside, but in reality, it’s no different from a concentration camp. Psychers are suffering there right now.”
“We won’t go back to France. It’s not free or equal there. The managers treat us like lab rats.”
It was strange that France, which had always emphasized freedom, was oppressive to psychers.
The French government immediately denied it, but it was not a convincing explanation.
When other countries started to investigate the issue, President Marie Le Pen closed the institute with the excuse of interior work.
“The current institute is not enough to satisfy people from different cultures. We will do some renovation, so please postpone the investigation.”
This ridiculous measure made the governments of other countries hurry to bring back their psychers.
They didn’t know what would happen if they left them there under the pretext of joint research.
The French people who heard this news through the media were shocked as if they had been struck by lightning.
“Confinement and verbal abuse? Where did freedom, equality, and fraternity go?”
“We have to impeach this crazy president. Before the world laughs at France!”
As the situation progressed, France suddenly started to bite at the United Human Federation.
―We need to investigate if the French people who obtained the United Human Federation nationality were treated oppressively. Let us meet them.
The United Human Federation’s answer was simple.
―Meeting and persuading them is up to you.
It was an attitude that showed confidence that they wouldn’t lose their psychers.
In fact, none of the psychers regained their French nationality even though the French government tried to persuade them.
They hesitated because of the clause that they couldn’t return to Megacity if they left.
―Look, the United Human Federation is more oppressive than us. Nationality should be freely acquired.
―That’s fine, but France has no right to say anything after treating psychers like lab rats. I don’t know if we can go on vacation freely now.
―Don’t slander us or we’ll warn you.
―It’s not slander. The psychers who were held by you testified themselves. If you don’t believe it, we’ll call them again and let you hear their testimony.
―There’s nothing more to say with a country ruled by a dictator like Hitler.
As the tension between the two countries rose, the United Human Federation succeeded in retrieving a supermassive particle accelerator, a relic of the prophet, from their Mars base.
The mass capture created an ether field and retrieved a relic that was 650 meters long.
Lucia finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m glad. Since we’re here, let’s try the antimatter bomb explosion test. The simulation was perfect and we did the maintenance, but you never know.”
There were 100 one-gigaton antimatter bombs loaded on the Settler, and they were producing one every few months.
According to Arma’s calculation, they would explode perfectly, but they still had to test it.
「Is it okay to reveal the antimatter bomb test? We can’t hide it.」
The explosion scale was no joke, since it was a weapon to exterminate the Plague.
“It doesn’t matter. They’ll find out anyway from the earthquake. We can just say it was a meteor.”
According to the roadmap, they weren’t supposed to reveal the antimatter bomb yet, but she was in a hurry because she didn’t know when the Plague would attack.
Arma didn’t say anything and started preparing.
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