_Hesh_

This Novel is based on the events of Battlefield's newest Title "Battlefield 2042".
All Rights and Credits go to Battlefield's Developers. 



A DECADE OF CHAOS
2031

Ten years is all it took to bring the world to the brink. Rising sea levels, collapsing economies, broken alliances, and the headlines keep rolling in...

October 9th, 2033.
“Hurricane Zeta. The world's first category 6 storm.”

Jan 11th, 2034.
“Global food, fuel shortages spark Second Great Depression.”

August 8th, 2035.
"European Union officially disbands following Germany’s collapse.”


THE NEW NORMAL
2037.

Humanity adapts to the new normal. Revolutions in energy, desert irrigation, hydraulic levees, and sea walls save coastal cities, reclaim farmland, and rebuild supply chains. Hope of finding stability leads to some nations re-opening their borders.

However, with no way to repatriate 1.2 billion people, No-Pats become a permanent fixture in all economic, military, and social policy making. Many No-Pats are still distrustful of the governments that exiled them and refuse calls to reassimilate. No-Pat leaders emerge, inspiring a new identity unbound to former nationality, drawing a line in the sand between the Old World and The New Normal. #WeAreNoPats becomes a rallying cry.

Amidst the world rebuilding, sparks of friction erupt between the US and Russia, as the last two superpowers both vie for control of this fast-changing world.

An Uncertain Future

A 44 gallon double wrapped garbage bag is capable of holding about 22 kilos. The average weight of a 10,000 SGD note is 1.081 Grams, which means the bag the Russians just tossed to the ship from a Sierra class submarine is worth over 200 million SGD.


Immediately an old telegraph machine on the command bridge sprang to life. It was Oz. Paik read the message. "We will receive 5 Containers. Get them to Kourou…"


A day later we conducted another mid-ocean trade but this time with a Russian cargo ship that craned over the 5 containers destined for French Guiana. The manifest claimed they were filled with Synseco GMO pineapples - shelf stable for up to 24 months. Why did the Russians need No-Pats to ferry their fruit? First, French Guiana was easily one of the most dangerous places on Earth. Secondly, when those containers landed on the deck, the pineapples inside made a very distinct CLANG. 


"The Kremlin denies any involvement in the sabotage of the closed EU launch site in Kourou."


Three weeks later, we were moving our cargo by rail to French Guiana. I'd never have thought this place would be of interest to the superpowers, but the Blackout of 2040 had upended a world already on its head.


"Everyone thinks about the Blackout killing their internet, but the military implications were the real kicker," explains Rao. "Having no spy satellites got both superpowers scrambling to get hardware back in the sky." The Americans had just lost Canaveral to the sea, so it didn't take long before people started speculating that they were poking around the old EU launch site in Kourou. "The perfect place to launch your illegal space death lasers without anyone the wiser." Rao laughs.


"The cause of the Blackout of 2040 is still unknown, though theories abound."


Russia must have believed the rumors, because they've been encouraging uprisings against the American presence in French Guiana. "Sparking unrest is sort of Russia's specialty," smirks another Specialist, Maria Falck. "And it doesn't take much to get this place riled up," the former combat medic says, sounding a bit worried about what's to come. 


We arrived in Kourou a week later for the hand off to a local militia, armed with Russian weapons. One by one the containers were opened, revealing -- pineapples. I couldn't help but laugh, until the fruit was removed unveiling a cache of Volcov multi-munition launchers: the Swiss Army Knife of Russian rocket launchers. But before anybody can even speak, American forces swarm the area, guns blazing. A sharp sting pierced my left side. I blacked out.


When I came to, I was in the back of a flatbed with Maria trying to coordinate an exfil, her bandages wrapped around my abdomen. My first gunshot wound... Hopefully my last.


I keep hearing No-Pats say the world has forced them to do things they never imagined just to survive. Maybe it's what Oz wanted me to see; what he hoped I'd write. But now, doing Russia's dirty work, I wonder if No-Pats have lost sight of the cost of survival -- or whether I have.


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