First it was the Datalinks.
"This is Freedom Radio, Liberty's last voice in the system."
Then it was the right to peacefully assemble.
"The Zed Street Riots on Ganycent have, now that we've told you about them, been turned into a horrid justification for the revokation of civil liberties across the system."
It was not a pleasant time. Most figured the Coalition a necessary evil to combat the aliens, and so they endured the depravations of totalitarianism. But very few were willing to stand up. None of the ten strongest nations were willing to do anything, so it seemed.
So the first spark of resistance was lit in Eire.
***
It was the holy day of the isle's saint. March the seventeenth. Saint Patrick's Day. Off in the distance, the cathedral bells rang for him.
Clang, clang, they said. Come and hear our song, for in our song we are free. It was what we were made for.
A blond-haired boy walked out of an alleyway. He wore a denim jacket and his mouth was tightly shut, like one who was used to holding his peace. He had a satchel slung across his shoulder and a blank look on his eyes.
The cathedral bells continued ringing. One can never tell another's thoughts for certain, but it seemed that he was trying to figure their meaning. They had meant many things to his people throughout the years. Their song was beautiful, bittersweet and melancholy. But was it a song of forgiveness? A song of war? A song of peace? A song of martyrdom, of death, of freedom? Or was it merely random noise made by hollow metal shells banging into each other?
He didn't know, but he knew he had to stop thinking about what was true and think merely about what was. For what was was simply this: He had a goal, a net worth. He was one of many who shared this net worth, and collectively they were all worth three Greek letters.
Whatever that meant.
He came up to a sector gate. Dhublaine had been divided into seventeen sectors. It was carved up like Sunday ham. Like a beast brutally slaughtered for the good of others.
He walked up to the soldiers, who wore the Chi Xi Stigma patch on their shoulders.
He reached into his satchel and pulled a cord, his ticket to eternity, freedom, martyrdom, war, peace, and death.
He couldn't help but smile then. He knew not why.
***
There had been tension between the Chi Xi Stigma occupation forces and the populace of Eire for quite a while. Their increasingly invasive policing tactics had started irritating the people, and their arrogance at being above the national militia forces didn't exactly bring sympathy from them, either.
To protest, an underground group had been started about a year ago by various private citizens, called the Fianna after an ancient band of warriors that had protected the isle from foreign attacks. According to Chi Xi Stigma intelligence, the group had links to the Mossad, to Knightemplar, to Freedom Radio, and to various other individuals such as the international fugitive Berberine Avenger. They were new, but they were already well-trained and they had assassinated several pro-Coalition individuals and even blown up GDC Iorepha Starbase. Some saw them as the worst kind of criminal, and others saw them as the last hope for a free Eire.
The church bells were ringing in the Eireann capital district of Dhublaine on New Year's Day. And, unlike in neighboring Angleterre where they rang and nobody heeded, the church bells were heeded here. Occupied by Emeriqua's Ninth Army of the Anarchy after the War of Severian, the land of Eire had been recast from the sadistic pipedreams of Macsordoc Severian into a miniature version of Emeriqua, complete with the faith and the anarchy.
Michael Fitzpatrick, a mysterious man clad in blue and white clothing, looked at his watch as he came out of church.
He counted the seconds until nine o'clock.
Explosions blossomed in the distance, and, he knew, all across the emerald isle of Eire.
He chuckled to himself and thought, Everything can change on St. Patrick's Day.
***
The Chi Xi Stigma flagship and the glory of humanity, Unity Ascendant, entered Earth orbit. The green-and-blue ball spun gracefully below them.
An aide rang the doorbell to the executive suite onboard.
Cristobal Chacazzo, a robust brown-haired man fully dressed in Chi Xi Stigma military regalia, nodded to him as he opened the door.
"Yes? What is the matter?" he asked in Italine.
"Sir, the Chi Xi Stigma battalions in Eire have all been destroyed at 0900 hours local time. An underground terrorist group called the Fianna has claimed responsibility."
Chacazzo paused for a moment, absorbing the information.
"Are there any survivors?" Chacazzo inquired. "Has Chi Xi Stigma Angleterre been deployed to the region?"
"The bombings happened while half the units were out on patrol, so the remaining Chi Xi Stigma have fallen back to a defensive perimeter in the northern city of Belfaz. The Eireanns have refused Chi Xi Stigma Angleterre entry into their airspace. The Eireann national militia has threatened to open fire if they approach."
"What the hell is this all about!?"
"The leader of the Fianna, Michael Fitzpatrick, is being broadcast right now on Freedom Radio," the aide said. "He seems to have the support of the people."
"We've got to do something, and quick," Chacazzo said. "The fate of humanity is at stake if we are not united."
***
"-And we proclaim that Eire is withdrawing from a Coalition it never agreed to create or join in the first place!" declared an unshrouded Michael Fitzpatrick in a Freedom Radio live feed from Dhublaine. People cheered after the pronouncement. "We do not declare war on the rest of humanity, but we demand that the Chi Xi Stigma leave and never return. You can enslave the rest of the world if you want, but leave Eire free!"
Fitzpatrick left the podium then, and a second person, dressed in a military uniform decorated with medals, stepped up to the microphone. His skin was beige, and he spoke in nearly-perfect Gaelic with only a hint of an Emeriquan accent.
"I am General Letousier, in charge of the Emeriquan Army Iorepha Command and thus the Ninth Army of the Anarchy. I have been contacted by none other than Chacazzo himself, and have been asked to aid the Chi Xi Stigma in Belfaz. His request doesn't matter. As in times past, the Emeriquan Army will support the people of Eire by not following this order. The people of Eire have made their choice, and we acknowledge that and support it. However, as a member of the Global Defence Coalition, Emeriqua cannot partake militarily in any strike against the Chi Xi Stigma."
Fitzpatrick stepped forward again. "We appreciate this support from the Emeriquan people, and we ask that the rest of the world acknowledge our rejection of the Coalition peacefully."
***
With the proclamation in Eire, several of the smaller nations, especially those who were strongly allied with the Emeriquans, began debating independence. One of these was the republic of Ijapt.
"We want our independence from this ridiculous Coalition," the Prime Minister declared before the Ijaptine parliament. "We want our liberty back."
However, they hadn't seen what the Coalition was prepared to do.
***
Emeriqua's declaration of neutrality had been seconded by the Parliament of Brytannia, the Rhuskan Imperium, and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Ganymede. Chacazzo was nervous.
"So Eire's gone, Ijapt's gone, and three of the key members of the Coalition are supporting this. We need to send a signal to all of them, and the time for peaceful debate has passed. Warm up the onboard weaponry for a planetary strike."
"Even the nukes, sir? We still have CXS in Belfaz."
"Even the nukes."
***
In a military radar post south of Derry, they saw them first.
Fifty missiles had popped onto their radar and would strike the isle in about three minutes.
"Can we get a lock on the missile class?"
"They're Devastators. Clean nukes, but they destroy everything. And fifty of them... Eire's literally gonna cease to exist in three minutes."
"Better tell Fitzpatrick. Tell him to do what he can. We don't have countermeasures."
"What about the Emeriquans?"
"They can fire countermeasures from their East Coast and they'll get here in five minutes."
"Damn!"
"It's the end."
***
The news arrived a minute later to the people. In the land, they bowed their heads and prayed and hugged one another and kissed and prepared for the end as best they could. In the cities, they lined up and they crowded the docks, ships taking on as many people as possible. Nobody went back to grab anything, because there was no time. The ships were jammed, and they launched off, getting as far as they could before the missiles would hit.
As the missiles struck, they gouged out huge pits in the country. People couldn't feel themselves die in the split seconds it took to do so. Vast chunks of earth were vaporized, as well as years of history.
The monasteries in the countryside that had twice preserved civilization from total oblivion were destroyed. The cathedrals that had inspired millions were now dust. And most important of all, half a billion Eireanns were now dead.
Where Eire was, the Celtic Sea now filled it in except for the few places where the nukes hadn't wiped out the land. And for the quarter million Eireanns that had been close enough to the shipyards or airports when the news came, there was nothing in their hearts but realization and hate.
***
The immediate and absolute destruction of Eire was explained on Coalition-controlled radio as "a crisis decision to end the threat of anti-human dissenters." It didn't really excuse the actions of Unity Ascendant and Chacazzo, but it frightened the world into line.
All except for the neutrals.
"We will not stand by while the Global Defence Coalition not only slays freedom but destroys all dissenters," the Prime Minister of Brytannia declared. "We have to act now. The aliens are a true threat... but they don't excuse this. They don't excuse genocide. We will join forces with any who will fight with us; and indeed it will be a fight. The Brytash Parliament, by unanimous vote, has declared war on the Coalition."
"The Ionyted Estata ov Emeriqua will take a stand with Brytannia," the President of Emeriqua declared. "The Coalition is the greatest threat to ever face this Anarchy. We will fight the Coalition and the aliens to the last man if necessary. We will prevent this affront to life, liberty and God from ever happening again."
"The brutality and sheer malice of such an act..." pondered the Imperator of Rhuska on international television. "It is inexplicable. It is inexcusable. It makes any of our former troubles with the Emeriquans look like nothing. We will gladly cast our lot with the insurrectionists."
However, some people sympathized with the decision. "It is necessary," argued Chacazzo passionately, "to cut off all cancerous parts that would infect the whole. True, Eire wasn't a direct threat to humanity. But they demanded to step out of the war, to take their part out of humanity's effort against the extraterrestrials. If they went unpunished in doing this, who knows what it could have led to? Entire nations would have demobilised, and we would be ripe for conquest. Did I want to destroy Eire? No. That was half a billion people, destroyed in a moment. My pacifist heart ached to see that decision made. But if their death prevented billions from demobilising in addition, then it is an acceptable loss. We fight for the self-determination and the very existence of the human race, I would remind you. Would that there were any other way.
"And yet, there remain those that would rise up against humanity's last hope," continued the Provisional Director. "The Ionyted Estata, the Brytash Solar Imperium, and Imperial Rhuska; as well as their sycophants and lesser allies. Nations such as Nippon, Ijapt, Koryo, Australe, Zhongua and Hispania. They have all insurrected, and I beg them to reconsider. I will not order the Chi Xi Stigma to attack for a period of seven days to allow you to reconsider. But after that, we will destroy you like we had to do to Eire."
***
The Insurrectionists took those seven days to do as much damage as they could.
Brytannia deployed the Seventeenth Royal Stellarfleet against the Chi Xi Stigma in Ganymede. They joined forces with the Provisional Revolutionary Government and they tied up the CSS Magisterium as Royal Marines provided relief to the revolutionaries by opening up a second front in Fleetyard. On Earth, the insular defenses of Brytannia, positioned in a field outside of Kanterburi, shot at Unity Ascendant and the surface army braced for an attack from the continent.
Emeriqua had prepared for this eventuality, and her Army's Extreme Orient Division had sent an agent to destroy the planetary power grid. This temporarily shut down and confused the national militaries as well as the Chi Xi Stigma, and it allowed the Emeriquans (who had readied backup energy supplies) to fight with little opposition for several hours before emergency energy was routed to the ???. Emeriqua also radioed its wounded flagship, Kyriakos Anastasia, instructing the Insurrectionist forces onboard to imprison the Selenian soldiers and proceed directly to the Queen's Jovian colonies for repair before approaching Earth. It organised a Pausyphic Rim Battlefleet out of its starship Parousia Thei, the Nipponese starships Yamato and Himegoto, and the Australine battleship Southern Cross. Parousia's Caelica-class fighters began bombing Selenian industrial sites.
Imperial Rhuska began arming and mobilising its allies in the Middle East to attack the largest Coalition ally in the region, Israel. A coordinated attack on Israeli airspace was planned, and preparations were made for them to launch from airbases ranging from Kayiffa in the Imperial province of Ukraan to Teran in Insurrectionist Parthia. Ijapt, Syria, Parthia, and East Afraga had all signed on to help Rhuska win the Middle East for the Insurrection.
As all this happened, the Vatican released an announcement that many thought would never be seen again-a Crusade. It proclaimed a declaration of war on the Coalition in the name of the dead of Eire, and it called for the Catholic Church and all Xristioneiea in general to go underground in Coalition terre and subvert it from the inside, and for Catholics in Insurrectionist terre to back the war efforts of their individual nations. In response, CXS Italia stormed St. Peter's Square and razed it to its very foundations. All Vatican citizens and church officials had already fled underground and were making their way across the globe.
Likewise, the Ayatollah of Parthia had declared a jihad against Chacazzo. He was supported by a majority of both Sunni and Shiite Islam, destabilising the Coalitionist Kingdom of Aravia and the Italine-occupied Berberine Republic, whose citizens happened to be Muslim. He declared an alliance with the Vatican, and issued a pronouncement that the end days that the Prophet had foretold were upon the world.
And finally, Israel, after witnessing the activities of the Rhuskans and virtually the rest of the Middle East, decided to sign an alliance with the Coalition that would establish its independence from the Coalition yet authorise the Chi Xi Stigma to reestablish military bases within its borders in exchange for CXS aid against the Rhuskans. It was set to expire at the end of the Insurrection or in seven years, whichever came first. Many Orthodox Jews held out hope that Messiah would come soon, or even that he was already come and had signed the treaty with them.
The aliens were rapidly approaching humanity's furthest settlements, humanity had dug in for a war against itself on a scale previously unimaginable, and hope was a memory belonging to yesterday.