[u]1958, 19 December 2020, UNXIPU Base[/u]

As the Chinook was hovering over the air and descending, the scale of the base was visible and obvious; it was nothing special, with several quickly built airstrip and hangers. There were no huge number of buildings at all, only one - something that looks like a huge wareouse surrounded by chainlink fences, guard towers and sandbags. The transport finally landed on a helipad, equally hastily built, as if it was not the priority at all, its passengers disgorged. "The Charlie has landed. Please keep your head down as you're exiting the vehicle. Thank you for flying UN Airlines." The same British voice joked once again.

As if unable to wait any longer, the occupants were exiting the passenger compartment of the Chinook quite hurriedly, in contrast to the relax manner a few guards from the main building of the UNXIPU camp were approaching, which was oozing boredom. The crowd formed a rough circle away from the helipad as the Chinook that carried them to the middle of nowhere in Libya, several kilometres from the coast took off once again to ferry some other people, or supplies. A transport plane, designed by the Chinese from the looks of it, was taking off in the distance. Its payload was obvious just off the airstrip. People were buzzing around the cargo like ants on the job. The place was new after all.

Out in the open, under the glow of some bright lights in the middle of the sea of darkness surrounding everyone, the passengers were clearly visible. The Singaporean siblings resembled each other immensely. As it turns out, they were twins, and had they not been born different sexes, they would have been indistinguishable from one another. The duffel bags they were carrying read '1ADF', standing for the 1st Advance Development Force, a unit well known for its use and testing of the latest, cutting edge equipment. They wore the red cross on their forearms, which labeled them as medics. The Pakistani, standing on the opposite end of the crowd from his Indian and Bangladeshi counterparts, wore the badge of the lightning and bayonet - the symbol of Pakistan's own elite forces, the Special Services Group. The Indian soldier was no less spectacular, hailing from the 9 Para Commandos while Bangladesh followed suit by sending in a member of her elite SWDS - Special Warfare Diving and Salvage. The Ghurka however, needed no such distinction, even if he was from a Rifles formation, not that he was concerned at all about politics.

Then there were the other passengers. A Japanese Sergeant from the Central Readiness Force stood almost as stoic as the Ghurka, brandishing a sword on his hip, which signals a new age in Japan's new foreign policy. Japan had recently reworded its constitution, allowing their armed forces to operate in any capacity, be it on foreign soil or domestic. While naysayers feared the worst, Japanese defence representatives did say that it was all in the name of defence. Reflecting this, the JSDF (Japanese Self-Defence Force) was renamed the JAF, or the Japanese Armed Forces. A flame-haired Scottish woman stood beside him, representing the 3rd Highlander Rifles, a military unit from the newly independent Scotland, which became a sovereign country after the UK finally allowed it to leave. It seemed that the group consists of some of the best in the world, and all of them seem to be shrinking away from the Americans in their midst, as if regarding them as pests.

The United States had been shrinking in stature, after all, as if an aging man losing his calcium and muscles. With the value of the US dollar shrinking for the past few decades, unemployment rising and GDP falling, the proud country had since pulled out from every war on the planet, not that it was very involved anymore on grounds outside of its own. With her military being downsized and budget reduced, most of her foreign bases were shut down. Japan was particularly ecstatic about it, and China, secretly gloating at the reduced presence. The United States did not have the same political power as it used to have, which resulted in a backlash on its image. The world seemed to be giving up the Eagle for dead. The only countries that seemed to still care were the ASEAN countries, as well as some isolated states in Africa. Most of the relief efforts came from them, along with the rest that was reluctantly given by the rising Dragon that was China. As if to make matters worse, China had been observed to be starving the United States out slowly by withdrawing economic ties bit by bit. While the former had become independent of the latter fiscally, the latter was reliant on the former for its industry and exports.

Even the Chinese scientists looked like they came from some world-reknown organisation, though by now every government-owned research firm in China had become world-reknown.

"Welcome to U-N-Xi-Pu, folks, wackiest UN organisation to date." One of the guards greeted the crowd. The caucasian looked dreadfully bored with his eyebags and sagging cheeks. If one were to look closely at his uniform, one could tell that he was drafted from the LAPD of the United States. In fact, he looked like he had been plucked off the beat in LA and left in the middle of the Libyan desert. The only alteration to his bearing was his Peaked Cap, which was the light blue of the UN with the globe and laurel badge in the middle. As if mocking him, UNXIPU was just below the logo. "If you'd follow me, people..." He droned.