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The Coalition of Minnows was a collective gathering of "small" nations who agreed to work together and form a team of people to save the world by means of uncovering ancient conspiracies, artefacts and sites.

History[]

Early History[]

Prior to the 1990's, while Max Epper was primarily researching an ancient Machine linked to the Dark Star, he also looked into history around the Golden Capstone of the Great Pyramid of Giza. In this line of research, Epper discovered instances of global flooding caused by the Tartarus Sunspot on several occasions in the past during its alignment with Earth, but also found that flooding hadn't occurred a short time after the Great Pyramid was completed. Theorising that the Capstone, which had since been disassembled and hidden, had somehow absorbed the intense heat of the sunspot during its previous rotation, Epper then considered the implications of the sunspot causing another flooding in its next rotation.

Though wary to believe in the idea that a single nation could obtain 1,000 years of unrivaled power, Epper was concerned when he learned that both the Catholic Church and the Americans were preparing their own expeditions to obtain the Capstone and take the power for themselves. Because of this, Epper made contact with several friends in foreign governments, including Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove of the Australian Army, to request their presence at a later meeting of nations to discuss his findings and prepare a multi-national rival mission.

Between 1994 and 1996, Epper and his protégé Jack West Jr located several hidden scrolls that were saved from the Alexandria Library fire, and discovered, among other things, the Callimachus text, which would lead them to the locations of the Ancient Wonders and the Capstone Pieces with them. However, because the texts were written in the Word of Thoth, they needed to find the latest of the Oracles of Siwa.

Seven months after Epper and Jack recovered the newborn daughter of the Siwa Oracle, a meeting of nations was finally brought together (Australia had agreed to participate and allowed Jack to attend the meeting by himself on their behalf). Epper explained to the gathering the impending crisis involving the Tartarus sunspot, the need to restore the Golden Capstone, and the threat posed by the Old European Union and the rival American expedition. Epper then requested that all of the gathered nations take part in forming a team to protect the Oracle girl, whom Jack had named Lily, as she grew up and could learn to translate the Callimachus text, so that they could find the Capstone pieces and avert the threat the sunspot posed.

The gathered nations quickly agreed to allow a single representative to join their mission; while Canada had already chosen Epper, Enrique Velacruz was to represent Spain, V.J. Weatherly for Jamaica, Sky Monster was picked for New Zealand, Sheik Abbas chosen his second son Zahir for the United Arab Emirates, and Ireland assigned the siblings Zoe and Liam Kissane.

Once the meeting was over, the chosen team members took different routes to Victoria Station in Kenya, where they were to spend the next several years raising Lily together (and with Epper's wife Doris). Over the next several years, each of the team members participated towards Lily's development, and because of the need to isolate her from the world, Lily was home schooled by Epper and Doris, who also taught her many ancient languages and hieroglyphs. Becoming close to every member of the team, Lily eventually gave them new nicknames.

In the years they spent at Victoria Station, the team trained to deal with the trap systems they would encounter during the mission, and also came up with several contingency plans and secret forms of communication they could use in the event that something went wrong and they needed a new base or rendezvous point. The team briefly harboured the rogue U.S. submarine captain JJ Wickham as a favour to Jack, and became associated with some of the local Kenyan farmers, including Solomon Kol.

Seven years after the assignment started, the team was visited at the farm by the Mossad agent Benjamin Cohen, with whom Jack was familiar. The Mossad, knowing the team's mission, wanted Cohen added to the Coalition's team or else they would expose the Coalition to their rivals. Jack agreed on the condition that Cohen would not report at any time to the Mossad, which the Israeli reluctantly agreed to. While it was hard for the team at first, eventually they came to accept Cohen as a member of the team (though Pooh Bear still had reservations).

Eventually, one week before the sunspot was due to face Earth, the ten-year-old Lily found herself able to understand the first part of the Callimachus text. As a result, the team quickly mobilised and used the Halicarnassus to head to a mine in the Sudan.

Seven Ancient Wonders[]

The team made their way into the ancient mine through its second entrance, but with Francisco del Piero and his Old European Union already present and Marshall Judah's Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force forces inbound, Jack led the team hurriedly through the traps, though Pooh Bear was apparently taken out by a sliding stone. After arriving at the Grand Cavern, most of the team secured their position on the Scar while Wizard's Warblers held off the Europeans' gunfire, Jack led Lily up to the Innermost Cave, where she picked out the Capstone piece from the Colossus of Rhodes' neck. The team proceeded to flee back the way they came, being joined by the still-alive Pooh Bear as the Europeans attempted to pursue them.

However after reaching the entrance, the waiting Noddy was killed by Cal Kallis and his men, who surrounded the Coalition team as they reached their Swamprunners. After Jack's attempt to reason with Kallis failed, they were forced to hand over the Piece when the psychopathic CIEF trooper put a gun to Zoe's head. After Kallis announced his orders to execute the team, save for Jack since Judah wanted to speak with him, the team managed to flee their captors as a European chopper inadvertently provided them with a distraction, and were pursued on their Swamprunners until Sky Monster brought in the Halicarnassus to pick them up.

Though they were preparing to head back to Victoria Station, the team's plans changed when Lily suddenly found herself understanding the next clue in the Callimachus text. Jack and Epper excitedly realised that they actually had a chance in their mission since the text itself didn't reveal the Piece's location, but rather one of the scrolls they had obtained years earlier. Soon the team prepared their next move to recover the Alexandria Lighthouse Piece from Hamilcar's Refuge in Tunisia, and while Big Ears' injuries from the mine were minor enough that he could continue, Fuzzy was forced to stay aboard the Halicarnassus with Sky Monster.

Shortly after locating the entrance to the concealed inlet containing Hamilcar's Refuge, the team was alerted to the arrival of an American team. After racing Kallis and Judah's teams through the inlet's trap systems, Jack, Zoe and Lily alone made it to the Refuge, while the others were forced to find another way in. Jack's group found the Lighthouse's Piece with the Mausoleum Piece, however, with Judah's team right behind them, they were forced to hide and leave the Pieces for the CIEF. Zoe escorted Lily to the rest of the team while Jack took a notebook from a long-dead Nazi archaeologist and pursued Judah's drilling vehicle carrying the heavy Capstone Pieces, photographing the inscriptions for Lily to translate later. Because he was unable to reach the rest of his team, Jack was forced to commandeer an old U-Boat and was picked up a day later.

Jack demanded a private talk with Wizard, sharing his suspicion that someone on their team was letting the Americans' know of their progress, but neither could determine who the mole might be since they were both certain of their teammates' loyalty to Lily, if nothing else. Epper noted that their problems were compounded with the issues brought up by Lily's translations of the clues for the Statue of Zeus and Temple of Artemis Pieces. During a team meeting, Wizard revealed the Artemis Piece was undoubtedly with the Europeans, since the Artemis Piece was at St. Peter's Basilica, but the Zeus Piece was lost. To this end, Jack reluctantly decided they needed to liberate Mustapha Zaeed, an expert on the Capstone, from Guantanamo Bay to help them.

Stretch, though outraged about using Zaeed, provided details on the terrorists cell, and so while Jack and Zoe donned Gull Wings in order to infiltrate the detention camp, the rest of the team provided a distraction by having Sky Monster land the Halicarnassus on the golf course and the others firing rubber bullets at the defending Marines, making them believe it was an exercise and therefore becoming less lethal. Once Jack and Zoe had grabbed Zaeed, who had agreed to help once he learned they were trying to rebuild the Capstone, they returned to the Halicarnassus and made their escape to Jamaica.

Once Zaeed revealed the Zeus Piece was kept unknowingly in the Louvre with the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue, the Coalition team began making their way to Paris, with the intention of also noting the measurements of an obelisk that would help to locate the tomb of Alexander the Great, where the final Capstone piece lay.

Jack led most of the team to retrieve the Zeus Piece, with him and Big Ears disguising themselves in workers overalls before they and Lily moved to the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Once Jack broke the Capstone Piece out of the statue's pedestal, they began making their escape through the streets of Paris in a double-decker bus procured by Stretch, getting the obelisk measurements along the way, and finally managed to get away with the Piece.

Meanwhile, Wizard led Zoe and Fuzzy to Rome, not so they could take the St. Peter's Piece, but so that Wizard could memorise the inscription. Disguising himself as a Priest, Wizard approached the alter holding the Piece, managing to memorise the inscription before a guard firmly requested he move along. The trio began making their way to the airport, contacting Doris to inform her of their success, but soon afterwards they were captured by del Piero's men.

Unaware of their teammates' capture, Jack's team returned to Victoria Station, intending to hold on to their Capstone Piece to prevent their rivals from being able to perform the ritual of power. However, as Lily eagerly ran to Doris with Big Ears to share the news, Doris called out to Lily that their return was just like Gimli's return to the mines of Moria. Lily knew that this was a warning and that something was wrong. Indeed, once she and Big Ears began running back to the Halicarnassus, the CIEF breached the hanger and opened fire. Sky Monster got the Halicarnassus ready to take off once again, and after Big Ears sacrificed himself to get Lily to the air-stairs, Pooh Bear and Stretch brought her aboard, allowing the team to get away.

As they flew away, Judah contacted Jack's group to gloat about retrieving the Zeus Piece from Big Ears' body, Doris' death, and revealed that Wizard's team had been captured by the Europeans. With Lily upset but determined to make Big Ears proud, and even as Stretch, Pooh Bear and Zaeed started bickering, Jack decided that, rather than give up, they had to locate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and retrieve its Piece.

They soon managed to determine the Gardens' location, however shortly after they got past the first trap they were confronted by a group of Sayaret Matkal led by Avenger, revealing that Stretch had (unknowingly) given their location away, and were planning to use the Piece to bargain with the Americans. After being forced to escort the Israeli's through the Garden's traps, Jack and pooh Bear retrieved the Piece for Avenger, but the pair were left hanging from the ceiling.

After Lily became trapped in the quicksand of the second Well of the Winged Lion, Stretch hesitated to abandon her and instead decided to save her from the rising quicksand. As the Americans arrived and captured them, Jack managed to get him and Pooh Bear to safety by swinging them onto the giant stalactite using an American chopper, but were forced to make their escape through the Priests' entrance as the Americans destroyed the Gardens. While the Americans took the Capstone Piece from Avenger's team, Jack and Pooh Bear were taunted by a fleeing Zaeed that to ensure the ceremony that weakened the Tartarus sunspot worked, Lily's life would need to be sacrificed.

Jack and Pooh Bear returned to the Halicarnassus, where Jack realised the truth about the mole in their team; he found a tracking chip in his skull, implanted since an accident while training with the CIEF years before the mission had begun. After disabling it, Jack, Pooh Bear and Sky Monster made plans to stop the Americans from succeeding on the Great Pyramid.

Meanwhile, del Piero had Wizard, Zoe and Fuzzy brought to him one day before the Rotation event, taking a moment to gloat about the Church's imminent victory and introducing Alexander to them. After del Piero informed the group of what he had learned from intercepts regarding a confrontation between Jack's group and the CIEF at the Hanging Gardens, he went on to tell them he would be taking them to Giza to witness his victory.

After del Piero's attempt to ambush the Americans backfired, Wizard, Zoe and Fuzzy were soon reunited with Lily and Stretch. Wizard was taken to Luxor by Judah to witness him claim the final Capstone Piece, and then he and Lily were brought to the platform on the Pyramid, with Stretch, Zoe, Fuzzy kept as hostages in a Black Hawk at the base of the Great Pyramid, whom Judah would order killed if Lily didn't comply to his commands.

Soon after Judah began the ritual of power, the Halicarnassus approached the Pyramid and, after entering its hover mode, Pooh Bear and Sky Monster attacked the Americans while Jack used his Gull Wings to land on the Pyramid's platform, quickly taking out many CIEF operatives before resorting to hand-to-hand combat with Kallis. In the confusion, Zoe, Fuzzy and Stretch escaped from their bonds and took control of the Black Hawk, from which they helped to bring down CIEF choppers while Stretch sniped at the CIEF forces on the Pyramid's platform.

Judah's completion of the ceremony failed due to Alexander escaping the Capstone, but while Judah held Jack at gunpoint, the stowaway Zaeed used Lily to perform the ceremony, apparently giving 1000 years of power to Saudi Arabia. Fortunately, Jack revealed that he had swapped Zaeed's sand with his own homeland's, giving the power to Australia, and proceeded to kill Zaeed. After finishing Judah, Jack went to the Capstone and cried over Lily's apparent death during the ceremony, only for her to awaken, still alive.

As the team collected the Capstone and Alexander, they reunited in the Halicarnassus as they began flying away. The team rejoiced, with Lily and Pooh Bear forgiving Stretch for his actions before Lily explained to Jack that she survived by the ritual by going into the chamber willingly, as a scroll she had read years earlier had explained. Lily then comforted Zoe and Wizard for the loss of their loved ones.

After the mission was over, the representatives of the countries in the Coalition met again to discuss the events on the Great Pyramid, this time joined by representatives from Israel. Wizard brought Lily with him, and proceeded to inform them of what had happened, but chose to lie about the fact that Australia now had 1,000 years of power, claiming that the ritual of peace had been performed instead.

Between Seven Ancient Wonders and The Six Sacred Stones[]

After the mission was over, Israel discovered Stretch's actions to abandon his country and save Lily, and so they seceded from the Coalition. Some of the other nations of the Coalition provided Stretch asylum since his own country had deemed him a Category 5 Enemy of the State.

In the wake of the deaths of Noddy, Doris and Big Ears during the mission, Jack realised that there would always be the risk of being killed without a chance to say goodbye, and so he suggested that everybody in the team (barring the still young Lily) write an email to be read by him or someone else important to them should they perish during a mission, which they all agreed to do, coming to call them Messages from the Other Side.

Each member of the team returned to their home nation to resume their regular duties, while occasionally being asked to go over some details of the Capstone mission. During their time off, they would regularly visit Jack and Lily at Jack's remote farm in Australia, though the absence of most of her former guardians was hard on Lily at first, and she in turn occasionally visit the individual team members at their own homes. The team was able to reunite in full during the New Year celebration atop the Burj al Arab in Dubai.

Wizard, returning to his life's work of researching the Machine, would more regularly visit Jack and Lily, having the former help him in doing research, but not actually telling him what he was working on. Occasionally Wizard bought his associate Yobu "Tank" Tanaka with him. Lily began to notice the romantic tension between Jack and Zoe, and so she began to hope that they might marry so they could be a proper family.

The Six Sacred Stones[]

On December first of 2007, Wizard and Tank located a chamber beneath Witch Mountain in search of the Philosopher's Stone, one of the Six Ramesean Stones related to the Machine. As they noted down the various images and inscriptions, Wizard and Tank discovered that the first Pillar would need to be set 100 days before the Dark Star's return. As they had already calculated that the Dark Star was set to return in March 2008, they realised that this meant the Pillar had to be set in a little more than a week. There was little time to consider this further, as they learned there were hostile Chinese forces incoming, and so Wizard sent all his data to Jack. Mao Gongli, the leader of the Chinese forces, confronted the pair and decided to send them to Xintan prison for interogation.

Soon after Jack received Wizard's notes and warning about a new threat, the farm was attacked by hostile Chinese forces moments. After he retrieved the uppermost Piece of the Capstone, the Firestone, as Wizard's warning instructed, Jack led Lily, Sky Monster, Zoe and Lily's friend Alby Calvin to escape from their assailants in the Halicarnassus. From there the group headed for the Burj al Arab, with Jack requesting the nations in the coalition to send their representative to prepare for a new mission.

Over the next few days, Stretch and Pooh Bear reunited, however they learned that Spain was refusing to send a delegate to participate, Fuzzy was surprisingly late and that Wizard and Tank had been captured by Chinese forces. In addition, they were joined by Pooh Bear's older brother Scimitar, who brought with him the Saudi Arabian spy known as Vulture. They were also joined by the American CIA attaché Paul Robertson and the Marine Sean "Astro" Miller, as America wished to join the coalition in its new mission, offering to provide the team with intel regarding Wizard's internment.

With that, Jack revealed what he had learned from Wizard's notes; a zero-point field referred to as the Dark Star was due to enter the solar system, and unless it was repelled, then its deadly energy would destroy all life on Earth. To this end, they needed to gather six oblong diamonds called Pillars and set them at various locations around the world to rebuild an ancient machine which would repel the Dark Star. In order to find the Pillars and Vertices, determine when each Pillar had to be set and cleanse them, they would need to find the Six Sacred Stones. While Vulture's family possessed one Pillar and the Americans had one Sacred Stone, the team realised they needed Wizard for his greater knowledge, and so began making plans to get him back.

After Alby revealed he knew some details of some of Wizard's notes, Jack sent him with Zoe and Lily with the Firestone to meet with Wizard's former students, twins Julius and Lachlan, to unlock the secrets of the Alatar Stone of Stonehenge. Meanwhile, Jack led the rest of the team, including their new allies, to China so that they could free Wizard and Tank from Xintan prison.

Hijacking the prison's transfer train, Jack and Stretch retrieved Wizard and Tank before crashing the train and escaping. The rest of the team hid in the nearby snow banks until the prison's Hind gunship landed nearby, taking their chopper from them and using it to make their way to Witch Mountain. After their arrival, Pooh Bear remained on the Hind to see to Tank's injuries while the rest of the team made their way through Laozi's trap system to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone, quickly catching up to Mao and his men, who had been having difficulty with the traps. After disabling them (with Jack pistol-whipping Mao on the nose for his treatment of Wizard), they encountered the final trap guarding the Philosopher's Stone. Jack then raced against the speed-trap to retrieve the sacred stone, and successfully brought it back before he could fall into the mercury lake.

Upon their rendezvous with the Adamson twins, Zoe and the kids made their way to Stonehenge, disabled the guards and began restoring the ancient site as best they could. They finished moments before the Titanic Rising began, and their cameras recorded the event as the weakened light of the Dark Star caused the lichen on the trilithons to reveal the relative locations of each of the six vertices.

Reuniting at Mortimer Island, the team was introduced to Iolanthe Compton-Jones of the House of Windsor, who had the fourth Pillar to go with Vulture's first Pillar. After they had identified the location of the first Vertex at Abu Simbel thanks to the Stonehenge data, the American-possessed Killing Stone of the Maya was united with the Firestone to confirm the Pillar-laying dates, and then with the Philosopher's Stone to cleanse the two Pillars they had. With the first components they needed in hand, Jack led the team, accompanied by Iolanthe, to Abu Simbel to lay the First Pillar.

Along the way, the team entered a debate regarding the Royal European Houses, which Iolanthe took no obvious offence to. Later, Iolanthe spoke privately with Jack, noting the Coalition team's loyalty to him, and revealing that the second Pillar was with the elusive, cannibalistic Neetha tribe. Upon reaching Abu Simbel, Jack and the team managed to locate the Vertex's entrance beneath the lake, allowing Jack, Wizard and Zoe to enter. Once they located the upside-pyramid in which the Pillar had to be laid, Jack placed the Pillar, and noted that for once things had gone well for them.

Ironically, it was at that moment that Iolanthe's team of Royal Marines jammed their communications and took the team members on the surface hostage. Their commander, Colin Ashmont, forced Jack to hand over the Pillar, Lily and Wizard before closing the Vertex entrance on him and Zoe. Iolanthe left the rest of the team on the zodiacs to sink into the lake with the crocodiles, though luckily Jack and Zoe were able to save the rest of the team. They attempted to contact Scimitar and Vulture for assistance, but had no response from the pair, leading them to contact Sky Monster and Stretch on the Halicarnassus instead.

Epper then radioed to report that Iolanthe's group had been blindsided by suicide bombers, and was now fleeing with Lily and the Pillar. Unfortunately, Sky Monster reported that a convoy of Egyptian military vehicles were approaching, and so the team rushed to catch up with Wizard in a Land Rover Sky Monster dropped to them. During the chase, one of the Halicarnassus's engines was hit, resulting in the plane being surrounded by enemy troops. Jack used Astro's maghook to reach the plane, and Sky Monster informed him that they only had a short time to get everyone on board. At the end of the chase, Pooh Bear jumped from their bus to take down some of their assailants, allowing Zoe and Alby were able to get onboard. Out of time, Jack implored those on the Hali to find the Neetha and place the second Pillar. As they reluctantly took off, Jack, Stretch and Astro were surrounded by the enemy, and Jack was knocked unconscious.

Shortly after getting into the air, the group on the Halicarnassus, intending to locate the second Pillar and the Neetha in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, discovered that the plane had been forced to dump too much fuel and that they would need to make a forced landing in Rwanda. After sending word to Solomon to request fuel, the group made plans to rendezvous with him on the way to the Congo.

Meanwhile, Jack and the others were taken to a mine in Ethiopia, where Jack was crucified to a stone slab in a pit and Pooh Bear imprisoned in a cage above a pool of arsenic. When he woke up, Jack was unsurprised to see his father, Colonel Jack "Wolf" West Sr, was in charge. Wolf explained many things, such as the Japanese Blood Brotherhood being responsible for many attempts to keep them all from completing their mission, his alliance with Mao, Vulture and Scimitar, and his apparent insertion of Astro into his team. After introducing Jack's half brother, Grant "Rapier" West, Wolf made clear his plans to claim the Pillars and their rewards, and would soon deal with Wizard's team. Once Wolf noted he was somewhat sorry that they couldn't have been on the same side, he had the Christian Ethiopian guards of the mine to slide another slab on top of Jack, apparently killing him.

Scimitar confronted his brother in his cage, telling Pooh Bear that his allegiance to the Coalition was a sign of weakness before leaving him to the guards for sacrifice. Wolf then had Astro, who in fact had been drugged and unaware of Wolf's involvement in the Machine mission, sent to Diego Garcia to be given a chance to join his side despite the American government's genuine wish to have assisted the Coalition, and then decided to take Stretch to the Mossad to claim the bounty on his head.

Jack, having managed to pull his artificial arm free at the last moment and used it to brace against the incoming slab, spent several hours slowly and painfully pulling his other arm free. Once that was done, Jack used some C4 hidden in his artificial arm to break the slab apart, just as the guards were about to sacrifice Pooh Bear. Releasing the Jewish slave miners, Jack led a swift rebellion against the guards, and freed Pooh Bear before finally blacking out.

Once Wizard's group met up with Solomon and his friends, Sky Monster returned to the Halicarnassus with the fuel they'd brought, while Solomon joined the rest in seeking out the Neetha village. At the same time, the Adamson twins, having been kidnapped by the Blood Brotherhood-aligned Tank, overheard their captors discuss a mole in Wolf's unit, Akira "Switchblade" Isaki, and quickly managed to escape, making plans to try and warn the team.

After Jack and Pooh Bear were gifted with the Twin Tablets of Thuthmosis by the freed Jewish miners, they made their way to Victoria Station to gather themselves. While Wizard's group was locating the Neetha, Jack and Pooh Bear found the Adamsons at their old farm, who helped Jack recover and explained the Brotherhood's plans. Jack decided that they needed to find a way to the second Vertex beneath Table Mountain, so that regardless of whether it was Wizard or Wolf's teams who got the Pillar there, they could prevent Switchblade from taking action.

Though Jack and the Adamsons prepared to head to Zanzibar to recruit Sea Ranger's help, Pooh Bear, knowing that Stretch needed help, opted to try and rescue their friend. After Pooh Bear departed, Jack's group met with the Sea Ranger and began using his submarine, the Indian Raider, to make their way to Cape Town undetected.

Once Wizard's team located the Neetha village, they were promptly captured by the tribe, and discovered that, in addition to the second Pillar, the Neetha also possessed the Seeing Stone of Delphi. Being stripped of their artefacts by the Neethan warlock, the Neetha held them prisoner, and soon they met the long-missing anthropologist Diane Cassidy and a kindly Neethan called Ono. Soon, however, the chief's first-born son, Warano, made his announcement to make Lily his wife. The group was horrified, and Solomon tried to fight for Lily's freedom, only to be killed, and so Zoe took up the challenge, ending up victorious.

Zoe and Alby were sentenced to the village's maze, but luckily their examinations of the first Vertex's Viewing Hall revealed the maze's solution. Hearing on their radio that Wolf's men were closing in, Zoe opted to wait until they attacked the village, and then she and Alby took the opportunity to grab the Pillars and Delphic Orb. Cassidy and Ono released Wizard and Lily, and though they tried to escape from the village in the chaos, Alby was shot and captured by Wolf's men, along with the two Pillars. Forced to leave the boy behind, Zoe and the others were able to find a workable plane and use it to get back to the approaching Halicarnasus. However, they discovered that Wolf and his Saudi allies had paid off the South African government to prevent any access to the country, and the Vertex beneath Table Mountain, leaving them with no way to pursue.

Fortunately, the Indian Raider had made it past the sea-lane border in time, and soon reached the second entrance to the second Vertex, just after Wolf's CIEF forces. Needing help to traverse the trap system, Jack contacted the rest of the team via video-link, who provided him with assistance. However the CIEF, bringing Alby along, were already near the inverted pyramid, and Wolf sent Switchblade and Broadsword to lay the Pillar. As Switchblade killed his partner and prepared to drop the Pillar into the chasm below, Jack used Astro's maghook to swing out towards the suicidal fanatic, grabbing and placing the Pillar just in time.

Switchblade was furious at being foiled, and proceeded to release his own safety harness, which Jack had gotten tangled in, dropping the pair of them into the chasm. Believing Jack to have perished, Sea Ranger and the Adamsons decided to leave, while Horus dove into the abyss after Jack and Wolf abandoned Alby within the Vertex. Meanwhile Zoe, Sky Monster, Lily and Wizard, onboard the Halicarnassus on an airfield in Botswana, were forced to delay their grief as South African fighter jets made their way to their position.

The Five Greatest Warriors[]

As it happened, Jack managed to survive by taking Switchblade's maghook and firing it into the abyss wall, stopping his fall. After using the grappling device to scale his way back up the chasm, Jack found that everyone had already left, but spotted Alby and reunited with him before heading back to the second entrance. After using his helmet to tap out an SOS for the Indian Raider to pick up on sonar, the submarine soon returned and the pair were quickly brought aboard. Jack then informed Sea Ranger to tell Wizard's group to rendezvous with them at World's End.

Wizard, Sky Monster, Lily and Zoe received the news soon after escaping their pursuers, and soon they and Jack's group joyfully reunited at Little McDonald Island. Jack then told them about Pooh Bear's mission to save Stretch, but his reluctance to help disappointed Lily, as he believed working on locating the Machine components was a greater priority.

After some weeks of searching, Pooh Bear did manage to locate Stretch's prison at the Dimona Nuclear Research Centre. Before he could get Stretch out of the tank of formaldehyde he was imprisoned in, Mordechai Muniz caught Pooh Bear and prepared to kill him. Luckily, having changed his mind and tracked his friend's movements, Jack and Zoe had infiltrated a uranium shipment and set off a small explosion as a distraction. Rescuing their friends, Jack led the group to an old salt mine to draw in Muniz's forces before enacting a diversion tactic to let his friends escape.

The Coalition team then based themselves out of Sea Ranger's base in Zanzibar, so that Stretch could recover and they could continue their research towards the Machine's restoration, while Lily was sent to stay with Alby and his family. Having difficulty locating any of the remaining Vertices and Pillars, Cassidy, whom had offered to help as thanks for rescuing her, revealed a prophecy in which five figures throughout history known as the Five Greatest Warriors would affect the Machine, Pillars and the Vertices. As Cassidy explained, Moses, Jesus Christ, Genghis Khan and Napoléon Bonaparte all fit the descriptions in the prophecy, though the Fifth Warrior was unknown; they would, however, be present during the Dark Sun's return.

Cassidy's suggestion turned out to be quite fruitful, as the team spent the next two months undergoing research to confirm the Five Warriors' connections to the Machine. Meanwhile, Astro was misled by Wolf into believing that the Coalition had been planning to kill him and had him drafted into the CIEF.

In late February, the twins discovered that Genghis once possessed a Fabergé Egg with images of the entrances to the Vertices, kept in his long lost arsenal. In addition, Alby's investigations into Napoléon led him to discover that the final Sacred Stone, the Basin of Rameses II, was at the British Museum under a different name. As a result, Jack elected to lead Wizard, Zoe, Sky Monster and Lily to Mongolia to locate the Fabergé Egg while Pooh Bear, Stretch, and then twins were dispatched to steal the Basin from the Museum.

When they arrived, Jack's team found that some of Wolf's men had already entered the Arsenal, as had Tank and the Blood Brotherhood. When Jack and Wizard discovered that Tank had already destroyed the Egg, Jack suggested they leave, however, right after Tank's grenade went off, Wolf intercepted them. Intending to break his son's spirit, Wolf shot Wizard with his crossbow. As he lay dying, Wizard pleaded for Jack to finish rebuilding the Machine and not to let his death break him, while letting slip to Zoe that Jack had once planned on proposing to her. Jack was distraught at his mentor's demise, and only Sky Monster reporting that Mao was about to invade the Arsenal brought him back to attention.

Though wanting to take Wizard's body with them, Zoe pointed out they couldn't and thought that being buried in the same tomb as Genghis Khan would have pleased him. Seeing the sarcophagus, and on it a shield with the destroyed Egg's images, Jack realised that they still had a chance, and soon began using the Arsenal's various trebuchets to hold off Mao's forces long enough for the others to dig out an old escape tunnel. Before he followed the others, Jack took the shield, and decided to take the injured Tank along since his knowledge might prove useful.

Meanwhile at the British Museum, Pooh Bear caused a fake bomb scare, allowing the Adamson twins, disguised as museum gardeners, to retrieve the Basin while everyone was distracted and escape unnoticed during the commotion.

When the two groups got in touch to report and plan their next moves, it was decided that Jack's team would do what they could to ensure that the third Pillar was placed, while Pooh Bear's team would search for the Spring of the Black Poplar, as its water was necessary for the Basin to work. Before the video-conference was over, Vulture contacted the team to reveal that he had kidnapped Alby and his mother, simply to get their attention.

While Pooh Bear's team made their way to Loch Ness to locate the Spring of the Black Poplar, Jack's team monitored the CIEF's assault to reach the third vertex on the Hokkaido coastline. When it became clear they were in trouble, Jack, Zoe and Lily used the Black Bee to fly in and cover the Philosopher's Stone-holding Rapier and cover him to the entrance with Warblers deflecting the Japanese' gunfire. After a moment's reprieve from the tsunami, Brotherhood operatives and traps, Wolf conceded that they were better off with Jack's help, forming a temporary truce to ensure the Pillar was placed. Astro, having been tricked into siding with Wolf, admitted some suspicions and warned Jack that there were orders to kill him once the Pillar was placed.

At around the same time that Pooh Bear's team found the Spring and collected enough of the water for the Basin's use, Jack and Wolf were able to lay the third Pillar together despite the CIEF suffering heavy casualties. Because his son had saved his life, Wolf decided to let him and his team be until they next met, though he decided to abandon the wounded Astro. Once they had helped the injured Marine out of the Vertex, Jack, Zoe, Lily and Astro were captured by Russian forces, and Pooh Bear's team were also confronted by Iolanthe.

When Jack awoke, he, Lily, Zoe, Astro, Wolf, Rapier, Sky Monster, Tank, Robertson, Mao, Scimitar and Vulture had all been captured by the mysterious Russian royal Vladimir "Carnivore" Romanov, who had decided to step in on the mission to restore the Machine, revealing Cassidy as one of his agents. As Iolanthe provided Pooh Bear's team with a video-link so that Carnivore could speak to them also, the Russian revealed he had Alby, Lois and Sheik Abbas hostage in order to force the Coalition team members to place the next two Pillars on his behalf. However, knowing that having both Jack and Wolf running around free was a risk, Carnivore forced Jack to face Rapier in combat to see who would continue the mission; Jack ultimately defeated his half-brother.

With Zoe and Astro injured, Carnivore had them imprisoned in his own Living Tomb tanks, and while Jack pledged to save Zoe and the others, Carnivore taunted him with the knowledge that Zoe had apparently never reciprocated his feelings and slept with another man. Jack remained determined however, and so he, Lily and Sky Monster were sent to rendezvous with Iolanthe at the fifth Vertex beneath Diego Garcia to place that Pillar, while Pooh Bear's team were given Iolanthe's Pillar to set it at the fourth vertex under Lundy Island.

Julius and Lachlan were forced to put aside their own bickering as they ended up trapped on the path to the fourth Vertex's pyramid, while Jack and Lily navigated the trap system of the fifth. As both pairs neared their respective inverted pyramids, Felix Bonaventura foolishly set off the master trap, and so Jack was forced to rely on Iolanthe to help him place the Pillar at the same time as the twins. Once he confirmed the Pillars had been laid, however, Carnivore abandoned his base, leaving Zoe, Astro, Alby, Abbas, Lois and the other hostages to die. Wolf escaped his tank and contacted the Naval base on Diego Garcia, ordering the forces there to capture the Pillar and kill their unwelcome guests; fortunately Jack, Lily and Iolanthe managed to get back onto the Halicarnassus and escape. Meanwhile, Pooh Bear's team were picked up by their new Irish liaison Cieran Kincaid.

After getting in touch with one another, Jack determined that they could not allow Vulture, Scimitar and Mao to find the sixth Pillar within Jesus Christ's tomb and hand it over to Carnivore, making plans for the team to locate it and obtain the Pillar first. Iolanthe opted to let Jack do so, joining him and Lily as they located the ancient Roman salt mine hiding the tomb in the Dead Sea. While the trio were inside the mine, Pooh Bear's team arrived and disabled Carnivore's two agents, before Pooh Bear and Stretch followed them inside. After watching Mao's group leave with a false Pillar, Jack entered the tomb and took the real Pillar, only to be confronted by Vulture and Scimitar, who had known the Pillar was false and demanded the real one. Pooh Bear and Stretch took on the pair; though Stretch was stabbed badly and Pooh Bear lost an eye, the latter managed to kill his traitorous brother and Vulture.

Jack and the others emerged from the mine to find Carnivore waiting for them, as Cieran was in fact working for him and had drugged Sky Monster and the twins (and having drugged Zoe in the past so that he could sleep with her). Taking the final Pillar from them, Carnivore decided it was no longer worth the risk letting Jack live, and Cieran offered to kill him, revealing he was the one who had slept with Zoe, but only because he had drugged her. As Cieran opened fire, Jack activated a Warbler in his pocket, allowing him to take on the treacherous Irishman and kill him, but was too late to stop Carnivore and Iolanthe from leaving with Lily.

With his whole team sick, injured and captured, Jack knew he would have to go after Carnivore on his own to stop him at the final Vertex on Easter Island. Jack, with the twins' help, managed to get the damaged Halicarnassus into the air, while Pooh Bear, Stretch, Sky Monster and the twins made their way to the nearest settlement to get help to their people still at Carnivore's dam.

Upon arrival at Easter Island, Jack crashed the Halicarnassus into the vertex entrance, where the tsunami drove it further inside and allowed him to overtake his father and Mao. Using the plane's turret, Jack killed Carnivore and his soldiers before warning Iolanthe, Cassidy and Alexander not to antagonise him. With Lily reading from the Twin Tablets the final incantation as the Pillar was placed, the Machine was restored and soon repelled the Dark Star. However, under the influence of the Pillar's reward, Power, Lily gave in to her anger and killed Mao, his soldier and Cassidy in gruesome ways before Jack was able to snap her out of it. Wolf tried to take the final Pillar from his son, but Jack sent it over into the abyss, and the Halicarnassus crashed onto the platform, taking Wolf into the abyss with it.

The mission over, Jack, Lily, Iolanthe and Alexander left the vertex and were picked up by Sea Ranger on the Indian Raider, and dropped off in New Zealand. From there, Jack and Lily made their way back to Carnivore's base, where the rest of the team had managed to get their hostages free before they perished in the tanks. As Pooh Bear informed his father of Scimitar's actions, Jack spoke to Zoe, assuring her that since Cieran had in fact drugged her, she had done nothing she needed forgiveness her for, and they kissed.

Within the next few weeks, the team had reported to their superiors that while they saved the world, the Pillars and their rewards had been lost at the sixth Vertex. Jack was granted a new farm in the Simpson Desert for his actions, and soon he and Sky Monster returned to Easter Island to commandeer Carnivore's abandoned plane, rechristening it the Sky Warrior, for their own use. Soon afterwards, Jack and Zoe got married in a civil ceremony attended by their friends. Five weeks after the Dark Sun's repelling, Zoe noted that they had never uncovered the identity of the Fifth Greatest Warrior, and suggested that it was in fact Jack. Jack revealed that he had actually figured out it was him; the amused Zoe noted that the team would likely never hear the end of that fact.

After The Five Greatest Warriors[]

With the Coalition of Minnows' mission to restore the Machine and repel the Dark Star completed, the team disbanded once again to resume their regular lives, however, over the next eight years, the members of the Coalition team continued visiting one another.

As they attempted to escape the Underworld, Jack asked Alby to reach out to the members of their old team so that they could return to rescue Lily. Jack stressed that they not contact anyone in any government, even the representatives of the old Coalition of Minnows, since they couldn't be sure who they could trust or even if they in fact worked for the Four Legendary Kingdoms. (The Four Legendary Kingdoms)

As they began preparing to undertake the remaining trials of the Super-Ancient Beings in opposition to the Four Kingdoms, Jack began leading a new team that included the remaining members of the Coalition of Minnows team, but operated independently and answered to no government. (The Three Secret Cities)

After the Omega Event had been averted and Sphinx's forces defeated, the world's governments discovered in their subsequent investigations that Jack's team, as well as the Coalition of Minnows team that had come before, had been working to save the world for the last two decades. (The One Impossible Labyrinth)

Coalition Members[]

Team Members[]

Allies[]

Former Enemies-turned-Allies[]

Former Allies[]

Goals[]

The Coalition of small nations was formed in response to the impending threat posed by the Tartarus Sunspot, and the necessary restoring of the Golden Capstone to prevent any single country from taking the thousand-year power offered as a reward. The team would attempt to collect all of the Pieces of the Capstone so that they could perform the ceremony of salvation, or else attempt to collect a single Piece so that hostile nations would not be able to perform the ceremony of power (though the latter was a less desirable option since it would result in global flooding).

When the Coalition was reunited, it was because of the even greater threat of the Dark Sun. One this occasion the team needed to locate the Pillars and Vertices which would activate the Machine created by super-ancient beings in order to repel the Dark Sun.

Equipment[]

Transports[]

Weapons[]

  • MP-7s sub-machine guns
  • M-16s
  • Steyr-AUGs assault rifles
  • M-225 handheld grenade launchers
  • Barrett M82A1A sniper rifle
  • H&K MP-5 sub-machine pistols
  • Desert Eagle pistols

Other[]

Trivia[]

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