First Contact - Kansas City

by Shadow Walker

Chapter 1

Planet - Terra
Location - Diamond Dog Caves outside of Ponyville

As Shining Armor walked in silence down one of the passage ways in the cave system; he thought about how the Diamond Dogs managed to traverse the tunnels without getting lost. "Seriously, how did those Dogs manage to not get lost? It took us a week to map most of this place out, and we're still finding tunnels." he said to himself looking up at the ceiling. The caves seemed to have been made with the thought of confusing intruders; a very impressive tactic for a species that only wanted to look for jewels.

The caves had been around long before the occupation, so the ponies didn't have to do any digging or excavation. Even though the caves had been abandoned long ago, traces of their previous occupants still remained. Like the armory and store room - both places empty of course - and even the dungeon that still had a few rotted wooden stools for prisoners to sit on. It seemed like the residents left in a hurry and didn't want to leave anything of value behind. What they were running from, Shining Armor had no idea, but he had more present matters to attend to.

It had been two months since the advanced survey team made it to the ruins and began their study into the artifacts there where he hoped they would work as Crimson Lance said they would. It took one month to reach and start the study into them, it took another month for all of the data to return to him.

Right now Shining Armor was heading to ready himself for the long journey to the ruins where the ponies would finally strike back at their enemy. He hoped that the ponies he had chosen would be able to handle the numerous enemy forces in the enemy homeland. This was easier said than done. Equestria was a relatively peaceful nation with the last major disturbance being Queen Chrysalis's attack on Canterlot. A shudder crawled along Shining Armor's spine as he recalled the hated memory, but thanks to Princess Cadence (now his wife) and himself, they were able to - literally - throw the Changelings out of Canterlot. The Changelings that weren't sent flying into the wild blue yonder explained to the Princesses that the only reason that they had attacked Canterlot was because their hive had grown to large and they were desperate for food. Initially attacking Canterlot was a last resort. But as the times grew harder and harder the attack became the only way they could sustain their growing numbers. Officially the Princesses still considered them a threat; unofficially they created what would become the Shadows of Equestria. A spy ring created to keep watch of potential threats to Equestria.

However, now that he thought about it, the only real military force Equestria had was the Wonderbolts, an air show group that only served as deterrent for a little while. However, after they failed miserably to stop a rampaging dragon in Ponyville, their facaded started to fall apart until they could no longer be counted as a military unit. They still put on air shows and the like, but their fighting prowess was no more. During the beginning of the war they had little victories and many of them very costly. Most of them had been killed or taken prisoner and were most likely in a Prisoner of War camp far away from Equestria at this point. The only real defense Equestria had was the Elements of Harmony, but after the users of the Elements were captured and sent to Celestia noes where they were all but useless. The last that anyone heard of them was that they were being transported around the country to keep them from being freed.

Even the Royal Guard, the ones tasked with protecting the monarchy, fared no better. They had fought bravely and were able to save some ponies. But in the end they fell, just like the Wonderbolts. Granted the Lunar Guards and Crystal Guards held their ground the longest since they were more combat intuitive than the Solar Guard, they lost many and had been forced into a corner with no other option but to surrender or die.

Just a month after Equestria fell, the Crystal Empire (now with no defense of it's own) fell and the civilian population was once again thrown into subjugation. Being a Puppet State of Equestria the Crystal Empire saw it's own share of destruction and imprisonment. But since the Empire held more magic crystals in the land than Equestria, they became a target for more excavation.

"I suppose I'll just have to wing it on this one and hope for the best." Shining Armor thought as he trotted slowly to the makeshift barracks, to prepare for the long trek ahead.

Planet - Earth
Location - Unknown

"Tom, I need you to take Sergei and Hernandez on the right and keep these bastards from flanking us. Sergeant, you take Chris and Jung to the left! Smith, you stay with me." A male shouted as an explosion rocked the ground sending dirt everywhere and leaving a small crater. "Rodriguez hows that radio coming?" He shouted firing his rifle into the oncoming threat.

"Not good Lieutenant, the transmitter's fried. I'm not sure I can fix it." The female replied over the sounds of gunfire and explosions. "I could try and salvage some parts from the chinook, see if anything still works."

"Do it now." The Lieutenant shouted tossing a hand grenade over the low and the hastily constructed wall of cadavers from previous attempts at a charge.

The female jumped up and disappeared into the downed heavy lift helicopter. The situation was deteriorating faster than a crash at a NASCAR race. The Lieutenant didn't have time for a broken radio what with almost being surrounded and running out of ammunition. There just seemed no end to what was shooting at them. Silhouettes danced in the distance making it near impossible to score a killing blow. Most of them looked like they were flying over the trees making it even more impossible and annoying to shoot them.

"Damn it if we don't get some close air support on these guys we're all gonna die." The Lieutenant shouted taking cover behind the Chinook. "Doc hows my pilot?"

"Still unconscious sir."

"And our guest?"

"Still in a coma." The squad doctor said with a little sarcasm. "It's not gonna wake up the first time you asked me and it's not gonna wake up thirty minutes after you asked me sir." The doctor responded clearly tired of answering the same question over and over again.

"Just let me know when CRAZY is awake."

"Sir I think I have it." Yelled Rodriguez.

"Great. Plug it in and get us some hel-"

"ISAAC LOOK OUT!" Someone on the right yelled straining to be heard over the firefight.

Just as the words left the screamer's mouth an explosion threw the Lieutenant off his feet forcing him to the ground. Just before the world turned into white he could have sworn he saw the flutter of a large creature just before losing consciousness.

Isaac Temple bolted upright in his bed, sweat rolling down his face and drenching his body making his shirt stick to the rapid rising and falling beat of his chest. The shaking human checked all over himself making sure that he wasn't dreaming anymore and to see if he was missing anything. Fortunately all body parts were accounted for and a cool breeze turned freezing thanks to his sweat soaked clothes made sure that he was awake.

"That was by far the weirdest dream I've had in a long time." Isaac thought out load, turning to look out the window at the College campus. "But if that was a dream; why did it feel so real?" The worried college student thought, thinking about the dream that refused to leave his mind.

Location - Crowder College, Neosho Missouri

Waking up early in the morning is almost impossible for some people, but staying up all night and having to sit in a large room that was meant for two hundred people makes you feel like there are two hundred jackhammers thumping away at your head. This is not the best way to start the day, but this was the situation Isaac now found himself in. Sitting in the cafeteria of the Midwestern College, with his head buried in his arms, trying not to jump up and shout at the bystanders around him to cease the incoherent flapping of their gums was quite possibly the hardest obstacle he ever faced. But this was not the only thought running through his head, the dream that forced him awake the night before still buzzed around in his mind. Thinking long and hard about the dream that seemed to want nothing more then to pester him until he could no longer keep operating at a reasonable capacity he finally decided to try and forget about it before his head found it's new home in his food.

The cafeteria itself was a different story. The people around him were lively, awake, and talking with their friends. They either stood or sat together talking about classes, other friends most likely still asleep, or the amazing sex they had the night before. Truthfully Isaac didn't care for the gossip of the regular student or the idiocy of the junkies taking out loud about the amazing high they had by taking so and so or the adventure with such and such. Isaac never really found himself interested in making friends with the internet stereotypes that walked the school grounds.

Ever since he could remember, people told him that he was to mature for his own age, staying out of the "dealings" that most other teenagers found themselves in and finding the adults more interesting. Though he would find himself making like minded friends in high school, most of them would leave for colleges out of state and would lose contact with him. To compensate for this, he would talk with the adults about their past, the adventures and experiences of the Greatest Generation and the rebellious hippies of the 60's and 70's. It was one thing to read the past from a book, but to actually hear it from the source was a different matter altogether.

Just as he was about to leave a lunch try slammed down next to him making Isaac jump a little before a hand slapped on his back forcing him to remain in his seat.

"So......... Thought that you could leave before I arrived, didn't ya?"

"Jacob, you know that I would never leave you on your own for fear of what would happen." Isaac replied with a half smile. "Who knows what would happen if your hyperactivness found other forms of entertainment." Isaac said looking at Jacob's plate of cereal, breakfast cakes, and milk.

"Hey at least I have fun and make people laugh."

"Yes. Still remember what happened last time you couldn't find something to do?" Isaac asked looking at Jacob with sleepy eyes.

"Yeah, that was the time when I turned all of those appliances around my dorm intofriendsandtalkedinallthosedifferentaccentsandI...."

"Oh boy, here he goes" Isaac thought tuning out Jacob so that he wouldn't turn insane from his incoherent ramblings. Whenever he started on one of these, he could go for minutes without stopping, sometimes hours. His lack of sleep must be affecting him more then he thought if he managed to allow Jacob to have a conversation with himself.

Jacob was one of the first people Isaac met at Crowder, if you could call saying hi then have someone gasp at you and runaway meeting someone. Even after that, they still became friends at the Freshman welcoming party where he challenged Isaac to a drinking contest. Long story short there was no winner, but a lot of puke. Isaac always thought that somewhere out in the universe there was someone just like him wondering if meeting and becoming friends with a hyperactive nut was the right decision.

If Isaac didn't stop him soon he would never get a word in and have an actual conversation with his hyperactive friend.

"AndthentherewasthattimeduringthathugestomthatIthoughtthatIcould..."

"Jacob."

"Huh?"

"Stop, please."

"Ok."

That was another ability of Jacob's, he either couldn't or wouldn't get angry no matter what happened. He was one of the oddest people Isaac would most likely ever meet.

"So anyway, why do you look like you went through the ringer? Fun night with Anna?" He asked nudging Isaac's shoulder with his elbow; a head splitting smile stuck on his face.

"Unfortunately no, and even if I did, I would never tell anyone for fear of what Anna might do," he said with a shudder. "That woman is as scary and crazy as they come, but damn if she isn't smart and sexy. That and she's devoted a lot of her time to studying for a huge test today so I can't see her. "

"Oh, so what did happen?"

"Weird dream," Isaac replied as if that explained everything.

"Come on man, you've got to give me more details then that. I need a story. A beginning, middle, and end." Jacob said emphasizing each word by chopping his hand on the table like he was cutting up bread.

"Fine. You know those dreams that you think is real and what ever you do in them it feels like you're awake?"

"Sure, precognition right? I've had those before." Jacob said leaning on his elbow, interested in what his friend had to say.

"Well.............. It was one of those, which is really weird, because I haven't had one in years." Isaac said staring out the window.

"Well, what was it about?" Jacob asked scrunching his eyebrows.

"A fight, a very dangerous one at that." Isaac said ominously. "But I'm not sure what about."

Even though he could still remember the dream Isaac couldn't figure out what it was about. Questions buzzed in his head like that one annoying fly in the room that just refused to leave out through the window it had flown in through. Such questions like, who were those people with him, who was he shooting at, and what was that thing that flew over his head?

"Did you see who you were fighting?" Jacob asked leaning in closer to his friend.

"No, I didn't. But whoever or whatever they were they put up one hell of a fight."

"Well I'm sure that whoever or whatever they were you could handle your self."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence man." Isaac said patting his friend on the back. "I just hope that the events leading up to it isn't as bad as the fight itself." He thought turning his vision back to the window as Jacob turned his attention to his sugary breakfast.

As Isaac walked to the library to check out a book on precognitive dreams to help him understand just what his dream was telling him, he pulled his grandfathers wooden pipe out of his pocket and stuck the tip in his mouth. Isaac wasn't really a smoker, so all he did with the pipe was chew on the tip when he wanted to relax and think properly. Most of the time it would work and his teachers trusted him enough to not smoke in the classroom.

On his way to the library he stopped at his dorm to pick up his book bag witch held nothing more then a interactive tablet, some money, writing utensils, and paper. He was just about to leave when a knock on the door made him look up and turn around.

"Who could that be?" He thought as he took the pipe out of his mouth and walked towards the door.

Opening the door an empty hallway barren of any students or faculty welcomed him to it's confines. "I swear if this is a prank by another dumb ass freshman I'm going to kill someone." Isaac thought to himself, irritation clearly evident in his thoughts.

He was just about to close the door when he noticed a letter on the ground. "Hello, what's this?" Binding down to pick up a neatly sealed letter that had escaped his view when he opened the door. The envelope itself looked like a normal envelope, no writing, no marks, no nothing, there was nothing that said who it was from or where it came from. Curious he opened the envelope and read whatever the mystery sender wanted him to know.

Dear Isaac Temple

As you already know, the dream you experienced last night was indeed a precognitive dream that revels the future. What you may not know, is that a great cataclysm will befall your world. There will come a day that your species will cease their bickering of troubles past and join forces in a common goal. I cannot tell you when this will happen, or how it will happen. Just know that it will happen and that your country will feel their wrath first.

I wish you the best of luck.

"Well that isn't ominous." Isaac said; the sarcasm practically dripping from his mouth.

This was by far the oddest and most disturbing thing that had ever happened to Isaac this far in his life. Whoever sent this knew about the dream he had and what it was about. Unfortunately since the sender left out their name or any semblance of a name, he couldn't know who left the letter or if the even went to school here.

"This might be one of Jacob's prank's again." Isaac thought, since he was the only one that he told and Jacob was always pulling crap like this. But then he took another look at the letter and scratched that idea off. This didn't look like one of his pranks; this looked far to serious to be one of his. Besides, this was obviously a warning, but a warning for what.

"Well it's short, not very descriptive, and has a few odd moments in it so it's not very helpful." Isaac thought putting the letter into his book bag. "I'll have to take another look at you later, after I figure out what my dream was about." Isaac locked the door to his room and left for the library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell do you mean?" Isaac said barely above a whisper while looking at a reference book on dreams.

Isaac sat in a corner of the library looking over a stack of books on everything from precognition to extrasensory perception, but none of the books had anything he was looking for. All of the books he had with him talked about the performance of dreams and how they were affected by everyday activities. But Isaac couldn't remember anything he did the day before that would affect on them.

"So what spawned you." He asked himself. Just as Isaac was about to give up and head to the internet, someone tapped him on the shoulder making him look up from his reading.

The woman that stood over Isaac wore a black skirt and suit. Her hair hung down her back and she held a tablet in her hands. He had never seen her before, but something about her gave off an air of authority.

"Mr. Temple?"

"Yes?"

"The Major would like to see you."

"Ok." He said putting the book down and stood up.

As Isaac stood outside the door to the Major's office he noticed two things. One, there was more security in the room than usual. Two, they were all armed. The soon-to-be Marine to be stood outside the door, eying the new guards and waiting to be called into the room.

"Ok, one of two things is on the other side of that door. One, my mom told the Major to not let me join and the guards are there incase I don't cooperate. Two, they think I'm some kind of terrorist plotting to destroy the military from the inside and they're going to arrest me when I walk through the door. I really hope it's neither." He thought letting his imagination get the better of him.

Just as he was about to imagine another situation the woman from before waved him in. "Well, better find out what they want."

As he walked into the Major's office, he noticed a new development. A man of about fifty or sixty sitting to the side of the Major's desk wearing a blue button down shirt with a navy blue tie and black dress slacks with a balding head of hair. He had an air about him as though he commanded respect and attention.

As Isaac walked up to the Major, he saluted he as the balding man turned to face him, eying him as though he was looking over a new car.

"Sir, I heard that you wanted to see me." Isaac said looking at the wall behind the Major.

"Yes that's right son. Except I'm not the one that wanted to see you," the Major said motioning to the man in the chair. "He is."

"Hello son." The man said standing up from the chair. "I'm Major General Joe Holiday, I command the 1st Marine Division. I'm here to see the college's MARET program to see if it would be helpful to the Corps. I stopped by the Major's to say hello and he wanted me to meet you, so he showed me your grades and scores and after careful consideration we think that you are more than qualified to be with the First."

"Sir, thank you, but could you elaborate" Isaac said facing the General and saluting.

"Of course but you can skip the formalities. Right now I'm here to see you and ask you a question."

"Yes sir, what would you like to ask me?"

"First off, your grades in the NROTC are the highest in the whole class and thats saying a lot. Second your grandfather and I served in Vietnam where we became best friends and almost like brothers. He saved my ass more times than I care to count and if you are anything like you grandfather then I think you would be perfect for the First."

Isaac looked down at his figure, at the jeans, shirt and shoes that did not fit the scene at all. "........ I am really underdressed.

The Major and General shared a chuckle at Isaac's expense and just waved off the matter. "Son, if I worried about what my personal wore instead of what they did, I would never get anything done." The General said dispelling Isaac's fear.

"Thank you sir, that's far more reassuring. Anyway my grandfather talked about you greatly sir. It's nice to finally meet you; I just wish I had my uniform on." Isaac said extending his hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you too son and as I said don't worry about the uniform." The General shaking his hand. "Now I have to ask you, would you like to become a Lieutenant for the 1st Marines?" He asked emphasizing his point by pointing Isaac in the chest making him sway back a little.

Isaac's mouth and brain thought that right now would be the perfect time to fail him; so the only thing he could do was to move his mouth without making the necessary sounds to answer the General. After several seconds of looking like a complete fool, his brain restarted and he could finally respond to the General's question.

"Sir, I would love to." Isaac said barely containing his giddiness.

"Of course you'll have to wait until you complete Basic School, but after that I can place you in the 1st with a little string pulling." The General said pinching his middle fingers with his thumbs and pulling them apart like he was adding torque to a string.

"That's fine sir, whatever it takes. I'm a patient man." Isaac said extending his hand, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Well alright son, see you after Basic." The general said taking Isaac's hand and shaking it vigorously.

With that the General said goodbye to the Major and walked out the door motioning the guards and the woman to follow. Isaac couldn't move for the next several seconds taking the time to process what just happened to him. He would be joining the 1st, the oldest of the Marine devisions and arguably the most famous of all the divisions. He would be joining them! This was enough to kick the dream he had the previous night and the letter he received this morning out of his mind.

"Well sir, thank you for calling me in." Isaac said turning to the Major.

"You are more then welcome son." The Major said as Isaac walked out the door, a small spring in his step.

After Isaac left the Major's office he headed to his next classes which lasted until 7:00 at night, so all he had left to do was to check up on Anna to make sure she was feeling all right after that huge test she took today. As he walked to her room, a chill crawled up his spine, never a good sign.

As he reached Anna's door, he noticed a distinct late of anyone walking in the hallway, when it would normally be full of people talking, smoking, and/or sharing bodily fluids through their mouths. He also noticed a smell emanating from her door.

"What could that god awful smell be? I hope she didn't kill someone in there." Isaac thought as he reached for the door knob. "Maybe this is a sign to not open the door." He thought stoping his hand inches from the handle.

"Aw fuck it." He said grabbing the handle and opening the door. As soon as the he did the smell of coffee grinds, rotten food, sweat, and many other smells that he couldn't classify came wafting out of the room. "She must have locked herself in here until the test." Isaac thought pulling his shirt over his nose to try and keep the smell of week old pizza and banana peels out of it.

As the intrepid young man stepped into the odious dumping ground that had become Anna's room, he turned on the light revealing the room for what had become of it. Clothes, food, trash, and other objects littered the room turning the once livable area into a toxic quagmire of litter and rotten food.

"I think I liked it better with the lights off." he thought cringing his face at the smell of what could only be described as death.

Desperately searching for a window to release the smell that was threatening to choke him out, Isaac needed to walk around a mound of dirty clothes, dishes, and trash that had somehow pilled up to reach the other side of the room where the window lay with fresh air beyond it. When he made his way around the wasteland of trash and other articles of refuse that hindered his progress, he threw open the window in an attempt to fumigate the room.

"Jesus. Anna, are you in here!" Isaac shouted hoping that she wasn't buried under the mound of garbage in her room.

"Anna, are you in here?" He shouted again hoping to hear a response.

"Over here." A feminine voice replied from the bedroom. "I'm just sleeping."

"You scared the crap out of me," Isaac said walking over to the bedroom which was in far better condition than the rest of the room. "You could have left the window open to keep the smell out."

"Mmphh," she said with her head buried into a pillow.

As Isaac walked into her bedroom he noticed that the floor was clean, there was no grim on the walls or ceiling, the lamp on her desk side bed was on, and there were scented candles on almost every surface giving off the aroma of pine, berries, sandalwood, and a kaleidoscope of other smells giving the room the feeling of being in a candle shop.

"You know you could try and keep your room clean when you do a lock-in." Isaac said sitting down next to Anna.

"And you should stop being good at history, but that's not going to happen." She retorted lifting her head out of the pillow.

"....Soooo, how did the test go?" He asked looking down at Anna.

"Mmphh"

"That bad huh?"

"No, the test went really well, I'm just tired." She said turning her head to speak.

"Well you did lock yourself in your room for a whole week to study; and only that." Isaac said looking out into the main room.

"Anna, look.......... school is letting out in a few months and I was wondering if you'd like to come up and meet my parents?" He asked her rubbing her back to relieve some of her stress.

"But I've already meet your parents." She said starting to sit up.

"You've met them on Skype, that's not the same. I mean actually meet them in person." He said turning to look at her. "Why don't you come up to Kansas City, stay a few days and meet them, they're very nice people."

"You know I'd like to, but I'm heading out to D.C. after graduation." She said to her dejected looking boyfriend.

"Hey, you have two weeks off before you head out to Basic School right? Well why don't I come up the last two days before you leave and I can meet them then, ok?" She said grabbing his arm to pull herself in closer.

"....Fine, but you are going to meet them; no two ways about it." He said emphasizing his point by looking her in the eyes.

"Deal. Now, since it's Friday maybe we should clean my room," she said standing up and walking over to the door.

"Yeah maybe we should." He said looking past her and moving to the front edge of the bed.

"Or since I've locked myself in here for seven days to study; we could do something else." She said moving her hand towards the door knob.

"Oh? Well what did you have in mi," but before he could finish his sentence Anna had closed the door turned off the light switch and jumped him causing them both to fall on to the bed.

"I've been locked in this room for seven days what do you think." She whispered in his ear.

"Well, what did you have in mind?" Isaac said looking at her through bedroom eyes.

"Well I was thinking that we would try the usual. you know keep it nice and sweet." She said taking off her top shirt revealing her perfectly smooth, tender, blemish free body that looked to hold no flaws.

"Right, nice and sweet," Isaac said flicking the lamp off, throwing them into total darkness.

Planet - Terra
Location - Diamond Dog caves outside of Ponyville

Deep underground within the abandoned caves of the Diamond Dogs, twenty ponies; a mix of Earth, Pegasi, and Unicorns from the Solar, Lunar, and Crystal guards, checked weapons and packed saddle bags for the march to the ruins.

"Trixie, we talked about this, you need to stay here and make sure nothing happens to our command post." Shining Armor said while he loaded his saddle bag with food, water, and other such things needed for the desert march.

"Shining Armor you know that I am one of the best fighters in the resistance and I have survival training from the Buffalo tribes from where you are going; you need me." Trixie said stamping her hoof down for exclamation.

As Shining Armor trotted to his armor, the persistent mare followed him, intent on making him see reason. "Yes, I know that, just as I know how you got over talking about yourself in third person." he said inspecting a sword before attaching it to his back. "I also want you here in case something happens to me and I can't make it back. The resistance still needs a leader and you are the only one capable enough to fill that role."

"It's been two months and the research team still hasn't figured out how the artifacts operate. I just think we're betting too much on something that might not even work." Trixie said as she followed him trying to persuade him to not go on a one in a million chance.

"Tirxie, look.......... This is possibly the only chance we are going to have at striking a fatal blow at them. We can't keep fighting like this. The ponies here have never seen combat and seventy percent of the guards here haven't seen actual combat either." Shining Armor said as he walked to the door the lead to the outside.

Trixie looked at Shining Armor for a full three minutes before sighing and dipping her head below her shoulders in defeat. "I suppose you were never really going to change your mind about this," she said looking back up at the armored stallion." You're just as stubborn as your sister."

"Trust me, you've seen nothing yet." The older colt said before walking out the door followed by a mix of twenty armored ponies.

As Trixie stood still staring out the only door that lead to the secret exit to the surface, she continued to worry if this was the right option; if sending over half of their combat effective ponies and capable leader to what might be a death trap would be the right idea.

"I hope you're right." She said before closing the door with her magic and walking away.

Planet - Earth
Location - Crowder College

"Graduation, a time when you think your learning curve is over. When you think you know every thing you could possibly know and that you will never learn anything ever again. Well, I'm afraid that you; are wrong. Life is a learning experience; there will never be a point in which you will know everything. You think you know everything in the subject that you studied, that you have mastered a working craft that will last you throughout the rest of your life. But let me tell you that you will never fully understand it. For there are new discoveries being made every day which you did not know existed until they stare at you, and you will think "how did I never know this was here?" Well, life is like a granite slab, you have to keep chipping away at parts until you reach your sculpture. But even then you will find little notches, little errors and discrepancies in your statue that you will have to chip away and remove until you think everything is perfect. For you see you will continue to discover new theories, new ideas and new opportunities that will show you more than you ever knew existed and you will meet them head on and continue to master them and shape your own way in the world."

As the Dean of the college finished his little speech and walked off the to join the other staff members, the students began to line up at the end of the stage to receive their diplomas; their keys to the world. The graduates all wore ecstatic looking faces with black robes that hung low to the ground covering their feet and their mortarboard caps sitting squarely on their heads. All of them ready to take on the world and whatever it decided to throw at them.

Near the right edge of the stage, Isaac stood with a line of other graduates ready to receive his diploma and ready to go out in to the world and make it a better place for his children and his children's children, ready to throw his all into the storm and change the world. But even for this Twenty-Six year old, he had no idea how much the world was going to change in the coming weeks. For he would be right in the thick of some of the worst fighting the United States has seen in the last decade and one of the ultimate questions that has puzzled man since he first set foot on the moon will be answered. Are we alone in the universe?