> Non Soli Vos > by Darth Atrox > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > You Are Not Alone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a work of total fiction, made entirely for entertainment purposes. No money is gained from the production of this prose. The massive Star Destroyer sat on the surface of Planet Sparta's primary satellite. It was a unique star system. Binary, as a matter of fact. Binary star systems were actually the most common type, but their constant orbit around each other did not allow for suitable life-bearing planets to develope. So it was a beautiful thing to see when one came across one. It really was beautiful. It was an average planet, around 30,000 miles around. It was covered in lush green, brown and beige continents. Land was the most common thing on planet Sparta. Sixty percent of it was land, while the remaining forty were oceans. Unfortunately, they lived there. The Humans. The disgusting apes had begun to spread throughout the galaxy. Like a virus. They went around, constantly claiming new star systems for themselves, like they owned the universe. It wasn't that long ago that they were hunted and tortured for sport. Those were the days. They had come across the humans not long after their evolution. They had only been around for 40,000 years, and they lived in caves and tribes. So primitive. It wasn't very long before they discovered the human's resilience. They were able to undergo torture that would kill an ordinary Drox. They could go for days before finally dying. The best part was, despite their durability and fortitude, they perceived pain just as well. Electrocutions, stabbings, cauterizations, partial disintegrations...the possibilities were endless. And so much fun. The children were the best. Not becuase they were any more resilient or more receptive to pain, but if they were tortured before their genetic donors they didn't have to waste resources torturing them. The Human's were very in tune with their emotions, so much so that some mental torture was actually perceived as physical in their pathetic brains. As time went on, the humans became more advanced. They developed complex societies, laws, religions, politics; they almost seemed...civilized. They learned to navigate their oceans, study the land, and eventually dominated their planet. Eventually, they even started going into space. Not "real" space, mind you. They wen't out a couple times to their moon, and even built a life sustaining satellite-station. They were still animals, though. Their entertainment was amusing as well. They had a wide range, but what was most amusing were their science-fiction tales. Their perceptions of non-human intelligent life was laughable, and their little war stories that featured humans driving away invaders? Sophomoric. They didn't stand a chance. Eventually, the original Drox had abandoned that part of the Galaxy. In human years, it would be the year 2027 A.D. That was centuries ago. In their absence, it seemed that Humanity had advanced quite rapidly. They had long since conquered their demons and lived in a perfect society. They no longer suffered from disease, and had extended their own lifespans. They even managed to eradicate their own perceived notions of inequality amongst themselves. All the hatred they felt for eachother, be it racial, religious, sexual, cultural and societal was gone. They created a strong militant society which allowed for every being to have a perfect place. Some were scientists, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and many other roles were filled. But there was one role that every human filled. That was the role of the warrior. They didn't know how it happened, nor did they care, but regardless of their constitutions, educational systems, or religions, their society was made up of trained killers. No one was spared. Men, women, religious, atheist, black, white. All killers. It was known, almost immediately, that the humans needed to be wiped out. They were a stain upon the universe and it was the duty of the Drox to wipe them out. Like they should have, so long ago. They waited on the dark side of the moon for hours, biding their time. Their original objective was to eradicate the planet bia singularity, but tht changed. Somehow, the humans had intercepted the message and planned an evacuation before the Drox Destroyer could wipe out the millions of lives on the planet. So they simply amended their plans. Instead of wiping out an enemy planet as well as 600,000,000 disgusting human lives, they would wait. Eventually, a human evacuatuon ship would arrive, carrying over 200,000,000 of the human's active soldiers, and board the citizens of Planet Sparta. This way, they could destroy the original 600,000,000 humans, as well as 200,000,000 of their active soldiers, and they would claim Planet Sparta for their own. Yes, this could be the beginning of the First Great Drox Empire. All they had to do was wait. "Adimiral, Planet Sparta has been evacuated." Informed Alan Cole. He was a large human, standing at six feet, seven inches tall. His body was full of dense muscles that were put on display by his skintight, gunmetal grey spandex suit. He had medium-length brown hair that was parted on the left side of his head. His eyes were a chocolate brown, and was light skinned. The Admiral turned her chair around and stood up to face the young man. While he was in his early twenties, the Admiral was into her early thirties. She stood at five feet, eleven inches, and was similarly light skinned. Her body was curvy, with wide hips and large breasts, but also had an athletic tone that was put on display by her black and white spandex. She had a black headpiece that went around her head and went around her left eye. Her eyes were green, and her hair was a bright azure. This was a result of early human genetic engineering. "Good. Has there been any sign of the Drox?" She questioned. "None. So far, there hasn't been any sign of them. But..." He cut himslef off. The admiral raised a delicate azure eyebrow. "You holding out on me, Cole?" She questioned sternly. Cole shook his head. "No, ma'am. I just...something feels off?" He said. She nodded, permitting him to continue. "I feel like we've walked into a trap. The Drox were planning on destroying Sparta, so where are they? They wouldn' finalize these plans without having some scouts in the area, which means that they already know we're here. So why aren't they attacking? Those sick bastards would love to make us watch them destroy one our planets. I mean, they might just not be here yet, but everything feels to convenient." He said. "You're right." Replied the Admiral. "We knew from the beginning that an attempted rescue could very well result in disaster. There could be a Drox Destroyer, out there right now, watching us. But we decided to come anyway. Could you tell me why?" She asked him. Cole looked at her dead in the eyes. "Because we couldn't stand by and do nothing. Those are our people, and no one is left behind." The Admiral smiled and nodded. Before she could say anything, the ships alarms went off. A young woman ran up to them. "Ma'am! We've sighted a Drox Destroyer resting on the surface of the moon, Heracles! They seem to be waiting to ambush us!" She notified. Immediately, the Admiral looked at Cole. "You're certain that the planet has been evacuated?" She asked sternly. "One hundred percent." Answered Cole. "Every citizen is accounted for." He confirmed. "Alright, let's get the hell out of here before those bastards decide to engage." She growled. "And prepare for battle, just in case things get ugly." She added. Her two underlings saluted her and took off to sound the alarms. The Admiral slumped down to her Captain's chair with a sigh. She looked over to the arm rest and pressed some buttons on the touch screen. The wall beside her opened up revealing a clear glass bottle filled with clear vodka. She grabbed the bottle, completely foregoing a glass and took a deep drink. Licking her lips, she resealed the bottle, placed it back in the compartment and stood up. She left the Captain's quarters and headed down the long hallway. 'Si vis pacem, para bellum.' She thought to herself. "Sir," One of the Drox said. "The humans are on the move. Our sensors indicate they are preparing a jump into warpspace." The Drox sitting in the highest chair grinned evilly. "Then we'll have to stop them, won't we?" He chuckled. "Send out our fighters, destroy their warp drive." He commanded. Their orders were blasted through the speakers throughout their Star Destroyer, signaling their troops to engage the humans. Withing minutes millions of Drox Fighters were released and sent out to engage the human Evacuation Ship. "Commander! Our sensors are picking up activity from the Drox Ship! All their systems are online and...FUCK! Their getting ready to engage!" "Send out the first battalion." He said. "We do need to be good hosts and welcome our...dear friends." He ordered. "On it, sir. [First battalion, you are a go. Hostiles on their way, you are clear to engage.]" The Drox weren't expecting such a welcome wagon, and the battle raged on in a total one-sided manner for a good while. Human and Drox went at each other, firing weapons, evading, destroying each other. Many Drox ships were blown to smithereens while its occupant suffered the vacuum of space, for it's final few minutes. The humans also suffered casualties, but no where near as many. The humans had a specialized short distance teleportation module on every human. If a their soldiers took too much damage, they would instantaneously be warped to the medical bay of their mother ship, which in this case was the I.F.S.S. Marx. Of course, that didn't mean they had no casualties. Oftentimes, the humans are dead even before they are transported. But the technology definitely helped. From an objective viewpoint, the battle itself was something to watch. It was everything one would expect from a space battle between two highly advanced species. There were lasers, gravity weapons, antimatter bombs, lock on missiles, shields. Of course, for those involved in the battle, there was only horror and fear. The only thing driving them were their own desires to see their enemies destroyed. Suddenly their was an explosion from the I.F.S.S. Marx. The entire Evacuation ship shook. The lights flickered and for the briefest of moments, the passengers believed it to be their doom. But it ended. "What the hell happened!?" Question the Admiral. She ran onto the bridge, frantic and demanding answers. "Our warp drive has sustained damage." Answered a young woman of Asian descent. Damn! That must have been their plan all along. This wasn't a battle, this was an extermination. No doubt the Drox would think them sitting ducks now. "How bad?" "Not that bad, actually." The young officer answered. "Most of the damage is superficial. The only real problem is one of the power lines have been severed. We won't be able to use the Warp Drive, until we can sufficiantly power it." Okay, that was some good news. Wait... This could be an advantage. The Drox would think them stranded, so they'd try to go in for the kill. If they could hold them back for several minutes, they could repair the Warp Drive and get out of there. "Alright. Keep fighting the Drox, and keep them distracted. They probably think they've won now. In the meantime send down Hibiki Tokai, Howard Wolowitz and Emmet Brown. They're our best mechanics and should clear up the problem quickly." Commanded the Admiral. "Roger!" "So, they are strandad like the Shaaks they are." Muutered the Drox commander. "Let's go pay them a little visit." "The Drox Ship is approaching." Mumbled a crewman. Everyone turned and looked towards the moon, Heracles. Slowly, the massive ship, and its entire fleet emerged from behined the moon. "There's an incoming message, ma'am." Said the young female officer. "Patch it through." Said the Admiral. Immediately their entire view of outer space, and the ongoing battle, left their sight when a black screen emerged. On screen was a Drox. No doubt the commander of the fleet. The Admiral stepped forward. "I am Admiral Meia Gisborn. You are trespassing in human territory. I am asking you to cease and desist your attack on this system." She commanded. The Drox said nothing. The humans waited with bated breath, not knowing what was going to occur. Then it spoke. "All humans will perish." And the screen blinked out of existence. Growling, Meia went over to the intercom. "Wolowitz, Tokai, Brown!" She yelled. "What's the word on the Warp Drive?" "[Well, everything seems to be running fine. The problem is the lack of power. We won't be able to reconnect it to the power source.]" Responded Tokai. "What the hell do you mean!?" "[The powerline is dead. It won't function any more. We can't get another line without stripping one from somewhere else on the ship.]" This time Wolowitz responded. "Why aren't there any spares!?" "[This is an emergency evacuation ship! It was never meant for battle. There are no spares!]" Replied Tokai. "Well, what can you do?" "[We could patch it to the core.]" Responded Brown. He was immediately chided by his collegues. "[Hell no!]" "[Are you insane!?]" "What are you talking about!?" Demanded Meia. "[We could use the two remaining power lines and attach them to the core of the ship. The power of the core should completely charge the Warp Drive instantaneously.]" Explained Brown. "[Or destroy it! Hell, you might even cause a Singularity!]" Cried Tokai. "[There's a million ways this could go wrong.]" Commented Wolowitz. "...do it." Ordered the Admiral. "[You can't be---]" "I am. Our responsibility is to evacuate the Spartans. Fighting now is taking an unnecessary risk. Our priority is to live to fight another day. Do it." "[...yes ma'am.]" The line suddenly went silent. "Recall everyone. Get them back onto this ship!" She commanded. "Sir! The humans are retreating!" "Perhaps they recognized the futility of their fight against us." Commented a Drox. They all shared a laugh at the expense of the humans. "Wait! I'm detecting a temporal-spatial disturbance around the human ship." The Drox eyed the screen. "They're going into Warp-Space!" The commander immediatly jumped to his feet. "I thought we eliminated their Warp Drive!" "They must have repaired it!" A random Drox cried. "After them!" Their commander roared. "DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!" The Drox Ship accelerated towards the human vessel at unimaginable speeds. It neared the human ship, it was so close, they almost collided. They were close, so close. A flash of light exploded from the I.F.S.S. Marx. Spike was laying in the middle of the Golden Oaks library in Ponyville. He was reading a space-themed graphic novel. He was getting to the good part where the two species were about to have a grand space-battle, but his book was snatched from him by a purple glow. "Hey!" HE cried. "What'd you do that for Twilight!?" He demanded. Twilight gave him a glare. "How many times hae I told you not to be reading this garbage!" She asked. "The stories are garbage, the science is completely made up, and all they end up doing is put violent ideas in your head." "No they don't! It's a cool story!" He tried to explain. "You see, this one group of aliens is fighting another group over the resources found in the Galaxy and---" "Spike, these are just cheesy made up stories that are designed to sell to the lowest common denominator. If you like science, read a science book. If you like politics, read a book about politics. If you like war stories, read books about war." She explained. "Besides, if there are aliens out there, I highly doubt they would be at war. A species so advanced would have abandoned such violent political actions long before they became a space fairing race." Before Spike could respond, a loud crash sounded from outside. Princess Celestia was taking a break from her day court. Honestly, some of these ponies... They came in for such trivial matters. Day court used to allow for ponies to settle political, territorial and even criminal disputes. Now it was nothing but petty larceny and the the occasional mare demanding the banishnment of her childs bully. Hardly anything exciting ever happened anymore. CRASH! Hmm, perhaps she spoke too soon. On her way to her balcony she ran into Luna, who seemed to rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Sister!" She exclaimed. "Dost thou knoweth what hath created such a disturbance?" She spoke in oldspeak. She tended to do that when she was tired, or stressed. Shaking her head, Celestia said: "No Luna, I'm on my way to investigate now." She gestured for her sister to join her. Finally making it out to the balcony, the sisters noticed that right in the middle of Canterlot there was a smoking crater in the middle of the town square. "Sister, look!" Cried Luna, poiting out to the horizon. Celestia looked up, noticing that fireballs were descending from the sky, all over Equestria and beyond. Looking around, she saw that they were falling everywhere. Both in and out of Equestria. "Oh, Faust. What is happening!" She cried. Suddenly, a beam of light shot upwards into the sky, originating from the crater in Canterlot Square. The beam of light formed a large square image in the sky. Looking around, she saw that a familiar projection was over all over the towns and cities in Equestria. Suddenly, a deafening screech permeated the air, before forming into a rough sentence: yOU ArE NOT AlOnE "Sister, look! It is a projection screen!" Luna cried. Celestia looked up at the crackling whit screen. On it were floating words written in every script on the planet. Equestrian, Dragon, Gryphon, Minotaurs, Donkeys...Every known language of the planet Griego was up there. And it all said the same thing: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. The same screeching voice continued repeating the phrase. It went on for several minutes before finally stopping. The enormous projection suddenly went black, and the screeching voice silent. Silence reigned for several moments before the black screen suddenly revealed something. A face. Or, it kind of looked like a face? It was gold and red, and had glowing blue eyes. It finally spoke. It sounded strong and feminine, but also highly mechanical. "[My name is Admiral Meia Gisborn. We have traveled the cosmos for almost a decade to reach you. We have not come here as conquerers, but merely to understand each other.]" Twilight stood outside with the rest of Ponyville, looking uo in awe. She could hardly believe what she was looking at! "[...understand each other. It is our hope to reach a mutually beneficial relationship with the peoples of your planet. To this end, we have decided to give you 30 planetary rotations for the nations of your world to convene for a meeting to decide the future of our civilizations. We will be meeting in the capital of your planets largest country: Canterlot, Equestria. Be ready.]" Finally the message ended. The metal sphere that seemed to be the origin of the message slowly rose from its crater before launching itself upwards faster than the eye could see. For a while everything was silent. "HOLY CELESTIA!" Cried Twilight. > Suspense > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a work of total fiction, made entirely for entertainment purposes. No money is gained from the production of this prose. Emmett Brown looked at his screen, eyeing the specs with a critical eye. Everything had to be perfect, or things would become more difficult than necessary. What he was designing was a specialized soundwave manipulator. The beings on the surface of planet Griego (because that's what everyone was calling it) spoke with a wide range of sounds, some of them could not be replicated by human mouths. This device will allow for any human to speak the native's languages without their Combat Suits on, provided they learned the language in the first place. Studying thesde beings was simply marvelous. They weren't like the Drox, who were all identical and expressionless. These creatures were colorful, expressive, and extremely diverse. Even members of the same species and sub-species could not be more alike. They were also highly intersting to study. They sent out probes in the beginning, to study them from afar. They watched their interactions, educational institutions, hospitals, and even their leaders. After a while, they needed to become a little more intimate. They began to abduct some natives. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. After the "recovery" as the higher ups called it, several Doctors would simply take some blood and various other biological samples, do some bio-scans, then the abductee would be sent back. It was a necessary course of action to understand the natives better, in relation to themselves, and to find out if there were any pathogens that could be harmful to humans. He couldn't wait to meet them. Fifteen of the thirty days had already come to pass. Just fifteen days to go, and first contact would be initiated. The massive conference hall was overrun by thousands of people. Different species from across the globe all gathered in Canterlot to decide how First Contact would be handled. All the major nations were represented. Emperor Tyranus the Great of the Gryphon Empire. Cynder, Elder of the Dragon Clans. President Fortis of the Minotaur Tribes. And, of course, the Princesses of Equestria, Celestia, Luna and Cadence. There were other species, however, their lack of a nation didn't allow them to have a representitive on the new Council. Instead, they had to make their voices heard through petitions towards whichever nation they happened to be residing in. Unfortunately, there were so many voices that none could come to any agreement as to how to approach the Visitors. Many hoped to learn from them. There was a scholarly desire to obtain knowledge and friendship from the Extraterrestrials. Others were wary, fearing that such an advanced species might demand something from the native peoples, and might take them through force if necessary. If it came down to it, they might not stand a chance. Others were eager to fight the aliens. The idea of a totally new species to combat was thrilling. There were even a few who felt that the Aliens should be worshipped. All in all, it was a very noisy conference hall. "SILENCE!" Demanded Luna. They were all seated at a circular table. This made it easy for the leaders to speak to each other face to face, and it kept out any influence from their peoples. Every leader looked at each other wearily. They had been meeting up every day since the Aliens made themselves known and they were exhausted. Around the center table were hundreds, maybe thousands, of people. The majority were ponies, of course, but every race was represented. They looked just as haggard. "We only have fifteen days before these creatures will make themselves known to us. It is of the utmost importance that we present a united front. We cannot allow these creatures to see us as petty isolationists who can't even get along with their neighbors. Have you all made a decision regarding the Planetary Unification Act?" Asked Luna. The Planetary Unification Act was a proposal that, if passed, would unite every nation on the planet. It would establish a High Council that would include every nation who would then discuss every aspect of politics that would affect the planet as a whole. Countries would not be abolished, but a new Constitution would be drafted that every nation on the planet would have to follow in addition to their own. New money would be printed and minted. That would be the easy part as every country used the Silver Standard for their currency anyway. There were murmurs of agreement. "Are you ready to put this down to a vote?" Asked Celestia. There were nods all around the table. This was a tense moment. If passed, this would be that first time in history that every species on the planet came together to found a Planetary Government. Not only that, but if this did come to pass, then the first acts of this new government would be to have dealings with an Extraterrestrial Species. "All those in favor?" Questioned Celestia. As she said this, she raised a hoof to the air. Cadence and Luna did not. Regardless of their royal status, each country would only get one vote, as such, Equestria would be represented by Celestia. To her left, Emperor Tyranus raised a talon. "Aye." He grumbled. To his left, Cynder raised a claw. "Aye." To her left, President Fortis raised a hand. "Aye." "The motion carries." Said Celestia. "I welcome you all to the New World Order." She said with a smile. The conference room erupted in applause. Finally, the thirty days were up. It was a bright and sunny day. It gave everyone a little hope for the future. The members of the High Council all stood shoulder to shoulder at the entrance of the castle. Before them, two lines of armed guards, consisting of every species, stood and cleared a long red carpet. Behind the line of armed guards were citizens of the New World Order, again mostly ponies as they are in Equestria, who waited with bated breath the arrival of these strange creatures. Celestia nodded to Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony. They wore their elements proudly, as well as fashionable dresses (Rarity's idea). They were all eager for the visitors, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be careful. No one knew what kind of abilities these creatures had, nor their intentions. They only had their message to go on, and frankly, it wasn't enough. They had to be prepared for everything. > Contact > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a work of total fiction, made entirely for entertainment purposes. No money is gained from the production of this prose. The people of of Planet Griego all stood perfectly still, waiting. Ponies, Dragons, Gryphons, and Minotaurs. There were many others, sapient species who lived throughout the world not having a country of their own. It was a magnificent sight to see. Suddenly, the sound of engines rang through the air. It started out low, before it started getting deeper and faster. Everyone looked up and saw five points of light heading straight for them. It was a strange sight to see. The new High Council of the New World Order narrowed their eyes, straining to see the swift objects. Could they be weapons of some kind? Before anyone could say anything, the objects came into view. Finally close enough to see with the naked eye, they could make out the strange creatures that they all had seen from the initial broadcast. Now though, they had a complete view. They saw heads, shoulders, arms, torsos and legs. Long legs, actually. They were either bipeds, or had a hell of lot of trouble walking. They were differently colored, too. The presumed leader was a purple color with black highlights. Two of them were red with gold highlights, and the last two were solid black. After observing these creatures, everyone realized that they were coming in---fast. Everyone at the end of the red welcome carpet immediately began to pull back, afraid of being crushed by the visitors. There were several flashes of light that emanated from the beings, and immediately their bodies were shifted. Now instead of flying headfirst, they were falling legs first. CRASH The five beings landed solidly of the stone walkway that lead into Canterlot Castle. There was a cloud of dust and debris that was kicked up in their landing. Slowly, everyone approached eager to get a look of the alien visitors. Suddenly, all five of the creatures rose up slowly, the silence broken by mechanical whirring. Twilight's ears twitched at the sound. Are they machines? She thought incredulously. The creatures started walking down the red welcome carpet, quickly approaching the Planet's leaders. Everyone watched intently, how the creatures moved and what they looked like. They seemed to have a metal exoskeleton. They were differently colored, and they noticed that the smallest one was curvier than the others. Female perhaps? She seemed to be in charge as well. A matriarchal society? The two medium sized creatures carried black objects in their hands. They seemed like a series of blocks and tubes. The two massive beings seemed to have all sorts of additions grafted onto their bodies. Even though the [assumed] female was in charge, she was significantly smaller than the other two. And the two black ones? They were massive. Each of them seemed to have a glowing piece in the center of their torsos, between the shoulders. The leader had a purple centerpiece, and the two massive ones had green and orange centerpieces. The last two yellow and gold beings had blue centerpieces. Could the glow be coming from an organ? Their hearts maybe? Finally the group of five made it to the Castle, and stood before the Council. Celestia stepped forward to greet them. "On behalf of the World Council, I welcome you to our planet." She said confidently. She had on a serene smile, a smile that was shared by most of the people in attendance. The beings all nodded, acknowledging her welcome. The small purple one stepped forward. "On behalf of the human race, I extend my thanks." The voice was robotic and feminine. Suddenly, the creatures face slid upwards! Immediately, parts of it's metal body began humming and whirring with activity, shifted and sliding until something stepped out of the shell. This new creature looked to be made out of flesh. It's face was soft, and a pinkish color. It's hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were a light blue color, and it had green eyes. It's body was much less bulky than the...shell led them to believe. In fact, it looked quite soft and curvy. It was covered in a skintight black and white bodysuit. "I am Admiral Meia Gisborn, we have much to discuss." She stated. > The Mandatory Origin Story *EDIT* > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT BLOG POST! PLEASE CLICK TO VIEW! This is a work of total fiction, made entirely for entertainment purposes. No money is gained from the production of this prose. The new High Council sat at their round table, eager to get to know the alien visitors. They had so many questions, so much that they wanted to know that these Humans may very well be able to provide the answers for. Despite these desires, everyone present didn't actually know what to do or say to begin any kind of talks. The humans themselves seemed to be busy taking in their surroundings, surveying everything in sight. Finally, one princess had had enough. "Where did you come from!?" Twilight demanded. Everyone in the room turned to look at her in surprise. The Griego natives in shock, and the humans (or rather, Meia) in amusement. Before anyone could chastise the overzealous princess, Meia started laughing. Now everyone looked at her in surprise. "Well, I suppose that's a good enough place to start, I suppose." She said. Reaching out with her left hand, palm up, one of the larger, red and gold colored guards approached her placing a perfect, silver orb in her hand. Curious, every non-human in the room watched carefully, wondering what the Admiral could want with the tiny, marble sized orb. What they didn't expect was for her to toss it on the table. Remarkably, it stopped dead center, as if guided by it's own intelligence. Suddenly, the orb flashed twice before it illuminated the room in a bright light. When the light died down, everyone was looking at a projection of a solar system. "This is our home solar system. Sol." Everyone in the room looked around, taking in the magnificent sight of the solar system. It was a sight that the had probably never seen before. Suddenly, the illusion rapidly zoomed in to one planet in particular. It was a blue planet, covered mostly in water with land masses spread throughout. "This planet Earth. It is the planet that gave birth to humanity." Said Meia. "We've observed your planet in the time that we've had here. We know that you have many creatures that are also natives to our own planet, such as monkeys and apes, so we'll skip out on that part of the explanation." Meia said. "We'll start with Proconsul." Again, the image of the blue planet zoomed in to a massive landmass and focused on a small primate in a tree. "Proconsul was a primate that lived in Africa approximately 25 million years ago, and it is theorized that he is the ancestor of both humans and chimpanzees. They were very small, and arboreal animals." Suddenly the image changed again. This time, however, the lush green jungle that proconsul was observed playing in decayed and vanished, leaving nothing but grasslands and savannahs behind. "Eventually, there was a great climate change that turned most of Africa into a desert and savannah. A population of proconsul were separated by the climate change and left to fend for themselves in the savannah. Those who remained behind in the jungles eventually evolved into the modern Chimpanzee. Those left wandering the savannah had only two options: adapt or die." The image of the proconsul wandering the savannah changed. This time, an ape-like creature was wandering the savannah on it's hind legs. "This is Sahelanthropus tchadensis, the first hominid. A bipedal ape. Now, bear in mind that while our ancestors were indeed capable of bipedal locomotion, they were, for the most part, still arboreal." Everyone continued to marvel at the display before them. To think that such grand creatures had dropped down from the trees was almost inconceivable. Twilight herself had been doing nothing but taking down note after note regarding these humans. The image of the ape shifted and morphed as Meia accelerated the passage of time in the illusion. "For now, I'll spare you the Australopithecines, and skip over to the genus Homo." The illusion settled on a biped with reduced prognathism. "This is Homo habilis." "What makes the genus Homo unique is that this is where we see a jump in intelligence, and an increase of fifty percent cranial capacity compared to the Australopithecines. Starting with Habilis, we see tool making, and scavenging for meat." Once again, the image morphed into a new creature. This one looked much closer in appearance to the humans. "This is Homo erectus. He is the first of of our human ancestors to leave the continent of Africa. The original pioneer. As you can tell, these resemble humans much more than our previous ancestors, with nearly identical bodies, and habitual bipedalism. These were the first to use fire, and used more sophisticated tools." Once again the human ancestor morphed into a much more human looking creature. "Finally we come to Homo sapiens heidelbergensis. This is the rise of humanity. These are the first of our ancestors to achieve true sapience. They were as intelligent as any of us. Some consider them their own species, our ancestors, but the majority of the scientific community considers them an early variation of the modern human race. Early Archaic humans, if you will." Explained, Meia. "The Heidelbergs will give birth to the Modern Humans as well as our extinct sister species, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Like Homo erectus, the Heidelbergs will also leave Africa. A small population that remained in Africa eventually became the anatomically modern human, Homo sapiens sapiens. Our sister species, however, resulted from a population of Heidelbergs that lived in the frozen north and were forced to adapt, becoming Homo sapiens neanderthalensis." "Unfortunately, while humans and neanderthals evolved around the same time period, about two hundred thousand years ago, neanderthals went extinct about thirty thousand years ago. Meanwhile, the anatomically modern humans will go on to inherit the planet. This brings us to recent events." "Approximately five hundred years ago, the year 2014 A.D. Gregorian Calender, humanity had finally decoded the human genome. With total and complete access to our D.N.A. humanity was able to tamper with the genes and manipulate the outcome of human evolution." Everyone in the room sat in silent awe. To be able to manipulate the future of an entire species, these creatures must have been a great civilization. "They were fools." What? "The humans back then total fools. With this new technology, all they thought to do was focus on the superficial, or utilize it for war. The main population used the technology to influence their children to be more athletic, taller, more attractive, and they threw in strange requests as well." Meia gestured to her head. "You see my hair, how it's blue? That's not a natural human color. The modern humans have all kinds of strange colored hair and eyes, but these things are a result of nerdy parents over five hundred years ago that watched too many cartoons and anime. And the military...all they thought to do was to create super soldiers." Meia sighed. "The governments of the world created artificial humans that were stronger, faster, and far more intelligent to use as super soldiers. They were designed to remain subservient to their creators, but things didn't go as they planned. There was a great war, World War three, between the Western World and the Muslim World that occurred in the year 2033 A.D. The war lasted for fifteen years before the super soldiers, on both sides, realized the futility of their battle. They turned on their masters. The super soldiers didn't want dominance, or revenge, they just wanted to end the war and to be treated equally, but the world leaders grew afraid of their power. "In order to combat the millions of super soldiers, they created more specifically to target the wayward soldiers. The worlds leaders didn't realize that the people actually agreed with the enhanced humans. They too felt that the governments treatment of the enhanced beings was deplorable. Billions of people, from hundreds of countries along with almost a billion super soldiers overturned the governments of the world and created a singular world government. This was the People's Republic of Planet Earth. The super soldiers and enhanced humans eventually interbred to form us, the next step in human evolution. "This new government created many policies which funded universal health care, education, science and military. As the people continued to enhance themselves, the new government decided to instill a mandatory five year military service to instill discipline and solidarity amongst the people. By the year 2060, the first fully functional Hyper Drive was built. With it, humans spread throughout the solar system, colonizing it. This was only the beginning. "By the year 2110 Humanity had spread across over a hundred star systems. Coming together, these hundred star systems formed the Interstellar Federation of Systems, a new interstellar government. It has been this way for five centuries." Everyone in the room remained silent, pondering the implications of such an advanced species populating the galaxy. "Ten years ago, however, we were attacked. Out of no where, for absolutely no reason, our home planet and Capital, planet Earth was destroyed without mercy or warning. A species known as the Drox declared war on Humanity." The metal marble flashed once again, revealing the image of a small, grey colored creature with a large head and eyes. "Since then an interstellar war has been raging. It has consumed billions of lives, both Human and Drox, with no end in sight." "How did you end up here?" Asked President Fortis. "If any of your worlds were anywhere near ours, surely contact would have been established long ago. Just what happened to lead you so far away from your country?" Meia smiled. "Very astute of you, Mr. President. You are correct, we are indeed quite aways away from our Union. An entire universe away, to be exact." Everyone's eyes widened. "Our ship, the Interstellar Federation of Systems Ship Marx is an evacuation ship. We received word from our Intelligence division that the Drox were targeting the military planet Sparta. Two hundred million of our finest soldiers manned and operated the Marx and successfully evacuated approximately eight hundred million civilians, soldiers and soldiers-in-training from the planet. What we didn't know was that the Drox orchestrated the whole thing in order to make us an easier target. "They attacked just as the planet was evacuated and successfully damaged our hyperdrive, which would have allowed us to escape. We managed to hold them off in a battle while our top engineers tried to fix the problem. What we discovered was that the hyperdrive was not being powered sufficiently enough, and therefore lacked the power for a successful jump into hyperspace. "One of our engineers, Emmet Brown, wanted to connect the hyperdrive directly to the ships power source, which is extremely dangerous. With little option left, we did it. After recalling our troops, we engaged the hyperdrive and prepared to jump. With an overpowered drive, instead of warping space-time, we punched right through it, propelling us into a universe not our own. Yours. "Now, after searching for ten years in this universe for a life-bearing planet, we found you."