LOCATION: NASA HEADQUARTERS
CITY: WASHINGTON, DC
DATE: MARCH 12, 2032 | TIME: 10:00 AM
With the arrival of Skrixx and his crew of Krollans on Earth, it didn’t take long for world leaders to understand that the greatest threat to Earth would come from the stars, not from within.
Humanity had a lot to learn about the universe, the multiverse, and the myriad races and empires that were potential allies. Or threats.
After the global tutorials, new elections were held in each country to help determine what sort of leadership would represent the people of that nation on the world stage.
Those resulting world leaders, some the same as before, some new, convened regularly to handle the business of administering the planet.
Although it took some time to settle in, the notion of countries spying on each other was deemed to be an issue of pre-System Earth, and the global intelligence apparatus, such as it had been, was dismantled.
However, gathering intel on threats to the planet from outside was another matter altogether.
In the end, the Celestial Intelligence Service was created, and who better to lead it than those of the various space agencies of the world?
CIS was formed with regional headquarters arranged in a true round table style of leadership. NASA led the charge in North America, working in concert with the space agencies of Mexico and Canada.
The European Space Agency worked closely with Roscosmos from Russia and other regional partners. And in East Asia, Japan, Unified Korea, China and India combined resources and decision-making.
Their first order of business after organizing into a streamlined, non-bureaucratic fashion was to assess the security of Earth in general.
Skrixx and the Krollans, now living on Earth among humans, gave them a general rundown of the major players in this sector of space.
“The Orion Mercantile Syndicate, to which all Krollans belong, is the commercial arm of The Orion Order. The Order is an empire that currently enjoys relative peace, but it was not always so.”
Nathan Rourke, the Lead Director of CIS worldwide, leaned in. “Please tell us more about that. Was there a war?”
Skrixx’s expression saddened.
“War is, for better or worse, a constant in the multiverse. Those with power always seek more, and no amount of resources is enough for a growing civilization. I believe you know this yourself. Your own planet’s history is riddled with wars over resources, is it not?”
There was a lot of grumbling on the conference call and many looks of embarrassment. Nathan cleared his throat.
“Ahem. It is true, but we can only hope we can rise above such things now, given our new reality.”
Skrixx smiled.
“Well said. That is exactly the philosophy driving The Orion Order. However, you must know this: to achieve peace, you must be strong enough to defend yourselves. And the greatest threat you will face comes from the Obsidian Empire.”
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“They are the ones behind the incursion portals, correct?” Nathan asked. “We have made little progress in understanding our enemy thus far.”
Skrixx leaned in, and his voice took on an ominous tone.
“Hear me now. The Obsidian Empire seeks planets with life. First, they subjugate and enslave the entire planet through overwhelming force. Next, they force the population to strip the planet of all resources. They will take all the water, the minerals, food, and ore. When the population begins to die off due to a lack of those very resources it has been robbed of, the Obsidian Empire leaves.”
He looked down at the table and sighed, then back up. His gaze scanned those at the table around him, then settled on the camera for the rest watching from around the world.
“When the last vestiges of life have left the planet, the Empire comes back and burns it all to ash. Then a few million years after that, they come back and extract the oil from the ground. Like the dinosaurs that once roamed Earth, the life that once thrived on the planet becomes nothing but fuel for an increasingly expanding empire with an endless and voracious appetite.”
“So, the blackness from Rin Shale’s world…” Nathan said.
“Yes,” Skrixx replied. “The Obsidian Empire brings in a skeleton crew of laborers who know nothing but gray skies and black soot for generation after generation, all there to pull the oil of their ancestors from the ground.”
It was a sobering exposition. Nobody on the call spoke for several minutes. Then, Nathan shook his head as if to clear the dark thoughts.
“How did they find us?” he asked. “It was exactly one year after the end of the global Tutorial when the first portals opened. That can’t have been a coincidence.”
“Yes,” Skrixx said. “We had with us just enough resources to protect your planet for one cycle around your star. Oh, you call it a year, do you not?”
Nathan nodded, and Skrixx continued.
“When a planet develops sufficiently advanced civilization, they begin to emit telltale signs of life. The Obsidian Empire has scouting vessels doing nothing but scanning sectors of space in search of those signs.”
Skrixx laughed.
“Ironically, the belt of junk you have floating around your planet blocked some of those emissions, but once you brought your System online and your entire population was inducted, the signs were just too bright to hide. We shielded you for as long as we could, but we knew it was only a matter of time before you’d be discovered.”
Nathan thought for a minute, then spoke again. The tone in his voice was ominous and determined.
“If The Orion Order knows peace, I assume they know how to stop the Empire. What do we need to do?”
“That is the right question,” Skrixx said. “You must grow stronger. The incursions are already coming, but the Empire isn’t devoting many resources to them yet. They are testing you out, softening you up as if tenderizing a piece of meat. The first step for you is to learn what you can about the world on the other side of those portals. Our scans indicate they all hail from a single point. Rin Shale, while not a highly placed person in that world, will still be able to provide much to help you understand the world she came from.”
Skrixx stood from his chair and paced for a moment.
“The next step is to send someone through who can disguise himself well enough to become an apprentice and learn from the portal masters. Once you learn how to create portals, you can begin attacking them where it will hurt most.”
“Are you not able to teach us those skills?” Nathan asked.
Skrixx shook his head.
“It is forbidden for us, unfortunately. There is a limit to what we can do to help you. We can provide education, but only to an extent. But we cannot become a crutch to humanity. If we leave you with any weaknesses, believe me when I tell you that the Obsidian Empire will exploit them. There can be no shortcuts. This, you must do on your own.”
The Core Council was also on the call, and Mallory chimed in here.
“There is a man named Trevor Gant. He has a class called Hollow Mantle. He has a Rogue and a Fighter persona, and he’s about to reach Level 100, where he’ll be able to obtain two more. We can guide him to obtain a Mage persona, allowing him to switch freely between Rogue and Mage as needed.”
“This is good,” Skrixx said. “I would like to meet this Trevor Gant. Is it possible?”
Mallory nodded.
“Of course. I’ll set it up.”