From Earth and Beyond

by Purple Karma

In a futuristic Earth, resources are running thin. While the planet steadily recovers from a War fought over what's left, humanity's only salvation may lie not beyond the stars, but beyond dimensions.

1. Chapter 1

"Ladies and Gentlemen, today is a day that will go down in the annals of human history. Not only as a performance of sheer impossibility but also as the ultimate saving grace for the entirety of mankind. Even though the invention of the Uranian-Interstellar Drive has allowed us to traverse the farthest reaches of space, I believe that what we have discovered here today will lead us into a more prosperous future for all of mankind. No longer will we have to waste precious time, resources, and risk the safety of our fellow humans, travelling millions of miles in an endless void searching for a new hospitable home. Instead, this new machine will reduce all of our international spending and allow us to save what little resources we have left while also allowing us to begin our search anew, right here from safety of our dying world."

-International Speech delivered to the United Space Coalition of Nations in the capital city of Genesis by Cameron Newborn, head scientist of the Uranian Technology and Research Corporation.

Chapter 1: Decaying Planet, A New Discovery

Personal ID: Cpl. David "Corpse" Cormac

"I call complete and utter bullshit."

"You call bullshit on everything, Teage."

"Only when I know for a fact that it's bullshit. And trust me, my friend, this right here is complete, Grade-A, one-hundred-and-ten-percent, bullshit."

"Give it a rest, man. Ain't like they got anything else cooking up in that lab that's actually useful."

"I'm sorry, I guess those new EXO-Stability Implants they made back in '86 flew right over your head, didn't they? You know, the ones that saved your ass back in the war over Phobos?"

"Hey, fuck you. That was one time and my legs were torn to shit. Anybody who relies on implants or injections instead of their own two feet and hands doesn't deserve to be called a real soldier. 'Cause unlike you I actually like to use my own strength instead having all the drugs and machines do it for me. Fucking junkie."

"What the fuck you just say to me you cocksucking son of a bitch-"

"Alright, that's enough! Stow the bellyaching before I come over there and pull your tongues out of your asses!"

"Yessir. Sorry, sir."

"Tch, whatever, man."

I shook my head and tried my best to ignore yet another damn squabble between my two squad mates as they bitched at each other from across the mess hall table. All I ask is that we try to enjoy one simple meal in peace and quiet whenever we get done with an Op, yet these two dumbasses somehow find the need to almost kill each other at every turn. Honestly if it wasn't for the squad's God-given savior, who just so happened to be our own Sgt. Franklyn Roberts, I'm pretty sure that we would have all blown our brains out or left to go find more seemingly normal squads to join. It wasn't that our squad was horrible or anything but with the way that our Rifleman, Jackson Teage and our Technician, Andrew Gorrey, go at each other like a couple of wolves fighting over a carcass, it makes enjoying this ragtag group of soldiers just a little too hard to enjoy. Even after the numerous wars and skirmishes we fought and bled over together, they still somehow find a way to gut each other. Not that I'm necessarily complaining, of course. Their fights do tend to bring some enjoyment around the squad when we have nothing better to do besides combat drills and firing exercises. I honestly think half of this squad might have even shot themselves out of the pure boredom we face mostly nowadays since we don't really have anybody else to shoot at, what with most of the major planetary wars over with. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we enjoy fighting in wars or that we do it just to get rid of some stress, but at the very least they give us something to do. Minus all of the blood, guts, and screams of agony.

Sometimes it didn't pay to get out of bed.

"But seriously, though. Do you guys really believe what that fuckin' whack job-of-a-scientist, Newborn, is sayin'? What the fuck could he possibly mean by a "machine being our saving grace"? What the fuck does he think the Interstellar Drive is for? Tourism around the Milky Way or some shit?"

"Obviously, Teage, since he thinks this new machine will somehow top light speed travel." This came from our squad's Sniper, Jennifer Whales, who was seated on my right across from Teage. She was a young woman about my age with brown hair pulled into a bun with clear skin and blue eyes. She was a Corporal like myself and always had a knack for annoying the hell out of Teage, mostly for her own personal amusement.

And as the saying goes, "Don't mess with the bull or you get the horns", Teage gave her a nasty glare and looked as though he were a second away from lunging at her throat.

"Piss off, Whales. Nobody fuckin' asked you."

And like always, she simply shrugged as if his words were nothing but tiny pebbles being thrown at her and went back to enjoying her music through her Holo-Tactical Pad on her wrist, ignoring the world around her through her ear buds. I seriously never understood how she was even able download music on it in the first place since it was an expensive piece of U.S.C.N Military hardware that wasn't supposed to be used for personal purposes but I guess we all have our secrets.

Even though I rarely agreed on anything with Teage, nor did anybody else in our squad for that matter, I couldn't help but throw my lot in with him. We had all heard about the big discovery they made at the U.T.R Corporation a few days ago, hell everyone in the entire Solar System as far as Saturn had heard about it. Apparently they had discovered a new way of finding us a new home somewhere out there in the universe without actually having to travel there by starships. According to them, it had been one of the biggest and brightest of breakthroughs that the human race had achieved ever since we started the first colonization on Mars back in 2078. With the invention of the Uranian-Interstellar Drive that allowed us to open rifts in space and time, or what they called "Wormholes" using some sort of super powered reactors, humanity was able to get to-and-from each of the nine planets within the Solar System within the span of a few minutes at the least and an hour at the most, a trip which would've taken months or even years a few decades ago through the use of Cryogenic Sleep inside small capsules slowly floating through space. In all honesty, it was a Godsend. Because traveling at the speed of light was now possible, the entire human race had been practically begging the Coalition to send their ships out and start colonizing every planet and moon they could find. With the ever growing population at an enormous span of over 9.4 billion as of 2081, we were all desperate for a little bit of elbow room instead of having to share it on this already cramped ball of mud and water, not that there was that much water to begin with since the Coalition had been straining itself for years to maintain as much water as they could for the large Earth population. Lucky for them, they had been able to discover a few major bodies of drinkable H20 on Mars and even some on its moon, Phobos. Though this discovery was what ironically lead to the Water War over Phobos that me and my squad had fought in in 2084. Apparently a few Private Military Companies didn't like the idea of having to share the newly discovered water sources with the rest of the growing population and tried to take it all for themselves. In 2085 they had gotten together and formed what they called the Oasis Alliance and suddenly we had a whole goddamn fleet's worth of P.M.C Phoenix-Class Starships attacking and blowing up Uranian Outposts and setting Coalition Colonies ablaze, killing everyone they saw just so they could get their hands on a bit of liquid. It's amazing what lengths people will go to just to get what they want. Bunch of sick fucks they were.

Suddenly I was feeling very glad that I was given the chance to rip a few of their Vacu-Masks right off their faces. How I would just sit there and watch as they slowly turned blue from the lack of oxygen and froze to death before their corpses were left to float aimlessly through the eternal void. Guess that's why they called me Corpse. Because I leave so many where I go. And sometimes I enjoyed it.

Thankfully the entire threat of the P.M.C's had only lasted about a year, but that didn't mean that the destruction was kept at a minimum. Last I heard, at least 200,000 good men, women, and innocent children were lost to the greed of these Military Companies. Over 200,000 souls gone from existence because people chose to survive for themselves instead of each other. Seriously, the whole point of the damn voyage was to try to restore some of our already depleted, and still depleting, resources so that the entire human race could survive, yet these people thought they could just put themselves before the billions of other that were starving and dying of thirst? Don't make me laugh.

It's a sad Universe we live in, really. No wonder we haven't made any extraterrestrial contact yet. Who the hell would want to get into contact with a species that kills each other for something as simple as water?

But after hearing what this Cameron Newborn fellow had to say over the interstellar radio, I couldn't help but find myself a little curious despite all of the skepticism that I still had. Sure, humanity was capable of a lot of things that were deemed as impossible such as traveling at the speed of light, the Interstellar Drives were a testament to that. But what could they have discovered that even capable of surpassing speeds of up to 186,000 miles per second? But whatever it was, I just hoped that it didn't end up in another shit storm like Phobos did.

"Yo, Corpse, you believe any of the shit they're spewin'?" Teage's voice brings me out of my thought process as he gives me a semi-pointed and pissed off look from across the table, almost as if he's threatening me into agree with him.

I shrug my shoulders and swallow the lump of meat that I bit off from my burger. Some things never change over the years and food is definitely one of them, thank the Lord. "I really don't have a damn clue, Teage. Maybe I do and maybe I don't. Guess we'll just have to wait and see now, won't we?" I bite off another chunk of medium rare meat and cheddar just to stop myself from talking. I always hated taking sides between Teage and Gorrey and it always resulted in one or the other getting pissed off at me like I was the one who was at fault.

Teage obviously didn't like my response and fixed me with another one of his "steaming hot glares" as Whales always called them. "Gee, thanks for the fucking backup there, Corpse. You're about as useful as goddamn faucet leak. Don't know why I even bother asking you in the first place." He then picking up his double decker burger and ripped just about half of the damn thing in one bite before roughly chewing it like some wild animal. No wonder the other soldiers call him "Teage the Tiger."

"Who put a stick up your ass today, Jack? Ain't nobody forcing you to believe whatever it is they're saying on the radio. We're allowed to have opinions in case you haven't fuckin' noticed. So why the fuck you ripping into everyone lately?" And here comes the second voice of reason and our other squad mate, Miles Monroe, who was our Demolitions/Explosives Operator. Besides Sgt. Roberts, he was the one who would diffuse, no pun intended, any situation that occurred between Teage and Gorrey whenever the Sarge wasn't around. He had short blonde hair and was about a year or two younger than me and was kind of quiet, sometimes keeping to himself, but rile him up enough and he'd tear you apart more than his homemade bombs would.

"You wanna know what my fucking problem is, Monroe? My problem is that I'm just sitting here on my ass eating this God-awful meat and listening to some fucking looney talkin' about some weird-ass machine that'll apparently "save the human race" instead of going back out there and shooting the caps off of those Oasis fuckers. Hell, I'll even settle for some of those squabbling extremists back on Luna just as long as I get to fucking shoot something." He said the last part in a low and quiet growl but we all managed to hear him. No one bothered to make a reply, not even Gorrey made an attempt to piss him off further with another smart ass remark as we all simply settled for eating in silence for the first time since we got here. The only noise we were hearing were the sounds of our teeth mashing the food in our jaws and the background conversations of the numerous other soldiers within the mess hall. For once, we were having a quiet meal together as a squad. A tense and pissed off squad but a squad nonetheless.

I know why Teage was so admit on returning to the front lines, especially when it had to do with the Oasis Alliance. His sister, Jessica, was an Officer onboard the U.S.C.N Retribution, one of the first of many Coalition warships to be sent to Phobos airspace after the Alliance had attacked the colony naval ports. She and the rest of the crew had been sent as an extraction team to get any remaining survivors off-world while a backup fleet of warships had been sent to provide extra protection. The operation had been going smoothly and the Retribution along with several other extraction ships had managed to gather hundreds of fleeing colonists while taking minimal damage against enemy aircraft. That is, until the Retribution had been hit by a stray NOVA- Class Missile fired from a nearby Alliance frigate, which had enough firepower to reduce the entire 2.4 km long ship into smoldering pieces, killing everyone onboard almost instantly. Jessica's body was never found, having either been completely vaporized by the heat from the explosion or slowly drifting off in space along with hundreds of others and the debris of dozens of destroyed ships. The fact that there wasn't even a body to bury was what probably killed Teage the most on the inside, not even getting the chance to say goodbye to his only sister in person one last time. Something like that would cause even the toughest of soldiers to be reduced to tears. Not that he ever let us see any of his tears but we knew he was crying on the inside.

After that day, he swore that he would never show mercy to a single person who called themselves a member of Oasis. And true to his word, he never did. When we were called to retake to ruined city of Aradite from Oasis control, Teage pour all of his anger into every bullet he shot and every swing of his energized knife. No one, not men, women, or even the youngest of soldiers who were about 18 were safe from the Tiger's wrath. No matter how many times they cried, screamed, begged, he would silence them with a swipe of his claws. He laughed at their pathetic please for mercy. Why should they deserve mercy after what they had taken from him and so many others? Why should they be spared when they could've done the same to others? We didn't know nor did we bother finding out. All it took was one swipe from the Tiger's claw and the rest is history.

Some soldiers say he's more Demon than Tiger. We don't bother to correct them. Sometimes we think so ourselves.

---

Cameron Newborn knew he would be expecting this. After all, no one simply stands up in front of over a hundred world leaders and blatantly declares to over half the Solar System on the Planetary Holonet that they have found a way to search for a new home for all of humanity that would no longer require the use of the Uranian-Interstellar Drive. It was one of the major pros and cons of being the Head Scientist of the U.T.R.C. Whenever a new technological discovery was made that would prove to change humanity for the better, people were always more skeptical that believing. It had been the same when they had finally found a way to making shortcuts across space and time through the use of Wormholes. It didn't bother him so much, as people tended to believe such things only existed in Science-Fiction novels and movies. Yet, when the Interstellar Drive had been first put to use, the people of Earth no longer held their disbelief. That was honestly the second best part of his job. Silencing people into disbelief with their technological marvels. Though he sometimes wished that more people would keep an open mind rather than trying to disprove his inventions the first change they got.

Yet here he was, standing amidst those so called disbelievers, who just o happen to be the military leaders of two of the most powerful nations on the face of the Earth in one of the underground levels of the U.T.R.C's main facility.

"Mr. Newborn, we both know that you have created some of the most astonishing devices that has aided humanity in these trying times of need. What with Earth's still-overgrowing population and the vast depletion of our resources, you and your research division have been the sole reason why we are still able to remain here on our home planet for what little time we have left. But are you really trying to tell us that this machine will do just what you say it does? Opening a rift through space and time and traveling at light speed was hard enough to achieve, but are you really trying to tell us that it's possible for this machine to open up rifts to other dimensions?"

This question was posed by the leader to all of New America's military personal second to only the President himself. The man was a tall and bulky fellow who's soft yet stern voice did not at all fit with his appearance. He had deep pale skin and looked as though he could put a dent in a tank by simply flicking his finger. Large, toned muscles were hidden behind his standard issue navy blue officer's uniform that was adorned with metals from past experiences in hell within and out of Earth. America's everlasting red, white, and blue flag was stitched onto his right shoulder. His general's cap sat neatly atop his head of cleanly shaven dark hair. Five gold stars adorned the front of his cap, indicating his rank above the rest of his men. Though his most prominent feature was his face which looked as though it was carved out of stone. A neatly trimmed goatee, a fine nose, and the deepest pair of icy blue eyes that would make any man freeze in place with even the simplest of gazes. A lone scar from a past knife wound trailed from his left eye down to the bottom of his jaw. The honest, yet deadly 5-Star General, Jacob Tiberius, looked torn between palming his own face at the sheer absurdity of what was coming out of the scientist's mouth or simply leaving the room altogether.

"Da, is this really the time to be filling our heads with more of your fantasies, Mr. Head Scientist? Because we really have more important things to consider at the moment."

The man besides the New American General was even scruffier than he was. A large, brunette beard adorned the entirety of his jaw and lower face and connected perfectly with his sideburns, making him look like a future Fidel Castro. Though the scruffy look was kind of ruined by the small set of freckles that covered the majority of his dark and pale face. A pair of steely green eyes looked at the scientist in annoyance as he crossed his muscled arms over one another. Like Tiberius, the man was also a General and could be seen wearing his standard issue uniform, though his was a darker brown rather than a navy blue. No war medals or gold stars were adorned on his uniform and hat but he didn't need medals for people to know who he was. His history in the battlefield was more than enough identification. Lastly, and image of two golden sickles crossed over a golden hammer with a red background was stitched onto his right shoulder. A symbol of the New Russian Federation.

General Vadim Krochevski looked at the head scientist with bit of murder in his eyes. "I have no time to waste on fairy tales, Newborn. The Council demands my attention back in the Motherland. Speak whatever it is you must before I lose my patience." His low and gravel voice could be comparable to an earthquake.

Newborn was unfazed, simply cuffing his hands behind his back before speaking firmly. "Gentlemen, as General Tiberius has already stated, our planet is at her wits end. Because of overpopulation and the war with the Oasis Alliance, our spending in resources has doubled in the past year in order to redouble our colonizing efforts and rebuilding our lost cities on Phobos and Mars. Because of the use of the Interstellar Drive, we have been able to discover and harvest new resources found on planets within our Solar System but it simply isn't enough. Because of the constant use of the Drive and efforts into colonizing new worlds, we are spending more than we are earning. Humanity's overall population is predicted to reach an estimated 10 billion by the year 2100, and with what we have now, there is no possible way we can ever hope to sustain that much life if we don't act quickly. We have gotten this far by switching over to nuclear energy as our main energy source rather than fossil fuels, but even then I doubt we would last much longer unless we do something right now. That is why we of the Uranian Technology and Research Corporation have found a new way of searching for mankind's salvation without risking further resources as well as the lives of our fellow humans. If you'll be so kind as to follow me, I will gladly show you what I mean." Without waiting for a single reply, the scientist turned around a left through a set of double doors. The two military leaders gave each other a raised eyebrow in confusion before reluctantly following the scientist through the doors.

The three made their way down a dimly lit hallway before reaching an elevator that took them further down the bowels of the research facility. The ride was quiet and ominous between the three men before the doors opened up to reveal another hallway that had four doors on each side with a larger set of double doors reaching the end. The men passed each door before reaching the end of the hallway. Just before they were about to pass through, Newborn stopped and turned to face the two Generals.

"I must warn you that what you're both about to see may come as bit of shock to you." And like the last time, the scientist passed through the double doors without waiting for a reply.

The Generals, feeling as though the whole world were about to topple over them, gave each other a very wary glance before they, too, passed through the doors without a single word. Not knowing that what awaited them from behind would change the entire world for better or for worse.

---

"Man, I am so fucking sick and tired of this shit. Ain't nothing to do but walk around and be bored as all fuck."

"For once I agree with you, Gorrey. Oh Lord, how I wish I had a rifle back in my hands right about now."

After we had finished our tense but relatively quiet meals back at the army mess hall, we decided to walk around and take in the sights of Genesis. The unified capital city had been built on what was once the island of Sardinia sometime around the 60's just off the coast of France and Italy. Not only that, but the island had also been artificially expanded so that it could accompany more people who visited just about every year. Big metal towers and skyscrapers that reached into the sky as far as the eye could see took up the majority of the center of the island. Along the coast were dozens of resorts, hotels, and casinos where the local and foreign populace could play and sleep their hearts out. One of the few military bases where we were stationed was built just a few miles east of one of the islands more prominent seafood restaurants, which had been named The Loch Ness after the mythical see beast. The restaurant had been recognized for its night dining due to the fact that you could get a perfect view of the stars from outside. With its beautiful view of the sky and the ocean, along with its endless visits from the local military personnel, I couldn't imagine that place going out of business anytime soon.

As we walked along the sidewalk that connected to the sandy beach on our right, I couldn't help but marvel at the view I was getting. For a planet that was on the edge of dying it still never failed to somehow retain its natural beauty. The sky was a heavenly shade of blue with little to no clouds while the Mediterranean held a shade of clear green, making it look like pure melted emerald with the way the sun's light reflected off its surface. Numerous fishing boats and even a few battleships and other military-grade ships could also be seen making their daily patrols or just floating lazily amongst the civilian vessels. Even after the numerous upgrades to old tech over the past few decades, the introduction of Hover and Walker-Class military ground-to-air units, and the invention of Starships, the Coalition never ceased its production of it sea-worthy vehicles, something I knew the old Veterans of the Navy were thankful for.

Besides the various ships, hundreds to maybe even thousands of people from every ethnicity you could think of had littered the beaches like ants to a picnic, not that I could blame the amount exactly. When Genesis had finished its construction sometime around 2070, it had become the number one tourist attraction in the entire world. Everyone from all corners of the globe who had $10,000 of their income to spend came here just about every year for some simple rest and relaxation. In fact, the city was so popular that the world leaders of the old United Nations, just before it was renamed to the United Space Coalition of Nations, had decided to relocate its main headquarters here altogether. Though for all its beauty and popularity, I never understood why anyone would want to spend that much money just for a simple vacation. Too much of a waste if you asked me. This city might've been the prime example of Paradise itself but it's still too damn expensive if you ask me. Thank God military personal had all of their expenses paid or else I would've been bankrupt from staying a single night at a hotel.

As soon as I was finished with my sightseeing I turned my attention back towards my squad, most notably Gorrey who had his face scrunched up in annoyance as he looked at the stampede of beachgoers.

"Man, does everybody and their fuckin' grandma have to be here? Swear to God you can't walk two feet without bumpin' into some random asshole," as if the universe was playing a practical joke on him, Gorrey was harshly bumped on the shoulder by a pedestrian who quickly walking in the opposite direction and didn't even bother stopping for a quick apology. Gorrey glared at the person before quickly flipping them the middle finger and muttering, "Well fuck you too, asshat."

Whales, who was still listening to music on her Holo device, slapped Gorrey on the shoulder with a grin. "Aw lighten up, Gore. Not like these people have anything better to do than to waste their paychecks playing Roulette and building sand castles."

Gorrey brushed off her hand and gave her an annoyed glance. "Yeah? Well I wish they'd waste it somewhere else. 'Member when people used to laze their asses around places like Hawaii or Dubai? Why can't we go back to that? Sure as shit was a lot less people that's for damn sure."

I decided to throw in my two cents. "Because spoiled rich assholes only like to throw their money away in places they think deserve it?"

"Or because people want to brag to their friends online about how lucky they were to finally go on their dream vacation." Monroe spoke up with a grin of his own.

"Or maybe it's what Whales said, they have nothing fucking better to do than to waste their money on useless shit for a week," said Teage from the back of the squad, his arms crossed over each other and looking at the beachgoers with sneer on his ragged face.

Sgt. Roberts, who was leading from the front, addressed us all with a glance. "Let the civvies worry about themselves. We finally have some time off to ourselves and we're damn well going to be making the best out of it. That crystal, Marines?"

"Clear, sir."

"Aye, sir."

"Roger that, Sarge."

"Yessir."

"…Whatever, Sarge."

"Good," the Sergeant responded before a mischievous grin suddenly threatened to split his face. "Then last one to the bar scrubs the shitter with their toothbrush!" And before any of us got the chance to respond, he broke off into a full sprint down the road, narrowly but expertly dodging any civilian in his path. The rest of us were left their standing with our mouths open in utter confusion.

"Ah come on, man! You barely gave us any fuckin' time to get ready!" Gorrey shouted in indignation before he, himself, started sprinting. The rest of us, shaken out of our stupor, closely gained on him from behind.

"Oh no you fucking don't!" Teague yelled in outrage as he sprinted slightly passed Gorrey and gave him a sideways snarl. "I am not going to be losing to you ever again! You hear me?! If anyone's going to scrub the fucking toilets it'll be you with your goddamn tongue! You better take a long hard look at my ass, Gorrey, 'cause you'll be kissing it after I smoke yours!" Teague, now high off of his mind on adrenaline, rushed ahead with Gorrey hot on his tail. Whales, Monroe, and I laughing our asses off as we keep up behind them.

---

"Mr. Newborn, do you mind explaining to us just what the hell that thing is?"

As soon as Generals Tiberius and Krochevski passed through the double doors, they were both equally flabbergasted as to what they had set their sights on. Instead of the typical all-white field testing rooms they had been expecting, the two military leaders were shocked to find out that they had stumbled onto a metal balcony in what looked like the inside of a very large warehouse just about the length of a football field with grey walls that reached at least 25 feet in height. Within the large underground facility were dozens of machines being run by numerous people wearing lab coats who didn't even register the men's entrance; all of them too busy typing away or operating the various and quite expensive looking equipment. Though what was strange was that all of the machines were connected and placed into a wide, oval-shaped outline. That wasn't all, as located on the outside perimeter of the warehouse floor were dozens upon dozens of testing tables that all held various lab equipment such as, test tubes, vials, beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners and the like; all were currently in use by other scientists who were also too focused on doing some unknown tests that they didn't even register the Generals' or Head Scientist's presence.

However it wasn't the presence of the other scientists or the various lab equipment that was the source of the Generals' shock, but what was instead located at the very center of the massive room.

Surrounded by the various machines was an even larger machine that was pale white, contrasting the warehouse's grey walls, and stood at a height of at least 20 feet, just a few feet shorter from touching the ceiling. Most of its entire frame was built at a wide circular angle that seemed to expand in each direction, arching at least 15 feet wide before rounding down and connecting to a flat platform that was dark grey in color and seemed to expand almost as much as the machine's large circular frame. At the bottom of the platform were numerous pitch black tubes -probably some kind of electrical wires from what Tiberius could tell- that connected to the platform and the machine's lower half before reaching out and connecting to the dozens of smaller machines that surrounded the much larger one. Generators, perhaps? Or maybe some kind of control consoles? Tiberius couldn't exactly tell, but whatever they were seemed to be keeping the strange mechanism powered up, as he could hear a faint humming noise emanating from its circular core that seemed to echo across the entire warehouse. However despite its massive size, the most bizarre thing about it was strangely not the machine itself, but the entire area inside its circular center.

Tiberius wasn't sure if his age was finally catching up to him or if what he was seeing was just the result of too much caffeine in the morning, but he could swear that the entire space inside the mechanized arch, more specifically the very air itself was shimmering, like it was fazing in and out. It was as though he were looking through a giant kaleidoscope and all of the air within the circle was moving while the rest in the environment was still. Gazing at it long enough, he might have thought he was suffering from an actual LCD trip were it not for the fact that he had never touched a single drug in his entire life, besides the medical kind of course.

All in all, the only words the American General could use to describe the entire thing, in much vulgar terms, were what in the absolute fuck.

However he and Krochevski were shaken out of their momentary stupor as the Uranian Head Scientist slowly turned towards them with a very pleased grin on his face. He then proceeded to spread his arms out in both directions as he spoke to the military leaders with a voice of absolute pride and confidence, as if he had been well prepared for this exact moment for a long time to come. "This, Gentlemen, is not only the dawn of a new age, but also the Ark to our species' survival. For too long, has the human race been out war with each other for what remaining table scraps they can keep for themselves. For too long, have the people of our beloved united military fought and bled for the sake of those who would take everything for themselves rather than sharing it with their fellow man. For too long, have we spent countless years searching the stars for any hope to our survival only to end up causing another bitter war amongst ourselves. It is because of our greed and self-indulgence that the human race is destined to die out, leaving nothing but the shreds of our diseased history in the body of the universe. If we continue down this destructive path, then I fear that the human race would not last more than another two decades at most. Resources are declining, energy sources besides nuclear energy are becoming scarce, and more people are dying then are being born, especially those within third-world countries. If we do not find a solution to these crises soon, then I fear that the human race will die a pointless death, forever leaving the universe behind with a single question; 'What could we have done?', rather than trying to find the solution to 'What should we have done?'" All throughout his dramatic speech, Newborn's grin never left his face. "Fortunately for all of us, I have found that exact solution," he then pointed to the large, circular machine. "And it is right there in the center of this very room."

And finally without so much as a "by your leave", Newborn made his way onto a walkway that connected the balcony to the warehouse's walls which led to a staircase on its left wall. Giving each other another nervous glance, the Russian and the American Generals followed the scientist across the walkway and down the stairs where they proceed towards the outer circlet of machines that surrounded the much larger one. The other scientists, who were still busy running the much smaller devices, made way for the three men as they made their way towards the machine. Now with only just a couple of feet surrounding them from the strange mechanism, Tiberius and Krochevski were able to get a better look at the outer layer of the machine's arch. Hundreds, if not thousands of smaller wires surrounded the surface and even a few circuit boards and fiber optic cables could be seen within the small cracks of the machine's outer haul. From where they could see, Tiberius and Krochevski could see a faint light bluish glow coming from the machine's inside. There's also the fact that the faint humming noise they had been hearing was now considerably louder. Not loud enough to hurt their ears but loud enough to make it sound like they were standing next to an active generator, as if they could hear the actual electricity coursing through the entire machine. There was also a very slight thumping noise emanating from the inside, almost like the machine had a heartbeat. This, along with the shimmering of the air inside its massive ring gave it an abnormal and eerie feeling to it.

To the Generals, it almost felt like the machine was alive in a strange sort of way.

It was then that General Krochevski started to speak, looking back at Newborn with a stern glare, who seemed completely unaware as he was too busy staring at the machine with an calm and radiant expression, his grin still never wavering in the slightest. "I will repeat what Comrade Tiberius had stated earlier; just what in the hell is this…monstrosity, Head Scientist?"

Newborn gazed at the Russian from the corner of his eye, grin still plastered. "It is as I've said, General, this is the device that will save humanity from its self-destruction."

Tiberius was beginning to get fed up with the scientist, and from the looks of it, Krochevski might have been three seconds away from strangling the man. "Enough beating around the bush, Newborn. Just tell us what it is already." He said, his authoritative voice almost drowning out the machine's anomalous noises and making a few of nearby scientists take a step back in alarm.

The grin from Newborn's face still never wavered as he turned to address the two men. "Very well, Gentlemen. You see, ever since the creation of the Uranian-Interstellar Drive, I have always wondered if it would've been possible to do the impossible. I thought to myself, 'if we could find a way to traverse the stars by ripping holes into space and time, why not try and take it a step further?' What if, we could not only create passageways into other points of space and time, why not try and create passageways to other universes, or possibly even other dimensions? Think about it! Right now we live inside a plane of only three dimensions. What if we could try reaching a place where all concepts of the reality we know are nonexistent? What if we could try reaching a place that even the wildest of imaginations couldn't even possibly begin to comprehend? Or better yet, what if it where possibly to travel to alternate realities that are very similar to our own, if not identical? Our universe is said to be nearly infinite and is continuously growing by the second, but is had also been said that our universe is only one out of infinite other universes that are either very different or very similar to our own! Just think, what if we could open up a passageway to these other universes and realities. All of our problems could be solved with the simple push of a button!" Each and every word added a new layer of excitement to Newborn's speech, his grin threatened to split his face as his hands shot up into the air in pure excitement.

For a few minutes, the Generals simply stood rooted in their spots as they gave the scientist a blank stare. The other scientists besides them, tense from the awkward atmosphere, looked between the three men in silent confusion. Meanwhile Newborn put his hands down and simply waited for their response, his smile returning to a somewhat serine one as though he were very pleased with himself.

The awkward atmosphere soon ended when the Krochevski's expression morphed from a blank stare to one of pure outrage, almost as if he had been insulted by the Head Scientist's dramatic words.

"Are you completely out of your mind, Head Scientist Newborn?! First you talk of humanity's downfall as if it were Hell on Earth 2086, then you build this…this thing and speak of it like it was the biblical Noah's Ark, and then you have the nerve to try to fill our heads with more of your fantasies and nonsense?! Mudak! I should shoot you where you stand right now for having the nerve to try to sway me to your, how you say, flights of fancy!" The tone, as well as the volume in the Russian's voice was enough to make the surrounding scientists back up in fear. Tiberius, hoping to quickly regain control of the situation, tried calming the fellow General.

"General Krochevski! Stand down at once! I'm sure Mr. Newborn would be more than willing to explain himself if you just gave him the chance. Isn't that right, Newborn?" Tiberius sent a stern raised eyebrow towards the scientist, and was a little perturbed by the fact that he didn't show even the slightest bit of nervousness at the Russian's outburst. In fact he was still smiling with his hands now clasped behind his back, as though he had completely ignored the entire thing.

But then American General could see the slightest twinkle in the man's eyes, as if he were planning to do something he'd rather not see.

"Instead of explaining it to you, why don't I simply show it to you, General Tiberius?" Before Tiberius could even respond, Newborn turned around and addressed a nearby scientist standing next to one of the smaller machines, a young man with short brunette hair who looked to be in his late twenties. "Mr. Hawkins, if you would be so kind as to initiate the activation sequence?"

The young man, Hawkins, although a little shaken up by the Russian General's outburst, gave Newborn an affirmative nod. "Right away, Mr. Newborn." He said before turning back towards the console and began pressing a series of buttons before reaching out and grasping the handle of a large, black switch. The console let out a large, deep moaning noise, signaling that it was now channeling energy towards the larger machine. "Initiating activation of machine in 5…4…3…2…"

"Newborn, just what the hell are you-"

"…1!"

And with the pull of a switch, the entire room went dark.

The screech of a thousand saws tore through the very air itself as Tiberius and Krochevski covered their ears and closed their eyes in agony as the sound pounded their eardrums with the intense force of a jackhammer. Through their eyelids they could see a single source of light that was rippling through the darkness of the entire warehouse. After a few more seconds, the unbearable noise finally died down and both Generals opened their eyes to a sight that made them drop their hands and jaws in complete shock and awe. Even the ringing in their now uncovered ears couldn't sway them from the sight they were now witnessing. The giant ring-shaped machine had been lit up with dozens of bright white lights that surrounded the outside of its main core and even some light was glaring through the cracks of metal all alongside its surface. The faint humming sound it had emitted was now something one would hear from a full grown whale, the full intensity of the sound seemed to shake the very walls and floors of the entire facility. The bright light that the twenty foot machine was giving off gave it the appearance of a giant halo right out of Heaven's Gate itself.

But for all its intensity, absolutely nothing on the outside could compare to what the Generals were seeing on the inside. For within the ring's field of view was what looked like a twenty foot shimmering mirror, only instead of seeing their own reflections, they saw what was without a doubt a forest. A forest which looked completely identical to any that could be found on Earth.

A forest covered completely in the purest and whitest snow they had ever seen in a long time.

Tiberius and Krochevski were gobsmacked. They definitely weren't strangers to snow, but it had been a hell of a long time since they had actually seen any in person. Because of the overwhelming use of fossil fuels, as well as the enormous amount of pollution in the air as well as greenhouse gasses, snow had become even less of a reoccurring each and every year around the world, even in some of its coldest places such as Antarctica, the Arctic Circle, and the majority of Russia had seen a dramatic downturn of fresh snow. It still snowed from time to time, but it was such a rarity that it might as well be as valuable as gold. The last time Tiberius had seen any snow in his life was when he was just a 10 year-old boy growing up in Colorado. He could remember all of the fun he and his younger brother and two sisters had as they made snow angels, snowmen, and waged snowball fights against each other. It had one of the happiest times in his life.

And to see the very reminder of his youth that he hadn't seen in over 30 years made him gap and clench his fist in astonishment.

Krochevski, however, was the one who was affected the most. His most beloved Motherland had once been the capital of snowfalls in the entire world. Most of his fellow countrymen despised its reoccurring presence but to him it was always a reminder that there was still life inside of a slowly dying planet. It reminded him of times where he could simply sit back and enjoy a peaceful life where he wouldn't have to constantly worry about war, poverty, or the Council breathing down his neck about which of his countrymen should receive this many resources. It reminded him of happier times, times he desperately wished he could escape to. In fact, the sight before him was such a strong reminder of that desire that he couldn't help but let a single tear trickle down his face.

But what literally gave the men the real shock of their life was the sudden gust of ice-cold wind that blew right into their face along with a few droplets of snow that instantly melted against their uniforms. Tiberius brought a hand up to his face and wiped the droplets of water off his face before staring at the now wet spots in his hand in even greater shock.

"I-Is this real?" he asked himself in a small voice before turning towards Krochevski, who had his eyes widened as he licked the water off his fingertips.

"Bàtuyushki...It's real, it's not illusion." The old Russian said quietly to himself. He continued to stare at his hand as though he had never seen it before. Tiberius was about to ask him if he was alright before the Russian General suddenly took off into a sprint…

…directly towards the center of the machine.

"KROCHEVSKI, WAIT!" Tiberius yelled at the top of his lungs before quickly running after the other General. Some of the other scientists attempted to stop him, but none of them were a match for the 40 year-old war veteran with years of training, who bulldozed his way through the crowd like they were plastic mannequins.

Tiberius didn't know what happened. One second he was chasing his fellow General through an underground lab, then the next thing he knew the temperature around the entire warehouse suddenly dropped faster than a wrecking ball underwater. He then realized that he wasn't even in the large warehouse anymore, but instead in the middle of a large, snow-covered forest along with Krochevski, who was standing still just a few feet away from him under a large tree.

Tiberius would have been stunned to say the least, if it wasn't for the smoldering anger that soon erupted inside of him as he stomped his towards the other General, completely ignoring the fact that the snow reached his ankles.

"General Krochevski! Are you completely out of your goddamned mind?!" he roughly grabbed the Russian by the shoulder before forcibly spinning him around. "Just what the fuck were you think-"

Tiberius' words died in his throat as he stared at Krochevski's expression, which was one of pure open-mouthed shock as even more tears trailed down his eyes. Tiberius was honestly shocked himself. He had known Krochevski for a long time and he had never once seen him this emotional. Not even when he had witnessed thousands of his own men, whom he had always treated like his own sons, dying in front of him during the Water Wars.

"It's real…" the words came out as a faint whisper, yet Tiberius had heard him perfectly.

"General?" he asked a little hesitantly as he carefully unhanded the man's shoulders as though the smallest move would bring him tumbling down.

"It's real…" the Russian repeated again, this time in a more audible voice. "It's all real. It's not an illusion. Everything here is real."

Tiberius finally realized where he and the other General where and took notice of his surroundings, and was soon put back into a stupor. Indeed, everything around them was as real as it could get. The cold air that was blowing against his frame, the grey clouds above that continued to pepper the land with more snow, and the trees that stood tall and rigid as far as the eye could see completely covered in a blanket of snow. Still in his moment of shock, Tiberius made his way towards a nearby tree and hesitantly placed his hand on its surface. The brown bark was rough and cold to the touch just like any other wild tree he would normally see. He pulled his hand back and was even more surprised to see the tip of his thumb covered in tree sap. At least it was sticky and looked like any old tree sap. He bent down and wiped his thumb into the snow, just as cold and wet as he remembered it. For a moment he was 10 again and hiding behind a small boulder as his younger siblings pelted it with snowballs. He straightened up and looked towards Krochevski, who was hitting the snow off of another tree's branch. Though the unbelieving expression was still on his face, as though he couldn't actually believe what he was touching.

"Astonishing, yet at the same time simply beautiful. Wouldn't you agree, General?"

Tiberius whirled around and saw Newborn just a few feet away holding out his hand and simply watching as the snowflakes melted after coming into contact with his skin. Despite the fact that he was dressed in a simple lab coat and long sleeved shirt underneath, he didn't at all look the least bit fazed by the cold temperature.

However it wasn't the scientist's sudden appearance that got hold of Tiberius' immediate attention, but instead the circular and nearly twenty foot tall rip in thin air that was just a few feet behind him which depicted the inside of the warehouse that he and Krochevski had been in just moments before. He could also see the dozens of other scientists staring at them through the passageway with various expressions of shock and disbelief. Tiberius even managed to catch a few of them taking notes as they continued to observe the three men from the other side of the tear.

Tiberius stared at them for a few moments longer before a sigh escaped his lips. He then turned his attention towards Newborn and gave him a strong glare. "Alright, Cameron Newborn, just what the hell is all of this?" he asked as he aggressively gestured towards their surroundings.

Newborn ignored the General's tone and stared back at him in the eyes, this time with a glare that matched Tiberius' own. "As I have stated numerous times before, General, this is the dawn of a new age. All of this…" like Tiberius, he gestured towards his surroundings. "…is what's going to save humanity from tearing itself apart. I'm a man of my word, Tiberius. I don't create just for the sake of fame or glory. I create because I not only want humanity to thrive and survive, I want it to surpass its own limits. By using the Uranian-Interstellar Drive along with a few of my own personal improvements, I was able to surpass those limits by creating something no one ever thought would be possible." He then gestured back towards the portal. "With this machine, we have transcended every kind of travel by a milestone. Not only in theory but in reality. I've said it once and I'll say it again; no longer will we have to waste precious time and resources looking for a new home amongst the stars, when we can simply look right here at the mere press of a button." Another grin suddenly formed on his face, though this one was more feral than the last. "And what better way to start than right here, right now? An entire world, plus billions, perhaps even trillions more just ripe for the picking! And this one is only the first of many! A new life! A new start! A new Eden just waiting to be explored! All through the use of the Newborn Trans-Dimensional Entanglement Device!"

Tiberius stared at the man as though he had grown a second head. The way Newborn spoke made him sound like some kind of mad scientist or dictator preaching about a New World Order. But no matter how crazy or how insane the man was, it was reluctantly true that he had figured out how to make something that sounded so damn impossible to something that was actually real. With this so-called Trans-Dimensional Entanglement Device, literally anything was possible for the entire human race. What was the point of searching through an endless void when they literally had the entire goddamn multiverse at the end of their fingertips? Once the media found out about this, the backlash would be catastrophic.

Now he had to find out a way to report this to the President without sounding like a fucking lunatic.

Tiberius groaned and put his head into his hands.

He really wished he had some alcohol right now.

---

You know, there are time in my life where I really wish I could just disappear from the world. Not because I hated my life or anything, but because of how ridiculous the world seemed to get at times that it just makes you want to disappear for a while.

And right now just so happened to be one of those times.

"So let me get this straight," I said as massaged the bridge of my nose with my fingers. Did I mention how I sometimes got headaches from these types of situations? "Command is sending us on an Op. that's completely classified. As in 'Don't talk, don't tell under the risk of getting executed by firing squad' type of classified?"

"Sounds like it, bro." Miles gave me an amused smirk as he, along with the rest of the squad and myself, got readied up in our gear.

Just as we were about to live it up on a night out in the town, our squad had suddenly got recalled back to base. The specifics on the reason, however, weren't given. All we were told was to return to the base ASAP and ready up our gear inside the barracks. Roberts, Monroe, and Gorrey weren't particularly happy with the current arrangements, mostly because they never even got to engage in their drinking contest. Whales didn't really care either way, simply shrugging before saying "Just another one of those days." Teage, while annoyed with the fact that he couldn't kick Gorrey's ass in a drinking game, actually seemed a little eager to be getting back to base. Probably wanting to vent out more anger on some sorry bastard, I thought. I, on the other hand, was pissed off that my vacation was cut short but at the same time curious as to why we were called back so suddenly. I tried asking Sergeant Roberts about the situation, only to tell me the details were "highly classified and weren't to be shared with anyone", which only confused me even more.

So now we were here inside of the base's barrack getting outfitted into our gear and ready for whatever was about to be thrown at us. And the term "ready" was always an understatement when preparing for classified Ops. As it meant that only the best and brightest gear would be suitable for the task.

Hence why we were currently outfitting ourselves into what was quite possibly the most advanced suit or armor a Coalition Marine could get his hands on.

The Uranian Combat Exoskeleton was a literal godsend to ground troops during the 2060's. For one thing, it was basically a multi-layered skin. The first layer acted as a shield of highly damage absorbable armor made entirely out of energy-infused Titanium-A grade metal that offered plenty of resistance against any standard issue ballistic and kinetic rounds as well as a great deal against energized rounds and could even withstand the heat of some laser weaponry. The second layer was basically a skin tight bodysuit infused with boron carbide that pretty much acted as a radiation suit that was able to protect its wearer from high levels of radiation and other harmful chemicals in the environment while also offering protection against burning or freezing temperatures, making it the perfect outfit for any and all Desert or Arctic Warfare. The bodysuit, as well as the outer layer of armor, were also infused with millions of energized Nanobots that were able to alter their density and act as another layer of shock absorption, giving the wearer extra protection from projectiles as well as fall damage. Any soldier wearing the armor could fall from heights of over 30 feet and would suffer from sprained limbs at most.

Another totally badass thing about the armor was its built-in Active Camouflage system. The Nanobots could not only use their stored energy to act as a double layer of armor, but could also use it to literally bend the light rays around the suit's wearer, completely blending them into their surroundings kind of like a chameleon did with its skin. And because of the miniature rechargeable nuclear Fusion Core that was built into the back of our armor, we could literally stay completely blended for days on end without draining even a fourth of our armor's power supply. And, while the Active Camouflage system was at the very peak of stealth based warfare, it still didn't make the user completely invisible, but instead made them look like a moving distortion of air if you were able to look hard enough. We may not have been invisible but we sure as hell weren't easy to see either.

The last thing was the Exoskeleton's face and head protection, which were also built in and could mechanically assemble and disassemble themselves at the wearer's will whenever they were inside or outside of combat. When assembled, the helmet took the form of the old German head ware design from World War 1 without the small spike on the top center of the head. The helmet was made of the same Titanium-A as the rest of the armor, so getting shot in the head by a standard bullet would feel like a small punch rather than a full-on bruising impact. The face ware was a curved and flexible soft sheet of the same metal that circled around the lower half of our heads and gave us protection from where the helmet couldn't. And to top it off, two circular lenses covered our eyes that offered the wearer built-in Thermal and Night Vision along with a motion tracker that gave us a wide range of 25 meters in all directions.

All in all, the armor was the very pinnacle of every kind of environmental warfare. And my squad were lucky enough to be some of the Coalition's first Marines to have the pleasure of wearing it. Only downside was that it cost more than my car and was a pain in the ass for the techies at the Uranian Corporation to replace whenever some unlucky bastard got theirs too badly damaged.

As I slipped into the last bits of my armor, I took a moment to glance at the rest of my squad mates. Whales was busy polishing the last bit of her prized sniper rifle, which so happened to be the SJR116 Anti-Material Rifle, or "Satan's Bite" as she so fondly called it. The reason being because every time she shot someone with it, they always ended up losing a few pieces. As scary as it was, I can't remember how many times that thing had saved all of our asses on almost every Op we went on. No wonder a few of the other Marines had taken to nicknaming her the "Slaughter Whale". Monroe, who had already suited up before the rest of us, was busy tinkering with a couple of his Radiation Grenades, which were an actual invention of his from a previous Op that basically sprayed anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the explosion with about a liter full on radiated chemicals, which he personally dubbed as the "Hell Gas Grenades". He was also conversing with Gorrey, who was sitting to his right, about which of his explosives could kill a man the slowest. Seriously, Monroe might have been quiet but he was a real lunatic when he wanted to be. As for Sergeant Roberts, he was busy typing away on his personal Holopad, a sad grin finding its way onto his goateed face as he read whatever was sent back to him.

Probably from his daughter. I thought to myself. The Sarge had told us a lot of stories about his daughter, Candice. How she was always the top of her class and was planning on majoring in Bioengineering. You couldn't have found a more proud smile on any other father's face.

Teage on the other hand was situated the furthest away from the rest of the squad. For once he was completely silent, not even bothering to issue an insult at Gorrey as he loaded the last of his rounds into his rifle's magazines before storing them inside the various cartridge holders on his armor. If he was known as a Tiger because of his brutality than he was definitely a Demon when inside his armor. His already imposing figure was only enhanced by the black and bulky armor that he and the rest of us wore and seemed to give him an air of predator ready to pounce on anything at a moment's notice. His face was scrunched up into a sneer as he loaded the last clip into his rifle and pulled back the handle, inserting the first bullet into the chamber. Even from my angle, I could faintly make out the jagged line that was etched into his skin, reaching from the top of his eyebrow, across his eye and down to his jaw. The scar had been from a nasty cut he received during one of the Coalition's campaigns on Mars. It was just a few days after his sister was killed. He was still pissed off enough that he hadn't even registered the pain until he got the stitches a couple hours later. His dark shaggy hair, the long scar, plus that leering face just screamed, "Don't fuck with me or I'll rip your goddamned head off before you can even blink."

Yep. Definitely not touching that with a ten foot pole.

As I got dressed into the last of my armor, a sudden rhythm of metallic clanging noises behind me echoed off the walls of the barracks. Before I even had a chance to turn around, a voice that was definitely not human made itself known.

"Automated Pacification Unit – Designation: Nine Oh Four – Online. Fully operational and ready to assist Squadron – Designation 'Slaughter-Boy Squadron' – with Tier 1 classified operation assigned by Coalition Military Command."

I knew that monotone synthetic voice anywhere. My face immediately morphed into a grin that threatened to split my face in half as I whirled around to greet the last member of our squad. "Holy shit, Nine Oh Four! Good to see you again you metallic sunovabitch! How the fuck have ya been?!" I went up and held out my hand towards the "Monster of Steel" as I personally liked to call him.

And like always, he gave me hand a quick lookover as if he was internally analyzing it before his noticeably larger metallic limb engulfed mine. My grin never once left my face. Good ole' Nine Oh Four was back in his little fucked up family.

"Coalition Military Personnel – David Montgomery Cormac – Designation: Corporal – Squadron Designation: Corpse." I felt Nine Oh Four's body go rigid for a split second before his hand finally shook mine. "It is good to see you as well, Corporal Cormac. This unit has been in put into mandatory repair stasis and has currently awaited new orders to since the Coalition's war against hostile Oasis Alliance on the moon of Phobos. Coalition Command is pleased to announce that this unit's internal and external systems have been restored to 100% capacity and is now ready to await further Field Operations." He let go of my hand before his lenses fell back on the rest of my squad. "It is good to see you all as well, Slaughter-Boy Squadron."

"'Bout fucking time you showed up, tin can." Teage didn't even bother looking up, still fixated with his rifle while the rest of the squad got their meets-and-greets out of the way. Gorrey and Monroe both gave Nine Oh Four a pat on his metal shoulders, whooping in joy as they finally got to reunite with the squad's resident "ass-kicker" as Gorrey put it. Whales had given the Pacification Unit a handshake of her own while the Sarge gave him a firm military salute with Nine Oh Four imitating the action almost immediately.

All the while I couldn't stop myself from grinning. Like Gorrey had said, Slaughter Boy had their resident ass-kicker back in action.

Like the motherfucking Valkyries of Valhalla, the Automated Pacification Units were legends among the Coalition Military. If the Marines the organs to the Coalition's proverbial body, then these metal monstrosities were the bones that held it together. Built not from the Uranian Research Division but instead from the Coalition as a whole, they were very first to reach the peak of military hardware. They were self-aware and automated combat drones designed specifically for providing additional ground support and heavy infantry for any type of ground based operations. These guys were pretty much built for any and all heavy issued weapons and warfare operations and were the bulk of every type of support imaginable. They were made from the same alloy as the Exoskeleton armor and had their own Active Camouflage built into their systems along with its Motion Trackers and Vision Enhancement systems. Not only that, they were also capable of running up to speeds over 50 miles per hour, jumping to heights of up to 15 feet, and even capable of lifting anything as heavy as a car. All the components of a major badass built into a slim yet noticeably bulky metallic body. The lenses he used for eyes were the typical green, standard color for all Pacification Units. However it was his mouth, which had been built as a row of shark-like teeth closed into an open smile that had really given him the demonic looking image. The design idea had surprisingly come from Teage. When the Sarge had nagged him on how he came up with such a stupid idea, he shrugged as if it weren't a big deal and responded with, and I quote: "If we're gonna be killing shit with a tin can, might as well make it look like a tin can out for blood. Plus I just really wanna see those Alliance cocksuckers shit themselves scared when they see a robot sprinting towards them with a shit-eating grin on its face."

Though our little reunion didn't last long as someone else came through the nearby barrack doors. Some slim guy with a shaved head wearing a suit that was probably blacker than our armor along with a pair of sunglasses. Though the guy was skinny and a couple inches shorter to our enhanced sizes in our armor, my years of training immediately told me that this guy was trouble. And I knew that all too well just by looking at him. I had seen plenty of his type before during the Water Wars.

Central Coalition Intelligence Bureau

These shady motherfuckers were basically the Grim Reaper's living incarnates. They were responsible for all of the "disappearances" of any and all important figures who they deemed a threat to the Coalition's values. From Black Operations, Assassinations, Sabotage, spreading Propaganda, basically anything military that wasn't supposed to exist or to be done from the shadows. These guys were literally bred to kill. Unlike guys like Teage, who killed out of anger or eagerness, these guys killed simply because it was their job. No emotion. No questions asked. Just a simple pull of the trigger and the target in front of barrel. If I didn't know any better I would've assumed that they were some sort of disguised Pacifications units built with skin. There's no human being I know that would follow orders down to the letter without question like some kind of mindless drone.

The guy, whatever his name was, adjusted his glasses before speaking. "I apologize for interrupting your meeting so shortly," There wasn't a single apologetic tone in his voice. "But I'm afraid that we have more pressing matter to attend to. If you would all be so kind as to follow me, we will get you briefed on your assignment as soon as possible." And with that said, the empty shell of a man disappeared down the hall as quickly as he came. Even in my armor I felt a shiver go up my spine.

Fucking Spooks. Not even once.

"Better get at it before the fucking Phantom Menace comes back." I looked and saw Teage pass me buy with his rifle magnetically attached to his back, already walking down the hall the Spook had disappeared into. I shrugged as followed along with the rest of my squad.

Yep, just another day in the office for Slaughter-Boy Squad.

Remember when I said there were times where I wanted to disappear from the world? Now was one of those even rarer times where I just plain wanted to put a bullet through my head due to the sheer and utter ridiculousness the world (along with everything outside of it) had to offer.

Because right now I could've sworn to God Himself that the General of the New American Military had just asked us to provide reconnaissance detail through a portal, which had been personally built by the head of the Uranian Technology and Research Corporation himself, which apparently leads to a godforsaken alternate universe. An alternate universe that was filled with goddamn snow of all things, which just so happens to be staring us in the face through thin air inside the outer ring of some giant-as-hell machine located within the very bowels of the Uranian Corporation. If you had told me I was going to be doing something like this, I would've sucker punched you straight in the face and assumed you were drunk. Hell, fucking Teage would've probably broken every single one of your limbs on the spot before shooting you in the head and going back to drinking like he never even heard you in the first place.

But no, unfortunately all of this had been very real and my squad just so happened to be selected as the very first military force to travel between different dimensions.

Normal life, where in the ever-living-fuck did you go?

"As you can clearly see in front of you," the American General gestured towards the portal in thin air, almost as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "This machine is capable of opening doorways through different realities. Thanks to the Uranian Head Scientist, Cameron Newborn, we now have a golden opportunity, no, a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore the outer machinations of reality itself. Beyond this portal lies infinite possibilities of which mankind has never been able to access in all its history of existence. Until now that is. As I'm sure you're already aware, our planet's resources are on a steady rate of decline due to the overgrowing population. And right in front of you, men and women of the 7th Marine Coalition Division, is a fresh planet just ripe for the picking. From here on out your mission is simple. You will provide reconnaissance of the entire area within a mile radius. HORNET Drones will be deployed for aerial recon along with additional squads from the 5th and 6th Divisions to provide as backup support. In addition to providing recon around the area, you will secure an excavation zone around the portal's perimeter so that excavation crews and Newborn's research team can be safely deployed in the future." The General took a moment to scan through the numerous squads of soldiers before raising his voice. "Remember! This is an entirely new planet that is completely unknown to us! We know next nothing about it except for the fact that it has suitable oxygen for humans and plant life! However! That does not mean that plants are the only source of life! For all we know this place could be inhabited by a bunch of giant man-eating unicorns with the head of a bull and the ass of a turtle!"

Despite the unbelievable situation we were in along with the tense atmosphere, most of us managed to crack a laugh at the General's joke. Though after remembering just what it was we were about to get thrown into the laughing soon died down as soon as it came.

Because the General was right. We had no fucking idea what we would find out there.

"Marines!" All of us snapped to attention. "Your country is counting on you! Not only that, the future of your entire planet is counting on you! You all have family and friends who are depending on you! Do not let them down! Am I understood?!"

"Oorah!"

"Where do we run?!"

"Towards the gaping mouth of Hell itself!"

"Who do we fight?!"

"The Tyrant! The Dictator! The Enemies of Freedom!"

"AND WHAT DO WE FIGHT FOR?!"

"FOR GOD! FOR COUNTRY! FOR THE CORPS!"

"SEMPER FI!"

"DO OR DIE!"

"7th Division, MOVE OUT!"

And with a hail of 'YESSIR', our squad was the first to spring into a full spring towards the unknown. Within the span of three seconds, the entire atmosphere shifted to white as we were completely surrounded within a frozen forest. Our combat instincts kicking in, my squad immediately got into position about ten feet away from the portal, on our knees with our rifles held at eye level as the three other squads came through and did the same, their rifles pointed in different directions in front and behind. I then took a quick look at my HUD's motion tracker, so far nothing except for the dozens of green blips that appeared within the 25 meter radius, signaling them as friendlies. Any hostile movement would be marked as red while unknowns were marked in yellow.

It amazed me just how calm I was despite the fact that I was apparently in a different dimension, which was still a weird concept to me considering the fact that this place didn't look any different from Earth back when pollution didn't poison almost the entire atmosphere. It had been so long since I had seen any snow that I almost forgot what it looked like. If it weren't for the fact that we were in the middle of an operation I might've thrown a snowball at the back of Teage's head just for the fuck of it. If I didn't know that he would've immediately shot me afterwards.

"Polar-Actual to Slaughter-Actual come in, over." I heard the voice of one of the nearby squads through my HUD.

Hearing his Callsign, Sgt. Roberts immediately responded. "Slaughter-Actual to Polar-Actual, we read you. There a problem? Over."

"Negative, Slaughter-Actual. Be advised, HORNET's aren't currently picking up any unknowns. Gonna try to widen the range a bit. Polar and Killjoy squads are gonna try searching the Southern and Eastern regions near the back of the portal. Have your squad recon the Western region while Venom squad recons the North. Extend search patterns up to one klick before regrouping near the portal in 60 mikes. How copy, over?"

"Slaughter copies all, over."

"Roger that, Slaughter-Actual. Good hunting. Try to keep your ass in the grass, will ya?"

"Only if you kiss it, Polar-Actual. Over and out."

I shook my head and smirked behind my mask. They did know that everyone could hear them, right?

"Alright, asshats, keep a tight formation. Three meter spread, eyes all around. We might be alone out hear but I don't want any surprises. You see something, do not engage. Only use lethal force if there's no other alternative, Ooah?"

"Ooah."

"Alright then. Activate stealth and let's get this fuckin' show on the road."

With a push of a button on our armors wrist modules, our entire bodies became one with the environment's surroundings, making us disappear completely from view. We then picked ourselves up and moved at a slow but swift pace towards the eastern part of the forest, the rest of the squads doing the same while going their separate ways. Our rifles carefully swept every possible direction while keeping our feet on the move. Even with all of the armor we were wearing, we still barely managed to make a sound besides the snow quietly crunching beneath or feet. The only sign that we were there were the footprints we left behind, though due to the amount of snow that was falling, they were likely to be covered up in a short while. Thankfully each of us had placed a tracking beacon on the portal's location on our HUDs just before we left.

I still couldn't believe that we were in a different reality. It really didn't look that much different from our Earth. Was it possible that we had landed in a reality where no humans inhabited the Earth? Or maybe a planet that had distinctive features resembling Earth? Wherever we were, I was at least thankful that I was given the opportunity to see real live snow again. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had seen it in person much less actually touch it. It almost felt as though we had gone back in time rather to alternate Earth. In fact, this entire situation almost seemed poetic in a sort of way or maybe just a bad plot for some movie or book. Now that I think about it, I'm almost glad that I didn't try to skip out of this operation when we were first briefed on it. As batshit crazy as it sounded, we couldn't deny that what was happening to us was very real. Either that or it was one hell of a bad acid trip. And in some part of my mind I'm hoping that it is. At least then it'll be easier to explain to the folks back home. We partied too hard, had a few to many to drink and woke up the next morning with needles in our arms and naked in each other's beds. Another drunken story that would've been better off forgotten.

But no. Instead we were selected as some of the first few people to cross literal dimensions, pointing our guns at anything that might want to kill us.

Sometimes I really wished I just stayed in bed.

---

Personal ID: Pvt. Miles "Manslaughter" Monroe

Monroe had decided to do a quick solo recon from his squad, informing the Sarge that they'd be able to cover more ground if they split off. Roberts had flat out refused at first, stating that the squads were required to stay together so that no one would get lost and left behind in uncharted territory, though Miles had rebutted, stating that each of them had placed a beacon back at the portal's location in the event that any squad should lose their bearings. He had also stated that he was simply going to do a quick recon towards the nearby hills and that he would be gone for no more than ten mikes. Roberts was reluctant, but eventually agreed on the promise that Monroe would be gone ten mikes and ten mikes only and not a second longer. After that he was to regroup with them immediately and as quickly as possible. Monroe had thanked the Sarge before heading off towards the snow covered hill, thankful that he was finally able to get some time to himself. It wasn't that he disliked being around his squad but he always saw himself working more efficiently as a lone wolf. He never really had many friends growing up so he was used to being by himself on more than one occasion.

As he swiftly and silently made his way up the hill, he couldn't help but contemplate the current situation he was in. Not only a whole other world but an entire different dimension as well? Shit like this was only supposed to be possible in movies and video games, yet here he was on some hopefully deserted planet filled to the brim with snow. The more he thought about it, the more it only seemed to make his head heart. Sometimes things weren't just meant to be questioned, no matter how fucked up they may seem.

Finally arriving at the top of the hill and settling behind a nearby tree, Monroe did a quick sweep of the area with his rifle before staring down at his motion tracker. No blips were appearing within 25 meters. With the area deduced as safe for the time being, Miles deactivated his camouflage system before his helmet automatically retracted back into his suit. He closed his eyes, inhaled and began to relax as the otherworldly oxygen filled his lungs before exhaling back out. For a different planet in a completely different dimension, the air sure felt like Earth's, if not even cleaner. No waste, no pollution, just pure, fresh, untainted air.

Snap!

Miles' eyes shot wide open. "Shit!" he silently cursed as his helmet materialized itself back onto his head before he got down on his stomach and reactivated his active camouflage. He took a quick look at his motion tracker and noticed that there was a single yellow dot about 20 meters away from his position. An unknown. That meant whatever was near him was either an animal or something else entirely. Miles prayed for the former.

17 meters.

Whatever it was was slowly coming towards his position. Miles didn't hesitate and began hastily contacting his squad all while trying to stay out of sight.

"Slaughter-4 to Slaughter-Actual come in, over!"

"Slaughter-Actual here. Go ahead, kid."

14 meters.

"Sarge, I've got movement about 14 meters from my current position and closing. Contact is shown as yellow on the motion tracker. Could be a large animal of some kind, I don't know. There's too much foliage up ahead for me to see."

"Shit, copy that, Monroe. Stay outta sight and try to get eyes on whatever the fuck it is. We're swinging around now and heading towards your position. Do not fire unless actively threatened, copy?"

12 meters.

"Copy that, Sarge. I'll try to fall back if it gets too close. Slaughter-4 out."

"Roger that, Slaughter-4. Next time listen to goddamn orders."

10 meters.

'Here we go.' Monroe thought as he got up on one knew while still doing his best to stay behind the tree. Even though he had his camo activated, he still wanted to remain as unseen as possible. Now wasn't the time to actively engage in enemy targets. With a quick breath and a pullback of his rifle, Monroe slowly peered his camouflaged head around the trunk of the tree to try to get a sighting on whatever the hell was on top of him. However due to the think foliage of tree and the darkness of the night sky, he couldn't get a clear view on what was in front of him, though he could faintly hear the crunching of snow just a few meter ahead.

10 meters.

Monroe frowned. Whatever it was had held its position behind the thick foliage. Using his HUD, he quickly activated his night vision to try to get a clearer view in the surrounding darkness. With it active, he could now faintly see a small shape moving back and forth between the numerous trees that were grouped up together. Though it was still well hidden even with his night vision active.

'Come on Sarge, where the fuck are you guys?' he thought it himself before retracting his head back around the tree's trunk. He took a deep breath before quickly steeling himself. 'Whatever the fuck it, doesn't look like it wants to come out. Fuck it. I'm tired of this cat and mouse shit. If it won't move then I will. Sorry Sarge. Gonna have to disobey orders again. With that final thought in mind, Monroe shouldered the butt of his rifle and was about to walk into the open until multiple snaps of twigs and a sudden 'thumping' sound made him freeze in place, followed by what sounded like a very light groaning sound.

Though why did it sound like it came from a human?

7 meters.

That was the last straw for Monroe. With a pounding heart and nimble feet, his instincts took over as he swiftly rolled out of cover, deactivating his camouflage while kneeling down and snapping the end of his rifle towards whatever it was that made the sound, fully prepared to end its life if need be.

Though what Private Miles Monroe saw in front of him made him freeze absolutely still in place, and were he not wearing his mask, his jaw would have dropped open in shock while his eyes would have popped out of their sockets. His finger on the trigger completely forgotten.

For in front of his very eyes, lying little more than a foot away from him in the freezing snow was a little girl. A complete and honest to God human girl who looked no older than six or seven years old dressed in what looked like a thin, sea green hospital scrub only managing to cover her torso and reached about halfway down her legs and arms. However, besides the fact that she was a human in a different dimension, her choice of clothing wasn't the strangest part.

No, perhaps the strangest part about her was the fact that her hair was dark purple, almost violet. And not dyed purple like Monroe would see back on Earth, but actual genuine purple hair, as if she had been born with it. Hell, it looked so natural that it actually managed to shine a bit despite the fact that it was dark out. From what Miles could see, it was also set into a small bob cut that reached about an inch lower than her jaw line.

Despite the situation he was in, he couldn't help but think it was actually kind of pretty to look at. Given the opportunity, he would have given it a closer look…

…were it not for the fact that the girl was currently staring at him with eyes filled with tears. Eyes that held the same color as her hair.

"P-Please…h-help me."

Miles was put out into another stupor as the human girl spoke. By God she even sounded like a normal human. It was soft, delicate, and innocent. Perfectly fitting for a girl her age. However he soon realized that the girl had not only called for help but was also lying in the freezing snow in nothing but a thin scrub. He also took notice of the small and delicate hand that was stretched out towards him while also shaking from the freezing cold.

"P-Please…s-save me. I'm s-so c-cold. P-Please…" the girl, not caring in the least that he was a complete stranger covered head to toe in bulky armor and was easily ten times her height continued to reach out for him, hoping that he'd be able to save her and keep her warm.

Miles, however, didn't make a single move to help her despite her obvious please. In all honestly he had no idea just what the hell he should do. He had disregarded orders and thrown them all out the proverbial window by not only going out on his own but also blatantly exposing himself to a native inhabitant. Which just so happened to be a human of all things.

Just what the fuck was he supposed to do?

He knew he should he get out of sight as soon as possible, yet there was no way in hell he was just going to abandon an innocent little girl to die of hypothermia, especially since she was pleading to him for help. And he sure as shit wasn't going to shoot her since she didn't pose a threat to him in any way, shape, or form. From what he could tell she was just a harmless girl who needed help.

But this was beyond just some little girl. This was First Contact. A meeting between two worlds that were so far apart yet so similar in every way. If this girl had been some kind of alien, then maybe it would've been easier to deal with, but no. This girl was 100% human. Out of all the dimensions and universes they could've stumbled upon, it just had to be the one with other humans on it.

'Fuck my life.' Monroe thought to himself as he lowered his rifle before slinging it over his shoulder and attaching it to his back. The cat was already out of the bag. He had already disobeyed two orders, not like it could get any worse if he disobeyed a third time. A least he'd be sent to the firing squad knowing he at least tried to help the girl.

So it was with great reluctance that Monroe finally mustered up the courage to slowly move towards the prone girl, who continue to stare at him with teary eyes with her hand still outstretched towards him. Monroe had to give the girl credit. For someone who was easily as small as a puppy compared to him, his massive and bulky frame didn't seem to startle her in the least. He slowly kneeled down next to her prone form before gently taking her small and delicate hand into his own, being extra careful not to squeeze too hard due to the armor. He then took his other arm and gently brought it around the girl's delicate body before slowly lifting her up and bringing her small frame towards his chest. With her in his arms, he then proceed to shift his back towards the icy winds before gently wrapping her up in a pseudo bear hug in an attempt to keep her warm.

This action only seemed to bring more tears to the girl's eyes, relief flooded in her chest as she curled up into a ball and rested her small head against the armored giant's chest. She had been running in this icy wasteland for three days and not once could had she gotten any food or rest. She was only thankful that the snow didn't seem to affect her in the slightest for some reason. Though the icy winds, which felt like knives against her skin along with hunger thirst had almost taken a toll on her. She was only thankful that this armored giant had been here to save her. She didn't care if he was a stranger or wasn't even human, all she knew was that she needed help.

So it was with immense relief that she made herself as warm as possible inside the giant's gentle hold while muttering a soft 'Thank you' for his kindness.

"You're welcome."

Her eyes widened as her tiny head soon snapped up to look at the giant's face, only she was even more shocked when the his face seemingly somehow broke apart and literally sunk into his body. However it was what replaced with the giant's face that caused the girl to widen her tear stained eyes. A pale face, cropped blonde hair, and green eyes that stared down at her with the warmest expression she had ever seen on a person besides her own mother. A gentle smile was also found on his face as he gazed into her purple eyes with his own.

"Don't you worry, kid. I got ya. Nothing will hurt ya as long as I'm around."

Her eyes only widened further as the man's mouth formed into a small grin. Her mouth was open in shock. Here she was, thinking she had been rescued by some metal giant or golem when it had been a human all along. She had never seen a single living soul besides small animals when she had been running, and this man was the first person she could find. Believing this to be nothing more than an illusion by her extreme hunger, she lifted her hand and gently laid it against the man's shaven cheek, which only seemed to prompt his smile to widen slightly as he spoke again.

"My name's Miles. Miles Monroe. What's your name, sweetie?"

She stared at him with wide eyes for a few more seconds before answering.

Miles had heard her, however he wasn't able reply before movement from behind him caught his attention. Slightly tightening his hold on the girl, being careful not to squeeze her, he whirled around and was about to pull out his sidearm until the other hulking forms of his squad.

Who were also currently out of their camouflage and were all promptly staring at him through their helmet lenses in complete silence with their rifles raised. Monroe could practically feel the glare being directed at him by Sgt. Roberts through his helmet.

"Kid, what in the goddamn almighty fuck do you think you're doing?" Robert's growl was so low through his helmet's speakers that Miles mistook him for Teage for a second.

"N-Now sir, I know how this looks but trust me, we've got one hell of a situation right now-"

"You're fucking right we have a situation. Not only did you disengage stealth for the entire goddamn world to see, dematerialized your helmet, exposing you to any and all possible threats, you went out of your way to disobey orders again by making yourself known to the locals of this fucking planet. Case in point right there inside of your fucking arms." He gestured towards the small girl still wrapped in Monroe's arms, quietly gapping at the sudden appearance of more armored giants.

"Sir, with all due respect, please watch your language. I've already established that she can understand our language and I'd rather not have a kid as young as her develop your sailor talk." He quickly spoke up again before Roberts could rebuttal. "And second of all, sir, what the hell was I supposed to do? She was injured and lying in the freezing snow in nothing but a thin scrub, and with however long she's been out here I'm honestly amazed she hasn't contracted frostbite or even died of hypothermia yet. And I definitely wasn't going to shoot her or just leave her to die. Look at her! She's just a kid who doesn't look any older than six!" to emphasize his point, Monroe stepped closer to his squad and gave them a closer look at the girl, who suddenly felt even smaller within the large circle of giants staring at her and hid her face inside of Monroe's chest.

"Kid, I swear to Christ when we get back-"

Robert's threat was suddenly silenced as Nine Oh Four stepped up, his emotionless lenses and undivided attention kept straight on the small girl in Monroe's arms, who in turn slowly peeked at Nine Oh Four's metal face.

"Analyzing…" the others remained silent as the Pacification Unit proceeded with his internal analysis, finally he spoke. "Analysis Complete. Subject: Human. Gender: Female. Skin Condition: Normal. Heart Rate: Normal. Blood Pressure: Normal. Breathing: Slightly Erratic – Possibly due to shock or low air temperature. Recommend moving subject to location with warmer climate. – Hair Coloration: Purple – Unknown – Eye Coloration: Purple – Unknown." Nine Oh Four stared at the girl for a few moments longer before turning back to address the squad. "Subject is perfectly heathy by normal human standards. Loss of normal weight indicates slight malnutrition. Recommend finding suitable sustenance as well as fresh water source. Hair and Eyes indicate purple coloration, not at all genetically found in any normal human being. However, this unit detects a feint, yet strong unknown energy source residing within the female's body. Recommend extracting human female to Uranian Technology and Research Corporation for further study."

Everyone, the young girl included, stood in silence. They didn't know what to do.

Finally Monroe decided to say his piece. "Well, there you have it, Sarge. I sure as hell don't want to experiment on her, but there's no way I'm just leaving her here to die. You can court martial me all you want, but that's my decision." Monroe stared into Robert's lenses in defiance. The Sergeant's fist tightened before he let loose a loud sigh through his speakers before turning around and making his way down the hill.

"Let's just get the hell out of this godforsaken place."

Monroe smiled as he stared at his squad leader's back. 'Thanks, Sarge.'

The rest of the squad also began to make their way down the hill, but before Miles had a chance to move, Whales came up next to him.

"So, the little cutie have a name?" she asked she stared down at the little girl, who had promptly fallen asleep against Monroe's chest.

Probably 'cause of all the shit that's happened.' He thought in amusement as his helmet materialized itself back on his head before adjusting the girl in his arms and walking down the hill with Whales at his side.

"Yeah…said that her name was Ultear."

---

"And you really believe that jumping into random universes and alternate dimensions will be the saving grace of humanity?"

"Of course! As I have stated, why waste even more resources and precious time search through space when we can simply do it right here on our doorstep?"

"And say we went along with your…idea. What do we do if we just so happen to find intelligent life in the other universes? You know, such as other humans?"

Cameron Newborn didn't answer right away, instead opting to stay silent with an ominous smirk on his face.

"You know how the saying goes, 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.'"

-Conversation between Uranian Head Scientist, Cameron Newborn, and unknown Coalition Official.