Prelude: The Universal Drag War
It was a Sunday afternoon on September eleventh in the year 2050. In days earlier, the people of Earth established first contact with an alien specie calling themselves 'Starlinean.' After days of planning and of preparation, it was agreed that the vice president of a nation called the United States would be the ambassador of Earth.
Since the unique specie did not want to talk on the planet, it was then decided that the introduction would take place on the International Space Station, completed years ago.
Dressed in a black suit, blank slacks, and black tie with a white-collar shirt underneath, two humans walked down the corridor of the space station.
"This gravity machine is working well. Remind me to award the person who invented this." The man with a partially bald, gray head said as he turned to the person walking next to him.
"Yes Mr. Vice President. Are you nervous sir?" The clean-shaven, blonde hair, blue-eye helper asked as he jotted down some lines on his small notebook.
"Let's see, I'm about to be the first human to talk to an alien race. Today will be remembered as the day when Earthling established the contingency that we are not alone in the universe. No, I'm not nervous." The Vice President replied sarcastically.
"You'll do fine sir. I was told that the alien has a translator that learned our language."
"Can't say I'm not impressed. They've been here for only seven days and they've learned over seven languages. How do we know for sure it'll translate what I'm saying?"
The two walked to the end of the corridor and turned left to continue walking down. Outside the window was a beautiful view of blue Earth with the many satellites that were broadcasting the meeting.
"We'll just have to take it on good faith sir." The aide answered.
"Great. Just don't make me look like a fool in front of eight billion people." The bald-headed man said as he adjusted his shirt and tie.
"You'll do fine sir." The assistant said before turning the knob and opening the door.
As the two gentlemen walked in, the two aliens stood up and nodded their greeting. Both of them were the same size as the two men. The taller one was approximately seventy inches in height while the shorter one was sixty-five. Both had a slim green body with five long, reaching fingers. Their head was that of around the same size as the Earthlings with the exception of ears and hairs. Their eyes were large and round with a dark blue crystal encased behind it while their nose were the same size as that of the rest of the world. The same goes for their mouth and teeth.
"Kinda…short aren't they?" The Vice President said aside to his subordinate.
"Don't believe everything you've seen in Hollywood sir." He whispered back.
After everyone was settled, the extra terrestrials took the first step and began speaking. In a garbled voice, the taller one said to the smaller one and smiled at the two Earthlings.
"My…ambassador," the shorter one said in clear and perfect English, "says hi and well met."
All around the world, citizens sat inside their homes as they watched the very first encounter with another race in the galaxy. Some were huddled within their blankets at night, while others stood with sweat falling from their forehead as they drank cold water.
The images were projected onto every network. On that day, everything in the world that had a monitor was showing the encounter. Throughout the weeks before, there were heretics who called the arrival of the aliens as the end of the world, while others believed it was the beginning of another golden age. None knew of what was in store for the star-crossed relationship between the two kinds.
The Vice President gave his broad smile and put out his hand, "Tell him I would like to say welcome on behalf of the people of Earth, and that this is a handshake that will signal our everlasting friendship."
After a quick translation, the alien ambassador also reached out his hand and shook that of the human. The diplomat to Earth grinned widely and placed his left hand on top of the Starlinean envoy's hand, and it took copied the procedure.
Cheers erupted throughout the entire planet as citizens celebrated in their first peaceful encounter with another kind in the universe. Yet, the celebration was a bit too early.
Only a split second later, through live television, the room inside the space station exploded into amber red as raging fire consumed everything that was in it. After the initial blast, the entire place blew up into a ball of flames that lit up the night's sky. As quick as it began, the vacuum of space sucked the inferno's life away.
The seven billion plus people on Earth did not know what to do. The shock was too horrible for them to comprehend. At first, they all believed that it was a stunt. In fact, they lied to themselves of what they saw on their screen was not the truth. The entire planet could not cope as to what had happened. And it wasn't until the message of the Starlinean declaring war on Earth did they realized what had occurred.
And so, on that day, the intergalactic war soon to be called the Universal Drag War began. The alien race struck first by exploding an imploding missile on the state of Texas through their spaceship, obliterating every life form that was in it.
Immediately after the destruction of the lone star republic, the United Nations tried to establish contact with the aliens again in order to explain that the explosion of the space station was an accident. But, it was too late. All communicational channels were closed, and the people of Earth, especially people who called themselves Americas were on the blood of vengeance.
In the first week of the war, Earth suffered tremendous casualties. With over five hundred million people dead, and over five nations totally annihilated, it seemed as though the destruction of mankind was inevitable. Yet, somewhere in the deep dark of space, a cry for help was answered.
Coming just in time to spare the blue planet from destruction was another technologically advanced alien race called the Apostlen. The extraterrestrial were intergalactic merchants that operated across the galaxy. They had decided to help out the humans because the Starlinean had cheated them on an earlier deal and saw the vast wealth that planet Earth had to offer.
Seeking revenge, the Apostlen sold various materials to the newly created United Sphere of Nations that was created in order to combat a new, common foe. The United Sphere of Nations, or the USN, took precedence over all form of government on Earth and effectively replaced the United Nations. Here, all of the countries on the planet were represented with the five most powerful being at the top, the United States, Great Britain, Russia, China, and Japan.
The Alliance was made, and the counter strike was set to take place. Asking only a portion of the war's spoil in return, the Apostlen even went as far as lending building machines for quick manufacture of destructive weapons.
In under a month, with over two billion people dead to the weaponry of the Starlinean, Earth launched its first fighter-based spaceship. Called the 'Savior,' this vessel took on the heavy bombardment of over a quarter of the hostile alien's space fleet. After winning five small battles, it was finally destroyed in a major engagement with five other unfriendly ships.
Even with its destruction, it still accomplished its mission. It bought enough time for the conversion of every factory on Earth into planetary construction places. In the three weeks that it bought for humankind, five other variation of the same battleship entered Earth's atmosphere and began defending the blue planet.
After the initial year of battle, with over three and a half billion people dead, mother Earth was now ready for the offensive. Thanks to the help of four other extraterrestrial allies, the humans were able to find the home planet of the Starlinean.
For the next two hundred years, a stalemate took over the space battlefield. Every time it seemed as though one side was winning, the other made an impossible comeback and put the table back at even. It went on for over two centuries, and during that time, both Earthlings and Starlinean called in allies in order to help pay for their war.
After generations of fighting, the conflict became dreary upon both the citizens of Earth and of Starline, the hostile alien's home planet. Soon, the fighters forgot about what they were fighting for, other than staying alive for just one more day.
Yet, in that time, humankind took a tremendous leap. They had colonized Mars and the Earth's moon, as well as two other planets in other systems. Driving cars were obsolete and airplanes were replaced with flying cars that were able to go at an average speed of three hundred miles per hour.
New cities were rebuilt on top of the destroyed one, and unlike its predecessor, these one climbed into the sky. In a wave of new-era technology, metropolises rose to the height of a mile into the air. Houses and commercial took residence in this light environment while industrial based housings were gathered at the base of the metropolitan.
Advances in machinery allowed the creation of mini-computer chips to be installed into the brain of a newborn child, as well as the elimination of every genetic disease known to mankind. An intranet of communication and transportation was developed, thus bringing every connected body into communicational ability with every other linked one.
Finally, in the year 2250, on the Earth day of December 25, there was a call for peace. The now powerful USN took the chance and called for harmony. On that day, both the President of the USN and the leader of the Starlinean Homeland internal Protection, or SHIP, signed a peace treaty.
In that agreement, there was a unanimous call for peace. Both sides agreed that they were both at fault in the hostilities, and that the cause of the confrontation was labeled as a 'misunderstanding.' Reparation were paid both to torture soldiers of Earth and of Starline, and in front of over a hundred alien species that were 'dragged' into the warfare and of the countless number of life forms across the universe, the two-hundred years war had ended.
In light of the new celebration of a new era, the multitudes of inter-space organizations created a new form of entertainment. Borrowing elements from an old Earthling tradition called 'gladiator,' this new sport was used as a way to symbolize the strongest nation without ever going to combat again. In a four-on-four fighting, the winner would be the last one standing, and the rounds would dissipate as the winner would keep on advancing until there were only two left standing in the arena.
These two would battle it out until there was a clear and definite winner. Whatever the race of the winner was, it would be the champion's home planet that would benefit the most. Prices ranged from a high caliber indestructible sword to at least one house on every identifiable and hospitable planet. Thus, the newly created sport was called Quadra Battle.
The projection screen closed away, and the once darkened room was enveloped in the balcony light. The professor touched a button on his desk, and turned to the class to check if anyone had fallen asleep. The windows were automatically opened, and the bright rays of the sun danced into the classroom.
Somewhere, in the back of the room a boy shouted out, "Hey TeeJay, isn't your championship battle today?"
A brown hair human male of approximately seventeen in age lifted his head off his chair and wiped away the saliva that was on his chin. His left eye was uniquely green while his right one was astonishingly blue.
'Good,' he thought, 'I had enough of history.' Ignoring his teacher's order, he picked up his backpack, rushed out of the room, and into the world.
