A/N

Hey guys, here's the next part of the prologue. After this chapter there will be one more timeline-ish prologue, and after that we'll get into the bulk of the story. I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read this, I had no idea that my story would reach a 1000 hits within 24 hours. You guys are awesome.

Now on a slightly more serious note, the subject of this story is revealed in this chapter. Some of you might like it, some of you might not, but it is essential to the plot, so please bear with me. Without further ado, let's go!

Prologue (Part 2): A temporal anomaly

Major Jason Walker was soldier first, and a scientist second, and the recent discovery of the anomaly near Novus provided the perfect opportunity to put both his skillsets to the test. As such, he had immediately signed up for the scientific expedition that was set to leave for area surrounding the anomaly. They would be travelling using three ATARV-class (All Terrain Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle) rovers, which had become common use of transportation on Mars since the decline of fossil fuel use on Earth. Since the newly founded Martian government actually welcomed the use of fossil fuels to further the terraforming of the Martian atmosphere, a lot of fossil fuel using vehicles had been shipped to the planet over the last couple of years, the WW3-Era ATARV rovers being among of them.

The town of Novus, or rather research base, was quickly turning into a major scientific hub as a couple of the most brilliant minds from Ares had decided to take their research here. Their labs had been assembled within days using the base segments typical of a Confederation outpost, and after only one and a half months of existence the colony of Novus was dotted with the constructs. When the anomaly had been discovered, one of the newer labs had almost immediately been designated as the Expedition Outpost Alpha, its task being to organise a scientific expedition to the site.

As Walker reached the outpost on the outskirts of Novus, he recognized one of his former squad mates, who had apparently signed up for the expedition as well.

"Jackson, 't's been to long mate", he exclaimed as he walked up to the man who gawked at him as only a former member of U.S. Navy Delta Squad could. The two of them had fought the Chinese in Thailand 20 years ago, and both of them still suffered from the entire ordeal.

"No way,… Walker? What on earth has gotten into that big head of yours? For me to find you here, of all places," Jackson said as he walked up to his friend, greeting him with a familiar man-hug.

"Well I reckoned this expedition would require a little extra security, and as I have access to certain data files…," he stated, feeling rather smug that he still had Class three access to military archives, having been away from Earth for over a year now.

"Of course you do Walker," Jackson grunted.

"Well, enough about me, what on Earth… or rather Mars, are you doing here Jackson? Last time I saw you was after the "Hell", and I thought I heard you say that you were completely done with the job…,"Walker said boisterously.

"Times change, I signed up again," he said as he looked at Jason. "On that note, I noticed your rank Walker. Might have to start calling you "sir" now," he added.

Jason eyed his mate suspiciously, "Well, we can't have that now, can we? You'd be acting according to regulations, and I can't really remember you ever doing that before Jackson," he joked.

Jackson grinned, and the two of them started discussing the possible source of the anomaly, when the commander of expedition beckoned them to enter one of the outpost's halls. The hall was lined with folding chairs, and there was a makeshift stage with a large screen showing a map of the Martian surface. Most of the personnel still hanging around the base quickly streamed in and took their seats; Jackson and Walker did the same. When most of the researchers and soldiers had found a seat, two people went up to the stage, one of them an obvious military officer, and the other one looking like an overenthusiastic scientist. The officer started a quick speech.

"Alright boys, I'll keep this short and simple. My name is Colonel Grant, Confederation Air Force. I am your commanding officer from this moment forth. You all signed up for the Martian Expeditionary Force, which is a subdivision of the United Western Army. You will henceforth address me with "Sir", and you are expected to follow your orders without questions," the commander stated, "Now, on to today's matter. At 04:00 this morning the Novus relay station picked up some anomalies from an area a few clicks west of here, known to most of you as the Promethei Planum. After scanning the area using probes in low Martian orbit, our scientists determined that the anomalies originated from this particular dune," the colonel said as he showed them a map of the local area surrounding the particular dune, "Pictures taken a few years ago have been cross-referenced, and have shown that this dune has retained its shape despite the major storm that passed this area two years ago. Our researchers concluded that the general area has to be mapped by man in order to get more reliable data on the anomaly."

"Now listen to me. Whilst I know that most of you expect the anomaly to be some kind of natural phenomenon, there is always a possibility that we are dealing with an artificial construct. If such a situation does occur, we will initiate Unknown Entity Protocol. A part of this protocol deals with first contact situations; in the event of first contact, myself and Doctor Keldrop here will be handling the situation. However… that does mean that the lot of you will be in charge of security. In the unlikely scenario that such a situation would occur, you will report to Major Jason Walker, who is your second in command. Understood?" the man said with a fervour that was only found in pure-bred military men.

"Sir, yes sir," the group said uniformly, after which they were instructed to get into the three ATARV rovers.

Soon after the three rovers started roaring as their oversized engines blazed to life, and the three vehicles started their journey west. ATARV rovers were ideal in the dusty Martian environment, as they almost completely ignored the fine grains that usually made machines go haywire within a couple of hours. The trip through the dunes was rather uneventful apart from the sight of occasional dust clouds on the horizon. The the rovers came to a stop at the site of the "freak" dune, and all the expedition could see was dunes, dunes and more dusty hills. That was, until a particular Martian gust blew into one of the closer dunes, revealing some kind of rocky structure.

"Looks like we found our source," Keldrop said to the Colonel with a happy sigh, glad that the trip had not been in vain.

The colonel nodded, and ordered his men get ready and gear up as he jumped out of the rover. The soldiers soon followed suit, and a squad of 30 heavily armed men, all ex-military or still serving, got out of the rovers using the rear hatch. Each soldier was equipped with Ceramic Slate armour, a standard issue XA33-Laser Rifle and a LTX1-Laser pistol. Both weapons were military grade energy weapons capable of burning through metal within seconds.

The soldiers performed their ritual of clearing the area before beckoning the scientists to leave the rovers and join the expedition force. Most of the scientists were wearing Martian hazard-suits, capable of providing their wearers with fresh air and direct environmental feedback. Even though the process of terraforming had been going on for a couple of years now, reasonable predictions had said that it would still take at least two decades before the Martian atmosphere resembled anything that was breathable.

"Ahh, feels good to have my baby back," Jason said happily as he examined the Laser rifle. It was the same weapon he had used during his last mission in Chinese territory three years ago, dealing with new communist upstarts provoking the masses to refuel the fires of war, and it still felt as deadly as ever.

"You bet, Walker," Jackson said while grinning at his mate. "Let's do this without destroying the base this time!"

Jason looked at his friend with a hurtful look, shook his head, and walked towards the colonel who was calling his men to him.

When all the soldiers were in front of the colonel, he ordered them to start hauling some scientific equipment to the rocky structure. "Let's give the doctor something to work with," he said as he kept his gaze locked onto his men. It took a couple of walks for all the tools to be moved, but when they were all finally in place Keldrop started prodding the structure with a small probe-like instrument, which emitted a very faint wave of light each time it touched the structure. It took a couple of minutes for the doctor to scan the structure, until he finally stood up and addressed the men behind him.

"Well, it appears we have found something very interesting here. My subterranean scanner tells me this formation of rocks is actually a structure, about 50 meters deep and divided into 20 sublevels, so it's going to take us a while to search it all. What was also very interesting is that the structure appears to be built around some kind of sphere-like construction. My guess would be that it is a gigantic generator or something of the like, so please refrain from activating any systems when we're inside. The entrance, luckily, is right in front of us," he said as he touched a small panel that started vibrating. "Hmm, weird material," he mumbled as he studied the structure.

A few of the scientists started whispering nervously as they realised what they were dealing with here, but there was also a brim of excitement in the air.

As soon as the panel stopped vibrating, a small door, wide enough for exactly two men to enter side by side, opened and gave way to a dark passage. At first most of the men looked very nervous, but they soon regained their stoic stance as the colonel ordered them to enter. Walker and Jackson were to take point, which they did without hesitation, and the 30 men started entering the ruins.

"Wonderful, the structure appears to be completely intact," the doctor whispered as he entered the ruins with the colonel at his side.

"Please be quiet doctor, my men are trying to sweep the structure," the colonel grunted, indicating his men to activate their night vision. The ruins were drowned in complete darkness, and there didn't appear to be any kind of light source nearby.

"Room clear," Jason declared as the men reached another door which led to a construct that looked like some kind of elevator. However, it seemed to be useless without some kind of power source.

"Well doctor, it seems you have a job to do," the colonel said as he looked at the grinning doctor.

"It does seem so, Grant. Can you provide some lighting," he asked as he was already studying most of the room.

"Men, lights," the colonel said with a commanding tone, and soon after the room was flooded with lights from the portable light sources that were common in a soldier's gear. As the room was lit up, Walker looked at some kind of pad next to the elevator door, and he assumed it had to be the elevator control panel. With his curiosity getting the best of him, he touched it…

The room flared as faint lines along the wall suddenly started emitting bluish light.

"Walker," the colonel swore as he glared at his second, "How many times does it take for you to follow simple orders. You heard the doctor. Don't. Touch. Anything," he finished.

"Grant, it doesn't matter; the man seems to have activated the backup system, but not the primary generator. It is exactly what I was trying to do," the doctor told the colonel, who looked really tense at the moment.

"Walker, from now on you don't touch. Is that clear," Grant said as he glared at Walker. "And that goes for the rest of you as well. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir," the men said in unison.

The expedition was split up into three groups, as no more than ten or eleven men could fit in the "elevator". The first group consisted of the heavy assault team, meant for clearing any resistance and sweeping the entire base, and was led by Colonel Grant himself. The second group consisted of the doctor, Jackson, Walker and eight other men including four of the researchers. The squad's purpose was documentation, meaning that they would study each and every curiosity they would come across. The last group consisted of the men that returned to the entrance of the ruins to keep it clear and protect the rovers, whilst the remaining two scientists studied the entrance chamber.

Soon after Walker received Grant's all clear signal over the radio, he beckoned his men to enter the elevator, and they started their descent. The elevator seemingly travelled all the way to the bottom level, where Colonel Grant was waiting for them.

"Doctor, the entire facility has been swept. We encountered no life forms, so a contact scenario is highly unlikely at the moment. Most of the rooms are living quarters of some kind, but there is a central data lab with an access panel or something of the like that looks over the sphere-like construct you told us about. I assume you'd wish to visit this lab?" he said as he looked at the doctor questioningly.

"Seems like a plan, Grant," the doctor said wearily, clearly disappointed that hadn't been the one to see it all first. "Walker, come with me if you will. The rest of you, team up and take a look at some of the other rooms."

Jackson and Walker nodded, and the group split up, with Grant leading the doctor and Walker to the lab they discovered. It was large room with a couple of consoles surrounding some kind of table, with something that resembled a master console overlooking the sphere. The rest of the room was filled with large data banks of some kind. The doctor's eyes grew wide as he took it all in.

"Impressive, and the state of these machines… almost pristine. This has to be the single most important discovery mankind has ever made," the doctor said as he walked over to the master console. "I wonder, what will happen if I touch this," he said as he looked at Grant.

"Go ahead Doctor, we have a medic standing by," the Colonel said wearily.

Doctor Keldrop then proceeded to touch the master console, but nothing happened. At least, that was what the doctor thought, until the room suddenly lit up and the sphere started vibrating ever so slightly. The master console then started showing signs of life, and some kind of holographic interface appeared, together with a strange sound.

"Oltaa ins tra Macta, elsus da surastra," the machine said, or at least something of the like.

"Incredible," the doctor exclaimed, "How do you work? How do you function? I am doctor Keldrop," he added.

"Hello," the machine stated, and Keldrop's eyes grew wide with wonder.

"Are you an A.I.," he asked, eying the machine quizzically. "And how come you suddenly speak English?"

The console flared, before the voice stated: "My name is irrelevant, but in your terminology I would be classified as a virtual intelligence. You may address me with Gatekeeper, as it is my function within this complex."

Walker was watching the exchange of information with two thoughts. One, he figured it was extraordinary that they had just found proof of actual alien life, and two, he was suddenly very wary for any kind of ambush.

"My knowledge of your languages was gathered over the ages, and I assumed this format would be most applicable to the group of organics currently before me," the machine stated. "I am Gatekeeper to this facility, and have watched the progress of your species with great interest, but your path is still a long one. My creators left a message for you, and I will play the recording of this message," the machine said as a large holographic screen appeared in front of the console.

"Greetings, Humans. I am Jagrad, lead researcher of this facility, and have recorded this message as an emergency procedure. At this very moment, my species is being exterminated by beings that are completely beyond our comprehension, at least concerning their motives. We have concluded that our species is doomed, and to save a particular project in this base, my researchers and I will leave your system soon. The contents of this base will be stripped apart from the machine, which is of vital importance to your survival."

As the machine continued its message, every eye in the room was watching the screen intently.

"The purpose of this facility was to experiment with bending the space-time continuum around a solar system in such a way to increase the speed of time passing within the system by a certain factor. This means that while a year would pass on the outside of the star system, the time inside the system would amount to, for example, 10.000 years, leaving us with ample time to find a solution to our galactic extermination. However, our civilization was completely destroyed before we were able to finish the experiment. Right now, there are only six of us left in this facility, which is not enough to create a new civilization. However, we have been able to complete the core machine and the outer satellites are finished as well. We will place those in their appropriate locations as we leave the system. Use this extra time to save your own people," the alien on the screen said, before the message was ended and the screen disappeared.

Keldrop jumped up and stared at the machine, before turning his gaze to Grant and Walker. "You realize what this means right," he asked them. "This means this facility is the most advanced piece of technology ever discovered, and must be kept secret. I'd daresay we should only inform the leaders of our country what the exact function of the device is, before we turn it on. Because I do think that would be a very wise decision, give us more time, more "safe" time," the doctor finished.

"Whoah, hold on there, doc," Walker said as he looked at his commander. "We can't just go ahead and activate this. What if it doesn't function properly and turns our entire planet into one gravitational mess. You'd kill off the entire human race with a push on a button."

"Mister Walker," the machine started, "The function of the Chronosphere has been tested on your system already. It was one of my tasks before going into hibernation mode. The satellite positions are still perfect. It would do your species no harm. I will show you a recording of this test."

The screen then came back and showed the three men a video of the sphere blazing to life, intensely vibrating and emitting a faint blue light into its chamber. It showed a clock of the time passed, which ended after 10.000 seconds. The machine then went on to show the galactic drift that had occurred in those 10.000 seconds, and it showed that barely any drift had taken place. The machine estimated the time of drift at 1.003434 seconds, with a 20% margin of error. All in all, it was ample evidence of the machines functionality.

"Seems like it's working fine, Walker," the doctor said, "We need to inform the president right away. This machine is a gift, and one we shouldn't waste!"

Colonel Grant was watching the two men intently, before he stated that the president had to be informed indeed. The colonel then proceeded to set up a direct link with Brussels, capitol of the U.W.C.

Brussels, Presidential offices, 16.55 PM

"Mr. President, I have a colonel Grant that wishes to speak with you. Shall I put him through to your office, or do you wish to take his call in the conference room," the presidential secretary asked.

"Grant, you say," Hmm, he's the one on Mars at the moment if I recall correctly. Probably has something to do with that anomaly they found. "Put him through to the office Maria, this is a private call," the president said.

The president walked into his office and sat down, as he opened his personal communicator, and confirmed the link to Grant.

"Good afternoon Colonel, what did you find," the president asked curiously.

"Good afternoon Mr. President. We found what the good doctor here calls the single most advanced discovery in the history of the human race. I'll let him explain it personally, sir," the colonel said.

"Good day Mr. President. My name is Doctor Hugo Keldrop, and I'm the leading scientist of this expedition. What we found here wouldn't have even come to me in my wildest dreams. The anomaly turned out to be an ancient alien research facility. The facility is completely intact, pristine even. It contains research on an experiment conducted by an ancient alien race that meddled with time itself. There is a virtual intelligence here that has shown us a lot of things. Can you believe that sir? A working VI…." The doctor said in one of those typically scientific rambles. "Sorry sir, excuse my manners. Basically, we found a gift of time. The machine in this facility is called a Chronosphere, and in conjunction with a couple of satellites that are drifting at the edge of our solar system, it can create a bubble of spacetime around the system. I don't understand the complete workings, but what it does is change the relative amount of time passed within and outside of this bubble. We can have 10.000 years for every year on the outside…!"

The president gawked at his tablet. What he had just heard completely overwhelmed him. First, it was proof of extra-terrestrial life, second it was an intact facility, and now it was some kind of crazy experiment. How should he handle this? It was clear to him that the doctor believed it should be activated immediately, but that was a rash course of action. They would need time to discuss this with other world leaders. Of course, it looked to be a very promising instrument, but they would need to play their cards right to get it done. The current chaos still prevalent throughout most of South America and Asia meant that the leaders of those countries weren't ready for full disclosure. No, only parts of Oceania and the African Union would hear from him, and together they would take this monumental decision.

"Calm down doctor, you must understand that I can't decide the fate of the planet right now, because that is what you're asking me is it not. I do have some ideas on how to handle this situation. Colonel, you are free to explore the facility, but under no circumstance are you allowed to activate this machine. Understood," he said with a tone that could only be described as resolute.

"Understood sir, I'll do as you say. You heard that Keldrop, we wait," the colonel said quietly. "Grant out."

The president sat back, and started tossing ideas around about his unification project that was rapidly forming in his mind.

Mars, Alien Ruins, 17:05 PM

Doctor Keldrop looked disappointed, but then he realized that the president was realistic, and activating the machine now would be a rash and stupid decision. He looked up and started formulating ideas in his head, and realized he still had a lot of questions for the VI.

"Gatekeeper, can you answer some questions of mine," he asked the machine.

"My responses are limited Mr. Keldrop. My creators created my program with a single purpose, to protect the Chronosphere and insure it is always in working condition. If your queries are related to the chromosphere in any way, I can answer, but if you have questions about the civilization or technology my creators used, my only answer is this: "All information was purposely deleted by lead scientist Jagrad. He left one more explanatory message. Should I play said recording now?" the machine asked.

Keldrop nodded, and the holographic screen came to life once more.

"Ah, I see you are a curious one. This message is intended to explain the lack of technology except for the Chronosphere. It was due to our civilization developing along a certain predetermined technological path that we could be destroyed so easily. Therefore, for your species to survive, you must develop along a different path. You must learn to be completely independent of the Element. Only this will give you a chance. There is a construct made by our destroyers orbiting the smallest of your planets, at edge of this system. I advise you to rip it apart, and ignore the technology, as it will only set you upon the path you must not follow. Use the material, but not the technology. All of our technology has been removed for the same reason."

Keldrop looked flabbergasted. Another alien construction in the solar system, and this Jagrad wanted him to destroy it. Now there was something that would never ever happen. But he did gather that his words made sense, and the doctor made himself a mental note to never replicate technology. Humanity would create its own destiny.

And there we go, the Chronosphere has been introduced. In the next timeline-ish part I'll be going over the millenia spent under its influence. After that we'll get into the bulk of the first story arc. I have already drafted a few of the upcoming chapters, so you can expect an update this week.