Episode 1: A Newer Hope

Chapter 3: A Link Between Worlds

July 4th, 2031

-Beneath the arid landscape of the state of Utah-

U.S Marines Brigadier General Stephen Hawking accompanied his President, Joseph Campbell, along with 20 other senior military officers, in the tour of the U.S Army base that shouldn't exist, Area 666.

This was a common citizen nickname which the United States government silently approved of, given the magnitude of what was happening in the bowels of the complex.

The walls of the bunker were coated in an iridescent crystalline material that nobody could identify, with an almost supernatural look to it. The deeper an individual traveled into its layers, the more extravagant the colors of the walls got, like a universal Pride Flag mixed with the effects of psychedelic mushrooms.

Additionally, networks of wires and cables connected to computer systems in different parts of the base snaked across the crystal-coated walls, and these same cables stretched down to the very lowest basement level, which contained a volatile, mysterious "anomaly" that the entire base was built around to protect and secure.

"So, Mr. President, what is it that you have to show us, now that you are revealing the truth that only you knew? What have we been hiding down here for the last 70 to 80 years? And how is it going to help us in this horrendous war that we're losing so badly?"

"Technically, we don't have a president anymore, General Hawking... I'm not worthy of such a title, given my unforgivable mistakes. Please just call me Joseph, or Joe for short."

"Now, to answer your questions, I would like you to meet some of the scientists behind Project Brainstorm. They'll give you the full story behind something that you'd never think was even remotely possible."

Once the newcomers reached the bottommost section of Area 666, consisting of a stadium-sized, continuously color-shifting chamber, which was occupied by hundreds of busy researchers in hazmat suits, they were astounded to see that a groundbreaking discovery in the laws of physics had been made- an enormous ring-shaped structure some 10 meters in diameter stood in the center of the room, containing a corporeal image of a galaxy some 2.5 million light years away- what was assumed to be the Andromeda galaxy by the science workers.

"Is that what I think it is?," Admiral Buster Nimitz said in awe. "A gateway to another world! How on God's green earth did we build something like this?"

"Technically, we didn't even make it," one of the chief scientists said. "I'm Professor Nathan Lu-Ten, director of NASA's Anomaly Research Program... or, what's left of it, after the Chinese fascists started attacking us on our own territory. It is a pity that the status quo has come to this, but being Chinese-American myself, I truly believe I uniquely understand how much is at stake here. The total annihilation of our way of life and our nation's culture is not something I take lightly, obviously."

"There's no other valid course of action remaining. We must resort to using... supernatural and paranormal means, to turn the tables on the Axis of Evil, no matter what the ramifications might be."

"You said that we didn't construct this apparatus," former President Campbell said, intrigued by its possible origins and how it might function. "I knew that a program associated with extraterrestrial intelligence was buried somewhere in our bottomless military archives, as did all the government top brass who could be thoroughly trusted with such game-changing intel, sworn loyal to our country until death, but where exactly did Project Brainstorm's main mechanism come from?"

Professor Lu Ten gave the charismatic leader an ecstatic grin which looked downright eerie in the otherworldly glow of the sealed room.

Then, he proceeded to explain everything that had transpired so far in this mind-blowing undertaking, in excruciating detail.

"It's about time you asked that, Mr. Campbell. We've been learning more with each passing day, and the inevitable pressure of the Third World War has spurred us into discovering not only where this cosmic relic originated from, but also how it operates, down to its source of energy and what that energy can be used for."

"This'll sound cliche at first, but you'll understand everything in just a moment."

"During the Cold War, all the way back in the '50s, an unidentified flying object roared through our atmosphere and crashed in the Nevada desert. Government officials and military personnel were quick to secure the cylindrical metal container in the center of the crater, made of an unknown metal, presumably from the depths of interstellar space, which we gave the most asinine, moronic, retarded-sounding name you can imagine- Unobtanium."

"Furthermore, the US government took tedious extra steps to lead the majority of public interest and conspiracy theories away from the true location of the Unobtanium capsule, which resulted in the creation of Area 51, a giant distraction and magnet for attention that was positioned a whole state away from where Project Brainstorm was really being conducted- where we're standing right now."

"We secretive scientists opened the container and found an assembly of individual exotic metallic and mechanical components, along with what appeared to be a blueprint instructing us to assemble the pieces in a ring shape."

"After doing so, the circular structure lit up, and the intrepid intellectuals expected something out of this world to happen- but nothing ever did, for multiple decades on end."

"That is, until the 2020s came rolling forward, bringing about a new era of big problems, which our ring machine intelligently reacted to for then-unknown reasons, resulting in bizarre phenomena that only ramped up when a global war loomed on the horizon. Scientific staff began to have unusually vivid dreams in their sleep which somehow gave them all the information they needed to know in order to get our design fully operational, including details regarding its original creators."

"Judging from what we learned in the last few years, the construct we put together from the individual pieces stored in the alien probe is meant to build a bridge between our reality and alternate universes, and was used by an incredibly advanced spacefaring civilization to prove if a given concept or idea physically existed somewhere... by literally bringing it to life, fetching beings and objects from all planes of existence."

"The most interesting thing we've learned so far, though, is that the ring's function appears to be fueled by four very peculiar things- raw determination, faith, love and courage. When the war finally erupted in Taiwan, ground zero style, we got to see the worst of humanity spring out of hell, but we also witnessed positive traits being developed in people, clear proof that when disaster strikes, heroes are made, akin to any other war in history. In spite of all the odds, the Taiwanese tried their best to be like water, and adapt to whatever the enemy threw at them."

"This philosophical fact was the bread and butter for our military's now fully online, fully capable alien contraption, which we at last dubbed the Dreamforge, due to its original purpose of bringing the things of fantasy into our so-called real world."

"With the Dreamforge ready to warp reality to our will, all we need to do is make a small request or wish- we don't want to try something too complicated or impactful, though, lest we end up condemning all of mankind to a fate worse than death."

"Now that I've said everything I needed to say... the rest is up to you, commander-in-chief, along with everyone else you brought along to make the most of our cutting-edge advances."

"You people heard what the Professor said!," Mr. Campbell told his associates and fellow patriots. "Come up with a plot twist that we can all collectively approve of!"

The audience stared at the shifting light patterns of the galactic disk contained within the Dreamforge, each person trying to think of a wish that could be commonly agreed upon.

Clearly, the machine was currently connected to a realm in deep space, so why not ask it to deliver prominent science fiction characters to 21st century Earth?

Soon enough, a common consensus emerged amongst the military personnel in the bunker, who began fanatically chanting for Star Wars heroes to step through the galaxy portal.

"Chewbacca! Chewbacca! Chewbacca! La Cucaracha!"

Energized by the restored faith of the patriots, who had been psychologically driven to absolute despair not so long ago, the ring matrix pulsed with crackling electricity, and the galactic gate began to rotate rapidly, its disk spinning incomprehensibly fast, until a bright flash blinded everyone in the room, the air in the chamber becoming quite hazy afterwards.

When the dust and mist settled, and the crowd's eyesight returned, an unforeseen sight stood tall, towering over all the puny humans in the room, but it definitely wasn't the legendary Wookiee warrior Chewbacca.

Instead, it was a character that not very many people here recognized- looking like a 9-foot tall version of Lara Croft, complete with the long dark brown ponytail and the usual attractive features, but with an even more statuesque physique, clothed in a deep blue colored winter military uniform of sorts, with patches and plates of ballistic armor providing additional protection.

She wasn't too happy about being snatched away from her world and her war and subsequently being sent to do battle in another world with a completely different war, understandably.

"Who are all you people?! What is this nonsense?! All I saw was a brilliant burst of color on the battlefield, and now I'm standing here, in a trippy circus, in front of a bunch of weird-ass clowns!"

We asked for a Star Wars hero to come to the rescueâ but fate dropped a Warhammer on us instead.

Let's see how handy Thianna Frostborn proves to be for the military members who don't know anything about Games Workshop's flagship game at all, and are a lot more familiar with the saga of the Skywalkers and the Solos.