Past to Present

May 17, 2160

"Jim, get 'em offa me!" Screamed the C.O. of the 24th squad of the NUSA Marines as he was chased by a GAPHE drone.

As this was said, Doctor/First Lieutenant James Underwood maneuvered his Typhoon 32-4A through space at a blinding speed towards his frantic Captain, his control panel flashing red and beeping about something that he didn't care about. Bloody ridiculous. He thought to himself. How'd he even make Captain with this little skill?

"Right on it, sir." He said sounding rather bored. He was a rather skilled pilot, it would take an idiot not to notice that, and his Marine rank was nothing to scoff at, but he did not please himself on the thrill of battle, he instead was indifferent and did not engage in social activities. "A true soldier," "a brave man," his superiors would call him, but in his heart, he was still a scientist.

He flew over to the Captain's ship and activated his MagnetoHydroDynamic Plasma Projectile Cannons, erasing all existence of the minute craft from existence.

"Thankee, doc! Thought I was a goner fer a second there!" Bubbled the Captain, banking to the right and angling up.

"FOR EARTH!" Screamed a pilot as he flew past the both of them, firing his cannons wildly, eventually being shot by a drone. "Shit!" He screamed, before his melting craft spun out of control, burning in the atmosphere of the blue planet below. Soon, his screams died from the radio's frequency. The radio, once filled with men and women exclaiming in excitement or hollering for assistance, grew silent in solemn respect. But only for a second, because war is war, and death is death.

Above the fight, (or relatively above, since battles in space are three dimensional with no up or down) several blocky battle-cruisers bearing the NUSA flag, (with two hundred stars, no less) battled a huge fleet of rounded out GAPHE battleships and cruisers. Below, Earth. The homeland, the cradle of humanity. The beautiful, preserved, blue planet which every human wished to be present on. The territory which now was the sole goal of each nation except for Switzerland, because nobody gave a shit about them, and they didn't give a shit about anything. They just made watches and pocket knives and cheese.

Explosions rocked the upper atmosphere as the carcasses of once great ships and men rained down on the planet. Several hundred armored, winged equine slaves flew among the ships with rocket aided movement, flank-mounted mentally controlled cannons blasting away at this or that. All of these wore a collar which held a serial number, noting rank and name. Neither nation owned more than the other, since these creatures were too fast to hit by ship, and did not seem to want to hurt each other.

"Admiral, what's the plan?" Asked the Captain from the intercom to the NUSA flagship. A light voice responded quickly.

"You are to clear the skies and then fly in to the GAPHE base on the east coast of the North American continent. The coordinates of the area you are to strike are 38.8900° N, 77.0300° W. We will hold off the large stuff here. (Captain Reynolds, fire all batteries at the weakened shields on that frigate!) Sorry Captain, we're a bit busy up here, so I have to cut off soon. Do you understand what I am sayi--" A large explosion tore apart the proud NUSA flagship, the NUSS Greyhound from aft to stern.

"You heard the man, get rid of the drones!" Shouted an anonymous voice over the radio.

"Hoorah!" Screamed another, while others shouted profanities or cheers.

First Lieutenant Underwood fired several shots into the drones and equine slaves. He winced as the blood of his creations splattered against his windshield. We create a sentient race and we use them as pawns. What a waste of money and technology. He groaned and continued spreading his plasma hellstorm across the sky of the blue planet.

Within half an hour, his barrel rolls and flips proved worthy as the drone navy was worn down to the point where a massive hole was present in their defenses.

"Yeah, buddy! Y'all can't deny the skills an' ingenuity of a bi'logical pilot, bitches!" Screamed the Captain. "C'mon, doc! Gimme a cheer!" He said to an exasperated James Underwood.

The Lieutenant sighed and let out an unenthusiastic "Fuck yeah..." which was apparently enough to satisfy his commanding officer as they angled towards the atmosphere.

"Goin' smooth, everybody?" Asked the Captain to nobody in particular, and received a collective affirmation. "Allrighty then, go at a half angle o' six degrees, that's in angles, not in Celsius, everybody!" He said, snickering at his own 'clever' joke. "Oh yeah, and horse... thingies! Follow us into the atmos!"

"Affirmative, Captain." Said one of the armored creatures as they grouped into a V formation, following the spacecraft.

"Hold your horses, I'm getting some interference in my radio... Wait... Is that? No, it can't be! SQUAD, EVASIVE ACTION! Some idiot opened an Alc drive in front of us! Shit!" The Captain screamed as a bright white light appeared in front of the squad.

As the squad dispersed, Underwood found himself at the center, being the last possible person to exit. As the men, women and equines flew away from the approaching Alcubierre portal in front of him, one genetically altered being threw itself in front of him for just a second, smirking as if to say, "You brought this on yourself," and flew off just as the Lieutenant hit the portal.

"What the fuck!" Screamed the ex-scientist as he attempted to turn his craft around, but to no avail. The disruption in space-time closed before he could do anything. Silently cursing, he could only imagine what horrors awaited on the other end. He turned his craft around in the abyss and flew to the opening on the other side.

Nothing could have prepared him for what was on the other side.

He had traveled faster than light to get to... Two thousand meters in front of where he was before, directly in front of planet earth, and at just the wrong angle of attack to land.

The last thing to go through the First Lieutenant's head was the word "fuck." The SECOND to last was noting that there weren't any star-ships or drones around him anywhere.