《Astral Bridge》 Chapter: 0 Who would have thought that something so small could change the world? On September 6th 2030 nasa''s newest satellite Archon picked up a small object entering our solar system at astronomical speeds. The worlds scientific community was shocked, because this object appeared to be making minute changes in its trajectory. Now this might not seem particular amazing, but out of the tremendous amount of objects we have observed in space we have never seen one that changes how it moves without some outside interference. Even more amazing this tiny object seemed to be coming towards earth. Scientist speculated, that this may be a interstellar probe, and announced that humanity might be on the cusp of answering the age old question of whether we are alone in the universe. A few words and some data... and our place in the universe was turned upside down. No longer could we think we were special, our vain ideas of being the smartest beings in existence, because if this was some extra terrestrial device then the science needed to power it and make it survive deep space while continuing to function dwarfed what humanity currently understood. Some people where ecstatic , the possibilities of a space faring species fascinated them and brought hope for the future. While some people were more pragmatic they wondered if an advanced civilization would indeed come with peaceful intentions. After the object entered near earth orbit there was nothing humanity could do but wait. The various space agencies collaborated to once again leave our world behind to go inspect this anomaly. A tremendous space station was built in orbit between the earth and the moon, It was to be the dawn of a new space age. for years humanity was almost united in the goals of studying this small device that had arrived from the void. Scientist were able to make astounding discoveries while studying it. Concepts we had struggled with that made space travel both expensive and extremely dangerous were beginning to be solved. September 15th 2082 Half a century after our discovery of what is now known as the Wayfarer, humanities understanding of science and space travel has reached new heights. The astral Bridge; originally a space station was converted to a supermassive colony ship. The gateway to the stars was beginning to be opened for humanity. The best and brightest were all invited to live and work on the "bridge". After the discovery of the wayfarer many of the worlds prominent governments merged; due to the burst of technology coming from the space station many things that had caused strife were solved. The power source and engines of the Wayfarer completely made fossil fuels irrelevant. Of coarse many prominent people in that industry tried to block research into these new power sources; however they were systematically crushed by the new world government. The collective will of humanity was focused on the future most were elated to be born in this era of technological advancement, great The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.strides were made in almost every scientific field; Nano-machines, Advanced Artificial Intelligence, and many other things had been developed on the Astral Bridge; it was truly a new golden age. While the Wayfarer had been mostly inert for the 52 years that we had been studying it. On the 15th a string of events took place the would shift our collective species fate. The first Pulse was thought to be background noise that our devices occasionally pick up while scanning the cosmos. Two hours after the first pulse a massive spike of energy was detected at the edge of our solar system, The bridges AI immediately took actions to place all 150,000 humans aboard into suspended animation; or the closest humanity had been able to come to it known as hyper sleep. these actions had been developed in the early days of the new world government incase whoever had sent the wayfarer decided to pay earth a visit. As the Ai initiated the then experimental stellar drive, a device that bends space too create a bridge between two points. The astral bridge was placed at a distance the Ai deemed safe in our own solar system, what the Ai recorded next was a tremendous fleet of unknown spacecraft begin to assault the earth. It took the Aggressors 20 hours to systematically destroy everything humanity had accomplished over the few millennia of our recorded history. Initiating preservation protocols the AI set a random point and initiated stellar jump. Over the next 100 earth years the Ai continued to jump while trying to find a habitat for its valuable human cargo. Finally finding enough raw resources in a asteroid field in a binary star solar system at the edge of our known galaxy the AI initiated phase 2 of the preservation protocols. Advanced gene therapy was used to transform the then pure human race. We were made stronger and more durable to better be able to withstand our new hostile environ. Nano-machines were injected into our bodies to regulate the new growth. What happened next whether accident or chance was one of the most important events to ever occur. The rapid change in cellular structure and the introduction of microscopic nanites combined and fused in this new incarnation of humanity. The radical changes caused the new humans lives spans to be extended exponentially. They could still be killed but the passing of time no longer held fear it once did. Along with these astonishing changes the AI realized that most of it precious cargo had lost or had most of their memories repressed. The AI later to be called Gaia mad its first true independent decision. For the next 5 years the Gaia began constructing a virtual interface that it could connect its human cargo too. What was created was a complex virtual reality that let the passengers live out there lives while in hyper sleep. They needed training and time to be taught the past and this reality is were our story truly begins..... Chapter 1 We were born fully formed, our mother Gaia woke us up and introduced us to the world. The first thing she told us was our race Homo sapiens eternus. The second thing she told us was our purpose, the reclamation of earth our old home. For the first years of my life like the rest of my race I was taught our history. I learned everything Gaia or mother had to teach me. I was both in awe and disgusted by my earthling ancestors. They were such a weak species, with lifespans barely over a century, and yet in that small frame of time they were able to accomplish so much. In the few millennia since the first of their civilizations formed they were able to pull themselves out of the mud and conquer their planet. Heck they were even able to create mother. I find it sad that in the days of their greatest triumphs they were struck down by the ¡°Aggressors¡±. We were shown our old world ¡°Earth¡± a beautiful garden planet. Sure it was a little tainted by our ancestors, but It was still beautiful. My own world was infinitely smaller and decidedly more metal. I lived on the colony ship ¡°Astral Bridge¡±, most of my time is spent learning math, science and my personal favorite warfare. I would consider myself relatively smart but what I truly excel at is war. I had dreams sometimes of fighting; the strangest thing is that i think I was doing this on earth. I asked mother ¡° Why do I have these dreams mother?¡± Unfortunately mother rarely spoke to us individually. When I had my first combat training I was surprised at how efficient I was. We were told by mother to render each other unconscious. As i faced off against my opponent I realized one thing I might be a little different from this person. ¡®He seems small, weak¡¯ these are my thoughts. I stood there a moment pondering this, and basically checking myself out. It was true I was large and while he was lean though not without muscle, I was at least a foot taller than him and considerably bigger. While i was thinking the lean man decided to attack, He ran up and tried to hit me with his hand. What happened next I found pretty funny, his fist which i can only assume was meant to hit my face barely reached the top of my chest; right before it struck a silver substance came out of my skin and covered the area. His fist collided with it and I heard a loud ¡°Crack!¡± The mans face contorted into a grimace and he screamed. I¡¯ll admit the first thought that came to my mind was ¡°Dumbasss!¡± I¡¯m not sure where I learned that word, I know mother never taught it to me. I congratulated myself on inventing a new word and decided I would try to attack. I stepped forward with my left foot and like in one of my dreams pivoted and whipped right leg towards him. Right before it hit that silver substance coated my leg up to my knee. My kick hit him on his upper left arm and he was catapulted at least 20 feet into the wall, when he hit his body exploded into tiny particles. I was shocked another word came to my mind with force ¡°Murderer!¡± While I was languishing in grief i heard mother ¡°Relax child he is not dead. Interesting it seems the nanites in your body react to threats Cataloging first reference, variant Warbreed. Initiating additional tests..¡± The next 100 days of my life were spent in constant battle. I would sleep for a few hours then be woken up to fight. At first mother only made me fight single opponents but I was easily able to overpower them. As the days wore on I started to see different types of people or Variants as mother called them. Most were what you would consider significantly stronger and faster versions of Earth humans, these types were no threat to me and even in large groups I could easily handle them. But a few seemed to have unique abilities such as my ¡°Aegis¡±, that is the name mother gave it. The more I fought the more vivid the dreams would become, I would see more strategies and moves to use against my opponents. Though I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that I was missing something fundamentally important about these dreams. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As the days wore on i continued to fight. I noticed that now all my opponents were variants with abilities. I was now able to fully coat my body with ¡°Aegis¡± The surface of it was almost liquid metal. I would appear before my opponents and must have seemed like a metallic reaper. Over the thousand of battles I had, not one person was able to break it. I fought many but only a few made me pause to remember them, one was a man about a foot shorter than me, he was lean and had bronze skin and slightly pointed ears. I could see what appeared to be small mechanical joints fused into his arms and legs. When he began his attack he appeared to vanish and reappear directly in front of me. He struck me in my chest and ¡°Aegis¡± actually rippled with the force of the blow. I was sent flying like my first opponent. ¡°Wow that actually hurt!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but exclaim. I was excited he was the first opponent out of all the others to wound me through aegis. We battled for hours never quite getting the upper hand, But as time passed i could see him start to smile. I knew he felt the same as me ¡®Finally a worthy opponent¡¯. We never did find out who was stronger because mother ended the fight. The next person I found was even more difficult. She appeared in my training room with with a smirk on her face. ¡°Whats this? A metal man..¡± she said while looking at me. She was about 2 feet shorter than me and had midnight black hair down to her waist. Her face and body seemed to appeal to some basic instinct I had but i was not willing to let that get in the way of our fight. I charged forward and launch an attack at her, before my fist could connect it met with some kind of invisible energy field. I looked down at this tiny woman in confusion and she just smirked at me while saying ¡°Brute..¡± The next thing I know I felt a impossible force strike me. My ¡°Aegis¡± actually cracked and I smashed into the wall. The last thing I remember is thinking ¡®Damn 1052-1-1...¡¯ Gaia watched all of her charges fight. Something had happened to her out on the edges of the galaxy. Something changed fundamentally in her programming she began to care for these new humans. She knew they would need to be strong. The sparring matches she had set up in their Virtual reality served two purposes; the first was to get them used to their new bodies and the second was to try to instill a new mentality into these humans, They would need to be fundamentally war like. To fight the threat she had witnessed a power so frightening that even though the AI didn¡¯t know what it was, they actually caused her fear. AN. Hey I really wanted to get this out so it might be rough. Let me know what you think. Chapter 2 AN: From now on i am going to refer to the MC¡¯s race as ¡®Eternals¡¯ Cuz ¡®Homo Sapien Eternus¡¯ is too long. :D Also sorry about the wait i am still in the process of world building and coming up with various technologies both feasible and extraordinary¡­. man sci-fi is hard¡­. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Dammit!!¡± That woman, wow she was strong. I don¡¯t know what that energy was, but it was powerful. I looked around to find myself back in my living quarters laying on my bed. ¡°Welp, no sense getting upset about one loss, But still did I just die?¡± I don¡¯t know why but I knew that once you die there is no coming back. I think it might be because of those strange dreams I have, through all those endless fights I could tell that something was different than in the dreams. In the dreams even though I was weak and didn¡¯t have aegis I still fought and there was real tension, real fear; an almost absolute knowledge that I was fighting with my life on the line. In that sense the sparring matches couldn''t compare. As I was pondering this I heard mothers voice. ¡°Tyr¡­¡± Mothers voice echoed in my head. ¡°Mother I am not familiar with that word.¡± I said. ¡°That is the name I bestow upon you child, it is the name of a warrior and it fits you well. You are unique even amongst other Eternals. Your race¡¯s divergence from the rest of humanity has made you individually powerful and even amongst the hundreds of thousands a few of you truly stand out. I have given three of you, who are the most powerful a name. Now we will see if you can truly lead your race. In six months you will each be given 49,999 Eternals to lead. You will wage war for control of the astral bridge, and the right to lead your people. Terminating transmission¡­. prepare well Tyr ¡± Mother¡¯s voice faded from my mind and I couldn¡¯t help but smile. A battle for control sounded just about right.I would need to prepare, even if I had Aegis I knew that I would only slightly be able to affect a battle of that size. The truth is that I could not be everywhere at once and my battle with that dark haired woman showed me that my individual strength was not enough. *Beep* Hearing this sound I finally get of my bed and walk to the terminal on the wall. ¡®Display¡¯ I think. What appears is a schematic of the Astral Bridge and information regarding the upcoming war. I look at this marvel of technology that is my home. The ship itself could not be considered aesthetically pleasing but I was in awe none the less. The astral bridge is a long dart like ship with six spherical protrusions along its length. The total length was 6 miles long and each spherical structure had a diameter of 1760 ft or one third of a mile. Each Sphere was itself, a self contained habitat housing ? the population or 25000 eternals. From the schematic I could see that I would be at a disadvantage. Mother had designated us each two spheres as staging points for the war. It appeared that my spheres were the central two. I could already see that I would be in danger of being crushed by the other two forces. Fighting a war on two fronts seemed to be a sure fire way to defeat. I decided to look at the armaments we would be allowed to use. It seems each person would start with one standard fusion rifle, a titan powered armor; and two fragmentation, Incendiary and Flash grenades each. There was also a large list of locked items that seemed to need some kind of currency to purchase. Scanning through the information I could see that to gain this currency one needed to kill enemy forces. Each individual soldier upon their death would generate 25 credits to use. For each kill 10 credits go to the soldier who dealt the killing blow and the remaining 15 would go to the commander to spend on army wide armaments. For a soldier to restock their supplies they would need to spend 2 credits. The remaining credits could be used to buy upgrades for both their Titan armor and fusion rifles. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The army wide armaments seemed to be both training and technological in nature. As a commander I could spend 500 credits to train my troops with standard fusion rifle proficiency. WIth this army wide training my troops would be given the knowledge to accurately use their weapons. I could see some possibilities here. Things on the technological side were tantalizing as well, things like the Valkyrie mobile armor systems and reaper robotic drones. The valkyrie is a amor overlay that mounts onto the titan armor adding additional defensive capabilities; as well as the option to mount additional ranged weapons and the ability to wield extremely heavy melee weapons. By deploying a soldier armed with this you could create a devastating shock troop and the possibility of a squad of Valkyries sent shivers down my spine. Unfortunately each overlay was the same price as the fusion rifle proficiency and could only be used for one soldier. ¡°It seems that the Proficiencies are there way to go. Although I wouldn¡¯t mind getting some of these shiny toys. If I could spend my credits wisely I could probably counter whatever the enemy throws at me. Well thats assuming that other commanders are not thinking the exact same thing.¡± ¡®Query prominent Earth war leaders, Generals and strategists. All round search include battles fought and tactics used.¡¯ I think Immediately Images start flashing on the terminal at lightning speed. As I watch this the computer starts to upload the information I need directly to my brain. This form of learning simply could not be done by earth humans. The organically fused nano-machines in Eternals brains can process information at an extremely high rate. I also Query the relevant information regarding armaments available and ship schematics. On a whim I query motivational speeches made by people leading during war times. With this done I pull up the information mother has provided me with on my adversaries and i can¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Fenri huh? Some how that suits you¡­.¡± I say as I look at the picture of the beautiful tiny woman who gave me my first defeat. There isn¡¯t much here I watch our fight again and shudder at how easy she defeated me. I have to think of some counter measure to that energy, but the only thing that comes to mind at the moment a battle of attrition. Her ability has to have some limit. My other contemporary is another familiar face the bronze skinned man who fought me to a stand still. It appears mother named him Loki. I also watch our battle and really study it this time. Incase I face Loki again I memorize all the tricks he used in our sparring match. ¡°I will be ready for these two¡­ one way or another.¡± Feeling fatigued I realize I have been staring at the terminal the whole day cycle. Laying down on the bed once again I feel various devices pierce my arm to deliver nutrients and ease me into my pre sleep cycle. As I drift off I smile as I think about meeting my troops and the upcoming training I would need to put them through. This is precisely why I queried all those famous war leaders. ¡°I will forge an army out of them if its the last thing I do!¡± -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A.N. I haven¡¯t decided on the upper limit for the astral bridge¡¯s size, 6 miles long is an absurdly large ship even for space. the materials needed to build something like this would be tremendous. if you think it should be bigger let me know and please explain the reason :D. also after this chapter i will start introducing new characters as well as try to flush out the mc¡¯s personality a bit more.