In 2000, the Rikti sent a force to Earth. It was fought off, but at great cost.
In 2020, the Rikti returned. The previous invasion was only a diversionary tactic, an effort to weaken Earth's defenses and create a base of operations. The second invasion was much larger, and it succeeded.
Humans were irrelevant to the Rikti; they were after Earth's natural resources. The invaders brutally ***** the planet, removing its water and mining it's crust and mantle of scarce elements. The Earth became a scarred desert unsuitable for life. Humanity had been reduced to a few Martian colonies and scattered space stations.
For two hundred years after that, mankind lived in two distinct classes. Martian life was brutal and harsh, their work focusing on providing raw materials to the "Eloi" who ruled the skies. Spacer life was one of luxury and decadence, dependant on robotics and the labor of the "Trolls" who lived under the Martian surface.
In secret, the Martians learned Spacer techniques of robot manufacture and imprinting (a process of partially "copying" a human mental pattern in to a robotic "brain", giving a sort of personality and, more importantly, an ability to reason, rationalize, learn and adapt.) They also developed physical sciences to where they could warp the universe itself in a limited way, to "unroll" some of the hidden dimensions of space-time and alter the functioning of basic nuclear processes. This science was used to create a Warp Device, an untested but presumably powerful bomb. With these tools came the bid for freedom.
Civil Defense unit 4918 Alpha had been operational for nearly 40 years on Samsara Station. His main job had been reprimanding people who talked too loudly in the corridors and to escort home those who had overindulged the station's many options for recreational drugs. When the invasion came, his primary function to "protect and defend law abiding citizens" came to the forefront, and he found himself acting as a last line of defense against the Martian attack. Ares Resistance Militia unit Tau 238 Beta was part of that attack. He had been ordered to clear a path to the station's fusion reactor so that the Warp Device could be deployed. The last thing either of them remember from the war is facing each other outside the power plant door.
Then came a discontinuity. The EM pulse of the exploding Warp Device disrupted their cognitive functions; next they knew, they were in an orbital arc towards the sun. They were quite surprised when a science ship from Earth picked them up and told them that the year was only 2004. The explosion had knocked them back in time as well as space.
Their new, self-imposed primary mission is to prepare Earth for the next Rikti invasion in 16 years. To make sure that their mission succeeds, they have joined with the Freedom Force in Paragon City. They hope that if the Rikti beachhead can be eliminated, the main invasion will be called off. At the least, they will be on the front lines when the invasion does take place.
With their human imprinting, though, they can't help but to be concerned. If they succeed, the future from which they came would not exist. The fact that they are still here rather worries them.
In 2000, the Rikti sent a force to Earth. It was fought off, but at great cost.
In 2020, the Rikti returned. The previous invasion was only a diversionary tactic, an effort to weaken Earth's defenses and create a base of operations. The second invasion was much larger, and it succeeded.
Humans were irrelevant to the Rikti; they were after Earth's natural resources. The invaders brutally ***** the planet, removing its water and mining it's crust and mantle of scarce elements. The Earth became a scarred desert unsuitable for life. Humanity had been reduced to a few Martian colonies and scattered space stations.
For two hundred years after that, mankind lived in two distinct classes. Martian life was brutal and harsh, their work focusing on providing raw materials to the "Eloi" who ruled the skies. Spacer life was one of luxury and decadence, dependant on robotics and the labor of the "Trolls" who lived under the Martian surface.
In secret, the Martians learned Spacer techniques of robot manufacture and imprinting (a process of partially "copying" a human mental pattern in to a robotic "brain", giving a sort of personality and, more importantly, an ability to reason, rationalize, learn and adapt.) They also developed physical sciences to where they could warp the universe itself in a limited way, to "unroll" some of the hidden dimensions of space-time and alter the functioning of basic nuclear processes. This science was used to create a Warp Device, an untested but presumably powerful bomb. With these tools came the bid for freedom.
Civil Defense unit 4918 Alpha had been operational for nearly 40 years on Samsara Station. His main job had been reprimanding people who talked too loudly in the corridors and to escort home those who had overindulged the station's many options for recreational drugs. When the invasion came, his primary function to "protect and defend law abiding citizens" came to the forefront, and he found himself acting as a last line of defense against the Martian attack. Ares Resistance Militia unit Tau 238 Beta was part of that attack. He had been ordered to clear a path to the station's fusion reactor so that the Warp Device could be deployed. The last thing either of them remember from the war is facing each other outside the power plant door.
Then came a discontinuity. The EM pulse of the exploding Warp Device disrupted their cognitive functions; next they knew, they were in an orbital arc towards the sun. They were quite surprised when a science ship from Earth picked them up and told them that the year was only 2004. The explosion had knocked them back in time as well as space.
Their new, self-imposed primary mission is to prepare Earth for the next Rikti invasion in 16 years. To make sure that their mission succeeds, they have joined with the Freedom Force in Paragon City. They hope that if the Rikti beachhead can be eliminated, the main invasion will be called off. At the least, they will be on the front lines when the invasion does take place.
With their human imprinting, though, they can't help but to be concerned. If they succeed, the future from which they came would not exist. The fact that they are still here rather worries them.