The PlotSome years after the events of FE (its not really my business to decide how many years), The EDF has normalized relations with its competing races. What Cerberi remain are in disarray, and hold no real power. The Hadean Crown keeps to it worlds, and the Scions, although secretive and independent, are beginning to interact to a greater degree with humanity.
The Scions complete the greatest construction known to modern science, and to all known intelligence in the universe: the
ARK III, the first intergalactic ship to contain a functional
Alcubierre drive, a system which allows the propulsion of matter at apparently
faster than light (FTL) speeds without requiring infinite energy (this is accomplished by contracting the space in front of the ship and expanding the space behind, not moving the ship chemically, but "pushing" it along with artificial gravity). The
ARK III's first mission will be the most iconic in all of history: it will travel (literally) across the visible universe, through intergalactic space a mind-warping 13.7Bly (billion light years) into space (and through the implications of FTL travel, in time as well). The ships crew is entirely Scion, except for a single human ambassador (I wont decide a name, but in this plot summary he is referred to as "The Ambassador"), who will accompany the Scions on their journey. The Ambassador is the player's character.
The first actual mission would be on Mire, as the player (The Ambassador) is deployed by an EDF envoy to join the crew of the
ARK III, primarily this would serve as a chance to introduce the characters to the player, and might be used to explore Scion culture (buildings, etc). Basically, an introductory mission.
The ARK departs Mire, and makes a pass by Earth as a PR stunt requisitioned by the EDF as a sign of the EDF's continuing bureaucratic usefulness to the people of Earth. The ARK begins drive warp, and its crew prepare for the 42 month journey to the other side of the universe....
A third the way through the trip (aprox 3.2Bly, ~14 months into the trip for crew members) the ARK unexpectedly drops out of warp and loses power. It is later revealed that the ARK had passed through a moon, and the immense energy required to pass the mass of the moon around the ship has drained the biometal reactors (at this point, imagine a moon similar to Earth's, with what seems to be a bullet hole in it, causing fractures across its surface. Note the scion-looking-ship on the other side of the moon). This moon belongs to a planet, one of two in a solar system in galaxy
SDSSJ0737+3216, nearly a third the way across the universe. Besides this planet and its moon, there is only a gas giant looming in this solar system. The planet, it appears, was once so close to its sun that it became
Tidally Locked, it has since moved away from its sun, into a habitable zone, but it remains tidally locked. By this it is meant that one side of the planet
always faces its sun, and one side is
always blanketed in darkness.
Very quickly, the ARK comes under attack by enemy fighters and an abandon ship is ordered. Landing craft are ordered to aim for an LZ in the temperate zone of the planet, a zone near the permanent twilight ring (a side effect of tidal locking) which circles a narrow band of this planet. A successful landing is made, and at this point, The Ambassador is called into action as too many Scions have died in the attack to provide a much needed fighting force.
This is supposedly where the second mission would begin. It would be The Ambassador's task to deploy one of a very limited number of recyclers and establish a base among hostile forces. There is no biometal indigenous to this world (at this point) and as such, falling pieces of the
ARK III (falling as meteors) would form biometal pools. In this mission, the player finds that he encounters large numbers (large enough numbers that it would be a challenge) of enemy craft, small and large, but all are weak and easily destroyed, as they are not made of biometal. The player sees that he is fighting two distinct races, which are in fact at war with each other in addition to the player. For more, see
Ancient Hadeans and Olympians as Races later on.
Soon, what remains of the
ARK III falls to the surface not far from the Scion's base. It could be the third mission to secure this crash site, as it harbors a large amount of biometal. At this point, the player starts to encounter several varieties of enemy craft which are just as resilient as Scion craft, and, when destroyed, leave behind raw biometal. This mission would also see the
very subtle beginnings of a more-than-military relationship between the Player (The Ambassador) and his commanding officer, an as of yet unnamed Scion lieutenant, who happens to be a female. (ah, the defaults of a male-centric society...).
Missions continue with the player fighting both his Cthonian adversaries, on the premise of whatever minor objectives might be thought of by the ever-creative BZ Community. This is the section of the story which might be drawn out to add additional missions to everyone's heart's content. During these missions, the fragmented moon, breaking apart, begins to loom slowly and surely closer and bigger in the sky as it is falling onto the planet. In addition, it might be nice to further flesh out the characters and the developing relationship with the Lieutenant during these intermediate missions, building a connection to them for the player. As these missions progress, it is seen that all of the weak non-biometal Olympian and Cthonian ships are quickly replaced by stronger, more powerful, biometal versions. Falling meteor/pieces of the ARK might be used as a source of scrap for play during these missions.
Something like halfway through the intermediate missions, it will be revealed that scientists of both the Ancient Hadeans and Ancient Olympians (both races harbor far superior minds to Humans or Scions) have reverse engineered the biometal that crashed to their HOMEWORLD (yes you have stumbled upon the CTHONIAN HOMEWORLD, what are the chances...) as the hull of the
ARK III, and learned to produce new biometal from reactors which tap the energy of the planet's core. (When playing as Ancient Hadeans and Ancient Olympians, this would be your gameplay resource, you directly produce biometal. (-Similar to the function of The Swarm's resourcing in Fleshstorm, idea credit goes to Lizard-) This explains why at first the Cthonians ships were weak- as they learned to produce biometal, they adapted it to their craft and as such they grew in strength. This, in fact, could explain the origin of the Cthonian's use of biometal, it can also, by a weird switch of fate, therefore directly explain the very origin of biometal. I don't want to make that claim in this story, because that would be very selfish, but nonetheless, it could be implied as a possibility. In short: Cthonians reverse engineered it from Scions, who are a product of the Human's discovery of biometal left behind by the Cthonians- (it doesn't make sense now, but more on that later.)
Junction MissionAfter some missions, it is discovered that the destroyed moon is falling to this planet, and that it will likely destroy all habitant life upon its impact, blowing away most of the planet's atmosphere and liquefying the planet's crust. During a "Junction Mission" not unlike mission 14 in the original BZII, the player is approached by peaceful representatives of both the Ancient Hadeans and Ancient Olympians with offers of peace in return for aid.
-- If the Player chooses to help the Ancient Hadeans, it is revealed that a Hadean scientist constructed and activated a time machine
(REALISTIC! not unlike this one, this type of time machine could mathematically send matter back in time, but it would have to be extremely massive, requires incredible energy, and it can not send anything back to a time before the machine was activated. It cannot send matter into the future.) at the beginning of the Hadean-Olympian Civil War 126 Cthonian years ago, in hopes that, if the Hadeans were compromised and beaten militarily, he might go back and stop the war from beginning in the first place. With the addition of the miracles of biometal, the scientist has been able to modify it to create a one-way worm hole which would allow the escape of all Cthonian civilization from the inevitable impact of their moon on this planet, their homeworld. If the Hadean side is chosen, several missions would be spent aiding in the defense and construction of this worm hole generator as the destroyed moon looms ever closer, mission by mission, in the sky until by the final mission, it occupies nearly the entire sky. In the final mission, a large battle takes place, at the conclusion of which, the Hadean fleet and ground forces pass through the worm hole. In the haste to escape the falling moon (at this point imagine a giant fractured moon occupying most of the sky, meteors (falling fragments of the moon) falling everywhere), the scientist asks the exact space coordinates of the ARK's last departure of the Scion captain (coordinates near earth), and he provides them. The scientist adds them to the worm-hole generator's computer, and opens the portal. It does not shut off once the entirety of the Hadean fleet and the Scions pass through, and as such, the Olympian fleet follows. The portal is destroyed as the moon crashes to the Cthonian homeworld.
-- If the Player Chooses to help the Ancient Olympians, it is learned that the enemy, the Ancient Hadeans, posses a means to escape the doomed planet, and plan to leave the Olympians behind. The player's missions become centered around destroying Hadean bases in an attempt to get to and posses the Worm Hole Device.
The last mission is a great battle, and at it's conclusion, the last of the Hadeans retreat through the device. Because it does not close, the Olympians and what remains of their allies (at this point, only The Lieutenant and The Ambassador[the player]; all others were killed) follow the Hadeans through.
Both fleets come out of the worm hole near Earth, but it is not Earth as we know it. It is the early Earth. It is Earth 3.2 Billion years in the past. It has rings, recently created by the impact of a large object on Earth's surface of boiling lava and sulfur.
(these rings will coalesce to form our moon) This occurs because when the
ARK III traveled halfway across the universe at FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT, it also traveled
back in time, in accordance with Einsteins theory of special relativity. 3.2 Billion years back in time to be exact.
See space-time, and
faster than light travel. Because the Hadean scientist's portal (using the magic of biometal) bent space to form a worm hole, no difference in time occurred, and as such they were teleported to the Earth 3.2 Billion years in the past.
Upon emergence from the one way portal, there is a brief space battle between the Ancient Hadeans and the Ancient Olympians, or rather, the last survivors of these two factions of a now nearly extinct species. The small Scion ship (which holds only the player (The Ambassador) and his love interest, the Lieutenant) is damaged in the battle and crashes to Earth. It is revealed (by some means) to the player that the Cthonians, shortly after the battle which damaged the player's ship, reached a peace agreement (it is assumed on the basis that it was mutually agreed that their species would not survive further conflict), and that they(the Cthonians) assume that the Ambassador and the Lieutenant died instantly when their ship crashed to this harsh, primeval, and lifeless world, Earth. The Cthonian's spot a fertile world, the fourth planet from the sun, Icarus, and settle there in peace. (The remains of Icarus can now be seen as our asteroid belt (yes, its somewhat ironic when contrasted with my previous statement about peace)). It is presumed that they remain at peace for some years, until such time as they have inhabited all the planets and moons in the solar system, even to some degree, Earth, in addition to many star systems beyond our own, before another Cthonian civil war, a war we are familiar with from the logs of BZ1, breaks out and results in the destruction of Icarus.
Back on Earth, the Scion ship holding the player and the Lieutenant in fact was not destroyed on impact, and instead survived enough to allow for its passengers to survive the landing. As the final scene, a human in love with a scion emerge from an alien craft as their oxygen levels run low, (no hope for contact as their radio was destroyed), and crawl to their final resting place, sitting, backs to a stone, with a view of the most beautiful of Earth's sunsets. The toxic chemicals, heat and sulfur warp the suns rays into brilliant colors. On their dying breaths, the first names of these characters are exchanged, Adam, The Human Ambassador[the player], and Eve, The Scion Lieutenant[the love interest]. It is implied that microbes from these two being's decaying bodies are the very first lifeforms on Earth, and go on to survive and evolve in the hostile earth's environment, eventually manufacturing oxygen in our atmosphere and giving rise to all life on earth in the next 3.2 Billion years, including humans.
NOTE: the passing of the
ARK III through the Cthonian moon is the cause for the moon's falling to the Cthonian homeworld.
NOTE2: the bit about Adam and Eve is completely nonessential, I only thought that they might make fitting names for these two, the supposed beginnings of life on Earth. I thought it might make a nice touch is all. And no, I am not a Christian.
From the perspective of the EDF and the Scions in the years after the evens of FE, the
ARK III disappears and is never heard from again.
