Quantum Book 1: Stranded

Prologue

A war that has lasted six thousand years. Hard to imagine huh? Well it happened. Humanity made huge advancements in every field. We learned so much. But that was lost during the war. We fought so long, so hard, so violently that no one even remembers why we were fighting. My sister and I were veterans of this war, having gotten involved when we turned seventeen. Never had I gotten into a fight before then, but the violence just came naturally to me. The idea of killing someone wasn't hard to stomach for me, as I had already accepted that I would be doing so. My sister was different. She  had always been a nice person. She decided that the fighting wasn't for her, so she became a pilot. We tried to stick together as much as possible. It was only after the war that we realized what we had become.  War machines. We were war machines. We tried civilian life, but it wasn't right for us. The fact we weren't in danger didn't sit right with us. So we re-enlisted. And it was soon after that that a massive discovery was made.

During the war, our ships had become increasingly rare. We went from millions of ships to barely being able to maintain a hundred. We had also lost DRL technology, and in pursuit of it, we found something that made the hearts of humanity skip a beat, made our brains overload with emotion, made our mouths shout with joy. We discovered dimensional travel. We sent probes through and developed technology once more, only this time, we weren't aiming to destroy. We aimed to explore. A new golden age was upon us! And so, a year later, after figuring out FTL for a second time, after pulling our brains together and working hard to amass a fleet, we did it. We sent a fleet through. My sister and I were a part of that fleet. My sister, a Special Service pilot. Me, a Marine Raider. The Special Service, or S.S., were the ace pilots of our air crews. They flew everything from fighters to transports, and they could find a way to navigate a course of needles with any ship, plane, or helicopter you gave them. And yes, before you ask, helicopters are indeed still in use, as are many other things you are familiar with. The AC-130, the UH-60 Black Hawk, even the V-22 was still being used. If it ain't broke don't fix it. But where as the S.S. Can thread a needle, sometimes things require a, "Sledge hammer to the gnat" approach. That is where I come in. Raiders, a special forces group designed to be as brutally effective as possible. We strike fast, strike hard, and strike deep. We are Raiders in every sense of the word. We aren't just loud though, when precision is needed, we can do that too. Our snipers could kill a fly from a mile away, and by the time you realize what has happened, they're already gone.

Which leads into the current situation. Subjugation. When humanity discovered another sentient species, we quickly tried to be friendly and nice. What did we get? A lot of people trying to kill us. And so, we did what we had done for the past six thousand years once more. We fought. We killed. We survived. We subjugated that race, and unbelievably, they were bipedal wolves. And it was then we realized, that if none would be our friend willingly, then they will be forced to serve. We quickly expanded into other dimensions, and in the span of six months already held control of nearly ninety two different dimensions. Most were uninhabited by sentient life, but those we did find were presented two choices, submit, or suffer. Many chose submit. They were lucky. Those who chose to fight would be bombarded for weeks without end, and when they thought it couldn't get worse, we dropped chemical weapons meant to blind and paralyze. And then we sent in Raiders. The Raiders made quick work of those who tried to fight. Others were simply arrested as POWs. We are currently on the planet Torfan. A planet with large oceans not unlike earth, but unfortunately the planet had a tough climate. Jungles on the coast were where most civilizations were, but for the most part, the people stayed underground, where it was safe. Large deserts spanned the single continent, and these deserts were quickly turned into war zones when we arrived. The problem we had run into was the fact that our enemy, a race of snake people, had advanced enough that they were around late 1960's level America. Making them pretty dangerous. But we had the one thing they didn't. After a long time toiling away, we created something called an Anchor. The Anchor was a machine that locked onto your bio signal and would work like a video game respawn point if you died. The problem was, they had to be installed, and that took time. So we stayed defensive until the Anchor was ready and then deployed it. It was here on Torfan that it happened.