The Henders Conflict

Prologue, part 2

There are few that still imagine Earth to be the center of human civilization. Most of what we knew of Earth has been eradicated. The Earth today has been formed by the events on the day of the Crying Dead. On that day, within an hour, the eight and a half billion strong population of Earth was laid low . No-one saw it coming. Afterwards there was no-one left to resist. The only ones to witness the spectacle were the people on the lunar colonies. Earth was concealed by a cloud of radioactive dust. The dust forming a mantle around the earth glowing yellow. It didn't look like earth any more, this was a dead planet.

On the colonies, people were not sure what to do.

Following the day of the Crying Dead panic raged over the remaining humans. While the grand Martian cities experienced heavy uproar, the colonies on Luna had the heaviest riots. The president however did not organize a reconnaissance flight to earth to record the destruction. He said that the cloud of radioactive dust that now surrounded the earth was impenetrable and that Luna could not afford to waist any resources in these troubling times.

Anarchy was sweeping the colonies. People were talking about the final apocalypse, others were going mad with grief because of the loss of their family.

President Vallum was faced with the impossible task of bringing back peace to his dying nation. The police had failed, and just before the government decided to start throwing bombs on major riot zones, Vallum came with an answer. Harnessing a special Ore found scattered over the moons' uncountable craters he created a specialized army to bring back peace to the colonies, these 'Guardian Marines' were the pinnacle of infantry warfare. clad in black-scaled exosuits and fitted with the latest military technology. They did not act as a single unit, but were split up into groups of two to five. Each marine specialized in wielding different weapons than the next. But these soldiers had another trick up their sleeve. The Ore embedded in their suits gave them superhuman abilities, making them able to process information and assess situations much faster than any normal human could. The Ore boosted their agility and strength considerably.

Just days after the founding of the Academy to train these soldiers in, Vallum surprised everyone when he deployed the first fully trained Guardian Marines. And only a mere couple weeks passed between the release of the first guardian marines and the return of the peace. President Vallum re-organised the government system and replaced the old politicians by new ones of his own. In charge of the Academy was Exode-General Victor Stormborn. A former military commander from the flash wars. In these terrible conflicts, he singlehandedly lead the allied troops to victory against the Borhesian rebels after his own general had fallen. They say he saved the life of one of his soldiers by jumping in front of him and blocking a knifeslash with his left arm just before an enemy could slash the soldier in the back, and that that is where he got the massive scar that runs all the way down his lower left arm. It ends where his ring- and little finger should have been. The story then goes on about how Commander Stormborn choked that enemy with the same arm he took the knifeslash with and that he kept fighting until the battle was over, even though he had a gaping wound in his arm, rooting fear in the hearts of the enemy. Fear of the 'Man that feels no pain'. And thus the flash wars were ended. All people of Luna know the story. But Exode-General Stormborn wasn't only respected because of his heroism, but also because of his tactical genius in the years before. Even the supersoldiers that come forth from the Academy have huge respect for him, and would never dare to betray him. Stormborn is respected by them, honoured by them, loved by them.

Exode-General Stormborn was put in charge of all Lunar military activity and the proper running of the Academy. He also gave his adopted daughter Sarah a job as a researcher at the Academy. After a lot of arguing, the President agreed with this decision.

The first expedition to earth came years later. The dust cloud had not settled yet, still concealing the surface of Earth from the people. Scanning equipment couldn't penetrate the thick cloud, that is why somebody had to go down there to find out what remains of what was once the birthplace of mankind.

Luna Archive Database (LAD) - august2132