Chapter 1 - End or beginning?

In a dusty old apartment in the suburbs of Shanghai, an old man was staring at a collection of medals and seemed to be reminiscing about something. You could hear him murmur, "Peace, what an ambitious prospect for humans, as long as they are men they will be at war". Indeed the retired soldier was staring at a collection of medals he painstakingly earned by fighting for his country. "Patriotism is a foolish ideology, we did not fight for our country we fought for so that rich tycoons can get richer by invading resourceful countries and stealing their natural resources. But at the end of the day people like us who have served more than fifty years have to live as paupers while the rich tycoons live in luxurious mansions." the old man muttered in anger.

This is the year 2190 and retired spymaster Gabriel Colt is experiencing his last years. After serving more than 50 years as a spymaster he got discharged due to a political feud, he was ignored as a piece of trash, his wife divorced him and his children hated him. However, he was not an ordinary officer in the army, he first started out as a covert operative then rose through the ranks to become the head of the SIC (Secret Intelligence Department) of the NATO Empire. This department doesn't exist in the eyes of the public and other nations only have an inkling on what's going on inside the department. Naturally he was a very important person however he and a group of other directors were fed up with all the pointless war and released secret information to the public which showcased how this meaningless war was instigated only for some individuals to reap the benefits while the common populace suffered.

This prompted the removal of Gabriel and his supporters' removal from their respective positions, but however he expected this and was counting on the general populace to support him, however contrary to his expectations they believed the lies of the government and saw him as a traitor him. At this moment he realized how brainwashed the people were. Even though he was the Director of the SIC, due to the nature of the department he was unknown to the public and the government used this fact to undermine him further as a rambling old man, his family abandoned him, and he was forced to flee the country. He then fled to NATO's lifelong enemy the Communist Republic of Asia (CRA). He was a spymaster, although retired, of the NATO so upon landing he was placed on house arrest and is still in house arrest.

Suddenly his smartwatch started ringing, it was a call from his best friend Dannis Cork who was the Ex-Director of the Special forces unit when Gabriel was the Director of SIC, Dannis was a firm supporter of Gabriel and was similarly ousted from his country, but his family was loyal to him and he and his family fled to the Trade nation of Osskil. They regularly contacted each other but rarely talked about their past due to surveillance by both countries. This call surprised him since it was 3.00 am in Dannis's time zone right now.

"Dannis! What's got into you to take a call at this time, we are not how we were once full of energy, we feeble old men need our golden rest! '' Gabriel started lecturing his best friend as soon as he answered the call out of care for his best friend's deteriorating health.

"Wow calm down Gabe, do you think I would call for no reason at this time! '' Dannis replied excitedly. " This is going to change our entire lives, we will be able to finally avenge the injustice served to us. "

"Please stop beating around the bush and why for hell's sake are you talking sensitive information through a line under surveillance." Gabriel retorted with a hint of anger.

"We will be the least of their worries if what I think is going to happen". Dannis started to explain excitedly.

"I just received information from an old friend who is still in the army. The recently launched space explorer 'Star hunter' has come into contact with an alien species' , After hearing Dannis's statement, Gabriel couldn't believe his and asked, "Are you sure this information is reliable ''. After all it was surprising that humans have finally managed to come in contact with another sentient race.

"Of course, I double checked with my other sources, and I am confident enough to say that it is true. ", replied Dannis.

"So what does it have to do with us? " asked Gabriel. So what if humans have contacted an alien race, it won't change his current predicament.

"I was coming to that part" , exclaimed Dannis excitedly, "It was not us who initiated the contact, it was them and they are way more advanced than humans, so advanced that they have subdued many races like ours into their intergalactic empire."

"So you're telling me a bunch of aliens are going to invade Earth", asked Gabriel skeptically. Dannis has finally gone mad after years of war, thought Gabriel.

"Don't believe me, you will in a few hours." said Dannis and hung up the call, he knew that Gabriel wouldn't believe him, but at least I tried, thought Dannis, in a few hours the entire world would know, much less Gabriel.

In the headquarters of the CRA Internal Surveillance Department, a young man wearing a khaki uniform was sitting in front of a surveillance camera. John was having a bad day at work, first he learnt that the coworker he always had a crush on was going to be married next week. Then the boss got mad at him at him because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and to add icing to the cake he was given the most boring job in the entire department.

For the past five years the department was doing surveillance on a pair of old men who were once one of the world's most feared men. However, in John's and most of the department's opinion they were just a pair of old senile men.

However, today John couldn't believe what he was hearing and dismissed as a foolish rambling of an old man way past his prime. Then suddenly an emergency alarm started ringing aloud followed by an announcement, "Attention all employees please gather at the Main Hanger, this is a code black emergency. I repeat all employees please gather at the Main Hanger, this is a code black emergency". Code black, he had never ever experienced this kind of alarm in his life, but according to what he heard from the old timers only apocalyptic emergencies deserved this alarm. John suddenly remembered the conversation he had eavesdropped on and his eyes widened in shock.