The Signal Traver hangs in the blackness of space, a colossal, jellyfish-like entity. It pulses with a soft, red light, a gentle warning glow that seems to absorb the endless night. Then, a sharp, brilliant beam of white light strikes it, and the Traver's entire body ignites, its red glow flaring into a blinding flash.
Suddenly, a thick, searing column of that same white light erupts from the Traver and plunges toward the spinning blue orb below—Earth.We fall with the light, racing toward the planet's familiar surface. From a distance, it looks like the home we know, with swirling white clouds and continents of green and brown. But as we get closer, a strange thing happens. The smooth surface fractures into countless tiny squares. It's like a computer screen, zooming in to reveal a landscape made of pixels. What we thought were forests are actually a vast canopy of real green foliage—trees and plants growing on the sprawling, metallic roofs of countless buildings. The oceans aren't gone; they gleam in the narrow canyons and channels between the buildings, reflecting the light and showing us that this is a living, bustling world, not a lifeless one.
The beam of light slams into the surface, striking one of the myriad buildings, the only sign of purpose on this boundless, vibrant world of metal.
(The silver building, previously a pixel on the planet's surface, lights up, its windows glowing from within. The shot cuts, and the camera floats inward, moving through a single window and into the heart of the structure.)
Inside, the building is a hive of activity. People bustle past one another, their faces illuminated by holographic screens, each speaking with different aliens in different languages. Along the walls, countless lines of light pulse and weave like a frantic, living network, carrying signals in every direction. The camera follows one specific line as it flashes with increasing speed, leading to a closed door.
It cuts to the inside of the room. A massive screen on the far wall blazes to life, displaying a progress bar that ticks from 1% to 100%. The only other sound in the room is the frantic tapping of a human's foot.
The shot cuts again, showing a woman in the next room, completely unfazed by the activity. She calmly pours hot water into a cup, steam swirling around her face. Behind her, the walls are a blur of light—a constant, frantic ballet of incoming and outgoing signals. With the tea now made, she turns and walks to the door where the tapping man waits.
She opens the door, and her calm is instantly shattered by the man's furious voice.
"6 KGS OF WOOD??!"
ALIEN
(He holds out a hand.)
We need 6 KG. It's for all the damages and the thousands of men we lost on the battlefield.
HUMAN
(The human scoffs.)
Men you lost? How do you lose men to half-breeds? Useless humans, half of them don't even have five brain cells.
ALIEN
They had weapons, and they fought back.
HUMAN
(He throws his hands in the air.)
With what? Their walking sticks? Their wheelchairs?
ALIEN
One of them had a robotic suit with what looked like a sun core in his chest. And the other one... we couldn't make him out. He was the most inhuman and overgrown of them all, with glowing eyes.
HUMAN
(He freezes, his face going pale.)
A sun core? That's not possible. Sun cores are too big and complex to make a smaller, working model.
(The alien holds up a device and taps it. A holographic image of Wolf appears, striding down a hallway in his mech suit. The image zooms in, focusing on the center of his chest, where a faint light pulses.)
ALIEN
See for yourself. There's no mistaking it.
HUMAN
(He stares at the image, a strange mix of awe and terror on his face.)
But... how? We need that sun core. We need to study it. This could be our biggest find yet. So those half-humans aren't so useless after all.
ALIEN
So we will get 6 KG of wood if we find and bring him to you?
HUMAN
No! You get 60 KG of wood.
ALIEN
(The alien's eyes widen slightly.)
Whoa. That's a lot. Is this so important?
HUMAN
(He leans in, his face contorted in a furious snarl.)
YES! Now go get it! Or do you not want the 60 KG of wood, huh?!
(The spaceship Wolf cuts a silent path through the cosmos, its silver hull gleaming under the light of distant nebulae.)
The shot cuts to the inside of the ship.
In the ship's cramped gym, BJ works out, the rhythmic hum of the machinery accompanying his effort. In the command deck, Big B sits at a console, his fingers flying across a series of holographic projections, managing a complex list of delegations. Down in the galley, Rudy hums to himself as he prepares a meal, the aroma of spices filling the air.
The camera finds Wolf, alone in his quarters, staring out of a small viewport at the vast, uncaring void of space.
AI
(A voice inside his head.)
Hey, Wolf. I know you're awake. I'm a part of you now; I can read all your body activity.
WOLF
(He doesn't turn, his voice flat and cold.)
You clearly can't. If you could, you'd be reading me telling you to shut up.
(Wolf doesn't wait for a response. He simply turns his gaze back to the cold, silent stars.)
He was a kid again, standing in a park, with Joe.
Joe sat in his wheelchair, watching the other kids play. His shoulders slumped, and a quiet sigh escaped his lips as he looked down at his own legs.
"What are you doing?" a voice asked.
Joe, startled, sat up straight and looked at Wolf as if he had appeared out of nowhere.
"Hello," Wolf said with a big smile. "What's your name?"
"Joe," he replied, a hint of caution in his voice. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, just wondering why you look so sad."
"If you couldn't play and just had to sit in a wheelchair, would you be happy?"
"Yes," Wolf said. "I'd be able to drive around like a car racer."
"Yeah, well, I don't have the arm strength for that," Joe said, looking away.
"I can push you around if you want."
Joe looked at him with a look of pure shock.
"No, that would be boring," he said. "Besides, nobody likes pushing useless people around, and nobody plays with me anyway, so it won't hurt me if you don't."
"Nobody wants to play with me, either, so I don't have any problem with playing with you," Wolf replied. "Come on, don't be down. Let's play. I know you want to."
"No! You'll get bored and lose me in some random street."
"Pretty please? We can just play here in the park," Wolf said, his smile gentle.
A flicker of hope appeared in Joe's eyes, and a small smile touched his lips. "Fine, let's do this."
Wolf's smile grew wider.
(The camera cuts to the park's treehouse, where a group of kids are huddled around a small window, looking down.)
KID 1
He's so creepy. He just sits there staring at us.
KID 2
Yeah, he's probably lazy. If his parents weren't watching, we could beat him up.
(He looks out again, then his eyes widen. He nudges the kid next to him.)
KID 3
What? He's watching us again?
(They all peer out the window, and their faces fall in shock. They see Wolf, pushing Joe's wheelchair, making it spin in a circle. The two of them are laughing loudly.)
All the kids hit the small window of the treehouse and glare down as Wolf and Joe yell up at them.
WOLF
(He grins widely.)
Yeah, this is so much fun, right?!
JOE
(He shouts back with a huge smile.)
Yeah, it is!
(The camera pans down to Wolf and Joe, completely oblivious to the other kids. Joe's mom starts to stand up to stop the kids, but Wolf looks over and gives her a big smile and a wave.)
WOLF
Hello!
(Joe's mom smiles back and sits down again, a look of relief on her face.)
JOE'S MOM
(To herself)
Look at that. He finally has a friend.
WOLF
Your mom looks so cool.
JOE
Not ready she's always puching me around .
WOLF
(He laughs.)
Your so funny!
JOE
(He stops spinning, a look of surprise on his face.)
I know, right? So, who did you come with?
WOLF
(He points to the kids in the treehouse.)
With the kids playing at the park. I don't have any parents. They abandoned me.
JOE
(His smile fades.)
I'm so sorry.
WOLF
Nah, it's all good. I'm used to being alone.
(Joe extends his hand, a determined look on his face.)
JOE
Not anymore. What do you say to being my brother? We can play together, so you're never alone.
WOLF
(Wolf's eyes widen, and a huge smile spreads across his face as he shakes Joe's hand.)
Yeah. Brothers.
(The camera cuts back to the present. The progress bar on the screen is at 100%. Wolf is in his room, staring into the vast emptiness of space.)
WOLF
(He whispers to himself, a small smile on his face.)
Brothers.
(Suddenly, the ship lurches violently. A loud explosion rattles the hull. The lights in the corridor flicker from a sterile white to an urgent, flashing red.)
AI
(The voice in his head is calm and almost amused.)
Oh, it looks like we're under attack again!
(Wolf shoots to his feet, his head slamming against the low ceiling. He ignores the pain, his eyes already focused on the door. He activates his comms.)
WOLF
(His voice is a low growl.)
Everyone, get your weapons. Get ready.
(He steps out onto the ship's outer hull, the vacuum of space a silent backdrop. He looks out, his gaze sweeping across the void.)
The enemy ships emerge from the darkness. There are ten of them, all firing with synchronized precision. They look like a swarm of angry wasps, their laser beams cutting through the blackness.
(Wolf's suit hums to life, and a determined look settles on his face.)
BATTLE MODE ON.