UN Recovery Base

The white skull masked soldier thrust an energy Batton at Cpt. McLean, He struck with a trembling hand. 'The flash-bang must have had an effect.' thought the Canadian officer as he used his assault rifle to deflect the strike.

The glowing tip of the weapon pierced the space rock instead. McLean grabbed the batton in one hand and used his empty assault rifle as a club in the other.

As the rifle connected with the skull-faced soldier the space rock artifact began to glow and then after a few seconds as the two opposing soldiers struggled, it exploded.

That was the first flash seen around the world. The flash traveled through the world and into space itself.

[System active...]

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[.........Hostiles detected.........]

[... Enacting evasion protocol...]

While the human race tried to recover from the flash. The space artifact exploded from the cradle it was strapped into and blasted out of the UN base.

Above the base,e air units began to fall. More sophisticated weapon platforms with auto safety commands and features went into effect.

The cutting edge fighters deployed by both sides saved their pilots and passengers.

The rest of the wingsuited soldiers still in the sky fell to their death. Around the,m light frame aircraft and the experimental power armor suits littered the ground and joined them in death.

This was an event repeated throughout the world. The only saving grace came from the sudden evolutionary jump that empowered all living organisms on the planet Earth.

Those who survived would heal and recover quickly. While others would find a new path to power.

In the sky, the artifact was not the only space technology from an advanced civilization. Another more powerful ship was monitoring the planet. It was there to evaluate and judge the inhabitants of the third planet from the sun.

When the flash exploded emergency contamination protocols quickly went into effect. The ship set an interception course to the object attempting to escape and erected force fields to force it back. This device would not escape this solar system to once again empower another civilization against the wishes of the Galactic Council.

The powerful warship was able to reach the fleeing artifact and with a powerful salvo from its energy weapons forced it back to the planet in an uncomfortable fall.

That was the second flash seen around the world.