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IT IS THE 21ST CENTURY......when the people of Earth are finally at peace with one another; for the first time in the brief history of humankind, we are truly of one planet. After 150 years of exploration, the silence of the universe has created a feeling of solitude; that we are indeed alone in the universe. To offset the inevitable population explosion, adventurous citizens have begun colonizing other planets. When an unprovoked alien force annihilates the fledgling communities and massacres the colonists, the people of Earth enter a war in which they are seriously outgunned and undermanned.Thrust onto the front lines of the war is a squadron in the U.S. Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry who are fresh out of basic training. It is as a part of this intense battle that the fighter pilots learn about faith in each other as they strive to make a better world. Instilled with the grim knowledge that they must work together as a team in order to survive, they are constantly faced with the reality of war that, at any moment, they could be killed, and the inhabitants of Earth wiped out forever. But the current conflict with the aliens is only a small part of the story. Both the Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Wars and the creation of the race of In Vitros to fight the A.I.'s were key events that have also shaped this century. THE A.I.'SA.I.'s are extremely human-looking, walking personal computers built to be servants and soldiers for the human race. Designed to be visually pleasing, the A.I.'s are beautiful physical specimens. However their eyes are eerie white with rifle sight-like crosshairs in place of pupils. These computers are programmed to comprehend abstract concepts such as philosophy and ethics, but they were restricted from creating and acting on original ideas. When a disgruntled programmer inserted a virus program into the A.I. mainframe system which gave the A.I.'s a risk-taking perspective on life, they revolted against their human masters and the A.I. wars began. "Take a Chance" became the new A.I. motto and the Earth became a deadly battleground.The War moved into space after numerous years of terrorism on the ground. Following their "Take a Chance" philosophy, an aggressive group of A.I.'s commandeered a military spacecraft and launched themselves into space, expanding the boundaries of their bloody battle against the "Carbonites" -- their technical name for humans.
THE IN VITROSSince human casualties were dangerously high, the inhabitants of Earth created a race of people conceived by in vitro fertilization and bred for war. This new race of humans were conceived in artificial gestation chambers or tanks (from which the derogatory term "tank" derives). They remain suspended in cryogenic sleep until age 18, at which time they are awakened and sent into battle.Unfortunately, since In Vitros were born from parents who never lived and never benefited from a loving family life, they turned out to be very poor soldiers -- having neither a love of family nor a feeling of patriotism for their country. Out of guilt and dissatisfaction, the In Vitro platoons were eventually dissolved by the government and the "tanks" soon evolved into a rebellious race of political untouchables. The "navel" present at the back of their necks (where the artificial umbilical cord was attached in the gestation chamber) became the only visible distinguishing feature, making them easily recognizable and an easy target of constant discrimination.
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