Four travelers stood overlooking the frozen debris. Not much remained above the ice anymore, but the crater left by the blast was still distinct even under all the snow. They had come here to honor the men and woman who had lost their lives in this desolate place.

Here was where their fates had changed. Before the destruction of the under-construction remote Antarctic outpost, they had all lead normal lives. They had been high-ranking military officials, successful in their various roles. They had all come here with orders to investigate and identify the nature of the explosion that wiped out the outpost and all of the engineers constructing it. Not much was found apart from the crater and some strange radiation readings. The pentagon was quick to jump to the conclusion that a hostile country had developed a new type of tactical weapon, and this was an attack to showcase its destructive power.

The formal investigation was called off, and only the inquisitive nature of the four had brought them to the secret guarded beneath the ice. It was a warning left behind for humanity. Although the runes on the walls were undecipherable to the four, the meaning conveyed still reached them, enveloped them, and pierced through them. They experienced the abject fear and unspeakable horror that this evil brings with it as it spreads across the universe.

At first they tried to return to their lives, but how could they? Everything seemed so insignificant when compared with the inevitable destruction of their race. But what could they do? They almost felt crazy themselves, trying to tell anyone else without getting committed would be impossible. So of course, fate brought them back together.

Shortly after they all left the armed forces, MI Industries was born; a civilian company specializing in prosthetics and implants. If mankind couldn’t defend itself as is, it would just have to improve. MI Industries quickly became known for high quality mechanical and electrical prosthetics, such as artificial limbs and eyes, but their true focus was development for military use. Implants that could improve a soldier’s combat efficiency through strength, speed, agility, and stamina were top priority. The runes left behind were cryptic, but they did offer slight insights into technological development, as well as an energy known as “logos”. MI industries began to use these insights in the creation of their top military technology. This had the unexpected result of recruitment. Soldiers that were implanted with these logos-infused bionics almost always experienced nightmares of the coming evil. The logos in the implants carried a shadow of the original warning, but it was enough to open their eyes to the truth.

The four, known as the 1stMI “High Command”, turned from the wreckage, and prepared to return to their headquarters tucked away securely in the Rockies. It had all begun here, but it was far from over, there was still much to do. Even a trained combat force composed of soldiers that gave up their normal lives for the sake of their race would be next to nothing when the onslaught comes. But even despite that reality, they would fight and die until the Bane were defeated, it was all that mattered to them now.

Let the Bane come. The 1st Mechanized Infantry will be waiting.