To clarify the statement I, the Author, made on the last chapter (yes, I'm going meta on my novel, sue me), we must look back on the what has transpired on Earth for the past two thousand years.
When Humanity has invented Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel in 2193, the Solar System has more or less colonized. The Earth's moon, named Luna in the official government administration rolls, boasts a billion souls in its 3 main megapolises on Mare Serenitatis, Mare Imbrium, and Oceanus Procellarum. When Humanity first expanded beyond Earth, Luna was the main source of Helium-3 used to power the nuclear fusion reactors used by early colony ships. Mars even has a larger population, 5 billion at that time. Providing a way to decongest Earth, which has alreaddy reached a total population of 23 billion people. The asteroid belt has a population of a hundred million individuals. Mostly miners and people that provides goods and services to the miners. Even the planets beyond the asteroid field has people living and making a living there. Europa and Ganymede, the moons of Jupiter, has a combined population of half a billion people. Titan, Saturn's moon, has a much more modest population of one hundred and fifty million. Even Uranus and Neptune has colonies in their moons.
All of these united under a new interplanetary government that was created in 2117, replacing the ageing United Nations. Named the Terran Federation, this governmnet is now the center of Human government and politics.
And when the Interdimensional Manifold Generator, or Ishikawa-McGregor-Gutierrez (IMG) Drive , named from it's invertors, was developed, Humanity swept this arm of the Milky Way Galaxy like a locust plague. In ten years, there are already twenty seven extrasolar colonies. In a hundred years, around a thousand more colonies were established. Proxima Centauri b, the closest exoplanet to us, is colonized in just two short years after the IMG drive was invented. The colony was even established before the original settlers arrived, which was sent 12 years prior in a two kilometer colony ship under cryo-hibernation at 0.4C (C = speed of light). The fact that they were surprised when they arrived was an understatement.
Yet, for all of the space traveled by Humans, it took almost two hundred years before we meet our first alien. Or aliens, technically.
During a five-year exploration foray a thousand light years coreward to the Milky Way Galaxy, in the year 2401 C.E. (Common Era), the scientific vessel T.F.S. Huygens stumbled across a space battle between the Hissala and the Krn'txhryk.
And then Humanity went wild.
Why? You must know what those 2 species are. The Krn'txhsryk? Gigantic ants with a humanoid upper body. Like a centaur, but the lower part is replaced by an ant. And the upper part is still clearly ant-like. The average Krn'txhsryk has four arms and eight legs, stands 1.9 meters tall, is 2.7 meters long, and weighs 300 kilos (no, I'm not going to convert it to Imperial, do it if you want to). Though Krn'txhsryk variants are found. All Krn'txhsryk are connected to a shared mental network; not a hive mind per se, but close. And all of them are hatched from eggs that a Krn'txhsryk Queen has laid. There is only one Queen for every 100 million Krn'txhsryk.
And the Hissala, you might say? Just think of space elves, and that's about it. The Hissala are almost Human-like to an uncanny degree. Except for the monochrome eyes and hair of wildy-different yet natural colors. They stand a bit more taller and thinner than the average human female, the fantasy elf stereotype.
And the Hissala females outnumber the males 1000 to 1.
You can see the gears on the minds of the otakus and wannabe 'Harem protagonists' of the future grinding furiously.
Good thing cooler heads prevailed and determined why the Hissala and Krn'txhsryk are battling. And the answer baffled the hell out of almost every Human.
Ritual combat. Formalized duel. Organized battle to the death or surrender. Whatever you may call it, the Humans of that time were mystified. Why was this the established norm in the galaxy?
The spacefaring sapients of the Milky Way Galaxy has established a galactic government, named the Organization of Space-Faring Sapient Governments. Or colloquialy called the Galactic Combine (GC). They manage colonization and resource rights of every member species. They also lead the combined Galactic Army, composed from the volunteers seconded by the the member-governments.
And when two or more member-government has any grievances with one another that cannot be resolved through diplomatic means, then the GC will organize a formal battle between them. How the battle will be conducted is decided between the participants, the GC mediating and finalizing.
So what the crew of T.F.S. Huygens stumbled into was a battle that will determine the ownership of a disputed system of several planets, found between the borders of the participants. Three stars, all rich in resources. Two of them even contain multiple life-bearing planets each. And it is in a strategic position, smack dab in the middle of two popular trade lanes that provides resources and goods to almost thousand worlds.
But we're getting off-track.
The IMG drive is very important in Human exploration and expansion into the cosmos. But it also has some weird side effects. And these are very important.
The IMG drive is unique to Humanity. The other sapient beings have their own different FTL drive. Two of them, in fact. Shared among the different sapients of the galaxy, whether they are members of the GC or unaligned polities. No other sapient being has invented something similar tothe IMG drive.
The IMG drive works by creating a specialized forcefield, a manifold, around the spaceship that runs it. This allows the vessel to pierce through the sub-dimensions of real-space itself. Here, the laws of physics are quite different, creating shortcuts between different areas of real-space. Travel for a kilometer in the sub-dimensions, travel at least a thousand kilometers in real-space. Even more, depending on the spatial topography of the sub-dimensions itself. Allowing for faster-than-light travel without bending the laws of physics in real-space.
And the side effects? Well, the those sub-dimensions? They contain lots of different exotic particles. Really exotic particles.
These exotic particles contaminated real-space every time a spaceship transitioned back from sub-dimensional travel. The contamination is even worse on the earlier ships. These exotic particles are highly toxic and causes massive mutations on any living being in high enough concentration.
But these exotic particles also triggered the awakening of Esper powers and abilities.
When the first confirmed Esper appeared in 2217, Humanity was thrown into turmoil. The age-old question of Transhumanism is now a reality. Many religious extremists calls Espers an abomination to God's design. Others contradict, preaching them as a gift from God. Some call them the next step in Human evolution. Some condemns them as mutants, an affront to the perfection of the Human body itself. Many high-level military official even wants to declare Espers as military assets, stripping them of basic liberties and human rights.
Esper abilities are as varied as there are grains of sand in the beach. Super strength, durability and speed that range from the Olympic athlete average to the absurd. Mental powers like telepathy and mind control. Control of force and energy like telekinesis, thermokinesis and electrokinesis. Manipulation of matter like ferrokinesis and terrakinesis. Manipulation of biology itself with organikinesis and sub-types. And control of the laws of physics like gravity manipulation.
The Esper abilities are measured on the Lindsey-Mortassen scale, ranging from 1 to 13. Level 1 Abilities are the weakest; for example, an Esper than can only levitate one item weighing 1 kilogram up to a distance of one meter from the Esper's body. And the item does not impart any kinetic energy upon collision with another object or surface. Level 13 is the theoretical highest level. Only one person is confirmed to have a Level 13 Esper Ability. And what a power it was.
Dimensional manipulation. Teleport from one place to another. Rip open a portal to other sub-dimension. Screw with the laws of physics.
And with this power, the galaxy, especially Earth, was doomed.
The man who possessed this Esper Ability is Johann Slavik. A human who was born in Earth in 3231. And he is a megalomaniac. At age 34, he declared himself as the God-Emperor of the universe itself.
That didn't go vey well with anyone.
By that time, Esper phemomena is widespread in the whole galaxy. Ten percent of the entire sapient population are Espers of varying degrees of power and ability. Even the Taluhac'na'aven, as race of A.I. machines, has Espers. Giving veracity to their claims as sapient beings, as opposed to cold, unliving machines. Because only sapients can has Esper powers. They even went as to make like-life gynoid bodies, that made them very popular and higly sought out in the sex industry. Mmmhmmm... you can bounce a quarter on those boobs and ass.
(Someone else other than the Author making an 'ehem' sound)
Errr... Moving on...
Slavik threatened all the species in the galaxy to either proclaimed him as their Emperor and recognize his absolute rule. Or be annihilated. And the response? June 7, 3265. A massive task force comprising of a hundred and ten thousand Espers was dispatched. Their mission? Hunt down Johann Slavik and his army of fanatic followers.
The task force succeeded - and failed. Succeeded in killing Slavik himself, at the cost of 90% deaths for the task force. Failed in preventing the escape of a quarter of Slavik's sevennty-thousand strong Esper army, and stopping Slavik from enacting any of his plans. And the task force paid dearly for it. All high-level Espers of the task force were killed; three Level 12s, and 47 Level 11s. And cost more than a hundred thousand Esper lives, ranging from Level 5 to 10. Only around 5000 Espers survived the attack.
Even with this monumental effort, Slavik still had the last laugh.
In his death throes, Slavik unleashed his contingency plan. Massive ruptures in the fabric of real-space to the sub-dimensions, causing massive 'dimensional storms'. Which then swallowed entire star systems and causing disruptions to the galaxy itself. Destruction of the GC and the governments of the member-species, casuing widespread anarchy which still rampant in the present.
And the 'piece de resistance'.
Plunging Earth into a pocket dimension of his own creation. It happened slowly but surely. Allowing 90 percent of the Earth population to escape. The remaining ten percent was lost in the anarchy following the 'Plunge' as the other Humans call it.
Adding insult to injury, Slavik turned Earth into the greatest dumping site of the entire galaxy. By linking the pocket dimension to the other sub-dimensions, Slavik created fractures in the sub-dimensions. These fracturescan destroy almost any space-faring vessel that pass through or near them. And the debris and any unlucky ships that may survive? They fall into Earth's pocket dimension and is then pulled down by Earth's gravity eventually.
The aftermath?
Galactic population has decreased to 30%. Production of advanced technologies has fallen by 70% due to the ravages of the dimensional storms. Interstellar transportation itself is now only 15% of the capacity from the height of galactic civilization. Technologial innovation is now slower than a snail's pace. Research and development itself has ground into a screeching halt. No new product was ever released since that day. The galaxy has never recovered from the destruction Slavik's has wrought.
Not just that. Those Espers from Slavik's army that escaped it's destruction? They became warlords and conquered almost 60% of the remaining intact planets with sapient population. And these warlords hampered the recovery of the galaxy, wanting more material possessions than advancing galactic civilization and technological advancement. Even after seven hundred and fifty five years, the galaxy is stuck in a technological Dark Age.
This is the situation that Jamie has found himself in.
I hope our 'MC' doesn't suffer a bout of 'Existencial Realization Breakdown' when he learns of this.
Good luck to that.