Based on: Warstrider series of novels by William H. Keith Jr.

Notes: I know there was already a "Naga" race introduced in CB2. However, since I don't have that one, I'm going to use the name anyway. If you all want to change the name, go ahead. Now that that's over, on with the show...

History of the Naga

The Naga are an ancient race that has inhabited Earth for untold millennia. No one, including themselves, knows how long they have been on earth. Estimates range anywhere from a few thousand years, to many million. In fact, some scientists have hypothesized that it was the initial arrival of the Naga core on a meteor millions of years ago that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and much of life on earth. However, most people look upon this theory as a giant stretch. The reason no one has known about the Naga until very recently stems from something quite simple: the Naga are unlike any race ever encountered before.

To even begin to understand the Naga, you must first know something about them. The Naga are definitely not from earth. The most likely hypothesis states that the Naga were "seeded" throughout the galaxy by an unknown race and that their job was to make the planet's resources easily available for retrieval.

The Naga are a naturally "Blob"-like race with a glossy black, almost purple, sheen. They seem to be made up of a kind of organic nano-techs. This gives Naga an incredible power to change things almost molecule by molecule. When first introduced on earth, the Naga began burrowing deep underground. They then went about "reproducing" by literally changing rock into more Naga. Whenever Naga found useful resources, such as metals, they purified them and grouped them together for easier retrieval. This process went on slowly for countless millennia. (Note: this helps explain why resources we find underground are usually somewhat concentrated.)

Eventually, the Naga had grown to inhabit a large percentage of the planetary crust. They began running out of material to process. Man had done a great job of acquiring resources and concentrating them into a small space, say a city. Mecha and power armor are also examples of very concentrated sources of metals. The Naga could detect these sources and began to try to acquire them. This was when Naga first started appearing on the planet's surface. This was when all hell broke loose.

Notes on the Naga

The Naga, as a race, are quite unlike anything else encountered. The basic Naga unit, usually referred to as a "Naga fragment", is about the size of a baseball or softball and masses roughly one to two kilos. These are in no way intelligent. In fact, they don't really even possess an animal intelligence. However, the more fragments that join together, the more intelligent it is. Fragments that are several cubic meters in size possess a very low animal intelligence: usually enough to recognize it is being attacked and to attack back.

The largest Naga, by far, is a Planetary Naga. This type of Naga extends throughout the earth's crust. It masses literally tens or hundreds of millions of metric tons. It also possesses an incredible intelligence. However, it is a very alien intelligence and has a considerably different outlook on life and the universe than man does. It routinely "buds" off small Naga fragments of different size to do various things. There are several Planetary Naga throughout the earth' crust. The first one to make contact with the surface was around the new england area of North America.

Naga have several interesting "powers". First, they have an incredible control over magnetism. They are able to create intense magnetic fields almost instantly. Actually, they don't "create" the fields, they manipulate the earth's own natural magnetic properties. This allows mid-sized (several cubic meters) fragments to float above the ground. They can also fire projectiles much like a gauss rifle or rail gun. Some of the fragments can even get powerful enough to rival or even beat a "Boom-gun" in sheer destructive capability.

Another ability they possess is through their nano-tech bodies. They can process or change virtually any substance they come into contact with. This can be anything from repairing their bodies with normal rock, to dissolving a hole through a wall by touching it.

One of the most interesting abilities that Naga have, has yet to be explained. However it happens, Naga are perfect as interpreters. This is not done in the usual way, though. To understand another race, both races must be touching the same fragment. Each race can then communicate with the other race somewhat "telepathically"; the Naga act as a sort of psychic bridge. This ability is only in effect when both are touching the fragment. This is also how the more intelligent Naga themselves can communicate with other races - through physical contact.

History of Contact With the Naga

The first contact between the Naga and the world on the surface is now seen to have been a large misunderstanding. However, at the time, this was far from the accepted truth.

This is a chronicle of the events of "first contact" with the Naga:

March 30, 105 PA: The first Naga fragments begin to appear outside of Lenghton village, in the pre-Rifts state of Pennsylvania. The village grew up around a set of mines in the area. Nobody knows what the strange metallic looking creatures are and they don't respond to any forms of communications attempted. The fragments begin advancing upon the village, homing in on the concentrations of metals and other resources. The village, fearing for it's safety, sends out the few under-equipped defenders it can muster. The defenders fight valiantly against the fragments, but they are no match.

April 2: With most of the village under siege from these unfathomable creatures, the elders try their last option. They send a messenger to Gabriel City begging for aid. Gabriel City was a trading partner of theirs and had a large modern armed force. At this point, most of the village is either fighting, fleeing, or dead.

April 3: The messenger arrives at the gates of Gabriel City. The city Council convenes an emergency meeting to hear the messenger. The leaders vote to send a small armed force to contain the threat. A platoon of infantry from the Gabriel Defense Force is detached and sent with transports to the village.
    The platoon arrives to find most of the village in ruins and a few last humans cornered in pockets of resistance. The unit immediately deploys on the ground and begins attempts to rescue the survivors. Some of their VTOL transports are sent to try to air rescue the villagers. These attempts are quickly pushed back by overwhelming resistance from the fragments. The messenger, who went along with the platoon, says that there are now at least ten times as many enemies as when he left.
    The platoon engages the enemy in an attempt to force a path to the remaining villagers. All attempts are easily repulsed and the unit suffers severe losses.
    The platoon commander, realizing his deteriorating position, communicates back to command requesting reinforcements. GDF command advises the platoon to maintain its position and informs them that additional forces will be dispatched soonest.

April 4: The platoon, under heavy fire, has lost almost half its number and all of their transport VTOLs have been disabled or destroyed. The commander again urgently requests reinforcements.
    An additional company of GDF troops load up on transports. The force departs accompanied by support vehicles.
    The company arrives to find the village completely overrun. Everyone is assumed lost. The remnants of the platoon have been pushed back towards Gabriel City almost two miles from their initial drop point. The platoon commander, along with two-thirds of the platoon, is dead. The company sets up defensive positions and begins plans to assault the enemy.
    Communication with the mysterious enemy has still not been established.

April 10: Days of fighting have produced almost no gains. Several hundred GDF troops are dead, hundreds more injured. Though the GDF troops report causing severe damage to the enemy, the enemy has actually somehow grown in number. The GDF forces arrayed against them have been pushed back almost half-way to Gabriel City. No one now has any doubts that the city is the enemy's next target. Almost five more companies, a large part of the GDF forces, have been committed to the battle.
    GDF command reluctantly authorizes the use of Nano-tech Disassembler weapons. The defense forces put these new weapons to use immediately upon receiving them. The tide appears to turn towards the GDF's favor.
    Three hours after the first use of the NDWs, the enemy begins hitting back with the same types of weapons. GDF forces almost panic as they begin to be decimated by what apparels to be their own technology. NDW Neutralizing agent is quickly used and additional supplies of it are distributed. However, the tide has again turned in the enemy's favor.

April 11: GDF command goes over possible options. It is decided to immediately send a strike force deep into enemy-controlled territory. It is hoped that they might be able to find and destroy any kind of command station the enemy may have.
    A platoon of highly trained Black Operatives is assembled. Captain Christian Edwards is assigned as the strike force leader. They quickly gear up and go over all current intelligence. Just before 23:00 hours they board two Comanche VTOL transports and depart.
    Approximately 23:35 the lead VTOL is shot down over enemy territory near Lenghton village. Aboard is Captain Edwards and two squads.

April 12: 00:13 - The surviving VTOL reaches its target and unloads its two squads of commandos. They are unable to find any enemy command structures before being overwhelmed and destroyed.

02:15 - Captain Edwards regains consciousness to find only three other troopers still alive. All forms of communication with GDF has been destroyed in the crash. The small group gathers itself and sets out to complete the mission.

03:00 - The group is down to two people -- Edwards and a sergeant. They have found no trace of any sort of command structure. The two remaining troopers make a stand at one of the mine shaft entrances, hoping to hold out until a relief force or search party might arrive. They don't expect to make it.

03:10 - Enemy forces overwhelm the two soldiers. The sergeant is killed outright and Edwards is blown back down one of the mine shafts from an explosion, mortally wounded.

07:13 - All enemy resistance suddenly and inexplicably stops on the defensive front. GDF troops can find no sane reason why the enemy would stop while it had the advantage. However, the respite is not wasted as repairs are made and forces are resupplied. The troops grit down and wait for the assault to begin again.

18:15 - Defensive lookouts spot Captain Christian Edwards, coming from enemy territory, walking toward friendly lines -- unharmed and completely naked. He is quickly taken to the forward command post.

He begins to tell an incredible story of what happened:

Apparently after he was blown down the mine shaft, he landed, unconscious and mortally wounded, at the bottom.

A pseudo-pod of the Planetary Naga found his broken body and began studying it. It quickly recognized that this was not the object's natural state and so went about restructuring the object back to its original condition. In other words, it completely healed Edwards' deadly wounds -- including a broken spine.

After it had healed the "object" the Naga began a serious examination of it. It realized that several things about the object were not as efficient as they could be. The Naga saw no reason that the object should not operate closer to it's peak efficiency, so it began to make changes. It started by increasing the number of connections between the two-halves of Edwards' brain. It also increased his muscle density, and released dormant psionic-like powers, among other things.

By this time Edwards had begun to regain consciousness.

It took the Naga many minutes to realize that the object it was studying was somehow intelligent. It could hardly grasp the idea since the object was so much smaller than itself and so utterly different. Finally, it figured out how to communicate "mentally" with Edwards.

Edwards was completely overwhelmed by what had happened to him. Finally he realized that this huge black blob touching him was somehow trying to communicate. He opened himself up to it and began to understand what had happened and why.

He explained to the officers what he had learned about the creatures.

He also convinced the Naga that it should stop fighting with the others like himself. It recognized a misunderstanding had occurred and ordered its fragments to stop. This is when it released him to talk to the others of his kind.

The officers couldn't believe the story. It did explain why the fighting had stopped, but it was just so fantastic. This was when Edwards did something even more astonishing. He held out his hand palm up. Slowly a black blob-like object began to come out of his hand and form in his palm. Edwards explained that this was a small Naga fragment that had entered into a symbiotic relationship with him. With it he had gained incredible "powers". He went on to demonstrate. This is the first occurrence of the Naga Fragment Symbiote.

April 13: More representatives are sent to meet with the planetary Naga. Negotiations and research get underway.
    Peace is established between the Naga and Gabriel City.
    The Naga helps heal wounded soldiers, performing feats even nano-tech surgery could not.

By Chris Curtis (curtis@thepentagon.com).