FROM THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE STARS: A RACE AGAINST TIME AND REALITY ITSELF In the blood-soaked crucible of Baghdad, 2007, Captain Brian Allan DiGioia hunts insurgents with lethal precision until the day he dies. When a routine mission spirals into catastrophe, the Harvard-educated Ranger finds himself executed by Russian-speaking shadows after a helicopter crash, then wakes up at his own memorial service. Back in Hawaii, surrounded by mourners, Captain D discovers a world subtly altered. His wife is now pregnant, though she wasn’t when he deployed. His memory insists he died in Iraq, yet here he stands, flesh and blood, a living paradox haunted by phantom blood. Specialist Hector shares the same impossible experience, losing his hand and life in Afghanistan only to reawaken whole, the phantom pain his only reminder of a death that never quite happened. What they’ve stumbled upon is humanity’s most closely guarded secret: ancient artifacts of otherworldly origin buried beneath Middle Eastern war zones. The Government calls them “God Gates”, devices that transcend space, time, and possibly dimensions themselves. When Captain D connects Egyptian pyramids, Iraqi ruins, and Afghan mosques in a pattern that shouldn’t exist, he uncovers the truth that will reshape human history: we are not alone, and our creators are returning. Using hieroglyphs, mythology, and military intelligence, Captain D pieces together evidence that extraterrestrial visitors once ruled humanity as gods, mining our gold, genetically modifying our species, then departing through interdimensional portals. But these aliens didn’t abandon Earth; they were overthrown by ancient humans who dismantled and buried the gateway network. Now, with nine symbols locked into their precise geographical positions from Egypt to Ethiopia, the dormant God Gates are awakening. Racing against elite Russian operatives who’ve infiltrated the highest levels of the operation, Captain D and Hector discover the Gates form a technological web spanning continents, quantum anomalies that match religious concepts of heaven and hell. The final target lies beneath an Ethiopian church carved into solid rock, where General Piatt must make an impossible choice: activate the alien technology and risk welcoming back humanity’s former masters, or leave Earth defenseless when the aliens return on their own terms. Then betrayal shatters everything. The government agent orchestrating their mission, reveals himself as a Russian sleeper agent at the moment of activation. As Captain D and Hector step through the shimmering portal into the unknown, Smith executes the American Quick Reaction Force, clearing the path for Russian forces to seize control of humanity’s most powerful weapons. Caught between worlds and dimensions, Captain D must navigate alien terrain with nothing but his tactical training, a wise-cracking specialist with an invisible hand, and the horrifying realization that humanity’s ancient gods were extraterrestrial overlords, and they’re coming home to reclaim their slaves. The tactical advantage was humanity’s for mere moments. Now, with Russian operatives controlling the God Gates and alien technology rewriting the rules of reality itself, Captain D faces the ultimate question: How do you wage war against enemies who created your species and rivals who’ve been planning this betrayal for decades? The answer lies beyond the portal, if he can survive long enough to find it. A pulse-pounding fusion of military thriller and cosmic science fiction that explores resurrection, betrayal, and the terrifying possibility that humanity’s gods were aliens planning their return to reclaim Earth.