Black Hearts: The Original Game

Ah...but you knew it would end this way.
Warning! This page contains MAJOR spoilers.
Black Hearts: The Original Game, also known as simply Black Hearts, is an interactive text-adventure RPG game released by Q Games Studios in 2012. It was an extremely successful title, launching sales of over 3 copies of the game. It also spawned a game series that would fill in parts of the story directly before, during, and after the game. It was known for its revolutionary gameplay, that would change Q Games releases for months to come. 
Black Hearts was set in a time period far after even Q Games futuristic story of Project: Akin (to which this turned out not just to be a spiritual successor, but an unrelated sequel, though elements of Akin would be brought back in later games). Players originally were split into two different campaigns, the Rovoen and the Irini, each of which were not interactive. Later, as the game progressed, the stories intertwined and soon the adventure became fully interactive, leading to more unexpected gameplay.
==Setting==
Black Hearts is set in our own galaxy, but in a future that is exactly 1000 years after the actual date of release of the game. Humans have been through civil war, but when humanity discovers the lost city of Atlantis in 2714, war becomes even more dangerous. The Earth is then split up into several factions ruled by varying warlords, who (with the power of advanced Atlantean technology) can destroy each other in the brink of a second. This is all changed when parts of the world are united by the Velconum Empire, and others by the Irin Republic. The Velconum Empire is a nation that supports bioengineering in order to create a population of stronger and smarter individuals who want nothing to do but expand their boundaries. The Irin Republic is democratic, and condemn any forms of enhancement (although there are exceptions to this). They had a massive war on Earth, in space, and all over their planetary colonies in the human settlement zone known as the Near-Earth Sector.thumb|right|335 px|The introduction to the Irini campaign, explaining the terms of the story
Recently, before the events of Black Hearts (in 3012), a peace treaty was signed between the factions, ending the war. But many believe that the peace treaty was just a show by the Velconi and that the galaxy is on the brink of war once again. But the Irini do not think they can handle another conflict with the Velconi, trying to please them to stop widespread destruction and suffering. 
Meanwhile, the Rovoen are an isolationist species of aliens living not far from the Near-Earth Sector. They are based on the planet Ro, but have settlements all over their moons and surrounding planets. Hassendor, known by another name in the Rovoen language (Rojind), suddenly gets attacked by a Velconi forward assault fleet and conquered in a matter of days. Then, the fleet proceeds on to attack Ro itself, only to be pushed back by Rovoen defences. In rage, several Rovoen attack Hassendor (at which time now has Irini settlers), and the settlers send distress signals to the Navy to help.thumb|right|335 px|The introduction to the Rovoen campaign, explaining the terms of the story
Captain Abdullah Omar, who is just promoted to Captain by Lord Marshall at the beginning of the Irini campaign, is dispatched in his ship the ISF Wanderer to answer these distress calls. Lord Marshall believes that pirates are responsible for these attacks, and thus sends Admiral Sentient, an expert on pirates, to assist him in the journey. As Omar sets out for Hassendor, the game begins.
The Rovoen campaign begins when Dani-Yal, a farming Rovoen on the planet Ro, has his facility attacked by Velconi orbital bombardments. He manages to fight off several SpecOps and marines, and is called to accompany his people in defending the planet. After the Velconi invasion is repelled, the events of the game begin to unravel. 
==Plot==
===Irini Plot===
Upon arrival on Hassendor, Omar was quick to investigate what exactly was occuring on the planet. The townsfolk were convinced that the perpetrators of the raids would be returning shortly. Omar began to set up posts and sentires by the town. An old lady informed Captain Omar that the ship that attacked the planet was not a Kynzghai vessel. It was unlike anything in the Irin Republic's stored archives, according to Admiral Sentient.
Returning to his ship, he discovers it has been infiltrated. His crew (and him) are slowly knocked out by this infiltrator. The Rovoen shoots and kills Admiral Sentient, though. He wakes up in the darkness, and stealthily advances to the ship's bridge, where the infiltrator is. He defeats the alien, and finds out that he is of a species known as Rovoen. He attacked the ship thinking they were Velconi, in return for his entire clan being wiped out. Omar manages to calm down the Rovoen, and even reaches a discussion, before three Velconi SpecOps board Omar's vessel, and execute the Rovoen. They tell him that he must never speak of what he saw or heard, and that the "official" story would be pirates took the ship and crashed it (they planned an escape pod for him). 
Omar is suspicious, performs a roll, and grabs the Rovoen's death canister, threatening to pull it if the Velconi shoot him. Then he subdues the SpecOps using a flashbang, at which point his crew recovers power on the ship and barges in. The SpecOps are tied up and their ship searched, allowing the crew to uncover a data file known as Operation Atlantis. Trying to get more information, Captain Omar interrogates the SpecOps prisoners, but they refuse to give any information to him. While being escorted, they escape in their shuttle, but are shot down by Omar's cannons. As the shuttle crashes onto Hassendor, a pirate ship attacks the Wanderer. The pirates (more competent than Omar's crew) successfully hack into the file and realize that the Velconi will want the file back. So they take the file and fly off. Omar then decides to follow the pirates with the data.
On the trail of the pirates, the Captain goes to Glacias Space Station Beta. There he learns he is a wanted criminal by the Velconum Empire. Trying to follow the pirates (who were seen entering a secret hallway near a SpecOps), he is caught and the station goes into high alert. Omar's crew manages to hold down the SpecOps and hand his gun to the Captain, who makes a mad dash into the corridor. He finds the Velconi holding the Pirate Captain prisoner, and beating him up. Then Omar fights off the Velconi, trying to rescue the Pirate Captain. However, the Pirate Captain sneaks off. After the thick of the battle, Omar heads back to the docking bay, only to be told by the Pirate Captain (via comm) that he has taken the Wanderer and its crew to another buyer after the Velconi betrayed him, but tells him that he will be going to Monus Hans as a reward to Omar for rescuing him. Omar is forced to take an old shuttle to Monus Hans. 
Omar makes a pitstop at Dagesta, where he informs Lord Marshall of the events that have happened. Lord Marshall tells him to go to his "contact" (his aunt), who runs a spaceship workshop. His aunt provides him a new ship, the Wanderer II, and a new crew for the ship, which he can pay back later. With a new ship and fresh supplies, Omar sets out for Monus Hans. Marshall tells him he needs evidence to prove that the Velconi have attacked a planet.
Arriving on Monus Hans, he is not recognized the Velconi guards (because they heard he was escaping in a shuttle). He slips into the chambers, finding traces of his old crew (such as ripped cloth) on the ground. Going deeper, he encounters a room with pods lining the walls, and an AI construct named Mediant is reawoken by his presence. Mediant believes the First Irin-Velconum War is still going on, and thus plans to eliminate all Irini using large robot soldiers known as Titans. Even when Captain Omar denies this and tells him to stand down, Mediant activates the Titans who are in sleep mode in the pods. Captain Omar and his crewmates engage the Titans, but the robots are vastly superior. Omar manages to destroy the facility by breaking a pillar and escapes, but some Titans make it above the ground. Lord Marshall's ship then appears, however, and saves the crew. Omar escapes in the ship and, having docked in Marshall's lordship, is escorted to the medical bay for treatment. 
Marshall then reveals that the Velconi have told him that they have several Titan facilities dotted all over the Near-Earth Sector, and now, with Mediant reawoken, they will attack the Irini relentlessly. Marshall requests Omar to join him in finding these Titans and destroying them, but Omar denies in order to follow the pirates, saying he has to "finish what he started". Marshall also reveals the Navy's newest AI, Sentient, whose mental capabilities were transferred to a processor, much to Omar's disappointment. Sentient knows the two will get along just fine. 
Marshall tells Omar that the Pirate Captain would most likely have gone to Kemper Havel, the closest planet with a proper repair port, as his ship would most likely be damaged. Omar then heads to Kemper Havel with Apollo and Thunderbird, two cruisers given to him by Lord Marshall to assist the Wanderer II. Around the orbit of Kemper Havel, Omar watches a conflict between a Velconi defence fleet and Strebosian Rebels, defects from the Velconum Empire who want freedom. Omar decides it would be best not to interfere and lands on Kemper Havel. 
On Kemper Havel, he finds the Pirate Captain yelling at a repairman due to several delays in the original Wanderer's repairs. Omar then chases the Pirate Captain through the city, eventually reaching a standoff where the Pirate Captain threatens to destroy the file if Omar comes close. Suddenly, a Rebel named Marcus shoots the Pirate Captain and hands the file to Omar. Marcus says the Rebels respect him for standing up to the Empire and leads him to the Rebel's hideout. Then Omar finally gets a chance to see what Operation Atlantis is.
A recording plays detailing the Velconi plot to invade a planet called Ro, and that the Irini must not be informed of it because it is a clear violation of space law. Omar makes a copy and keeps the file. But before anything else can happen, a Rebel opens fire on Marcus and Omar (later revealed to be a traitor and a Velconi spy). They manage to kill the traitor, but not before Velconi troops begin to swarm the hideout. After a firefight, Omar and Marcus manage to escape back at the ship, and take the Wanderer, Wanderer II and both the cruisers into hyperdrive under heavy fire. They reach safety somewhere near the orbit of Dagesta.
The Captain then meets Marshall, but before he can show him the data file, the Velconi Emperor Lin broadcasts to all Irini that now, because of the treacherous actions of the Irini and how they know about Ro, relations between the two nations are now cut and he declares war. Lord Marshall then decides to get Omar to help him tackle the Titan issue. The Captain is sent to destroy Mediant's servers on the jungle moon of the planet Velure.
The Captain and his men find an old facility in the dense jungle. Inside, a mysterious gas incapicates the group. When Omar wakes up, his crew is nowhere to be seen. He advances and successfully carries out the mission, destroying the server. But he unwittingly activates an operating table that performs some form of operation on him. He feels unchanged and looks no different, and moves on. He fights some Velconi grunts, and then some of his own crew who have been brainwashed against him. He escapes on one of Apollo's shuttles, flying back to a Wanderer battling a Velconi gunship.
Captain Omar returns to Marshall's lordship, where Marshall tells him that Velconi fleets are regrouping at Earth, and a massive battle will occur there. He tells him that he must assist in safely escorting civilian vessels from Earth to the closest Irini stronghold, Velure. But before any of that, he offers him a position in a diplomatic party to the Rovoen, the aliens that the Velconi are also warring with. Captain Omar agrees to go. thumb|right|249 px|Marshall detailing the Battle of Earth
Aboard the Rovoen vessel, the party is taken aboard and their proposal carefully considered by the ship's Battle Leader (after some interference by Sentient). The Battle Leader calls the Overseer and they agree that there can be an alliance between the two nations. Omar then leaves and sneaks past several Irini-Velconi skirmishes to reach Velure. 
The objectives on Velure were to destroy the largest Velconi military base and everything surrounding it. A party of Rovoen warriors led by Sha-Li are sent to aid him, along with Captain Rodriguez's air gunships that are arriving to the target position shortly. When faced with large walls surrounding the fortress-like citadel, Omar chooses to climb up the walls to get in rather than wait for Rodriguez's air battery support arriving in thirteen minutes. 
Omar manages to infiltrate the fortress, but the alarms are set off and there is heavy gunfighting. Omar pushes to the engine room of the fortress, where Sha-Li realizes well-placed charges could demolish the entire facility from. After setting the charges, the team is ambushed by an entire batallion of Velconi SpecOps and Titans. As the fortress shakes from gunship bombardment, Rodriguez and some of his subordinates drive in with AATT Jeeps, collecting the cornered team and escaping from the fortress which is about to explode.
The cars escape the blown up facility and move through the city streets to see Velconi and Irini gunships engaging each other overhead, many cars being targetted by Velconi missiles. Omar is actually forced to go on foot to make it to the extraction point, having firefights ocassionally in the streets. As the shuttle heads back to the Wanderer, itself part of a convoy, the Irini perform an orbital bombardment of the city. The Captain is then escorted back to the lordship of Marshall.thumb|right|249 px|Marshall telling Omar the need for more allies - Elesei
Marshall then tells Omar that the assault of Cairo turned out successful, due to the input of a Rovoen team. He then tells Omar the tides of the war are turning, as the Velconi in the Near-Earth Sector are starting to fade away. However, Sha-Li had informed him of a massive Velconi fleet drifting towards Ro. Before the Navy can engage this fleet, Marshall tells Omar that they need more allies. And these allies would be the mysterious Elesei, a peaceful species who did not like to get involved in other peoples' affairs. Sha-Li volunteers to go alongside him, along with a chief ambassador for the Irini, Ulfuz. As a reward for his actions, Lord Marshall gives him an experimental type of battlecruiser, the Rammernaught-type (the new Wanderer), and the Thunderbird back. 
Omar arrives at the forested Elesei homeworld. He lands his shuttle and Sentient lights a fire in the forests, driving enraged Elesei out. After Omar pleas for help (unfortunately with Sentient's help), the Elesei diplomat goes back to consider it with his leader. Not long after the Elesei leave, Velconi dropships begin to appear. The Thunderbird tries to offer aerial support, but it is not enough. Swarms of Velconi and Kynzghai pirates (in retaliation for killing the Pirate Captain) appear and engage the small force of crewmembers. Omar tries to throw back a grenade, but it explodes and knocks him unconcious, with some serious damage. 
He awakens behind a waterfall cover beside Sha-Li, who dragged him there, his arm badly injured. He offers to give himself up to the pirates, as he is who they want, but Sha-Li reminds him that he has an AI with valuable information on him and cannot be given up. But soon, Elesei Riders appear and storm the pirates out of the forest. One pirate tries to shoot Omar, but is vaporized by an Elesei, who becomes the first "impure" Elesei in two thousand years. More Velconi reinforcements appear, but Omar defeats them and hijacks their shuttle, using it to escape the planet. 
Once Omar escapes the Elesei homeworld, Marshall commends him and tells him about a battle above thumb|right|251 px|The final cuscene of the Irin campaignHassendor. Marshall then informs him of the Velconi fleet setting up a blockade at the planet Ro. The Wanderer is one of many ships that are deployed with the Irini mission to Ro, to finally defeat the Velconi once and for all. 
===Rovoen Plot===
The events of the Rovoen plot coincide with the Irini plot. The story starts on Ro, where Velconi assault fleets bombard the planet, but fail at a planetary invasion. Dani-Yal, one of the Rovoen involved in hand-to-hand combat with Velconi soldiers, joins a fighting force and becomes a Fighter to repel the enemy forces. He travels from Ros-ai clan territory to a large cruiser, where he meets Battle Leader Jah-Sun for the first time. The cruiser travels to provide support to the Tel-Rash clan, where Dani-Yal further grows as a warrior. As their land forces deplete, the Velconi bombard the city. 
Dani-Yal is taken back onto a cruiser, where he boards the human battlecruiser along with other warriors. He then inadvertently overloads the engines of the ship, and runs back on to his own cruiser and escapes. The Velconi fleet then retreats from Ro. Dani-Yal says he wishes to follow these humans and destroy them, but Battle Leader Jah-Sun says he will get the chance later. At a clanwide broadcast later, the Clan Leader mentions that war is coming and that Fighters can stay and defend Ro, as well as reclaim surrounding Rovoen worlds such as Hassendor. 
The Rovoen party plans to head to Hassendor, to scare off the Velconi forces and distress the settlers on the planet. While they are travelling through space, there is a broadcast of a Rovoen warrior going rogue and attacking an Irini ship (even though the Rovoen are unsure that the Irin ship is like the humans that attacked their own planet). This, as seen in the Irini campaign, is the warrior that kills Admiral Sentient aboard the Wanderer. From this incident, the Rovoen deduce that the humans have different factions and are not united. Dani-Yal's team is sent to investigate the rogue scout's ship. They then get readings of the Velconi Zephyr team's crashed boarding vessel on the planet, where they find bodies of Zephyr Team. Then, they successfully fight off a Kynzghai ambush. 
Under Kynzghai fire, the Rovoen evade into the sky until reinforcements arrive. The Fleet Leader decides to send the terrified human settlers still remaining on Hassendor to Ki-Jok in order to convince them to leave. Dani-Yal goes down to talk to some of the villagers, and meets a boy named Chang. He learns from his mother that the Irin Republic and Velconum Empire are two different factions (proving Dani-Yal's hypothesis), and explains to them that the Rovoen are trying to defend themselves. He also learns that the Empire has not told the Irini of their attack on Ro. Dani-Yal is then called back to Ro to take part in the Choosing.
During the Choosing, Dani-Yal fought with other competitors, including Jah-Sun, in order for the title of chief. He successfully defeated his foes in the holographic simulation (although he did cheat by creating wooden grenades). The newly appointed Chief Dani-Yal is then notified of the complete destruction of the moon Roran by a Velconi weapon. Rovoen forces regroup and assault the Velconi space station in order to disable it, but not before it destroys another moon and massacres an unknown number of Rovoen. Aboard the human vessel, the Chief finds a holoprojector and activates it only to find the artificial construct Sentient. Jah-Sun ensures that Sentient be kept safe and taken back to Ro in order to be taken apart and analyzed in order to learn more about humans. Sentient installs himself in Dani-Yal's suit, and Dani-Yal begins to feel uncomfortable with him around. 
As Sentient leads Dani-Yal through the tourist route out of the space ship, he falls down several lifts and finds Chang, the child he met on Hassendor. Chang reveals that he is in fact the Emperor's Voice, the authority of the Velconi Emperor in this part of the galaxy. Jah-Sun and Dani-Yal skirmish with him, but barely escape with their lives, teleporting onto nearby Rovoen vessels as Sentient destroys the Velconi station. thumb|right|250px
Upon returning to Ro, leaders decide that defense is no longer an option, and that attack ships must be built in more than 3000 years. Dani-Yal is also told to stay with Sentient in order to pry information such as the location of Earth from him (which is not much of a "pry", but voluntary Sentient information revealing). Around this time, an Irini mission to the Rovoen after their appearance in the Near-Earth Sector creates an alliance between the two factions. The Chief is part of one of the forward attack teams that land on Earth, and pilots an attack ship after a firefight with Velconi soldiers. 
Whilst on the ground, the Chief is informed of a union army between Irini and Rovoen forces in order to besiege Cairo (a powerful stronghold for the Velconi), which he joins. As he marches his warriors through the city, the Velconi activate a force shield, blocking out any outside reinforcements and trapping them in the city. The Chief then sets out to destroy the force shield generators, stealthing through Cairo in order to reach an underground complex where he faces off against Velconi security and engineers. The Chief is knocked unconcious after attempting to deactivate the generator, and awakens to Jah-Sun informing him that the battle for Cairo is won, but the Emperor's Voice Chang broadcasts to them that they have not yet succeeded in toppling the Empire. Overseer Jamarra then alerts everyone that a Velconi fleet is advancing towards Ro.
The Chief heads with the Irini Navy and Rovoen fleet to intercept the Velconi fleet heading to Ro. Along with other boarding parties, he lands a shuttle onto another massive Velconi weapon in order to capture it and use it against the Velconi's own fleet. After taking command of the weapon with the help of the other soldiers, the Chief fires on several Velconi ships and the tide of the battle shifts to a Velconi retreat. He notices a strange biomass ship on the sensors. Before any other action can be taken, four Titan robots enter and subdue the Chief along with the other fighters. 
===Combined Plot===
Captain Omar was also subdued by a Titan team, and wakes up in a ship along with Chief Dani-Yal, Jah-Sun and other fighters. The Emperor's Voice explains to them that he calls for a temporary peace between the factions in order to combat a greater evil. He fears an Elesei bioship (the one seen by the Chief) was entering a ruin on the planet Ro and that the Elesei are secretly manipulative themselves. To validate his point, he presents an ancient Atlantean recording speaking of a race known as the Punishers (also seen on ancient carvings in the Cairo museum by the Chief).
Landing on the icy cold world of Ro, the diverse group of fighters make their way into the ruins to discover Chang's Punishers. Fighting in the underground complex with the Punishers, Chang turns on them and escapes himself. It is also found out that human weapons are little of use in dealing with Punishers. Having been betrayed by the Velconi again, they regroup with Lord Marshall as the Punisher threat grows on Ro. Jah-Sun persuades Lord Marshall that illegal Scrambler guns are needed to fight off the Punishers properly, and Lord Marshall reluctantly presents to them the vague coordinates of what they believe to be the Kynzghai homeworld - the galaxy's capital for illegal guns. 
While escaping the Kynzghai homeworld, they are blocked by a Velconi fleet that does not allow them to pass, but are tricked by Captain Omar (who pretend to be Irini defects called G-Squad) into letting them escape back to Lord Marshall's lordship. Now armed with Kynzghai mercenaries, a vessel, and munitions, they decide to strike on Rovurr, a planet that has been infested with Punishers but is not too overrun so that they can put up a fight. Marshall also presents a laser attachment to place onto human weapons in order to injure Punishers. After a long battle on the planet, Sentient releases a Punisher on the Wanderer and Captain Omar and Sha-Li are the only ones left alive. Jah-Sun is indirectly murdered by Sentient as a result of what follows. After much of Sentient's trolling, Lord Marshall does not seem to see the problem with Sentient and Dani-Yal asks "Are all humans this mistaken?". 
Setting out aboard the Wanderer, the team recieves a message from Overseer Jamarra telling them to head back to Rokrip. However, Sha-Li realizes that Rokrip was taken over five days ago. They also mysteriously recieve a broadcast from Lord Marshall from a day ago. Inside the Wanderer's labratory, scientists contain a sample of the Punishers. A Mollika scientist attempts to explain these strange occurrences as the phenomenon of temporal transportation. They trace where Lord Marshall sent the message from, and find it is an old Atlantean desert colony world. The find Lord Marshall and his shuttle crewmates on the planet, who explain that they experienced some strange temporal tampering and Atlantean legends about it led over to this planet. While the Chief and the Captain are outside with Sha-Li, the Wanderer sends them an emergency broadcast that the sample of Punisher onboard has gone missing. The team heads back in a frantic ship wide search. 
After the Punisher is contained, Mollika scientists inform the Captain that the Punishers use a certain type of radiation to communicate. In order to block the radiation to contact other Punishers, a scientist suggests permonium, a uncommon metal (which, coincidentally, was in large abundance on Omar's ship before Sentient dumped it all). Sentient suggests stealing it from Mars, a Velconi War-World. 
When the party arrives to Mars, they find a ruined world with a ragtag group of militia (humans, Rovoen and other aliens). They learn from John Davis (the militia leader) that the Punishers have taken over the galaxy, and all their own factions are long disappeared, and this place (known as the Sanctuary) is one of the last Punisher-free areas in the galaxy. Omar suggests that they have travelled through time and they find a futuristic version of Sentient. The two Sentients get along fine. After the militia guide the time travellers around the Sanctuary, a Mollika scientist explains that the radiation coming off of the Punishers may have caused some small glitches in the space-time continuum, and some may have come together to bring major shifts. 
Understanding that the radiation brought them to the future, they hypothesize that the same radiation could bring them back. Thus, they set out to find Punishers. They find a Mollika (difficult, as Sentient was killing them all) and establish a cloaking device that will cover their lordship. Sentient refuses to let them leave, however, and they find out that Sentient had been merged with Mediant, making him extremely violent. He releases several Titans who fight off and will eventually kill the last of the resistance. Dani-Yal and Omar manage to escape, and Sentient seems to return to normal. Marshall warns them that they do not know how long the cloak will last so it is critical they complete their mission as soon as possible. They head to Vendi, the closest populated world.
Sentient crashes their ship into Vendi. The Punishers, or Arrmads as they call themselves, speak to the ship and invite them to learn the truth about their ancestors. Punishers board the ship and the main characters fall unconcious, only to wake aboard the cargo hold of an Atlantean space vessel thousands of years before their time. The Punishers attach biomass wristbands on their wrists so that the Atlantean crew cannot see them as they watch the events unfold. The Atlantean ship unsuccessfully fires on a Punisher infested world that tells them they will be punished for their sins. The team of officials falls unconcious once again, and appear in their own ship, where the Punishers continue to speak to them.
The Punishers reveal that the Atlanteans killed and tortured whoever they wished, and enslaved several species of the galaxy (including the Rovoen). The Punishers want the team to assist them in defeating the Atlanteans, and show them a future with an Atlantean slave market to persuade them to help them destroy the Atlanteans. The Punishers explain that they have a virus, but cannot plant it in Atlantis because the Atlanteans can detect Punishers in disguise. They need real humans and Rovoen to help them. The Punishers send the team back to a time shortly after the Atlanteans managed to imprison them, where they will feel safe and without enemies. Lord Marshall, speaking on behalf of the humans and Rovoen, agrees to assist the Punishers on the condition that they cease to terrorize the galaxy.
The team falls unconcious and awakens on Atlantis in its prime days. Lord Marshall tells everyone that archeologists believe the Central Tower of Atlantis was their main server and would be the perfect place to insert a virus. While Sentient gets the Atlantean Honor Guards to clash against the team, he enters the Central Tower and broadcasts his return to all of Atlantis. It turns out that Sentient is a god of the Atlanteans, and the Honor Guards tell the team he would return to save the island. Sentient then tells all of Atlantis that he is planting a virus. However, he is kicked out of the server by a mysterious voice, and Sentient shows them the scenic route to the Central Tower in order to manually install the virus. 
Lord Marshall stays outside while Dani-Yal, Omar and Sha-Li barge into the Central Tower (The Rovoen on speeders, the Captain tries to pretend to be a guard but gets caught and imprisoned). After wrecking the main floors, the Rovoen find the Captain and free him, only to face a massive Atlantean warrior known as the Commando. The Chief decides that the Captain needs to go and insert the virus into the server quickly while he deals with the Commando. Sha-Li sacrifices himself with a grenade in order for the Chief to defeat the Commando, only to learn six more Commandos are on their way. The Captain also has a Commando on his trail as he heads for the server. 
The Captain manages to insert the virus, and jumps out of one part of the exploding tower. Punishers arrive and fend off the Commandos as the Chief jumps out too, only to be badly injured but alive. As the two meet, Sentient decides to deactivate several barrages used to keep the island afloat. Water begins to gush into the streets, and Sentient informs them that while the Punishers are unable to transport the team back to their time due to the heavy fighting, there is a piece of experimental Atlantean time travel technology located in the lower levels of the city. Lord Marshall also appears to be missing, but Sentient's scanners indicate he is almost right next to the time machine. The team rushes to get their, the city of Atlantis slowly flooding.
The team arrives at the room, and, to their horror, they find Lord Marshall's dead body. The Emperor's Voice Chang, some Titans and some SpecOps are standing around the time machine and reveal that Chang seeked the Punishers for their time travel technology. Using it, he wiped out influential leaders in the past and ensured that Chang would have his own Velconi Empire, with no Irin Republic or anyone else. Before a final wave can make impact and sink the city, Punishers push the team towards the time machine as soon as Chang raises his hand, and everyone lands rocky grassland somewhere. 
The Punishers, Velconi, Irini and Atlantean Commandos all face off in this alien environment. Sentient then reveals to the Chief and the Captain that he built an experimental time machine of his own within their bodies, and that they could try and defeat Chang by killing him in the past when he was venerable. They travel back to 2013, where Bella Jones in New York, a figure who would become influential later in WWIII, was assassinated by Chang. They visit her school to find gangsters who work for a new "dwarf boss" (hinting at Chang's size). The school's principal informs the Captain and the Chief that she is in fact on a field trip at the Empire State Building.
They rush over to the Empire State Building (with horrible driving). At the top floor, they find the class but also Chang and his Velconi SpecOps. The Chief finds Bella Jones and keeps her safe while the Captain (who then dons a suit once worn by his brother who was slain by Sentient) fights the Velconi enemies. The Chief manages to jump out of the building with Jones to safety, and the Captain fights Chang while Sentient threatens to head back to their own time very soon. The Captain says farewell and activates the self-destruct button, in order to kill both him and Chang. As the explosion rips apart the Empire State Building, he hears a voice that tells him 'it is complete' and fades to blackness.
The Captain wakes up with the Chief in Lord Marshall's lordship in their own time, where they see on television that the Velconi Empire is defeated and Chang dead. The suit was apparently altered by Sentient so that the self-destruct destroys everything nearby except the suit and its owner. The Lord Marshall of this timeline comes to greet them, and does not seem to remember any of the events that they saw. Captain Omar remarks that the Punishers must have not been released either, and the timeline altered. As Lord Marshall and Sentient celebrate with them, there is a warning of an unidentified vessel approaching, and the lordship is fired on, ending Black Hearts and plunging the galaxy into the events of Black Hearts: Cataclysm.
==Characters==
*Lord Marshall: A good-intentioned naval lord who works tirelessly for the good of the galaxy. A big supporter of Captain Omar, Admiral Sentient and Captain Syanth. He is a key ambassador for the Irin Republic to the galaxy and a powerful politician.
*Chief Dani-Yal: A farmer-turned-political chieftain from Ro. Being fascinated with science and astrobiology, he was one of the first Rovoen to realize that the humans were split up into factions. He was a powerful warrior and by the end of the war was a galactic hero. 
*Captain Omar: Promoted to Captain, the brave explorer is caught in the middle of a galactic conspiracy that would unravel into a war, in which he would prove his worth. A key player in the galaxy, him and Dani-Yal defeated the Punishers and essentially saved the galaxy. 
*The Emperor's Voice Chang: The primary antagonist for a large portion of the game, Chang disguises himself as a small boy settler on Hassendor when captured by Dani-Yal and his Rovoen forces. He later reveals himself to be the Velconi Emperor's juridstriction in this sector of the galaxy. He has what appear to be magical forces (possibly linking him to the Reborn) and high intelligence. He distorts time to place himself in charge but is foiled by Dani-Yal and Omar.
*Captain Syanth: A living example of how easy it is for naval recruits to pass through the program, Captain Syanth does not really have any qualifications to fly a ship, but he is a very respected captain in the Navy and Lord Marshall's personal escort. He is very carefree and loud, and is not appreciated by Omar or Dani-Yal. His passion towards the Irini cause is fierce, however (we think). 
==Trivia==
*Intended to demonstrate the power of the revolutionary new dual server technology where both players molded the story, it laid out almost all of the spoken-text-adventure game series by Q Games to come
*Originally a stand-alone game, Black Hearts soon linked up with two previous successful Q Games releases (Project Akin and Age of Zaram), and created a massive extended universe
Category:Games