when it rains, it pours.

In their baby steps to the immensity of space, humans met two other advanced races.

The Draykchin were huge reptilian creatures as dangerous physically as they were intelligent. The males of this warlike species towered above most humans, with dragon heads and huge maws. They lived for war and conquest. Murdering their superiors was the favored way of promotion all the way to their imperial throne, and collecting harems of captive females to breed was one of the most obvious sign of wealth and power. Worst of all, these warlike monsters regularly enslaved other races, using them as labor, cannon fodder or food supply when times were hard.

Historians disagree only on the extent of devastation that would have befallen the inhabitants of Earth if these monstrous aliens had found Terra before humankind had developed the capacity to defend themselves. The more optimistic views envisioned a pleasure planet where Draykchins visited to enjoy bask on warm sunny beaches, plunder the soft bodies of the pretty young females, gorge on plentiful supply of flesh, and sport in hunting down pockets of futile resistors. Evidence from other planets indicated a much darker alternative where all of humanity would be to strip their own planet of every last resource, before they too are wiped out in a holocaust of wanton destruction. Thank the heavens that the Draykchins had not discovered Earth any earlier.

The Greys on the other hand, the UTF now knew for sure, had been visiting Earth for several millennia. These were small humanoids, four fingered, naked, bald and ugly. With their grey skin and vicious black eyes these fuckers were out of a nightmare even compared with the monstrous Draykchins. Using most of their own race as servants, the Grey ruling class evolved to only eat brain matter from sentient species. They ate their own and once they discovered other races, seeded them on feral worlds to reproduce and hybridize (thanks to some mindwiping and genetic engineering, they made all the races they fed on compatible.) This gradual process had already been underway for the past several thousand years, and Earth as a planet was almost ready to be harvested.

Where the Draykchin would have (literally) fucked the defenseless population of Earth and its outer colonies, brutally and murdering their way through the planetary system, the insidious Greys were content with fucking with our minds and culture until we ourselves decided that having the sick bastards harvest our brains like candy was a good deal for humanity.

The first encounter of Mankind with aliens was with one ship of each of these alien races engaged in destroying each other. It was a matter of luck (the few religious folks still left on Earth claimed divine intervention) that the two alien races fighting for the right to ravage the Sol system were nearly equally matched and unwilling to yield. The salvage of what little was left of them gave the UTF the boost humankind needed to move ahead, expand and start to defend its own small pocket of the galactic arm.

237 years later, this scenario is repeated.

In orbit around Verdana 4, a nice jungle and island covered world, two much larger fleets are engaged. Huge battlesteel crafts with asymmetrical lines and bristling with turrets and heavy weapon ports pitched against eerily sleek white shapes with advanced shield technology and weapons that tore apart the massive Draykchin ships like they were made of tissue paper. However, the massive Draykchin ships outnumbered the smaller Grey ships and several of the smooth hulls were ripped open by their relentless fire power. The outcome of the battle was uncertain.

Until the Acheron and its support fleet jumped right between them.

You opened your eyes, one of them blurred with red, drops of blood are floating inside your helmet. That meant no gravity and that was very bad.

On the screen you saw the signals from heavy destroyers, nimble fighters, and cruisers much like your corvette disappearing every second.

The Gorgon's controls didn't react to you and your neural implant failed to connect with the ship systems.

You grab the emmergency beacon radio, plugged in its own shield circuit.

"Acheron, this is Gorgon, we are hit hard, requesting assistance." You declared.

Static.

"Acheron this is Gorgon, this is an emmergency call! Acheron do you copy ?" You tried again.

Five more times , your voice more insistant, more .

Your two crew members were still motionless in their seats.

"Acheron this is Gorgon....... " you repeated, interrupted by the huge opening in the fabric of space and time opening in front of the ship carrier. "What the fuck! No you bastards! Stay here we need help!"

They fled! Leaving you here with a damaged ship.

You heard the small ding of the central computer rebooting.