Commander John Harper slowly walked down a busy hallway, contemplating on how well his crew had performed during the war. A long and bloody struggle had recently come to an end, with all sides left licking their wounds and counting their dead. Long before humans had entered this part of the galaxy, A clash of titans had occurred. Two major alliances had ignited a war that lasted a generation. The Rockman, Engi, and Zoltan races formed a defensive pact against more aggressive races like the Mantis, Slugs, and Lanius. However this backfired, making an alliance between the aggressors covenant. These alliance led to an arm race, cold war, and eventually exploded into a slaughter this part of the galaxy had never witnessed. The war was clearly going in the Mantis, Slugs, and Lanius favor, but the Rockman, Engi, and Zoltan held on. With the war taking longer than anticipated, alliances began to break down. Planet wide genocides began to take place. Infighting became rampant as the races began to think selfishly. As the war grew long, it was clear every race was fighting for themselves.

Humans sat at the edge of it all, blissfully unaware of the chaos going on just a few jumps away from their outlining quickly changed once the warring factions found them out. The first strike was devastating, led by the Mantis. 13 planets were completely wiped out, and dozen of others were victims of constant raids.

Humans didn't back down however, war had always been linchpin of their history. Survivors from the outposts made it back to their homeworlds and prepared for war. Their ships armed to the teeth and with confident commanders, the humans pushed the Matius forces back. Unaware of the lions den they were jumping into, the Humans gave chase. They suddenly found themselves in the middle of a 6 way war.

This is where Harper earned his stripes. Commanding a capital class carrier, named The Ultima, his ship and his crew fought tooth and nail across the war torn 6 battered races could not stand up to the fresh humans, and one by one they surrendered. With the Rockmen being the last to finally submit, the humans found themselves king of this little sector of the galaxy.

Harper reached the the command station in the belly of his ship.

"Commander on deck!" Words Harper had heard countless times before. He looked around at his officers, all standing at attention.

"At ease." Harper said. "XO, report."

"The scouting party heading toward the forward beacon is overdue, but we got word that a Kestrel Cruiser broke down. There lending assistance." Harpers second in command and best friend Herschel Watts answered.

"All right. send in The Arkcedia and another Razor squadron." Harper said. "Don't want our guys getting caught with their pants down."

"You got it sir," Watts said. "Sanders, give the order." Thomas Sanders quickly contacted The Arkcedia and launched a squadron of fighters, all ships quickly lit up their FTL drives and jumped away.

The war might of been over, but this part of space was still completely uncharted and dangerous. Random bits of fighting from die-hard's was becoming very taxing and spreading the humans thin. They were receiving little help, even though they were working with the governments, or what was left of them, of the other 6 races The high command of The humans saw this as a perfect opportunity. With the other races relatively weak, the timing was right to try and form some sort of larger alliance that would prevent this kind of war from happening was proving to be a huge undertaking. Putting aside the language barrier and the fact that humans weren't from this part of space, all of these races just spent the last 30 years killing each other. Any kind of alliance was going to have to be forged very carefully.

"Sir were getting an order from high command." Sanders said. "We got a Mantis capital ship and a small Engi fleet engaged close to a Federation space station. Our orders are to jump in and defend the outpost. Only engage if fired upon." Sanders grumbled the last sentence. Harper could understand. Sanders was one of the few who made it out of the original 13 planets. He had no love for anything that wasn't human.

"Understood. Put the ship at combat stations and recall all fighters at the beacon. Relay the orders to the rest of the fleet and prepare to jump." The fleet followed his orders and in time, all ships jumped.

A fierce battle greeted The Human ships as they reached their destination. 2 Engi ships were floating aimlessly in space and another one was in several pieces. Drones were picking away at the large Mantis ship but the shields weren't cracking. The Mantis weapons had no such problems. Large laser cannons ripped apart another Engi ship as the humans got their bearings. The Mantis clearly had the upper hand.

The human fleet took up a defensive position around the station, shields up and weapons loaded. The Ultima's first wave of fighters had already been launched, and the second wave was loaded into the tubes. The station would not fall today.

The Mantis payed no attention to the reinforcing humans. They continued to pound away at the surviving Engi ships, and desperately the Engi ships began to crawl towards the humans, hoping they would be their salvation.

"Attention Mantis and Engi forces. You are engaged in actions that directly threaten human lives. Ceasefire immediately and leave this section of space or you will be fired upon." Harper said over coms. His words fell upon deaf ears however; even if they spoke english the Mantis were in a frenzy and the Engi were desperate. A fight was unavoidable.

A stray shot from the Mantis battle ship hit a Kestrel, The Angle-Light, and the human ships sprang into action. The Ultima immediately launched it second fighter group in a protective formation to escort the injured Kestral out of harms way.

"All ships, you are free to engage." Harper ordered. "Give fighter group 1 free engage of the Mantis battleship."

"About fucking time." Amiran Farah, The Ultima's top Razor pilot complained over coms. "1st squadron your target is on the shields, 3rd squadron you got weapons, the rest of you protect the Kestrels from any fighters lurking out there, and for god sakes stay the fuck out anybodys firing cone." The fleet went to work. Being alone, the Mantis battleship had no fighter cover as the Razor pilots went to work. Scores of missiles breached the enemy's hull as the main shield battery was ripped to shreds. With the shields down, The Kestrel's heavy laser fire took down the remaining weapons. It was over quickly. The first volley left the Mantis battleship crippled.

"The Mantis ship is dead in the water." Sanders reported. "Should we finish it off?"

"Do it. Then contact the surviving Engi." Harper said. "Need to know what they got attacked for."

A final volley exploded the Mantis war ship and The Ultima's fighters began coming home. At the same time, the functioning Engi ships rushed to save any survivors of their fleet. "Attention Humans. Assistance is required. Survivors confirmed on non-functional ships." A robotic voice sounded over coms.

"Why were the Mantis attacking you?" Harper said. "Wars over. Nothing to fight over anymore."

"Engi engaged Mantis warship. Mantis threat to Engi survival. Mantis must be destroyed." The Engi captain answered.

Harper wasn't shocked. the Mantis and Engi always had a particular hatred for each other. The last major battles before Human intervention between Engi and Mantis forces were brutal. Over 30 Mantis ships were destroyed after a genocidal rampage throughout mostly Engi civilian planets. Despite their robotic appearance, it was clear that these Engi were emotionally charged.

"The Mantis are no longer a threat. The galaxy isn't at war anymore. Harper said. "Power down your weapons."

"Sir we have FTL registers. Several ships just jumped in. They've locked weapons." Sanders said. Only half of The Ultima's fighters were still in combat positions. The three Kestrals and the station were suddenly very exposed.