Prologue
The galaxy is a massive place. Within it lie countless stars full of orbiting planets, at the moment we have explored just a fraction of it. There are star systems with large gas giants orbiting around them in the outer edge of the solar system, looking closely at them you see storms with hundreds of miles an hour winds rushing across its chaotic atmosphere. Closer in you begin to see the much smaller and rocky planets. Here the possibility of life is present. Too close and the sun's constant buffering from its solar winds makes its atmosphere negligible and scorching hot, life cannot form. Too far away and the suns heat becomes too insufficient to be able to support complex organisms.
You would therefore say that finding a planet in the 'goldilocks zone' would be the equivalent of finding a needle in an abnormally large haystack. Even if you find a planet which is in exactly the right position away from the sun with many of the correct conditions for life to begin, for simple microorganisms to evolve into much more complex beings it is never a certainty, it is luck. There are too many ways to disrupt a growing species from developing into its true potential. A meteor strike, a comet containing new and deadly pathogens, the species itself may develop into many different factions and after many years of deceit and fighting unleash a rain of nuclear fire dooming everyone and everything on the planet. But eventually a species will rise above the hold that the planet has on them. With an advanced knowledge of how the universe works they may explore the stars and settle on new and exotic planets. But how much of a dent are they truly making?
Is it possible that the galaxy is vast enough with its billions of stars and billions of planets that we can get two stories simultaneously running together? Is there a chance that supposed galactic super powers who are so sure of their knowledge and power believing they are at their apex with no other potential challengers be wrong?
Maybe their galactic community isn't the only one, what they know, what they have learnt, what they have taught isn't the only thing that powers the galaxy. Maybe their galactic wars are just a mere fraction of the galaxies true potential. Two stories colliding, the galaxy suddenly seems a much larger place.