Chapter One
August 17, 2199
0315 Hours Earth Time
In Orbit around Rajendora, Sanzar System

Pale starlight struck the glistening surface of Rajendora, reflecting off it to illuminate the Gamilon fleet in orbit around it. All the ships bore the scars of recent battles, some barely operable. In the center of the fleet hovered a slender blue flagship, the command ship of Desslok, Leader of the Gamilon Empire and commander of the attack.

"Talan, any sign of our Earthling friends?"

"None, sir," Talan replied, scanning the radar. "The patrols have seen no action, either."

Desslok narrowed his eyes. "It's not like them to stay quiet for so long."

Desslok was younger than the previous Leaders had been, with short blond hair that hung slightly into his eyes. They were a clear, icy blue that contributed largely to his charismatic personality. His black cape trailed on the ground behind him, draped over his right shoulder and fastened on his left with a gold pin.

He carefully surveyed the bridge crew. Talan, a general of the Gamilon military, was his second-in-command and closest friend. His intelligence and calm nature countered Desslok's more impulsive decisions, and had saved them more than once.

The vast majority of the bridge crew was younger than usually served aboard the ship, if not outright rookies. They were nervous about the prospect of their first battle, but took reassurance in the fact that they had Desslok with them. They believed the ship was invincible so long as they had him in command.

If only that were so.

"Warp signatures!" Talan yelled. "Contact acquired with the Earthling fleet!"

"How many?" Desslok demanded.

Talan's sharp blue eyes scanned the readout, counting silently. "Thirteen battleships, seventeen carriers, and thirty-five destroyers!" He let out an exasperated sigh. "That's without counting their fighters."

"So, it's to be a brawl, is it?" Desslok muttered. Several of the rookie crewmembers smiled slightly. It's all right; we have the Emperor with us. We won't be killed.

"Radio contact," the operator called out. "The Earthlings are ordering us to surrender or face their wrath."

The crew looked expectantly at him. Desslok turned to the gunnery chief, a slender youth with short brown hair. "Xandir, target their largest ship and fire."

Xandir grinned, his light blue eyes sparkling with expectancy. "Yes, sir!" He spun to face his console. "Firing solution 5, three seconds to firing."

The ship's main guns swung around to point at a ship hovering in the center of the Earthling fleet. "Fire!" Green beams of energy arced through space and struck the ship, which exploded in a brilliant blaze of light that vaporized several nearby ships.

"That got their attention," Talan commented dryly. The Earthling ships opened fire on their Gamilon counterparts. Several ships exploded, the blasts missing Desslok's flagship by inches.

"Comm, contact Damiru's ship and tell him to take control of the other half of the fleet. And send out orders to our ships to return fire!"

The communications officer nodded and adjusted the frequency. "Damiru, take control of your half of the fleet and counterattack."

Damiru nodded, his bright blue eyes flashing. "Finally, a chance to strike back against those Earth demons. Helm, point us at the Earth fleet." The carrier maneuvered around to face the enemy, its guns singling out several targets.

"Sir, we have firing solutions on five ships," the gunnery officer reported. Damiru nodded.

"Open fire and tell the other ships to do the same." Green lasers slammed into the enemy ships, bouncing off harmlessly. "What?" he shouted. "Desslok's ship destroyed them with a single blast!"

"Imperator's weapons were upgraded when they went in for repairs, remember?" Damiru's first officer reminded him. Damiru let out a soft curse.

"Very well. Send out a communication to the fleet. Any ships that have had recent repairs take over the offensive. As for the others, I want them to target the destroyers and fighters. Their armor isn't as strong."

The communications officer nodded and sent the message out to the main fleet. The more recent ships rained fire on the main body of the Earthling fleet, whereas the others let off wide blasts to pick off the Earthling fighters. One, trailing smoke, struck a nearby ship, both exploding in a titanic fireball. Damiru's ship shuddered slightly as it passed through the shockwave. Another Earthling vessel streaked past them, and Damiru yelled instinctively, "Fire!"

The ship's lasers soared through space and impacted against the armor. However, another Gamilon destroyer had fired upon the same ship simultaneously, and the twin blasts pierced its hull.

"Sir, Earthling vessel destroyed!" the radar operator yelled.

Damiru smiled. Finally, a bright spot in this hopeless battle. "Send that information to Desslok, quickly!"

"Status of the fleet!" Desslok shouted from the bridge of his flagship.

"Heavy losses sustained," Talan reported. "Squadrons 2, 5, and 8 are down. 11 and 13 have disappeared."

"Contact lost with 17!" the communications officer shouted.

One of the ships close to the flagship was struck by a beam of energy from an Earthling command ship and exploded, taking out two nearby destroyers with it.

"Message from Damiru! The Earthlings can be destroyed with a simultaneous blast from two—" A shot struck the bridge, sending the ship listing to port. The bridge crew was thrown to the ground, several consoles sparking. Another shot slammed into the side, blasting a gaping hole in the ship's hull.

"Desslok!" Talan yelled, looking frantically around the smoke-filled bridge. The ship was hit again, knocking him to the ground. "Helm, right the ship and try to avoid those blasts!"

The young man at the helm tilted the ship to starboard, correcting its list to port. The ship took another shot, which barely missed to starboard. Xandir focused the ship's remaining weapons on the Earthling vessel, destroying her. Talan spotted movement near the back of the bridge and ran over, rewarded by seeing Desslok kneeling by the body of the communications officer.

"Earthling demons," Desslok snarled. "They were too young to be in battle, let alone die in it." He staggered to his feet, wincing in pain. "Damage report . . . all decks."

"Turrets three and four are out, turret two badly damaged. Port missile decks hit, flight deck completely obliterated."

Desslok hit a button on the communication console. "Venikira, engine status."

"Engine reduced to 76% and falling. Warp drive damaged. We can still warp, but we're restricted to small jumps."

"Incoming transmission!" Talan called out. "Switching to main video panel!"

Damiru's face shimmered to life on the panel. "Leader, we're down to five ships."

Desslok nodded sadly. So, that was how it would be. "Rejoin the fleet around my flagship. We'll go down fighting."

"My apologies, Desslok, but I cannot allow you to do that."

"Damiru?" Talan said questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"

"I cannot allow you to die, Desslok," the black-haired officer said matter-of-factly. "The only reason the Gamilon people have fought for so long is because they believe we will succeed so long as we have the great Desslok by our side. Should you die, their morale will be crushed. Our homeland will be overrun within a matter of months."

"Damiru-"

"We'll cover your escape." His face flickered away, and the remainder of the fleet moved towards the Earthling vessels. The enemy fleet remained still for a few seconds, as if shocked. After a few moments, they began to rain fire on the approaching ships. Several exploded, dangerously close to Damiru's command ship.

The weapons fired randomly into the fleet, destroying several of the enemy, but they moved to surround the lone vessel. A few Earthling ships disengaged from the main fleet and fired on Desslok's flagship.

"Helm, warp us away from here." The bridge crew stared at him in confusion.

"What are we doing, Leader?" Xandir asked, his light eyes questioning.

"Honoring Damiru's final wish," Desslok murmured, bowing his head. Talan nodded sorrowfully and motioned to the helmsman. He nodded and began preparing the ship for warp.

"Three, two, one. . . Warp." The flagship warped away, but not before Damiru's ship, crippled and caught in the gravitational field of Rajendora, drifted down through space before exploding in a single huge fireball.

Desslok's flagship, severely damaged and spewing smoke from several jagged holes in its side, de-warped in orbit around Gamilon. Desslok stared sorrowfully out at the planet, which was near death. Three years prior, the Earthlings had launched a surprise attack which had won them the base on Rajendora. From there, they had begun launching planet bombs containing radioactive material to impact on Gamilon and its twin, Iscandar. The surface was now saturated with radiation, and the population of both planets had been forced underground for survival. However, even the underground cities were not impenetrable. The surface radiation was slowly creeping down towards the small pockets of life. In one year's time, the planets would be completely uninhabitable.

Xandir scowled angrily at the planet's surface. He, like many others, was too young to remember much of life before the bombs had fallen. In some ways, that was a blessing. He would not mourn as much when the radiation made its way to the cities.

But Desslok and the other officers of the Gamilon defense force could remember when dark green forests had covered the surface of their mother planet. Desslok could see the spiderweb of light that had stretched across the Gamilon surface from its many cities.

But far crueler was the bombing of Iscandar. They refused to fight back, and had no spacefleet with which to do battle anyway. And it was Iscandar that had always been the fairer of the twin planets, with the multitude of life that had thrived on its surface, making it as bright as Gamilon was dark.

Both planets looked the same now, with near-identical light brown rock that had been pitted with craters from the bombs.

"Sir!" the radar chief called out.

Desslok turned slowly. "What?"

The soldier squinted at his panel through sharp eyes. "I'm picking up something strange . . . an Iscandarian vessel?"

"An Iscandarian? Bring it up to the video panel!"

A pale silver ship shimmered to existence on the panel, streaking across the stars. It trailed a bright blue flame that marked its path as clearly as if some cosmic will had created a line of stars to follow behind the ship.

"That's a royal vessel!" Talan exclaimed. "What are they doing here? That's too dangerous for an unarmed ship!"

"If whatever is on that ship is so important that they must trust it to a member of the royal family, it is far too important to wait for several days until the current Earthling patrol leaves," Desslok responded.

"Speaking of the Earthling patrol," the radar operator said with false calm, "it's converging on the ship."

"Xandir, get a firing solution on that patrol," Desslok ordered. "Battle stations!"

"We're not battle ready!" Talan objected. "This is a suicide mission!"

Desslok spun around to glare at him, blue eyes flashing with barely suppressed anger. "We can't just watch! Besides, that ship is in Gamilon airspace, which means we are bound to assist it if at all possible. Furthermore," he added in a whisper, "a victory here will soothe the crew's wounds from the previous battle."

"They're firing!"

Blue streaks converged on the Iscandarian ship, tearing strips of metal free from the hull. One struck the engine, which let free a wide swath of smoke as the ship began a downward spiral.

"Xandir, now!" Desslok shouted. "Open fire, wide barrage!"

"Firing!"

The flagship's weapons sliced down on the Earthling patrol, tearing it to shreds. The remaining ships turned to fire on the flagship, but the helmsman brought the ship around, missing the enemy fire by a matter of meters.

"Torpedoes!"

Slender missiles streaked from the bow, fanning out to strike several of the ships. The remainder, sensing they were at a disadvantage so close to Gamilon, warped away.

"Ha!" Xandir yelled. "Take that, Earthling scum! You can shoot down our fleet, but we will never allow you a victory in our airspace!"

Desslok smiled slightly, turning to chart the course of the Iscandarian vessel. "Helm, take us down." The bridge crew, though still ecstatic from the victory, quieted somewhat as the flagship moved to dock below the planet's surface. Behind them, the Iscandarian ship struck the surface, sending up a plume of smoke.

Krypt was waiting for them at the dock, the look on his face clearly saying that he knew of the events that had transpired in Rajendora's orbit. "Leader, we need to discuss—"

Desslok brushed him away. "Cabinet meetings can wait, Krypt. An Iscandarian ship just crashed on the surface."

"A—what?"

Desslok sighed. "Talan, Xandir, come with me. Krypt, there are wounded crewmembers on board this ship. See to it they get medical attention." He gestured to the soldiers following Krypt, signaling them to follow him.

"Well, where are you going?" Krypt called after him. His only response was the sound of a door slamming. He sighed resignedly and muttered, "He never tells me anything."

Talan ran across the bleached plain after Desslok, flanked by the Gamilon soldiers and Xandir. He almost tripped over the edge of a nearby crater, one of the smaller ones, only about 150 feet across. The bulky protective suit made movement difficult, especially long-distance sprints.

Xandir pulled up beside him, gasping for breath. "How. . . is it. . . that we. . . have to wear these suits. . . while Leader Desslok doesn't?"

Talan shrugged and began running again. Xandir let out an exasperated hiss and followed him. After a few more minutes, they found the crash site.

The once-beautiful ship was in ruins, its silver hull bent and twisted out of any recognizable shape. It lay at the bottom of a large crater, the outer layers scattered around the area, revealing the interior of the ship.

"There's no way anyone survived that," Xandir said sadly. Talan nodded in agreement, glancing up towards the empty cockpit. A shape hovered into view, a slender construction of polished metal that sat perched on the lip of the crater.

"An escape pod!" Talan shouted, picking his way up the loose scree rimming the crater. He hauled himself over the edge, ignoring Xandir scrabbling up the slope behind him as he beheld the scene.

Desslok knelt by the side of a young woman, and, as Talan watched, he gently brushed the woman's long gold hair from over her face, whispering, "Aethir miana hiatu centuri." Talan blinked in shock as he recognized the ancient Gamilon blessing, "May your spirit live forever amongst the cosmos," which was usually used only for those held in high honor by the Gamilon people. He quietly wondered how his Leader knew this young woman.

Xandir pulled himself over the crater edge, panting. "Talan? Where's. . .?" He fell silent as he saw the Gamilon Leader kneeling by the side of the fallen woman.

"Go and help the others piece together the wreckage. We need to see if there's anything important down there," Talan ordered in a whisper. "We'll be fine here."

Xandir moved off slowly, casting Desslok a worried glance. Talan turned back to him just as Desslok leaned forwards, lifting a small red capsule from the woman's hand. He slowly got to his feet, looking down at the capsule curiously.

"Who was she?" Talan asked, moving to stand at Desslok's side.

"Her name was Astra, sister of Starsha, Queen of Iscandar." He lifted the capsule, which appeared similar to something the older Gamilon civilizations used to transport secure messages. "But this is what I don't understand. It's not Iscandarian, and it's made out of material found on neither of our planets."

Talan narrowed his eyes. "Who would be sending a message to us, and why now? The conquered worlds wouldn't bother, and no one else seems to care enough about us to do anything about the Terran invasion." He scowled as another thought struck him. "Maybe it's an Earthling trick to taunt us over their accomplishments."

Desslok sighed. "Maybe, Talan, but Astra seemed to think it was important, and she is incredibly intelligent. Along with her sister. I—"

He broke off suddenly as he staggered and nearly fell. Talan ran up to him, noticing for the first time that his right arm had been hit sometime in their battle with the Earthling fleet, likely when Damiru had sent them that message. He attempted to help him up, but Desslok brushed him away.

"I'm fine, Talan."

Talan let out a long sigh. "You are an idiot, you know. Are you ever going to let me get you medical treatment while you're still conscious?"

"No."

"That was rhetorical."

"I know."

"I am going to kill you one of these days," Talan hissed.

Desslok smiled. "No, you will not. That would mean you would be in command of the defenses."

"What defenses?"

Desslok sighed, turning to look up at the sky, in which the remains of the Fleet glow with pale fire. "You're right, Talan. Our only remaining defenses are the fighter bases and my flagship." He lifted the message capsule, turning it so the light slanted through the glass midsection and dappled the hideous orange ground. "But this is a chance for us, Talan. For both of us."