PROLOGUE – Resurfacing
...N'zoth, 976 ABY...
General Aask of the Galactic Alliance clutched his blaster rifle tightly, closing his eyes in hopes that this was a dream. He could hear cries of help from his soldiers, injured by the occurring attack on their newly founded base. His brown hair hung over his forehead, drenched with sweat, blood and dust. His dark skin was crusted with the fresh wounds of battle and his once-crisp uniform was tattered beyond recognition.
The familiar sound of blaster fire streaked through the dirtied air, and the smell of burnt flesh wisped through the battlefield in massive amounts. Carbon scouring dotted the heavy armor of the ambushed Alliance troops who tried to repel the onslaught brought upon their new base, Alpha Prime, located on the Core World of N'zoth, which was thought to have been uninhabitable after the Yuuzhan Vong Wars, deep within the Koornacht Cluster and hidden from many generations of past. Shrills were heard across the wasteland, which had been steadily transformed into a small battlefield. Blood was spilled onto the ground in massive amounts as blades ripped through the throats of surprised Alliance defenders. The speed and intelligence of their enemy was too advance and lethal.
A small band of grayish-green aliens complete with beady eyes, scarlet streaks across their boney cheeks and ragged, dust-covered clothing rushed towards the defending Alliance troops. The attackers looked strikingly familiar to walking skeletons, encased with a thin, leathery skin. The brutish aliens had cocked back their wrists with their boney fingers clenched tightly together, and from a very small slit located underneath their closed palms some sort of blade slid out; looking neither biotic nor metallic. The skeleton-like humanoids attacked, brandishing their embodied melee weapons in battle and slitting the throats of the cowardly vermin that now plague their homeworld. Occasionally, one of the alien attackers would fall to a blaster bolt to the chest and drop down limp with black smoke rising from their stricken bodies.
Other groups of assaulting aliens followed in succession, bringing the same fate with themselves. They rushed the vermin base with extreme precision and unmatched hatred for invading life. The natives of N'zoth were merciless, and they would fight to the death. Alliance troops tried desperately to fend off the aggressors, blasting one alien after another, but their numbers were too small to defend Alpha Prime.
The unusually hot sun beamed down upon the open battlefield where a few Alliance troops still stood their ground, spraying the defending soldiers with unnatural heat. Sweat dropped from their foreheads, as well as the cold drops of blood from fallen comrades and enemies; together, the bodily fluids caked on their brows, dramatically changing their appearances by hiding the troops' facial features. They couldn't tell the difference between friend and fiend in the midst of accidental disguise. The soldiers easily became withered and tiresome under their armor that was thought to protect one from all obstacles in one's way, and so, the attackers would decimate the Alliance militia with ease. A ruthless, senseless slaughter wagered across the front of N'zoth, with the natives beginning to win the day. Afterwards they would provide the vermin blood for the etaias' who chose not to participate in the deadly offensive against the vermin.
They were the Yevetha, xenophobic aliens with a tendency for murder and galactic rule. They have survived after all these years; going into hiding after the vicious battle with the dastardly Yuuzhan Vong nine hundred or so standard years ago that had lead the vermin to the assumption that their species had gone in extinction. Under their new Viceroy at the time, they had waved goodbye to their glorious ways of death-before-cowardice in order to survive the deadly onslaught the Yuuzhan Vong brought upon them nearly a millennia ago. The underground protected them from the intense radiation N'zoth had gone through after the space battle that had unfolded between the royal thrustships and the Yuuzhan Vong biotic vessels. The radiation subsided many years ago and N'zoth had begun to flourish with life once more. That was what attracted Alliance colonists to the homeworld of the Yevetha.
Aask fled from his cover behind a rusty speeder and into the open, ripping a firestorm of blaster bolts towards the enemy. One by one the Yevetha fell under the general's mighty iron fist, cringing in pain and dishonor. There was, however, a foe that Aask could not tear down.
An armored alien approached Aask, walking over its fallen Yevetha kind. The armor was thick and broad, unlike the thin, leathery appearance of the attacking aliens. In fear, Aask unleashed a barrage of energy against it. The bolts were deflected upon making contact with the durable plating. General Aask could see a faint red glow beyond the mask that hid his enemy's face. With no ammo left, Aask threw his blaster aside and stumbled backwards, falling on his back as he tripped over his own weapon. The armored Yevetha warrior grabbed the human by his neck and squeezed, throttling the Alliance General to death.
A muffled cry for help could not save Aask and his men. He knew he failed his superiors. His breath whisked away with life, holding the clammy hands of death. With one last gasp for air and one last crunch of his wind pipe, Aask was separated from the Galaxy and given unto the endlessness of death.
Victory was welcomed by the reigning victors as the scent of blood flowed through the air after the Alliance's defeat. The Yevetha welcomed back their sense of pride of death and honor. But the battle for the spawn world had not been won yet. There were the stars to conquer next.
The unexpected arrival of attacking Yevethan starfighters caused the small, orbiting Alliance colonization fleet to scramble fighters. The Alliance had only two squadrons compared to the Yevetha's thirty or so squads of various aged fighter craft, many of them pieced together with uneven surfaces and shards of jagged metal jutting out from various points depending on the craft flown. Elite Squadron led the Alliance in battle.
The Alliance's own craft, the Gunblade-class of starfighters, resembled wingless ancient X-wing starfighters, which were pulled out from production after the old snubfighters' 150th model was released to the public a hundred-or-so years before the Gunblades even saw the light of day. The new snubfighters had four engines situated behind a long, smooth fuselage, with enough room for an astromech and a pilot. This was the only resemblance it had to the ancient X-wings. Placed along the side of the fuselage on outcropping slabs of plated armor, two double laser cannons were visible. Underneath the fighter were sealed compartments, which underneath held twin concussion missile launchers. The 'abdomen' of the Gunblade was much larger than that of an X-wing and was octagon-shaped for better maneuverability in atmospheric conditions and to make room for an advance gravity repulsor and stronger shield generators.
"All fighters report in," the leader of Elite Squadron commed in.
The members of Elite Squadron signed in one by one, and Elite Leader smiled at his team's confidence and enthusiasm. Soon he frowned as he saw the enemy fleet of ugly starfighters; the term for loosely constructed enemy space craft. Elite Leader lightly squeezed the trigger and saw a flash of light burst from his fighter's nose. His squad members followed his lead, hurtling bolts of energy towards the flotilla of enemy starfighters. Soon the enemy exchanged fire. Elites four through seven had burst into flames after the first barrage from the attacking fighters.
Red, green and blue lasers streaked through the void of Core space as the Alliance battled the surprising arrival of the once thought extinct Yevetha. Six Alliance fighters went down in the fray as the fighters mingled with one another. One fighter went down after another as they were picked off by the deadly rapid-fire lasers of the immense fighter force attacking the almost defenseless Alliance fleet. The flagship, a weaponless, sphere shaped colony ship named Courier, tried to lay a jump to hyperspace, mere seconds after a section of internal structure collapsed onto itself when a bright flash ruptured through the once peacefulness of deep space. Courier was not able to make the jump, after another brilliant flash erupted and another module of the colony ship was structurally damaged after seemingly collapsing onto itself; the section of the Courier that had just been rendered destroyed was the hyperdrive module. The colony ship was crushed under the intense weight of the sudden gravity anomaly outside the gigantic ship.
Another sudden gravity change outside the ship crippled the engines that propelled the Courier through space.
An Alliance starfighter burst into blue sparks and its flaming fuselage careened towards the surface of N'zoth. Concentrated fire from two squads of Yevethan ugly fighters resulted in the gorgeous yet deadly explosion of one of the only armed capital ship in the Alliance fleet, the triangular gunship Penetrator. Two ugly fighters accidentally collided head on with each other after chasing the same target, which was one of the only remaining fighters in the fleet. The hundred-meter-long Chaser-class corvette, Blade Runner, managed to take down several Yevetha fighters with its four anti-starfighter cannons. They pulsated with red energy fairly quickly and tracked the attacking aliens with super high accuracy. Overwhelming force caused the Blade Runner to spark at vital areas as heavy laser fire sprayed onto its bridge. The corvette's defenses were not able to do their job against the ugly fighter attack. Due to the failure of power systems, the corvette blacked out, floating in dark void as another piece of space junk.
Courier was still being bombarded with gravity anomalies, and helpless colonization vessel kept looking more like a crumpled piece of paper by the minute. Courier's internal structure was nothing short of destroyed, with the crew nearly all dead under tremendous pressure from fallen support beams inside. Life support was failing, so the rest of the crew would die in mere minutes. Hours if they were lucky enough.
Elite leader commed in for his fellow fighters to report but no one had answered his call. He looked towards the side to see an ugly on an intercept course towards him. Another three fighters were on his tail, spraying the Gunblade fighter with green laser bolts. Elite Leader noticed his control panel was sparking. His life support began to fail as well as the propulsion systems of his fighter craft.
He couldn't breathe anymore. The cockpit suffered a blow from a direct laser bolt coming from the intercepting ugly and started to crack. Oxygen rushed outside into empty space and deprived Elite Leader of air... and life.
Death floated in the void of space surrounding N'zoth now, as it had been hundreds of years ago before this new intrusion.
Victory was won by the enemy; the Yevetha had purified their spawn world, cleansing the filth that had tried to overcome them and the darama. It was a glorious day to be remembered for a long time.
No one had any warning. No distress signals were sent to the Capital. The Yevetha had now in their grasp a technological base of evil intent. They now had starships to commence a growing navy. They now had an army of ruthless killers at the darama's disposal.
It was a new beginning; the ultimate rise of evil was at hand.
