Chapter 0 - The Prologue

In the asteroid belt outside of the Milky Way, a battle cruiser spaceship enters through it. The size of the space craft reaches lengths of two football fields put together. The bulk of the ship's height varies at different points from two to four story buildings. On its perimeter of the hull, an arsenal of weaponry could be seen. From laser cannons to long range RPGs, one could see from a distance that it could wage war with many. Going through the floating space rock field without damaging the entire craft, one of the bridge scouts made a statement.

"We are in the clear captain. No damage to the ship's hull."

"Good. Proceed to our destination," the captain stated in his command chair.

"Aye-aye," the helmsman stated continuing to look forward at his post.

Passing the asteroid belt, the ship's engines revved a little bit higher. Feeling a mild sensation of thrust, the spacecraft increased its speed. After a good amount of time, they saw Pluto come onto their monitors. The captain sat up a little in his chair and looked at his control panel. Typing keystrokes on his monitor, the screen blinked and showed a crewman.

[Yes Captain?]

"Any causalities during the flight on any of the decks?"

[Negative. Crew members and slaves suffered no causalities on all floors]

"Any slaves escape?"

[Negative. We did a through sweep of all levels after passing through the asteroid belt. All decks were clear and all cargo were in their designated locations]

"Very well. Continue on and keep me posted with any changes."

[Aye Captain]

"..." the leader of the ship responded with a nod. Logging off the monitor and minimizing the viewing window, he pushed the screen away. Putting his hands on the arm rests, he rose to his feet.

"How long till we reach planet MW-3?"

"Based on our current velocity sir, roughly 5 hours."

"Hmm..." the commander said. Thinkning to himself and pondering, he moved his arms behind his back and held his hands.

"Commander Utern, take command. I will be in my office. Page me when we are near the planet."

"Aye aye sir," the 2nd in command stated.

Moving to take over his position, the captain retreated from the bridge. Passing through the automated door hatch to a hallway, he traveled to his quarters that was nearby. Upon entering his office, the 1st in command undid his top jacket buttons and sighed. Looking like an industrial space in his chambers, there were mild personal touches such as a decor, books, and hanging picture frames. Going around his desk and sitting down at his fancy swivel chair, he stared at what was on his workspace table.

"..." the captain remarked with a small frown.

There were several papers on the desk that he had looked at before; however, he needed to study them before conducting any business on the planet. Despite his race being one of the closest humanoid looking aliens to the habitants to MW-3, they were not exempt from the world's space customs. Glancing over the documents, there were several papers on trade, rules of law, extraterrestrial documentations, and space passports. Grabbing one with disinterest, he leaned back in his chair. Putting his feet on the desk, he gazed at the papers without focusing on its contents.

'These humans...are pretty particular about who is visiting their world and what business they are conducting,' the commander thought with a bored blink.

'My superiors ordered me to read all of this...for what though? It is just another trading post and conducting business as usual,' he continued in his mind. Yawning out loud, he scratched his black haired beard.

"Whatever," he said out loud. Tossing the documents back onto his desk, he adjusted himself in his seat to be more comfortable. Lifting his arms up to put his hands behind his head, he closed his eyes.

"I'll just nap and have my subordinates brief me."

Many years ago, planet MW-3 (aka Earth) did not have any species or lifeforms from outer space or other planets. There were many human scientists that tried to seek them in the vast empty space outside of their world. However, almost all came empty handed getting either a void or dead signal with minimal feedback. While it discouraged many from their failed efforts, others continued their pursuit like it was a personal mission to make contact. However, the lack of political and public interest in the sought for extraterrestrial life dispirited even more. Until one day, something different happened.

There was a radio broadcast from the blackened heavens beyond their world. It stated that they were part of a universal interspecies council and wanted to meet with world leaders in discussions of possible co-habituation. Like a firestorm, the news and information about there being space aliens and life outside their globe went viral. Nearly every news organization made a story regarding the newly required audio. It was more baffling to all that the message was not encrypted or some alien language. It was spoken in the universal business language of the world.

Presidents and Prime ministers around the world quickly sent a wire to meet up. Deciding quickly to meet up at the United Nations headquarters, they and their UN representatives congregated into the auditorium. Seeing the space more packed then normal, news media outlets were mostly restricted to outside while special privileges were given to those in the respects of recording the rare conglomerate of all nations under one roof. As they began discussions, the general aura from the massive room was curiosity and an unusually sense of collaboration. It was not about fighting wars, strong arming for resources, battling foreign policies, or being at each other's throats.

In the midst of their tense cordial debate, something began to materialize in the empty center space between the large and wide podium and the front row seating. A dozen beings solidify in the middle of the stage of the council area. Halting all talk, all the humans were in shock, awe, and apprehension. The appearance of a few were frightening amongst the space aliens. UN security force were immediately at the ready with their firearms pointing at the potential new threat.

Without hesitation, the council speaker spoke out and told the troops to stand down. Seeing the dozen extraterrestrials turn around to face him, he apologized to them for greeting them in such a rude display. Welcoming them to their planet, the speaker gave the aliens the floor to express themselves and why they have come to Earth. One of the ET leaders moved forward with its tentacles and gave a slow nod. Speaking through an odd metallic contraption, it spoke in broken English as if it was a translator.

Addressing the world's representatives with aspects of collaboration, the outer space leaders sought to start the beginning of a new frontier of multi-planet and universal trade and business. Stating that they have been monitoring the Milky Way-3 sphere for millenniums, a good portion of the spectators reacted with mixed emotions. Continuing, the visitors mentioned that the humanity's growth had reached a point to where leaders far and wide have expressed interest in developing a communion. After speaking and letting other alien commanders state their positions, the extraterrestrials turned back to the speaker. Stating that they have finished with their speech and will wait for a response through the frequency they first contacted. The UN speaker nodded his head and all earthlings in the auditorium saw the foreign entities transport themselves back to their ships.

Once gone and amongst only humankind, the large council space exploded with discussion. Voices of fascination and fear ran side by side. Curiosity and cautiousness battled amongst the representatives. Logical and emotional statements were being spat out in all languages. A verbal battle royal amongst all in what will be the next historic steps for mankind to take. The once backburner glimmer of space exploration whiplashed into full focus after getting slapped hard with evidence that other lifeforms were amongst the planets and stars.

Slamming the wooden hammer with fervor to bring order, the erupted space began to calm down. Once all nations and representatives gave their attention to the speaker, he cleared his throat. Addressing them to what was witness and spoken about, he indicated at this moment that this was one of the times that all must think carefully of how they will shape the future of their world. At the same time, he emphasized that this crucial event and decision was timed. The alien leaders only gave them one Earth rotation on its axis to decide. Stating that each nation will have time to think of their response, each will address everyone to what their decision will be.

One by one, each country's representative gave their view on what should be done. Some were in favor of expanding. Some were against siding with an unknown group that could dominate their world easily. Many were indecisive. After three hours of hearing speeches, the floor speaker addressed all for a vote. In one of the few acts of voting on something so quickly and without verbal debacle, a majority stated to be in favor of the outer space proposal.

Shortly after and giving a wire back to the ET commanders, the aliens responded stating they were pleased with hearing a consensus response. Stating a future date to meet in the same room as before, the next couple of days became constrained chaos. The world news organizations reported what occurred followed by leaked footage of the UN council room. Many presidents, prime minsters, kings, and lords spoke to their people addressing what occurred and what will come. Addressing all that there are reasons to be skeptical, there was also reasons to be optimistic of what this would do for humankind and broaden their horizons.

When the space beings and the representatives of the UN met again, they discussed on how to form their new alliance. After much debate, they formed the Commission Committee of Inter-Universal Species (aka CCIUS). It took a few weeks to crank out a constitution that both Earth and the 12 leaders from extraterrestrial worlds would accept. The groundwork for letting aliens assimilate in the human society was written. However, there were arguments in regards of humans visiting and assimilating with the alien worlds.

Though the space beings understood why the MW-3 beings would want equal treatment, they informed them that they were not ready. Emphasizing that the technological advancement difference between them was too vast, the ET leaders agreed to make a stipulation. Human society had to build their own galactic travel spaceships. Once done so and the vehicles can reach their worlds, the space beings would gladly assist their world civilization in blending and experiencing their foreign worlds and culture. UN representatives knew that they were at a disadvantage from this stance.

However, the stipulation provided two aspects. All knew that they were not in a position to bargain for something more equal. It would have to be a future issue to solve amongst all world leaders. For some of the human leaders, the aspects of being united under one goal and government seemed obtainable and not a textbook theory in government. The other side was the possibility of getting alien visitors that would share aspects of their technological advancements. It provided possibilities of speeding up their growth in getting humans to explore the stars and reaching new heights faster. Agreeing to the constitution under the CCIUS and publicizing the event, it marked the new era for the people on Earth.

Several years passed since the fateful day and much has occurred in that time frame. The world has been visited by different races from outer space. At first, there was massive interest given that there was life among the stars. Adaptability amongst humankind was generally positive though there were various friction points in all nations. Government of all landmasses made it publicly known that acts of aggression, discrimination, and crime against the space foreigners would be dealt with swiftly and strongly.

Many people believed there would be much difficulty for the ET visitors trying to assimilate into Earth's culture. To their amazement, a large majority of the alien races learned how their world operates without too much time. Not only through society, but culturally and how each country functions to sustain itself regardless of government method. Though many races have been accepted through each society around the world, it would take a few years more for all alien races to be accepted globally. Movements of social groups and special interest groups helped garnering support or opposition to the outer space foreigners.

Given this, the question of equal treatment for the ETs has been a question among the earthlings of each landmass and policy issue for their establishments. Some municipalities were more accepting than others. From these areas, the non-Earth aliens saw a better relationship with the locals. Visitation and living permits were easy to obtain thus establishing a safer haven zone. However, not all government and countries were as willing to extend both their hands.

In some societies that did not fully accept the outer spacers, segregation was created as a co-existence. Though the locals and authorities cooperate with having them live in their cities and towns, the aliens were not oblivious. Fear and anger were seen in the humans' eyes and how they stood. Despite being told by their counselors that they were protected, it did not give them much confidence in walking alone. All space visa holders in these hostile areas were emphasized to be in groups of three or more when walking outside.

The amount of different appearances, shapes, sizes, and auras each alien race had was vast. In the early years, the habitants of MW-3 had a hard time treating them as normal "citizens" or "visitors". The closest reference people had to initially go off on was the sci-fi genre to which provided little comfort or reference. There was a good number of media produced; however, a majority of the aliens depicted were of not good intentions. Eventually as time went on, humans became desensitized for the various images of each extraterrestrial. A minority of them were easier to adapt to while others that elicited images of horror and demons from films, where hard to accept.

As more years passed on in getting use to all alien races and forms, a pseudo-harmonic co-existence was established. As much as earthlings tried to make the aliens feel welcomed after so much time passed, a number of people could tell that ETs were still as guarded as they were. Even after the assimilation phase, acceptance, and cooperating with one another, there was still tension. Amongst the community communication with the visitors from outer space, a general consensus was made. In the back of their mind, humans held a state of fear, irritation, and/or confusion against them. Rational or not, the space foreigners recognized that it would take many Earth years for the inhabitants to fully accept them completely.

However, there were a couple of alien races that had the most success on the plant. Having the most humanoid form and appearance than all the others, these species saw a quicker and receptive acceptance into human society. Leaders of the three races took this to their advantage to enable bolder programs to assimilate into establishments. One in particular was a slave/servant species called Baklavains. They were the closest into looking like an earthling with small variations.

Their eyes, born on a planet with a much larger star than the Sun, were lighter and tend to be on the redder shade of the colors. The common pigment amongst them was a faded orange. Ones that had red irises were considered blind while yellowish green had above perfect vision. A greater distinction was their sclera being shades of black than white. To the interest of many humans, Baklavains hair color would have the spectrum of blue, violet, to space black. Scientists found that these vast colors were most likely to protect them from UV radiation from the larger Sun they had on their home world.

Amongst the obvious differences, there were subtle modifications to their limbs as well. Their skin did not brown regardless of how often they were in the Sun. Toenails and fingernails were much harder and thicker than humans to which they could be considered talons if long enough. If naked, one would see that parts of their skin seemed to have developed a layer of scales. Mainly seen on the extremities, health professionals saw it as a natural trait due to the habitat on their planet for survival. Everything else about them held human characteristics.

In order to provide a sense of basic rights to them given of their "status", world governments worked with ET leaders to implement a "host family" operation program. One or a couple of the alien race can go to a human family in order to experience culture, education, and have a place to stay just like a citizen would. To MW-3 diplomates surprise, Baklavaian leaders were not of the same race. Though humanoid in shape alone, they overtook their world and imprisoned them to be their servants/slaves. The Primusian officials told them that they have been ruling over the Baklavaians for half a century to which some of the slaves from the takeover were still alive.

In order to keep them in control and to appease the human world organizations, the Primusians agreed to the host program. However, they had a condition. The leaders emphasized they must have supervision due to the aspect that the servants belong to a master. In much debate on of not opening a can of worms regaring public relations, Earth diplomates agreed to the conditions. All sides agreed that to prevent globle outcry, the status and condition of the Baklavaians were to be kept as confidential information.

"We are nearing planet MW-3 in 30 minutes commander," the helmsman stated from his post.

"Very well. I will go inform the captain," the sub-commander said. Getting up from the captain's chair, he left his post and went to his leader's office. Stopping outside from seeing the hatch door not open up, he looked at the intercom. Sighing to himself, he pressed the button.

"Captain," he stated with authority. Letting go of the intercom, he heard a thud inside.

'Sleeping again...Olton never changes,' the Primusian officer thought and shook his head. Hearing footsteps and straightening himself, the room door unlocked and opened. Seeing his commander still looking half asleep, he withheld a frown.

"We are nearing the planet. ETA 30 minutes."

"..." Captain Olton responded with yawning and stretching. "Already? That was quicker than I thought."

"Focusing on something does tend to make one lose the sense of time sir."

"...right..." the man agreed looking more awake. Shaking his head, he held a steadier gaze at his 2nd in command.

"Let's get down there and do some business."