It is a time of relative peace in the known galaxy. Five years have passed since the Alliance/Ishkari War; five years since the human race and its allies faced either extermination or enslavement. With their energy weapons far outmatching the Alliance's physical projectile weaponry, the Ishkari had made it to Earth's solar system and laid siege on it. It was only after the timely reveal and retaliation of Earth's hitherto secret magical population that the Earth and its alliance were able to survive.

Now, with an uneasy peace established with the Ishkari Slave Empire and the member states of the Alliance's magical populations dwindling in number, the Alliance's fleet scour the unexplored regions of the galaxy for any signs of the elusive power...


Captain Reynard Marshall looked out the viewports of his personal quarters on his ship, watching the stars fly by as the ship passed through warp speed.

Marshall breathed in through his nose in satisfaction. His ship; he had worked hard over the many years since he first enlisted in the Fleet during the Ishkari/Alliance conflict to get to this position. Commanding his own starship, exploring the New Frontier, searching for any sign of the elusive Thaumaturgy element.

Once he had his fill of the inky blackness and the pinpricks of lights signifying stars zipping past, he turned to the small desk set into the wall of his quarters, picking up a datapad from the surface.

He flipped on the news channel on the browser and studied the reports filtering in.

The recent summit involving the Ape and Thunderan empires did not go well. He snorted; what else was new? The two distant empires were constantly at each others' throats, much like the Ishkari and the Alliance.

Speaking of the Ishkari, continued silence from the various embassies set up in the aftermath of the war.

Meanwhile, the Yautja on the fringes of Ishkari space have denied once again setting up hunts in Alliance space (probably paid off to do so by the Ishkari to annoy us); another sighting of a Borg drone near Alliance space; the discovery of a new inhabited planet and new species near where Marshall's ship was searching; etc.

Once satisfied with his daily browsing of the news, Marshall left his quarters. As he passed the various crewmen along the hallways leading to the bridge, they all saluted him. Marshall nodded at most of them, smiling in pride.

He eventually reached the bridge, where security officer Kyle Franklin was the first to notice him. "Captain on deck!", the officer half-shouted to the bridge crew, who all stood up in respectful silence.

"At ease.", said Marshall, then strode over to his first officer, Non, who was standing over the science officer's station. "How goes the hunting?", said Marshall, once he reached them, and Non's reptilian red eye and one eye patch swerved to meet him. The Narn's face was alight with excitement.

"Captain, we were just about to call you to the bridge.", said Non. "We think we found what we've been looking for."

Marshall's eyes widened. "What are the levels of Thaumaturgical energy?", he said, leaning in to the small group.

"Captain, there appears to be high levels of Thaumaturgical energy emanating from this cluster of solar systems.", came the robotic voice of the science officer, G65. She pointed up to the star charts pulled up on her screen.

A wave of excitement washed over Marshall; he couldn't believe his luck. Only two moths exploring the New Frontier, and he had found a jackpot of magic that had taken the fleet five years to find.

"The thaumaturgical activity seems to be centered around these five planets.", G65 explained. "We've been sending probes to scout out the nearest system's planet, and we've found a roughly humanoid civilization."

The screens suddenly changed to show various pictures collected from the probe droids from the planet. They all showed a sentient species exactly similar to humans (not unheard of in the known galaxy; take the Wakandans and the Atlanteans) in a medieval like setting: toiling in fields, performing in what looked like jousting tournaments, etc.

Marshall frowned at the display; normally, if a civilization had cracked space travel, the Alliance would offer membership to said planet. However, if for example a species had seemingly not yet figured out the world was spherical and not flat, then the planet would only be used for study.

Marshall felt disappointed; he had desperately wanted to make first contact with a space-faring race, especially with this much thaumaturgical energy about.

"There is something else, Captain.", came G65. "One of the probes had a malfunction and we had what could be described as an incident."

Marshall looked at Non for a translation. "One of the probes was damaged and its cloaking device malfunctioned.", said the Narn, reaching over to tap on G65's controls. An image of a bald man in elaborate robes and a powdered face appeared on the screen. The man looked incredibly shocked as he stared forward in the image.

Marshall scratched at his beard. "Shouldn't cause too much trouble. If the local who saw the droid is smart, he'll keep his mouth shut or be branded a witch or insane."

Marshall sighed, then continued. "Call Admiral Rotus, so we can discuss setting up some kind of orbital research base. Until then, we..."

"Sir.", came Kyle Franklin's monotone voice. Marshall, Non, and G65 turned to see the human security/tactical officer standing respectfully nearby. "An order from Admiral Rotus, sir, he is to speak with you immediately."

"Word gets around the frontier fast.", joked Marshall, but he only succeeded in provoking a soft chuckle from Non. G65 gave a high, false laugh in order to better assimilate with organics; the cackle always sounded unnatural to most organic life. Franklin, who almost never laughed, just stood at attention.

"I'll take it in the briefing room.", said Marshall, awkwardly, fully expecting this to be an impromptu status update request.


It was not a status update request.

Almost no sooner had the face of the corpulent, Hutt admiral had appeared on the screen, than Rotus had said casually, "So, I hear we've finally found some... magic, captain."

Marshall, who was drinking a small glass of coffee, nearly spit it out. "How did you know, Rotus?", said Marshall, momentarily forgetting proper protocol.

"Alliance intelligence has it's ways, Captain.", came Rotus' cryptic answer, moving his electronic cigar to the other side of his wide, toothless mouth.

Marshall swallowed awkardly for a moment, then launched into a short report of what they knew about the nearest planet to display both intelligent life and signs of magical energy.

Rotus stroked his blubbery chin, thinking, after the report had been completed. "Your orders are as follows, Captain. You are to start diplomatic relations with the human-like people of this planet. You will barter with them rights to set up colonies, laboratories, and factories on their planet. This will serve as a smokescreen of sorts in order for us to study the Thaumaturgical nature of this planet. Is that understood?"

Marshall thought of how shrewd and potentially ruthless Rotus was being, but merely said, "Yes, sir."

"Good.", said Rotus, giving Marshall a rare smile. "I wish I was back in a captain's chair now; how I'd love to be back exploring the frontier."

Marshall didn't respond.

"Well, carry on with it, Captain.", said Rotus, ending the transmission.


Marshall was soon back on the bridge and commanded the Na'vi helmsman to set a course for the nearest, new planet. Non gave a questioning look to Marshall, who merely gave a look he hoped said plainly that he would inform Non later. Marshall then turned his gaze back to the viewport.


Dramatis Personae (Original Characters)

Captain Reynard Marshall (Human): The eager, young captain of the starship Resilient Flame. Pretty inexperienced with being in charge and certainly reckless. Will undergo a character arc that will mature him considerably.

First Officer Non (Narn): Based on the Narn from Babylon 5. A warrior that has served with Marshall since they first enlisted in the Ishkari-Alliance war. Proud and stubborn, he has a softer side when it comes to his battle brother Marshall.

Science Officer G65 (Naglian Synthetic): A sentient android from a planet whose organic race died out centuries ago. Has trouble understanding orgainc emotions and culture.

Security/Tactical Officer Kyle Franklin (Human): An Autistic man in his late forties. Gruff and devoted to his duties, based on Odo from Deep Space 9 and Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation.

Unnamed Na'vi Helmsman (Na'vi): Based on the Na'vi people from James Cameron's Avatar. This Na'vi is one of the only of his people to depart the home world. Despite his desire to explore the cosmos, he is still a very religious figure.

Admiral Rotus (Hutt): Based on the Hutts from Star Wars. Appeared in the Milky Way galaxy suddenly as a child and raised on Earth. Has no memory of his previous life in the Star Wars time period and galaxy. Competent, but ruthless, admiral.