Prologue:

Since the dawn of time, man has looked to the sky and dared to dream about what lay beyond. What were those pinprick points of light in the sky? What of the giant globe of fire that lit and warmed the Earth? Or, of the moon, that ever-changing night light. What did it all mean? In the early years of civilization, people equated it all to different entities; gods in the sky controlling our destiny. As time went on and technology advanced, it was discovered that these objects in the sky were not entities but were in fact other worlds, most so far away that the distances had to be measured using new terminology, the lightyear. By the turn of the 21st century humankind had learned numerous, wondrous things of the universe around us. Humanity learned how to fly and harnessed the power of the atom. Rockets have traveled to space and have sent people to the Moon. Satellites in orbit have taken images of the farthest reaches of the visible universe. Distant galaxies have been discovered and cataloged. Yet, there still remained one question: are we alone. For many millennia people thought that the universe was devoid of life beyond Earth. In 2059 everything changed. In orbit of Jupiter, disguised as the moon Io, was a construct so vast and ancient that it boggles the mind. A desire to find its creators drove humanity to the distant stars and led to the discovery of other races. Our perspective of the universe changed. New discoveries were made: Quantum energy, to power their starships, and hyperspace engines, to travel faster than light. We find ourselves at the beginning of an adventure, and a beginning is a time to put the universe into perspective. The year is 2792, and the Confederacy of Free Worlds reigns as the leading superpower in the Known Universe. It is a time of prosperity within the Confederacy. Fifty years ago a peace treaty ended a century-long war with the First Imperium, a dark realm on the edge of Confederate space that remains inaccessible to all but the bravest adventurers. Along the border regions is an area known at the Tagovian Reach. It is unremarkable except for a few resource-rich worlds that are controlled by the Confederacy. The Tagovian Reach is littered with stars, many of them dying. Contact with this area of space is irregular, with worlds going out of touch for days. In orbit of a yellow giant, cruising at a quarter the speed of light, is a starship. It is a menacing warship, a relic of past wars. The ship has been there for several days, and if it weren’t for the running lights it would be for all intents and purposes a derelict. It remained unnoticed, since few craft patrolled this region. The locals, on the other hand, are aplenty, but being frontiers people they keep to themselves. The captain of the ship does not worry, for his will is that of the universe. If the universe wills it that they be found he will do his part and destroy whoever stands in his path. His mission is a simple one: to restore the universe to its natural state where only the fittest survive. He knows he will succeed, for his will is unstoppable, as is the will of everyone else sharing in the vision….