The Visanti Imperium tore through our atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. It was the first time anyone on Earth had ever truly encountered an extraterrestrial without being considered a madman. You couldn’t be labeled insane anymore because it happened everywhere all at once. Thousands of Visanti ships carrying hundreds of thousands of alien refugees just popped into existence with little to no warning. The rift they tore between our world and the lightspace they’d been aimlessly floating in still looms over what’s left of Earth to this day.  The Scar, we call it.  In one fell swoop, the unceasing question as to whether or not we were alone in the universe was answered and we began to move forward, quickly changing our goal to discovering a way to either coexist with a civilization vastly superior to our own or find a home for our new neighbors. We didn’t have to wonder for long, mind you, as more pressing matters presented themselves. 

Hot on their heels came the Visanti Insurgency, members of the Imperium’s anti-technocratic military who’d betrayed their leaders and signed a pact with the Conclave, an interstellar state and military superpower comprised of a dozen dominated species who’d been at war with the Visanti for centuries.  It was the Insurgency’s belief that they should be put in charge and the Conclave had promised them such.  If it hadn’t been for their queen’s reliance on her technocrats, they believed, their homeworld might still be habitable.  They wanted less reliance on scientists and engineers and more trust in the old-fashioned thinking of their military leaders.  Floating for years out in the depths of lightspace, Insurgency saboteurs detonated the lightspace drives within the royal frigate, killing the Visanti emperor in the process and ripping a hole in the fabric of space that led straight to Earth.  Earth didn’t stand a chance against the Insurgency then, but an escaped princess and her loyalists helped us rebuild.  The rest, as they say, is history. 

We took to the stars and scattered, never content with staying in one place for too long.  New civilizations were discovered and we became the new kids on the block just like all the old sci-fi movies said we would. Rebellions followed.  Political intrigue.  Wars.  I never found those parts of the story quite interesting.  Well, maybe a little.  Looking back now, some believe we should’ve just let the Visanti float out there among the stars. Others believe we should’ve blown them out of the sky. Me? I believe that all happened a very long time ago.  What’s done is done.

Next Chapter: Chapter 1