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The year was 6940 AC time, or 4010 AD. At this point in time, the portion of our galaxy known to us as the "Orion Spur" (which includes the Earth and it's sun) and the regions surrounding it contained several large civilizations that, like many civilizations do, were constantly vying for power. The largest and most powerful one was known as the Anasian Confederation. It was made up primarily of a very successful and diverse race of bipedal mammalian creatures called Anasians. They were an odd bunch as far as evolution goes, because no one was quite sure how they got to be. The common legends of the race center around a group of beings referred to commonly as Zhed'Faldei, meaning "The Crafters" in the Traditional Anasian tongue. The Zhed'Faldei were a mysterious and very old civilization that was rumored to have originated around a blue giant star somewhere in the central portion of the Galaxy, nearly a billion years prior . They were one of the galaxy's original established civilizations, in their heyday around the time many other planets were just developing the rudiments of intelligent life. After exploring the galaxy for millennia, and gaining as much knowledge as they could, the civilization reached maturity. They had spent millennia developing wonders unimaginable to most, and advancing themselves, their technology, and their culture to the breaking point.

Just as every intelligent species must birth it's self off of its womb planet to evolve, so too must they leave the womb galaxy to evolve to a higher state and propagate further. They collectively knew that the time to evolve was coming soon, and they decided to begin one final grand experiment. They had developed an extensive catalog of life sustaining planets throughout the galaxy, complete with genomes of all life forms and evolution potential. At the time before their departure, very few planets had established civilizations as highly evolved to be space faring. The final farewell gift the Zhed'Faldei would give to the galaxy that it called home for so long was the gift of consciousness. For nearly three hundred thousand years, they implemented a double-pronged intelligence and consciousness proliferation program that consisted of gene splicing between semi-intelligent species and species that had the potential to become intelligent. They also used their extensive knowledge of genetics to create specialized life forms that would be sent through space in spore form to settle unobtrusively on a planet that had even the rudimentary beginnings of intelligent life, or that was speculated to have the capacity to evolve higher life forms in its future. These engineered life forms would, once they entered the atmosphere, fall to the ground, and grow prolifically by sending out thousands of tiny hair like filaments into the surrounding soil. This ensured propagation in every conceivable environment. They would then sprout a structure above ground, containing a melange of specially designed chemicals that were tailored by the Zhed'Faldei to be catalysts for intelligence, awareness and consciousness in species that were on the verge of evolving higher. On Earth these were called Fungi.

The Anasians always had a fondness for Earth. The genetic material that they were made of was almost entirely from there. The legend was, on Earth, hundreds of thousands of years ago, there was a reasonably advanced civilization of primates that had evolved into an intelligent form through the intervention of the space-born "fungi" of the Zhed'Faldei. Eventually, the Zhed'Faldei began interacting with the primates, who called themselves "Humans". The humans were given tools and technology to help advance themselves. In return, the Zhed'Faldei took genetic samples of the humans to add to their gene-pool. They were also allowed to take genetic samples of various suitable animal species form the planet as well.

Eventually, however, the humans became too dependent on the Zhed'Faldei. The current regional program the Zhed'Faldei were running required them to move off-planet, and leave the humans to their own devices. With the technology of the Zhed'Faldei, but without their wisdom, the humans reverted to using it to kill each other off in primate territorial squabbles. Eventually, the civilization they had was destroyed, and humans reverted to Neolithic hunter-gatherer tribal bands, and weren't able to build a successful civilization for another hundred thousand years.

The program that required the Zhed'Faldei to move off planet was the program that the Anasians were developed from. The Zhed'Faldei moved their operations to several nearby star systems to work with splicing the genes of humans, earth animals, and various species native to the various planets. The result of these experiments, the Anasians, were then allowed to develop themselves into conscious, intelligent, diverse beings. The Zhed'Faldei aided in the cultural and physiological development, and the Anasians advanced very quickly in the beginning. Then, after ten Anasian civilizations were established and on the verge of becoming spacefareing, the Zhed'Faldei abruptly disappeared. The legends begin to vary here, some say they were called to evolve. To what, no one is quite sure. Others say they were called elsewhere, to continue their evolution seeding.

But this is all legend, and no one is quite certain that any of this is the pure, objective truth. Nonetheless, the Anasians exist, and over time spread across space and developed into many different races, societies and cultures of all types. Eventually, as things go, various Anasian groups set up trade with other groups and other groups fought wars with one another. 6930 years before the current events, the Anasians faced their first non Anasian threat, from a Barbaric warrior people known as the Cincamey, who were bent on taking over Anasian territories and resources. The Anasians were forced to group together, and pool their resources and collective military strength to overcome this enemy. In doing so, They formed a government of tied-together Anasian Species and societies, called The Anasian Confederation. The AC's military, made up of several hundred million Anasians, was able, after a ten year war, to defeat the Cincamey, and nearly caused the extinction of the Cincamey species. The remaining Cincamey fled into deep space, and were never heard from again. Once the war ended, the AC established its self as the primary governing force of the Anasian races. It was set up that, while each social group and race of Anasians kept their own governing bodies, these governors reported to the AC.

Most Anasians liked the idea of the AC, and for various reasons, decided to work and live under their rule. Others, however, did not. Many groups of Anasians, after the Cincamey War, preferred to return to their independence. They were met with opposition from the AC, and were eventually either forced out of the AC, or they left on their own. These Anasians fled into the outskirts of AC space, and, in the frontier areas, set up their own societies and cultures. Eventually, out of the Frontier Anasians' wanderings, other Anasian civilizations sprang up. The largest of these, The Phalanaxian Empire, was initially a group of exiled AC Military officers and soldiers, who were disgraced one way or another in the Cincamey war. Post-war, they fled. Once they established settlements on the outskirts of Anasian space, they offered a safe haven for all Anasians who objected AC rule.

Another civilization that sprung up post-war was the Kendinasian Alliance. This one was centered around one of the original ten Anasian Planets. The Planet was Kendinasia, and the anasian race it was homeworld to was a race of predominantly Canine Anasians, the Kendinasians. This civilization was so far in the center of Anasian space that it was hardly affected by the Cincamey war. The Kendinasians were a somewhat closed race, and they resented the fact that, due to AC law they were to be drafted into the AC military. In response, they closed off Kendinasia and the fifteen other planets under their control from the AC. Due to vast resources on several uninhabited planets under their control, they were able to establish a powerful military, that was constantly defending its self from the AC's invasion attempts after the Cincamey war.

There were many other splinter civilizations that split from the AC, and spread through space. Finally, the AC, trying to keep control of things, began producing a highly sophisticated, technologically advanced military force from its old forces from the war. It was named the Califeron Teseretz, meaning "Forceful Peace" in the old Anasian language. It eventually grew to nearly ten billion members, spread across the roughly one thousand inhabited planets of the AC. It was initially used to both police the AC's planets, and to defend its inhabitants against the growing outside threats. It most commonly fought the Kendinasian Alliance and the Phalanaxian Empire for space, and resources.

Flashing forward to the current situation. Four years prior, the central portion of the AC was embroiled in an ongoing war with the Kendinasians. The planet of Kendinasia, being one of the central ten of the Zhed'Faldei, was located near to the Capital planet of the AC, Felinasia. Originally the homeworld of two Anasian races, a predominately feline race called the Felinasians, and another canine race, the Salzinasians. Eventually, the planet, located close to the territorial center of the AC, soon became home to more than twenty separate Anasian races from all over the AC, all there to participate in the Cincamey war effort. The close proximity of the two planets to each other was the cause of many disputes. The current one began when a small predominately uninhabitable planet called Markaranth nearly between the two was being used, unbeknown to either side, by both sides to set up listening posts to spy on each other. The planet's only inhabitable area was a five hundred mile long, fifty mile wide canyon that contained the planet's biosphere. The surface of the rest of the planet was at a far higher elevation, too high to support anything but microbial life. The planet was in AC space, near the border of the AC and Kendinasian territory. A small base set up by the Califeron Teseretz (CT) was located in the northern tip of the Canyon, about fifteen miles outside of the Planet's main city, Markaaranth. Not more than a couple of months after the CT established a small post there, the Kendinasians set up a post in the southern end of the valley, in an uninhabited area about fifty miles west of the second largest city, the City of Qualin.

Neither of the two armies was aware that the other was operating there, until the Kendinasians were forced to send supplies to their units in the south. Their supply ship was detected by the CT post in the north. The CT units were not well supplied with munitions, and could not fight off any sizable Kendinasian forces. They contacted Felinasia with their information, and the CT began sending troops to the planet. Subsequently, the Kendinasians, fearing that the discovery of a spy base on an AC planet would lead them to being attacked, they too sent troops to Markarranth. Eventually, a battle broke out, which escalated into a system-wide conflict that took up a great deal of AC and Kendinasian resources. Eventually, full bases were set up by the CT and Kendiasians in place of their original spy bases, and the entire Markarranth Canyon was embroiled in conflict. The conflict led to a million total casualties for both sides, and the battle finally was won by the AC, who had sent in several large groups of specially trained soldiers of the Vulpinasian race, a diverse species of vulpine Anasians, to go far behind enemy lines on-planet, and infiltrate and destroy the Kendinasian headquarters. This lead to the deaths of all the senior Kendinasian officers in command of the entire military. Crippled command-wise, the Kendinasians retreated back into their own territory, and kept to themselves for several years.

One of the Vulpinasian units that participated in the final attack was stationed on the Planet Vulpon, in a region of space in the Central AC inhabited by various Vulpinasian races. Vulpon was the Vulpinasian planet with the second highest population of the Vulpinasian worlds. Most vulpine races in the AC were governed by a type of feudal system that set various ruling families in control of territory. However, recently, this system of family rule was being challenged violently in most Vulpinasian societies. The Vulpinasians were tired of having a series of families ruling them, and generally keeping them behind on many things in anasian culture. All vulpine planets were undergoing social upheavals. However, they were temporarily unified again, after the aid of their race in helping win the battle of Markarranth.

The CT unit on Vulpon was the 32nd specialized assault division, stationed in the base CT-6284 on the planet's northern continent, about fifteen miles northwest of the planet's largest City, Tucetya. Tucetya was home of the main ruling family of the planet, the Kithandas. The Kithanda family was very large, and prone to squabbling with its self. Only roughly half of the family had any power, the rest was forced to live outside of power by the ruling half. One member of the half not in power, was a young Vulpinasian named Brian "Triad" Kithanda. He was a 21 year old captain in the 32nd SpAD (specialized assault division), stationed in the 32nd's base north of Tucetya. He was not particularly happy with being in the CT, as he was drafted during the Markarranth war. His was one of the units that destroyed the Kendinasians' military leaders, but this brought him no sense of joy or patriotism. In fact, at this very moment, he wasn't feeling much of anything. He was lying unconscious in the grass in front of the Officer's barracks of the CT base 6284. The barracks was on fire, half demolished by a missile fired by unknown combatants. The general speculation was that the Zerdic Liberation Army, a radical group of religious extremists of the Valpinism religion, were responsible. They had been launching random attacks from the mountainous forested region that surrounded the base.

After the Battle of Markarranth, the 32nd was honored with the CT's Medal of Valor, the highest honor anyone in the CT or AC could receive. They were showered in fanfare all over Vulpon, the planets of the Vulpinasians, and the AC, along with the other units that participated. Everyone thought the Vulpinasian heroes had ushered in a new age for Vulpinasian society. In the months following the end of the war, however, this proved not to be the case. Many of the soldiers who returned were used by their local ruling families as tools to gain support of the population towards the ruling elite. Triad especially hated this, for he was, biologically, a member of the Ruling house Kithanda. His side of the family, however, was looked upon with disdain by the other side, and he grew up with a certain amount of disdain for the ruling side of the Kithandas, and authority in general. When he returned from the war with the 32nd, The patriarch of the Ruling Kithandas, Charles Kithanda, attempted to use him as a way of gathering support for the Kithandas, which was waning quickly. During a press conference two months after the war, Triad made a name for himself with the anti-ruling families Vulpinasians, when, after being pandered to by Charles Kithanda, told the ruler of the Kithandas, "You had nothing to do with this. I didn't even play a large role either, so why are you kissing my ass?.". This made somewhat major news on Vulpon for a month afterward. Charles was incensed at this, and publicly disowned Triad from his family.

Partially as a result of this, but mainly due to the growing trend on vulpine planets of civil unrest, Vulpon's ruling family based culture was being challenged by nearly a third of the overall population. War on the planet erupted when, a separatist cell of the family Military of Vulpon's minor ruling house, the Len'kinths, lead a violent coup, and overthrew the ruling family. Chaos erupted in the southern continent as the military, taken over by the separatists, began killing off all Lenkinth supporters. Soon thereafter, the separatists began building their forces, fueled their troops with extremist Valpinist dogma, and sent them on their way north to attack Kithanda territory.

AC law states that each local Anasian government can have its own military to be used as a defensive measure against another hostile local government, or off-planet threat. The government cannot enlist the aid of the AC or the CT for local disputes, unless these disputes are caused by something which violates AC law. However, if the government under attack is aligned with the AC specifically, as compared to being neutral, but accepted by the AC, then the CT would give priority to the aligned government. The Kithanda and Lenkinth governments until this point were allied, and specifically aligned with the AC. Each side had no need to keep a large military to defend its self from one another. However, the separatists in the south were part of a growing trend that could start another, possibly anti-AC society in vulpine space. Should a local government be threatened by a hostile, non-AC aligned group, like these separatists, they could enlist the aid of the CT units on the planet. The guidelines were that each CT soldier sent to aid the local government was to be drafted in their military (so to avoid any responsibility on the CT's part for the local government's actions), then returned to the CT once the conflict was over.

The Kithanda government was allowed to enlist the majority of the 32nd for this purpose. Also, in retaliation for Triad's public remark to Charles, he was enlisted, and given a very low rank, a poor assignment with a terribly inexperienced division, and terrible missions. One mission in particular did not bode well for Triad, and several other friends of his from the CT that were sent on a poorly planned recon mission in a Separatist occupied desert region. He and his unit, which consisted of ten terribly inexperienced Kithanda soldiers, himself, and two of his fellow CT officers, one of whom was a good friend of his, Sergeant Kate Omnifox. Their team was scanning the desert in three poorly-constructed high speed recon vehicles. They were ambushed by Separatist forces, who killed seven members of his team, all Kithanda soldiers. The rest were captured and imprisoned, where they were tortured using an illegal method of information extraction involving isolation, physical torture, psychological torture, and dosing of a wide variety of harmful mind altering drugs. After ten months of captivity, they were rescued by a joint CT-Kithanda force that found them imprisoned. Soon after, the Kithanda military took control of the former Lenkinth Capital of New Keldone. The CT units were returned to CT-6284, and active duty. Triad, and his two fellow prisoners were returned to CT-6284, where they were hospitalized and treated for the conditions they developed while imprisoned. After six months of recuperation, they returned to active duty.

Meanwhile, even though the war on Vulpon was over, conditions on the planet deteriorated. The planet, once a prosperous center of Vulpinasian commerce and culture, was quickly falling into chaos. To make matters worse, The Phalanaxian Empire had begun a large scale war on the other side of the AC that required massive amounts of CT units. The troop drain caused a massive reorganization of AC resources and CT units. All the units that the 32nd had that were not involved in the Vulpon War, were transferred to fight in the war with the Phalanaxians. Many of the vehicles and weapons the 32 had were transferred to the new war effort as well. This was a major problem for the 32nd, who was now faced with a growing number of hostile groups sprouting up all over the planet, but especially in the deteriorating Teucetya, which, once prosperous, was turning into a breeding ground for extremist religious terrorist groups, street gangs, and organized crime. On top of this, the Kithanda military was weakened by the war so much that they were not able to police the population effectively, and spent the majority of the time defending themselves from the population. The 32nd was ordered to help the Kithanda government with policing the planet, but the recent troop drain left them horribly understaffed. They were in the same boat as the Kithandas, with only enough troops and resources to defend themselves.

In addition, a discovery was made on the battlefield of one of the AC's periphery planets. A cold, rocky, uninhabited mining world once under the jurisdiction of a Felinasian corporation, without a name, just the designation JS-7, had just been captured by the Phalanaxians. On this unassuming world, was made a discovery. While surveying (and expanding) abandoned mine tunnels in order to ascertain the mineral resources of the planet, some three miles into the crust, soldiers came across a strange device that had been embedded in the rock for some time. Next to it, etched into the rock, were a series of petroglyphs of unknown origin.

Assumed to be a useless ancient relic, the Phalanaxians quickly scanned it, taking a holographic image and running the image through a semi-intelligent data processing unit that could not determine it's nature or origin. It's properties were indeterminate, so it was disregarded. The crews then began drilling into the rock next to it. As the bit ground it's way through the device, a metallic spheroid, a blueish white glow emanated from it. The light became a crackling energy that flooded the length of the shaft. The energy shot it's way through the Phalanaxian drilling equipment, and the technicians inside. It then made it's way through the rock, causing it to crumble and disintegrate. Phalanaxian ships in orbit around JS-7 observed the subsequent chain reaction caused by the device, and watched in awe and horror as the small barren planet was broken up, dissolved, really, by the unknown blue energy. The remnants of the planet, plus the Anasians and structures on it, began imploding, and within a few minutes a singularity opened where the planet's core once was. Everything, except the ships in orbit, which, at this time had begun putting a few parsecs between themselves and the planet that was now cannibalizing it's self, was being sucked into it. Once the last of the debris had fallen past the Schwarzchild radius of the singularity, it all collapsed in on it's self, and disappeared. Nothing known, much less artificial, prior to this, in the history of the Anasians, had the capability to eat an entire small planet...

...And, despite their initial disinterest, the Phalanaxians now possessed a holographic schematic of the spheroid device that had caused this unprecedented display of destruction. It was only a matter of time before the Phalanaxian Empire's top scientists could reverse engineer it.