Star People Prologue

Earth, March 7^th, 2178…

During the last quarter of the 22^nd century, mankind had made great strides in technology, especially in the form of new energy sources and space travel. As a result, it had begun to colonize past its home world, the Earth. Its population had swelled to over 12 billion and new settlements had begun to emerge on the Moon and Mars, as well as numerous space colonies. Eventually, the human race was ready to explore the vastness of space past the Solar System, eager to meet whatever new life forms that was out there.

There were other forms of life, and one was not friendly at all. One that viewed all organic life to be inferior, and sought to eliminate its existence in the universe. This was the energy-based lifeform known as the Cryterians.

----------

Earth, Dec 7^th, 2178

Captain Mark Delan shook his head as he watched the hundreds of colony shuttles flee the Earth. Aboard the battle cruiser Missouri, the officer of the United Space Force ordered all guns to fire on the Cryterian Mothership in an attempt to slow its advance toward the Earth and give the population more time to escape. The planet distant orbital defenses were weakening, as the malevolent alien race continued its slaughter of all those who opposed it.

As the final defensive barrier gave way, the numerous Cryterian warships and fighters surged toward the blue-white planet and started raining down lethal barrages of energy and projectiles at it. Some colony shuttles were mercilessly obliterated as they attempted to flee. Hundreds of thousands of Earth fighters, destroyers and battle cruisers fell to the onslaught.

Then the Cryterian Mothership moved into position to deliver the final blow. Mark knew that this was the end as he ordered his ship to withdraw. The other ships followed suit as they began to pull back past the Moon’s orbit and prepared to make the jump into hyperspace. Just before the Missouri was about to engage its trans-warp drive, the commander of the heavy cruiser watched at the main holo-display as the Cryterian Mothership fired a huge beam of energy at the Earth. The beam plowed through the crust of the planet, causing it to shudder as multitudes of eruptions happened all over its surface. Then the core was detonated, causing the Earth to give off one final shudder before exploding outwards into huge masses of planetary debris.

Earth, the birth place of the human race, had died.

The Moon, with no gravity from Earth to keep it in its orbit, started to drift outwards. However, it too would not be spared as several large chunks of planetary debris plowed into it, breaking it apart as well.

At that moment, the remaining Earth ships jumped into hyperspace and disappeared into the vast void of space.

----------

December 3^rd, 3 AE (After Earth)

Somewhere near the Asteroid Belt, Sol System…

“I can’t believe this thing survived!”

“Well, it was encased in durayte polymer back in 2099 when they couldn’t maintain it as a museum, so they turned it into a monument. Sort of like a fly being preserved in amber.”

“Talk about a really big fly in a really big piece of amber. It must have been blown into space when Earth was destroyed.”

The two explorers continued to stare at the object as it drifted among the asteroids. It was about 270 meters long and 64 meters tall. It was metallic and had a number 63 painted on both sides of its bow. Before Earth’s destruction, its resting place was a location known as Pearl Harbor. On its main deck was a plaque with the name of USS Missouri.

“Let’s take it back with us!”

“Are you crazy?! What are we going to do with an ancient relic like this?!”

“We were sent out to get a piece of the Earth to bring back with us to commemorate the 3^rd Anniversary of Its destruction. I don’t see anything more symbolic of our continuing fight against the Cryterians than this!”

The two argued for a while before the decision was made to take the ancient battleship back with them.

Eventually, the old veteran would be again in combat.

--------

April 15^th, 5 AE

Constellation Rigel, sector 15…

Captain Mark Delan nodded as he shook hands with one of the representatives of Kyteeri, Star Leader Reelan. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Her exotic, light blue skin and pointed ears just accented her gold-colored eyes and long raven hair. Her uniform hugged her voluptuous figure like a second skin.

Like the Earthlings, the Kyteeri had been attacked by the Cryterians and their home world was destroyed, causing their population to be set adrift into space to die a slow death. This was especially serious for the Kyteeri as they were an all-female race and had no males of their own. They could only propagate their species by breeding with other humanoid males. As a result, they often traveled the space lanes not only for trade but to find mates. The Cryterians hated all organic life and found the idea of breeding and spreading among the stars to be repugnant. This in turn, marked the Kyteeri for destruction.

“I do hope that this alliance will benefit both of our people against the Cryterians.” Captain Delan said as his gaze strayed toward her impressive bust before he mentally chided himself.

“I think it will be a most fruitful alliance.” Reelan agreed as thoughts of Mark being the father of her children danced in her mind. Behind her, several other Kyteeri women looked upon the gathering of male Terran officers with great interest.

-------

July 7^th, 6 AE

As the Terran and Kyteeri allied forces pushed their way toward the center of the Cryterian Fleet, an old veteran made its first appearance in battle.

“All main pulsar guns and secondary batteries target that Cryterian heavy battleship and open fire!” Captain Delan ordered from the bridge.

The newly rebuilt and upgraded, space battleship Missouri moved forward via the huge ion thrusters in the rear. The length of the ship had been increased by 75 meters, and its width was 1.5x greater. Its three main turrets swung about to unleash a barrage of anti-proton beams. Unlike the old 15-inch guns, these new weapons were capable of delivering massive streams of destructive energy or fire off deadly projectiles using a principle similar to railguns. The secondary guns also started firing smaller beams of energy, while the entire ship was protected by a large deflector shield. Cryterian fighters tried in vain to get close to the Missouri, only to be torn apart by the massive array of point-defense weapons, which included various missile batteries, short-range maser cannons and rapid-fire guns of both energy and projectile types.

The Missouri also had its compliment of fighters to defend against enemy attack, which was a mix of Terran and Kyteeri types. The sleek Star Hawk Mark III fighters looked like futuristic versions of the Me262, but were powered by low-density plasma engines and were armed with particle beam guns, kinetic accelerator guns and short to medium-range missiles. The Kyteeri fighters were shaped like manta rays, and were more heavily-armed with positron cannons, omni-directional turrets and twin ion disrupters. They could also carry a load of long-range missiles and bombs against larger targets.

Mark nodded as he received word from the admirals of the combined fleet to push forward and destroy the center of the Cryterian Fleet. Standing beside him was his First Officer and wife Reelan. The two had soon fallen in love and married a few months after they had met. In fact, several hundred intermarriages had occurred between the men of Earth and the Kyteeri women. It was not unusual for some fighter and cruiser crews have few husband-wife teams. Although the upper command initially frowned upon couples serving on the same ships, the fact was that the couples worked so effectively together. So it was eventually allowed to a certain degree.

As the Missouri moved closer to the enemy fleet, Mark gave the command to prepare the ship’s ultimate weapon. The bow of the ship opened up to reveal a huge gun barrel. The muzzle began to glow with an eerie blue light as neo-protons were being charged and condensed. Then Mark shouted out.

“FIRE!”

The entire ship shuddered as it released a beam of utter devastation more than 2 miles wide and several miles long. Anything caught in the path of the beam was instantly vaporized. Enemy fighters exploded like flies after hitting a bug zapper. Cryterian cruisers and destroyers were torn apart and even the biggest capital ships were annihilated.

When the center force of Cryterian warships fell to the combined might of the two races, not only did the two races achieve a major victory, but it sent a message throughout the cosmos that the Cryterians were not invincible. Those who had been victimized by the Cryterians soon began to consider joining with the Earthlings and Kyteeri.

-------

October 14^th, 8 AE

The Cryterian Home World shuddered as the combined forces of Terran, Kyteeri, Velor, Catian and Nemonian, now called the Star Alliance, all converged and started raining destruction upon its surface. In a cosmic twist of irony, the Cryterian population was forced off of their home planet. However, unlike the Earthlings and other species they had forced into space to die a slow death, the Cryterians would not be as fortunate. Without their primary source of sustenance, the Cryterians would not survive long in the cold void.

-------

December 7^th, 10 AE…

“Daddy, what’s that?”

Mark smiled as he picked up his four-year-old daughter Rachel. Standing beside them was Reelan as they observed the image on the main observation deck of the Missouri. It was a blue white planet that was similar to Earth but was somewhat larger and had differently-shaped continents. According to all preliminary scans, the atmosphere was breathable and the gravity was same as Earth’s despite its larger size.

Two years after the defeat of Cryterians and wandering through space, the people of the Star Alliance had found a place to settle down. Though the scans also detected intelligent life on the world, they were scattered and not unified. Furthermore, a very large continent in the northern hemisphere was not inhabited and had fertile lands and resources. It seemed the perfect place for mankind and its allies to settle down.

“That my dear… is what we’re going to call… home.”

To be continued…

Author’s Notes

A lot of people can tell that I was inspired by Titan AE, Star Blazers, Japan Summons and GATE. It’s all just a story and I’m wondering just how far I can take this.