There are moments in history when destiny and chance intertwine to alter the face of the universe forever. These are times when an action, a word, a movement, is the very catalyst for an entire series of events difficult to stop once set into motion.
No one can ever tell when such moments are about to occur. They simply happen, where the right circumstances are in place at the right time. Only then does the unstoppable avalanche begin. Whether the fall of the Roman Empire or the outbreak of the Second World War on Earth, a rush of events converged as one significant incident transformed all that subsequently came to pass.
In the recent past, the unfathomable hand of fate struck yet again, this time altering history on a galactic level in a way no one would ever realize for years to come and completely changing the lives of every intelligent being, including two completely unrelated individuals, separated by a wide gulf of space and time, who quickly found themselves at the very center of the crisis.
And that was only the beginning of the story…
Volume One, The Memoirs of Emperor Velzanar
In the blackness of space, thousands of light years from Earth, the eternal calm was rudely disturbed as two opposing fleets of spaceships approached each other thousands of kilometers above a planet of huge cities and gorgeous landscapes.
Beneath the armadas, millions of beings went through their daily routines, oblivious to the threat from space that would change their lives forever. Royal guests were present on that scenic world, on a well-deserved vacation, engrossed in planning a royal pageant—so much work, so little time.
On one of the ships, the situation was especially tense.
“We can’t do this, sir!” protested one of the senior officers. “By firing on the alien ships, we violate one of our most sacred edicts. It could be considered grounds for a court martial!”
The expansive flagship’s bridge exhibited an ocean of modern technology and industrialized architecture, rectangular shaped, with a vaulted ceiling, and a huge flat-paneled video display in front. Brightly lit control panels lined each side. The huge craft’s navigators were seated in a single row at the center.
The onlookers were stunned at the severity of the argument.
The commander’s steel blue eyes narrowed. Though their leader’s face remained couched in shadow, the crew could sense its dark, ominous look. The voice was husky, battle-worn. “If we do not fire, they will destroy us. Would you risk genocide? How dare you even suggest…”
“Sir, you’re not listening…”
“That’s enough! If you continue with this insubordination, I will remove you from the bridge and throw you into the brig. Is that clear?”
Sweat poured down the officer’s face. His eyes widened, and his face twitched nervously. After tense seconds ticked by, he responded with almost no expression at all, “Yes, sir.”
“Excellent, I’m glad you see it my way,” the commander said with the hint of a sneer.
The immense vessel moved slowly, deliberately, to the head of the fleet, and closed in on what appeared to be the enemy flagship. Without a sideways glance, the command was given in a loud, imperious voice, “Weapons officer, target the primary enemy ship and fire!”
The officer, nervous for a second, nodded and complied with the order, tears streaming down her face. She could barely contain her fears about the consequences of her actions.
In seconds, lasers of bright green and yellow shot forth, hitting their targets relentlessly. Explosions began to dot the space between the great warships, illuminating evidence of mounting casualties.
Fighter craft tried desperately to destroy the weapons batteries on massive, oval shaped vessels, but their impotent, ineffective firepower only made their enemies pause momentarily. The blasts simply rebounded off the large craft’s powerful shields and struck the fighters instead.
In this battle, it was difficult to separate the enemy from the defenders. One moment images would be vivid and intense, becoming vague, shimmering, as if viewed from a pool of water.
Suddenly the oval craft resumed fire with even greater intensity. The individual beams from the laser guns of the ship coalesced into a single, immense blast aimed straight at an enemy cruiser. The crew of the warship struggled desperately to prepare their escape pods for evacuation, but it was too late. Within seconds, a huge explosion engulfed the cruiser, and thousands of metal fragments spun wildly off into space.
The crew of a nearby cruiser, witnessing the destruction of their comrades, felt angered and frustrated at the same time. The tide of this battle had to be turned quickly. Fighters were immediately deployed to stage another attack on the impregnable laser guns, in the vain hope they would inflict some damage before any more of their ships were destroyed.
As the enemy fighters approached the deadly oval fortress, hundreds of fighters emerged from several openings within the craft. Enemy ships were outnumbered and within minutes, most of them erupted in dazzling fireworks of fire and smoke, the death cries silent in the infinite depths of space.
On the surface of the planet below, huge balls of smoke and fire filled the night sky as the battle continued, bearing mute testimony to the -conflict.
Millions of frightened inhabitants fled to protective shelters; panic-stricken females, witnessing the destruction that rained down upon them from space, sought to protect their whimpering offspring—to no avail. The planet’s death toll mounted as a result of the destructive power wrought by the horrible rain of death, the terrible bombs and intense, burning lasers. Debris from the battle above poured down without passion or prejudice. Hundreds…thousands…millions of beings perished in the wake of the onslaught. For endless moments, their death cries seemed frozen in time, as if the universe itself was about to explode.
Rather than accept the succor offered by the planetary governor’s palace guards, the Emperor and Empress chose to stand beside their fellow beings so they could all confront their fates as one; silently, bravely.
As the piercing wail of their death cries sounded across the small planet where the great battle raged overhead, on a world thousands of light-years away, a female with haunting violet eyes, delicate face—one seemingly crafted by the galaxy’s greatest sculptor—and an exquisite athletic figure, slept soundly in her bedroom.
Her bedclothes consisted of a dark blue, shimmering tunic bearing an insignia on the shoulder: a bird-like creature with wings outstretched, surrounded by a large circle.
At first, her slumber was not the least bit disturbed by the unfolding tragedy in that far-off star system. Yet, as wave after wave of sadness and pain swept over her, images of fire, destruction, and death entered her mind. She sensed the agony of all those who died at the hands of the ruthless alien murderers. She could barely contain herself; the agony was so intense her whole body shook. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
Just as she thought the awesome, terrible pain was about to subside, the agony grew even worse as she sensed the death of those closest to her, the final cries uttered by the royal family of her people…her parents. Her heart felt as if it was bursting and melting away into nothingness. Her entire body seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes, awakening from the terrible nightmare, screaming words of longing and pain in a language no human had ever uttered. Yet one human did hear the screams of agony, a man separated from the woman by a vast gulf of time and space.
Though the words were incomprehensible to him, the man could clearly decipher their meaning and could sense her agony. For a moment, time and space ceased to exist. She called out to him, pleading with him to save her from the terrible ordeal. Her anguish and longing enveloped him until he, too, cried out loud, screaming at the top of his lungs, “No, no, no!”
* * *
The alarm went off and the tall young man awakened in a cold sweat. Ray Perkins threw off the bed covers and slowly, painfully, rose to a seated position. He remained thus for a moment, and put his hands to his head and slowly brushed away the hair from his eyes. His throat felt dry, his voice hoarse, as if he had been screaming aloud for a long time. Though he was desperately drawn to the beautiful, violet-eyed woman, Ray Perkins was weary of the toll these dreams always took. While he’d managed to turn these dreams into moneymaking computer games, he didn’t know how much more he could tolerate.
After a few minutes he tried to stand, but fell, nearly knocking over his end table and clock in the process. He got up and assessed his condition, grumbling quietly to himself over his carelessness. Seeing he was uninjured, he staggered into the bathroom.
The bedroom was large, comfortably furnished with thick gray shag carpeting, two polished wooden end tables, and a long dresser. Atop the dresser stood a single small lamp, as well as several picture frames, displaying events from the past now only distant memories in Ray’s mind.