Intergalactic Governments, Criminals and Refugees
At the centre of human space, there was a specific planet that enjoyed wealth and spoils that put even the capital planets of the intergalactic governments to shame.
Multiple spacecrafts of all shapes and sizes from carriers and flagships to corvettes and destroyers, remained in high orbit around the planet.
Many of these ships were either warping in or out of the planet's orbit while many others docked at one of the numerous 'spacedock' stations that hovered barely above the planet's atmosphere at low orbit.
Beneath the layer of ships and spacedocks, there was a forest of skyscrapers that reached into the skies. Some were commercial buildings or establishments, some were agricultural greenhouses or farmlands, most were housing complexes.
The planet's original habitats and environments were destroyed long ago, instead replaced with endless labyrinths of sky-high buildings.
Yet despite that, the skies and air of the planet were clear and unpolluted, the result of the multiple years of carefully planned reclamation and development.
This planet was known as 'Earth,' the original homeworld of the human race.
Although the surface of the Earth was ravaged and destroyed many times over during the course of human history, it was through the combined efforts of all the human nations that their beloved homeland was in the state it is now.
A true testament to human ingenuity, persistence and perseverance, the Earth was reclaimed even from the ashes of an apocalyptic nuclear war.
As the capital and only planet of the Intergalactic Human Confederation, the Earth is the 'heart' of all of human space.
Thus, Earth has enjoyed wealth and luxuries imported from every corner of human space and its citizens consisted almost exclusively of wealthy bureaucrats and entrepreneurs while droid labour replaced humans for 'menial' tasks.
Despite only officially laying claim to Earth, the I.T.C. actually virtually controls all of human space by proxy through its member nations, albeit said member nations are granted full self-autonomy as long as they don't violate Confederate constitution.
Although membership within the Confederation is only optional, there has yet to be any incidents of any nations leaving the Confederation since its establishment.
This was very likely to be because of concerns of the nation's safety and stability should they leave the Confederation.
Not only will they no longer benefit from the trade perks brought through being a member of the Confederation but they will also no longer be protected by Confederate constitution which prevents large-scale conflicts between human nations.
In the worst case scenario, the other human nations will take advantage of the nation leaving the Confederation and promptly invade and annex the aforementioned leaving and 'unprotected' nation.
But perhaps even more importantly than safety and stability among the human nations, membership within the Confederation means that the different nations can keep their national identities while still standing united under one flag against the-
"Filthy xenos!"
Within a gigantic spherical space-station in low orbit around Earth, a general assembly consisting of representatives from every human nation was currently being held.
The one currently speaking was a representative of the United Planets of America who stood on an elevated stage in front of all the other assembly attendees.
"Every year the very existence of hostile xenos has threatened this rich soil that we stand on today! The Earth itself, the symbolic heart of humanity is also vulnerable to hostile xeno incursions."
The U.P.A.'s representative; William Shaw spoke with clear strength in his voice in the face of countless amounts of people.
"Every day, countless American lives are lost on countless American planets in the war against the filthy xenos and yet the Confederation and their 'mighty' Confederate Army stands idly by and does nothing!"
Like many times before, Shaw was once again attempting to persuade the Confederation to 'take action against the Xenos threat' and 'make the Confederation great again.'
"Since when has the Confederation become so weak? Since when have we humans been so complacent? Have we forgotten the origins of this great Confederation?!"
Soon, Shaw began to explain the origins of the Confederation despite the fact that everyone present was an educated politician who was well-versed with the I.T.C.'s history.
"This Confederation was formed to save humanity when we were on the brink of destruction. We set aside our differences and united against a common enemy. The or-"
"Who is he trying to fool? We aren't the same idiotic Americans that voted him into power. Honestly, Shaw really does give the Americans a bad name."
Amidst Shaw's speech, one of its attendees who stood off to the sides, the head of the Psionic Assault and Intelligence divisioN; Arthur 'Allen' Cray couldn't help but voice his opinion.
Of course he didn't speak out loud, instead he used the communication chip embedded into his head to 'speak' with his subordinates that were also present.
It didn't take long for one of them to respond.
"You always know how to make the best of the situation boss."
The one who replied through the communication chip first was Melanie Menendez, Allen's second in command.
"Honestly boss you need to learn to- hang on... Wait a minute..."
However, contrary to Allen's expectations, Melanie trailed off before going on her usual virtual, sarcastic rant.
And Allen knew that could only mean one thing.
Soon, Melanie confirmed Allen's suspicions.
"Boss, D.R.E.A.D. has picked up a new psionic recruit a few weeks ago that you might want to see."
...
Far away from Earth, at the edges of human space, where the power of the Confederation and its member nations are at its weakest, another different yet similar commotion was taking place.
On a certain asteroid of a certain asteroid belt which revolved around a certain star, a massive fortress could be seen.
Although it wasn't as tall as the skyscrapers on Earth it still dwarfed everything around it in size.
Multiple ships of various sizes docked on the various landing pads on and spread around the fortress, either dropping off goods and luxuries or picking up resources mined from the asteroid to be exported.
Other than the landing pads and the fortress, there were also multiple buildings spread around the asteroid forming a sort of maze that enclosed the fort.
All of these establishments sold various different kinds of goods, however, despite the variety of goods, they all shared one thing in common.
They were all illegal goods.
This place was known as 'The Lawless Paradise;' a 'civilised market for those whose occupation is legally ambiguous.'
Many different kinds of men filled the streets of the market, all of them looking to buy goods deemed illegal by the human nations.
Whether it be simple drugs and slaves to military grade weapons and hardware, one could find virtually anything they need as long as they know where to look.
And from the highest tower of the fortress, Garren 'Gold-eyes' Collows stood with both hands behind his back near the glass wall that gave him a gorgeous view of the market bellow him.
Apart from him there we also eleven other other men in the room, all of whom were slightly visible in the reflection of the mirror. Everyone, excluding Garren was wearing a light exo-suit.
Nevertheless, Garren didn't pay much attention to his loyal guards and instead focused his attention on 'enjoying the view.'
Garren liked watching over his 'empire' as it often reminded him not only of his family's legacy that he inherited but also of his diligent hard work that ensured the continuation of said family legacy.
Such things often helped soothe Garren whenever he was faced with anything troubling.
Anything troubling like the troubling news he was about to receive.
"One of our cruiser ships, the Chromata suffered heavy casualties during a standard kidnapping operation, sir. Every single strike team they deployed was eliminated with only the crew and reserves remaining."
Garren continued to stare out the window and didn't even bother to face his subordinate as the latter recounted his report.
"Apart from the loss of life, we estimate that these loses costed us about thirty to forty million credits from the training, equipment and weapons."
As the subordinate spoke, Garren was able to sense a tinge of anxiety in his voice.
"Although these loses don't mean too much in the grand scheme of things, there were some... troubling implications."
Garren still continued to stare out the window as he questioned the subordinate.
"Troubling implications?"
The man hesitated for a moment before he responded, his voice audibly more nervous than before.
"Y-yes sir. Although none of the strike teams returned for a debriefing, we were able to salvage some of their communication chatter. It is not much but it gives us an idea of what happened."
This time, Garren turned around to face the subordinate before proceeding to give him an order.
"Very well. Let us listen to it."
The subordinate that Garren gave the order to; Rolland was only young man who was probably only is his early twenties.
Yet despite that, he has risen up the ranks to be able to personally meet Garren face to face, a privilege granted to only the most esteemed members of the Velsulis Family.
As such, Garren was slightly wary of the audio that was able to unnerve someone as talented as Rolland.
Nevertheless, Rolland still complied with Garren's order.
"As you wish."
As Rolland spoke he pressed a button on the left gauntlet of his exo-suit, quickly bringing up a holographic screen for everyone to see. The bar sound visualiser that appeared on the screen remained idle with no sounds being played.
"Most of the audio was corrupted due to unknown reasons, the following sound clip is only a compilation of the least corrupted files in chronological order."
Garren would only wave his hand to display his opinion.
In response, Rolland sighed and took a deep breath before he pressed another button, the visualiser beginning to move as sounds played.
"This is Oskar of Team Tint, confirming successful infiltration."
"Team Tint has gone dark. Requesting permission to investigate."
"This is Rhed of Team Primary, we have encountered an-"
"This is Blu of Team Primary! Requesting any nearby units for support! I repeat! This is Blu of Team Primary! Requesting imme-"
"This is Griens of Team Secondary, requesting for evac on stan-"
"Multiple teams have gone dark! I repeat multiple teams have gone dar-"
"TARGET PSIONIC IS EXTREMELY POTENT AND DANGEROUS! I REPEAT TARGET PSIONIC IS EXTREMELY POTENT AND DANG-"
The entire room was filled with silence the moment the audio clips stopped playing.
Despite that, Garren knew that everyone present was probably thinking the same thing.
Just what sort of monster did the Chromata strike teams discover?
...
At another corner of human space, another spacecraft has only just completed the warping process, a singular blue light exploded out of seemingly nowhere before the aforementioned spacecraft materialised within the blue lights.
However, the architecture and design of this spacecraft wasn't like that of the humans, appearing very foreign, exotic and to most human experts 'impractical' in design.
Within this strange spacecraft, there was also a cylindrical room that also that inherited ship's exotic aesthetic.
Inside this cylindrical room was a single woman who hovered in the exact middle of the room with her eyes closed and her legs crossed.
She had silky pale-blue hair which matched her light blue robe and flowed down to the bottom half of her waist.
But her most distinguishing feature was her pair of pointy ears.
Soon, her moment of solitude and silence was interrupted by a man who walked into the room before kneeling down and speaking out loud.
"Your grace, we have entered human space."
Like the woman, the man had pale blue albeit short hair coupled with pointed ears.
In response to the man, the woman opened her eyes before slowly drifting down to the floor and standing in front of the kneeling man.
"Excellent. With this we are now one step closer to salvation."
A look of contentment and happiness grew on the womans face as she spoke.
"The salvation of our people, the salvation of the Elvnari, approaches."