Chapter 1

General Moldsyava was always a man who dedicated his life to the military of the Terran Federation. He was practically married to the Terran Defense Forces, nothing could get between him and his Duty to the Federation. Yet here he was, on stage to deliver a speech, he had been appointed by his superior (the President, Draco Kirregan) in hopes that a military man would be able to orate an engaging speech to the public. Yet when Moldsyava stopped in front of the Podium, he had no words. He always went off script with his speeches and saw no use of hollow words thought of prior by other great orators many earth cycles beforehand. Yet here he was, in front of a crowd of thousands, unable to grasp the words he so desperately was searching for to form the remarks to describe the terrors and loss inflicted a full 141 Sol cycles before this moment. Be it stage anxiety or just plain fumbling, he took a few seconds before starting.

"A Hundred and forty-one years ago, there was a war. Historians in the Systems Commonwealth will remember this period as the 'Wars of Succession. Even after a century, it is ingrained in the minds of all of humanity. It was a period of great sacrifice and loss on both sides of the conflict. To the other interstellar empires, it became known by other names. The Friesians call it the 'War of Human fate', the Altherians called it a more profound name, 'The War of the Thousand Stars. Indeed, it could be considered by many names, but this is how people remember it… by coming together to settle our differences not at the barrels of weapons, but over tribulations and celebrating those who gave their lives for both sides. I salute those brave men and women of both sides, and I ask you all to join me in a salute to the fallen…"

In that brief moment; one may think this is a happy ending to a tale often told differently throughout humanity's history, however; it is a bitter-sweet testament; a monument. A monument to the billions upon billions who perished all those years ago simply because they believed their way was right. However; as some say, War never determines who is right and who is wrong; only who is left.

That counterpoint to this very expectation is precisely what happened the next moment In that crisp, somber air. A shot rings out, Moldsyava falls over dying in two halves as the 62-gram round tears into his abdomen at over 3000 feet per second; sawing the distinguished man in half with a mist of red and pink. His body is blown in two with a meaty, gory smack. Cries of horror come from his compatriots standing on the stage with him, the general stays alive long enough to see his legs fall backward before his consciousness leaves him, and he expires before long. Meanwhile, the crowd of thousands of different people gasps; order is barely being maintained by the security on the site. However; such a large crowd is very hard to calm down and maintain order. The crowd panics the moment General Moldsyava's body expires and his consciousness is gone. Chaos ensues as they frantically find cover or scatter.

Elsewhere, roughly one point five kilometers away, Kara cycles her bolt, the smoldering casing ejects with a brassy ting from the particularly large rifle she has in her shoulder while prone atop a table in a tall building's one room with windows; She hums thoughtfully "Damnit. A little bit low." before she gets to her feet to start disassembling the rifle. Kara had traveled back to Earth from the outer reaches of the Galaxy for this job, to kill general Moldsyava. Who her current employers wanted dead. She had nothing against the man, but they were paying her well for the job. As she packed away her rifle, she thought deeply to herself about why they'd want the General dead. Greed? could not be based on greed. Her clients were too preoccupied with their hate towards the current state of affairs. Perhaps it was just a matter of Revenge?

She shook her head silently as she closed her rifle case and sanitized the room of any evidence she would be leaving behind before she put her keycard to the door, which opened with a hiss and smooth motion thanks to the magnetic suspension of the door in the frame. She paused, realizing there was someone in front of her. "Good afternoon" the man in front of her, a Military-Police officer by the look of him, smirked at her smugly. he had a very punchable face, it so happened, too. "You are under arrest for the murder of General Moldsyava. Place your hands over your head and lie on the ground face down." Kara had no intentions of surrendering, however. Her hand immediately formed a fist, and she punched the uniformed MP as hard as she could in the face three times before running down the hallway to the staircase. Said MP was staggering around the hallway in a daze and she was down the staircase before he knew it.

Upon running out into the lobby's second floor, there were fifteen MPs below on the first floor, blocking her escape through the main entrance who were now moving up the two staircases flanking either side of the balcony she was currently on, and Kara turned back to the windows behind her, weighing her options. She chose to jump. So she took a few steps away from the railing, and took a running start towards the edge before leaping onto the railing, and pushing off of it as she lunged for the glass chandelier hanging by a nanomer cable from the ceiling. She caught the wire in one hand, but she slipped and fell atop the chandelier before it too crashed to the ground with her atop it. Shattering into a few thousand pieces. She got up but was immediately faced with another MP who was grabbing her wrist. Kara hit him in the stomach as hard as she could before she used her hand to dig her fingers into his eye sockets, the MP flailed around as he screamed, and Kara pushed him off of her, grabbed her handgun from its spot in a magnetic holster on her right thigh and shot him dead before barreling towards the doors.

She ducked her head in her coat's windbreaker collar to shield it from the shards of glass as she barged through the door and out into the street. More MPs waiting outside, but they were too slow to react, not expecting someone to come out the two glass doors, much less through them! She stumbled and fell a moment, but quickly recovered. Out on the street, she pointed her sidearm at a driver who just got in his vehicle, "hey hey! Out of the vehicle!" she put on the most authoritative voice she could as she attempted to commandeer the vehicle. The driver stopped, and got out, she walked forward towards him, and he backed up a step for every step she took closer before finally turning and running away. She got in the car after he rounded the corner, and sped off into the traffic flow with the whine of twin magnadrive motors.