Netro Mancer opens his eyes... head hurt so much. It always had, in the recent weeks. The Galaxy was a rough place to be, and his task as leader of the Altarian Republic would be even harder in the futur years...

At first, it has been the Drengin/Torian wars, right on our doorstep. Luckily for Netro, this war didn'T got out of proportion, and it reached a stalemate. Until the Altarian missionaries managed to make the impossible: they converted the wreched Drengin to the cause of Good.

The Drath, however, declared war on the Krox.. But these mercenaries had strange allies. VERY strange allies, the Yor, who lived at the extreme side of the Galaxy. Iconian Refuge who had fled from their conquered worlds told tales of demonic artificial soldiers, ships who could stand in battle 4 to 1, and still win.

In these days, however, the Iconian Refuges were at peace with their powerful neighbour. But the Yor were restless. They sent powerful ships into Drath space to rampage anything that came into their path. Netro Mancer knew that the destruction of the Drath would mean loss of economic link between the Republic and the Drath... So he declared war on the Krox. The Yor, proving how bad allies they were, withdrawn from their treaty.

These were simplier times... The Arcean declared war against their neighboor, the Yor, but nothing good had come out of it.. for them.

After some time, Netro Mancer was the powerful conqueror of the whole Krox Empire, and they surrendered to him, making the Altarian Republic the power #1 of the galaxy. The Yor had taken half a dozen world from the Arcean, and destroyed 100% of their trade routes. The Arcean were now alone, isolated by the Yor...

And it has been a time of peace, for a long time.. The Collective building his defences against the Drath, the Torians and the Arcean..

But, in a manner of mere WEEKS, it all changed.A year ago, The Carenoids, the Jessulins, the Scottinglas, the Fundementalists... All wiped out. They were independant races, so Netro Mancer had no ground to retaliate against the aggressor...

And the aggressor seemed invulnerable. The generals of the conquered races were not rensponsible, the Yor Warfleet seemed to move at impossible speed. They could transport billions of soldier from their core worlds to their new dominion within 2 weeks. The same story repeated again and again:

Yor Drones, class Ravager Delta came out of hyperwarp, destroyed all planetary defences without taking a scrath. Then transports came out of nowhere, and took control, genociding everybody.

After having heard the story once.. twice.. thrice.. Netro was becoming uneasy. Not that he felt any sympathy for the victims (well, maybe some), but his duty as leader of the Altarian Republic made him responsible of more than is mere feelings.

No.. now, the Yor were in position of 5 worlds who were at key strategic points in the galaxy. As the last independant power fell, the Yor, (and their not-so-powerful allies, the Terran), were in position of conquering the whole Thalan Empire, the Drengin Empire, the Torian Confederacy, the Arcean Empire, the Drath...

...and half the Altarian Republic. It was just.. wrong. The Yor didn't seemed to want the path of peace, because they just kept fortifying their newly acquired Dominion in the past months. There were simply no weak spot in this chain, the Yor could strike everywhere, everybody...

President Mancer sit as his table, ordering a cup of Drengin kha'ja... Lord Kona hooked him to this stuff last time they have been visiting the Torian homeworld together. He could read the latest situation reports of the republic, and then, go see his advis...

"President Mancer!! We have horrible news!"

Netro spunned, and saw Admiral Gessin, his military tactician, and close friend.

"What?

- The Yor Collective launched an attack on the Iconian Refuge Worlds two days ago. It took that much time to reach us, our agents were mostly wiped out.

- WHAT?

- the surviving reconnaissance probes told the tale: the Yor sent 1 Destroyer Drone per planet, wiped out silmutaneously all the Iconian army, and then landed troops on every worlds, save one. the Collective seemed to have used a new invasion tactics, with mini-soldiers, their military troop power seemed to have been increased by at least 60% this way. Sir.. the.. the Iconians.. before the attack, their population was estimated of 36 billion people.. there are about 4 billion left. No survivors were left.."

Netro Mancer dropped his padd, who felt on the floor... 32 Billion people.. wiped out in a matter of DAYS.. it was simply...

"Report on the Yor?

- They lost about 1 billion troopers during the invasions. They used the whole fleet posted at the former Carenoid homeworld, plus some elements directly out of shipyards that hasn't been assigned to fleet yet. And they used 90% of their troop power to stage this invasion. They cannot make mass-invasion on empire-wide status for some time...

- In other words, they are as vulnerable NOW as they'll ever get, right? Okay.. prepare communication with the Torians, the Drengins, the Drath and the Arceans. Maybe we can put a stop on this rampage before it is too late..

- Sir, I really recommend that every empire available join us in destroying this treath. The Yor Collective already shown impressive efficiency at warfare. They've beaten the Arcean Empire when their military power was 2 time th..

- I am aware of the situation. But it's NOW or never. We will declare war, and strike at them, before they strike at us. Let's lead by exemple, maybe others will join us..."

In the following days, the Altarian and Torian battle fleets began heading toward the Yor Dominions, and they clashed very hard. The Ravager Delta drones put to pieces 4 Altarian fleets..

But after a few weeks, the Drath and the Arcean decided that it was now or never. The Galaxy would know it's destiny in the next months...