I want to say something odd... and this is just what I experienced and little more., so don't take this arrogance or anything... I'm only going to say what I perceived.

I am definitely Lyran. The oldest life I have remember dates back to the end of the Lyran Civil war and the beginning of the Fall of Lyra. Bear with me, this is intense for me.

My name is Alarah Svenska. I stand approximately 180 centimetres tall and weigh 63.5 kilograms. I have very long blonde hair, fine and bright and often worn wrapped around itself in an elaborate tail and pinned or clasped in place. my eyes are a vibrant shade of blue, often said to be "soul-piercing". My skin is smooth, fair, and light-toned. My body type is fairly average to athletic. I have been known to cover myself modestly, sometimes even veiling my hair and face form the public; not at all due to traditions or anything... but rather to keep focus on my eyes rather than the rest of me. My style of dress is very fine, very high class boasting of great wealth and power. I have a fondness of whites and silver, worn often when I'm being seen in public audiences. Council robes were white with silver trim, resembling something like a loose-ish kimono with a head and face veil to match it. My voice was said to be alluring, charismatic, authoritative... difficult to ignore. When I spoke, others listened, it seems. 

Officially, My name is Empress Alarah II of the Lyran Empire. Although I seem a typical political figure... I have another side to me that I'm surprised few of my people knew. If ever I had time, I would remove my robes of office, veils and other regalia I would commonly wear to reveal my true form. I would then dress, while still modestly out of habit, in something less regal looking and more... shall we say Common-like.. perhaps pseudo noble or just "rich-girl"... at any rate, dressed this way, i didn't look quite like royalty, which was the point. I would have trusted security operatives likewise dress more liberally and follow me out to he City beyond the palace for a drink or two, to listen to live music, and to mingle among the people in a sort of "hide-in-plain-sight" disguise. The surprise was few people recognised me for who I really was.

What can I say? I was still young at the time... still wanted to have fun while I could. The civil war was over, being one of my proudest achievements. I thank our Council of Elders greatly for their collective hand in the matter. We would have still been fighting were it not for them and their wisdom, which I found to be greater than my own. I felt like I was living two lives int he same body at the same time, but at the time, i gave it only so much thought as it suited me. 

And well, apparently, I was very attractive. the attention i got from males and even females just by being there enough to tell me I should keep covering my face when i played my Empress role... I felt it was good to walk among my own people rather than be separated from them. I got to hear what people really thought about me, what people thought about the empire's state of affairs. It allowed me to do something if enough people had the same problems or to continue going as i was if there were good things said... and further, it allowed me to, at the same time, be the young woman I was at the time... to befriend my people in a less professional atmosphere... on their own turf... and as far as I am aware, only the bartender and a couple of the night club's security knew who I was.

That aside, my professional life was what you might expect... papers to sign, reports to review, audiences with dignitaries, elaborate dinner parties.... Royalty things. I know, not terribly interesting. I don't remember the minute details anyway.

about 15 local years had past before a new threat loomed on the horizon... and it came in the form of an aggressive ultimatum of sorts; One of our outer colonies was involved in what we thought was a territory dispute with a faction of Alpha Draconians... and they didn't want to talk it out. It was then that we realised it was our territory there were encroaching upon for the sole reason that they wanted our resources... Both planetary natural resources and our genetic resources. We were still recovering from a civil war with our Vegan brothers only to be int he wrong place at the wrong time... The first shots were fired and I had no choice but to order a defensive campaign... and I had no concept of what it would do to us, either, in the end.

For a time during the war, I continued my mingling among the common people only to hear first hand word down the proverbial grapevine about what was happening out on the colonies. I wound up talking with some of the concerned soldiers who were sitting reserve for the time being rather causally about it. Of course, there was only so much they could say to some random woman in a bar, but one thing I found myself nearly betraying my identity was talk of battle tactics. A man said that one of the border worlds was relatively open to attack should the insurgents decide to do a massive flanking manouvre. I found he was right about this and remembered the reports I had read over just earlier that day. So, I played it off like I wasn't planning anythign around it, although inwardly I was plotting something fierce. My infrasonic communication device linked to my security "drinking buddies" betrayed a few of my plans, which promoted my security to try and end the conversation in a friendly way. Once I got back home, I gave the order to bolster outlying defenses, which sent the soldiers I spoke to to the defensive line. A week later, the same soldiers returned when they were cycled out by another regiment and I found them at the same bar showing great pride. I felt about as proud as they were... the man's plan was a very good one indeed.

Eventually, the war raged on to the point that we had to get serious. We had lost two worlds to the Draconians within two years. Every time a planet was taken, however, they seemed to relent a bit. We could only guess what they were doing on those planets... to the people they undoubtedly captured. I didn't want to know, personally. I had heard reports that they were using captured people for numerous purposes... labour to obtain natural resources, farming for genetic material used to fast track their own evolution... and food... I started to feel hatred for the first time in my life.. a burning desire to wipe out the entire species. I had no way of knowing at the time if it was only a faction set out to conquer or if it was a unified species effort. I tried to meditate on it each night as I did every night in my private meditation chamber... My intuition, as well as the collective council of the Elders relieved me by saying it wasn't the whole species.. but I knew we couldn't let ourselves be subjugated.

Two more planets had fallen by the next year when finally they appeared at Avalon's orbit. The fleet was small... It wasn't an invasion fleet, but it was enough to give our Honour Fleet in orbit a hard time. The only thing they were there to do was hold back our ships and our orbital defenses so that their superweapon they brought with them could get a clean shot.... and got it they did. In two days and nights, Avalon was glassed and the Directus City razed to the ground. I got away alive, but not without a temporary insanity that I would  continue to feel regret for for lifetimes to come. In a fit of sheer, blind fury I tore of my veils and ordered every remaining planet's armament of planet busters armed and launched at their base worlds. I was so angry that I think I may have started singing as a way to vent while I extracted the key that would make the en-masse missile launch possible. It was fortunate we had learned of where they came from, because I wasn't backing down. I fought back with a vengeance and, well.... reinforcements ceased. Truth be told, I could have ordered a negative mass missile launched into their base system's star, but my moment of insanity didn't go that far. The invasion ceased and our remaining forces pushed back the invaders away from our colonies.
It was now a tug-of-war, so to speak, for territory.

We soon managed to have a Vegan strike team perform and orbital insertion to scout out one of our captured worlds.... and I joined them. Yes... As dangerous as it was, i felt it was the right thing to do. I do not remember much aside from the exhilarating feeling of being dropped from orbit in freefall. I was wearing body armour like that of the other soldiers and was fully armed. After scouting, we found that the reports of what the aggressors were doing to my people were all too true... which helped satisfy my feelings of regret for launching some of our most destructive weapons on them. There was a fight and more troops were dropped in once we called for them. Soon, the Planet was liberated and interrogations of captured enemies commenced. 

We learned the only reason for their attack was because they zealously believe they are the pinnacle of creation... the "smooth skins" shouldn't walk free and that we were just another food source as well as a source of a select few genes of interest for the genetic augmentation of their faction... they were creating a "superior race" as they believed at our expense. I shot the captive myself and ordered the rest executed. Never before had I been so... harsh... I was, in the back of my mind, scaring myself.

The rest of that life, I spent helping to co-ordinate evacuating the other planets in our now fallen empire. We then split up. Some of us went to the Pleiades and started a new society there. Others went to the Hyades. Some others went to Vega and the rest to Sirius. I went with the team that went to Vega and there I stayed till age took me.

I later remember living at least one life as a male in the Vega system. I later went on to Sirius and live quite a few lives there. I then spent a life or two in the Alkaid system before reaching Earth for the first time. Earth was known to the Lyrans, but it was not of large concern to us. Some of ours visited before and quite possibly influenced the evolution of mankind there, even though there was another group, the Annunaki present. it seems the Annunaki used the Lyran base Genome to create mankind here on Earth, thus why Earth Man is identical in shape, form, and biology to us Lyrans. We carry the genetic legacy, on a baseline level, of the Lyrans. Scattered now we may be, the descendants of Lyra, i predict, will return to our worlds to rebuild and return to our former glory. In recent visions during meditations, Avalon, and it's larger moon, Ayvon, are not completely dead. there is hope still... but my time is over. In this life, I'm not the Empress I once was and I shouldn't seek to become her again.

Additional information

Interesting to note, Terran Humans are nearly identical to Lyrans in terms of morphology, physiology, appearance, and genetics. At the peak of our civilisation, we were world builders. This means we could literally make planets. We had a superior knowledge of genetics and would use genetically-engineered versions of lifeforms found on worlds in the Lyran Empire to seed "native" life on worlds we built and would then allow natural evolution to take it's course without intervention.

Earth was a world known to us. We never included it in our Empire and had a very small presence there. We seeded the evolutionary ancestors of Earth Man by introducing our base genome to the man-ape species of primate, as they were the closest to our own morphology and other physiological traits. However, we transcriptionally silenced some regions of the introduced genome so that Mankind's ancestors wouldn't evolve too fast, but instead would possibly mutate into a more suitable subspecies of our own kind. However, those known as the Nephilim (or Annunaki) came to earth at some point and messed with the genetic engineering we left behind... thus ultimately resulting in the rapid pace of Human evolution on Earth.

Earth-man's present form resembles the original progenitors, the Lyrans, almost exactly. To an Earth Human, a typical Lyran would very easily pass as a regular Human being anyone would pass on the street everyday; the only notable difference would be likely a generally greater degree of physical attractiveness (in terms of outward appearance), most likely due to a more refined evolutionary path the Lyran civilisation took. We were smarter, stronger, and healthier than Earth people are today. Lyrans were strongly encouraged to screen their embryos and select the best fit one(s) to be brought into the universe in terms of beneficial genetic traits. Alternatively, two partners to reproduce were encouraged to have their DNA compared with each other and have a reproductive geneticist outline the degree of genetic compatibility and chances of certain hereditary traits (both good and bad) to be passed. As far as our reproductive procedures went, we still generally reproduced the same way Humans on Earth do, although we were more careful about what genes we passed on to the next generation. Marriage was not a requirement, but a committed relationship was, regardless, encouraged. Marriages were still common and both public and private ceremonies were acknowledged... and before you ask, LGBT people existed and were allowed to marry.

The Lyran economy was a monetary, socialised system with elements of free market. How it worked was the Government (headed by the Imperial House) owned all natural resources and regulated the distribution. Any Imperial Subject was allowed to form a business or a corporation, but all resources were purchased from the Government. Businesses were allowed to use those resources as they saw fit for business and other companies had the option to buy resources from the Government or pre-fabricated components form another company. In the case of new businesses, the Government offered assistance in getting set up and incorporated. Imperial currency held value based on energy resources. As a result, the Lyran people were always seeking better ways to increase energy output and efficiency, which acted as an incentive to drive their scientific, technological, and sociological research and development. Because of this economic system, the Lyran Empire was vastly wealthy, generally happy, and stable.

The Lyran Political system was a constitutional, hereditary Monarchy headed by an Emperor or Empress. In Lyran society, the genders were legally equals (Women had more reproductive rights, however, than Men did) and therefore the Empire could be headed by a man or a woman. The Council of Elders were the spiritual leaders (religion and dogma did not really exist, but we were a spiritual people) who were often consulted in major decisions to be made by the Sovereign. They also acted as Judges who were tasked with making sure the Sovereign and his/her officials were keeping in line with the Constitution and subsequent law. Monetary lobbying in any case was defined as bribery and was highly illegal.  The Elders were considered the wisest men and women of the Empire and were among the oldest souls at the time among the Lyran people. They held their meetings and their teachings at the Tower of Wisdom, which stood not more than a kilometre from the entrance of the Imperial Palace.

And now, it's time to add in some visions I saw either in dreams or deep meditative states of consciousness.

The first visions were int he form of nightmares. I saw myself in a ruined city dressed in full, high tech body armour. at the time I could not tell my gender nor what I looked like, but I knew it was during the Fall of Lyra period. I am not sure how long that war went on for nor how many eventful/prominent lives I lived as a Lyran. I do not remember much other than it was Humans armoured like I was versus armed and armoured Reptilians. The same nightmare happened a few times over the course of a year. I was 16 a the time of the nightmares and it was after my first experience with Reiki.

More recently, I was in a lucid state of meditation and found myself on a barren world. There were few signs of life, save for a few small plants trying to grow and proliferate through what looked like breaks and cracks in the ground. I was aware of what i looked like, even though I was seeing everything in first person. I was female of average build and tallish stature. Long blond hair, blue eyes, fair smooth skin, Human. I was wearing only a white dress, simple in form with short sleeves and a hem that reached just past my knees. Well, soon I was walking on the remains of a path through this wasteland with a bluish sunshine overhead and toward the horizon. An ocean wasn't far; perhaps only a kilometre or so away. I wasn't wearing shoes and could feel the ground beneath me. Although the ground looked gritty, sandy, and like it would shift loosely under my weight if I stepped on it, it was hard, stiff, and oddly smooth... like glass. I realised that the ground was vitrified by extreme heat at some point and that the cracks where plants were trying to grow were shattered fractures in the glassed surface of the planet I was on. I knew where I was: Avalon. Looking up, there were two moons with the larger, once inhabitable, Ayvon, looking not so habitable now but still prominent in the sky. I continued down the path, and looking back briefly I can see light footprints left from where i had been and realised the vitrified soil had a fine sooty layer on it. Finally, I made it to the beach where the sand was loose like normal, the water a greenish blue colour, and the setting blue sun on the horizon. I could hear, barely even a whisper in my mind, "Have you come home from your past? Dream, dear one... dream." At that point, I still looked at the ocean and sunset until I physically fell asleep.

Another, more recent vision was also in a meditative state where I was now in a City in full armour like in my nightmares and in the same setting... the only difference was no fighting, no burning, no flickering lights... just peaceful, dead silence. I knew this time, i was once again female and was the same person I was in the last vision, although last time I was dressed far simpler. I had a rifle in my hands, but I quickly slung it onto my back. I walked into the ruined city and realised that this place, too, had been hit by a source of extreme heat. It was night time and the moons were bright in the sky, lighting my way. I meandered through streets and tunnels the size of major roads found in most cities on Earth. Eventually I found myself in a large City Square a few kilometres in perimeter. There, I found the ruins of a once tall structure now fallen on it's own sizable foundation. A ways down the road leading form the foundation, I found a mostly intact building that was kinda big and decided to go inside. I had a nostalgic feeling walking through the building's corridors. I knew it to have been home to me once... i just knew. I found a bedroom there a few floors up and found it almost untouched, although dark and a couple of decorative light fixtures fallen and broken on the floor. I felt a presence, somewhat masculine, but no one was actually with me that I could tell. I felt form this source that it was safe here... that I didn't need my armour or weapons, so i removed them and placed them at the foot of a large, comfortable looking bed that was set into a raised portion of the floor. I was now wearing a tight yet comfortable (almsot like a second-skin) black full-coverage bodysuit with silver "circuits" interwoven into the material. It covered me entirely from the neck down. I then felt like laying down on the bed, so I did, and positioned myself in the same laying position I was in physically. I then thought to set this position and this specific location as my "entrance" point for future mind travel/eventual astral travel excursions. Finally, I got up again and went into a doorway in the bedroom that led to a circular room with a wide, bowl-like depression in the floor that was filled with water at knee-depth. It was a meditation chamber. I then removed my bodysuit and waved a hand over a panel on the wall which lit the vertical, concave, bar-like light sources fixed into the supports on the walls surrounding the shallow pool which made the water turn a cyan-blue white colour. I then immersed myself in the cool water in the nude and meditated till I fell asleep physically.

Here is some more of what I recovered. This is going to get GRAPHIC... so,  just a warning for you. I'm not a great storyteller, but I will try to make what I feel and saw read like a book as best I can for convenience. :)

We dropped out of slipspace in orbit around the interdicted planet of Bila. Our Ship was cloaked to avoid detection by the enemy armada stationed in orbit. if they saw us, then we could be placed at a bad disadvantage in two ways; the first being the fact that a space battle would weaken our forces and make orbital insertion of troops extremely difficult and the second being that if the space battle were to occur, the enemy ground forces would be alerted and our intended surprise attack would fail, rendering the entire point of this dangerous mission moot. Even though I was the leader of my people, I felt it was only right, a member of the Lyran race, to fight along side my military... to personally help liberate them. I bound back my golden hair and folded it into a loosely knotted bun before donning my undersuit and body armour suit.

The Undersuit was very flexible... the material was kind of like lycra in texture, although thicker. What it was actually made of was thick strands of carbon nanofibre. It was skin-tight, black, and bore silver "circuit board" like lines on the outer surface. The circuits had practical use; they were specifically designed to conduct and evenly transfer energy from the body/mind/soul Being and in essence made direct manipulation of the Universal Aether more potent and smooth. It was technological augmentation of something the adept could do naturally.  Underneath, in contact with my actual skin, was a soft gel-like layer that helped regulate body temperature and also functioned to dampen inertia. It could, therefore, function as a second-skin body armour as well as a G-suit for high-G situations.

The armour suit worn over it was a metal/ceramic alloy created with nanotechnology to bond the metal and ceramic materials together seamlessly as one uniform material. It was strong, stiff, and had a bit of weight to it, but nothing that would actually hamper most people. It had flex-points everywhere the body could bend to keep one's mobility unhindered as best as possible. The armour suit was also fitted with a bunch of neat gadgets such as a personal shielding projector,  a "jump-jet" pack that assisted in climbing or reaching some out-of reach areas and could be used for added mobility (not to be confused with a classic jet-pack, mind you), Retractable blades in the forearm pieces that folded parallel to the forearm but could be snapped out like a switchblade with the hinge on the elbow, and an optical camouflage unit for stealth missions. All of this was powered by an internal power supply that was very efficient and long-lived. Average use would see it last for at least a year before being in serious need of recharging. The Helmet drew power from this power supply as well and it was one of the most sophisticated parts of these armour suits.

The helmet covered the head entirely, sort of resembled a motorcyclist's helmet in shape with a visor that was vaguely shaped like a slightly stretched, squared-off, upside-down triangle. The Visor bore a detailed heads-up display that displayed the wearer's current estimated health (in the form of breathing, heart-rate, overall body temperature, and active medical diagnostics). It had an array of sensors on it that allowed for infrared vision (which automatically engaged when the optical camouflage  was engaged, since the cammo only hid one in the visible light and low ultraviolet spectrum), detected sound and its source (even a small readout, if desired, on frequency and amplitude), gave a reading on the power supply's current levels, could "smart-link" to gun scopes wirelessly, had a navigation tool similar to GPS, measured ambient temperature in the surrounding environment, and could give spectral analysis on the environment to tell the wearer what the air was like or if that water you're standing in was actually water and not some kind of acid. Finally, the helmet contained a pressurising device and an air-scrubber, making it effectively double as an EVA suit for excursions in a vaccuum. It locked with an air-tight seal and was made of the same stuff as the body armour... coloured the same way, too.

After I put this suit on and locked my helmet in place, I then picked up a string distruptor rifle, which was rarely authorised to be used, but still required to have on a ship. Being the Empress I had authorisation to enter the restricted weapons part of the ships armoury and could distribute restricted weapons if I deemed it necessary. A string disruptor rifle was extremely deadly, as if it's name wasn't self-explanatory. a point blank shot would rip most things, animate or otherwise, into it's constituent particles... thus why it was heavily restricted. Slinging the gun onto the magnetic lock on my back, I then took a few grenades and mag-locked them to my waist. The grenades were shaped like glossy-black cylinders that, to operate, one simply twisted the two halves at the seam in the middle of the cylinder until it beeped and a red light flashed. This meant it was armed, but inert until one released one of the halves of the grenade which would trigger the fuse. Throw immediately as far form you as you can, since it will detonate in about 7 seconds... just a suggestion.

I then took up my personal force-lance, which was commonly used as a sidearm. it was a versatile weapon that fired plasma-bursts normally. Other options included a precise particle beam projector useful for cutting through thick metal doors, a stun-burst for non-lethal incapacitation, and finally, could extend from the 30 centimetre metal and plastic stick it normally looked like to a 2 metre staff-like rod. I preferred to use my own rather than the ones available in the armoury. They were normally for military or security use, but civilians could also own and carry them with a special permit. I had a permit, even though I didn't technically need one... I felt like setting an example when I got that force-lance.

Once I was suited up and armed, I made my way to the drop-pod bay of the ship. My armour didn't look any different from the other men and women going down to the surface with me. When i arrived, we boarded our respective drop-pods, locked them down, and strapped ourselves in. "This is going to be quite a ride." I remember saying. The infrasonic communicator worn under my lower jaw could transmit both sub-sound (like the infrasound we unknowingly generate when we have words in mind and are on the tip of the tongue but not necessarily spoken) and normal sound. it was linked to the communications device inside the helmet, so all of us could communicate without actually making noise; not all of us were telepathic... it's alot harder than you would think it is to effectively breed in consistent high-end psionic abilities to our whole race, even though we were working on it.

I inhaled deeply as I waited for the declaration to commence the mission. The Briefing an hour earlier informed us that meteor showers were a common occurrence at this time of year in Bila's orbital position. We had chosen this exact moment and a specific place on the planet so that our orbital insertion would blend in with the meteor shower, hopefully giving us the element of surprise by not openly advertising our approach. We were to touch down in the outskirts of the college-town of Banai, near the industrial sector. There, we were to secure a landing-zone and seize a manufacturing plant where reports had indicated the Draconians were using the resources from outlying mining operations and the facilities of the manufacturing plant to produce things for their continued conquest. Since their foreign bases were destroyed by our Planet-Buster attack, they were undoubtedly increasing the pace of production in an attempt to become as self-sufficient as possible... with Lyran citizens being used as slave labour. I steeled myself to the mission, pushing aside my royal title for the time being.

"... Ma'am, you are with the first platoon, hard-drop. Commence operation..." came the commander's voice, finally. "We'll continue to keep a low profile until that landing zone is secured, but take heed. Once you leave this ship... You're on your own till the facility is captured."

"Acknowledged." I said flatly. My hands grasped the hand-holds to each side of me as I awaited the plunge.

"Preparing to launch in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Launch drop-pods!" Came a male voice. I then felt the pod shift then drop straight down. This was like the tower of terror on steroids. I loved every nanosecond of the 8 Gs pressing against my being. "... Drop pods away." another male voice declared. If i believed in a God other than my greater self at the time, I'd have been praying that we weren't hit by a stray meteor and that our enemies didn't realise what was happening. The sum total of the dangers I was getting myself into made this experience absolutely thrilling to me. I was scared.. i have no delusions to the contrary... but I wasn't going to back out due to fear. My primal tendency to react negatively due to fear had died with Avalon.

The ride down took an amount of time unknown to me, but due to my adrenaline-induced thrill it felt like only a minute or so. When we finally hit the ground, I sighed and hesitated for a couple seconds before punching the release buttons on the pod to blow the pins holding the air-tight hatch to the frame. According to our navigation systems in our helmets, we had hit our intended mark almost exactly... only a few metres' deviation. I drew my Force lance and pointed it left and right, scanning for anyone to meet us only to find it clear. "Warriors, prepare for combat!", I ordered, my voice sounding strong and determined; the adrenaline mixed with my moral resolve must have made me sound that way. We landed in a wooded area at twilight preceding night time.

We headed toward the facility we were to seize and stopped short as we reached the end of the wooded area we landed in. I zoomed in to get a better look at the doorway. I could see armed Draconians patrolling the area while some Humans were being casually shoved back into the facility forcefully. it looked like they were bound with something, much akin to slaves as we stereotypically think of them. I grimaced in disgust, gripping my force-lance tightly. I noted that the access-way sloped downward, suggesting that part of the facility was underground. "...great... there's where the fun begins. Check your targets and watch the crossfire. Don't hit any civilians." I said as i was looking around for any thing that would betray our presence. There were no cameras or anything that I could see and decided to chance it by moving forth when the enemy patrols were out of sight.

We reached the door and took our positions on either side of the access-way. The Soldiers trailing our group watched our backs while and an the others with me began to hotwire the door to gain access while shutting off the security. Once we had it, we engaged our optical camouflage and made our way inside before another patrol happened by. "The meteor-shower has masked our approach... it seems we have the element of surprise... for now." I announced over infrasound. While our camouflage was active, we had to see everything in infrared. We had to make very careful movements so as to not alert the enemy to our presence yet. We had to do this systematically to get a smooth success out of this. I motioned for two soldiers to back me up while I stalked a lone Draconian to find out where he was going. I followed him to a small room that was apparently a security station. Holo-screens displayed several groups of Humans  hard at work. From what I could see they looked scared, weary, and and quite defeated... hopeless. Males and Females were also apparently separated form each other. I followed the Draconian into the room and when the door closed behind us, I waited for him to sit down and then deployed my right arm's elbow-blade. I struck him with a sharp swipe across his throat just as he turned his head to the metallic snapping sound of the spring-loaded blade deploying. He emitted a sound like a whimpering grunt as he bled and fell forward. I then frisked his fallen body for any items that would prove useful. I found a device that seemed to be a controller for something. I kept it and left the room, locking the door behind me.

We then moved onward to find the command centre , which couldn't be far from the security room. Once we found it, it was game on. I covered a soldier as she used her force-lance to cut open the door with the particle beam tool. We then rushed in, disengaging our camouflage and, at my prior advice, slew the leaders with our blades since it was the most quiet. We then used the computer terminal there to shut down everything and the woman that broke into the door proved to be a decent tech-expert. She locked out all computers, making them only available to us with the use of a certain code. I then pushed a button on the controller device I seized from the reptilian acting as security after connecting it to the computer. On a camera feed the woman hacked into, we saw the bonds of the Human slaves release and drop. At that moment, our enemy found out what had happened and most of them left the production areas to try and take us out. We were in for a fight now, I knew, and took out the string-disruptor I brought with me. "Cut off all out-going communications if they aren't ours." I said as I powered up my weapon and took aim at the doorway. Two men near me followed suit with their own weapons and took a few paces forward probably in an effort to help protect me. We were going to stand out ground here to bottle-neck the enemy as they came at us.

As the Draconians approached from both sides of the corridor, two more soldiers with me drew their weapons and guarded my flanks. I was protecting the ones hijacking their planet wide computer systems while those who stepped forward were protecting me. as soon as we saw Reptiles, we discharged on them. The place erupted into a noisy, flashy firefight. The Personal shielding on our armour suits glowed a ghostly blue-white each time they took damage. My helmet's HUD told me how my own shielding was holding up, the meter looking like a bluish bar that receded a bit with each hit I took. My damage was infrequent as the others near me seemed more of a threat, apparently.  I fired a shot from my string disruptor at a rather large Draconian, probably a head and a half taller and bulkier than me, catching his square in the centre mass of his chest. The plating he wore  shattered off of his body and the soldier next to me took the kill. I fired again at a reptilian behind him, revealed as the big guy fell, catching him in the face. He seemed to disintegrate with very little of his body parts remaining under the pieces of armour that fell to the floor. The sound of his flesh being rent apart like that was unmistakable, but difficult to describe... like a low hissing sound.. like a muffled ripping of thick paper.. something like that. 

The First wave fell, littering the floor with dead reptilians and the remains thereof for those shot with my sort of rifle. I looked everyone over before checking my own armour diagnostics, looking for any points that might indicate a potential armour failure. Everyone confirmed they were still in fighting condition. I then stepped forward looking both way down the corridor and asked our tech specialist her status. She said that she had managed to hack into their capital ship's mainframe and that she was working on messing with their combat abilities. The idea was to use the Capital ship's communications array to disable all other ships under it's command allowing our fleet to swiftly and easily sweep them up. She had successfully cut off the facility's communications down to the independent level. No Enemy transmissions were going through, and so their High Command must still be ignorant of our assault. I grinned. Excellent. 

Looking around the doorway again into the corridor, the acoustic signature of incoming footsteps betrayed the approach of a second wave. I could literally see the sound waves coming from around a corner and rebounding off a wall. However, I knew our enemy wasn't stupid and they would not likely attempt another frontal assault. So, to counter my intuitive suspicion, I took one of my grenades off of its mag-lock and armed it. Another of my compatriots did the same and we threw them into the corridor at the same time. I allowed my intuition to dictate when to release the grenade as I didn't want them to have a chance at avoiding it if i threw it too soon nor be faced with trying to dodge one of their's if I threw too late. After a metallic clanking sound, a brief high-pitched whine, and a concussive explosion, I heard an almost hissing roar from around that corner. We then leveled our weapons, with two of ours taking position in the corridor while I was half way in the door of the room were were gathered in. One of the two covered our backs while the other covered the corner where I had tossed my grenade. As I stood ready to fire, I heard the woman at the computer announce infrasonically that she was done. She added that she also locked the enemy out of their own systems to hamper repair attempts. I then ordered our ship to drop in another platoon and call in our fleet. I finally gave the green-light to commence assault on the interdiction blockade. 

As our enemies came in an final started shooting, we fought back. We then decided to split up our forces. There were 10 of us total, so 5 were to go to the entrance place where we came in to meet our reinforcements while I lead the remaining 4 deeper into the facility. We were met with relatively little resistance as we made our way to the manufacturing areas where the our captured citizens were held. The Reptilians guarding them were few but the tricky part was to take them out without harming civilians.I remember one was a coward and held a man in front of him as a shield. He growled out something that my helmet's translator roughly translated as, "You do nothing more, human. you go no further. you know not who you fight. This is Dragon's Galaxy."

He had a blade to the man's throat, as if that were to phase me and make me drop my weapon... and interestingly, I did. But I was bluffing. As soon as i noticed the Draconian's weapon shift away from the man's throat, I let the Universal Aether flow through me and opened a "circuit" to the reptile. "Freeze!", I shouted verbally with strong intent on the word I uttered and I could see the cold-blooded creature weakening due to my endothermic energy manipulation. He was literally freezing to death. I then quickly drew my force lance and kicked my disruptor to the man that had been threatened. He then ducked down as shots were being fired and picked up the gun. I shouted for the Human captives to drop and move out of the way while we kept their guards busy. The interesting parts was more of them came from behind through the entrance we entered the manufacturing area through, trying to surround us. Quick thinking on our part kept their shots from firing at the Humans and concentrated on the bigger threat (us) by using flanking tactics meant to manipulate the enemy's ground gains and losses, effectively making them move around to were we wanted them. Our movements stayed ahead of theirs keeping them on the defensive, which was where we wanted them. I noticed I took more hits, some more direct than others, and noticed my shielding was dropping. The ablative properties of my body armour would protect me from lethal damage, but of course I knew while it was well made, it wasn't completely impregnable. I dropped two Reptilians and gained ground on them, moving as aggressively as i could to keep them desperate. I had then heard that our back up had arrived and were pressing through the resistance at the entrance of the facility. As I dropped another enemy, i then flicked my wrist slightly to trigger the extension of my force-lance to a melee staff and swung as hard as i could at the back of a larger Draconian. By the looks of his armour's markings, which were different from the others and resembled those of the ones we assassinated in the control room, he was probably a leader of some kind or a held a high rank. He grunted with a somewhat softer sound, which made me wonder if he was a she or not. They all looked the same to me, so I couldn't really tell at the time. S/he fell forward with a metallic clank and I immediately stomped my boot onto his.her back , pointing the business end of my lance  at the exposed skin and switched it to stun. With a high-pitched Zapping sound the Overgrown lizard was knocked out. "Seize this one." I ordered as i backed up and retracted my lance back into it's normal form. "I will personally interrogate ... it?" I really wasn't sure on the correct pronoun to use. Their energy was hard to read for me. Two Soldiers came and used a pair of bonds used previously used on the Human captives to restrain the Being and dragged it to a room to the side.

"Status report!" I ordered over the comm'link. I got back a good report that our people were heading toward our position. "Excellent." I said then looked to the rest of my  guys. One of them had a few scorch marks on his armour, indicated his shielding failed during the fighting. "Hold here..." I said and went to the doorway. I then engaged my optical camouflage, force-lance in hand set to kill, and entered another manufacturing area there were only two Draconians there guarding the women. Unseen, I crept up near the two and I whispered, "Freeze..." to the one nearest me. The ambient temperature int he localised area around him dropped quickly, by about 2 degrees centigrade per second. The second one looked at his comrade with what could have been a concerned curiosity in his greenish slit-pupil eyes. I kept my lance pointed at the one I didn't attempt to freeze, but didn't uncloak myself yet. I only revealed myself when the freezing Reptilian dropped to his knees and stopped moving. I held my lance high over my head with the business end pointed at the enemy's face... somewhat resembling a scorpion poised for the sting. "Drop your weapon and hands on your head." I thought at him or her with an authoritative, telepathic order. "Don't make me end you."

The draconian was apparently either a zealot of some kind or a complete idiot... not sure which and didn't much care. He moved his gun to fire at my chest and as soon as he made the move, I fired a plasma burst into his snout. I fired again as he recoiled for good measure. I then shot the one I froze to death, just to be sure. I looked around to be sure it was just us humans here and then powered down my lance before holstering it. I then reached up and released the locks on my helmet to reveal my face to the women. "Come." I said softly, yet still with authority. "It isn't safe here."

The women immediately moved as instructed, two picking up the fallen weapon of their now dead guards. I moved them to the room with the males and I could feel the energy increasing as some of those who were either married or otherwise in love reunited. This would be a good morale boost, I thought. I then got a report that the others have been liberated and the remaining enemies that were not killed had been captured and were being held in a makeshift holding cell. Further reports indicated that the orbital assault was about to proceed. Our Capital ships had dropped out of slipspace and were now forming up for battle. Personnel carriers were ordered by Command to drop more soldiers on to Bila's surface to seize the capital, Banai City, home of one of the most prestigious universities in our empire. No more cloak and dagger games this time. We were taking back our planet.

We moved the captives out to the main hall of the facility. We were to use the manufacturing plant as a landing zone. the proximity to Banai was ideal to use it as a launch pad for the liberation front. Many of the now liberated Humans picked up fallen weapons and whatever else they could carry. "None of you have to risk your lives. I will recommend that you evacuate the planet. Most of us will be splitting off to our colony worlds."

"I am going to fight with my wife. Our children were killed by those bastards." said a man, his wife holding a rifle like he did. They both seemed set on their convictions. I noted that they were both allowed by their captors to keep their triple-helix armbands, which was the Lyran version of a wedding ring worn on the upper left arm for females and the upper right for males. The man's was gold with a sunstone in it while the woman's was silver with a moonstone set in it. The shining metal bands were shaped like stylised DNA strands, representing the union of their genes (Lyran DNA had an extra physical strand forming a triple-helix). The bands were flat against the skin, with the 2-dimensional styling sort of resembling braided metal strands with smaller perpendicular bars of sun/moon stone between the strands. The clasp had a symmetrically cut stone set in it, the type of metal and stone representing masculinity or femininity. A few other people who armed themselves stepped forward and soon some others did, too. Half of me smiled, which I did outwardly, but inside I frowned with concern for them. We didn't have alot of amour suits available and most of these people were civilians who have never seen battle in their lives. "We are both veterans of the civil war 15 years ago, Ma'am." the man said, with a military tone while gesturing to his wife. I knew I wouldn't be able to talk them out of fighting.

"Very well...." I said. "... Most of you are civilians, though. while i don't recommend putting your lives on the line like this, I acknowledge you have all lost something or someone dear to you... I lost my home... WE lost Avalon... If you make the choice to fight along side me, then i will not stop you. If you wish to evacuate to safety, now is the time."

Those who were armed  stayed put with a strong, admirable resolve in their eyes, which were fixed on me. They knew who I knew who I was, I think. it didn't seem to matter that their Empress was in full body armour and putting herself in danger for their sake. For all I knew at the time, it was an inspiration to them... but the emotional energy was mixed. I couldn't pinpoint all thoughts or feelings, so some of them could have been thinking that I was doing something ridiculously irresponsible as Head of State. It didn't bother me, however. I knew what I was doing. Some of those who were unarmed moved forward and past me to evacuate. A few who were armed gave their weapons to the ones who were to stay and fight and joined the ones who were to leave. A couple kissed each other good bye as they parted ways. At the time, I felt somewhat thankful I wasn't married, as I could feel the pain form some who had lost their significant others and/or their children. At the same time, I would have also felt a little better having a husband to manage Government in my stead, although I had some of my advisers and other officials doing that instead. They had pleaded and insisted that I reconsider my convictions.. even tried to guilt-trip me into believing what I was doing was irrational and irresponsible. Yet, here I was... and I wasn't looking back. the only regret I had was destroying two planets in retaliation to the glassing of Avalon, but right now that wasn't important. In fact, I figured that doing this selfless service for my people might be a form of redemption for the atrocity I committed. I sure didn't want the karma of my actions biting me in the ass, even if in a sense I was the tool of karma itself on the part of the Draconians. 

I looked to those who decided to stay and fight and I turned on my comm-link to everyone in our fleet. No doubt would it be retransmitted to the rest of our population. "Citizens... Human beings and Lyran citizens alike, please allow me a moment. I admire your outstanding courage and the strength of your convictions. There is no shame in running away from this, but just as I am placing my life on the line tonight and the following days till Bila is ours again, So too are you. For now, my title of Empress is not relevant. I am a Human being, like all of us. We are fighting not only for our territory, but for our autonomy and our right to survive. All of the Human race is banding together like we never have before. it's time to put aside our petty, superficial differences... Our civil war has taught us that lesson rather painfully. It is no longer important what planet we are from, what race or nationality we are, what lineage or social status we hold, What our jobs are or how much we have done... or how little we have done... Together, we are strong! In unity are we feared and respected by our enemies. By fighting back, we send a loud and clear message that transcends language barriers that in one single voice we shout, 'We will not lay down and die! We will not fade away quietly into eternal night! We will live on and we will survive... united as one people of many peoples!' Consider this question; Will you stand up and fight or will you leave to safety? There is no shame in either decision and I condemn the jeers of any who would chastise any who do not fight. For those of you who escape to safer space, carry with you our way of life... improve upon it... create an ideal society with pride and dignity. Be fruitful and multiply according to your kind in love for each other and the future of your respective species. For those that stand up and take arms against our enemy, Do not look back. Do not be afraid. If any of you die... you die with great honour. May our next lives be happier days, regardless if we live to see old age or die by our enemy's weapons. No matter what you choice, we have already won... we are already victorious. Thank you and Infinite love to all." I said. There was applause filling the room, salutes from soldiers and veterans, and shouts of approval. I then turned to one of soldiers near me and ordered, "Ready the prisoner I subdued for interrogation." The soldier nodded and ran off to fulfill his task.

I made my way to the room where the captive Draconian was held, bound to a table. I stood over him, looking him in the eyes as if to bore into his soul with my gaze. I then thought at him, "Why are you here in our space and what gives you the right to arbitrarily attack us?" My face was blank in expression, but my thoughts carried my feelings of righteous fury.

"We are the pinnacle of creation... we are the strongest race in the galaxy, superior to all. Those who cannot understand this are fools." SHE responded back. Her emotions were those of conviction and resolve. She felt completely right in what she believed... it was the feeling of a fanatic's zeal. I knew she was female by certain indicators in her feelings that I knew, being an empath, were distinctly feminine. I hadn't sensed it before in the heat of battle where all emotions were similar.

"How arrogant of you. And I presume our own collective feelings to the contrary in favour of ourselves being among the more evolved beings in the galaxy was a challenge? is that why I kept hearing reports of genetic experimentation conducted by yours?" I asked in thought.

"Correct... you're smarter than your kind has demonstrated... yet you are still foolish and arrogant yourself for your own beliefs. We have conquered your worlds easily.. too easily for my tastes." she thought. I sensed resistance in her feelings. She was probably trying to hide something from me.

"And what of the genetic experiments? why are they being conducted?" I asked telepathically. I tried to bore into that resistance... tried to overpower it. Intuitively, the answer to my question lay there.

She hesitated before replying, "That is not your place to know, smooth skin. Be content with the knowledge that your kind shouldn't walk freely.. that being an inferior race you should serve the superior ones."

"Stop resisting." I ordered authoritatively, for what it was worth. I fought her over that withheld thought. In order to release it form her mind, I had to harm her focus. I send along my mental link a high-frequency wave of mental thought energy to counteract her mind's relatively low frequency energy. The Thought slipped out and I saw the most disturbing scenes that a lesser person might have been traumatised from. Human bodies and some severed parts being processed like the meat of cattle for food... Piles of dead, naked people in what might have been a mass morgue somewhere dark... Scenes of people in torn clothing or none at all in bonds toiling till they died... Children and adolescents being subjected to invasive procedures of extracting blood and other body fluids and tissue samples... I immediately broke off my mental like with a shout... almost a scream. In a tempest of blind, unrestrained fury, my force-lance was out of it's holster in the blink of an eye and I shot the captive multiple times in the face. "....... Kill the bastards..." I said looking to one of my men. "TERMINATE THEM! Execute every last one!" I ordered. I didn't have the will to retract my order, I was so angry... but I knew that making an example of the Draconians we captured would only make them appear to be martyrs for their cause... and once again, the threat of bad karma coming back to haunt me later bothered me. I, however, decided to deal with the karmic consequences later. As I left thew room to return to my soldiers and fledgling militia, I felt like releasing my anger by crying, but the tears wouldn't come. Inside, I was bawling my ethereal eyes out as I heard the muffled sound of gunshots as the Draconian prisoners were executed.

"Are we ready, Ma'am?" One of the armoured women asked as I rejoined the Humans. I inhaled deeply, trying to put my feelings on the back burner and silently nodded. "What happened?" she asked.

"They are usurpers... like locusts. They go form planet to planet, civilisation to civilisation farming the genes of those they subjugate to fast-track their evolution. They believe they are the superior race and that all others exist to support their reign. They are trying to make themselves superior at our expense by genetically modifying their race with genes stolen from other species. They are conquerors, usurpers... and we are just another natural resource to them.. and part of their food chain." I answered solemnly. 

The Soldier seemed disturbed by this. I could tell in her facial expression and in her surface thoughts. by the way she looked at me, she could tell I wasn't making this up, too. her feelings and her facial expression changed to determination and resolve as she locked her helmet back on. "Then we will do what we must to survive! No matter what happens, we are loyal and we will gladly die for you and the Empire." she said with a salute. They others  nodded slowly, more a bowing of their heads than a nod, but I could feel the affirmation in their collective thoughts. They were all feeling the same thing.

"... Let's bring it, then!" I said as I replaced my own helmet.

We made our way out to the landing zone where those who were leaving were boarding the landed ships. High above, our fleet was preparing to begin their assault on the blockade.  We offloaded as much armour, weapons, and other equipment we had available for the people who wanted to stay and fight. Further a whole battalion had offloaded as well, carrying extra supplies. I then discussed battle plans with a few of the leaders and some lesser soldiers. One of the leading officers was a female of the Leonine people who, long ago, were given Avalon's larger inhabitable moon, Ayvon, as a place to establish their society after a terrible war wracked their kind. They were well known for being loyal allies to my people and were honorary Lyrans. The lioness suggested seizing the University grounds as our next target and as a base of operations. Before I saw her logic, I had been considering taking the nearby military base just outside of town. When I mentioned it, she shook her head, her bright green eyes meeting my blue gaze with both warm kindness and a relentless fierceness equally in them. She said that the base would be too heavily guarded and that it would have to be occupied via orbital insertion deployment. If we were to walk up to their doorstep, it would be suicide... or they would destroy the base, whichever one came first. I had to concur. the University wouldn't be so heavily occupied; likely only a garrison or two to keep the students under control. It seemed the logical next move. One of the lower ranking soldiers told me that his daughter was attending the university, which in my caring heart, made me want to see if the girl and whoever else was held there were alright. I knew alot of people would be happy if their children were liberated.

"What is it she is learning?" I asked.

"When last I heard from her, she was majoring in medicine." he replied.

"Then the Infirmary would definitely be a good place to take first." I said, letting both my logic and my intuition work together. Perhaps the young woman was in the infirmary still... mentally, i had no way of knowing that for sure, but either way it was as good a place as any to look for her. Further, having medical students assist the medics would be a wonderful thing to increase our chances of successfully liberating the planet. "Very well, we will start by seizing the Infirmary and work our way around from there."

There were no objections. 

Once we had our militia suited up and suitably armed, we had to teach the ones who were unfamiliar with our military technology how to use their weapons and armour properly. Coming toward us from the City, we saw heavy vehicles and ground troop of the enemy's forces approaching. Great..., I thought. While they wouldn't likely get any support form orbit, due to our forces giving them a hard time up there, we would have our hands full dealing with their tanks. Fortunately, we had a few equivalent vehicles as well as some gunships at our disposal, which could even the odds a bit. However, what worried me was the numbers they had. Until we seized Benai City, we were very much outnumbered. Watching them approach, I said, "This is it, people. If anyone dies, you die with honour." I turned briefly to the the ship and spoke over the commlink, "Evacuate the non-combatants."

Just as the drop ships lifted off, I saw a flash from one of the enemy tanks. the energy round flew faster than I thought to react and struck one of the transports dead centre, exploding on the armoured hull. One of our tanks shot back immediately and it was now open war. We started shooting as soon as the ground troops came at us. There were snipers on top of the manufacturing facility we were occupying armed with particle beam rifles. I saw a few Draconians fall in the brief flashes emitted by the sharpshooter's rifles as we moved forward. I had acquired a new rifle, which was a fully automatic repeater that fired a lethal volley of argon-based plasma. My string disruptor was still in the hands of the man who picked up when I dropped it. I could occasionally hear the hissing-rip sound so distinctive to the weapon. I fired upon an enemy that tried to hit someone near me with what looked like a glowing, almost flaming blade fixed to the end of his gun like a bayonet. They probably knew what our armour could handle and that blade might just prove effective. I turned my rifle onto him and fired only to have the lizard disintegrate suddenly with that horrible sound tearing the air. I didn't have time to stare at the guy with the distruptor, but I might have had the situation been less desperate.

Our tanks proved more manouvreable than the Draconians',having taken out several of theirs. They also had stronger hulls and superior fire rate with about the same firepower (give or take a joule or two of energy). As we pressed forward toward the city, I saw an enemy tank's support gun turn toward me and those with me; barrel was pointed directly at me. It fired and my shielding took damage. In my helmet, I could hear high-pitched beeping signalling that I was taking too much damage and my personal shielding was low. Usually this meant that the wearer should find cover until the shielding replenished itself, but I didn't have that luxury. Considering my position, I couldn't retreat, either. Thinking quickly, I ran toward the tank and got on top of it, angling around to make the gunner turn his weapon  to keep track of me. My shielding fell after two more direct hits and I had to depend on the ablative protection of the armour suit itself if I was shot at. My heart was racing and my breathing was heavy. I could tell I was sweating while my armour tried to correct its internal temperature to compensate for my rising body heat. I was safe from the secondary gun that was shooting at me as soon as I got onto the tank's upper hull plates. I then grabbed the gun barrel with my left hand while shooting occasionally at any Draconians running past. I gritted my teeth and yanked sharply upward with a grunt, bending the tank's secondary gun barrel upward with a sharp metallic cry. It then sparked and smoked a moment later, as I guessed the gunner had attempted to fire it. It was useless now. I then crouched and used the stock of my rifle and my own adrenaline-fueled brute strength to pound incessantly on the tank's hatch. I was hit my small arms fire a few times, making me recoil slightly as I did this. I shot back at the ones shooting at me every so often as I struck the hatch. Eventually the hatch's locks snapped under the strain of my beating and pounding. I tore open the broken hatch and shot my gun off inside before mag locking my rifle and arming a grenade, which I dropped inside the tank. I then grabbed my gun and ran, using the jump-jet integrated into my armour's carapace to get further away quicker before the tank erupted into flames and shrapnel.

My shielding had recharged and while I had a moment to breathe, I looked at my body armour where I had been hit unshielded. My breastplate and shoulder plates had carbon scoring and a nick in the ablative material, but nothing too serious yet. The lioness I had conferred strategy with came and asked if I was alright. I confirmed I was fine, just a little shaken up. "Not being a soldier can have the effect on one." she said. it made me think about myself in the brief moment. I knew now what meant to be a warrior. It was about sacrifice of the self and doing what you were afraid to do... Facing your fear and conquering it... to fight and put your life on the line for those who cannot for themselves. It was both a humbling realisation and a source of new-found pride. With that, I switched my weapon from my repeater to my force-lance, held it up and yelled, "FORWARD!"

We charged straight through to a group of enemies, weapons blazing. I saw passing from behind me several large, glowing balls of plasma that exploded upon impact with the remaining tanks. A few more came past me and I could feel the concussion as the air expended, carrying the shockwaves from the explosive bolts. They were made by plasma-shard launchers, which are analogous to RPG or explosive rocket launchers in Earth's militaries. Our gunships passed over head, raining down gunfire like glowing, fiery hail on the enemy forces as they tried to advance on us. Several or our soldiers kept trying to stay between me and the Draconians, although I'd have preferred it if I could fight like they were. Still, they were protecting me as they felt they should, much like I was fighting on a live battlefield when they would have preferred that I was somewhere safe. I couldn't blame them.

We soon broke through the enemy line and flanked their remaining forces. Up above, the orbital battle had begun. I had no idea how well we were doing aside from what I thought to be good news when I looked up and saw 10 more drop pod falling. Then they landed and the soldiers emerged, the Draconians left on the battlefield seemed rather discouraged.. afraid. There was chatter over the comm link that they had ceased shooting as if to surrender. This time, I gave the order to detain them in the manufacturing facility. Perhaps they would realise they aren't so superior after all this was said and done. The enemy was disarmed and imprisoned inside the captured facility. We then moved forward into the city, splitting our total forces up to enter into all of Benai City's entrance/exit roads. I was warned that the next compliment of troops, weapons, and other ordnance was going to be the last until our fleet gained more space. Until that time, we were on our own at about 500 strong. We moved forward into the City on my order. I sat down with a few others on  the carapace of one of our tanks and took note that we had a set of giant, mobile heavy gun platforms of a kind that could knock most spaceships out of the sky should they try to leave the planet. We had four of them. These platforms looked almost like bulky 3-story buildings with a huge, wide gun barrel, several smaller gun emplacements, and wide, powerful anti-gravity pads. The only reason for these was to shoot down larger spaceship attempting to escape, especially with high-priority personnel on board or if the target ship is otherwise too dangerous to be allowed to escape and where more conventional tactic wouldn't work so well. Furthermore, these things had an effective psychological effect; What would you think if you were faced with what is practically a mobile fortress that's armed to the teeth? And to be sure, I really had to wonder why the hell we had so many advanced weapons in the first place. I was thankful for our military research, obviously, but It bothered me, since I hated the fact we had to fight and kill other beings so that we can survive freely. I thought inwardly that If I made it out of this alive and we ever found peace, I'd cut our defense budget and put the surplus funding to more constructive use... I could then just have our navy keep watch but have no further need to create more powerful weapons. I had to wonder how much each unit we owned costs.

We met some resistance as we entered the City, but were hardly impeded. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps we met the bulk of their forces on the City's outskirts. I retracted that thought as a few tanks moved out form behind a few buildings. The real trick this time was to take them out without causing too much collateral damage. We had no idea how many people were being held inside any given building. The fewer casualties the better.

This is just what a saw/felt. There will be more as the fragments fall into place and I'll add them as they come. Thanks for bearing with me so far.