Chapter 1

“Captain! Wake up!”

What was that? Captain Alan Drayk thought groggily. He was still in the midst of sleep and couldn’t figure out what was going on.

“Captain! Get up!” It was Lieutenant Mila Ashor’s voice that tried to wake him. He knew that much. But, he had told her to wake him only when the ship arrived. There was no way that an hour had passed by already. He had just fallen asleep!

“What is it Ashor?” Drayk said with annoyance.

“The ship’s here, Captain. The troops are boarding now,” Ashor said. Her voice was its usual calm and matter-of-fact tone. Drayk did not know any other soldier that was as cool, calm, and collected as Ashor. There was nothing that seemed to faze her. Even in the midst of a battle fight, Ashor had her wits about her. But when she did get angry, God saved the poor soul that stood in her way.

Drayk opened his eyes slowly. He saw Ashor’s dark blue face peering down at him. Her light green eyes with the golden specks that always shifted in constant motion stared at him calmly. Ashor was of the Gyterri race. She had dark blue skin and short silver hair that was cut in a pixie style. She stood at 5’11 and had a body that was toned and fit.

Many of the other soldiers were intimidated by how strong and imposing she looked. She had a presence that commanded attention and obedience. She also had small breasts and a toned ass that Drayk had had the pleasure of seeing many times throughout their campaigns.

Ashor was more than his second in command, she was his best friend, and sometimes lover. Even though they hadn’t had sex in quite a long time because Ashor was now dating some dumbass mechanical engineer back at Huron. Ashor was one of the smartest people that he had ever known that was why she was his number two in addition to her pose under pressure. But, when she brought the scraggly mechanical engineer to introduce him to Drayk, he felt deep anger at Ashor.

The mechanical engineer’s name was Lupa and he was a human. He was very thin and always wore a weird smile that made Drayk want to punch his face in. It wasn’t that Drayk was jealous, he didn’t have it in him to be jealous and Ashor and him had always kept their hooking up specifically casual. No feelings were involved.

He was upset because Lupa was so beneath Ashor. He spoke rapidly which led to spittle issuing from his mouth as he talked. He always stated the obvious which irritated Drayk. He had blonde hair that he wore in two long braids and always had a cigarette dangling from his ear. There was nothing appealing about Lupa in the slightest but Ashor was taken with him.

Drayk had asked Ashor what she saw in Lupa and she said that he made her laugh. He had to grimace at that. There was nothing funny about Lupa except the way he looked. That weird smile of his was not a comedian’s smile but a creep’s. Drayk had to accept Lupa because it seemed he wasn’t going anywhere soon.

It was Lupa’s name that Drayk had heard often during this assignment to the Vyeraf Forest. There had been talk about radioactivity taking place there. The scientists at Huron wanted Drayk and his team to scout the forest and see what they could find. Ever since the increased attacks by the Me’ria alien race, no one was taking any chances. There was no way that Huron could fall to the Me’ria like Isato, Uruq, and other planets.

For Drayk’s entire life, he had lived in fear of the Me’ria. His parents were killed by the Me’ria when he lived in Isato. The Me’ria had just conquered Uruq and the entire planetary system was in chaos as world leaders and council members scrambled to figure out how to protect their planet from an invasion. Isato was lucky in that it had prepared for a quick departure from the planet if an invasion occurred. Fortunately, about a million people including Drayk who was five at the time were able to escape on spaceships when the invasion happened. But, millions of other people were not fortunate and were left to their fate on Isato.

The Me’ria was an intelligent and vicious alien race that lived only to subjugate all species. Total domination of all planets in the galaxy was the Me’ria’s ultimate goal. They were an alien species that looked almost human except that their skin was crimson in color and their faces were an oval shape. The male Me’ria were muscular in physique as their muscles were prominent and seemed to stack on top of one another.

The female Me’ria were lithe but many were also muscular and just as deadly. They moved rapidly on the battlefield and attacked with a ferociousness that made mush out of men quickly. Both male and female Me’ria bodies were covered in a protective covering that prevented serious injuries. It was almost steel-like. They also had three hearts. One in the middle of the chest, on the middle of the back, and on the right side of the abdomen

The Me’ria wore armored suits that added another layer of protection. They were formidable opponents and damn near impossible to kill. Many planets fell to the Me’ria in quick succession. The only way to truly kill a Me’ria was to cut off their head. But, that proved to be a difficult task as their helmets were a bitch to eviscerate. It was almost indestructible.

Uruq was the first to fall to the Me’ria and had become a slave planet where humans and other alien races were used and abused by the Me’ria. Drayk had heard horror stories of the experiments that were conducted on many of the other alien races on Uruq. Many did not live long during these experiments.

He also heard about how human females and alien females of all races were made to serve the Me’ria in more ways than one. All females were their sexual conquests and were used as such. Drayk knew many soldiers from Uruq who had spouses and loved ones on the planet that they will probably never see again. Many of these soldiers committed suicide from the reports of the abuse and rape that were decimated to every planet’s government and military.