Mankind leapt for the stars as it did for all of its other frontiers; with greed for the riches to be had, and ignorance of the forces it was dealing with. This time, it will be lucky to survive.

After over a century of interstellar flight, mankind was totally unprepared for the huge ships that came from the depths of space with one intent... the complete and total obliteration of the Human race. The Voinian War was upon us.

But the Voinians made the mistake of attacking the Humans on their home ground, of underestimating Human ingenuity... and defiance.

The Humans developed technology which matched and exceeded that of the Voinians in many respects. They developed shields which were far superior to the Voinian heavy armor, guided weapons to which the Voinians had no counter, fast and maneuverable ships which the Voinians could not match.

Then the Voinians threw all of their forces at one point -- the Sol system, the home of Earth, and the birthplace of mankind.

Their fleet -- as much to the Humans� surprise as their own -- was crushed. Buzzing mosquito fighters attacking from the asteroid belt, wolf-packs of destroyers surprising isolated Voinian hulks; one by one, the impressive Voinian vessels were reduced to burnt-out wrecks.

The Battle of Sol (as it had been dubbed) was a triumph for all of mankind -- especially since over a third of the Voinian fleet had been destroyed during the conflict.

The tide of the war had turned.

Today the Voinians are held back along a heavily defended frontier, and United Earth forces match them shot for shot, raid for raid, and offensive for offensive.

But mankind has problems among its own:

All united against the Voinians, and the United Earth government was born. Now colonists who have never even seen a Voinian ship are becoming restless. Their taxes are being spent to defend them from distant threats, their children are being sent to fight a war that means nothing to them. And, most of all, they are being ruled by a distant Earth government.

This turbulent galaxy is the setting for our tale...