Prologue

October 5th, 2225 - New York City, Earth

The city was alive, he could feel its pulse. It must have been thousands- no millions of individual hearts beating, all crying out in unison. The feeling was euphoric, for he knew that outside the halls of the United Earth Building the crowds were flooding the city, all waiting for one thing, all staring up at the massive holoscreens in Times Square or their personal holocomms. "Secretary Roberts, uhhhh... Mister Secretary. It's time." Roberts, who had been leaning up against the wall drifting in the sea of his personal thoughts finally looked up to see a young red-haired intern standing sheepishly in front of him, a bulky holocomm headset nestled across his hair. He nodded to the intern and quickly followed him down a long corridor with only one exit visible on its far side. As they neared the doorway, Roberts swore to himself he could hear the breathing of the delegates sitting outside. The young intern opened the door for Roberts and gave a shy smile as he walked past. As Roberts made his way up the stairs to the podium the announcer standing there made his introduction, "Please welcome the Secretary General of the United Earth, William Roberts!" Applause rang out from the assembly and the flashes from the reporter's cameras filled up the room. Roberts took his place up at the podium and patiently waited for the spectacle to die down. Roberts could see numerous delegates from the Mid-East, the President of the United States, even the President of the European Union, all in attendance as well as the usual ambassadors and emissaries. As the cachaphony of celebratory cheers finally ended, Roberts focesed his eyes to the back of the large hall, giving everyone who saw him the feeling that he was looking straight through them, and began his speech.

"Citizens of Earth, our world has changed much in only the past several hundred years. The arrival of the Arceans came as a shock to this planet. The human race had long assumed it was either the sole intelligence in the universe, or at least the most important civilization in it. With their discovery of us we then realized that neither of these were true. That we had been an arrogant and petty people when we assumed we were alone, and we used that arrogance to tear each other down time and time again. Yet with the Arceans, there came a realization, we were not the only civilization, or the greatest, but we could be. We have one ability that outstrips any other being in the universe by tenfold, we have potential. Potential is something mankind was blessed with, to use for good or for bad, and with that comes great responsibility.The United Earth was founded to replace the aging and antiquated United Nations of the 20th Century, it's purpose, to give Earth the chance to work as one, to utilize our full potential for the good of all of our people. In this goal, the United Earth has succeeded far greater than any other project in the span of human history. With our unification came the discovery of Hyper Drive and the first realistic gateway to exploring the universe in its entirety. However, the discovery of the Hyper Drive has become a double-edged sword for us. Even now as we speak there are beings in this galaxy that plan to make use of our discovery to end the very goals which drove us to design it, peace and prosperity. What we have encountered up until this point in our history is nothing compared to the struggles we must soon undergo to survive as not only a civilization, but as a species. Last night I received disturbing news from the Arcean Ambassador to our world that was kept secret until now. The Arcean Empire was savagely and viciously attacked by the Drengin Empire. The Drengin are a warlike race, that from what we have been told by the Arceans, are bent on enslaving the galaxy under their rule. The Drengin have no notion of freedom, basic rights, or humanity. Rest assured, if we allow the Arceans to fall to the Drengin, we too shall suffer the same fate. To avoid this, I am putting forth a wide-sweeping resolution that I hope you will vote for. What I am proposing is an official alliance with the Arcean Empire and any other civilization that we have contacted within the galaxy to defend against Drengin aggression. Also included in my resolution are sweeping changes to the governance and protection of Earth and any of its colonies. The United Earth is effective only as an economic and scientific bond between nations. To fully protect Earth's sovereignty, I have requested that all member nations of the United Earth enter into a complete stragetic military alliance, granting the United Earth full discretion to its use for the protection of all. An alliance of all peoples, an alliance of all faiths, and alliance of all creeds, a Terran Alliance.

We must not cower in the face of tyrrany! We must not falter in the face of oppression! We must rise to the occaision because it is our right! It is the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the galaxy that has been given to us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us!"