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EPISODE ONE
by Dan Wallace
A
universe born in fire is fated to end in blood. Or so they’ve said for
millennia on end. Mankind’s ability to advance itself through technological
means has ever been surpassed only by its penchant for warping such
technologies to even more sinister, self-serving ends.
Still, there have
always been those who believe that history is not doomed to repeat itself,
that humanity’s desire for good is greater than it’s lust for evil. Such
were the pioneers who joined together to create the Interstellar Alliance some
eighty-two years earlier.
Beginning as a trade
treaty between three neighboring star systems, the Alliance had since grown
into a governing body uniting two hundred and eighteen worlds. This rapid
growth had initially brought about a new age of peace and prosperity but
something else was always lurking in the shadows. Territorial expansion
over light-years of space made law enforcement ever more difficult. More
and more of the darker elements of society were falling through the cracks
between thinly spread planetary police and Defense Patrol forces. Advanced
technology made many criminals virtually unstoppable and they took
advantage of lapses in security to form their own alliances and spread a
reign of terror across an unsuspecting galaxy.
What had begun as a
dream of a bright and shining future was rapidly deteriorating toward the
point of total chaos. It was a vicious cycle, ever repeating…round and
round…to the end.
Many efforts to combat
the situation were explored with varying degrees of success (and some
abysmal failures) but nothing seemed to effectively stem the tide of
violence and bloodshed. Riskier propositions that had once been rejected by
the IA council out of hand now seemed worthy of further study and this
eventually led to the funding of the “Alliance Guard Project”.
An extensive search
resulted in twenty-seven applicants for the experimental program. Through
physical and psychological testing, that number was reduced to four. These
four humanoids then underwent genetic alteration treatments to grant them
new abilities which would, hopefully, provide them with the power to
succeed where so many others had failed and give pause to those who
previously destroyed the lives of others with little fear of the
consequences.
The newly christened “Alliance
Guard” task force moved into a residential command complex on the capital
planet of Triathis. There, Devin Wynd, Cory Banks, Areon Corthst, and Brite
Aervon would monitor news and other data feeds for crisis situations and
requests for assistance from other agencies. While the Guard ultimately
reported to the council and received periodic assignment from them, they
were granted the autonomy necessary to handle the difficult tasks ahead.
The hopes of a galaxy,
lost and alone, had been placed in their hands yet they could scarcely
dream of what was to come.
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"Distant Storms" is ©
and ™ Dan Wallace 2001
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