You feel the hairs rise on the back of your neck as you listen to the rusty, ancient voice of the Sivar Priestess. 

Even though you may be sitting safely and securely at home, in only listening to these recorded historical tapes the power of her voice seems to warp you across the light years that span. You can almost imagine yourself standing in a Sivar temple at the very heart of what is now known as the Kilrathi Assembly of Clans. You can smell the sweet scent of the incense burning in the alters, along with the smell of blood, as a slave is sacrificed to the War-God (Goddess) Sivar. You can hear the screams of another slave as she, too, is lead to the slaughter. You can hear the High Priestess chanting the words of The Prophecy, just as Priestesses have done for centuries.

You know the Prophecy of Kt'lan... the "Prophecy of Sivar"... is more than just a myth to the Kilrathi. It is central to their culture. They believe that if they are ever defeated in battle, both they and the enemy who defeated them would be consumed by eternal darkness. The end of all things. That belief has always been the basis for Kilrathi aggression towards other races. Through the centuries they've fought, conquered, and slaughtered every race they met. They conquered the Utara, the Varni, the Wu, and either obliterated or drove out countless others, all in an effort to both outrun and prepare for the unfolding of the Prophecy. They never encountered a race that could defeat them and fulfill the Prophecy. Never, that is, until they encountered mankind. 

We were the ones who defeated them; we were the ones who conquered the conquerors.

Of course, you know that the Prophecy is not real. You that it is merely a social construct, doubtless something thought up by a nameless Kilrathi emperor who wanted to wage war on his neighbors. You know that rulers and priests in many cultures have used prophecies and their like to manipulate their people. You know that prophecies are little more than a bundle of mystic words; words that can twisted to mean anything at all. You know that it can't ever possibly come true. You know that only fools believe in prophecies.

There is just one thing that you do not know.

You do not know that the only fool here... is you.

 

The year is 2681, January. The bloody battle for Cynium to determine which nation would be "King of the Mountain" is now over, with the Ninth Kilrathi Empire/Kilrathi Imperium being routed by the combined forces of the Confederation and the Union of Border Worlds. The Kilrathi, reeling from the loss of several fleet carriers and their sole Hakaga supercarrier, sue for peace with the human nations. The Terran Confederation and the Union of Border Worlds also agree to bury a decade of hostility and mistrust. All three nations sign the historic Treaty of McAuliffe, ending nearly 50 years of interstellar conflict. It seems that the galaxy is finally at peace.

With peace finally at hand, there is a natural desire to cut back on military spending. Both Confed and the Union have sunk trillions of credits into defense every year for decades. Critics now argue that this money could be much better spent elsewhere. The Confed and Border Worlds senates agree, and the military budgets of both nations are now scheduled to be cut back sharply.

The Union begins scrapping its older Intrepid-style Durango-class heavy destroyers and Tarawa-type Wake-class escort carriers, relying instead on a handful of new Arcadia-class fleet carriers. Confed, too begins retiring and scrapping many of its older carriers, putting its faith instead in the new Midway-class megacarriers. This leaves both nations with an acute shortage of frontline carriers until the Midway class is fully operational. But then again, the general feeling became, "Well, with the Kilrathi menace defeated, there's nothing to worry about, right?"

Wrong. Almost in answer to the late Space Marshal Geoffrey Tolwyn's final warning to the Confederation nearly a decade before, on 2681.018 a previously unknown alien race, powerful and ruthless, ancient and advanced, explodes without warning into the Terran/Kilrathi side of the galaxy, perhaps coming from another galaxy altogether. It is a race so terrible that even the Kilrathi fear them. A race whose arrival has been foretold in a Kilrathi prophecy that predicts the end of all life in the universe - veritable Armageddon. A race codenamed by the Terran TCIS the "Nephilim," after the obscure Hebrew legend. We know nothing about them except that they are powerful, hostile, predatorial, and totally without mercy. Their Fleet and numbers race outwards from a wormhole/gateway of some form in the Kilrah System, destroying anything and everything in their path. The Kilrathi are the first to suffer at their hands, but they would not be the last. The Nephilim Fleet was then headed towards the Border Worlds, and from there they could strike at the heart of the Terran Confederation.

Though this could not have come at a worse time for the Kilrathi (now known as the Kilrathi Assembly of Clans at large), this invasion could not have come at a worse time for the recovering Terran nations. Many of the older carriers have either been scrapped, or they were put into drydock with their reactors pulled. Most of the new Midway-class megacrarriers are still under construction. The only as-yet operational megacarrier, the TCS Midway (pre-comm. : CVX-01, post-comm. : CV-80), is trapped behind enemy lines. Confed's frontline carrier force is the weakest its been for a decade. What carriers ConFleet does have are stretched thin trying to protect Sol, Vega, Enigma, Hawking, and Argent sectors. Only Confed's Third Fleet (based in the Union of Border Worlds), along with a handful of Border Worlds ships, stands in the way of the Nephilim invasion.

If the Nephilim manage to break through, millions if not billions of Terran lives alone could be lost. While the crew and brave pilots of the Midway tries to cripple and/or destroy the Alien wormhole/gateway, the hastily assembled group of Confed and Border Worlder ships - a Combined Fleet - have to take on the massive Nephilim attack fleet largely within the confines of the Border Worlds space itself. They are outnumbered and outgunned, but they know failure is not an option.

They have to hold off the Aliens long enough for Confed and the Union to reinforce them. They are the ones who have to hold the line.