A golden sun dipped below the peaks of snow-capped mountains. The evening sky was a deep blue with stars twinkling faintly: calm and still and cold. But that stillness was soon broken.
Two bird-like Leyrian cruisers, each as long as a city block, swooped low over a forest of conifers. The wind they kicked up was enough to make trees sway and drop clumps of snow to the ground. They flew toward a Ragnosian installation, a square slab of concrete in the middle of the forest with watchtowers along its perimeter.
Dipping its nose slightly, the lead cruiser unleashed a raging, orange particle beam that streaked through the air. A flickering force-field popped up to protect the base, and the super-heated plasma diffused along it.
The Ragnosians were not idle.
Every watchtower supported a cann
