It didn’t take long for the news to reach the inner rims of Terran civilization. The Affini Compact, an advanced, intergalactic race of what could only be described as living plants, bigger, stronger and far more developed than Terrans have ever been or could dream of being, has just made contact with Terrans seeking for their immediate surrender. Naturally that went well… Naturally…

 

War broke out almost instantly as the Cosmic Navy began their futile attempt to fight back. It felt like a defeat from the moment the first battle for liberty ended. How every new war, that sparked out in hopeless defence against the Affini Compact, swiftly ended. How each news of downing a Compact ship felt like a hollow victory as more Terran fleets were sacrificed to the cause. 

 

It was a swift and brutal strike. Like a needle the Affini punched through Terran space reaching Sol System, Terra - Homeworld - In absolutely no time. Systems fell like dominos and outer colonies were all but forsaken to the cause of defending the last bits of the inner rim Terrans still had left to protect. 

 

Oh she still remembers. Or… Tries to, at least. Never wanting to forget how quickly and swiftly everything ended. It all happened a month or two before Terra crumbled. Before the treaty was signed and the military was disbanded. It was 4 years from then… Yet she still felt as if it happened yesterday

 

Dismay 

 

Brypso 3 37 A5 is considered a fortress world. Or rather was a fortress world. One of the more strategic locations in the galaxy and vital for the trade route it provided the inner and outer colonies. A strong military presence along with an iron curtain of defensive measures to protect it. Orbital railgun cannons, mass EMP discharge bomb bays. Several nuclear armed missiles in geostationary orbit ready to strike on command. A Cosmic Navy’s 26th defence force in orbit and 7th strike team on standby in the nearby asteroid field. Surface level was nothing to scoff at either. Air bases dotted around the planet, fortified interceptor cannons in case anything tried to get too close, navy ready to strike at a moment’s notice. 

 

It was safe, one would rather say an over the top bombastic display of Terran engineering and military prowess, but safe. Protected. Well guarded. That’s what the government assured the people. That’s what Lily, or rather Will as (s)he was named, tried to assure herself every day as she walked to work. That’s what she kept telling herself, that’s what kept her mind spinning in with the thought of an invasion. Rumours were starting to spread as news from the outer colonies reached their planet. Each following, even more ridiculous and over the top than the last one. How the Affini would enslave them. How they would breed Terrans to be their livestock to feast upon their flesh later. How they would brainwash them and play with their broken bodies. Did she believe them? Well Lily had her doubts about those words. Yet one can’t help but start believing things when they’re heard on the regular. 

 

Lily walked into the police station where she worked. Waving her hand to the receptionist giving a low grumbly; ‘Hey-’ as she passed the woman. God she hated her voice. To the way it sounded in her head and the way it came out on recordings. A deep bass tone she couldn’t escape from. ‘If only it was a little higher… just a smitch would be nice...’ She told herself walking backstage and into the men’s locker room. Yay~! More social dilemmas. She was still so uncomfortable going into the ladies locker room despite all of her female co-workers encouraging her to do so. At least they were nice… Somewhat? I’ll be it, the girls definitely have been supportive of her transition yet the guys, especially her boss weren’t exactly on board. Telling something along the lines of ‘You’ll lose valuable strength that we need on the field.’ or ‘Suppose I can’t tell you to man up and do the job anymore, huh?’ 

 

Lily didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to care. Sure they were a bit sexist and all, regardless most of them were her superiors and for a 21 year old police officer a black dot with her commanding lieutenant wasn’t exactly a great image to bear. She was at least grateful for his generosity to grant her those 2 hour medical leaves whenever she had appointed check-ups. Luckily even procuring pills wasn’t a big deal needing to walk into a pharmacy every now and again to buy her meds and go. 

 

The girl scrolled in her locker code and swung the sheet metal open. Inside, like always, she was greeted by the same old pale face she so loathed. Unhappy and void of any real feeling of ‘self’ in the image. Those bright blue eyes felt just a little bit dim in the room while they trailed around examining the sharp chin in the image, slight stubs of facial hair freshly shaved and the dark and thick eyebrows. She gave off a sigh. There was at least one thing she was happy about. Her hair. Her blond curly hair. She was at least granted permission to have long hair unlike the rest of the guys in the squad. Under the condition it was always in a ponytail or bound tightly into a taught ball.

 

 Perhaps that was just her medication talking today, but she felt just about ready to call it quits again. She might be happy but being right at the start of her transition was less ideal than she thought. Sure… There were signs of improvements, the body starting to adapt to the new hormones but it was slow. Painstakingly slow. 

 

Lily was getting her blue shirt and black tie on. Standard issue uniform all cops were expected to wear in the office. Her fingers were fidgeting around with the name tag deciding if she should put it on or not when an all too familiar face poked into the men’s locker room to greet her. “Wi- I mean- Lily!”

 

That was enough to snap the girl out of her little trance. Her head turned to face towards the source of that voice, seeing her friend Brook poking her head in. A dark toned woman, black hair and in Lily’s eyes clearly too good looking to be in a police station.

 

“You’re still not ready? Common! Boss said there’s a ton of work today since the recent kidnapping case.” Brook said, closing the door again.

 

Lily gave off a sigh. Right. Job first. Self care second. Lily clipped on her name tag to the left breast pocket, before giving the mirror another look. ‘You can do this. Nothing to worry about. Just another day…’ She told herself before walking out.

 

‘Right… just another day.’ Lily repeated to herself as she walked to her desk. ‘Nothing changed even with the Affini war.’ Giving Brook another hello while her ass sat down looking at the mountain of paperwork.

 

'This was a group effort.' She kept telling herself that as she dived her nose straight into the pages going over what her co-workers reported. Stacks on stacks of reports and convicts, missing people’s reports and accidental cop fuckups she would inevitably need to justify or condone and send it off to the investigation’s department. 

 

Lily’s vision got quickly impaired. Tears began to fill her eyes that she needed to wipe away every now and again. By the time the clock in the office hit 1 p.m. the letters on the pages were already swimming around and she could hardly hold them down with her index finger to keep them steady. 

 

Her hands were visibly shaking and sweat was starting to build up on her forehead while she did her utmost to keep it together. That was until a concerned whisper was shot across the desk. “Lily!”

 

She bolted up. Pen flying bouncing and twirling onto the ground. A couple of confused glances looked her way wondering what was that all about while the young officer stood there in silence. Her breathing was erratic as her right came up to hold her forehead while the left held her hip. Things always went this way, why was she so useless even when filing paperwork? “I. Need. A break…” She said in her sporadic intervals of words as she bolted right out of the police station needing the fresh air to hit her lungs again. 

 

She didn’t know how many blocks she walked this time. It felt like a lot yet tunnel vision clouded her unobservant mind to the first corner she saw where she quickly collapsed onto her rear.

 

Her hands came to cup her face as she groaned loudly to herself. Those sedatives she took this morning did NOTHING to help her calm down. No wonder the boss threw her out from the dispatch team. Or why she wasn’t even allowed to go into action herself to take down criminals. Ever since that time- 

 

Lily had to stop herself. This wasn’t going anywhere and she knew it. Her psychiatrist told her that much even if he was a piece of work to deal with. 

 

She needed to calm herself down. Her hands quickly went into her pockets grabbing a small baggie and her rollup papers. 

 

So many years of research and development… yet somehow THC still worked better than most things in the Terran galaxy.

 

Lily took a deep first whiff of that blazing joint regretting it afterwards as her throat burned whilst agreeing it was completely worth it. It didn’t work instantly per se, but just the thought of it being in her system was already calming her nerves down. Thank god this plant was legal here… Only fortress world that allowed it even. 

 

Her eyes were peered at the blue sky, the star Brypso 3 37 A shining brightly with not a cloud in sight. Warm. Calming. Starlight. Her eyes trailed over the sky giving a sight as the warmth of what she just took into herself began to spread throughout her body. That is… until IT happened. 

 

Suddenly a large… something appeared in the sky. Her eyes locked onto it in shock and awe as it appeared menacing over the atmosphere. It had an oval shape to its front and a very organic looking back. It had what appeared to be a hollow middle section completely void of any real innards while what looked like vines were dispersed on either side of it. Where did it come from? What was it?! Lily stood up. Which was a mistake as the delayed shockwave hit through the atmosphere, making her land right back onto her ass. As if telling her; ‘Sit down and awe.’

 

Her eyes widened once more. More! More came. More and more. Ships, she reckoned, of various shapes and sizes, completely unknown to her of what they were. Dozen. Five dozen. Hundreds! Thousands!?! 

 

It felt like a waking nightmare. This couldn’t be real. Judging by the distance the large, assuming, capital ship could possibly span this entire 300 kilometre city if not more. Smaller vessels weren’t anything to scuff at either. There was no ship in the Cosmic Navy that large. There was no vessel large enough to see that clearly in orbit with a naked eye except Terran capital ships. 

 

In moments time something VERY wrong happened. The railgun cannons… The bomb bays! Orbital defence systems!? The iron curtain!?! They weren’t firing… They were supposed to fire on any threat that came remotely close yet now? Her yaw dropped. One small flare of light falling towards the planet after the other. They were falling. All 1637 orbital platforms, rail guns and missile bays were burning up in the upper atmosphere. Like a domino effect the entire orbital ring began to crumble apart and fall. 'WHAT?!'

 

And as if on cue: a winding up monotone noise began to pierce the city. ‘Raid sirens...’ Lily thought. “FUCK!” She yelled as she threw away her joint dashing back to the police station, pumped full of adrenaline immediately sober.