During the first years of the 22nd century the Earth could no longer sustain the whole of humanity, and mankind was forced to begin a desperate reach out into space. Naturally, the first planets to feel his presence were those of his own solar system, but he would not stop there.

Thanks to advances in technology, within the first fifty years his journey to the stars led him beyond the boundaries of his own solar system, out into the galaxy, and across the very universe itself. World after world was discovered and explored as human beings ventured deeper into the stars.

Refugees forced off world, by overcrowding and supply shortages on Earth, quickly made use of any planetary body able to readily support life. Where technology made it possible, worlds found less habitable were put to other uses.

Global and intergalactic corporations wasted no time in claiming newly discovered mineral rich worlds. Their mining settlements seemed to spring up nearly overnight, and before the end of the first solar year their raw materials were finding their way to other colonies, or depending on location, even to Earth itself.

Some of the more unpleasant planets, small planetoids, and larger asteroids, became penal colonies. In these harsh surroundings, prisoners worked as slave labor, many up to the very day they died. It was common knowledge lawbreakers were automatically relocated to these prisons.

Non-violent criminals, guilty of minor offenses, were more often sent to work camps on mining worlds, and could eventurally regain their freedom, and return home one day.

However, violent criminals were given two choices. They could be exiled for the remainder of their natural life to a penal colony, where they would spend their life working as a slave with no hope for reprieve, or they could take a quick laser blast to the back of the head. Both were death sentences, one was just quicker.

Life in space seemed little different from life back on Earth in many ways. Then....

(Intercepted transmission: A young man's voice struggling to be heard over the sounds of an intense battle.)

"Mayday...require assistance! -static- is merchant vessel Star Minion -static- route to -static- asteroid belt mines with supplies! We are under -static- by unknown forces! I repeat -static- are under attack! Our location is....AAAHHHHHHH!" -static-

The voice is silenced as a loud inhuman growl echoes across the communication network's open channels, joined with the sounds of death and destruction. Then, nothing but static.

Man is not alone, and not everyone wants to be his friend.