Aldar and the Aldarians

The planet Aldar orbited a very bright star, but the planet was much further away from it's star than earth is from the sun, giving it a similar climate, but a much longer year.

The Aldarians were roughly the same height as humans, with dark skin and dark eyes. Most of them had long dark hair, which they kept neatly groomed. In the past their ancestors had been proud of their body hair, and the males often sported long beards. That was no longer the fashion.

War had been common in the early days of Aldar. Aldarians were a tough breed and it did not take too much for two Aldarians, two tribes, or even two countries to start fighting. They had overcome most of that by the time they reached for the stars, but not all of it.

The Aldarians had settled twelve planets, in addition to their home world, by the time they ran into the Axions. The initial contact had not exactly been friendly. The Axion's expected the Aldarians to bow down to their superiority. The Aldarians were ready for a fight. At first all out war seemed inevitable, but fortunately, cooler heads on both sides prevailed. The Axion-Aldarian Alliance was formed.

The Axion technology was definitely superior to what the Aldarians had, and Axion already inhabited almost three times the number of planets that the Aldarians did. The Axion's demanded, and got, the better end of the deal, but the alternative was massive loss of life followed by domination of the Axion's over the Aldarians. The treaty called for the Aldarians to pay taxes to the Central Authority and contribute personnel and supplies to the military. In turn the Aldarian planets were allowed to stay under Aldarian rule, but visiting Axion's were to be treated as honored guests. That didn't always work.

Within the military the units were integrated, but at almost every level their was always an Axion in charge. Fortunately the Aldarian warriors quickly gained the respect of their Axion partners. The Aldarians were quick, strong, and very tough. In any one-on-one competition between an Axion and an Aldarian, the smart money was always on the Aldarian.

Most Aldarians learned to live with the situation. Those that did not were sent to Axion "education camps." Few returned from these places, and those that did told enough horror stories to keep the rest of the Aldarian population under control.

Paka - Special Operations Officer

Paka was an Aldarian. He was about the same height as an average human male, with long hair, dark skin and brown eyes. He kept his hair neatly tied back. Aldarians were brave fighters and extremely tough.

He had joined the military when he was quite young. His family had a hard time getting by on the "fair share" of the distribution provided by the Axion government. All aspects of a free society and free enterprise had been sacrificed in the name of the alliance. Even bartering was strictly forbidden, and anyone caught participating in such activities was sent to one of the education camps. At least in the military he was guaranteed reasonable accommodations, food and healthcare.

Paka had worked his way up through the ranks, and had managed to get assigned to the elite Special Operations Command. It was there he met Argon, when he was assigned to Argon's team. He did not especially like Argon, but he was careful not to show it, and he earned Argon's trust. Argon had selected him to be second in command of the team.

Then they were assigned to the special mission to capture the harvesters that the SOC would use to invade Castar and put an end to the war.

Bika – Member of the Governing Council

Bika is selected by Paka to join him on the council. He is mentioned only once in the story.