Ardonia.

A habitable desert planet in the Scorpius constellation.

It orbited around a red dwarf star, one of a triple-star system, of which this one was the largest and brightest.

It was the capital of a powerful empire, peaceful and prosperous.

Its ruler was a benevolent king, Zoluur. Alongside him reigned his beautiful wife, Alleina.

Their kind was that of a mighty humanoid race closely resembling our kind, the Terrans, but of a more noble stature, with graceful proportions and long, pointed ears.

One night the king and queen were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. She was so precious and so lovely that they named her Maina, which was the Ardonian name for the red star which the planet makes its orbit.

Maina was an inquisitive child. In her childhood years she would wander around the kingdom and make friends with random subjects. Her parents, especially her overbearing mother, would disprove of her behavior, saying "A princess does not wander around the kingdom for fun."

Alas, the young princess would continue her adventures around the city of Mirgathol, the capital of Ardonia. She grew to be a rebel and would deliberately disobey her parents, at the expense of her playtime of course.

As time went on the princess became bolder, and her parents became stricter. And on her sixteenth birthday, she had grown so lovely that she had a great many suitors from far across the galaxy. Her parents naturally felt she was ready for betrothal to any of the eligible young nobles across the Scorpian empire.

But Maina would not have that. She felt marriage would deprive her of her freedom, the freedom she spent riding into the sunset the carnivorous equine beasts that her people use for transport or as beasts of burden.

But that day, which marked her sixteenth year on this planet, proved to be fateful indeed.

The citizens of Mirgathol looked to the heavens in shock, for the sky was darkening.

And it was an unnatural darkness, for several dark objects have blotted out all three of the planet's stars.

They were alien ships.

The entire battalion descended from the sky at breakneck speed. The citizens panicked and made a mad dash to the safety of their homes.

King Zoluur and Queen Alleina looked on in horror as the ships swooped down on the citizens of Mirgathol City like multitude hawks swooping down on a horde of mice. But they were not attacking the people of Ardonia at all.

One particularly large ship stopped by the balcony of the palace where the royal couple stood. This must be the flagship of the alien armada.

The ship opened up, revealing the leader of the invasion force.

He, if this creature was male, was a tall humanoid with pale, almost reptilian skin, a flat, snake-like face with equally serpentine eyes. His most curious feature was the long tail-like appendage sprouting from the back of his head, almost dubbing for hair.

"Who are you?" demanded the king firmly.

"I am Ay-Shinn," replied the humanoid, a cool and collected voice emanating from his reptilian lips. "I come to you in glad tidings, my King."

"What do you want?" demanded Zoluur sternly.

"It is not a question of what I want, Your Majesty," replied Ay-Shinn calmly. "It is what you want that I am offering kindly to you."

The king and queen looked at each other curiously.

"And what is it that you offer, invader?" asked Zoluur.

A smirk crept upon the reptilian humanoid's face after hearing the king's question. After a brief pause, he gave his answer.

"Myself, Your Excellency. As the groom to your lovely daughter, Maina of Ardonia."