Another distant explosion shook the complex, throwing Konrad to the corridor floor. The cement torw at his knees and the plams of his hands. Blinking back tears, he climbed to his feet. Through a nearby viewport he could see the huge Kafer battleship approaching, its bulk blotting out the stars.

"There's nowhere left to run." It amazed him how calml he could accept that. "Sixteen years old, and I'm going to die." Suddenly, his surroundings took on a special clarity. He could hear the hum of the overheard lights, smell the smoke from far down the hall. He noticed the laser scars on the Kafer battleship where the defense systems had destroyed a gun tower. As he watched, a jack turret opened, and the inside began to glow red as its power built toward discharge. There was a sudden flash of light."

The Past

In 2295, humans and Kafers first met. Kafer ships discovered a human research facility orbiting Arcturus. The humans sent radio messages to the aliens but received no reply. Then, suddenly, without warning, the Kafers left the system.

Station personnel reported the alien contact to Terran officials and, regretting the lost opportunity to establish relations, continued to study the star. Two years later, reports from the Arcturus system ceased.

Early in 2298, Kafer ships swarmed into the Eta Bootis system and, driving away the human space fleet, bgean an attack on the Eta Bootian colony world, Aurore. The aliens destroyed the world's orbital facilities and landed ground troops on the planet.

Human space forces reentered the system with reinforcement from nations cooperating in the attack, and by 2299, the alien fellt was driven back. Then the humans fell back to Eta Bootis where a defensive lione could be established. An uneasy silence settled on the Frontier. No one knew when the enemy might attack again.

The Present

It is now 2301. The human fleet at Eta Bootis has been waiting at the alert for two years. While its leader have bickered over protocol and jockeyed for command of the combined fleet, individual ship crews have grown lax in performing pracrice exercises and routine duties.

But the Kafers have been busy. The remnants of the small force that originally attacked the humans have reported back to Kafer war leaders, and the combined might of all the Kafer nations has been assigned to invade human space. Theur goal is nothing short of the eradication of the human race.

The Future

The survivial of the human race is in jeopardy. Its fate lies not only in the hands of its armies and navies, but also in the hands of its civilian populations. In Invasion, player characters can experience the course of the Kafer assault on the French Arm, but they can also take an active part in the human defense efforts, no matter what career they have been trained in. The final fate of worlds may well depend upon their actions.

Invasion decribes the course of the Kafer campaign, from the initial assault on Hochbaden to the final, climactic battle at Queen Alice's Star. Along the way it treats each colony world in an individual chapter, explaing the particular effects of the invasion on that world. Both space battles and ground battles are described, with role-playing adventures and even official Star Cruiser scenarios included. With the information in this book the referee can run an entire campaign based upon the Kafer invasion.