"It was but a few short years after Cochrane had made his warp flight aboard the Phoenix. The experimental advanced exploration craft S.S. Valiant had just been launched. Contact between the United Nations had been restored and recovery from the Post-Atomic Horror was well under way. The UN Space Navy, which had been essentially defunct during the War, had been reestablished and partially reinvigorated. Many ships were beginning to be fitted with Warp 2-capable engines..."

"The Vulcanians---or the Vulcans, as they had come to be more commonly called---had not been any great presence since they had made contact with Cochrane. There had been some additional contact, but nothing world-shattering. They certainly hadn't shown any real active interest in Earth's exploits..."

"When the Kzinti came, all this was ended. Earth, for over a century to come, would be permanently indebted to the Vulcans---for without the Vulcans, humans would never have been able to hold their own against the invaders..."

"It was also during this time that a Vulcan archeological team on Vega discovered an ancient artifact, a stasis-box containing what appeared to be some type of anti-gravity generator. Intense study by Vulcan scientists would eventually reveal a much more efficient gravity-control technology than either the land-based repulsorlift engine or the shipboard centrifugal motivators employed by the Vulcan Navy..."

"The Kzin were a race of carnivorous, felinoid creatures with an aggressive thirst for conquest. In stark contrast to lesser threats, such as the Orion pirates that plagued the space lanes, the Kzinti were a bloodthirsty lot, not looking simply to acquire and posess more territory but to utterly ravage the worlds they encountered, enslaving their populations sucking them dry of all their precious resources..."

"The so-called "civilization" of the Kzin was based upon a Patriarchy, with the head of one revered family ruling the entire Empire, looked upon as a god-like figure..."