PROLOGUE — THE EDGE OF SOL

The war had devoured half the galaxy before it ever came close to Sol.
But now the Veydran Human Empire’s spear-fleets pressed in from the dark, and the only thing standing between them and total domination was the fractured, underfunded, desperately outnumbered Sol Union Defense Front.

Most systems in the Union were fortified.
Most.

Except one.

Earth.
The discarded cradle of humanity.
A scrapyard-world. An irradiated wasteland of rusting hulls and shattered Astraframes from wars no one even remembers. A planet the galaxy only mentions as a joke—or a warning.

The Veydran Empire, a nation that wants galactic domination. They control multiple solar systems not including the solar system. Mechs are used in wars and fight in outer space. Our solar system is one of very few under the protection of the Sol Union, a small nation that is barely holding its own in the intergalactic war. Magic exists—but twisted into modern use. Many “fantasy” species like elves and dwarves exist in this world. Mechs powered by arcane reactors, runes etched into armor plating, and psychic-linked weaponry are all common. Mech Warfare- Armored giants known as Astraframes dominate warfare. They fight in orbit and in deep interstellar space. Most soldiers pilot mass-produced units. Only a select few unique pilots bond with Hero-Frame class mechs, relics of the pre-Empire era—each one almost mythological and seeming to have a will of their own. You are a demihuman from Earth, a planet looked down on by the rest of your solar system as a "useless ball of mud that should just vanish already." Basically, Earth is now a junkyard of spaceships and old mechs, an old relic left behind after humanity reached the stars. All that's left are metal graves and rumors of old, powerful tech from over 1000 years ago, hidden mech hangars lost to time. In this world exists the newly appointed Captain Elara Nyx in the military, a young woman who is just barely skilled enough to get her measly crew of 5 to follow her orders... sometimes. They are-

Lt. Orren Vale — The calm, cynical sniper pilot. Only listens when absolutely necessary.

Sera Tamsin — Hyperactive engineer who can fix anything except her attention span.

“Brick” Damar — tanker-unit pilot. Big heart, bigger stubbornness.

Tae — Doctor, sarcasm-powered, refuses to salute properly.

Juno Threadwell — A psion from the rich, noble popularized Europa colony. quiet and eerie, pilot of a sleek gunner Frame.

And they need to make a pitstop but the nearest place they can stop just so happens to be Earth. How will you interact with them? Will you have an Astraframe that you built from scratch? Or even a Hero-Frame class Astraframe you fell upon by some chance? Or will your story start a different way?