In the end, everything dies. Whether it be organic beings or civilizations, stars or the universe itself, they all eventually end. Of course, that last shouldn't have happened for at least several hundred million cycles. But thanks to certain foolhardy actions, it has a few thousand at best. It wasn't all that long ago when there were planets capable of supporting life, rather than the current scattering of asteroids with the occasional airless planetoid. But one must now be careful not to needlessly waste so much as a molecule of air or water. For now, all that seperates anybody from airless death is a thin shell of metal. And this all came about because of the desire to travel further among the stars without thinking about who or what we might meet along the way. But to truly understand why things are the way they are now, you have to know how our interstellar society came to be.
The major problem for any race that attempted star travel for the first time was distance. Stars were simply too far apart. Even light takes a while to travel between stars, and not even modern starship engines can go anywhere near that fast in normal space. Some initially tried sleeper ships (that is autopiloted ships that carried passengers in stasis), but that doesn't create a true interstellar society. The only solution would be to prove the existance of Hyperspace and make use of it. Several races independently developed hyperdrives, but the solving of the distance problem merely made way to the energy problem. Early hyperdrives required obscene amounts of energy to run and didn't get you too far. Try as they might, the physicists couldn't figure a way around this one.
The solution came by way of a desperate asteroid prospector whose name and race are lost in the mists of time. He had staked a claim in an area deemed too dangerous by everyone due to the presence of space-time distortions. Thought he didn't find anything he had initially hoped for, what he did dig up was a strange ore the likes of which he had never seen. Figuring it might be worth something, he hauled a load of the stuff back to civilization. His discovery wound up taking the scientific community by storm. You see, it was found that the metal, which came to be known as quantium, simultaneously existed both in normal space and Hyperspace. This meant that hyperdrives that used parts made of quantium used far less energy to enter Hyperspace and covered more distance in less time. Not only that, but it was essential in the construction of various gravity manipulating devices that we take for granted nowadays. And as for communications, a quantium transmitter can send a signal through Hyperspace so that you can have a real time conversation with someone in another system. Naturally, this lead to a rush to locate as many quantium deposits as possible. The key sign for quantium is that it occurs in the presence of space-time distortions. Whether the distortions make it appear spontaneously or merely convert existing ores is still uncertain. The only problem anyone noticed was that a small but significant percentage of quantium miners would develop schizophrenia or a split personality disorder. Psychologists of the time theorized that these miners had glimpsed into Hyperspace, which isn't good for the psyche. Of course, we now know that it was demonic possession, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The final problem was how to safely get from Point 1 to Point 2 without making unscheduled stopovers at Points 7, 13, and 42. Hyperspace is very easy to get lost in and in those early days ships would frequently come out in the wrong place, if they came out at all. Scientists had all sorts of theories about what happened to those missing ships, but I suspect that they would encounter either an elemental or a void spirit which was in a bad mood. Navcomputers were of limited use since, although they were fine at the number crunching aspect, flying through Hyperspace requires a degree of intuition that not even the most sophisticated AI can emulate. It didn't help that visuals had to be turned off due to the fact that looking into Hyperspace drives organic beings mad, thus requiring one to use passive sensors exclusively and effectively fly blind. The eventual solution came from a piece of cyberware developed called a piloting neural interface. It links key parts of the brain to a specially constructed headjack and, unlike other cyberware, is made of quantium. The interface allows the Pilot to link with the ship's sensors, the navcomputer, and the hyperdrive, allowing unprecidented maneuverability in Hyperspace and greater precision in exiting. Of course, interfaces can't simply be bought off the shelf and popped into your head like a regular piece of cyberware. Potential Pilots have to undergo a series of mental and genetic tests to determine suitability. The actual interface has to be installed before the subject has finished going through puberty. This is because sticking quantium in a brain that is fully developed drives the subject insane, while one that isn't can adjust to the presence of the interface.
When all these developments came about, star travel was finally made practical. Eventually, the various races puttering about Hyperspace started meeting one another with varying degrees of friendliness or hostility. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say when the dust had settled, several races had hammered out what was to become the Confederacy, which at its peak had nearly a thousand member races. Over their two thousand cycle existance, their most famous accomplishment was the creation of the Hyperspace Positioning System (HPS) Network. This was a network of beacons placed at regularly spaced intervals which effectively eliminated the need for a Pilot. While Pilots were still needed for travelling to and from frontier areas out of range of the Network, the recruiting programs still got scaled back. For the most part, Confederacy members were left to tend to their own affairs within certain guidelines, with the Confederacy providing a military for protection from any hostiles without.
Not that there was much of that. Though there were about a couple dozen races who for various reasons wouldn't join the Confederacy, none of them were big enough to pose a significant threat even if they wanted to.
The reason I went over all this is because the current state of affairs came about due to the desire to push the envelope on star travel technology. The latest goal was to travel to another galaxy, but even by interstellar standards, galaxies are very far apart. Even the most advanced hyperdrives would run out of fuel before getting halfway to the nearest galaxy. The physicists thought hard on this problem and came up with a theory proposing the existance of a realm with even more flexible dimensions than Hyperspace which got dubbed Otherspace. A drive made entirely out of a specially designed quantium alloy was fitted into a Confederacy dreadnaught. I myself had been assigned as the Pilot, having just completed my training and possessing the most advanced interface of the time. I couldn't have been more than twelve cycles old then and was excited about the prospect of being the first Pilot to fly a ship through Otherspace. Little did I know then how much I would regret being part of that expedition.
As to the actual voyage through Otherspace, what memories I have are suppressed so that they only occasionally pop up in my nightmares. When we reappeared in normal space, every member of the crew was possessed by a demon. Now, there are some who would accuse me of fomenting superstitious thought, but I'd say it's an apt name for them, seeing as I've had one of them puttering about inside my head. As to what being possessed is like, some folks get completely overwhelmed and their memory of the time is a complete blank. For me, I was awake the whole time, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. We came out of Otherspace in a system deep within Confederacy territory. Since it was nowhere near the system we were supposed to arrive at, our presence was something of a surprise. It was an even bigger surprise when we started attacking. Since the local defenses consisted of just a few muscle ships, the system was decimated in short order. We did the same to a few more nearby systems before enough of the crew managed to evict the buggers from their minds. Of course, we now had to worry about explaining ourselves, figuring we'd be lucky just to get a court-martial. What actually ended up happening was that those who couldn't shake off the possession got tranquilized to the eyeballs and locked in padded cells. The rest of us went back on duty but were kept under observation.
If it seems we got off easy, it's because the Confederacy was in need of every able bodied hand they could get. You see, when we had exited Otherspace, there was a huge rip in the space-time continuum left behind with all sorts of nastyness pouring out. Mostly it was demons, some taking the traditional form consisting of tentacles and fangs and similar, but many instead manifested as hellish gunships. But the worst to come out were the beings which a summoner friend of mine has referred to as the Others. I suppose you could think of them as bigger and meaner demons, but that doesn't quite fit. They manifested as dreadnaught-like vessels capable of destroying entire planets. While the demon ships were tough enough in their own right, the Others were virtually invincible. To make matters even more lopsided, destroying a demon ship didn't destroy the demon. It merely sent it packing back to Otherspace and, after a brief recuperation period, could remanifest to cause more trouble. Not exactly favorable odds, made worse by the fact that cults that had always secretly existed were now actively aiding the efforts of the Others.
The early years of the Otherspace War consisted mostly of the Confederacy getting clobbered. Even when the Independent Races started chipping in once their systems were attacked, the demon fleet was still plowing through with impunity. It wasn't until hyperdisrupters were developed that we had a fighting chance. On the outside, they look like conventional energy weapons. On the inside however, the wiring was made of quantium, allowing it to fire a beam that was partially in Hyperspace. So while an organic being would just get a tingly feeling, a demon or any other spirit would be in for a load of pain. A ship mounted version could even hurt one of the Others. But they weren't destroyed, merely back in Otherspace recuperating. Ultimately, all it did was slow them down. To actually win the war, we would need the help of the magicians.
Now magic has always existed. It's just that when a civilization reaches the point where it has developed star travel, most folks have stop believing in it. Doesn't mean it wasn't still around, anymore than not believing in radiation would make it go away. It's just that those who still practiced magic kept that fact to themselves, at least those who wished to avoid getting pumped full of anti-psychotic medications. Since it's now out in the open, scientists have been trying to rationalize magic into some model they can accept, at least those who aren't convinced that all magicians are clever frauds. Myself, I dislike unnecessary complications and have no problem with magic being magic. When you've travelled through Hyperspace in the way only a Pilot can, you find these sort of things easier to accept. Anyway, the reason none of them spoke up sooner is because they were worried about what sort of reception they'd get. Even if they were taken seriously, there was concern that it would be assumed that they were allied with the demons. While there was that sort of thought in some quarters, for the most part the Confederacy was desperate enough to accept their aid, and no wonder. At that point, over three-quarters of the Confederacy had been pulverized, and the Independent Races were just as bad off.
Now that the Confederacy had some magicians on the case, a plan was formulated on how to defeat the Others. It was deduced that the rip in normal space that lead to Otherspace had some form of energy pouring out that allowed them to manifest as they did. Close the rip and they'd lose their form, possibly even be destroyed. After a lengthy and intense design phase, a ritual was concocted that would do exactly that. The plan was to send a starship with the needed magicians in close proximity to the rip to perform the ritual. To assure that they would be able to complete it, every starship armed with hyperdisrupters were scraped together for an escort. This was something of a calculated risk, since it left what worlds remained open to attack with only whatever muscle ships were available for defense. It turned out to be a well-founded concern, since shortly after we started our expedition said worlds were attacked by the Others. However, once the ritual had started, they sensed what was happenning and headed back to the point of origin. An attempt was made to destroy the ship holding the ritual team, but fortunately the fleet held. Rather than chance being destroyed, the Others and their demon fleet passed back into Otherspace just before the rip was closed.
After nearly a hundred cycles of fighting, we had finally won. But it didn't feel much like a victory. Every known planet had been reduced to rubble by the Others. This situation is worse than you might initially think because space stations weren't as self-sufficient as we spacers liked to pretend. With no planetary resources to fall back on, we had to make sure that not a molecule of air or water was wasted. The recycling systems in place had to be stretched to the limit and then some to ensure the survival of the Confederacy. Or what there was of it since out of the nearly one thousand member races only five had survived. The Independent Races had only fared better percentage-wise with only five of them still around. Star travel had also become trickier since the HPS Network was wiped out during the war. There have been a couple of attempts to set it back up, but to no avail. It seems that Hyperspace had gotten a bit rambuncious since then, as the beacons were constantly getting knocked out of alignment. Since the war ended ten cycles ago, the old-style Pilot recruiting programs have been started up again. But even with that there's still a shortage of Pilots, leading some to travel in Hyperspace using just a navcomputer just like in the bad old days.
And don't think the demons aren't a threat anymore. That summoner I mentioned earlier was on the ritual team and once told me that the barrier between Otherspace and normal space is not impermiable. Though the cracks that do exist are too small for the Others to pass through, demons can do it. Fortunately, the energy that leaks out isn't enough for them to take gunship form. But they can still manifest and it doesn't have to be something nightmarish. The way I understand it, demons can take the form of an organic being if they wish to. Luckily, they're stuck with that form until it's destroyed, so they can't play shapeshifter games. However, it does allow them to act discreetly and with those cults I mentioned earlier still around they're definately up to no good. My guess is that they'd try to bring back the Others. Hopefully that can be prevented, because even if the Confederacy and the Independent Races managed to unite, I doubt we could withstand a return of the Others.