The Companion

It's well into the 22nd century, Earth has begun colonies on Mars and is mining the asteroids. Suspended above the earth in geosynchronous orbit the huge space station 'Gaia' supports 50,000 souls. The mining colonies on the moon siphon the regolith on the surface for Helium-3, the most efficient and clean nuclear fuel known to man. The earth has formed a multi-nation organization called the Interplanetary Corps, or IPC. A faction of the IPC consists of a fledgling military fleet that patrols the inner solar system to dissuade the pirates that would raid the raw minerals and refined cargo ships, as well as the asteroid mining colonies that operate on more than a dozen asteroids. Earth has already begun the construction of enormous colony ships to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri tri-star system; a planet our probes tell us of a planet similar to Earth 100,000 years ago, but devoid of any sentient beings while blush with life that resembles our planet eons ago. This new threat, however, seems an ominous foretelling of man's future. A young captain commanding a frigate class ship that transports cargo and personnel gets thrust into an adventurous conflict the human race was not ready to experience! A space probe originating from the binary system of Sirius enters the solar system armed to the teeth ... which proves two immutable facts: we are not alone, and this alien outside entity has malicious intent!