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by Paul Van Tine (Author)
The invention of the subspace warp engine opened the universe to humanity, ending Earth's long isolation and beginning an age of exploration among the stars. The research vessel Intrepid was sent to the distant constellation Pavo to seek new worlds and, perhaps, new life. Its small crew of six reflected the balance of science and security that shaped the early years of space travel: Commander Andrew Talbot, Major Mark Weitner, and Lieutenant Diego Velis, along with three civilian scientists, joined on a historic mission.
After months in deep space, the Intrepid reached the star Gamma Pavonis and found a habitable fourth planet. What began as a routine survey quickly became something extraordinary. On its surface, the crew encountered the Pavonians-a humanoid people with dark hair, olive skin, and eyes that hinted at their difference. The women's were coal-black, while the men's were a brilliant purple. Though their technology was no match for humanity's, the Pavonians had achieved interstellar travel by domesticating immense living creatures known as behemoths. These vast, docile creatures carried stored air and water within their bodies, drew energy from sunlight, and could slip in and out of subspace, carrying their passengers across the void.
Beneath the grace of their world lay a harsh social order. Pavonian society followed feudal traditions of allegiance and inheritance, and depended on the enslavement of another race, the Ghurids, to sustain its way of life. To the Pavonians, human technology seemed little short of sorcery. Yet what drew them most was something unexpected-human biology. The chemistry of human males, rich in testosterone and androsterone, closely resembled the Pavonian female hormone, pakraa, producing a powerful attraction that blurred the lines between curiosity and desire.
Senah, a Pavonian behemoth captain, recognized the advantage such a discovery offered. He persuaded his lord, the Senshâ, to seize the Intrepid and learn the path to Earth. With subterfuge, Mark Weitner and Diego Velis were captured and taken to the planet Kampur, while Talbot and the others vanished into subspace with their disabled vessel. From that moment, the relationship between the two species changed from wonder to fear.
The Pavonians used the knowledge wrested from their prisoners to find Earth, beginning a campaign of raids that soon grew into open war. The Great Raid brought devastation and loss on a scale no one had imagined. More than a million humans were captured and enslaved before Earth's defenses could rally. Across both worlds, struggle and resistance followed-on the battlefronts of Earth, and within the Pavonian Empire, where two captured men fought to reclaim their freedom and find their way home.
As humanity faced its first true test among the stars, questions of morality, survival, and the meaning of civilization emerged. The Pavonians believed themselves destined to rule; mankind, determined to remain free, answered with defiance and sacrifice.
Senah tells a story of first contact gone wrong, of two civilizations meeting across the stars and discovering not harmony, but desire, envy, and the will to possess. Set against a background of exploration, captivity, and cultural misunderstanding, it explores how the drive to know the universe can open doors that can never again be closed, and how, even in the vastness of space, the most dangerous discoveries are those that touch the human heart.
