A foreign world... (EDITED)

In a distant system, only recently discovered by the Empire, and not yet studied by it, there is an ordinary habitable planet.

The inhabitants of this planet call it: "Cradle" in the human tongue, as their ancestors believed to be protected by it, worshiping the planet as a god in ancient times.

Such times are long gone, and the leading regime on the planet now is a Technocracy.

The Diat Technocratic Republic, to be exact.

It is a democratic technocratic state, as suggested by its name, it values logical reasoning and an intense curiosity drives its every action, as research has taken the first place in its priority list.

Such a place would obviously value freedom, as everyone has to share their ideas without fear in order for themselves to truly prosper.

This planet is very peaceful thanks to its inhabitant's logical thinking, even if outliers exist, and emotion still often suppresses logic, wars are non-existent and the populace strives to spread their knowledge and make themselves wiser.

This world is not going to remain peaceful for long, however, as a starving hivemind has set its eyes on its newfound prey.

The poor Diats, who are only just about to begin exploring the universe around them, are going to be invaded by a... who knows how ancient... interstellar nation.

One such Diat is a girl, who is currently sleeping in her soft bed, her body covered by sheets, hiding her, what many would consider, bewitching appearance from the world.

As the small, incomplete station in orbit gets shattered into pieces, an unimaginable amount of strange, flesh-like material showers the cities of the Diat Technocratic Republic.

Screams ring out all over the planet, as the Republic informs its people of the sudden extraterrestrial invasion, providing any data it can to buy itself time, while also sending out signals as far as they can, begging for the aid of any nation listening.

At this point, the sleeping beauty shot awake, and her appearance revealed itself from underneath her covers.

...

I woke up to the sounds of screaming and wailing all through the city.

Any grogginess I might have usually had immediately disappeared as my golden eyes sharpened like a cat's.

My messy dark grey hair stood up momentarily before setting back down with my emotions.

My black tail shook violently and wrapped around me, a sign of immense danger.

These are not normal screams, like an annoyed child's, but blood-curdling screams that froze my body solid and made a shiver run down my spine.

I looked outside and saw military vehicles moving around, shooting at seemingly unarmed civilians.

There is something horrible going on right now, I have to get my gun.

I rushed to the cupboard and grabbed my small pistol along with my newly acquired uniform from the Techno-Explorative Institute I graduated from recently.

The uniform is smooth and black with long sleeves that have a cyan line running from the shoulders to the wrists, with a hole in the back for my long black cat tail.

The uniform goes a bit above my knees, looking like a skirt at the bottom with another cyan line running along near the edge of it.

At the right breast, there is a name tag that reads 'Lucia Wert. eighteen-year-old graduate.'

A symbol of her home planet with sparkling stars behind it is on the opposite breast, representing the institute which she graduated from.

I hastily put it on and tied the black belt that came with it around my waist.

As I rushed by the Mirror, I couldn't help but lament the large horn on the right side of my forehead, usually, my species has two, one on each half, but I had one, which made life very difficult.

My father had to save up a lot of money so that I could have an operation that reinforced my neck so that it wouldn't be under the threat of snapping itself due to the weight.

Even more money had to be saved so that it wouldn't look incredibly ugly and preserved the soft feminine look, which I'm very grateful for.

And the markings that covered my otherwise beautiful face... those are scars from... an incident...

...That I will not think about.

I carefully walked outside the door with my gun at the ready, but I wasn't too worried yet.

A big mistake.

I saw my mother in the kitchen, her brown hair and tail washed me with relief.

At least she's okay.

But then a feeling of immense dread washed over my body, as an uncanny fear seeped into my mind.

Just as I froze, her tail stopped swaying naturally and pointed directly at me.

The tip of it suddenly exploded and launched an egg-like ball of flesh at my face.

The belt of the institute materialized a shield after detecting the projectile, saving me from an unknown fate.

I woke up from my shock after this and shot the weird flesh ball with my energy pistol.

After it stopped moving I looked with trepidation at my mom, or the thing that's pretending to be her.

It turned around with perfectly natural movements, but all of them simply felt off in some incomprehensible way.

She had no smile on her face, and most daunting of all, she had no eyes.

"AAAAAH" I screamed in horror at the sight.

The thing charged at me with an unnatural speed, and I reflexively shot it in the head before it reached me.

It wasn't enough as my aim was slightly off, and when it almost reached me the *BANG* of a shotgun reached my ears as my father stepped through.

His brown hair and tail were messy as usual, blue eyes were completely trained on the corpse of the creature that imitated my mom."D-Dad! What is going on?!"

"I have no idea! Some weird aliens are invading and taking over our bodies, that's all I know!"

"So that means mom is..."

"Dead, yes." My dad said as if he didn't care, but his hands shook with anger and sadness, as the realization he killed his wife washed over him like a tsunami.

He knows he did the right thing, and that it wasn't the woman he loved anymore, but it will still hurt him... Dad is just that kind of person.

I redirected my attention back to the corpse after hearing a *SQUIRM*ing from it.

The thing was in bits on the floor, but a squirming could be heard from it as hundreds of little bits of pink flesh separated themselves from the corpse and crawled toward us.

"Run!" My father yelled as he took my hand and fled.

We ran through our apartment and down the stairs, ear-splitting screams echoed in every direction possible.

As we made it outside we saw the carnage, planes collapsed and fell to the ground, massive vehicles shot at everything they saw, and the people inside them were scared for their life beyond any reason.

My dad gripped his shotgun tightly and we began walking forwards slowly.

We lived on the edge of the city so I think he wants to make it outside, I didn't dare to speak though, as I was afraid of catching unwanted attention.

Unwanted attention found us anyways, as we encountered a massive group soon after leaving our apartment.

Luckily they were normal, at least that triggering feeling didn't appear so that's a good sign.

They also wanted to make it outside the city and thought that strength in numbers was a good thing and invited us.

"-We are trying to make out way outside together, and I think it will be good for us all to have well-equipped people like you with us-"

We promptly refused, moving with such a large group now is suicidal.

"-No. Walking with dead weight is never a good thing, I'll give you some advice, split into smaller groups, or else you will all get encircled and get killed." Dad stated.

We bid each other good luck and left.

Before we could leave though, the creatures surrounded us on all sides, jumping from multiple stories high just to *SPLAT* on the concrete roads, splitting into hundreds of pieces that crawled closer to us.

"What did I fucking say!?"

"That this exact thing will happen Dad, and you were unfortunately right. What are we going to do?"

"Let's make a path through the horde, it's our only hope," Dad said resolutely, leaving no room for argument.

The order in the large group completely broke down, and people showed each other to give themselves more time.

Karma is a righteous bitch to these disgusting people, and the people they pushed outside now rose and turned against them.

With the seemingly hopeless scenario, I and dad broke through the encirclement with our firepower and the usage of my shield.

The people behind us begged for us to help them, but even though it killed me inside, I turned my back on them and left.

And Dad did the same.

Both of us ran until we reached the edge of the city, and a couple of creatures were in front of us.

These aren't Deats (Pronounced "Di ats") like us though, but wild animals.

Their necks snapped in our direction and they charged at us, we shot them dead but while we were dealing with them the large group from before approached us from behind.

They weren't themselves anymore, and more and more creatures were pilling up on us.

That's when something in my head clicked and I realized that if I do nothing, I will die.

There is a path out, but Dad won't make it in time, and without me, he is definitely going to die.

My body shook with hesitation as I stared at the clearing that began slowly closing itself.

My vision tunneled as my brain went into overdrive, my breaths became rapid and all of my morals came into conflict with my strong desire to live.

I stood there, not even shooting anymore as a full-blown panic attack overcame my senses.

A strong hand grabbed my shoulder and snapped me out of my own world, I slowly looked at my dad who told me one word.

"Go."

"B-"

"I said fucking go!" He screamed and pressed a button on his shotgun, which began flashing orange and slowly shifted into a darker orange and red.

I ran for my life while my Dad screamed behind me in a last stand.

A few creatures jumped on me and tried to get to me, but the shield held up, along with my gun, I was able to get away safely.

*BOOM* An explosion in the distance marked the demise of the last person I considered family in the universe.

This heroic fool... wasn't even my real Dad...

my real 'dad'... cut off one of my horns in a drunken rage and gave me those scars that even the most modern medicine and operations can't heal...

Why did he sacrifice himself for an orphan they found in a random cave... Why...

I sobbed while running away from the city, I know of a cave near here, I lived there for a short while after running away from my 'Dad'.

Tears poured down my face as I stumbled through the forest, I almost fell multiple times due to the tears effectively blinding me.

I felt the shield activate multiple times, I simply pulled out my gun and in hysteria shot in every direction, until it deactivated.

After an hour of stumbling, I finally found the cave, there are still some things there, like my worn-down sleeping bag and an old doll I played with.

Those two found me begging on the street and every time I thought someone called the authorities I ran back here.

After being hurt so much, I didn't trust adults anymore.

Those two found me here once, they frequently came by to give me food and clean water.

At first, I didn't trust them, especially after they offered me to come home with them.

I simply couldn't go with them. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Eventually, my horn forced me to ask for help, which they gave me at a hospital.

After that, I agreed to live with them, and I was truly happy.

I was fascinated with the beauty of the cosmos, and I wanted to float out there with the stars at some point.

So I worked, since being an explorer paid well, even if the state didn't have any ships ready yet, they secured as many talents as they could with good pay and many privileges.

Those privileges stretched onto their families too, hence why I gave it my all.

And I succeded.

After years of hard work, I graduated with top grades in every field.

But it all collapsed just like that...

I cried for minutes, my life unraveling in my mind.

Am I doomed to have nothing but bad luck? Am I cursed? What did I ever do? WHY?!

As I continued to cry, I barely noticed the sound of a twig snapping in the bushes nearby.

I laughed dejectedly, Am I going to become one of them after all of that?

"Hahahaaah, now that's not happening." I smiled like a madman, the irony of the situation really got to me.

I grabbed my gun and pointed at the area where I heard the twig snap.

"If you're normal come out now!"

"Coming! Just don't shoot me."

A behemoth of steel and metal appeared in front of me.

Its armor is made out of pure white and gold plating, glowing with radiance and power unmatched by even the most high-tech war machine in the state.

A large weapon hung on its side, and both of its arms were raised into the air away from its weapons, showing peaceful intention.

It must be at least over two meters tall... It completely towered over me, who stood at a mere 1,75 meters.

I stared with my mouth slightly ajar.

How did I not notice it earlier...? I mean I wasn't exactly paying attention but still, something this big should make a lot of noise, Right...?

"Uh... who are you...?"

"My apologies, I forgot my manners. my name is Adam Valencia and I come from a Nation known as the Azburgian Interstellar Empire, do not worry, I am here to help you and your kind. It is an honor to meet you."

"An alien!?"

I shot without hesitation.

I mean who can blame me?! I have had enough of aliens today!