Vlosh Torr stood on the bridge of the command ship in the Draconian military armada. The Draconian’s ancient enemy, the Mulgor, had somehow found out about Earth.

When they had suddenly left the Draconian solar system, the president of Draconia had sent the entire military armada to Earth. It had been a hunch, but only hours later, the mating armada had sent them a distress message.

They’d had to flee, not having the military strength to defend Earth from the Mulgor. The mating armada was not a military operation. The vast majority of the inhabitants of the fleet were civilians. The ships were not equipped with more than a rudimentary number of missiles.

As Vlosh looked out at the image of the Mulgor ships orbiting Earth, he could see that their enemy had sent much of their own military to Earth.

Because Draconian DNA favored male offspring, it was necessary for them to find planets with other races to mate with once every thousand years. Earth was one of those planets, but they hadn’t been there for five thousand years. When they had arrived, they’d found that Earth humans had evolved much more quickly than they had anticipated.

The last time the Draconians were on Earth, humans were barbaric and unsophisticated. They had worshiped the Draconians as gods. The other species the Draconians mated with were either at the technological level of the old Earth, or were somewhere close to their own level of advancement. Earth humans were in that gray area between barbarian and advanced species that the Draconians usually avoided completely.

The Mulgor had attacked right before the scheduled trip to Earth. The government had been distracted and had not performed the necessary research to ensure their interaction with Earth humans would not be disruptive to the species. Giving them advanced technology had been a last-ditch effort to salvage the mating mission. Unfortunately, that oversight had served the humans poorly, sending their entire global economy into a deep recession.

In the last few months, the president of Draconia had decided to take a more active role in the human society, attempting to right the wrongs that their interference has caused. Now their interaction with Earth had brought the attention of the Mulgor.

The Mulgor had invaded, bombing almost every major city on the planet. If the Mulgor could prevent the Draconians from reviving their DNA, they could essentially wipe them out by the Draconians’ own genetic weakness.

The Draconians had other planets they bred with, but that would not solve the problem with the Mulgor. Not if the lizard-men were willing to destroy any planet that the Draconians visited. It was a catastrophe. But General Vlosh Torr, the highest ranking general in the entire Draconian military, was ready for the challenge.

It was his lifelong mission to see the Mulgor wiped from the universe. Their single-minded hatred of the Draconians had to come to an end. Many millions of years ago, the Mulgor and Draconians had been one species. A group of Draconians had settled on another planet and mated with a species there.

Over time, the Mulgor evolved into their own species. With that evolution came a savage hatred for what they had once been. Draconians were noble, intelligent, and egalitarian in their views of society.

Different Draconians had different jobs, but no person was higher or lower than any other. While they had deep respect for authority and expertise, they treated each other fairly.

The Mulgor had a deep-seated caste system. The lowest caste were those who could still shift into dragon form. They destroyed the lowest caste, considering them unworthy of life. That meant that the entire race of Draconians should be destroyed.

They had been battling against the Mulgor for hundreds of thousands of years but had not seen them for a millennium. The Mulgor had reemerged five years ago, more vicious than ever in their attempt to eradicate all Draconians from the universe.

Vlosh could not understand the Mulgors’ hatred of his race, but that would not stop him from defending his people and defending the people of Earth. It was his most sacred duty, and he would lay his life on the line to fulfill his oath as the general of the military armada. He had been entrusted by the president of Draconia to defend their people, and there was nothing more important to Vlosh than doing just that.

“Sir,” an officer said as Vlosh sat in his captain’s chair on the bridge. “We’re receiving an incoming message from the mating armada. They have entered the solar system.”

“Bring it online,” Vlosh said to the junior ranking officer.

The window of the bridge flickered into a screen that showed the Draconian commander of the mating armada. It was Vlosh’s old friend and associate, Commander Nash Or. Nash saluted Vlosh with the traditional Draconian salute, placing his hand over his heart and bowing slightly forward, casting his eyes down.

“General Torr, we are relieved and honored by your presence here. We must salvage the mating mission, or all will be lost. There is no time to make arrangements with any other species to renew our DNA.”

“I know the urgency of the mission, Commander Or,” Vlosh said. “The Mulgor have already invaded Earth and are terrorizing the people. Our priority now is to push them back and to remove any remaining Mulgor from the planet.”

“When they first jumped into the solar system, we estimated that it was only half of their military force,” Commander Or said.

“There is no sign of the Mulgor in the Draconian solar system. The question remains, where is the rest of their fleet?”

“Are there ships in orbit around Draconia to defend our home world?” Commander Or asked.

“We have left Draconia defended. From the simulations we’ve run, we have come to the conclusion that we outmatch the Mulgor orbiting Earth. If we can at least push them back from the planet, we can salvage our relationship with the Earth humans and allow them to go on with their lives.”

“Earth has been devastated already. Knowing the Earth humans, they will accept our help begrudgingly.”

“They will have no choice. Once we have pushed the Mulgor back, we will do what we can to restore their society. We have the resources and the go-ahead from the president to do whatever it takes. But now, the priority is to get the Mulgor as far away from Earth as possible.”

“DNA samples from all the men aboard the military armada have been entered into the mating lottery system,” Commander Or stated.

“My men do not have time to be mated. We have a solar system and a planet to defend.”

“Be that as it may, sir, the president already stated at the beginning of our mission, any Draconian male who comes into the Earth solar system will be entered into the mating lottery. We must continue our mission.”

“This is why you were put in charge of the mating armada, Commander Or. You understand the necessity, even more than I do. I acquiesce to your greater expertise in that matter. But I ask that it not interfere with the duties of the men aboard the military armada. The brides will be brought to the quarters of the men aboard our fleet, and the men’s duties will always come first.”

“I agree with you, sir. But each individual man will have to take it up with this human bride. These women are… a handful.”

“A handful?”

“They may be tiny, but they are strong of will. They are demanding and expect attention.”

“I will inform my men.”

“Have your men performed the Earth human training?” Commander Or asked.

“There hasn’t been time,” Vlosh said.

“That could be a problem.”