They came without warning, from the darkness between the Stars.
No one knows who first called them the Tomadores, the Takers, but the name fits. They seep out of the shadows of space and overtake whole systems, blockading them behind their shipline. Nobody knows what happens to these systems once the Tomadores come. Nobody knows what they want. They do not communicate, they do not parley, they do not show mercy. Armed resistance is destroyed in the most brutal way possible.
The Tomadores take, and that is all that is known.
The Conflict
Prelude
The Tomadores invasion came gradually, and without warning. First a few ships never made it to their destinations. Rescue teams never returned. Probes sent to unoccupied systems stopped transmitting.
Then the Tomadores took the Guarcana system. Distress calls were transmitted, saying an aliens had come, and were not respondint to any communication attempts, and were taking out satellite systems. The last transmission was hopeful that they would be back online as soon as this was sorted.
That was ten years ago.
Diplomatic missions were sent. Gone.
Rescue attempts were sent. Gone.
Relief and charitable organisations were sent. Gone.
None ever returned. The Tomadores never responded; they kept moving forward, kept taking.
The only way to stop their slow but inevitable takeover was to destroy what had to be left behind,. Or so everyone presumes.
Fleet protocol dictates that when Tomadores ships are spotted approaching a system, the only solution is immediate evacuation and destruction. Fleet maintains a system of automated patrol drones to track Tomadores movement and activity.
All previous attempts to engage the Tomadores have yielded only temporary, pyrrhic victories. Fleet exhausted all their resources trying to defend the Avila system, only to have the Tomadores send a greater force that obliterated the peacekeeping vessels left behind.
Evacuate. Destroy. Do not engage.
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