3,000 years ago, in the place of the Ishimans, Salrillians, Cantharans and Humans as galactic powers, there were two main forces: The Agvar and the Tama.
The Agvar were replete in technological splendour, their ships advanced to the point that a pilot could actually become his ship as he flew it.
The Tama, while still quite advanced, were not up to par with the great Agvar. However, the Tama’s aggressive nature soon led the two races into a great war.
The Tama were driven back fairly easily by the Agvar, who outnumbered and outgunned the Tama. At one point, the Agvar planned an assault on a planet, using ten Agvar Ketrika-class Attack Cruisers.
The Tama, meanwhile, made their doomsday assault on the Agvar, planting their new ‘NOVA-768’ weapons in many Agvar systems. Soon the NOVAs went active, starting accelerated supernovae in Agvar space, destroying each of the Agvar stars one by one.
But the system malfunctioned, and the devastation spread, by a chain of supernovae, into Tama space as well.
All of the Agvar were killed, save for the ten Ketrikas speeding through the jumpstream to assault the Tama planet.
The Ketrikas dropped out in the Vora system, one of the three remaining Tama star systems. They massacred the fourteen defense ships and the two orbital battlestations with no losses, under the command of Colonel D’Mana.
The Tama on the planet refused to surrender, and all but one of them died, who was named Doma, and who served D’mana and his Agvar force from then on.
They stayed there for ten years before the other remaining Tama planets picked up on what had happened to their third world. They sent an assault force of thirty ships to destroy the remaining Agvar.
The Agvar, along with six Tama drone ships built by Doma, destroyed the Tama fleet, but at the cost of three Agvar Ketrikas and one Tama drone.
After some time of healing, the Agvar assaulted the remaining Tama worlds, destroying them with no losses. And then, returning to their planet, they remained, with their very long lifespans, for 3,000 years, long enough for a baby Agvar to mature.

Commander 8 Lightnings was on an exploratory mission, not flying his usual Lightning 1, but a small, stealthy, red fighter.
He landed first on TV-444, one of the two Tama worlds almost destroyed by the Agvar fleet.
Searching through the strange ruins, he happened upon an Agvar caretaker, left to look after the world and make sure no alien tried to take it.
8 sprung into a combat stance, powering up the Lightning Cannon in his right arm to Heavy Stun mode.
The Agvar, startled, looked him over, then appeared to pull back and aim a punch. 8, however, was standing six metres away, well outside of Agvar arm length.
He made his punch, and somehow a bolt was formed from his fist, slamming into 8 Lightnings. 8 was knocked back, electricity sparking from his many cybernetic implants. Soon he appeared dead.
The Agvar gave him a quick cursory glance. He decided 8 was dead.
Suddenly Commander 8 sprung from his position, having by now absorbed the energy from the fist burst into his battery cells. He grabbed the Agvar by the with his left arm and pressed his Lightning Cannon into his head.
“Never underestimate your opponent.” he said, and fired.
The Agvar fell, most likely unconscious for the next two hours.

8 Lightnings soon arrived on the planet D’Mana was using as his HQ, landing in front of a large warehouse.
He stepped into the warehouse, both the Lightning Cannon in his right arm and the Thunderbolt Cannon in his left fully active.
Suddenly, he spotted a strange alien. Doma.
The alien grabbed for his pistol and sent a blast towards 8. 8 dived out of the way and fired his Thunderbolt Cannon at Doma, knocking him to the ground. He approached him and fired his Lightning Cannon, stunning him.
Then he became aware of the other presence in the room. Colonel D’Mana.
D’Mana was protected by a portable shield. 8 took aim with both weapons.
D’Mana spoke, his language translated by 8’s cybernetic implants. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
“I am an explorer. I’m not here to do any harm. Both of your people I’ve seen so far have attacked me.”
“I’m sure they merely believed they were acting in self-defense. It was certainly not my order to attack outsiders simply because they were different.”
8 sensed something on his bioscanners. 8 spun and fired on the alien about to kill him with a rifle, stunning him for a good time.
“You LIAR! You claim goodwill and then try to kill me!”
D’Mana looked around for cover from 8’s oncoming assault, and, failing to find any, took the blast in his shields.
8 looked momentarily confused. The Colonel used the moment to pul back his fist and prepare for a massive punch. A bolt formed from the punch and slammed into 8, knocking much of the energy from him.
Seeing a momentary flinch in D’Mana’s defenses, 8 sent the last of his energy into a final, full-power Lightning Bolt attack, disabling the shield around D’Mana. He then rolled and grabbed the rifle from the Agvar behind him.
He then noticed that D’Mana was now holding a similar rifle. Neither of them had the advantage now.
“Why?” asked 8 Lightnings.
“It was no order of mine. He’Tik was acting without permission.”
“How could you let him do that?”
“I didn’t notice him until it was too late. I was about to warn you when you shot him. How long will he be down for?”
“At least two hours, my time. I don’t know how your’s works.”
“Very well. How do you come to be on an Agvar, or Tama, rather planet?”
8 Lightnings explained that he had been exploring, and had been attacked by the caretaker on TV-444.
“Hmm.” said the Agvar Colonel. “I shall reprimand him. Now I shall tell you how we come to be here.”
He explained the history of the Agvar as stated above, though perhaps speaking in a more modest way about his part in the story.
8 Lightnings checked his energy supplies. “Sorry, must go. I’m having a small problem with life support at the moment and must return to my ship. Here, take this. It contains coordinates for your jumpgate leading to my system, Tetrik. Head for the fifth planet when you get there and you shall find me.”
He then made a run for his fighter, the Endurance. Making a beeline for the jumpgate, he plugged in to the ship’s cybernetic systems, for a quick recharge.

Colonel D’Mana did go to Tetrik V, but did not find there Commander 8 Lightnings, or indeed any of his ships. Instead, he found a small message buoy, reading “Beta 230. StarLance. Help. Now...”

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"The Tama stand no chance against the might of the Agvar." -Agvar Admiral T'Varka