THE IASON INCIDENT
Confederation spaceship Iason encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Commander Jedora Andropolos on board Iason transmits a wide-band, non-verbal greeting and waits for a response. Barely twenty minutes later, the still-unidentified ship opens fire with full lasers, completely destroying Iason and its crew.

Although the identity of the attacking ship is not definitively established until many years later, Confederation deep space tracking computers point to a possible point of origin from a previous unexplored planet, soon to be known by its native name, Kilrah.

(The identity of the Kilrathi vessel, the destroyer KIS K'rath'kan, is learned after the Galactic Wars, from partial records rescued from Kilrah. Her captain believed the Iason to be neutralizing his ship's shields with wide-band radiation.)

MOUNTING TENSIONS
The Terran Confederation receives numerous reports of unwarranted assault, space piracy, kidnapping and interplanetary plundering, all taking place at an increasingly expanding distance from the planet Kilrah. Frequent attempts to meet with Kilrathi High Command are rejected without explanation. In retaliation, the Terran Confederation Congress votes unanimously to enforce a strict non-aggression policy by the Kilrathi. The leaders of Kilrah are warned that their next transgression could lead to military reprisals.

THE ANNA MAGDALENA INCIDENT
The Anna Magdalena, a refitted transport ship ferrying orphans to their new homes on Dieno, is openly attacked by a pair of Kilrathi fighters. No one survives. In retaliation for this and the five-year string of equally heinous abuses of all known laws of civility, the Terran Confederation officially declares war on the Empire of Kilrah.

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