by Alfred Bekker In the 23rd century, Polyxxonia is a metal used in the construction of spaceships. POLYXXONIA is also the name of a spaceship. About thirty starships had gathered at the edge of the Tridor system and taken up a battle formation, as was customary with the units of the Space Army Corps. The light cruisers and destroyers formed the flanks, while the larger and more heavily armed heavy cruisers were on the inside of the formation. In the center, two Dreadnought-class battleships lined up their space guns. The fleet awaited their far superior enemy, a formation of over forty warships of the bird-like Qriid. A breakthrough by this space armada would have been a catastrophe for humanity. If the warlike aliens were victorious here, they would be able to penetrate deep into the core area of the Federation of Human Worlds. But the defenders could not count on reinforcements... The Qriid ships approached and immediately went on the attack. Several traser beams hit the first destroyer in the engine section. The spaceship turned into a ball of embers for seconds, which finally went out, leaving only a few pieces of radiation-contaminated debris behind...