It all starts in the middle of Utah during the year 1981. The place is Charles Air Force Base, a run-down, and supposedly remote military base. That was until one special night when the fate of two worlds changed. The base became a rendezvous point for an alien king wishing to make a treaty with the people of Earth. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the base, a jeep closed in near the rear gate to catch a glimpse of the event. Here's where we first meet Rita Carter, watching in amaze as the alien king's ship lands with ease. A beam of light shoots out of the vessel; Cale with his guard Rafe by his side, stride out of the ship with confidence to meet the awaiting General Conrad (originally Colonel in the beginning). They along with the Dragit and a group of some of the Oosha's guards, were taken to an underground lair, underneath the base. 

They come into a room with a 3-D protection of the Earth in the center of the room. Dragit reveals his plans for taking over the Earth, and of course being the good-natured king that Cale is, he refused the Dragit's idea. Then comes the near 20 minutes of the chase scene (this is the time when Cale and Rafe are trying to escape the base before being killed by the Dragit's men). It end's up with Rafe on top of one of those oil containers with nearly a hundred manglers surrounding him. He jumps off the rig, spins around, pulls out his arbus, and fires to create a massive explosion, killing off the manglers. 

Cale is near the back gate trying to make a break to safety. The safety of the parked jeep. He manages to get to Rita, wounded in the right shoulder, and the two drove off into the plateau's of Utah. They didn't get far before a helicopter appeared over the horizon, surprising our heroes. But with Cale's quick thinking, he pushed Rita out of the jeep before it collided with the air craft. Conrad, with a sigh of relief, and Dragit, with a grin on his face, believed that Rafe and the Oosha were dead at last. That was far from the truth. Rita helped Cale to a near-by cave, which she uses as a camp site on occasion, to help the young king with his wounds. 

They start to strike up a conversation when one of the manglers from the base finds them and attacks Cale. Using the Exotar, he strangles the mangler and tries to comfort Rita. (I'm not really good at explaining this part but read On The Run by Christie Golden. She did a great representation of this scene in her book.) Suddenly Rafe appears, and after a small conversation, Rita manages to get herself in the middle of the two Tyrusian's peril. Now we move to a year from this incident. Rita and Cale fell in love. They also managed to have David :) when they thought it would be impossible. Everything seemed to be working out well, until Cale had to leave to lead the rebellion against Dragit. 

Rafe would have gone with Cale, but he was told to stay and protect David from harm. And that's how he, David and Rita were to spend their lives for the next 17 years. Running from place to place to hide from the evil Tyrusian forces. They ended up living in a place called Glenport, Mass. A small and homey town. You won't see many military officials running around in that place. That pretty much brings you up to speed with the past of IA.