Planetary Defense Coalition

Symbol of the PDC on a uniform.

**Planetary Defense Coalition** is a military organization in the 22nd century seemingly based on the idea that the Galanthi aliens should save humanity from the planet they destroyed. The PDC is opposed to the FreeLife Army, the organization contrary to the Galanthi. Its members don't reveal their names, considering them sacred, and are known only by their ranks.

## History

The PDC Command saw a FreeLife beacon and sent the pride Sixteenth Hailstormers, which was closer and included an empathically enhanced soldier, to investigate a Galanthi project station they didn't know existed. The FreeLife had bombed every site and killed nineteen Galanthi, so they were in search of what was possibly the last Galanthi on Earth and its portal. With the help of a Stripe who was playing dead after she ingested coolant pods, the pride fought for the post against the FreeLife marauders and took Major Greenbone captive.

The group then entered the facility and Byner used the bot Rex to turn on the energy. They discovered that the FreeLife had found the place before them and had killed the scientists in order to torture the Galanthi. They then found the Galanthi, which was still alive. Major Greenbone revealed that he had called for a full incursion of the FreeLife the moment they met resistance, but the PDC team had done the same. This meant that there'd be a full engagement with nuclear bombs on the site, and no one would survive it. Major Greenbone then suggested that killing the Galanthi and close the portal would tell the world the war was over, saving many lives, including theirs.

The pride's leader, Crescent, went to communicate with the Command. Meanwhile, Knitter bribed Strip with pheen and asked for her help. She told her that Command thinks the murdered team had been helping the Galanthi to build a stable portal, so reinforcements would come through it. She believed that the twenty Galanthi had been scouts, and more would mean they'd turn the tide. Knitter believed that this would not win the war, but the world, making it livable again with the Galanthi's power to end floods, famine, and terra-storms. Stripe argues that change was too scary even for the people who fight for it, which was why FreeLife always won and owned history.

Meanwhile, Major Greenbone convinced one of the Boots to help him escape. Byner then saw that the Rex tripped the safety and the Galanthi locked them out. With Boot laying on a poodle of blood, Major killed the younger Boot, shot Byner, and had Crescent at gunpoint. He told them that the only way for them to live was to get rid of the Galanthi. Byner then revealed that the Galanthi was already leaving, not bringing reinforcements; the rift was stable because it went the other way. Major did not believe them. Stripe shot him, and Command held him at gunpoint. Knitter begged the Galanthi to not leave them, and Byner said that it got enough power to get up to the portal. Boot then appeared and shot Knitter, so Stripe shot him. Crescent went to tend Byner's gunshot while Stripe consoled Knitter, saying that the Galanthi was just going back for help.

Stripe sat in the back corner of the garden and drank two cans of hazardous waste. In her final moments, the Galanthi passed through her and flew away.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 *The Nevers* — "True". HBO, May 16, 2021.