868ABY
Fleet over Kardum
The Super-battlecruiser lowered through the dense fog, treading over deep water. The fleet sat on the equator, right in the middle of the northern sea. The helm was quiet this early in the morning. The fleet was still mustering, reorganising overnight due to the arrival of what was essentially an entirely new fleet. The ships of the Bryn'adul Empire were intermingling with the Draelvaser warships around them, distinctly, it was hard not to notice the difference. The Draelvasier ships were refined, more complex variations of the vessels used in the Empire. Their ships were built around beasts whilst the Draelvasier ships were symbiotic creatures of metal themselves, fused with the Kraemanyde. Though most lay dormant, waiting for their power source.
The Super-battlecruiser had no name but its colossal size dwarfed any other vessel any member of the Empire had ever seen. However, many other vessels just like it sat waiting on the massive shipyard stretching across the sea. But ships weren't the only thing on the platform. Hundreds of thousands of Vaydralen, Ungulloi, and Akhenaton lined the platform, a series of three armies. This wasn't the only instance either, all across the planet the image was mirrored across nearly fifty shipyards. In the middle of the night, Tathra Khaeus had called a meeting, inviting several Draelvasier Generals from the Extra-Galctic armies and the leaders of the ancillary species to a meeting.
The exclusion of the present leadership of the Empire military staffing these vessels was noticed and sent a shrill sense of awkward animosity through the combining forces. They looked and sounded the same, but there was a difference. The Draelvasier here were quieter, reserved, and serious in a way that almost unnerved the war-tested. Maybe it was a class difference, a matter of their privilege. But that was ignorance, the Drael loyalists had been fighting extra-galactic threats like the Vong for three decades. Growing off the radar, preparing under strict order of the Chieftain.
Three hours passed, and the Draelvasier and their subordinates continued to wait. It wasn't until Tathra left the meeting that things became worse. He had exited alone, none of the Generals or the heads of the other species to be seen. Draelvasier loyalist forces seemed to know what the plan was, but they only silently lead the others, without a word.
All over Kardun's military outposts and cities, Draelvasier soldiers were surrounding the other species. On-board ships, silent protocols were enacted as the dormant fleet of supers began to prepare for launch. It was on the bridge of the only current Super in the air that Tathra would relay his order from.
"No matter what happens, Warlord Galak. Ensure our warriors follow their orders." Stone-faced, stern as ever.
"What is this, Tathra?" And as always, the Juggernaut turned Warlord had a mind of his own.
Tathra turned his back on Galak, standing on the edge of a circular platform overseeing the main observation shield of the bridge and the actual bridge itself below. His hands interfaced with red holograms, shifting through diagnostics of the fleet as a planetary map came into view above the platform. Extending from terminals built into the surface of the platform, the holographic map showed the sudden shutdown of the defences of the allied species ships and the disabling of Empire vessels' weaponry.
"I knew if I tried to explain this to you, you'd suppose I was insane. You'd try to stop me." Tathra was nervous. He was never nervous, whatever he had done was something in complete secrecy.
"What... what have you done?" And Galak was never afraid. Not like this.
An unspoken order had been given. Drael warriors stood shoulder to shoulder, armed with new weapons in new armour. The sea grew turbulent as the dozens of ships moved above it, waves crashing up and over the platforms. Their allied species were unmoving - perhaps being brave or frozen by confusion as the Drael raised their weapons. Not all were so quick to follow orders, the Empire's Drael were confused, and those aboard their vessels were confused as the fleet captains in the know reassured them and the allied species as well.
A lie.
"Chieftain, what are our soldiers doing? What happened in that meeting? Where are the allied leaders?" Galak didn't stay at Tathra's back, walking down a ramp toward the bottom of the bridge to get in front of his periphery.
Tathra didn't say anything, but that look. The cold, ruthless look of a hungry beast staring right through the Warlord. The Draelvasier ships opened fire on the Vaydralen and Akhenaton ships, and on the shipyards below the Drael warriors opened fire with their new weaponry - stun rifles forcing those caught in the waves of the blast into a catatonic state of paralysis. Though not all Drael were firing, some looked on in horror as their allies were betrayed.
"The Kraemanyde, they are what fuel these ships. But to power a fleet of this scale, of this power. A sacrifice must be made. The Vaydralen, Akhenato, Ungulloi. This was always my intended purpose for them Galak. They will serve us, in the only way they can. Like the Sraelvun. Fodder."
He was so, flippant, and cold. It turned something in Galak's stomach. He couldn't simply watch as Tathra did this - they were their allies. This was cowardly, this was not their way. He had to get Tathra away from that control centre. Galak ran back up the ramp, reaching the platform to see Tathra now turned to face him.
"I won't let you do this. This, this is against everything we are."
"I will do whatever I must to see our vision realised." The personnel on the bridge itself was a mix of both's warriors. Both now with weapons drawn.
"This is the moment I brought you for Galak. You fought alongside our warriors more than I did. Tell them to stand down and follow my command. You're making a mistake my old friend."
Tathra didn't have anywhere to go on the narrow edge of the platform, but Galak still had to get passed him. What Tathra intended to do, no doubt they would have the power to wipe out the entirety of the Outer Rim and Tingle Arm before the Core could stop them, but it wasn't their way. Galak wanted to believe it was the influence of some vengeful cosmic being, it wouldn't have been the first time. But no, this was just a breaking point. Ever since other Drael had gained a voice, slowly the Bryn'adul had become something he did not recognise, so much so he invented his own private kingdom in unknown space.
He should've seen this coming from the old Drael. Galak moved with speed, taking his spear and pistol from his hip at the same time. He fired straight for Tathra's head, knowing it wouldn't land he threw the Glaive at the same time - anticipating that the Chieftain would dodge out of the way of the bullet with ease and right into his Glaive.
He charged forward as what he expected played out, but Tathra struck the Glaive aside with relative ease. He wasn't getting past him, not like that. The old Drael was tough, and fast. The greatest warrior he knew. He just needed... only a second. Galak slammed his shoulder into the bigger Drael, his off-hand reaching the terminal for only a second before Tathra flung him back, rising off his feet, slammed against the metal railing as the pistol fell to the lower bridge. But it had been enough to connect his own neural lace to the command terminal, re-enabling the defences of the allied ships and weapons of their own.
"Fight back!" Galak's voice was heard across the fleet, those doubters becoming heretics, traitors. All of Kardun was becoming a battlefield.
Tathra looked back at the map, he hadn't expected Galak to turn on him and now he was shut out of the rest of the fleets system grid. They'd lost their opportunity to make this clean. Tathra shook his head, picking up Galak like a disappointed father.
"This could've been easy, Quil'ta. But you've made your choice." Tathra's fist crashed into Galak's stomach. denting the armour into his skin. Galak heaved, winded as his armoured back slid across the platform and back several meters.
