Prologue: Supreme Commander F'red & Command Master V'iolet - That Burning Sensation
Karrod Niac
((Command Nexus, Aboard the LAS Refraction))
Lesser species looking into the control spaces aboard the Refraction would see nothing but a blinding array of light, seemingly pouring in from every conceivable angle and at intensities that would destroy their disgustingly fragile organic receptors. They couldn't perceive the subtle differences in saturation or frequency and they'd never be able to decode the brilliant flood of information it contained, but F'red could. He'd spent decades of his very long existence serving the Assembly, learning how the monolithic political body functioned while absorbing the secrets of their military acumen. As a naval officer F'red had served under clever, ruthless commanders who had demonstrated how to rule through force, how the Tholian military prowess was unsurpassed and how there was truly no race who more deserved to rule all that they surveyed across this region of space. The Assembly had seized territory and expanded their influence, even striking out at the smug and hateful Federation when it suited them. Then to F'reds fury and disappointment they'd simply stopped.
The Assembly's plans for a larger war with the so called powers of the Alpha Quadrant were suspended and set aside, their dreams of sprawling conquest placed on hold as the Assembly dithered. Months stretched into years as F'red grew more disillusioned but they discovered they were not alone in their feelings. He began to collect resources, to gather sympathetic names, to find those who still burned hot and sought the limitless expansion that was their destiny. He found allies in the fragments of the Sheliak, those who'd become disillusioned by their peoples failure to dominate, and formed something new. Something bright. Something that would endure and expand and grow until the whole of the galaxy burned bright. An Alliance...not of equals, although the Sheliak didn't know that. They too would be disposed of when their utility was spent, burned down like the ash leftover by spent fuel. As so many things would be burned away in the coming war.
The light shifted, a hint of amber glowing through shades of bronze and ginger, and F'red knew the time had come to begin the next phase. With a tap of his multi-segmented forelimb he opened a channel and was greeted by the face of the Captain who would test their next great advancement.
F'red: What is the status of your work?
Hundreds of lighyears away, lurking beyond the outer Lagrange point of a planet Federation maps listed as Grus Beta Three, the Captain of the Lattice Alliance's first terraformer burned brightly.
Through the high pitched screeches and clicks of the Tholian language they spoke.
V'iolet: Things are going as planned, the environment is already beginning to change and the colonists are none the wiser. Not that they ever would be.
No, they were always much quicker to blame each other, or blame something else that their simple minds thought they understood. Their foolishness benefitted nothing except their hastened death, and that was if they were lucky.
F’red: Excellent. If your projections are correct the terraforming process should become self-sustaining in a very shortly. If you can maintain secrecy until the terraforming is irreversible this will be another powerful weapon in our crusade to reclaim these planets from the organics.
V'iolet: I can maintain secrecy. And patience. Starfleet has been known to meddle in the affairs of others.
There was an angry clatter of discordant notes as F’red looked at their intelligence of the sector.
F’red: Starfleet can’t be everywhere…they only have two ships in this entire sector. The colony isn’t even part of Federation territory, it’s why it was decided we would conduct the test here. By the time they realize there is a threat it will already be too late.
V’iolet knew that was true. But while Starfleet and it’s federation was inferior, they were also a plague at every turn with their incessant urge to answer every distress signal they found. And this one would be no different. It would change very little of the outcome, but it would be a terrible inconvenience.
V'iolet: The colony has sent out a call of distress.
F’red allowed himself a dismissive jangle.
F’red: Let them call for help. We don’t care if they burn on the surface, on a starship or while they’re fleeing our territory.
It was a good point. If they could laugh, they would laugh. It came out as a brief and very high pitched sound instead.
V'iolet: You’re right. It changes nothing. The Starfleeters can burn with the rest of them.
If they were lucky that would be another plague of people dealt with.
F’red: I know you will not fail the Alliance in this task. Burn Brightly.
The channel closed as F’red went back to the rainbow of information flowing across the walls and panels of the Command Nexus. The Alliance had been forced to reveal itself to the quadrant earlier than they had hoped but in the long run F’red was certain that wouldn’t change the outcome. At last his people would take what was theirs. At last the Federation would be reduced to cinders and the foul organic plague that clung to a thousand thousand worlds would be cleansed. At last there would be peace. No matter how many needed to die.
[End]
((OOC: Wrap up those shoreleave scenes folks, things will start getting HOT tomorrow!))
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Supreme Commander F’red
Lattice Alliance High Command
LAS Refraction
V239509GT0
&
Command Master V’iolet
Lattice Alliance Territorial Reclaminator
LATF Scourge
J239802D12