I started writing this about an hour ago, and I just didn't stop.The roofs of the fort shook. This last fort on the sands of Moltik, this last remain of the now burning Ankarak nation was now on the verge of obliteration.
The Jenaar had been at war with the Ankarak for decades, ever since the Ankarak started their campaign to purge the galaxy of the degenerate races. The Ankarak fleets destroyed foreign planets, their armies cleansed the Ankarak cities of all non-Ankara, and the Ankarak people rejoiced. Long had they felt threatened by the bigger, stronger species living among them, the Jenaar with their multiple arms and massive stance, the Inkro with their high intelligence and long lifespan. Many Ankarak viewed them with fear and mistrust. They felt as if they were not the masters of their homelands, they feared to go abroad to non Ankarak-run planets.
Long ago, these Three Leading Species had led the way in defeating the Kalaa, an entire race of machines bent on exterminating all life, thereby making the universe a better place free of the biological “variables” that they saw as too erratic. After this conflict, all of the races entered into a state of co-operation. They abolished their armed forces and allowed immigration between each nation.
Now, the Ankarak factories started producing military hardware in secret. The trading and passenger fleets became makeshift warships and military transports until the real ones could be built.
When the fleets first opened fire on the Inkro capital, the galaxy and it's people knew that things would never be the same again.
As the first shots were fired, a message was broadcast all over the galaxy. In it, the President of Anakari outlined that all of the races of the galaxy were now being exterminated for what he called “Crimes against the Ankarak people and culture”. He explained that those who surrendered would be allowed to live as a slave class.
The Jenaar rushed several warships into construction, and the Inkro suddenly realised that they had missed all of the signs, that their civilisation was now doomed.
Though unnoticed by many, this coincided with a strike against many smaller nations. Most who had kept to themselves and feared the Three Leading Species. Their extermination had been noticed by few untilthe end of the war.
The Inkro were wiped out in under ten years, their country had become a nation of highly intelligent scholars and artists. Inkro children whose mental activity was insufficient were terminated before they hatched. Over almost a million years, this made the species the smartest in the galaxy.
But with this intelligence came a great complacency, they became isolated. Many refused to live among the less intelligent beings, they turned inwards and tried to make their own civilisation ever grander. Their cities were architectural wonders and their artists worked for decades on single artworks. Those who did leave and live abroad often became successful, using their long lifespans to accumulate wealth and assets. A few even became powerful crime lords. Though some were only successful by their own measure, living for decades in lower class position in order to gain an insight into other ways of life.
When the Iskro were almost wiped out, many sought refuge in the more powerful, and overall friendlier Jenaar civilisation. This of course came at a price, they could no longer terminate unwanted embryos, and the amount of time they could stay in a council office or military position was limited.
The Jenaar, being the physically largest of the Three Leading Species, didn't suffer from the same paranoia as the others. They welcomed other species in with open arms, and when the Ankarak started their campaign, their immigration offices were filled to capacity. Entire systems were set aside for the refugees to inhabit, Jenaar volunteers, along with a few Iskro architects made cheap and reliable modular housing for the new arrivals.
Many joined the Jenaar Refugee Forces, in which they were promised full Jenaar citizenship after one term of service. When it became clear that the Ankarak were fighting a war of extermination, the Jenaar high council unanimously voted for a state of total war against the Ankarak people. The old ways of conquest and tribalism, not seen since the days of the Three Leading Species fighting the long deceased Kalaa, had once again resurfaced. A draft was introduced, the President was given more power, and all citizens were being watched. Things they had worked for eons to purge from their society were back in a matter of months.
In the beginning, they waged the war defensively as part of the Defensive War Construction Plan. Outer systems with no strategic value were surrendered. Large civilian ships were confiscated and turned to makeshift gunboats to stall the invaders until the new warships could arrive to reinforce the initial few hundred that were made in response to the attack on Iskro One. Fortifications were assembled at any point the Ankarak might reach before the fleets could arrive. The border systems were evacuated of all but the smallest automated outposts. Refugees from all over lent skills and experience to the now blossoming military industry.
While this was going on, the Jenaar nation was considered to be the leader of a new group called the Alliance. Though the Alliance was in reality ninety percent Jenaar, with the remainder being Iskro peoples. Every other species had been lost to the Ankarak's planet destroying weapons.
When the plan was completed, it was now the start of Offensive Policy. All of the fleets would be called to forward positions from their locations around the Jenaar nation.
To show the that they were now fighting with all of their might, they destroyed the Ankarak home system with a daring move none of the analysts had ever anticipated. The usually slow Jenaar ships had been enhanced with Iskro technology, an act no longer illegal thanks to the removal of the Iskro government and it's restrictions of sharing technology.
In theory, this did not hurt the ability of the Ankarak to make war on their enemies, the fleets were outside the system and the only casualties central intelligence. The propaganda told the people they they were now the targets of extermination due to their relatively diminutive stature and pride in themselves, and that the loss of Ankari would be avenged.
The strike back at the Alliance was poorly thought out, individual admirals wanted the glory for themselves, to be the hero who avenged the loss Ankari. A few others considered defection. All were poorly coordinated strikes against the outer systems. This strike led to many terrible errors, with the lack of intelligence, some systems were swarming with Ankarak ships, while others had very few.
The Iskro had anticipated this. As each ship arrived in it's system, the automated outposts activated and started jamming everything within half a light year. The outpost would then send a missile into the system's star, causing it to explode and take all invading ships with it.
After this move, the Alliance fleet came out of their slumber. They flew forward, barely opposed in most systems. Civilians were given the option of living if they submitted to Jenaar authorities and laws. They would be placed on transports and shipped to all parts of the Jenaar nation. Their civilisation was to be absorbed into that of the others.
What was left of the military withdrew to the Moltik system. The military high command, and the now President of the Ankarak Empire took refuge far underground. When the Alliance arrived, the last remnants of the Ankarak civilisation were ready to fight.
The objective of the Alliance forces was to catch all leaders and officers. This would mean engaging in soldier combat as opposed to the easier and more sterile ship to ship combat.
The remaining Ankarak forces were fanatically devoted to their leaders. Some were just like this normally, other had been influenced by what was called “patriot gas”. A scentless, colourless gas that made them extremely focused and xenophobic. It was often given to first wave soldiers to ensure loyalty to the bitter end.
The opening of the battle went well for the Ankarak, the Alliance had expected a broken and weak force. The Alliance only won the day through their numbers.
A day later, it was deemed time to go planet side. They Alliance began by bombarding the planet with sensors, looking for a trace of an underground facility. What they found was a structure designed to be a last outpost, a network of tunnels, factories, stores, hangars and command centres.
Soldiers landed in every access point, blocking off any possible exit.
What followed were deemed to be the bloodiest days of the war. Not just because of the numbers involved, which seemed like mere bar fights compared to some of the other actions of the past decades. But because of the finality of it. By this phase, the Alliance's leaders were calling for blood. The Alliance's soldiers were just as angry. In this anger they started to kill any Ankarak they saw, even sometimes firing on their own men in the confusion of battle.
After seventy two blood and atrocity filled hours, the leaders walked out of the central rooms with their hands being raised in surrender.
Trillions of lives lost, almost a dozen peoples now extinct, millenia of development now destroyed, entire planetary systems gone, the war had ended.
Opinions? Comments? References to Gilligans Island?
