The two races still unknown to the Alkari had been at war for years. Each had held a relatively small empire in the west of the galaxy, and had perhaps been evenly matched - until the Silicoids had joined in alliance with the Meklar. In 2438, the Darloks were no more, the last of their people slain by Meklar forces with the aid of their Silicoid allies. Signs of Alkari mourning are abundant in this period. Signs of other races' mourning have yet to be found. The Alkari continued their peaceful acquisition of technology, through minor exchanges, research, and - increasingly - espionage. They willingly made peace with Prrsha when she requested it, her empire struggling under the strain of a war it could not prosecute, supplying a massive army that would never see the field of battle. Yet for all the continuing peaceful efforts of the Alkari people, all the scattered records we've been able to collect suggest that their perspective had undergone a tidal change. Their new direction would only become more pronounced as they learned more about the galaxy.
With the advent of an Advanced Space Scanner in 2460, the Alkari were able to produce the image above: A complete map of all but the remotest northwest corner of the galaxy. Though two of the Meklar colonies failed to appear (perhaps due to a glitch in the copy that has survived) the map reveals, among other things, one item that has been confirmed repeatedly elsewhere: In spite of the report that the Meklar had destroyed the Darlok people, it was the Silicoids who controlled the Darlok homeworld. Perhaps it was this alone which saved Emperor INT-986 when - the very next year - the development of Trilithium Fuel Cells brought the Meklar homeworld into range for Alkari ships of diplomacy and war.
Uncertainty could not save them forever, but it granted them a respite. INT-986 indicated its peaceful intentions toward the Alkari by agreeing to a trade agreement, whereas Strader the self-proclaimed Pacifist had publicly set fire to his Alkari Non-Aggression Pact as a prelude to war. Some artifacts still exist commemorating the ceremonial burning, as well as intelligence reports indicating it was observed by Alkari spies, but a recording survives of Strader's official diplomatic message as well.
The Alkari response was slow, deliberate, and brutally effective. Their spies struck first, even as their fleet - hundreds of fighters armed with fusion bombs stolen from the Humans themselves and neutron pellet guns developed by Alkari combat engineers - arrived at the Human home star.
A Meklar declaration of war was issued against the Alkari the same year that Sol fell, and the galaxy was in such an uproar that, apart from an obligatory news story, few references have survived to the pirates who began operations from Imra the following year. Another news report, equally obligatory, is preserved from a dozen years later, when the intense Silicoid military activity in the system completely wiped out the pirate base in a routine training exercise. In between, the Alkari built new colonies on the ruins of once-Human Lyae and Sol, distant and long-neutral Esper in the far northwest, and Meklon itself. Though all the Meklar records still surviving on Talas refer to Meklon as the "Home Star," there are sadly no surviving artifacts of the Meklar in that system; only Alkari ones, and a wealth of glass. GNN records, as well as transcripts of many Human, Mrrshan, Meklar, and Silicoid speeches, suggest that with 18 star systems in their talons, unless they could be stopped at once, the Alkari were poised to control the galaxy.
_______________
Next: Seeking Closure
