While the Knight circled helplessly in orbit around the uncharted Class-M planet a thousand light-years from the Federation....
The Kelvan planet-ship flashed back into normal space-time. The transwarp conduit the Kelvans had wrested from the Knight had spent its energy and dissipated, depositing the planet in the heart of the former Cardassian Union.
Somewhere near the northern pole of the planet, in a cavernous chamber several miles underneath the surface, a single, monstrous, pale yellow eye regarded the wall of holographic displays before it. Several of the displays changed configuration indicating that the planet was once again in normal space. A dozen others flickered to life showing tactical diagrams of the space sectors around the planet.
The large main holo showed a typical Class-M planet. Kelvan computers scanned subspace comm traffic and quickly came up with the name of the planet -- Cardassia Prime. It was circled by a few dozen small defense satellites that slowly came to life as the Kelvan battle planet came within sensor range. A pitiful few spacecraft were detected coming around from the far side.
A pitiful defense, thought the Kelvan. He wondered at this, but only for a moment. There was, of course, no defense possible against the Kelvan Empire. He lashed out one of his tentacle-like limbs and activated the communication frequency the computers had determined was the primary channel used by the inhabitants of this planet. When he spoke, his voice was heard by virtually every living being on and about the planet, as it boomed from every communication receiver within range.
"ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF CARDASSIA PRIME. THIS IS THE CONQUEST PLANET OF THE KELVAN EMPIRE. YOUR WORLD IS CONQUERED. AS OF NOW, WE ARE YOUR RULERS. ALL YOUR FORMER WORLDS AND HOLDINGS ARE NOW OURS. ANY RESISTANCE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY AND SEVERELY PUNISHED TO SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE TO OTHERS WHO WOULD TRY TO RESIST."
The Kelvan closed the communication with another flick of his long tentacle, and reclined deeper into his command pit to observe the reaction to his ultimatum. It was as he expected. The tactical displays showed the blips that represented Cardassia Prime's satellites and defense ships still closing on the Kelvan planet-ship.
Humanoid reactions are so predictable. Conquering this galaxy will gain me little status in the Empire -- it will have been far too easy, he thought bitterly.
Very well. They have been warned, thought the Kelvan. His tentacles began working the complex control stations that almost completely surrounded his command pit. His Kelvan brain was capable of directing all of his one-hundred tentacle limbs simultaneously, as he worked his way quickly through the choreography of setting up the attack parameters.
A few short minutes later, everything was ready. He gazed one last time at the tiny ships swarming towards his planet, the Cardassians called them 'Galor Class', then waved a tentacle over the actuator.
At equidistant points about the Kelvan battle planet, the defense moons came to life. Huge bay doors all over the surface of the moons swung ponderously open revealing weapon batteries each the size of a sports stadium. Despite their bulk, they swiveled quickly into position, targeting the fast approaching Cardassian warships. On cue, they unleashed their full fury in blinding streams of energy. When the residual energy had cleared enough to once again see the area of space where the Cardassian ships had been, the only thing visible were almost imperceptible clouds of subatomic residue. The Cardassian warships were gone.
Now a second set of weapon domes yawned open on the Kelvan moons. Shorter, wider snouts protruded from these new sites. Fiery blossoms erupted from the snouts and arced in parabolic trajectories around the globe of Cardassia Prime.
The Kelvan watched his tactical display as one by one the blips representing the orbital defense satellites winked out. So easy.... Now -- the final task. The Kelvan savored this moment. If he had had a mouth, it would have been twisted into an evil grin. He waved a tentacle over a prominent control.
Outside, far above the surface of the Kelvan planet's north pole, a brilliant aurora burst into view and intensified by the second. Over the south polar regions a similar effect had initiated. Within half a minute, the energy had become so intense that the light show was visible from outer space. Over the next fifteen minutes, the entire Kelvan planet and its moon system slowly rotated until the Kelvan planet's north pole was pointed directly at Cardassia Prime.
By this time the auroras at either pole were joined to each other by slender streamers that arced and danced gracefully along the planet's magnetic field lines. Soon the entire planet was encased by gossamer threads of energy.
The weapon ports on the moons had closed, and the moons themselves had closed their orbits to less than one-quarter of what they had been before. They were brushing the upper limits of the aurora's radiation field and were stirring it up.
Bursts of energy flashed between the surface of the planet and the moons. The aurora's brilliance intensified and began extending in the direction of its target, Cardassia.
The critical power threshold was reached, and a beam ten-thousand times as bright as the weapons that had destroyed the Cardassian warships instantaneously bridged the gulf between the Kelvan Conquest Planet and Cardassia Prime. It was almost as wide as the Conquest Planet itself, and when it washed across Cardassia, the helpless target planet shuddered.
Electrons, protons and positrons, propelled almost to the speed of light, slammed into Cardassia. The atmosphere of the planet was ripped away in the first few seconds. The next few seconds saw the oceans boil away into space and all surface vegetation burn to ashes. Cataclysmic earthquakes shook the planet, utterly demolishing any artificial structures that might by some chance still be standing. The planet's crust was crumpled and ground to dust; mountains were leveled, basins were filled in with the debris. In the end, the surface was rendered almost smooth, with almost no up-down variation.
It was over in less than a minute. The Kelvan particle beam fell beneath its critical minimum energy level and winked out. The moons slowly began their spiral journey back out to their normal orbits.
Across the span of vacuum, what once had been the capitol planet of the powerful Cardassian Union was a smoking cinder, uninhabited and uninhabitable, washed clean of life by deadly radiation.
Somewhere near the northern pole of the Kelvan planet-ship, in a cavernous chamber several miles underneath the surface, a single, monstrous, pale yellow eye regarded the wall of holographic displays before it. Most were dark, the targets they had been tracking having been eliminated.
The large main holo showed a diagram of this area of the galaxy. The computers scanned subspace comm traffic and quickly came up with the name of the area -- the Alpha Quadrant. The Kelvan in the command pit adjusted the view a bit. He quickly found what he was looking for, and centered it in the display. A small flashing label in the lower right corner of the display tagged the scene -- "United Federation of Planets".