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Drakat

How these monsters discovered hyperspace is anyone's guess.

The Drakat were an alien race whose homeworld was in the Charbydis system. They resembled a horse, to the fact that they most moved on four appendages, but their pronounced fangs and vestigial wings made them appear monsterous. Strangely enough, they seem to have evolved from avians, having feathers instead of fur, which led many Tech Infantry veterans to call them by the nickname "werechickens," later shortened to "chickens."


First Contact

The Drakat Empire expanded to many systems in the galactic south. By the 22nd Century, they ruled a multi-planet empire that included Deseret, Circe, Chalfont, St. Michael's Star, Boyne, Sculla, and Exnium. In 2134, the Earth Federation sent an expedition to see if Van Diemen was worth colonizing. The Drakat had already established an outpost there, but there only a handful of the chickens on the planet. Its easy accessibility to the core systems of the Fed made it ideal, and a danger for having an alien race that close to New Paris. Although the Drakat were unwilling to relinquish claims to the planet, the Earth Fleet were allowed to keep a squadron and scientific station, in order to secure their borders.


Drakat War

This untenable situation lasted until 2146, when the Drakat decided to solidify their claims by sending in thousands of settlers, and expanding their fleet presence there. The Earth Federation made similiar moves to match the Drakat, creating a full military base instead of an outpost there. Finally, the Drakat cruiser Tregak punched through the pickets and slammed itself into the Fed base, completely destroying. War was immediately declared.

Despite their developments to fight the Bugs, the Earth Fleet was still in a infant stage, with limited technology and magickal enhancement. The Federation was ill-equipped to fight the war. Without a forward base, they soon relinquished the Van Diemen system, and armed as many freighters as they could to beef up defenses around New Paris. The attack came a year later, and the Drakat fleet was destroyed, most of Earth Fleet's active ships were wrecked.

The Battle of New Paris bought the Federation five years of peace. Ship production reached new heights at this point and the first battleships and battlecruisers were built to face the Drakat threat. This allowed them to stop a later Bug invasion on Epsilon. Finally in 2153, Admiral Rebecca Blacklidge led the assualt to reclaim Van Diemen. They surprised the Drakat fleet stationed there and the Tech Infantry proceeded to fight the chickens and finally seized the colony. Unlike other alien races, Drakat fought to the death and never surrendered.

However, the extended ground conflict meant that Earth Fleet had to hold the system against a series of naval attacks, instead of advancing towards the enemy. It wasn't until 2156 that Van Diemen was secured and a new task force was assembled to continue the advance. Thankfully, the next year, the Earth Federation made contact with the Katarn Protectorate, a four-system alien government on the border with Drakat space. Gleeful at the chance to weaken their rivals, they allied with the Fed against the Drakat.

The increased pressure for the Drakat to protect their home systems allowed the Fed to press their assault on their colonies. In 2159, St. Michael's Star was seized, followed by Chalfont in 2160, and Deseret in 2162. The necessity of eradicating every single Drakat on the surface led to extended time in the campaigns the Tech Infantry conducted. Humans managed to begin their assualt on Circe in 2163, but because it was one of their core systems, fighting was intense, and exhausted Tech Infantry battalions were unable to achieve more than a beachhead on the primary planet.

Relunctantly, the Drakat Empire sued for peace, and in 2165, signed the Treaty of New Paris. They surrendered the planets that the humans had already taken and granted free trade status to the Katarn.


The End of the Drakat

Humiliated and beaten, the Drakat looked at humans with rage. They were determined to use any means to revenge themselves against their loss. They turned to the Jurvain, but they had achieved consensus on peaceful coexistance with the humans, and took advantage of the Drakat's weakness to expand into systems they would not have dared to decades before.

Strangely enough, as the Bug War was heating up in 2199, the Drakat managed to contact a Queen among the Arachnids and convinced them to ally with them. The concept of an alliance was alien to the Bugs, but the Queen was crafty enough to accept the offer, and sent ships uncontested through Drakat space. After two or three fleets went through safely, they turned on their allies, and invaded all Drakat worlds. By 2200, the Drakat race was extinct.


Behind the Scenes

Like many alien races that Nathan Bax created, he never bothered to go into any detail about them. It is assumed that they were based on the Dilgar on Babylon 5, the alien race that allowed the humans to become a major galactic power. The Drakat provide the same role in this universe.

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