The Iconian War

“But what of the war?” you ask. Well, it was epic in its scale.

In an attempt to garner peace, a neutral planet was selected, one without a gate. As the Iconians waited, the allies struck. All settlements and colonies and outposts where hit at the same time. The sky was aflame as energy beams from hundreds of ships danced across the sky. Saboteurs made suicide attacks on power systems and gateway networks, crippling the Iconians’ ability to retaliate. Blinded by their benevolent nature, they were caught completely off guard. The peace delegation made for the ship and died, killed by shock troops.

Billions died as planet-killing bombs were detonated, orbital Iconian stations where caught in a withering volley of fire power. Every weapon the enemy could muster was used. The Iconians themselves triggered self-destruct mechanisms rather than let the technology fall into enemy hands. Or worse still, allow themselves to become a slave race again.

With the outer colonies destroyed, the Allies headed to Ico. The Iconians sent out ships, but the combined fleet of a dozen systems, led by the core five, swept them aside. But the Iconian ships made them pay a high price. They took hundreds with them, but not enough.

Flight of the Iconians

During the last days of the Iconian Empire, a group used the Gem to activate the gateway network and take the remnants of their races to other worlds in order to survive. They also triggered a key lock so no one would be able to control the gate system properly. Then, as they still tried to flee, the Alliance unleashed a horrific bombardment from orbit. Millions of Iconians unable to escape perished. The shock troops landed to a wasted planet. Their orders: Kill everyone. Young and old died, but they bought others precious time.

One of the last survivors was Kanda Jiak, who sought to take the Gem to safety. However, after entering the gateway, he was instead transported to the planet Vulcan where he died. The stone then passed to the Vulcan race but they, being primitive at that time, knew not what they had.

Though the Iconians were believed to have been extinct, the survivors moved to various remote colonies and in fact survived and continued to live for thousands of years. A number of Iconians were able to escape to outposts on Ikkabar, DiWahn, and Dynassia. The climate on Ikkabar proved to be too unstable to sustain a population, and all but one of the Ikkabar died out. The DiWahn and Dynassian climates were more suited for settlement, and the descendants of the Iconians survived on both worlds.

Conquerors or Guardians?

One of the last strongholds of the Iconians remained in the Alpha Quadrant, and it was at this location the Master Resonator Keys were left behind. These Keys were the one thing that controlled the galaxy spanning Gateway system. A faction of the Iconian race retained the use of their technology and had left known space in order to pursue new interests free from harassment by other species. They, however, formed a group called the Sentries and were charged with watching over the Gateway network.  They then created “The Guardian of Forever.” The task set for the Guardian was to record all of Space and Time as it sat alone on its planetoid. It was not a machine nor living, it was something no other species could comprehend, but it would last for eternity if needed.

History later recorded that the Iconians were a race of brutal conquerors. Amongst the Iconians themselves, the belief was that their civilization was doomed once they began relying on gateway technology. They had lost sight of the journey in their desire to reach their destination. Their own technology had made them blind to the horrors of the people they embraced as friends. It was known that no other race had achieved the same level of greatness as the Iconian Empire and in fact in over two hundred thousand years, no other civilization has come close to recreating the transportation system of the Iconians.

Part 3 is now available.