Conventia was packed to the brim with Irkens. The Tallest had sent an invitation to every Irken alive through their PAKs, and eager to please their new leader, as many as possible had shown up. Almost all of the ones who didn't either had their PAKs disconnected from the system (which meant exile), were invaders on a mission, or had found it physically impossible to come. But despite this, there were thousands upon thousands who arrived.
The Tallest looked out at his audience as the platform lowered, and the cheers rang out across the planet. He smiled and waved, an act that, to him, no longer held any real feeling- it was simply expected of him, and why should he give the race any reason to worry?
But looking out at them, he saw the truth that he had known for far too long. Where once he would have seen thousands of magenta-eyed, uniformed Irkens (which some purple- and green- eyed ones mixed in), he was disturbed to see very few with the usual uniform. Some were just modified, so that you could at least tell they were Irken uniforms. A lot of them had been completely changed- the style, colors, everything. At least those still held in the basic Irken style- short and dress like, with long gloves and boots, and had very little skin showing. But there were some that caused him great worry- clothes like he had never seen before, and each one more disturbing than the last.
He suppressed a shudder as the platform settled and he moved towards the audience, all looking up at him expectantly, and he was horrified to see some blue eyes were looking up as well. That there were such Defectives as them who dared to display it to all? It sickened him. As the announcer introduced him, the Almighty Tallest Semurn, he grinned with a well-hidden animosity.
"Operation Impending Doom II has been progressing smoothly, and Invaders El and Sploodge have both conquered their respective planets." He announced, and on a video-board, images of the two successful invaders and before-and-after pictures of their planets were shown. "I'm sure that many of you are wondering what we will use these two planets for. But before I get to that, I want to talk to you about something else.
"My fellow Irkens, are we not the most powerful race in the universe?" He started, and the cheers of the audience answered his question.
He motioned for them to quiet down, and when they did he continued. "Yes, it would seem so, wouldn't it? We have no rival in military power, not since the Vortians were conquered, and there is no race that can possibly hope to match our discipline. Or at least, that is what I have thought for so long."
Staring up at him, he knew now that he had their rapt attention, and he continued.
"Every Irken knows that their first and only duty is to the Tallest, so do not feel guilty for allowing the leniency of the ex-Tallest, Red and Purple, to infect the system. Look around and see for yourselves, how many of you wear the uniforms that all truly loyal soldiers wear?" Many, if not all, in the audience looked around in shock- it was as if it had taken his mentioning it to make it true. But now that it had, he could see anger in the true loyalists' eyes, and fear in the rests'.
"Allow me to introduce my new head advisor, Irken Reinik." A trap door opened in the floor, and a smaller platform rose from it, revealing a red-eyed Irken wearing an oddly malicious-looking uniform. But what caught most eyes was the band around his arm. On it was a symbol of a double-triangle surrounded by a circle. "As many of you have noticed, he is wearing a band around his left arm. This is proof that he has passed his Trial, and is a non-Defective. All Irkens are now required to have one, which means undergoing your own Trial. If you pass, you will be allowed to live your lives as you have done before." A cold smile graced his advisor's lips as his Tallest gestured for him to speak.
"However, we can't have you calling the Almighty Tallest unfair or cruel- so if you fail, very few of you will actually be executed. Instead, you will be sent to special prisons for Defectives, which we will be building out of the planets that Invader El and Invader Sploodge have conquered." Advisor Reinik said, although he and his Tallest both knew the real reason for the prisons. The Control Brains could only handle deleting so many Irken PAKs before overheating. Tallest Semurn would be getting his top scientists to find a way to increase the number of de-activations the Brains could handle, but for now the Defectives should be counting themselves lucky.
"My fellow Irkens," Tallest Semurn continued, "Can you not see that it is only through these means, as extreme as they may seem to you now, that we can fix the mistakes that the previous Tallest have allowed to get so far? And when this problem is corrected, then- and only then- can we hold our heads high and call ourselves Irken soldiers!" The crowd was beginning to come out of the state of shock brought on by the announcement of the Trials, and his words were starting to excite them.
"We are Irkens, the superior race! Perfection is in our grasp, and we shall seize it!" The crowd forgot themselves, and began to cheer for their leader, forgetting about the Trials and the grim future that was to be brought about by their leader. Their leader with the silver tongue, and venom in his bite.
A/N: Well, this is the prologue of my epic-sized fanfic. It'll take all of my creative juices to keep it going in my mind until I can get it written out, but it will be worth it, I hope. Please don't nag me about finishing my other fics, as this one has stolen my soul. I promise, I will finish them sooner or later.