Dramatis Personae (updates as needed)
Crew of the ch'M'R Kholhr:
High Admiral D'trel, flag and CO: Linda Hamilton circa Terminator 2
First Omek'ti'kallan, executive officer: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Subcommander Daysnur, co-chief engineer: Alan Tudyk
Subcommander Zel, conn officer: Kevin Michael Richardson
t'ongbûrz Joh'Kghan, turak exchange officer: Jim Cummings
Science Bekk Min'tak'allan, sensor officer: Wil Wheaton
Crew of the USS Bajor:
Captain Kanril Eleya, commanding officer: Jennifer Hale
Commander Tesjha Phohl, first officer: Claudia Black
Alpha Quadrant Alliance Joint Command:
Fleet Admiral William T. Riker, Commander-in-Chief of the Federation Starfleet: Jonathan Frakes
Rear Admiral Tuvok, flagship USS Voyager: Tim Russ
Khre'Enriov Klau tr'Kererek, supreme commander of the Romulan Republican Fleet: Bill Corkery
Klingon Empire:
Captain Garok, son of Woldan, CO, IKS NaS'puchpa': Harrison Page
Delta Quadrant:
Eldex, Overseer of the Vaadwaur Supremacy: Toby Leonard Moore
Iconian Empire:
Supreme High Lord Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness: BRIAN BLESSED
Beat the Drums of War
by StarSword-C and Worffan101
Based on "Blood of the Ancients" by Cryptic Studios
Prologue
Andromeda galaxy. May 24th, 2410.
Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness woke up.
Ow. Damn those puny and insignificant worms! Oh, well, better go back and lend the incomprehensible power of my imponderable majesty to leading the glorious invasion of unstoppable might and unending gloriosity…
How dare those pathetic servitors kill him! He was inevitably fated for greatness!
The Iconian sat up with a moaning thrum, hauling himself out of the casket that had been set up for him after the first 16 times he'd died and been spontaneously reborn on the same point on the same planet. It seemed to be relative to the planet and its rotation, the scientists said, and the Iconians had halted this planet's plate tectonics millennia ago. So all Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness needed to worry about was the painful crick he got in his neck every time he died and woke up again.
His head had been blown up, this time. Accursed servitors! They should know their place!
Grand High Lady Destined-for-Eternal-Glory, the sister of Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness, greeted Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness with the usual flowering praise, which he reciprocated, as he exited his father's storage bunker. It took a few hours, but it was custom, and Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness loved customs. They tended to massage his ego.
Eternal Grand Supreme High Emperor Destined-for-Glorious-Deeds, He-Who-Rules-All-Worlds, Infinite Supreme Imperator of all Iconians, Ineffable Sovereign of All Galaxies, Supreme Grand Deity, Incarnation-of-Glorious-Destiny, Master of Fate, Shining Paragon of Eternal Dignity, Eternal Hierophant of Perfection, Glorious and Eternal Lord of Light, Master of all Mysteries, Model-for-all-Virtues, Undying Suzerain, holder of more titles than it was practical to use even for the Iconians, the father of Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness, was in a council meeting and barring extreme circumstances would be for a year or two. There were several hundred members of the council, after all, all of whom would speak, and all of whom would engage in at least two hours of pompous bragging and at least four hours of fawning adoration of the magnificence of whichever speaker they were responding to (more, it they were talking in response to more than one speaker) every single time they wanted to talk.
This was how Black Caste Iconians worked, after all. They were the first and foremost of the six Iconian castes, and the only ones who used complete Old Form names rather than abbreviations, like Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness's deceased assistant M'Tara. They were destined to a man for shining glory and eternal dignity-and as the son of Destined-for-Glorious-Deeds, Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness was destined for the shiniest glory and most eternal and perfect dignity. Which would of course be explained to him with pompous and fawning adoration whenever he met another Iconian or groveling servitor in daily life.
Inevitably-Fated-for-Greatness personally felt that more pomposity and fawning adoration was necessary. It massaged his ego so nicely.
The Supreme High Lord checked himself in a flawless silver mirror (held up, of course, by a groveling Herald), and tapped his mustachio, which vibrated. It wouldn't do to conquer a galaxy with his magnificent visage in anything less than its usual flawless perfection, after all.
Author's Notes: This is going to be a six-part miniseries, counting the prologue and epilogue, and updated as we finish chapters. I felt a mission as epic as "Blood of the Ancients" (despite Worffan101's objections to some of the plotting aspects) deserved that treatment.
One of the interesting things I've found working with Worfie over extended adaptations, he always likes to diverge heavily from the canon plot, whereas I like to stick closer to it.