News of Wala declaring himself Emperor spread across Planet Kugrage within a single day. From the front lines at Tas City to the survivors hiding in ruined settlements, everyone received the word.
Naturally, the announcement sparked both support and outrage.
Support was minimal; opposition was fierce.
Aside from Wala's father, Vaan, who was still trying to figure out what was happening, none of the four major clans backed the move.
The remaining high bloodlines—the Silae, Yinm, Forge, and Tungsten Clan—swiftly aligned against him, delivering harsh warnings and sharp protests.
Stripped of polite diplomatic language, their message was simple: Who do you think you are, Wala? What right do you have to take the imperial throne?
Unaware that Skygnaw and the Decepticons were backing Wala, the four families questioned Emperor Yinm's sudden demise. Still, with Yinm gone, dead men held no political leverage. The truth remained buried.
When Wala brought his concerns to Skygnaw, the titan's face remained entirely unchanged. "Rest easy. My Decepticons will clear away this minor inconvenience for you."
What seemed like a massive crisis to Wala was nothing more than a passing chore to Skygnaw.
A brief intimidation tour by the Nemesis over the rebel cities would quickly bring the clans in line.
If any stubborn fools proved slow to understand, the Nemesis's orbital strike cannons were remarkably effective at helping people rethink their stance. Skygnaw had no intention of saving fuel on a show of force.
The primary pushback against Wala came from the ruling families.
The low-caste masses, who made up the majority of the population, remained completely silent, obeying without a word of protest.
Skygnaw occasionally found himself amused by the deep hold of the state religion. The High Church had taught the masses absolute obedience and passivity for generations, making them remarkably easy to manage.
After a day of chaotic preparation, Wala gradually regained his composure and contacted his father back in Pan-Ang City.
When Vaan first heard the news, his mind had reeled at his son's recklessness.
However, after hearing the full story behind the move, the old patriarch fell silent.
With matters already settled and the Decepticons holding the reins, Vaan had no choice but to accept the outcome. Dropping his cautious stance, he offered Wala his public endorsement from Pan-Ang City.
Yet public speeches meant little without real power to back them up.
Perhaps because the war against the Sharkborn had just ended, the high clans refrained from throwing the empire into another immediate civil war.
Still, the leaders of the four families were far from foolish. Supporting Wala meant surrendering their own authority to a rival house.
Behind the scenes, General Silae in Tas City and the patriarchs of the other houses began exchanging encrypted messages, secretly plotting their next move.
Even the common citizens could feel the rising tension, sensing that another crisis was brewing across the realm.
Right as the standoff reached its peak, the Nemesis took off.
The warship swept past Tas City to recover the captured flagship, Abyssal Lord, dragging it back to the capital at Menlo before visiting the home territories of the Yinm, Tungsten, and Forge Clans in succession.
Blackarachnia piloted the vessel personally while Skygnaw remained behind.
Whatever methods she used during those visits, the results were instantaneous. The four clans fell completely silent, dropping their aggressive stance overnight.
Within forty-eight hours, every high house issued a formal statement pledging total allegiance to the new Emperor.
Outer territories speculated wildly about the sudden shift, but the clan leaders knew the harsh truth. They had finally realized where Wala was drawing his confidence from.
The Decepticons were backing him directly.
While common folk knew little about the details of the battle at Tas City, the noble houses—whose influence ran deep through the military—knew the full extent of the alien warship's power.
Connecting the dots was effortless.
With all obstacles removed, events proceeded smoothly.
On the third day of his reign, Wala summoned every clan head to the imperial palace for a closed-door summit inside the New Zenith Hall.
Wala sat upon the throne at the head of the conference table, with Skygnaw resting nearby and the clan heads seated below. Among them was Wala's father, Vaan.
Lesser government officials and mid-tier military officers had been excluded from the meeting entirely.
Looking up at his son sitting on the imperial throne, Vaan felt a wave of mixed emotions, though he refrained from speaking out of turn.
"...My lords, this is Lord Skygnaw of the Decepticons," Wala began after a lengthy opening speech, introducing the titan to the assembled leaders. "And today..."
Aside from formally declaring his ascension, Wala officially announced that the Mindborn people would become a vassal race under Decepticon rule.
This time, Skygnaw attended the meeting in person, lending his overwhelming presence to back Wala's authority.
As expected, no one dared to voice opposition after hearing the news.
Under Skygnaw's instruction, Wala had informed the clan heads of the terms in advance. Anyone who truly opposed the idea would never have set foot in the palace to begin with.
Those holding high positions were pragmatic above all else, especially with the fresh scars of the Sharkborn invasion still visible across their lands.
Ruined cities, fallen garrisons, collapsed infrastructure... The grim reality remained burned into their minds.
The clan heads were greedy and cunning, but they were also among the sharpest minds of their species.
A single looming fear kept them awake: though this particular fleet had been destroyed, what if another wave of invaders returned for revenge?
A spacefaring civilization would never rely on a single fleet.
Even if no more Sharkborn arrived, the cosmos was vast and dangerous. It was only a matter of time before another interstellar faction discovered Planet Kugrage.
When that happened, nothing would prevent another invasion from tearing through their world.
By submitting as a vassal race under Skygnaw, they surrendered a measure of autonomy, but they gained ultimate protection.
Furthermore, aligning with the Decepticons offered access to advanced technology that could propel their civilization forward.
As for the distant future... Who could predict what lay ahead?
While the Mindborn remained ignorant of the true nature of their former attackers, Skygnaw possessed detailed intelligence on the Quintessons.
When leveraged correctly, information asymmetry was a powerful tool.
"One final matter," Wala continued, his voice rising. "Lord Skygnaw intends to construct an interstellar fleet, and we are required to..."
Skygnaw was ready to build his own fleet.
Setting aside the local military, millions of native workers provided a virtually endless labor force capable of mining Planet Kugrage down to its core.
It was a resource waiting to be used.
Skygnaw would never have gone through the trouble of removing Yinm and installing Wala as a puppet ruler just to claim a few hundred thousand native soldiers.
His true target was acquiring an industrial world that could serve as his personal shipyard.
Though Planet Kugrage was rich in raw materials, the local shipyards were primitive by Cybertronian standards. Constructing heavy warship facilities—similar to those on the Tri-System—was an absolute prerequisite.
Speaking of the Tri-System, Skygnaw had originally considered using off-world resources to reactivate the ancient drydocks there.
However, circumstances had changed. Planet Kugrage offered a far superior industrial base, rendering the distant Tri-System facilities secondary.
Moreover, the Tri-System served as a satellite world to Cybertron. If Autobot forces ever reclaimed the area in his absence, any rebuilt shipyards would fall right into enemy hands.
Earth remained the true center of events in this universe, while Cybertron was an aging battleground. Skygnaw had no intention of remaining tied to Cybertron forever.
"...That concludes the directive. I expect everyone to begin preparations immediately."
Wala's face flushed with excitement as he finished his speech. In all his years as a spoiled noble, he had never experienced a moment of such absolute authority.
Every clan head was sitting quietly below his throne, hanging on his every word like obedient beasts!
The assembled patriarchs paid little mind to Wala's visible arrogance. While appearing to listen attentively, their optics kept darting toward Skygnaw.
Though they had reviewed intelligence files on the Decepticons, seeing the titan in person was a jarring experience.
A single thought echoed in their minds: Has a war machine come to life?
Fortunately, Skygnaw could not read their organic thoughts, or the freshly cleaned hall might have suffered another round of bloodshed.
Among the five clan heads, General Silae remained the most composed.
He had already witnessed the Decepticons' power on the battlefield at Tas City. Compared to hundreds of warriors and a thousand mechanical insects tearing through entire armies, a single titan sitting peacefully in the palace felt almost serene.
It was so calm that it felt slightly unnatural.
A high-ranking commander sitting entirely alone without a heavy honor guard felt strange by native standards.
Yet Silae had no way of knowing that to a warrior of Skygnaw's caliber, ordinary guards were little more than an obstruction.
Protecting a Prime-level combatant was an absurd concept.
Cybertronian warriors were solitary hunters by nature, and the stronger they grew, the less they relied on others.
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