Gilkarg

# 1558

Name	Gilkarg
Rank	Admiral
Faction	Kilrathi Empire
Race	Kilrathi
About	Gilkarg nar Kiranka was the son and heir to the last Kilrathi Emperor. At the onset of the war with the Confederation in 2634, Gilkarg was already a powerfull war leader in addition to being the Crown Prince. Gilkarg was a strong advocate of war with the Confederation, eager to win glory in battle with the humans just as his ancestors had in battles with other alien races. It was Gilkarg who planned and led the Kilrathi attack on McAuliffe that opened the war. The attack was devastatingly successfull, thanks to the pioneering use of phase shield penetrating torpedoes. Kilrathi fighters and bombers devasated the Confederation's supposedly impregnable military fortfications at McAuliffe, and all but wiped out the fleet stationed there. The attack also allowed the Kilrathi to sieze a huge portion of Confed's frontier territory. The attack on McAuliffe could have won the war for the Kilrathi right there and then, had it not been for a daring counter attack by the few surviving Confederation ships. The counter attack was more symbolic than anything else, but the losses inflicted on the Kilrathi force by a supposedly defeated enemy caused the Emperor to have second thoughts. He ordered the Kilrathi to pull back and consolidate their gains, where as Gilkarg wished to push ahead and destroy Earth, before taking the colony worlds at leisure. Gilkarg had the sinking feeling that by launching such an attack but not completing the kill, he might have begun a war that would last generations. He was right. Aother major operation Gilkarg took part in was the destruction of the Goddard Colony in 2654. He commanded the fleet centred around the Sivar dreadnaught, which destroyed the colony and then attempted to retreat back to Kilrathi space. However, the crew of the TCS Tiger Claw avenged the destruction of Goddard by hunting down and wiping out the entire fleet in Operation Thor's Hammer. The Emperor was not pleased by such a major defeat, and had his son executed as punishment. Gilkarg himself had two sons. The eldest, Ratha, served with the fleet that attacked McAuliffe as a fighter pilot. He ejected when his fighter was shot down, but then committed suicide to atone for his failure. The younger son, Thrakhath, became Crown Prince on Gilkarg's death.