As our eyes automatically adjust to the great intensity, we can see that it is a pair of binary stars. The common dancing stars are ones that twirl around one another. The sibling partners are ones that are often sung in the universe. Brothers....sisters....they will remain together for as long as they can until some other massive object tears them apart. Of course, that is only a minor chance of happening. Instead, the greatest threat to binary stars is themselves. Their natural age is revealed to us as we look upon it. One of the stars has aged faster than its counterpart. Both of them were G-type stars locked together. One of them had long turned into a white dwarf, expending almost all of its matter into the universe. The other star is that of a red giant, the younger sibling of the two.
Even if its glory days are long gone, the white dwarf star is hungry. It's playing a slow role in the demise of its companion. The intense gravity of the dying star is pulling the matter from the red giant. The trail of glowing dust and hydrogen is being swallowed up, but the mouth can only feed on so much. The small dot has instead consumed too much. The white dwarf instead has a massive overload. The mass that it draws in builds up on the surface until the star can handle it no more. An enormous explosion of light has occurred. It fills the spectrum and continues to glow brightly. We have witnessed a carbon detonation. The humans tend to call these types of explosions as a Type 1a supernova, although they have many categories to narrow this down. The white dwarf has sent a shockwave of cosmic radiation and intense light. Essentially, in so many words, the star is throwing up.
The regrettable fact is one of astounding beauty. One can view the white dwarf star as a vampire. It loved its sibling, but it must survive at whatever cost. It must consume to continue its life. The exploding matter is instead jettisoned far from them. Many of the beautiful nebulas that we have seen so far are these types of perpetrators. It is possible that this star that orbits near NGC 4526 may desire more in the future. It might stay as it is as it continues to draw more matter from its other star. It's even possible for it to become a brand-new star as it eats the life from the other. If the orbit between them decays, drawing them in closer, it may easily result in an explosion far greater than we are seeing now.
All of what you are seeing now is important because what we are seeing is the past. It took 55 million years for this light to reach us. The tale of these two simple stars had been witnessed by others far sooner than we have. Even from where we are observing, the humans have already seen it as far back as 1994 of their calendars. Now it is our turn to see the famed event. Everything that we see is history. Light is a fast-moving process but is still limited by the sheer size of the universe. It is easy to surmise that many of these stars that we see right now have long been dead or have become something else. At the same time, new stars have long but formed. It is a prevalent life cycle that is reflected in the history of humans and Itreans.
Humanity has long been recovering from the shock of the events of finding out another alien species. The Itreans have been a sense of wonder; both fear invoking and inspirational at the same time. Their history is that of hardship in the Milky Way Galaxy. At the same time, however, we have never truly lost hope in them. It is only a hope to us that they don't turn out to be that white dwarf star, consuming and obliterating humanity in the process.
The reality of the Itreans, more specifically, the Aksren clan, is that of momentum. The subspecies of the Itrean race are one that is easily reflected by the beliefs of the other clan species. The humans view the Aksren clan as holistically evil. The Shal'rein clan view them as a powerful but dangerous nuisance. The T'rintar clan is probably the most unique. Most of them tend to view them as dangerous adversaries, confounding, and almost unstoppable. The truth, however, is only revealed in their history because the Aksren clan initially controlled the galaxy and the entire fate of the Itrean species. Only one species successfully managed to accomplish that task but slowly lost it in time.
A simple wave of the hand and the image of the binary stars are gone. Instead, the darkness of space reflects that of a single picture image that appears before us. It is that of a single Aksren. The anthro oviraptor is shorter than the typical human being. He is sitting on a lavish throne adorned by gems from every planet that belongs to the former Empire of Yol'ikren. His smooth scale skin is red and brown. He generally looks the same as many of the Aksren of his kind, but the clothing and persona that he gives off are that of royalty. From the brief but controllable smile that he has, it is easy to deduce that he knows that he has the respect of the crowds. He knows that people like him and worship him and that he tends to their needs as well. The clothing is that of a long cloak of white fur. From his torso, he has that of a ruby shirt and brown silk pants.
When one compares this image to other emperors of the Aksren clan, one can only find a few that reflect this attitude. This leader that we view upon is that of a commoner. He does not want the others to view him as the luxurious elite, even if he was born of nobility. He was raised to treat others as second-class citizens, but that isn't what he desires. In the four-digit left-hand of this leader is that of a small scepter. On the top portion of this icon is that of a holographic display that shows that of warship schematics. His face is almost drawn to this image as if he desires it more than anything else. His long brown tail flows off the throne and down to the ground. His posture is that of assurance.
There is much more to this picture and image. While drawn to the image on his scepter, his view is that of others that are seemingly around him. A small amount of light that reflects off his gold-plated, adorned protruding nose crest shows that of other Itrean hands. According to many of the Itrean historians, this was how the emperor wanted his picture to be taken. There are two pairs of Itrean hands or arms. One is that of red and brown similar to his. The famed mated woman who would become empress is care, concern, and pride towards the emperor. The other one is grayish in color and has fins protruding from near the elbow. A purple gold-plated ring could be seen from one of the four-digit fingers. The hand is much bigger than his and possibly from a fellow mistress's. These hands and posture show that of outright love, desire, and caring. Despite the leader's view of the image, his view seems to be pulled towards this Shal'rein woman that was rumored to be a lover. His other free hand is drawn towards her as a form of lingering desire to have her.
This image that we are looking at is that of Emperor Jalgren the Great, one of the most famous Itreans to exist in the last fifty thousand years of current Itrean history. Many of the humans that are learning about Itrean history have nothing but incredible reports about this singular individual. No doubt, Jalgren is one of the pinnacle characters that would shape the destiny of the Itreans. His reputation is interestingly respected by all of the Itrean subspecies, even if he was a warlord and powerful ruler.
Jalgren the Great was, by many, the most idealistic and successful of future rulers. He had access to one of the best shipyards in the most powerful Aksren empire of the long-deceased Yol'ikren the Great. Jalgren was speculated to be a family descendant of Yol'ikren even if the bloodline had long but faded into obscurity. Instead, he treasured and valued things that he enjoyed the most during his childhood. He loved spaceships. Humans often compare Jalgren to that of an Itrean Peter the Great mixed with attributes from Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. If anything, he managed to succeed and survive far greater than those previous examples. It was widely spoken that a few Yutilians and Shal'rein that lived in the brutally racist conditions of the Aksren empire had taught and introduced ideals into the young future leader. He became sympathetic but realistic to the environment that the Itreans lived under.
What makes Jalgren a renowned individual is that he got his wish. When he wasn't delegating the tedious orders of leadership, he was at the orbital shipyards working with fellow construction workers or designers. His love and passion were never-ending, and he picked up on every little detail on how to make the best spaceships that could ever operate.
In time, Jalgren realized that Renlar, his planet, and the Empire of Yol'ikren could very well seize upon the critical assets of other worlds. To control space was to control the destiny of future civilizations. He used his skills to begin designing brand new warships that he felt would change the tide of future warfare. With the immense resources, technical innovation, and careful negotiation, Jalgren would begin to spread his influence. One by one, solar system after solar system would fall to his fleets. Other Aksren empires had no choice but to agree to his actions. Yutilians, Shal'rein, Palierans, and the Alara'jal clans would watch as their fleet assets would succumb to Jalgren's ingenuity and power-hungry maneuvering to conquer the galaxy.
Jalgren was never the sort of individual that believed in exterminating the other. He was the first emperor to wipe out all opposition successfully, but many viewed him as a gracious victor. To him, he was "liberating" the clan species from the atrocities and decadence that the clan's internal governments, warlords, and leaders had brought towards their own people. Even other clan species can further later acclaim that in some respects, the Aksren emperor was that of a hero. The Alara'jal and Shal'rein were just the prime examples of a people that focused on fighting amongst themselves to the point of barbaric brutality. When Jalgren rode through, the devastated Shal'rein and Alara'jal fleets were obliterated. When the emperor announced his victory, the defeated populations feared the worst. They believed that the nuclear bombs were to fall upon their world, but the Aksren wanted none of it.
It was here that many viewed Jalgren the Great as an Itrean uniter. Cohesion was his main goal as he continued to fight the Yutilians and the remaining Aksren empires that resisted him. His promise was fulfilled when he passed reform after reform. Even if parts of the population were against him, his word was law. He wanted equality for the defeated subspecies. Their cultural views, various beliefs, traditions, and aspects would slowly bleed into Renlar culture and outward in all directions. Now named the Empire of Jalgren, it would spread outward and control all of Itrean space. By the end point of his life, he watched as the final Aksren empire would surrender to his growing superpower. Within 200 years, Jalgren controlled a quarter of the Milky Way Galaxy. As the humans were still in their most infantile of pre-civilizations, the Aksren clan ruled and dominated everything.
A single Aksren was all it took for the lives of trillions to be affected. Jalgren's legacy was profound. It was known as 20,000 years of peace, and relative prosperity as more and more of the other non-Aksren would adjust to living the life among the Aksren clan. To this day, all the Itreans at least understand the U'ck'ck language, the words that can be spoken from planet to planet. Many often compare the Empire of Jalgren to that of the Roman Empire on Earth, both in personality, cultural, and economic prosperity. Slavery was all but nonexistent.
