The Al'Shaine Stratocracy's attempted ambush of Jukat Oncilla's forces in the Kendran Mountains did not go as planned. Trapped between Jukat's Sky Fortresses and the rancor of the Biliophage Uncreus, the Al'Shaine forces retreated in the only direction left open to them: up. High Watcher Polaris Al'Shaine, from aboard the flagship of the strike fleet, lead the upward charge, straining the engines of the Al'Shaine craft to the utmost. It was this reckless abandon that saved the fleet; though the Oncillian forces were well positioned, and could have easily intercepted any craft flying in the standard operating altitudes of the Convection Engine, Jukat had not imagined that the Al'Shaine forces would seek to drive their craft above the Terrestrial Aether.

Aetherism?

It has often been speculated that High Watcher Polaris Al'Shaine was inspired to attempt this maneuver by Aetherist philosophies, a very plausible proposition given the power of that organization within the Stratocracy. The Aetherists had long held that there was no natural upper boundry to flight: they maintained that above the observable Terrestrial Aether there was not simply an unnavigable wasteland, as most at the time believed, but rather a better and more perfect Aether, that we could fly freely in if we could just breach the barrier. Of course, it was also possible that Polaris Al'Shaine was hoped to debunk the Aetherists, vindicating the much-abused Aether Hypothesis by actively reaching the surface of the "Cerulean Sea", as Milesius had termed it.

When the ships of the Stratocracy thus shot through the Dead Air which separates Earth from the deep heavens, and then hung suspended higher than any ship built by man was meant to go, the forces of Houce Oncila were frustrated and amazed. They could only watch as the nimble frigates again gunned their engines and quickly faded from the sight of their erstwhile captors. The biliophage, in its rage, thrashed against the Aetherial boundry, but was unable to reach its prey. As a side note, this is where the craft likely contracted the disease which so weakened it in later campaigns. Indeed, some claim that this malady was the original vector for the Lakanian Plague.

Fallout

What is less sung of is the disasterous attempt at bringing the Al'Shaine forces back to land. High winds scattered the fleet, and many were simply never seen again. For several days after the Fording, it was not uncommon to see a lone craft flying far overhead, or, occasionally, plummeting out of control to the earth. Less than a quarter of the Al'Shaine forces are reported to have survived. Polaris Al'Shaine's flagship, the Empyrean, was one of the last to successfully regain the lower air.

Despite the gallantry of the Al'Shaine, the engagement was nothing less than a disasterous defeat. Bereft of the greater number of their forces, it was clear to all that the power of the Stratocracy was forever shattered. The Aetherists, of course, claimed the event as a great victory, and a vindication of their core principles. This assertion does not hold up to close scruitiny. Most damning is the simple fact that High Watcher Polaris did not, in fact, ascend into ever higher realms of light, as the Aetherists insist he was free to do, but rather retired to his estate in the country, where he was known primarily to publish political invectives against the ruling party of the day, and refused to come out except on moonless nights. Such behavior is inconsistant with Aetherist claims.

—Thaddeus Rhagfarnllyd