I don't know why, but this update reminded me of the time when another race backed by some unknown power, invaded one of the Alliance associate races (I think it was Doraz, but I'm not sure). By the way, do you plan for us to hear about this power (I assume that this is the same power as the imperial D'Bringi backer) anytime soon?
The was just before the start of the D'Bringi civil war. It was actually part of the plot. The plotters needed resources, and they needed to divert Alliance attention. To this end, they infiltrated the D'Bringi contingent of the Alliance team to the Chirq Cooperative and influenced them away from establishing contact with a race that they had just discovered, the Khozun. The plotters then established contact themselves, using one of the three D'Bringi corvette-carriers assigned to the Chirq Patrol Group. They promised the Khozun, a backward race even lower tech than the Chirq, a rich reward if they raided or conquered the Chirq. And then they funneled resources they had pirated from Alliance frontier freighters that had 'disappeared', along with tech, to help the Khozun prepare.
The Khozun obligingly sent off their entire fleet to attack the Chirq home world, which they conquered and looted. The D'Bringi plotters then intercepted the loot-laden freighters on their way back to Khozun, destroyed their escorts, and pirated the proceeds of the conquest. They then visited the Khozun home world, destroyed the infrastructure they helped build, and dropped a nuke on the Khozuni capital to eliminate any evidence they were there. The proceeds of the conquest of the Chirq home world, while not large on the scale of the Alliance budget, were immense on the scale of a band of plotters intent on suborning individual officers in the D'Bringi fleet, or in the home world government.
The success of the Chirq-Khozun operation funded the plotter's successful takeover of the D'Bringi government. However, it did not entirely work out as they would have wanted. The Alliance sent a small squadron of ships to investigate once they figured something was going on, not a large fleet, as the plotters had hoped. The Rehorish were already on alert that something was going on, and although they didn't immediately link this to the plot, it increased their uneasiness with the deteriorating situation in the Alliance and prompted them to react decisively when it became clear that the plotters were behind much or all of what had been happening.