Before the war, The Kingdom vessels were only ever encountered when they intervened on the behalf of civilian vessels under attack by pirates. The patrol cruisers and escort craft of the Long Range Patrol squadrons were more than a match for all but the largest pirate group. However as nothing larger than an LRP was ever reported, the major powers wrote off TK as an inconsequential curiosity.
As the war progressed, military logistics were unable to keep up with the supply demands of total war. Both powers relied increasingly on civilian contractors and shipping to make up the shortfall. As the numbers of civilian ships increased, so did the privateers and marauders of the opposing powers. The Kingdom continued to pursue its policy of protecting civilian shipping, engaging and saving the privateers and civilian vessels of both sides. While both powers seemed to forget how many of their civilian contractors were saved, they certainly remembered their naval losses. And so the major powers both began to consider The Kingdom a hostile organization.
Still, at that point, the major powers continued to believe that TK was nothing more than a minor economic player with little actual naval capability. Certainly not the equivalent of even an alliance member. That would soon change.
It was a Dindrenzi corporate fund management division, tasked with finding cost effective resource exploitation, that would bring The Kingdom into the war. The Dindrenzi fund managers struck upon the idea that rather than spend the money exploring the Storm Zone for resources, it would be more cost effective to simply take over and existing known TK system. After all TK must be exploiting some worthwhile resource in their larger operations. And with little military capability TK system would roll right over to even a small Dindrenzi fleet.
A Long Range Patrol squadron picked up the Dindrenzi task force half way to it's destination. The Dindrenzi admiral dismissed TK as mere pirates. After all, what could a destroyer and a few escorts hope to do against a dozen Dindrenzi cruisers and his battleship.
Upon arrival at the target system, the Dindrenzi fleet was met, not with more small craft, but an opposing fleet consisting of cruisers and battleships. The Dindrenzi fleet was all but wiped out. Survivors reported that TK ships wielded fearsome energy weapons, and used concentrated turret fire to great effect.
The major powers would not make the same mistake twice. Soon after all known TK systems were systematically targeted and wiped out. But not without heavy losses. In return, The Kingdom has apparently declared war on both powers. Often waiting for the two sides to complete a battle before pouncing on the victor.
The Kingdom's greatest strategic advantage is that no one really knows where they are from or which systems they operate out of in the Storm Zone. TK fleets seem to come from no where and leave for no where. They continue to stand by their policy of civilian neutrality, likely because they rely on civilian trade and commerce as much as anyone else. Naval vessels, armed or not, are free game however. It's hypothesized that The Kingdom is attempting to make the war so costly for both sides that they will simply leave the Storm Zone. However considering the size of the major powers, this is an impossibly task. It is likely that TK simply does not really know who the major powers are.
