Chapter 11: Chapter Ten Council of Shadows

A shadowy figure settled into her seat. There were several more shadows around the table, and in the dim light, the only thing an observer would be able to notice was that they were all female, and all generally humanoid. Beyond that, the light and the cloaks they were wearing, little more could be discerned. This was the Council of Shadows, on their 273rd meeting this year, although this one had originally been scheduled to discuss a different topic, but something had gone wrong. They had lost all contact with a fleet carrying a couple of their lesser agents. A fleet that had been sent out on an important mission, even if the intel they had was limited.

The object of their new topic was being projected by a hologram. A single ship of truly ancient design, with a hull ruined by some ancient conflict. A precursor warship that they knew little about beyond a few key bits their agents had acquired. The key ones being its location, and the fact that the Erali had not been able to reactivate it. At least according to the intel their agents had brought back, but then again this ship had been so heavily classified by the Erali that getting what little intelligence they did have had been a feat in and of itself.

The shadowy young woman sighed, she had been hoping to get news about its recovery during this meeting. Acquiring a precursor warship, no matter how damaged, would have done much to advance their cause, maybe even allow them to compete with the powerful elder races. Instead, they were now missing a fleet, and that was going to set them back with the Erali. The planned assault on Eral would have to be reevaluated as well, without those ships they might not have enough to break through the heavy planetary defenses of the Erali capital. Eral had nearly a dozen orbital fortresses, powerful planetary shields, multiple heavy ground batteries, tens of thousands of floating gun platforms, a dozen orbital fighter bases with hundreds of squadrons each, and a standing fleet of nearly a thousand capital ships.

Very few systems in Erali space had comparable defenses, and because of those defenses, nothing short of a full-scale assault would get through. Sure that fleet was small, but it had contained a few capital ships that would help. More worrying though was they lacked information on what caused the loss of the fleet. She knew they could still get through without those ships, but it now looked a lot riskier. Especially if the loss of the fleet happened because the Erali had reactivated this warship.

The head of the table finally spoke, “It looks like we are all here, and I trust you all read the reports?”

No one needed a recap, and she interjected after everyone confirmed they had read the reports, “While minor, the loss of that fleet means we should reevaluate our planned assault on Eral. We need more information, I suggest we deploy a senior agent. They should be able to quickly uncover the fate of our fleet.”

“I would have to agree. If the loss of the fleet was due to the Erali reactivating that precursor ship, it could have a major impact on any assault. Especially since we don’t know its capabilities or how intact it is.” Spoke up a shadow to her left, two seats down.

The shadow across from her, said, “Speaking of capabilities, do we have any idea what kind of abilities it might have?”

The shadow on her right answered that. “A general idea, yes.” She pointed at the hologram, “based on the general design of the vessel, we can surmise that it was built by the Starlords, the most enigmatic but also the most powerful of the Precursor races. Their ships can still be found defending ancient shield worlds. From those encounters, we have an idea of what the ship might have. It’s likely outfitted with deadly plasma-based beam weapons with the ability to carve capital ships apart at great range. In addition, it likely carries powerful torpedoes that can pass through shields like they aren’t there, and destroy a capital ship in a single hit, and possibly Precursor drone weapons. The Starlords had several powerful drone weapons in their arsenal. Impactor drones that would bury themselves repeatedly into a warship ripping it apart in short order. Fighter drones outfitted with powerful rapid-fire plasma bolt cannons that can tear ships apart in short order. Swarming drones that employ some kind of energy field that tears a ship apart and uses said ships own energy against it as well.

“Not only did they have frighteningly powerful weapons, but that ship should have a highly resilient hull immune to all but the most powerful of weapons. Which is made more impressive by its ability to regenerate damage. The Starlord Guardians we have previously encountered were also equipped with extremely powerful shields. Shields that are stronger than most planetary shields and only the most powerful weapons in the galaxy can hope to penetrate. Although it can be done, one of the Elder races did manage to once defeat a Guardian, but at great cost. It cost them several fleets, and nearly ten thousand ships to bring down just one Guardian.”

She recalled reading about that, and said, “I see you have been doing some research. I found the same incident in my reading as well. As I recall they later released the shield that the precursors left behind thinking it might give them a great advantage. It was a mistake, it was a plague world. Some kind of parasite, I believe, and they struggled just to contain it again.”

The shadow on the right nodded, “Yes, I read that incident myself as well. They had to glass the infected worlds.”

Someone else interjected, “As fascinating as that is, we are getting off-topic. The matter at hand is the proposal to postpone our planned assault on Eral.”

There was a murmur and then the head shadow said, “Personally I have to agree with the general assessment so far. The presence of even one precursor vessel in Erali hands greatly changes the balance of power. We need more information before we can go ahead with the assault. We should order the fleets to halt further advances into Erali territory, and secure the current borders.”

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“You expect one ship to cause us that much trouble? Sure it sounds like it might be fairly powerful, but it can’t be everywhere at once”

She sighed, and countered that statement with one of her own, “That may be so, but it doesn’t have to be everywhere. If we commit to an assault on Eral, and it happens to be there the casualties will be crippling. We can not afford to move without knowing where it is, and what its capabilities are. Ignorance is not something we can afford.”

Several shadows quickly voiced their agreement to that, and with that statement, it seemed they were agreed. They would not move forward with the planned assault on Eral. The invasion would be delayed ... for now. In the meantime they would send in five senior agents to gain the critical intel they needed, and if possible usurp control of the Precursor vessel. The ship being active and in Erali hands was the only logical conclusion they could make for why they had lost an entire fleet. If the Erali had wiped them out, at least a few ships would have escaped to make it back. The lack of escapees meant their demise must have been quick and sudden. The Erali didn’t have the weaponry for that, but the Precursor warship very well might have, and it seemed it did. A jamming field could explain why they received no subspace communiques from the fleet. Even if it was something else, they could not make a move while in ignorance of what was causing them problems, else those problems grow worse.

---

Kiru stared at the ceiling. She wasn’t sure exactly how long she had been in this cell, but assuming that her meals were regularly scheduled, Kiru thought it had been about five days. At the moment she was lying on the cell’s sorry excuse for a bed, but she was reluctant to move. There just wasn’t anything to do, and what she really wanted was someone to talk to. Five days locked up in a cell, five days of solitary confinement. Other than that hologram she had not spoken to anyone in that time, and she didn’t exactly count the hologram as a conversational partner.

Kiru had never thought of herself as a social butterfly, but after being alone for five days she almost desperately wanted someone to talk to. Someone not the ship. Dealing with the ship could be exhausting, especially with that hologram’s tendency to call her Princess. Kiru did not like it, but that didn’t stop the ship. Not that she knew why the ship was calling her that in the first place. Then again she had never asked, merely complained about it a few times.

She sighed, and after a moment she spoke to the room hoping for an answer, “Why are you always calling me princess”

A hologram materialized to her left, and said, “Well Princess that is because you are special. A rare specimen among your peers.”

She sat up, and gave the winged alien a look, “I’m not some specimen!”

The hologram giggled, and then said, “I wasn’t joking about being rare though, and I am not just talking about your coloring. Even if that is rare among your kind. Not that you need worry about what makes you rare in my eyes. Not yet anyway.”

Then the hologram vanished. Kiru stared at the empty space for a moment or two, and then spoke to the empty room. “What are you talking about?”

No response ever came, and after a minute she lay back down. Rolling over to face the wall. She was not very happy to be called a specimen, it reminded her too much of the lab rat thing hanging over her head. She was a cat, a natural predator not something to be experimented on. Not that the ship ever seemed to listen to her. Sometimes it just outright ignored her.

The lights dimmed suddenly. Although it did seem to always have an eye on her. Not an entirely pleasant thought. It certainly made her uncomfortable at times, especially in the bathroom. Not that there was anything she could do about that either, but what she was really worried about was the ship’s plans for her. Kiru knew deep down that it was only a matter of time before she learned them. She just didn’t want to learn them by experiencing them. Now she was even more worried about them. She was starting to get the impression the ship had something special in mind for her, and that just left her very unsettled. Kiru had no desire for special attention from this ship. She was getting the feeling that special attention was a bad thing, a very bad thing. Those thoughts were still churning in her mind as she drifted off into darkness.

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