Prologue
Deep Space
Old Alliance Fleet Base
1 August 2017
Transferring from the largely disabled fleet to the deactivated fleet base was progressing well, if a little slow for the Empress' taste. Many of the warships were salvageable, but required extensive repairs due to the ravages of time drifting through space. Those repairs had been prioritized on the basis of which ships needed the least repair to get them functional.
The discovery of the lost recon squadron was a boon for the Alliance forces. The Empress had her concerns about this development, however. While Commander Axarod seemed sincere enough, the idea of a unit being cut off from the main fleet and struggling to survive without any means of support went against the Alliance code. These descendants knew only stories about the Alliance. No one from the time of the Great War survived. Would they really rejoin her surviving forces, or stay apart and hidden? At some point the Empress would have to confront Axarod and get her answer.
But that would have to wait.
The Empress was in a large chamber found to be suitable as a new throne room. A temporary one. She and Lord Malkor awaited the return of their best special operations operative who had been sent to investigate the current status of the Val-kyrie. They had already read Shiva's official report, but there always things not put into reports that were of more interest.
It was the brief statement of the first-hand encounter with one of the Guardians that drew their attention the most. That the Val-kyrie would not be of a mind to return to the Alliance had almost been a foregone conclusion, but confirmation was also good.
The guards at the entranced turned as one when the doors parted; the guard on the other side had alerted them to Shiva's arrival. They watched as the warrior strode purposefully past them without looking at either one. The guards returned to their positions as the doors closed.
Shiva strode across the ebony deck plates with smooth measured strides that hid her inner turmoil. She kept her face locked in an impassive mask and almost prayed that her superiors would not be able to sense the conflict within. Her orders had been to observe and report back, not to engage any of the Guardians. However, in order to make out of the Senate Hall with Serenvee, Shiva had to engage the one they called War Wing.
And now she was being called to account for her actions.
"Empress. Lord Malkor," Shia said, stopping before the throne and bowing.
Like all of her people, the Empress' skin was blue/black and she had the characteristic red eye sockets that made her people look like demons to other races. The Empress also had an exotic beauty professional models would kill for. When she spoke, her voice had a resonant echo to it, also an inherent trait of her people.
"Welcome home, warrior. I trust your flight out of Val-kyrie space was uneventful?"
"It was, Empress. The warrior women were too busy with ending their civil war to notice a lone scout ship leaving the system," Shiva answered. She and Serenvee had been in such a rush to get out that the cloak on Serenvee's ship had not been used.
"Good. You know why you have been asked to come before us?"
Shiva hesitated. "I..have an idea."
"It's not what you may be thinking, warrior," the Empress replied soothingly. "Gone are the days when we squandered our resources needlessly. Your report on the events in Val-kyrie space was comprehensive; however, we are much more interested in those things that are usually left out of reports."
Shiva suddenly understood. While her report on the descendants of the recon squadron was detailed and to the point, personal feelings were left out. The same with chronicling the events of the brief Val-kyrie civil war.
Standing a little straighter, Shiva said, "First I must apologize for my failure."
Amused, Lord Malkor asked, "And what would that be?"
"My orders were to gather information on the current status of the Val-kyrie, and to discover whatever information I could about the resurrected Guardians. Under no circumstances was I to engage a Guardian in combat. In that last part, I failed. As I stated in my report, I had to engage the one called War Wing in order to get myself and Serenvee out of the Senate Hall."
The Empress nodded. "Then that is where we will start. What is your opinion of the Guardian you engaged?"
Shiva paused to frame her thoughts. "He knew how to handle the suit. What information Senator Bregata managed to access made it clear that the new operators of the battlesuits can handle them effectively in a battle. In fact, they have had several engagements with Horde Prime's forces already. In each, Horde Prime suffered a disastrous loss. If you are wondering if they will join us in fighting Horde Prime, I would have to say, no, they won't. While they will engage the Horde, returning to us is out of the question."
"How can you know this?" the Empress demanded.
Psychological profiles, done correctly, were extensive. Senator Bregata managed to get her hands on the profiles of all six people operating the lost battlesuits. It didn't take long to come to the same conclusion as Shiva, but the Empress wanted to know by what means she had arrived at that conclusion.
"I believe what Shiva means is that while the profiles Bregata accessed tell one side of the story, one does not really know a warrior until one engages them in battle," Lord Malkor explained. Turning to Shiva, he continued, "While my orders were clear, it must be acknowledged that situations can arise where certain orders need to be violated in order to execute the spirit in which they were issued. To that end, Shiva, I find no fault in your actions. You did not engage the Guardian any longer than necessary in order to make it out intact and bring us this data. For that you have our thanks."
"Yes, indeed," the Empress added, leaning back in her throne. She was satisfied with the explanation. For now.
The debrief continued with Shiva's assessment of each battlesuit, the possible upgrades made – all conjecture because the senator did not have access to that information – and opinions on the actual battle footage retrieved from the engagements at the prison, and in and around the Senate Hall. The experiment had succeeded beyond anything they could have hoped for, but it was also clear that, while a success, the experiment was also a total disaster; attempting to recover the lost battlesuits would only result in their total destruction.
That could not be allowed. Somehow, the experiment had to be recovered. Sooner or later their ancient enemy would find them and the Empress had to be ready. That meant repatriating Commander Axelrod's people into the Alliance, defeating Horde Prime, and building an army the likes of which the universe had never seen in order to return home and liberate it from a soulless enemy that made even the Evil Horde pale in comparison.
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