The Divine Shadow's Story

As Inviere had her men lead Gabrielle and Norrington to the Ring Room, the Rings would take them down towards the Imperial Palace.

Indeed as the Rings retracted into the ceiling in the Divine Shadow's throne room, the figure clad in black sat silently on his throne, lording over the entire room.

On either side of him and the figure seated besides him were two men in dark blue robes, a mesh mask hiding their faces. They were the infamous Confessor Cabal, agents that carried out the will of the Divine Shadow.

As the light from the rings died down, the figure sat and eyed the pair, another pair of Confessors stepped out from behind Gabrielle and her bodyguard as the Shadow beckoned them forward.

"Come..." He said, raising a gloved hand, his face completely obscured by the strange robe and hood he had been wearing.

"Are you Gabrielle LeBeau, the daughter of Remy LeBeau, the owner of Gambit's Bar?"

The Black Hand sat quietly beside Mollem with an air of boredom about her. She couldn't for the life of her fathom why Mollem had dragged this sixteen year old girl all the way here from Terra. Her disinterest in the situation at hand was concealed beneath the shadows of her crimson cowl though, and Gabrielle and Norrington would see nothing more than a figure clad in crimson robes.

The hand that extended beyond the sleeve of the robes was delicate and feminine though as her fingers trailed along the arm of the ornate chair that had been placed beside the Emperor's throne.

Gabrielle glanced over towards Norrington when he bounded over towards her or moved in such a manner that made it appear he was bounding over to her side. Either way, she hoped he wouldn’t end up getting killed or getting her killed. Their track record together hadn’t been the best, but so far they both managed to keep alive, so that was a plus, right? Sighing heavily, she braced herself when they jumped or went into hyper drive or whatever it was called, Gabby tried to keep the sick feeling deep in her gut so that she didn’t wind up throwing up. She didn’t really care whether or not the Divine Shadow waiting on them because in her mind, he should be grateful that she was even coming to speak to him about McGregor. Just nodding towards Inviere when one of the men that was hanging around like a putz moved forward to take them to the Ring Room, Gabby flashed the woman a smile.

“Pft, we don’t need luck. This is easy-peasy.”

Once in the Ring Room, Gabrielle once again closed her eyes and kept them shut until they arrived in the Imperial Palace. Slipping them open, she glanced around at the new location, making sure that Norrington was with her as well. It suddenly dawned on her that they could keep him from coming down with her and there wouldn’t be a single thing she could do about it. Returning her attention towards the supposed Divine Shadow, Gabby noted that he and those sitting beside him were completely hooded. It was a little eerie and feeling two more stepping from behind them, she shifted uncomfortably. As if the robes weren’t bad enough, they were covered with masks as well. Moving forward as instructed, she resisted the urge to grab hold of Norrington’s hand and instead moved with a calm assurance, giving off the appearance that she wasn’t afraid. At his question however, she couldn’t help but snort and roll her lavender eyes.

“Duh, who else would I be? I thought you were bright.” Sarcasm was something she tried to curb, but sometimes, especially when overly nervous, it seemed to slip out. Shifting her attention towards a fifth hooded figure, Gabrielle mentally noted that it was likely that the robed individual was a female, though she wasn’t completely sure.

“So… how about those rings. Pretty neat things…” She needed to shut up, but that was proving to be difficult.

The Divine Shadow shifted slightly in his chair. He ignored the sarcasm and could pick up on subtle cues. "I brought you here because I understand there's been some issues regarding some select... individuals in your bar." The hooded figure said, their head bobbing as they spoke.

"He came in, stirred up some trouble, and then left... I can assure you that such grievances won't happen in the future." The Divine Shadow explained, and with a wave of his hand, the pair of Confessors backed up.

"But I would like to address that historically, Gambit's Bar has not been very friendly to my people, and I would like to work with you to remedy that." He said, shooting a look to the Black hand.

It was then he nodded to the pair of Confessors behind them, and they eagerly took a step forward, towering over the pair.

Norrington was currently on his best behaviour. More specifically he was on his 'boss' behaviour, the face he put on when Vidious showed up to the Society in the morning and asked for an update on things. It was an utterly neutral face, all but unreadable with not even a twitch of whiskers to give away his emotion, made all the more difficult to read thanks to him being a feline. He had practiced for hours to maintain this face in the worst situations.

As the confessors neared he didn't twitch, only stared up at the pair, blue eyes shimmering ever so slightly before he exhaled from his nostrils. There was still technically no reason to believe they were about to be attacked. After all, he'd dealt with Vidious' Sleeveless before, and they acted much the same. In fact, he was starting to notice a lot of similarities between the two. Must've just been a thing about figures in power. For the first time his face broke, nose wrinkling in mind disgust, followed by inhaling, trying to catch the scent of the two confessors and see if they were even human.

She crossed both arms against her chest when the Divine Shadow began speaking, bringing up the incident that nearly had her banning all Aschen from the bar. She still had the undying urge to punch the bastard in the face, but unfortunately she hadn’t ran across him quite yet. Instead, she turned that anger into something she could utilize to keep herself from smarting off anymore, at least for a few minutes. Her shoulders relaxed a little when the two hooded figures backed up a little and Gabrielle found it easier to breathe. Glancing over at Norrington briefly, she was amazed at how stoic he was being compared to how he was acting minutes before on the ship. Simply chalking it up to his profession, the teenager returned her attention towards the Divine Shadow, shrugging when he said the bar hadn’t been friendly to his people in the past. She didn’t really care about what had occurred in the past because she wasn’t there. What concerned her was the future and keeping her present patrons safe and sound.

“Right.” About to say more, she forced herself to think for a couple of minutes before speaking. This had the potential to go poorly and while musing, Gabby realized she wasn't the most politically correct person to be talking to a empire-leader-person.

“Well, as for the incident you’re referring to… your man was forcing himself upon one of my female patrons even after she told him to leave her alone and then opened fire in my bar. You’re damn lucky I’m not banning all of Aschen because of that asshole. But, I'm not willing to punish all of the Aschen just for him... yet. As for the past, I don’t really care what happened back then because I wasn't there back then and can't change history. I’m only concerned about the present and the future and if you want your people to be allowed to continue to partake in my hospitality, then things need to change. Intimidating me isn’t going to work and right now, I feel you're trying to do just that.”

The Black Hand raised her head ever so slightly to look upon Gabby with a light frown. A hand moved subtly to rest atop Mollem's gloved hand. A casual gesture perhaps, or maybe a subtle request to allow her the opportunity to diffuse the situation.

"Respect given, is respect earned," she remarked calmly to their guest as she stood from her chair.

She walked towards Gabby, passing between the pair of confessors as she went.

"We received you here in our hall as a guest, and treated you with respect. You were not harmed or threatened in any manner. You were not brought here against your will, nor mistreated on your trip, and yet you greet us with insults, and treat us like pariah."

"Surely you can understand that your aggression is... misplaced," she explained with a glance towards the pair of confessors. They didn't appear to be approaching any closer for the moment, but it would take Mollem's word to recall them from their position between himself and Gabby. The confessors answered to the Divine Shadow and no other.

Unlike the confessors, there was no aggression exuding from the Black Hand who had adopted a more personable demeanor for the time being, and when the Black Hand reached up and lowered her cowl there was no demon or monstrous creature that lay beneath. There was simply a woman.

"My name is Kianna McGregor," she offered to give the matter a more personable touch.

Aaron happened upon the gathering in the throne room quite by accident. With free run of the palace, and most of the people that lived in the palace paying him no mind, he often wandered too and fro when restless for something to do. The normally vacant throne room was filled with people today and he hesitated.

It looked like important business of some nature or another and he froze awkwardly.

He intended to simply slip away quietly so as to not disturb whatever business Kianna and Mollem were seeing to, but Kianna caught sight of him past Gabby. The slight nod from her confused Aaron as he moved into the room and approached her quietly. He was unsure of the intent behind her nod, but as no correction was offered he gained more confidence with his approach.

Kianna moved a hand around Aaron's shoulders as he joined her.

"My son, Aaron," she added. "And my husband," she continued with a nod to the Divine Shadow.

"Uhh... hi," Aaron mumbled awkwardly as if he was still unsure what his place in all of this was.

Mollem frowned from behind the hood and he offered up a scowl. "You lack discipline. Your sarcasm will only beget death and suffering." He said through a stern voice, before rising from his throne, the pair of Confessors moving up towards Gabby as she tried to distance herself from them.

"If you intend to leave this world alive, you will change how you speak to me." The Divine Shadow spat before he rose from his throne. But then he was immediately silenced as Kianna moved up towards Gabby, it was then Mollem slowly lowered himself back into his throne

"Indeed you are a guest of the Empire, a guest of the Divine Shadow." One of the Confessors spoke, before he moved to back up at Mollem's hand gesture.

Though as Kianna removed her cowl, so did Mollem remove his, to reveal a human face.

"I will strive to keep issues from happening at your bar, but I want something in return. I want issues with Aschen Patrons to go through the proper authority, the Aschen Consulate."

Norrington had pretty much stopped anything, just silently observing. His only real movements were with his eyes, shifting from looking at Gabby when she spoke, across to the Black Hand. Kianna McGregor, a last name he had heard a few times, her husband, probably thanks to him or his family, and their son. Well, that was pretty blatant.

But it was Mollem's actions that caught his attention most. First rising, damn near threatening, but when Kianna approached? Patience. Alright, negotiations seemed to be moving along smoothly so far. One of his paws shifted across the floor, toes wriggling a little on the ground. So far everything seemed to be going pretty well.

Gabrielle fought the urge to step towards Norrington, determined to give off the appearance that she wasn’t a coward. The fact that she felt intimidated in more ways than one was beginning to wear on her, but it wasn’t bad enough for her to start acting rashly… yet. As long as she could remain level-headed, she wouldn’t do anything that she would immediately regret. The thought of her sister waiting at home for her to come back was also incentive to keep a handle on her mouth. The more she thought about her sarcasm, the more Gabby realized she missed hanging out with Logan. He taught her a lot of things and picked up on almost all of his bad attributes to the dismay of her parents. Tayrn always tried to make Remy see that Logan was a bad influence, but her concerns often fell on deaf ears. Then, after Logan saved Renée and Gabby a couple of times, their mother shut up and just dealt with the bad habits. Then Logan disappeared and the two siblings were left to their own devices. Around that time, she went off to her modeling gig and her sister went off to do her own thing. The first time they had met back up in all those years was when Renée had jumped in front of the bullets meant for Gabrielle. Pushing away her thoughts, she narrowed her eyes towards the hooded figure that made it clear that she felt Gabrielle was being disrespectful.

Great, this is going so fantastically thus far…

Crossing her arms against her chest as the feminine cloaked figure moved closer to her location, Gabby realized that was stupid because it meant she wouldn’t be able to defend herself if possible. With that thought, she dropped her hands down to her side loosely, preparing for anything that might come her way. She was incredibly paranoid and all of the security in the room wasn’t making her feel any better. Inhaling deeply before releasing it, she hoped she was giving off a calm demeanor despite how nervous she truly felt. The woman’s words made her feel like she was in school again, being spoken to like a child just like her teachers used to do. Biting hard on her bottom lip to keep from saying something sarcastic, she instead glanced briefly towards Norrington before returning her attention towards the unknown female. When the woman who soon identified herself as Kianna McGregor lowered the cowl that had kept her appearance hidden, Gabby was glad to see that she at least appeared to be of human nature. Well, that was a plus, right?

“…McGregor…” She said nothing more than that last name, piecing together everything that had been said thus far. She was somehow related to the guy from the bar and Gabrielle began to wonder if this was even going to be a fair talk or if they were biased because of family ties. As if things couldn’t get any worse… Maybe not worse, but strange, for sure.

Her gaze soon shifted beyond the woman towards a child that had appeared out of nowhere, though intelligence indicated he obviously came through the door behind her. Watching him quietly, she followed his movement until he stepped beside Kianna. Arching a brow when he was introduced as Aaron, Gabby couldn’t help but groan when it was revealed that not only was the kid her son, but the Divine Shadow was her husband. Yeah, keeping it all in the family, for sure. This sucked. Just nodding towards the kid, Gabby wondered if they brought him in on purpose to mess with her or something.

Her attention moved back towards the Divine Shadow and shrugged at his words. She never claimed to have discipline and couldn’t help how she reacted when nervous. It was her defense mechanism. The pair of Confessors moved towards her and she narrowed her eyes once again, snapping them towards Mollem. So, now they were threatening her just based on her sarcastic response. Did they even plan on giving her a fair time here or was this all an act? She wasn’t about to change anything about her, especially how she spoke. It probably didn’t help that whenever an authority figure told her to do something, she automatically wanted to do the opposite. She would just blame that on Logan too. Keeping silent, she tapped her fingers against her thigh, mentally noting that he when he removed his cowl, he too appeared to be human. Her right hand slid into the pocket of her metallic blue jacket, immediately twirling the playing cards around her fingers. This kept her calm enough to stop her from immediately smarting off at his offer. Like hell she was going to be doing that.

“Uhh… what? If I have an issue with an Aschen patron, I’ll deal with it on my own, just like I would with any other person causing trouble in my bar. I’m definitely not reporting it or taking the time to go through the Aschen Consulate. I will not treat them any differently than I treat anyone else.” She decided to keep from commenting about his threat to kill her if she didn’t speak to him how he desired. This was stupid.

Mollem silently listened as Gabrielle uttered her rebuttal, an outright refusal of demands that he had through reasonable.

It was then his face darkened, and his pleated cowl was thrown back over his head, as he turned to face Kianna.

"Quaero praecessi etiamsi habere illam occidere." He muttered to her in Anquietas, the known Aschen language.

He then shot a glare to Gabrielle before he turned back towards the throne room, with two Confessors in Tow, he moved towards one of the many doors that had lined the main hall, almost as if he had been pouting.

Having come back after the rather exasperating deal with Gabrielle, Mollem had quietly returned to his throne to see yet another guest. This time he made sure that the best of the best was present for this meeting, still not entirely trusting Whisper.

Kesslee was standing directly behind the throne, and a pair of Confessors stood at the door, along with six more Confessors standing at the edges of the room.

Mollem silently waited for his guest, checking the time and quietly wondering what everything was about.

Whisper entered the room quietly, escorted by yet another pair of confessors who remained at her side as she approached Mollem. She shifted her eyes briefly as she took note of the rather excessive security precautions before she stopped several paces from Mollem.

"I worship His Shadow," she murmured softly.

Mollem sat in silence as Whisper approached the foot of his throne, and he waited for her to complete her introduction before he spoke.

"Why did you summon an audience with me?" He asked.

Whisper swallowed hard.

"To ask your forgiveness, and your mercy," she replied.

Kesslee slowly moved forward, and a pair of confessors closed in behind her as Mollem narrowed his eyes, and threw his hood over his face, he was anticipating something. Perhaps it was paranoia.

"Forgiveness and mercy for what sins?"

Kesslee nodded slowly. "Summon the Redeemer." He said as Mollem held up his hand, and slowly leaned forward.

"For my actions on Arastel," Whisper replied. "For my treason and heresy."

She knew that he would never allow her to walk away. She could only hope there was some shred of humanity in the man to at least allow her a life here on Langara.

"I understand I'm being reassigned to the Aschen fleet in Isiria," she said. "When I return from my assignment... I beg you to give me leave from the Special Projects Division. I'll live out my life here in the Empire. I'm no threat to you anymore..."

Mollem shifted slightly, and then he held up his hand.

"There will be a price." The Divine Shadow said coldly.

"You will complete your tasks in Isiria, and you will assist in quelling the threat to the Empire. If you suceed, I will send you to the Redeemers so you may seek redemption for your heresy. The Redeemers will carry out the punishment; You will be stripped of your genetics, and your consciousness transferred into a Human, Aschen body. You will then be set free and allowed to live the remainder of your life in peace."

"Once you have been given your redemption, you will live as a Citizen of the Empire, and leave your old life behind."

Whisper closed her eyes against the weight that lifted at Mollem's words. She nodded then.

"Thank you..." she uttered as she bowed her head, and allowed herself to be escorted back out by the pair of confessors at either side.

If the Kalar didn't bring anything from the Archives, perhaps the next thing to be detected, would.

There was a whisper, and then a glimmer of energies that quickly grew brighter. There was a brief distortion in space time continuum before a massive ship belched fourth from the tear.

The ship was roughly twice the size of a Reverence II, discarding the typical bulbous look for a pleated almost insectoid look. This massive vessel seemed to be bristling with the latest technology, Turbo-Disruptor banks swiveling idly while massive 208mm MAC emplacements idly swiveled about.

Once the massive ship emerged from FTL, it was flanked by two easily identifiable Reverence IIs, the Pious Inquisitor and the Minor Transgression.

Each Reverence maintained it's position alongside the massive Aschen ship, which so far made no hostile moves.

----

"We're in position, My Lord." Kesslee said as he turned to face the Divine Shadow. The Divine Shadow simply nodded.

"Set a course for Geosynchronous orbit and ready my personal shuttle." Mollem said calmly.

"Your wish, Our Command." Kesslee said as he offered a quick but deep bow.

Mollem slowly turned to the main viewscreen as Kesslee relayed the order to his suboardinate.

"Terran Triremes and unknown vessels, My Lord. What are your orders?" Another Confessor called out.

Mollem slowly slinked into his throne. "Let them contact us first." Mollem said, while the Gigashadow positioned itself roughly behind the Kalar ship, offering an eerie backdrop.

"Please, send the packet," Tambalo nodded, "perhaps there's something we can do to rejoin you with your fleet." His fingers flitted across a nearby holopad. "I'm sending you the coordinates to Terra, more specifically Wing City, our capital." He looked back up at the screen. "Terra is something of a 'melting pot' world. Races and creatures of all shapes and sizes come to live there... it's a key trading location this side of the galaxy. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some Kalar already living on-world." He smiled. "We'd be pleased to receive you and your crew in our city, where you'd be entertained as guests of the Terran-"

A massive energy signature rippled through the Last Hours' scouters as space time began not to bend and twist not far off - a clear sign of an opening wormhole.

"Big bridge, captain," one of the technicians.

"Too big," another said, "must be the Gigashadow. Command told us we'd invited them to watch the inaugurations. Didn't think they'd actually come."

Tambali nodded, turning back to Marshal. "Captain Mallow, as I'm sure your already know, a new ship is about to enter our realspace in a moment. Just standby, this shouldn't take more than a moment."

As the Gigashadow and entourage emerged into the Sol system, the Last Hours would send them a timely hail.

"Greetings, from the Terran National Government," Tambali said, "I trust that the Divine Shadow himself is aboard this ship. We welcome you and your men to Sol. Have you come to see the inaugurations, or are you here on other business?"

"WE GET SIG-" piped up one of the crew, only to suddenly stop when they realized Marshal was glaring at them.

"I am... aware," Marshal said dryly. He placed a paw over the microphone and started giving orders. "Send that data packet, and I want all sensors getting us as much information about the big ship in the middle as fast as possible!"

Crew scattered to their stations where they started slapping as one crew member wandered up and asked, "We'z gonna die?"
Marshal scowled, paw lifting off the microphone. "And to alleviate any concerns!" he roared ferociously into the open channel, his booming voice echoing around the ship and sending the crew member fleeing, "We are not going to die! There is nothing to say that those ships are hostile! If I hear one more sulk, I will have you manxed!"

He cleared his throat, glancing at the microphone before he calmly said, "The data packet has been sent, Captain."

The data would arrive a mix of gibberish, an unfamiliar programming language as to be expected from a species that had grown away from others. But with sufficiently advanced computing it wouldn't be too hard to decipher and before long the rest of the fleet, some one hundred and seventy ships, would be found at the Sagittarius Arm, though only a visual of the ships.

"I will wait for you to finish your business."

/northwest

The ship was unremarkable as it drifted into Sol. The only thing strange about it was that it came from a part of the multiverse never before ventured into by any being.

On board the ship, two beings were awake. They were Oberon, a race very similar in design to the Terrans they were here to learn about. The ship itself, the Expedition IV, was very simply designed. It was in the shape of a pyramid with a narrow base, a shape seen all around the galaxy in ship design.It was unmarked except for two parallel lines intersected by another line, marking that the ship had a skip drive. The little ship just stayed where it was, and the people inside began to prepare for the next part of their mission.

A Gundam in flight mode ascended from Terra into the greater Sol system. It seemed like it was picking up speed- and for good reason. All patrolling entities had been notified that the vessel was stolen property of the Terran National Government. The Gundam zipped on it's way out of the system while behind it the alarm was sound.

As the intense situation unfolded aboard Mettatron, Lucius had taken swift action, initiating a broadcast through the automated station communication system. His voice resonated with urgency and determination, reaching out to potential refugees and citizens who might consider seeking refuge aboard the station.

"Attention, attention! This is Lucius, head of the Deep 17 Foundation. We are under attack. I repeat, Deep 17 is under attack. Seek shelter elsewhere. It is not safe here. We cannot guarantee your safety. Stay away from the station until further notice."

The automated broadcast echoed through the various stellar bands, a stark warning aimed at preventing additional civilian casualties. In the midst of chaos, the priority shifted to protecting those who might unknowingly approach the danger zone.