Historicity Book 5: Henchmen

Silence. Not the absence of sound, but the profound, resonant kind that swallowed even the hum of a colossal leviathan adrift in the void. Senior Fleet Commodore Lil'lah Mu-yah, her vibrant blue fingers tapping a rhythmic echo against the briefing room conference table, found it elusive even here, in the supposed stillness of deep space. Her mind, a maelstrom of countless untold destinies, wrestled with the weight of command.

Her eyes, like twin brown dwarf stars, scanned the dimly lit room, catching on her own portrait across the wall. The regulation updo, the deep black uniform—it made her seem menacing, a commander of sinister organizations. She hated the portrait. Outside, the Valiant Starlight, her home, glided through an asteroid ballet, its massive frame casting shadows over a stony audience.

Inside, Lil'lah was about to address her officers, the best in the armada, on a mission entwined with ancestral follies and imminent salvation. A silent crusade to unite an isolated civilization with the cosmos, fulfilling a legacy of redemption and technological awakening. After an eternity lost in thought, the Operations Officers filed in, their chairs scraping, boots shuffling, papers rustling. Three chairs remained vacant, a silent testament to those upholding the ship's safety. The moment arrived.