Sensus enjoyed the unsettled look his fellow counsel members had when they looked into his glowing eyes.

“And where is our new colonel?” asked Salamanca.

“Prepping for his first assignment,” Sensus replied.

“Enough of that,” said Magistrate Tayi. “He is the general. He can appoint whover he wants. Do you dispute which administrators I appoint, Duke Hector? I dare you to try. We need to discuss this talk of riding Albion into battle. Of what sense does this make, I cannot know. Will you apraise us, general? Make us understand your thoughts on this.”

Sensus scanned the room. All eyes were on him, especially the duchess’s. He threw a few words out to stall, meanwhile breathing in the cool dusty air of the counsel boardroom. The pale blue light seeping through the high glass floor gleamed dully off the large table they all sat around, despite its glossy sheen. He was beginning to hate this room.

He leaned forward, folding his hands together. Here goes a whole lot of nothing. “The question is, of course, why. Why would I take a vessel full of civilians into the most dangerous combat situation in living memory. Albion has survived, no, dominated many encounters during its long sojourn. These could rightly be called skirmishes compared to what Red Orak has waiting for us. But to judge the power we can bring to bear by what has been of little challenge is to show a lack of faith.”

While he relished Salamanca’s confused expression, he hurried not to let the duke take the floor. “We all remember the Battle of Aldebaran. It was our first major encounter with the Surge, and where we Harbingers discovered mighty Albion. We’d heard the stories of the wandering Eden, and most of us doubted its existence. But crazier were those of us who believed, because e we believed out of desperation. Had we known a wandering civilization would not only offer us shelter, but rain fire on the Surge fleet, we might have prepared differently.”

The other counselors were being patient, nodding as if they understood what he was getting at. Just keep talking. “You have all been on the ship since the beginning. Some of you even remember when it was first discovered. I know how it must seem to you for a latecomer such as myself to propose taking your home into battle. Especially when that latecomer is a Harbinger; who is not as susceptible to you as death. Some of you might even think of us as interlopers, just passing through, exploiting Albion for all it has before we leave. What then can I say to convince you that my intentions for taking your home into a deadly warzone are pure?”

“I believe that your intentions are pure,” said Salamanca. “What I doubt is the outcome. Therefore, I dispute only the rightness of your decision. Not your motives.”

“None of us acuse you of warmongering, General,” said a counsel woman whose name escaped Sensus. “You’ve always fought bravely to defend us, but have never encouraged conflict. Your history of nobility has not gone unnoticed.”

Sensus bowed his head. “Thank you, maddam.”

“Fellow counsellors,” said Salamanca, “as we all agree that the general’s character has till now been beyond reproach, I suggest we focus our deliberation on the merits of his desire to involve Albion in a war against the most devastating military forces our galaxy has ever known. I would like to hear the general speak first, and then any supporters. Move to motion.”

Hands were raised and the motion was passed.

Salamanca opened his hands towards Sensus. “General, the table is yours.”

Sensus quietly sighed. He’d hoped to trigger a back and forth. “This ship posseses technology that is for all intents and purposes miraculous. We’ve been reaping the benefits of those miracles...”. He paused, scanning the room. Hector owned almost half the residential properties on the station, earning him his dukedom, and Omikami owned as much commercial realestate. The others had the ship divvied up between them. He knew he needed to tread carefully. “And rightly so. You say I’ve been quick to defend Albion. It’s true. And you are its stewards. While we’re spinning up and seeking out threats, all of you are here keeping the population healthy and thriving.”

“General,” said Salamanca, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I want to hear the practicality of your proposition. May we please skip the platitudes? There’s a time and place for politics. Stay in the game long enough and I’ll teach you.”

There was a bit of laughter, to which Sensus smiled curtly. “I don’t intend to charge Albion into Orak’s fleet. What I propose is that we move the ship in range to use as a carrier, and the craft we’ve built, including fighters and larger vessels, will do the fighting.”

“To what end?” asked Lorenzo. “What is the goal? Is there an attainable objectiove? We can’t manufacture, man and deploy an infinite supply of fighting ships.”

“No we cannot. I will point out that the vessels we’ve been constructing operate with as much automation as possible. As for the objective, it is to secure a beach head in the ring of worlds being targeted by Orak and prevent the activation of a series of devices. Once we drive him back and secure a fully operational base, the ship can withdraw to a safe distance.”

“And what of the Surge, General?” asked Salamanca.

“You doubted they were a concern before, Duke. Have you learned something that’s changed your mind?”

“I’m just trying to understand your thinking.”

“My thinking is simple, Hector. Our entire plane of existence is being invaded, and it’s being invaded here, near where we, after wandering with no direction for centuries, happen to be, Our galaxy is in shambles and we have the most powerful defense platform any sentient species has ever known. What I ask is a tremendous thing to even consider, I know, but we must consider it. We use this marvel to defend our home.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The duchess leaned forward. “General, suppose we are meant to use Albion to flee to safety?”

“Meant, Duchess?”

She looked down as she thought. “”Is our responsibility as stewards to risk the ship’s destruction? Or is it not our responsibility to use it as the means to retreat from this enemy to a safe place?”

Sensus let out an audible sigh. “Assuming there is a safe place. If we don’t make a stand, then we leave our galaxy, and possibly others, vulnerable to this threat.”

Archiater Meredith Maripoza stood. “I can’t take part in this assembly. This topic does not need to be discussed.” She turned and left the chamber.

Sensus caught a frown on Salamanca’s face. He went on. “We stood our ground against the Tangnets before, but we didn’t finish them off, and now they’re back. We don’t have the numbers we had before, but we have Albion.”

Two more stood and left. Sensus thought he heard shouting when the door opened. He continued. “The real goal isn’t simply to use Albion’s technology to fight, but to find away to seal off Briah for good. Without the threat of the Tangents we will be free to rubuild on a galactic scale.”

Another stood and left, then another, then a group of four.

“Well,” said Salamanca, “You have fewer of us to convince than I thought you did.”

The shouting grew loud enough to hear through the door, which opened to a frightened pair of guards.

“Your Graces,” said the seniour guard, “there’s panic outside.”

“Comms are down,” said the duchess.

Everyone checked the consoles set in the table in front of their seats. Sensus did as well, concerned what might cause an internal comm failure. He rose and stormed out into the hallway. People were in fact running aimlessly and shouting. Some even wept. He summoned his battle voice. “Everyone!” The panic stopped, everyone giving the general their full attention. “What are all of you frightened of?”

“We’re being attacked,” said a young man.

“By whom?” Sensus asked.

The young man shrugged.

Sensus scanned the others in the hallway and they all starred back blankly.

This ship is doomed, he thought, unless I can discipline the population. “Everyone remain calm. Go to the counsel chamber and stay there, and stay calm, untill I can confirm what’s happening.” He went back into the chamber. “I’m ordering people to wait in here. Your graces, will you come with me so we can learn what’s happening?”

The duke and the duchess both rose and followed him through th labrynth of hallways to the nearest transit hub. There was one car left, and a crowd of six people running towards it.

“We need that car,” Sensus said, his voice just beneath a shout.

Only one of the six people stopped. He repeated his warning, but even when the duke and duchess chimed in, the people kept runing for the car. Sensus raised his hands and gathered a condensed orb of kinetic force. Before the small mob reached the car, he launched the orb ahead and stretched it around the car, knocking the people back. They rose one by one and pressed at the kinetic field, too panicked to be shocked or confused.

“Cover your eyes,” he told the graces. He generated a blinding field of light and the mob fell back, clutching at their faces as they writhed on the floor. “Take us to the CIC,” he told the driver on enetering the car.

The panic was much worse in other districts, especially the less affluent residential blocks. Twice the driver had to stop to avoid hitting people who’d been pushed onto the road, and once Sensus had to lean out his window and blind a crowd to prevent them from swarming their car.

“There will be repercussions for that,” said Salamanca.

Sensus turned and looked back over his shoulder at the duke. “From you?”

Salamanca put up his hands. “General, I am not your enemy. I wish you’d...”

“Look!” shouted Omikami.

Sensus looked where she pointed and gasped. They were driving along a lengthy bay of large windows, and what should have been an angle of the ship’s vast, enneagramic curve, was rising and shifting forward, revealing a massive conduit fillied with flowing white liquid.

“It glows,” said Omikami.

The conduit flexed and suddenly contracted, then expanded from the rising piece of the ship. Sensus worried for the people behind that expanse of hyperfiber plating as it rotated backward. The conduit emerged from the groove it rested in, revealing itself to in fact be a luminious tendril that groped for the stars.

“Driver,” said Sensus, “hurry!”

He did, speeding along the road and took several shortcuts. Sensus was glad they chanced upon such a talented driver. The ship began to change along their path, but they’d turned towards the CIC in time to be on the right side of the forming rift. Sensus felt relieved that the gravity did not change and there were was no depressurization, knowing that people elsewhere were safe.

“I wish the comms weren’t down,” he said, watching ongoing panic outside. “The people need direction.”

“Listen,” said Omikami. She lowered her window and Sensus heard a voice that came from everywhere at once. It was Eno.

CHILDREN OF ALBION, DO NOT FEAR. BE STILL AND SAFE, AND GO CALMLY TO YOUR HOMES. YOU WILL BE PROTECTED.

The driver stopped. “We’re hear sirs,” he said.

They practically leapt out of the car and hurried across the plaza to the large doors to Command Center Alpha. Sensus hardened his aura and spread it three meters outward, firmly moving people aside until they entered the blue-lit command information center.

Commandant Preston and Admiral Chatelaine both saluted.

“Sitrep,” Sensus commanded.

“Eno came alive and took control,” said the commandant. “She announced that someone named Ezekiel would be leading us to the promised land. We tried to reach everyone, anyone, including the council chamber, but Eno shut down the comms. We sent messengers, but considering this...” he punched some commands on the tactical holo table and a strange image appeared, “I doubt most of them reached their destinations.

“It’s a miracle we made it,” said Omikami.

Sensus examined the hologram over the table. The vessel had completely changed, taking on the form of eight bent wings sprouting from a central, diamond shaped hull. “Is this Albion’s true shape?”

“We guess it’s the ship’s combat formation,” said Chatelaine.

Sensus reeled from a sudden wave of energy that flashed through the room. The blue lights went dark, then came back on white and brilliant. The humans all shaded their eyes, but Sensus walked slowly throughout the room, marveling at the strange tendrils of light that had formed in small clusters in the air. They filled the CIC, forming high and low. He reached out to touch one and it wrapped itself around his fingers.

“General,” said Omikami.

Sensus turned to the duchess who was shielding her eyes.

“Do you not see them?” he asked.

She looked around the room, then shook her head.

The light flashed, then was gone, and the room was as it was.

“Jesus, Hermes and Imogen,” gasped the commandant. “Our speed...”

Sensus couldn’t interperate the symbols on the tactical table, but he discerned from Preston that the ship was moving incredibly fast. “Where are we going?”

Preston looked to a group of crewmen seated around an island of consoles. “Lieutenant Hwang?”

“Calculating, sir,” she replied. “We’re on a direct course to Bindhu Prime. And sir, when I say direct, I mean direct.”

“Display,” Preston commanded.

Adams tapped a series of buttons on her holographic interface and the image of Albion was replaced by a star chart. Albion's course was a straight line, not bending to avoid asteroids, planets or stars.