The Elder council meeting room is large and spacious, the walls and floors made from a smooth grey rock that has become the iconic feature of most Elder buildings. Large tinted windows filtered some of the light to give the room an eerie aesthetic, making their meetings appear more dramatic than they were. The room was at the top of the building, looking down on the rest of the city.

Kadd was huddled in a corner behind some equipment, trying to stay low and not attract any attention. The silent alarm lights flashed red making the room glow, their light revealing Mul’s still body to Kadd. Mul’s face blank and eyes wide open, blood gushing out of a gaping hole in the chest. Kadd could hear sounds coming from the corridor outside the room, loud bangs followed by flashes of light shining from under the door. Kadd stared at Mul, frozen with fear. Suddenly the crystal chandelier in the room shook followed by the rattling of every piece of equipment in the room. It was as if the very foundation of the building was shifting, the tremors managed to help Kadd come to his senses. A few moments passed before Kadd realised the sounds from outside seemed further away, only then did he notice the communications device in Mul’s hand.

Kadd slowly walked towards Mul’s body trying to avoid making eye contact, picked up the device and tried using it. The power button clicked but there was no response, Kadd clicked it frantically a few more times then gave up. I need to get to the communications room Kadd thought, slowly creeping towards the door. The occasional flash of red from the alarms illuminating the way, also revealing the other members of the council lying dead on the cold floor. Kadd slowly opened the door, making a low slushing sound as the door rolled over blood and ooze in the corridor. Kadd could hear alarms blaring from one of the other rooms on the floor, sounds of screaming ang loud bangs coming from one end of the corridor. Fortunately the communications room was on the other end. Walking slowly and staying crouched Kadd eventually made his way to the communications room, the guards lay cold on the floor but the equipment was still intact.

—

“Overseer Gob, Watcher Kar you both need to come to the Observer lab now! We have received a distress signal, its coming from the Elder council.” said Drak

Gob and Kar rushed to the Observer lab, the lab was empty with almost everyone rushing to shelter after the tremors had stopped. Alarms were still blaring, recovering from the shockwaves. Some of the monitors had shattered, leaving shards of broken glass on the floor but the communications device was largely intact. Drak stood in front of a small monitor, the monitor showed several alarms and warnings flashing from the sensors in the Elder council building.

“What happened Drak?,” asked Gob

“Elder Kadd can explain better,” Drak replied, gesturing to the communications device in front of him

“Overseer Gob, the Kom just suddenly attacked us! Elder Mul is dead! Everyone is dead!...I..Im going to die too!,” said Kadd, Gob sensed the anxiety and fear in Kadd’s voice.

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“Elder Kadd, calm yourself. We need you to tell us exactly what happened,” said Kar

It took Kadd a few moments to regain composure, “We escorted the Kom to the Elder council meeting, giving them a tour of our facilities. The entire time the Kom’s demeaner did not change and Mul..Elder Mul felt that it remained unimpressed. So we took it to our meeting room and presented it with some political queries and dillemas in an effort to gain some insight as to how the Kom would react in the situations of our past.” Kadd continued “At the time the Kom seemed cordial, answering questions and posing their own. It all..It all seemed to be going fine but then suddenly it got up and its voice shifted, as if some switch had flipped and there was an entirely different creature in front of us. It raised its arm, and then there was a flash and a bang and with a thud Mul fell to the floor.” Kadd stopped, Gob heard soft sobbing.

Kar used his communications device and contacted the Watcher HQ, instructed a team of Watchers to be dispatched to the council building and then spoke to Kadd directly, “Elder Kadd” emphasising on Elder, hoping that would help Kadd stay calm, “this flash, can you tell us more about it? Where did it originate, did the Kom have some sort of concealed weapon?”

“It…It’s the arm, they have some sort of…” Kadd stopped, over the communications device Gob and Kar heard a loud bang followed by a thud and a splattering sound of sorts, as if someone had dropped some slime on the floor. There was no sound of any sort coming though, except the sound of footsteps walking away.

“Kadd?! Elder Kadd can you hear us?!.,” Gob asked, panic and anxiety clear in Gob’s voice. There was no response. The lab had gone silent, noone said a word and even Kar stood still trying to make sense of what just happened. The low hum of the equipment and the high pitched blaring sound of the alarms were the only sounds in the room. The silence broke when the Watchers contacted Kar, informing him that the Elder council building had been surrounded.

“Move in slow.” said Kar, looking to Gob for further instructions.

“They need to be careful, we still do not know what the Kom are capable of,” Gob said. “And Kar, if they can we need to capture it alive. We need to learn whatever we can from it” Gob’s voice became serious and Kar understood.

“Cannot allow capture.” said a low metallic voice coming from the corner of the room. Everyone fell silent, looking to each other with confusion and shock. The room had an eerie atmosphere now, the voice caught everyone off guard but the voice was unmistakable, it was the Kom. Drak and Gob looked confused at first, Kar was the first to point to the gift the Kom had given Gob. They walked slowly towards it, “A communications device?” asked Drak, “Yes and No. Clearly it can communicate, but I think its purpose was to spy on us,” said Kar.

Moments later, another loud bang, and the Stargazer’s HQ shook again. This time the tremors did not last as long and the shockwave was less intense, but they could feel it nonetheless. Gob looked to Kar.

“Watchers! Report!” Kar said over the communications device.

“Its the council building. It…It’s…it’s gone” they replied

Gob looked outside the window, there was a large column of black smoke emerging from where the council building stood. Even from far away the fires that raged around the building were clearly visible. Gob rushed to the central console in the lab, unlocked a glass panel and pressed a large button. Alarms began blaring all across the building and a faint sound of alarms could be heard in the distance coming from the settlement.

“Watcher Kar, raise a state of emergency planetwide.” Gob said with a stern voice, “We are at war”