A hush rapidly enveloped the chamber as she entered. Most of those present turned their heads and eyes downward in a show of reverent respect. Nearly all of the remaining ones at least looked away. A few, and Hope noted which ones, watched her as she continued into the room. Their eyes never met hers, but they also never left her.
“Revered One,” an older member of the administrator genus addressed her solemnly. His quietly reverential attitude was reflected by several of the others present.
Hope regarded him without expression. Except for the occasional individual with ambitions more typical of the warrior genus, those among the administrators were generally harmless—frequently pedantic and tiresome, but usually harmless.
“Your insight is required,” one of the warrior genus informed her.
He was large and covered by a thick layer of crimson red armor. This told her that he had been part of many campaigns, many of them in open space, and had a strong bond with his symbiote.
Required? He was definitely one to watch, Hope noted. It was not a word that someone who followed the ritual forms of respect would use in her presence.
One of the other elder administrators approached her diffidently. “There has been an incident in the outer worlds, Revered One,” he said. His voice was soft with age. “On one of the Human worlds.”
Hope was certain that her reaction, however slight, was visible to almost everyone present.
“Show me.”
The elder administrator nodded slightly and stepped aside, clearing the way so that Hope could approach the large table in the middle of the room.
Suspended above it, paused in time, was an orbital view of a gray-green world. Even more evident in the foreground was a trio of very large, heavily-armed battle cruisers.
“Continue it,” the thickly-clad warrior ordered.
Hope watched as the three enormous vessels began a concerted assault on the planet.
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