The infiltration team from the Zelith High Council—unaware of the Mahasimu's internal chaos—touched down under cover of darkness on the shadow-wreathed world of Akaris V, a border planet fortified by the Mahasimu's outer fleet. Cloaked in psionic dampeners and draped in specter-weave armor, the five elite scouts of the Thalorian Recon Vanguard moved through the dense mineral jungles like whispers of wind.
Team Alpha - Zelith Vanguard:
• Commander Elan Virel – a Thalorian with a mind for infiltration and an instinctive connection to the biosphere.
• Tech-Savant Kirra – she handled psionic scramblers and dark-energy override tools.
• Blade Sentinel Oren Zhal – dual-wielded echoplasmic blades with deadly silence.
• Recon Specialist Tavrin Das – master of shadow blending, trained in Mahasimu behavioral mimicry.
• Seer-Liaison Rhessa Volun – a psychic attuned to quantum memory traces.
They had one mission: uncover the Mahasimu's military buildup and assess the true scope of the empire's reach—what none of them realized was that Queen Suama had already begun drawing up plans for the full-scale conquest of the Zelith System.
Gharar – The Iron Womb of Obedience
Meanwhile, deep within the bowels of Gharar, the fate of traitors was being rewritten in silence and steel.
Lady Thalia, now stripped of title and dignity, had been cast into Cell 99-A, a triple-warded oubliette within the Oblivion Clutch—the sector reserved for shadowmarked traitors. The four elite guards—Roko, Jalia, Omari, and Amani—personally escorted her in shadowlock chains, her breath shallow in the recycled death-stale air of the transport vessel. Their squad leader, Captain Nasir, said little.
"Traitor Thalia," Roko had murmured just before sealing her into her cell, "You walk on ground that eats the soul. Speak carefully."
In an adjacent wing, Princess Safi, though spared physical harm under command of the Ancient Queen, faced a crueler punishment—reflection and isolation. Her chamber, woven with psionic dampeners and shadowglass mirrors, confronted her with twisted memories and whispering doubts—a hallucinatory prison designed not to hurt the body, but to erase the will.
A million Umbari guards stood ready around the upper spires of Gharar's Citadel Spinalis, sworn not to strike unless the Ancient Queen herself gave the order. Their stillness was not mercy—it was a warning.
Aboard the Giza Mtuji
Within her obsidian chamber aboard the Giza Mtuji, Queen Suama stood before a starlit viewing port. The celebration had ended. The silence afterward was like a predator holding its breath.
She initiated the holo-call to the Ancient Queen—her mother and the eternal architect of the Mahasimu bloodline. The hologram shimmered into form, vast and veiled in psionic flame.
"You have done well, daughter," came the voice, layered and ancient. "But you should have ended her."
"Safi's blood is royal," Suama replied, "It is not mine to spill." The Ancient Queen's tone shifted, not toward Suama—but toward wrath.
"Prepare the prison. I will speak with the child myself." And the line cut.
Invasion Protocol – Shadow Legion War Room
Elsewhere aboard the Mahasimu dreadnought Kushika Fang, General Kizito met in the shadow-hollow of the war chamber with Vice General Tano and Kia, the strategist of psionic warfare. A full holographic sphere of the Zelith system rotated in their midst.
"We strike from Vorn's Maw," Tano said, marking an entry vector.
"Zelith defenses are fragmented. They don't know what's coming," Kia added, tapping red invasion routes.
But even as they plotted the fall of the Thalor race, they remained unaware of the very infiltration team hiding in plain sight on Akaris V—listening, watching…waiting.