Four individuals sat in a circle in front of a long, white cylinder-shaped hologram projected on a black opaque base. The room was pitch-black, with only occasional glimmers of white light that illuminated the floor and walls. 

A white-lit path b to the fifth and remaining seat as its occupant grew closer with the click of their heels.

“Veraseem erka tas, Emelia-sul.” A deep and hoarse voice greeted.

Emelia, finally revealed in the centered hologram’s glowing light, smiled with a turn of her head. Her rose-pink hair shimmered with her tilt, her skin a tint lighter.

“It’s nice to see you as well, Amamus-sul. But please speak in Englysian, so everyone here can understand.” She responded with a nod.

The Nor’cuur male, a white-furred beast with inverted pointing ears, nodded with a re-cross of his long legs. His white federation blazer was wrapped around his hips, exposing his muscular figure. His eyes were obscured by the thick fur surrounding his face, but his amusement was unmistakable in the form of a grin. The hair around his mouth was shaped like jagged teeth, adding to the intimidating effect of his already fearsome appearance.

Emelia’s glass-like lounge chair glowed a light blue as she sat beside the Nor’cuur.

The hologram in the middle of the room began to ripple until morphing into the silhouette of a humanoid male with white skin and hair, their features both handsome and refined. The holographic profile opened its eyes, revealing a pair of glowing maroon pupils.

“Rasuume.” The hologram’s soothing voice yet commanding voice beckoned. “We will begin the Aestero Brodige for each representing sector, followed by a debrief of current events and other unlisted items. First, Gen Mistyi-sul, representing Gala Fol.”

A Nachtmere female rose from their grey-glowing chair. Her skin was white, with blotches of black scattered across her upper torso and arms until it grew to cover their face like a dark mask. Their eyes were shaped like crescents, with their right being a darker shade of lavender than the other. Their long black tail was jagged and glistened like it was made of metal. The tip was like a miniature dragon, with a sharp snout and ears that swayed ever so often.

She wiggled from her seat, her toes barely touching the ground, before she threw herself off with a huff. She then adjusted her black-alloyed skirted uniform around her neck.

“Thanks for having me here again.” Mistyi bowed with her bent forearm centered at her neck. “As you know, Commander Akari is currently stationed at the Iomega Hubble Zone for support against the rise of the Xegantine Regiments, so I’ll be reporting in her place.”

A set of holographic maps appeared in front of all the seated individuals. Then several images and graphs blinked next to them in smaller windows.

“Regarding the Xegantine, while our casualty reports show that we haven’t sustained any casualties thanks to our autonomous drone strikes, they’re still holding their ground by stationing forces at the lower and upper gates.”

Next to her, a Kilese male let out an audible sigh. He sat with his long, black fingers crossed in front of his face, slumped in his chair. His hair, as opaque as the night sky, waved like an open flame while his body glimmered with twinkling circular lights as if he were made of stars and miniature planets. Unlike his associates, his uniform was black, with an intertwined M and B on his left breast pocket.

Mistyi’s eyelids drew down as she turned her head. “Would you like to add anything, Sheanu-sul?”

Sheanu rested both his hands on the ends of his armchair. “I don’t think we should waste any more time and get down to what we’re all really here to discuss.”

Amamus gripped his hand into a tight ball which cracked as he let a rumble come from his throat. 

Emilia rested both her arms on the top of her knee while sighing. “Please give the girl some respect.”

“We normally have a Brodige every third fron-cycle to discuss affairs. This one was called abruptly, meaning that something of interest took place.” Sheanu, mattered of fact, as he brushed back of wavering hair.

The holograph of the Ya’valtian male rippled. He then nodded his head.

“Sheanu-nul is correct in their assumption that this meeting was called for something other than briefings and reports.”

Mistyi slowly walked back over to her chair and plopped down.

“I’m assuming it has something to do with the mecha brute assault that occurred a few rotations ago.” Amamus stood from his chair while snapping his fingers.

Pictures of a robust purple cyborg with limbs and innards pulled from its stomach circled the room.

“Aqu Rol has been busy dissecting our latest specimen. This battle suit is the first of its class, harnessing extensive tech and creative engineering. The suit has several undocumented alloys, but they are harder than sodden on the carpartic scaling system. Its use of bioelectric fields to mimic reflective plates and selective positioning via the internal command of the host s how it generated a stunning performance of gunplay.”

“Please don’t mock those who died during the attack with your enthusiasm.” Emilia chided.

“My apologies for the excitement.” Amamus coughed and cleared his throat. “I could keep going on about the specs of this suit, but putting into short terms… It’s something we’ve never encountered before.”

“Do we still not know how he breached into Aestero in the first place?” Emilia asked.

“Ah, that would be thanks to the suit’s cloaking mechanism,” Amamus answered. “It’s responsive to particle densities of several types, making us raise our optical metamaterial level to six due to its ability to bend light and shadows around itself. Depending on the strain allowed on the host, they could stay invisible for starlets without detection.”

“Wasn’t your division’s candidate the person who took out the mecha brute?” Amamus looked over to Emilia.

“Yes, fortunately, Patroller Miya was on the scene and helped with the disaster before it got any worse.”

Mistyi’s eyes scanned the floor. She then shook her head. “A new Patroller? That’s rare… Were they just newly inducted?”

“That was the second article of discussion, in addition to the prior brute attack.” The Ya’valtian hologram stated.

Sheanu sat down in his chair as Emilia raised from hers.