Terminal Echoes (Piece 2): The Gathering of Shadows

Terminal Echoes

Chapter 2: The Gathering of Shadows

The halls outside the Terminal Room were quiet, too quiet it seemed...for this time of the afternoon.

Spoon walked with purpose through the polished obsidian corridor, datapad clutched tightly in his clawed fingers. The soft underglow of the stone beneath his feet shimmered with shifting runes, responding to his clearance level. Sector by sector, the lights recognized him — Analyst-Class IV, Central Logic Council — and permitted his passage deeper into the restricted sectors.

Past the molten-silica gates.

Beyond the memory vaults.

Into the Hall of the Silent War.

The Hall of Silent War, central dais.

This was where the Echo Kin were trained, taught, and thus…born.

They did not live here… no one lived here. But this is where they came to be chosen. The Hall was enormous and circular, hollowed from the rib of the mountain itself. Black banners hung in silence. A ring of dormant pylons, each one humming faintly with arcanotech, lined the inner perimeter like sleeping sentinels. In the center stood a single platform, currently rising from the floor — with Quarn already waiting atop it.

Quarn did not turn as Spoon approached.

“They’ll be here soon,” he said, gruff voice echoing faintly.

“Have you decided who leads the mission?” Spoon asked, adjusting his collar. “We’ll need someone with a neutral past. No vendettas. No politics.”

Quarn smirked. “Then that eliminates half of them.”

Moments later, one of the pylons lit up — a vertical slit of light — followed by another, and then another. Three figures emerged, stepping through the veil of security one at a time.

The first was Varnak “Drift” Siltblade — lean, pale-skinned, goggles pushed up into a wild nest of silver dreadlocks. He was known for navigating unstable tunnels in total silence. Drift never spoke unless it was necessary... and even then, only in whispers.

Second came Mekta Coilfire, a wiry female with cybernetic arms forged from recovered surface-tech. Her eyes blinked in alternating hues...always scanning, always analyzing. She was a demolitions expert and a hacker, rolled into one twitchy, brilliant package. Mekta took a step forward, bowed to Lord Spoon, tipping her hood as if it were a hat. “Master Demo, sends his regards.”

Lastly, Brud Ironshank arrived — massive, quiet, with a forge-burned breastplate and a scar that ran from his cheek to his collarbone. No one knew where Brud had been the last five years, but every Echo Kin operative who’d ever served under him had come back alive.

Spoon gave a low nod. “Solid picks.”, he said. “Mekta, give K.P.…err….Demo, my thanks for the equipment he supplied on the last mission.”

Mekta nodded, and bowed to the officer.

These….are some of… the best agents we’ve got,” Quarn said. “But they haven’t worked together. Not like this.”

Spoon smiled and nodded, “Understood.”, he replied. Then…he suddenly turned towards the shadows, a hand to his ear, holding his earpiece in place as a voice crackled thru. The Echo Kin operatives standing nearby, silently, at attention, awaiting orders.

Lord Spoon and Director Quarn

“Sir Bwompy informs me there is also activity that will need to be investigated, near the main node in tunnel 9. That’s the tunnel that eventually connects to the human subway system beneath the city…..were going to need a second team soon. The humans know of the entrance to tunnel 9…last year we removed parasitic access points they had covertly installed to leech off the node there, and I think we all remember what happened after that. So……”

Spoons voice trailed off, as did his thoughts.

“So…what?”, Quarns deep voice echoed in the hall.

“So, perhaps Gharek should be involved to direct a mission…..to the north….”, Spoon let the words hang on the air, “…and….I think its time…for Viktar to join the brotherhood, as well, and perhaps go with Gharek on this mission. It would be his first, but he is already qualified for the…possibilities. Plus he knows the tunnels that lead to the subway better than anyone, as he has human contacts in the city beyond. I still believe it is his destiny, to join the Echo Kin….his father would be proud. Perhaps now is the time.”

“Very well, lets hope your right, Brother Spoon. Send for Gharek and Viktar, and whoever else you deem necessary, for a team to go North to tunnel 9. Lets engage Coda about the most recent development detected near Sector 7, and send Mekta, Drift, and Brud…on their way.”

A sudden flicker crossed the hall. A pulse of light.

Coda’s voice entered — soft and resonant.

“I have uploaded partial mission parameters to their neural slates,” the AI said. “Each has already consented to limited mind-sync during field operations.”

Spoon turned to the glowing glyph now appearing mid-air. “Coda, what does your forecast suggest?”

“Interception likely within first forty-eight hours. Human activity near Shaft Twelve has increased by 34%. There is... another variable.”

Quarn raised an eyebrow. “Another?”

There was a pause.

“A leak,” Coda said. “Possibly internal. I cannot confirm source.”

The room fell into a heavy silence. Even the pylons seemed to dim.

Brud Ironshank broke the silence. His voice was like gravel across steel.

“Then we don't whisper,” he said. “We move fast. We burn clean.”

Spoon nodded slowly, processing.

“We’ll need a phantom trail. Misdirection on the outer feeds. Let them follow something that isn’t there.”

“I have prepared a false echo for upload,” Coda replied. “They will chase smoke while you climb.”

Quarn stepped off the platform. “Go. You have twelve hours to gear, plan, and vanish.”

Drift said nothing. Mekta cracked her knuckles, mechanical fingers whirring. Brud simply nodded once, then turned to disappear into the shadows.

Spoon looked up toward the unseen ceiling above.

Somewhere beyond all this, beyond the stone and circuitry and silent loyalty,

the humans were watching.

And the Echo Kin …. the shadows of Galdrek …. had just begun to move.