The Shadow Council (story)

**The Shadow Council** is a story introducing the eponymous organization.

## Story

**Location: Unknown Abstergo base orbiting Earth, private conference room.**
**- 2183, Aug 22**

Karl Bishop Weyland walked into the conference room with a blazing anger in his eyes. In front of him was the 3 meter tall metal frame of Samuel Hayden - the "man" was an intimidating beast, something that could easily break any of the men in the room in two. His voice was a grating echo created by an artificial synthesizer, "Greetings, Mr. Weyland, we were waiting for you."

Hayden was standing by his designated seat in the room; it was too small for him, in fact, the whole room seemed too small for his mechanical body. Seated to the left of the metal giant were Wallace Breen and the Illusive Man. Weyland's chair was an empty seat on the other side of the room opposite to the Illusive Man. The two had turned in their seats to greet him. Wallace was an ordinary, unmodified man, the only one present in the room - the Illusive man was close enough to fully human, but those dark, glowing blue eyes seemed to challenge that. Weyland wondered what other prosthetics and enhancements the Illusive man might've had done to his body.

The Illusive Man's voice was deep and unique, it sounded grovelly but also soft, calming even. He gave Weyland a nod and spoke with the usual elegance to be expected of him. "Mr. Weyland, we were worried you weren't going to show up."

Weyland began walking to his seat as he replied, his voice was deep and grating like the Illusive Man's, but harsher, more rough around the edges. "Skip the pleasantries Jack, we've got business to attend to."

"Well, that's why we're here," replied the Illusive Man.

As Weyland sat down, a voice from the other end of the room spoke, this was the voice of "The Director", the current head of Abstergo Industries, and the leader of the Shadow Council. They were not present for the meeting, nor did they have a holographic projection, they simply transmitted their voice to the meeting.

"I've had to call this meeting early this month to address numerous concerns that have risen to prominence in the recent days. First of all, I will not tolerate infighting among our groups. Cerberus and Weyland, if your forces come into conflict again, I will order sanctions on both of your parties."

Weyland sat forward in his chair and pointed a finger at the Illusive Man. "It was his forces which attacked our facility, they disrupted our research and probably aided in the destruction of the base."

The Illusive Man crossed his legs and leaned forward at the accusing finger, staring down at Mr. Weyland intensely. "When my assets showed up, Mr. Weyland and ONI had already lost complete control of the facility. The Xenomorphs were overrunning the site, and my men offered support in cleaning out the hive, but Weyland's combat androids fired on sight."

"They were ordered to cleanse the entire facility of all witnesses, no one else was supposed to be there!"

"You nearly unleashed a dangerous bio-weapon which could spell doom for the entire galaxy, including humanity. It was obvious you weren't able to regain control of the facility with your own forces. If we had worked together like I attempted, then maybe you wouldn't have lost it."

Black-Box, the AI which represented ONI, had cut in. "Mr. Weyland, you ceased cooperating with all Council forces when you ordered your Androids to fire on all personnel - whilst we agreed that the survivors needed to be eliminated, there was still data which needed to be retrieved before the facility was purged, and your teams got in the way of that."

The Director spoke again "I agree. Cerberus shouldn't have intervened, and Weyland ceased cooperating when he decided to take matters into his own hands. This is a very final warning to both of you, cooperate in the future, or you will face very harsh penalties. I won't hesitate to strip assets away from either of you."

The two stared at each other for a moment before sharing a small nod.

This time the Director addressed ONI. "Black-Box, there were numerous factions which showed up at the Xenomorph research facility, inlcuding the Galactic Federation and a Yautja, both of which are troubling, but the most perplexing faction was a rogue militia group. In fact, this was their first appearance, wasn't it?"

"The Vindicates, sir. This appears to be the first skirmish the group has had against our forces directly, though the one in the Iron Man armour, the Vindicator, has appeared a few times before. We believe the operator of the armour is Rhodey Stark."

The Illusive Man interjected. "She first appeared on the scene when she freed Samus Aran. Since then, the two have broken into a number of Cerberus facilities."

The Unitology representative, Jacob Danik, spoke up for the first time. "They've managed to recover the only survivor of the USG *Ishimura*, which would have been a valuable asset in our studies..."

It was Weyland's turn to speak again, "Since the Xenomorph facility, soldiers of this new faction have outright attacked Weyland facilities and shipyards, even going to so far as to pirate some of our frigates."

The Illusive Man added to his statement. "They also stole one of our damaged frigates. Guerilla raids have been conducted on my facilities by soldiers wearing the blue crescent V on their armour as well. We managed to capture one for interrogation, but it appears the soldiers aren't allowed to know where their base of operations is. Clever. Another raid was conducted to rescue the soldier, which made them suffer more casualities. This suggests that the group is ideological and emotionally driven, and flawed as such."

"That matches Stark's personality. I wouldn't be surprised if she was behind the Vindicates."

Black-Box projected some data and visual images over the table. "Intelligence suggests that the Vindicates were originally recruited from entirely human groups, primarily dissenting and ex-UNSC members. These recruits tend to be ideological in nature as well, unhappy with methods in which operations were conducted. They also appear to include mercenaries and soldiers from even the organisations in this room such as Cerberus and the IMC, though the screening process in which soldiers go through seems unprecedented. We've had difficulty planting agents within the organisation, and the very few we've managed to get in haven't reported back. This is likely because contact with the outside galaxy is heavily monitored, or most of the few agents we've managed to get in might have actually been caught. The human-only recruitment only lasted a few days, more recent intelligence has shown us that they now recruit from all corners of the galaxy. Galactic Federation, Citadel, and even some dissenting Covenant species like the Kig-Yar. Aside from that, all we know about the group is that they operate out of one large base, what appears to be the old Watchtower from the Age of Heroes, which they are working around the clock to repair and restore to its former glory. They are small in numbers and ships now, but are growing with every passing day."

Samuel Hayden had now decided to contribute to the conversation, addressing BB. "Have you discerned what their motives are exactly? Aside from harassing Weyland and Cerberus bases."

Spyglass commented, "No described Vindicate units have made incursions into the Frontier. Our only concern is the Militia at this time, though assistance can be provided if requested."

BB continued, "At the moment, their main goal seems to be building their forces and establishing a prominent base of operations, but their focus as far as threats are concerned seems to be on parasitic and reanimated entities, those such as the Xenomorphs, Husks and Necromorphs. They also seem to be going up against the Collectors."

The Illusive Man leaned forward in his chair, igniting a cigar from his pocket. "Their goals might be somewhat synonymous with ours, they even revived the Shepard twins, something Cerberus was hoping to accomplish. Perhaps we can use them..."

"That doesn't seem plausible," BB replied, "Ideologically, it appears they don't want humanity to dominate, but to work alongside other species for prosperity. They only study these threats to determine means to neutralise them, not harness their potential. They don't look at the bigger picture, they don't consider other possibilities, and, for example, they consider groups like Weyland, who study the practical use of Xenomorphs, as dangerous."

The Illusive man chuckled softly. "Hm. I wonder why, they don't have a good track record for species containment."

Weyland leaned back in his seat. "You keep laughing, Jack. While Cerberus focuses on the boogyman hiding in darkspace, Weyland's projects focus on saving humanity from its current doom. Once the Xenomorphs are weaponised against our enemies the so-called Reapers won't be a problem."

The Illusive man banged his fist on the table "Dammit Karl, if you're not careful you'll doom the entire galaxy with those things, including humanity!"

Samuel Hayden's deep, raspy echoed voice calmly interrupted the conversation. "Calm down friends, we're all here in the interests of humanity. We all have the same goal, but there is a reason we each are working on different means to achieve it. Once all of us complete our goals, humanity will be stronger then ever. Supersoldiers, Biotics and robotic infantry will litter our military forces, our energy needs will be met, our fleets will be stronger than even the Covenant could dare hope, and if Weyland can figure out a way to control the Xenomorphs, to have them fight alongside our ever strengthening forces. It'll be a good asset to defend humanity with. But I also share the Illusive Man's concerns, we must be vigilant, lest we bring about our own destruction."

Wallace Breen spoke up for the first time in the meeting, "The Combine possess rare intelligence and technology, perhaps I could incquire about their knowledge of techniques for mind control, which would help us both keep control of our forces and subdue the Xenomorphs to fight for us."

The Director addressed everyone. "The only way we can all accomplish our goals in time now is if we work together. I expect everyone to share research data openly within our organisation, projects and assets will no longer be contained to one group. This should help speed up our progress significantly."

Weyland piped up "But Director, that further exposes us to leaks."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures Mr. Weyland, we can no longer afford the upkeep of secrecy at the cost of time, we're on the edge here. Alien invaders could be on Earth's doorstep at any moment, despite the Citadel's intervention, so we can't afford any more infighting."

"What are we going to do about the Vindicates?" asked Hayden.

"We're going to unify, all of forces will begin working closer together, I want to see further integration as we share resources and research data. These Vindicates seem to only be targeting Weyland and Cerberus at this stage, so we will fortify their facilities, and ONI will continue its work gathering intelligence on the headquarters and leader of the group."

Weyland spoke up again "Can't we do anything about Stark? It's obviously her, if ONI launches an official investigation-"

The Director interrupted, "Absolutely not. If it is her, then she chose the prime time to operate. Stark Industries is in the middle of several billion credit weapons and ship contracts to the UNSC, and we need those assets built if we are to survive the war."

Weyland grunted. "Hmpf, contracts she stole from Weyland-Yutani, the IMC and UAC."

The Director retorted Weyland. "Stark's technology has always exceeded anything you've been able to create. It was the logical choice, we hoped it could help bring her into the Council."

"I knew her father when he was on the Council, we all did, but let me talk to her. Maybe I can convince her... she would be an extraordinarily valuable asset if she cooperated," stated the Illusive Man.

The Director thought about that proposition for a moment before answering, "You can try."

Weyland seemed displeased "When groups leave the council, usually they are dissolved. A couple names come to mind, the Mendel-Gruman Corporation for example, or the Resources Development Administration..."

"The RDA was dissolved because it became obsolete with the advancement of technology, and the Mendel-Gruman Corp because it went rogue and became a threat," said The Illusive Man.

"And what do you think Stark Industries has become? A minor inconvenience?"

It was well known on the Council that the Illusive Man harboured some admiration for the Stark family. "The Starks are largely responsible for ushering in the Age of Advancement, they are debatably the reason we as a species made it this far."

"And the Age of Heroes, look how that turned out," Weyland added.

The Director spoke. "The Age of Heroes and the Age of Advancement have made us what we are today, have given us the technology and knowledge we needed to advance humanity, and we need Stark's technology to help us win this war."

Weyland continued to push the Director. "What we don't need is her and her toy soldiers disrupting and stealing our assets! These Vindicates might become more of a problem than her contracts are worth in the future if we don't shut them down now. We are basically funding this rebel group by giving her the money to produce weapons for the UNSC."

The Director seemed to sympathise with Weyland "It's a difficult situation we find ourselves in, but for now, we're stuck with it. We need to win this war, but when's it's over... the situation will be different. We'll have Stark's company and her servitude, or her head, I promise you that."

"Is this Council still considering deploying the Xenomorphs onto Covenant controlled worlds?" The Illusive Man asked.

The Directed answered him directly "The use of such dangerous bio-weapons is illegal under the Citadel conventions, and fighting alongside them, we don't wish to anger them in any way. Truth be told they've bought us valuable time, and even given us some small hope of winning without drastic means. The Xenomorphs, whilst uncontrolled, were always going to be a last resort effort against the Covenant. If they retake Reach or find Sol, they will be deployed, won't they, Mr. Weyland?"

"You're goddamn right," Weyland answered, his resolve strong.