The Beginning of the Age of Raiders.

The Shadow Council of Eight reconvened on Z'ha'dum. The Great One silently looked over the rest of her councillors, blocking off her innermost thoughts and plans from the others so they could not tell what she was thinking while they were speaking to themselves about their current plans and agendas as well as the events going on in the galaxy at large. They knew she was there. They knew she was listening to them. Like herself, they were keeping their innermost thoughts out of their minds, but some things leaked over to her.

No self-respecting member of their kindred would be able to hide everything unless they concentrated hard. However, she felt their respect, fear, and envy and hatred towards her.

Someone was likely going to overthrow her at some later date.

The Council of Eight had been meeting frequently while they had received messages from their Drakh servants and other servant cultures bound to their will. Hyperspace was recovering from the large number of human nuclear weapons detonating deep inside the hyperspace layers, generating tremendous waves and storms to allow the remaining human population to escape which made star travel virtually impossible. That was changing right now, with the major races in the current era venturing out of their star systems and remapping the hyperspace beacons.

The Shadows had learnt several races had tried to look for an alternative for interstellar travel but they hadn't had any luck. All of the races of the galaxy were conditioned to see the jump gates and hyperspace as the only method for interstellar travel. Even the First Ones on the whole had discounted the use of any other method of space travel, although many of them had explored the possibilities of warping space.

It had occurred to the Great One to have the Drakh secretly and quietly introduce the other races to the Maze tunnels, but in the end, she had decided against the notion; there were dozens of forms of chaos, but while the Shadows preferred the strain which was promoted and grown out of war and conflict, this one worked just as well.

She had hoped that due to their isolation for a galactic year some of the races could have done something constructive with their time to grow, and while a few of them had made some headway in devising research into finding a way out of the confines of their systems and territories, nothing had come from it which only made the Great One consider the possibility of creating a hyperspace storm of some description in isolated regions within each races territories, just to see what kind of growth would come from the chaos.

The Great One opted to consider that at a later date while she listened to her councillors.

The galaxy is wracked with glorious chaos! One of the councillors jeered. Some of them have endured famines on their various worlds, but now hyperspace is being reopened for them there is the possibility each of the colonies has learnt how to grow on their own.

Yes. The Drakh and the Streib have made great efforts in preying on those colonies; hopefully, with luck, when they rejoin the whole, they will have evolved sufficiently.

And all thanks to the humans. I always believed they had potential; I have always admired races that have a great effect on other races, a much older councillor said.

Unfortunately, the hyperspace storms are beginning to dissipate; within a year or so, they will have died down.

True. But I think we should take advantage of it.

What do you mean? The Great One interjected.

The Shadow councillor turned to the Great One. I believe we should launch small attacks on the homeworlds of some of the powers out there.

Intrigued the Great One glanced at the councillor. How? She asked, intrigued and fascinated by the idea; she had heard of similar ideas from other generations of the Council, but she had never heard of this, launching an attack on the homeworlds of the younger races before they were ready for the Game.

I believe we should either launch such attacks on the homeworlds ourselves or use the Drakh to do it for us, but I think we have a unique opportunity here that we should take advantage of.

Ah, I see, the Great One said, understanding what the councillor was saying and even applauded the plan. Attack the younger races' homeworlds while they are still vulnerable.

Yes, Great One. By launching these attacks, we can stimulate greater growth through pain and struggle, conflict. Constant attacks will inspire the races to develop more imaginative methods of defending themselves.

Yes, and with the galaxy in its current turmoil, it will accelerate growth and evolution… I have been tempted to instruct the Drakh to guide some of the races to the Maze.

If that happens they will encounter the humans, the third councillor was interested at once with the possibilities, as the most hated race in the galaxy because of the damage they've caused to other races' means of traversing the galaxy, such results would be very interesting.

In that case, we should reveal the Maze; the Vorlons won't like it, but who cares? With the discovery of the Maze, and too many races using it, the Vorlons would never wipe everyone using it out. And if they try, we could intervene.

With what? We haven't completely revived yet.

No, I'm referring to the Rules of War. We can say we showed the Younger races the Maze by introducing new technologies clause. Under the clause, the Vorlons would not be able to do anything. If they try to use their Planet Killers they would never be able to manipulate the Younger Races, and they won't want that, the third councillor explained.

The Great One turned the idea in her mind to find some flaw. Under the rules agreed upon by the Shadows and the Vorlons and the other First Ones, and mediated over by Lorien, all First Ones could safely introduce concepts and technologies and aid with science without fear of reprisals. The Vorlons had always attacked those who discovered or invented something that was commonly unknown to the rest of the races of the galaxy.

But if a First One provided a species with a piece of scientific knowledge…

The Vorlons wouldn't do anything about the discovery of the Maze. They would be angry about the revelation of the corridors to the rest of the galaxy but there was nothing they could do.

It will also mean competition with the humans, which will certainly cause conflict. We will do this right away.

Speaking of the humans, how many groups have split up now?

The Minbari's use of the Dilgar plagues has wiped out half of their population. The survivors have already split up and fled to remote parts of the galaxy to escape the risk of further infection and work on a cure.

Have they succeeded?

Not yet. Their access to Dilgar biotechnology thanks to the resources of the Dilgar facilities kept in their star maps have increased their chances of survival, but some of the groups don't have access to those resources. Now, they are the interesting ones we need to keep a watch on, because without the resources of the other groups and being forced to rely on themselves, will certainly stretch their resourcefulness and inventive skills to the limit.

Yes, and if we attack some of those groups, it will only serve our agenda; the weak groups shall die, the strongest groups will be made even stronger. Evolution will be served, evolution through bloodshed. Chaos from war, pain and struggle. Perfection through victory.

Indeed, victory is life.

Yes.

However one of the councillors released a strong wave of uncertainty over the rest of the eight. I am dubious about the release of knowledge about the Maze. I think it would be more beneficial for the humans to have sole use of the Maze so they can strike out against the other races, who will be hopeless against it. Or we could introduce it to races who are struggling, much as the humans did when they fought the Minbari.

The Great One was displeased and yet not displeased by the counter-argument. The use of the Maze could and would have sparked a new era for the galaxy; in any case, why did it matter?

Pirates and raiders, sides in war used hyperspace; what did it matter if the same was true in the case of the Maze?

And yet at the same time, the Shadow Council of Eight could see the benefits behind the humans having sole control over the Maze. With the corridors, they would be more than capable of striking at the hearts of their enemies. The tunnels extended seemingly forever, and not even some of the First Ones although there were likely to be an exception or two knew how far the tunnels extended, although the Shadows suspected the tunnels extended throughout the universe. If that were true…

The First Ones had been limited to the galaxy at first, like all races. In their earliest days of the galactic expansion of their great empires which had long since been claimed by entropy, they had relied on tachyon beacons to help guide them through hyperspace. Not even the First Ones were immune to the dangers behind interstellar travel; their experiences had merely made them better at it.

But all of that changed when they had learned how to tap the infinite energies of hyperspace, and they had discovered not only did they have a means of generating and harnessing power on a scale they'd never possessed before, even when they'd harnessed the energies of a solar system in the past, they had a reliable means of navigating hyperspace even during its more turbulent moments although they did have limits such as when the humans had detonated those bombs in hyperspace.

With this power, some of the First Ones had ventured to the nearby galaxies to see them and to finally discover the differences between the other neighbouring galaxies and their own.

The Maze allowed ships to traverse galaxies without waiting for hundreds of years of evolution - biological, mental, and technological - and if the Shadows followed the original plan, and give the other races access to the corridors, then they would be furthering their evolution. But at the same time the idea of hit and ran attacks, if that was in the humans' future, would do a great deal to further the evolution in the galaxy.

And perhaps in other galaxies as well.

The idea was appealing and it delighted the Great One.

I believe we should combine both plans. We point the other races in the direction of the Maze after a certain amount of time. The humans will likely become nomadic, although some of the groups will settle on planets for a finite amount of time.

The Great One's line of logic was understood by the others. You mean to attack the humans while they're on the move, and force them to become desperate?

Correct. They will use the Maze, forcing them to explore the corridors and discover their full scope; as they do, they will discover a host of new resources which will only benefit them in the future. At the same time, the drive to save themselves both from the plagues inflicted on them by the Minbari while trying to survive on ships and hostile planets will drive them on.

Do you suspect the humans will attack the other races?

Yes. The different battles will Harden them all. However, I believe we should wait for the time being. Our kin is still in hibernation. We need fresh bodies for our ship's central processing units to work properly, and we need to observe the changes in the galaxy. However we can organise a few attacks on the humans and the other races while they venture back out into the galaxy, but for now, we shall wait and finalise our plans.


And... that's it.

I've decided the rise of humanity becoming a race of cut-throat pirates will start in a series of short stories rather than a multichapter story. However, like in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the downfall of the human race began in the credits although scenes showing the first cases of the Simian flu were shown earlier though they weren't given prime importance until the end credits. I've done the same here.

Thanks.