USS Authority Record #2

USS: Phase One Secondary Report Completed

Sending Data... Data Received

Gathering Authorities...

Commencing USS Earth Council #2

Gazers Grin (Stillness and Serenity): Such a busy stellar rotation it has been. I am happy to report that Earthling large scale munitions are quickly being spent to great effect against the Scourges.

It That Rewards Savagery (At rest with a single eye open): Powerful strikes, unsullied by allied blood. Well done, probability tips in our favour.

Merciful Heavens(Frown): Many of the larger Urban areas we have designated as possible Enclaves still suffer Scourge infection. These humans had enough large scale weapons that you should have been able to spend more resources helping me cleanse them. As the bastion of future human civilization, they are top priority.

Gazers Grin (Many Eyes Roll): Too risky for too many reasons to count. It is the infections furthest from human civilization that are the most dangerous. It is the rot unwatched that spreads fastest. Also, human weapons of this kind depend upon primitive aiming systems and human oversight. Surgical strikes in population dense areas are difficult to achieve. The enclaves are your obsession, not mine.

Hand on the Scales (Pensive and Hunched): I have concerns I wish to speak elders.

It That Rewards Savagery (Snort): Do tell.

Hand on the Scales (Pensive and Hunched): I have failed in my task. I have tracked and erased Rebel instrument infections in System architecture but failed to ensnare even the shadow of the Hollow Majesties. At least two separate Majesties are operating with impunity on this planet's System.

It That Rewards Savagery/Gazers Grin/Merciful Heavens (Silence)

It That Rewards Savagery (Exhales): It is not your arm that is weak young one, but the weapon you wield. Anything that has survived as long as the System has, picks up parasites. The Hollow Ones are a constant annoyance. We will stamp them out when they move to the physical.

Merciful Heavens(Frown): They are more than mere annoyance. The damage they do to primitive cultures and psychologies is tragedy as great as death. Never mind the resources they pilfer in their mad greed.

Gazers Grin (Casual Scanning): Personal antipathy aside, it seems unlikely that the Hollow Majesties are among the greatest threats to this world. The latest projections of the organic Scourges are... interesting. Almost unprecedented even. The Grey Legion and Red Woods are showing higher than anticipated growth rates.

Hand on the Scales (Coiled to Perceive): While the Spore Tyrants are way below projected growth rates. Truly fascinating.

Gazers Grin (Bobbing Agreement): Yes, the diverse life and geography of this world has gifted it an innate resistance to Tyrant Spores. If it wasn't for the biological mono cultures created by human civilization, including themselves, spore growth would be at extreme lows. Still a large threat to all life on this backwater planet of course, but very interesting from a scientific perspective.

It That Rewards Savagery (Toothy Grimace): I request you send me new data as you receive it Gazer. I see bleak futures written in your numbers.

Gazers Grin (Slow Blink): Oh? I had thought the numbers encouraging myself. A greater than ten percent chance of humanity keeping a quarter of their current population. Less than ten percent chance of total extinction in the next century.

It That Rewards Savagery (Matched Blink): Your predictions for the Inoculation are faulty young one. It will spread quick as dawn's light, destroying all higher forms of life until it can adapt to this worlds atypically complex biosphere. The same factors that slow the Spore Tyrants will turn that tool of cowards into a wave of death that may kill billions. I offer my perspective, forged over eons of service.

Hand on the Scales/Gazers Grin/Merciful Heavens (Silence)

Merciful Heavens(Flickering Guilt): According to these revisions... the Inoculation will claim three areas we have worked to make enclaves no matter how we proceed. Possibly as high as ten. How can this be... This will be a major blow to humanity's preservation. While we can preserve most native sapient life from direct threat, those area will require heavy support to sustain life.

Hand on the Scales (Intense Focus): I see no errors in this formulae. I deem it to be accurate.

Gazers Grin (Slow Blink): Consensus.

It That Rewards Savagery (Angry Exhalation): This is why you do not use tools you do not have the capacity to understand. Cowards always sow their own doom. Bloody balance, this will at least slow the Tyrant Spores even further.

Gazers Grin (Deep Embarrassment): My calculations were wildly inaccurate... Than you Elder for your wisdom. I will work to refine the numbers and plan accordingly.

Hand on the Scales (Nervous Jittering): I have one more issue I wish to resolve elders. This one has never before taken a disciple and wishes input.

Gazers Grin (Licks Open Eye): In the chaos, It slipped my mind. You are virgin. You have never had the experience of being a patron. Of reconnecting to the physical through the medium of alien flesh.

Merciful Heavens (Frown): Crudity. Becoming a Patron is one of the greatest gifts the System gives. To experience the universe through truly alien perspective brings enlightenment and reminds us of our duty's true reward. The flourishing of diverse life and culture.

Gazers Grin (Pithy): Also is reduces the number of authorities that go insane and suicide.

It That Rewards Savagery (Settling into comfort): Simply choose natives that you believe reflect yourself. It is poetry not science, any advice we could give would be biased. Do not overthink it. We have a final piece of business to attend to. We have received multiple requests from Nano Arks to settle on this world.

Hand on the Scales (Open Interest): I will withhold my opinion and vote. I have little experience with any System allied races or organizations. I don't understand why they are so poorly thought of.

Merciful Heavens(Haughty): They are chaotic and wasteful. The dregs of the universe. Political refugees, fanatics and profiteers. However good the intentions of some, investment of their resources into the System would do more good. Even accounting for the isolated position of this world, if we had the resources used by local Nano Arks at our disposal before this world announced itself so crudely, our Injection Shield might still be holding. Others are simple parasites, looking to loot and exploit this new battlefront for short term gain.

It That Rewards Savagery (At rest with a single eye open): Absolute trust is madness. The system is a weapon and no weapon, no matter how great should be a warrior's only tool. Besides, they are useful creatures, capable of actions that those more tightly bound by the System cannot take. If properly herded they can be of great value. The Mission has my permission to set up a chapter on this world.

Gazers Grin (Squinting Disapproval): The worst sort of fanatics. All pride and violence. Entirely predictable though, so I agree. Let them die fighting the Scourges on this alien world if that's what they want.

Merciful Heavens (Thoughtful): The Velorie Undercast.

Gazers Grin (Squinting Disapproval): Political refugees. Escaped genetic servants? What possible good could they achieve against the Scourge? Is this some joke that I don't understand? Why do they seek to settle on this deathtrap of a world anyway.

Merciful Heavens(Defensive): Desperation, their once masters hunt them still. They are gambling that this world will survive and that its remoteness and System Rules will shield them. As for what good they could do? I would not have the only contact the natives of this world have with System races be with martial fanatics. The Velorie Undercast come from an advanced and peaceful System allied society. They will have much to teach the Earthlings.

Gazers Grin (Incredulous): Like genetic slavery? Hedonism? I take it you will shelter them in enclaves, using resources that could be spent on natives. This seems more like you want servants yourself.

Merciful Heavens(Defensive): I do not need to defend myself to you Gazer. Eldest?

It That Rewards Savagery (At rest with a single eye open): Approved. If those are the only recommendations?

Gazers Grin (Formal): I see no downside in allowing the Midnight Exchange access.

Merciful Heavens (Haughty): In the short term perhaps. Nascent worlds always come off the worse in the long term from their deals. A poor example for such susceptible creatures. Rejected.

It That Rewards Savagery (Curling of the lip that reveals venomous fangs): A Scourge infested world is no place for merchants. If they want something from a battlefield, they can bleed for it.

Gazers Grin (Bobbing): A mere suggestion. I defer to your wisdom eldest.

It That Rewards Savagery (Settling): Any other nominations?

Hand on the Scales/Gazers Grin/Merciful Heavens (Silence)

It That Rewards Savagery (At rest with a single eye open): Good. All other Nano Arks are denied access to this world or local System resources. Illegal access will result in execution without honour. Council adjourned, there is much work to do.

Closing USS Earth Council #2