Petroleum Effect
Chapter Three - Dominion Report on Rainbow-2
Office of the Archlord, Sol System, Local Cluster, 2133
Confidential Report into the Planet Rainbow-2 and R.E.A.P.E.R testing
Author: Director Melissa Coldhart, New Technologies Division
Date: 4th August 2133
Salutations Archlord,
This is, hopefully, a final report into the planet Rainbow-2 and consequent technological developments.
The main original purpose of the Rainbow-2 expedition was to field test prototype resource extraction technology as well as various flight technologies for incorporation onto our military fleets. In that, it was wholly successful. The Righteous Enterprise on its first visit functioned perfectly - drives, weapons, power, sensors, all of it.
The resource extraction systems work perfectly - we can convert more or less any biological material on that planet into crude oil with great efficiency. This should be the same for more or less all carbon-based life. The prototype systems used in the Righteous Enterprise have been successfully put into production in our Resource Extraction And Processing Exo-Remotes - or R.E.A.P.E.R units (amusingly, a name given to some mythical hostile species referred to in the Prothean archive).
The more concerning matters, and the reason the planet warrants a report at this stage at all, are -
(1) The presence on the planet of pre-spaceflight, but highly psionic, sentient life; and
(2) The discovery during initial R.E.A.P.E.R deployment that the planet has almost no fossil record and was terraformed within the last 2-3 Earth millennia.
After the initial 2131 expedition of the Righteous Enterprise, better armed expeditions with suitable experts and protection followed. Further specimens of the Eviloids were captured and interrogated. Full biological examinations were performed on living specimens. All of the creatures, taken from different part of the planets, are very similar, and all of them share a creation myth that a being called, "Gold Star" created them.
Later, we deployed the first of our full size R.E.A.P.E.R units. Each unit is roughly cylindrical, 1 kilometre long and 250 metres in diameter, jaws, grinders and conversion nanoware at the front, with maximum space for oil and minimal space for crew. There is moderate weapons coverage on the exterior, and minimal engines and manoeuvring capabilities. The standard unit uses element zero not Petroleum Effect technology.
Deployment and performance of R.E.A.P.E.R 1 was satisfactory. However, deep gouging into the soil simply did not yield as deep a layer of organic material in the regolith as might be expected. Cross section showed the organic layers simply stop far earlier than anticipated. Geological investigation suggests minimal water present until comparatively recently.
Our best estimates are that, between 3000 and 2000 years ago, the planet was swiftly terraformed from a dry, barren rock into a lush paradise inhabited by these ... disgusting ... creatures. They could not have done it themselves based on current capabilities. They are stone-age creatures. There are no technological ruins at all. The conclusion is that something else did it, be it a more advanced civilisation of the Eviloids creatures to a different species entirely.
The implication is there is an advanced species in the region able and willing to terraform and abandon worlds. This may mean that we risk contact with an advanced and aggressive species, or more Eviloids.
The final outcome as far as Rainbow-2 is concerned is that there is less biomass to harvest than hoped. Once harvesting is completed (within the decade on even our most pessimistic projections) the planet will be essentially barren aside from trace organic material. The Eviloids will be extinct well before then, at least on this planet.
Once harvesting is complete, as the world is in the habitable region around its star and below Earth mass, we propose to completely sterilise it. We will bomb the surface into lava and boil away the oceans using Petroleum Effect bombs. At maximum conversion this should be very cheap and will eliminate all organic life on the surface - not even viruses will survive. We will then engineer collisions with asteroids to further increase the temperature and bring the world to near-Earth mass. Thereafter, as the surface cools we will bomb with ice meteorites to restore oceans and atmosphere, along with heavy metal meteorites to enrich the crust with resources.
At that stage, some time in the future, terraforming can begin on a tabula rasa with no mind-controlling aliens, subversive cotton candy trees or alien biochemistry.
The complete conversion of the biosphere should provide us with billions of barrels of oil for our military stockpiles.
As a final note, the Rainbow system contains a dormant mass relay. Perhaps it was intended to be used to access Rainbow-2. If we activate it, it will provide a useful entry to the alien network, whilst still at a suitable distance from Sol.
Your obedient servant,
Professor Melissa Coldhardt
Director
New Technologies Division