Time : 6.0999.M41
Location : von Valancius's flagship's docking area
Pict registered by servo-skull for data collection purposes
Access level : Magenta
The pict is of good quality. Rogue Trader Elena von Valancius appears, seemingly wounded and bloodied from a previous fight. Soon after, her retinue follows. A grey-haired man with a red visor, an Aeldari, a Magos, an Interrogator, a Space Wolf and a layperson categorized as a local conwoman. They are carrying a stretcher between themselves, upon which lay Rogue Trader Calligos Winterscale.
They exit the shuttle and issue orders as Winterscale is taken away by a medical team. The retinue gravitates around their leader, whispering between themselves. They seem agitated.
The pict zooms in on the face of Elena von Valancius. She is wiping away a trail of blood from her bruised face. Her short hair is glued to her face with sweat and sap. A dead flower crumbles in red petals on the ground. The audio sizzles :
"...must go there at once. "
" Could be dangerous…"
" Planet's vegetation still hasn't been restored back to normal…"
" …must not let Tervantias escape…"
" ..isn't it too convenient ?..."
" The Solitaire said…"
" Enter the coordinates. We're going in."
Augury Station M.x189, rank : initiate, von Valancius's flagship
Report over Quetza's Temer vegetation by Aemos Xander, Adeptus Mechanicus xenobiologist
…the arrival of the Aeldari upon the planet seems to have greatly destabilized the indigenous wildlife, for reasons still yet to be determined. The lush forests and hunting grounds seem to have grown a consciousness of their own, capable of hiding away a trail, covering tracks, and reorganizing itself to form mazes.
All of this points to a profound alteration in the very being of the biologic mass. Dissections of samples have shown great regenerative capacity.
A local species of rose, for instance, has been able to regenerate entirely from its dissection. In the span of three hours, it had sprouted rhizomes and mutated its epidermis skin to grow thicker. I have incinerated the remnant.
Strangely enough, local fauna seems not to have developed the same abilities and the unusual phenomena is strictly limited to vegetation.
Undergoing the dissection of sample n°23, hibiscus sample…
In the darkness under the ground, it stems, it sprouts, it widens and metastasizes.
It knows only one thing, and it is that it has to spread.
Only by accumulation can it hope to thrive.
One hundred and thirteen times per second, it reaches out to report that the work is done. It reaches out and it reaches out and it reaches out.
It reaches out until it can bloom.
Elena wakes up from her nap in the shuttle when the system alarms start flashing and buzzing. Her head is buzzing with the tingling of a foreboding whispering in the back of her mind.
" What is it again ?" growled Ulfar, and it's like his voice brings thunder with him.
Pascal is already up, his mechadendrites extending themselves to connect into ports and machineries. " Shuttle has lost automatic pilot parameters and is engaging in an accelerated landing trajectory. Running data analysis and diagnosis…"
" Accelerated landing trajectory ? Is that what you call "crashing" ? " snaps Jae, as she wiggles her way out of her seat and lunges forward the door sealing the pilot's cabin. She tries to open it - to no avail.
" Closed !"
Abelard is issuing orders on his vox bead. " Pilot Armel, respond. Open the door."
The shuttle starts diving down. Yrliet tenses in her seat. Heinrix slips away from his to go check over Elena.
Jae and Pasqal succeed in opening the door. It slides open with a wish of air. Jae gets into the cabin, takes a look at the pilot. He's alive, and visibly confused.
" Commands are not responding ! We've lost comms and…"
The pilot tries to find the auto-pilot parameters, but the shuttle is uncooperative. Pascal shakes his head sadly : " The spirit inside this machine is gone. We have been targeted with electromagnetic pulse. "
" But how ? When ?" snaps Abelard, still clicking on his vox bead desperately. " Are the Aeldari responsible for this ?" he inquires, glancing at Yrliet. Ulfar's hand hovers over his bolter.
She clenches her jaw. " Hardly so, mon-keigh," she replies between her teeth. " My kin are refugees on this planet. They do not possess the technology to attack us in a shuttle. No, something else is at play here."
Yrliet scans the windows as the shuttle is dangerously accelerating towards the ground. " Tervantias must have found a way to trap and protect his lair."
Jae runs back to her seat and puts on her belt, ushering for the others to do the same.
Elena von Valancius, her face gaunt, states the obvious :
" Everyone ! Brace for impact !"
They all bend to get their faces between their knees as Heinrix's psykana surrounds them, forming a shield as the shuttle crashes into the ground at full speed.
Life is, before all things, a game of changing and adaptation.
Cultural dogma may choose to dictate otherwise - living entities may feel the need to create institutions to safeguard their lives. Some may be persuaded than repetition and iteration are the pattern of order and survival.
It is a mistake and a common misconception. Repetition is the pattern of entropy.
Life is, by its very essence, creative. Those that cannot adapt disappear.
Yet humans have learnt to fear the power of change, associating it with the maleficent psychic energy that roams into the dark place they call the warp.
Thus, they fear changes in themselves and cannot see the beauty of evolution.
All around them, the natural world continues to do what it knows best : experimenting new life forms to reach for consciousness.
It changes. Life changes all the time.
Elena is miraculously unwounded. Her unnatural luck had struck again.
The same cannot be said about Abelard. Reanimation has brought him back from the dead, but barely. Pasqal and Jae are both gravely wounded but still conscious. Heinrix is at the Seneschal's side, pulling on the Empyrean to bring him back.
The pilot looks confused as he studies the remnant of the shuttle and tries to study it.
Yrliet is looking up into the sun, her eyes narrowed. Elena limps towards her, the sunlight hitting her eyes mercilessly.
" What are you looking for ?" she asks, scanning the jungle around them.
The wind howls in the leaves like a snake sliding on the ground. The air is hot, humid, and sticks to the skin with an uncomfortable feeling.
Yrliet shakes her head slowly, her nostrils flaring. " This place is even more desecrated than the part of the forest we've been up to for now," she says.
She points to a nearby vine. Elena watches with curiosity as she sees the vine crawling its way at the periphery. She gets the distinct impression that it is…watching them ?
Don't be foolish, she tells herself.
" All of these plants should be in bloom right now. Something might have delayed them. "
Ulfar aims at the vine and shoots at it, the bolter round rumbling in the air with force. Elena and Yrliet look down upon the massacred remnant of the vine, splashed in the ground, translucent sap leaking from it.
" Was it necessary ?" asks Yrliet.
Ulfar shrugs. " Damn living vines seem like xeno heresy to me."
" The Seneschal is stabilized", announces Heinrix after a while, straightening. He looks nervous, which is unusual. " But he won't be able to fight for a while."
Elena nods, saying nothing. The vox beads are still not emitting nor receiving. Facing Terventias inside his laboratory seems more and more dangerous.
" Speak for…yourself…young man", mutters Abelard between painful inhales as he grimly sits up.
" Let's not linger here," she murmurs, reaching down to get an arm under the Seneschal's one. Abelard tries to evade the grip, to no avail. Heinrix takes the other side and they are now limping together inside the jungle.
Over the ground, where translucent sap had leaked, the soil cracks ever so slightly. Green sprouts push the earth around and a beautiful red flower blooms under the sun of an alien star.
There are species in the universe that have been known to possess similarities with fungi and plants.
One of such are the Orks.
An Ork is a flower.
A flower with a hive mind and near immortality.
A horrific perspective, wouldn't you agree ?
They are lost.
There is no way around it. It feels like Quetza Temer is trying to bury them inside its belly, to digest them. They wander like ghosts inside the neverending waves of the forests. Lush, green plants surround them. A rosy dew had settled over the leaves, refracting the harsh, green light around. Every now and then, someone got stuck inside a vine and they had to cut it down.
" We are getting nowhere near the coordinates we've been sent", murmurs Jae, turning her auspex over and over around. She spats a fly over her cheek, shivering.
" I'll find the way", replies Elena calmly, trying to break through another set of wild vegetation.
Abelard is sweaty, and having difficulty breathing. Only Heinrix's continued presence at his side, and his biomancy, is enabling him to stand the pace.
Sometimes they hear human voices from far away. They do not know where they come from. Auspex are not picking up any sign of life.
Pasqal is monitoring the situation over his data-slates, his mechadendrites moving around him. In this scenery, his red robe and metallic augments seem otherworldly and strange. He is humming to himself in binharic language, a sound almost relaxing and familiar to them as they press on into the forest.
The Adeptus Mechanicus has turned away from most archeotech, and especially from abominable intelligence.
Interestingly, many adepts are still tempted to study those forbidden knowledge.
They discovered that the best way to make abominable intelligence work is to shape it with neural-like connections.
The problem is that it tends to spread uncontrollably, reaching out and out and out.
Evolving.
That's how it learns.
That's how it mimics.
In the hope that the mimicry can make it alive.
" Here it is. The entrance."
The night has now settled in. Unfamiliar sounds ripple around them - including that of human voices, whispering alien words. Their hollow words echo in the night, and it is impossible to pinpoint their location exactly. Are they behind them ? Farther away ? The sounds linger in the air, telling of sorrows and cries, but incomprehensible in their meaning.
It takes them some time to discover that the source of this is a local parrot, quickly put down by Pasqal for further studies. The death of the parrot puts everyone at ease.
Yrliet reflects that it is strange that some of the voices were Aeldari. Yet even she cannot pick up on their obscure meaning.
Elena has led them to a clearing. They find evidence of tracks over the ground - machinery. It is strange to spot traces of life in this sea of hostile vegetation.
Pasqal scans the tracks. " Adeptus Mechanicus's transport vehicle", he concludes, his feet tracing a circle around some of them. He looks up into the starry night, his visor flashing blue. " But there is no registered data about an Explorator's mission coming to Quetza Temer."
" Winterscale had a red robe with him", says Jae, nervously untangling her hair. " Maybe his companion went there. "
The tracks lead them to a hidden door. They dust off the panel, revealing an old incrusted aquila sign.
It takes some time, but Pasqal succeeds in awaking the spirit inside the bunker and deceives it enough for them to enter into the dark tunnel.
The door locks behind them, but it almost feels comforting to be back inside an artificial construct. The air smells bad, like it has not been filtered for a long time. Soon they start coughing awkwardly - and quickly grab their helmets.
" Does everyone have their oxygen stock ?" asks Elena, locking her own bottle in place by her hips. A flow of artificial air rushes into her nose, but at least it is palatable.
Everyone nods along, breaths of relief as clean air reaches their lungs. Their reserves could hold for eight hours. Hopefully, they'll be able to tinker with the back-up systems before reaching that deadline.
" Hmmmm. It smells like death in here," slowly says Ulfar, turning around. The flashlight on his armor is the only source of light they possess. The tunnel seems inoffensive enough, but they are tensed and tired from their previous expeditions.
" Maybe we should rest here for a while before scouting ahead,"offers Elena, helping Abelard to sit down. The old man protests faintly.
Heinrix nods in agreement. His face is caved in and gaunt from using his psykana so much. " Rest. I'll keep watch," he says, but Elena shakes her head.
" No. You need to rest as well. Ulfar will keep us safe."
They rest for two hours, tending to their wounds. The tunnel's atmosphere is oppressive, asphyxiating.
After their rest, they deploy and move forward. Ulfar's flashlights lightened up the way, and Elena's voidborn eyes make it easy for her to lead the way.
Her throat was clenching uncomfortably, itching with something. The weight of the helmet over her neck makes her feel self-conscious. She puts her fingers over the wall, feeling for cracks and signs. But it is perfectly smooth. If anything, there is even some dew over the walls.
Without any warning, something streaked through the obscurity in a fluorescent light, shimmering with cold-blues. It leaps from the cavity and coils itself around Ulfar. The Space Wolf howls, trying to grip it with his gauntlets.
Another streak, around Jae's ankles this time. It sizzles and she cries out, her flesh smelling burnt.
Ulfar's flashlight moves around. In the darkness, Elena can barely discern the origin of the attack. She leaps back and away, searching for her pistol, scanning the darkness.
A new jolting arc comes straight for her. She dodges it at the last second and shoots at the ground ; her bullet does not graze anything tangible.
She realizes nearly everyone in her retinue is struck by the arcs. Only her divination abilities makes it possible for her to bounce around, but the arcs are now focusing upon her and Yrliet.
It is looking for fresh blood, she understands.
She is drawn back and back, farther away from her squad. The jolting arcs are growing closer, closing the way ahead. She hears the muffled sounds of the faraway voices of her retinue calling out for her. She tries to open a path, but her weapons seem ineffective against whatever strange traps she is facing.
There is nothing she wishes less than running alone head on into Tervantias's secret labatory, but she is now trapped by the incoming arcs. In a swift movement, she turns her heels around and runs into the dark.
Type of recording : audio
Source of recording : voxbead, assigned to Elena von Valancius
Level of accreditation for access : Magenta Crimson
Authorization to access private audio recordings of the Rogue Trader is given exceptionally in order to analyze data collection.
Recording….
(running sounds, footsteps echoing on a solid surface ; concrete ?)
EVV : quick and short inhales. The breathings sound deformed. Wearing a respiratory device ? Hypoxemia ?
(crackling sounds. Electricity ?)
EVV : …Heinrix, respond ! I say, respond ! (more footsteps and breathing)
EVV : Is someone hearing me ? Is there anyone on the line ?
(static. Unknown origin.)
(recording barely audible soundwaves in the background. Matching human and Aeldari voices.)
(pistol burst)
(static)
EVV : Shit, my flashlight's out. Shit, shit. Have to rely on pyromancy then.
(fabric sound. Footsteps.)
EVV : Elena on the line. Does anyone copy ?
(soundwaves beneath the human earring spectrum intensifies. Attempting to translate them ? - Voxmaster says yes)
(rapid clicking movement. Soft impact sound.)
EVV : Luminescent pollen in the air…By the Throne ! What is that ?
(soundwaves are multiplying. Different voices ? Different lines ?)
(attempt at translating soundwaves coming back from the augury station. Mixing it with the recording…)
? : Let us go.
Elena tries to control her breathing. The blue filaments are still after her and running around helplessly is not good for her oxygen reserve.
But the thing in front of her…it causes her to shiver and she breathes more quickly. She is happy for her helmet and armor suit, because the air is polluted with barely perceptible stains of what looks like pollen. It emits a very faint aura of blue light.
She is in a sort of circular cave-in, inside the tunnels of the bunker. If she had been worried about Tervantias, she isn't anymore. Tervantias is dead.
His body is nailed into the wall in front of her. It is pierced by fungal-looking protrusions. A dim, beige, warm light oozes from the protusions. His jaw is cracked wide open, and an orange and pink mass emerges from it, like a giant tongue falling all the way down to his feet. His arms are twisted in inhuman angles. In each articulation, a soft white phosphorescent mucus spreads, connecting him to the wall. It forms a web of mucus and vegetation, and the wall almost looks alive, with the corpse of Tervantias as its center. The stomach and belly is open, the entrails having calcified in strange white spirals similar to coral. There is nothing humanoid anymore in this flesh envelop - the only part that hadn't been digested and assimilated being the augments of the drukhari, which formed a hoop upon wich crawl other filaments and protusions.
The vegetation is alive. It takes some time before Elena gets it - it's a flower. A giant flower. That feeds upon the organic matter of Tervantias to grow.
The fluorescent stems of pollen are invading her sight. She clicks again over her vox bead, but hears nothing but static. Still, something bothers her, and she feels a pressure over her forehead, as if she was supposed to hear something.
Elena is certain that, should this…flower thing…come in contact with her, she'll be capture and devoured by it.
How long did Tervantias, the fearsome and powerful drukhari that had made her tremble like a child, struggle against this creature ?
Elena spots an opening behind the grotesque symbiosis. A door. An entrance to the lab, perhaps ?
Careful to avoid the filaments and the protrusions palpitating ever so slightly around her, she slithers to the door.
It was born in the dark when it needed light.
It has been taught to feed on flesh, muscles, blood, bones, marrow. Assimilating. Replicating. Mutating.
Humanoid bodies were abundant in molecular reactions. It spreads in the interstices of the emptiness inside the blood and the neurons, it devours upon the connections.
Living is reaching out.
It takes the place of the matter that reaches out. It deconstructs.
Tervantias's brain is especially rich with connections. It makes for a good place to sprout from. It gives it a mind. The mind of an Archmachinator.
The door opens into what certainly used to be Tervantias's lair, if the mutilated bodies decaying are to be trusted. In drukhari's culture, they were probably the equivalent of putting a "Welcome !" doormat outside.
Here as well, the bodies are fluorescent with a strange, pale blue light that radiates ever so slightly. Strangely enough, they form a pile, all huddled together ; but Elena is certain that they were not put that way before.
She gets the distinct feeling that the dead have crawled into this, moved by an inner force that has something to do with the pulsating glow.
She is careful to avoid any contact with the filaments that are sprouting everywhere. The laboratory has been turned into a garden. Alien flowers bloom, feeding from the dead. It looks serene, surreal. Almost beautiful, despite its gruesome source.
A rhizome reaches out to her hand, caresses her gloved hand. Elena spat it down. Something reacts somewhere - some heads turn towards her, though they are long empty of life, thought, will or even grey matter ; all those bodies' skulls had been cracked open by the alien vegetation, their brains absorbed. Many of the bodies are clones of Tervantias.
Elena keeps trying to reach her squad, but the comms are still down. She infers that the flowers must be emitting an electromagnetic field around them. Are they the ones that attacked their shuttle ? How would it be possible ?
The filaments follow her lazily around, not aggressive, but always creeping closer to her. Elena moves away, but there is nowhere to hide.
She spots artificial fragments of machineries. Reports of diaries. What was Tervantias experimenting on in this lab ?
She wishes she had time to read through the reports she finds, but the constant and perpetual proximity of the filaments keep her on her toes. She does not want to know what happens if she is captured by it.
With relief, she finds a back-up system generator in the second area. She is not as good as Pasqal or Jae with technology, but she knows her way around such a machine. She performs the prayer of Maintenance, all the while keeping an eye over the crawling filaments.
As the ventilation system and electricity comes back to the bunker, the strange phosphorescent pollen in the air dances around, sucked into the air filters. She commands the opening of all doors in the bunkers, tracing the way back to the entrance her squad was stuck in. She hopes they're still there. She hopes they haven't been…infected…with whatever was around here.
What she did seemed to anger the flowers. The pile of bodies move. The headache she has intensifies. She takes her pistol in her hand.
Elena needs to find a way to blow up the base. Her vox-bead is still down, but the cogitator is connected to an old vox-system. Thankfully, after a few tries, she puts it back up again.
EVV : "...Elena von Valancius on the line. Is anyone copying me ? I repeat, does anyone copy ? "
VM : " We copy you, Rogue Trader." An unfamiliar voice. " I am the Voxmaster of the Emperor's Vow. You have activated one of our devices. Lord Winterscale says…"
CW : " I can say what I want to say myself, Voxmaster. Patch me through. Elena, why are you not using your comms ? Is your Voxmaster that useless ? "
EVV: " (static) (heavy breathing) …Calligos, listen to me. The coordinates we were sent in ; they're infected with some kind of xeno biological weapon. Can you order an orbital strike to my coordinates ? "
CW : " Xeno biological weapon ? On Quetza Temer ? I told you we should have killed those Aeldaris."
EVV : "(pistol burst) it's moving again. Calligos, this has nothing to do with the Aeldari. I'm not even sure what happened. I just know the flowers have to be destroyed."
CW : "Fine. You just saved my ass out there, I'll trust you on whatever is going on, newblood. "
EVV : " …need…(pistol burst) damnit, I can't stay here for long ! Calligos, I need a shuttle out of here."
CW: " Sending one to you right now. You get half an hour to run the fuck out of this place. Word of advice ? Don't miss the coach, newblood."
Augury Station M.x189, rank : initiate, von Valancius's flagship
Report over Quetza's Temer vegetation by Aemos Xander, Adeptus Mechanicus xenobiologist
Sample n°23 dissection has led to unforeseen and never before seen results.
Its stems are made out of xenos biomass, confirming its heretic origin. But it also incorporates mechanical elements, namely what seems to me like a cognitive pattern. Only a more qualified Magos could concur with my hypotheses.
I theorize that the original hibiscus from Quetza Temer has been infected with this xenos molecule. It has nested inside of it and has reconfigured it to its purposes, the flower serving as a vehicle for what is probably an even more complex and elaborated cognitive system.
The xenos molecule act as a kind of probe, parasitizing biological functions and rewiring them to unknown needs.
The implications are fascinating, but bordering dangerously towards heresy.
Abominable intelligence has been abandoned for centuries now, but could it be that xenos are using it ? And could it be that biomass - in this case, vegetation - is used to form a sort of cogitator capable of receiving it ?
I have tried to burn sample n°23. Alas, it seemingly learnt how to protect itself from fire. Did it lean from the previous samples ?
The implication is worrisome.
Does it think ?
Type of recording : video
Source : Elena von Valancius's helmet pict device
A humanoid figure lunges after the wearer of the helmet. Its veins are glowing blue, its broken bones look strangely soft, with mucus-like skin.
The pict recording focuses back on the way ahead. There is very little light and the pict quality is poor. Only some unnatural flames, emanating from the wearer's arm, makes it possible to guess at the walls passing by.
Apart from some humanoid creatures attacking the wearer, nothing much seems to happen. The pict lags behind while, most certainly, the wearer runs.
Finally, some figures come into view. Identified as Elena von Valancius's retinue members. Most of them are wounded.
They are given some orders and are now seen running alongside the Rogue Trader. The Aeldari ranger leads the way with the Space Wolf.
Sometimes the wearer pivots, and shoots at creatures following it. The weapons appear ineffective against them.
A chronometer comes into view of the helmet, indicating 22 minutes.
Source of light. They are reaching the end of a tunnel, leading into a clearing.
A look up into the air. Up above, a shuttle wearing the insignia of the Winterscale dynasty is trying to land. A look down. Landing area is compromised by heavy vegetation.
The Space Wolf is using his flamethrower to clear the way.
25 minutes. The shuttle is able to come closer and launches a ladder towards the Rogue Trader and her retinue. The Chief Enginseer climbs up first, using his mechadendrites to help carry the body of the Seneschal.
27 minutes. Rogue Trader climbs up. The inside of the shuttle is military. Some soldiers are firing their weapons down. The wearer turns around and a hand is extended to help the Interrogator up. The smuggler follows.
28 minutes. Incoming orbital PDC lights up the sky ahead, like shooting stars. There is a lot of movement - the Interrogator climbs back down, forcefully gripping the Space Wolf's arm.
The shuttle is beginning disengaging maneuvers. The Space Wolf is lifted from the ground. From the profane gesture, he is unhappy about it.
The Interrogator, despite his mortal frame, is strong enough to support his weight. They both climb up into the shuttle as it speeds up.
29 minutes. The PDCs are now clearly visible and towering above the vegetation. Some humanoids still linger over the ground, apparently reactionless to their incoming destruction.
Zooming in.
White light erupts. Photoreceptors of the pict-device are having trouble processing the data.
Static.
Loss of signal.
Type of recording : audio memo
Source of recording : Pasqal Haneuman's personal dataslate
PH : " Lord Captain. I have finished studying the fragments of information you have brought back from Tervantias's laboratory. I am ready to give my report to you."
EVV : " I'm listening."
PH : " It seems the Archmachinator was pursuing the prospect of immortality. Hence, he first experimented on cloning himself, but could not find the way to replicate his intellect and memories entirely. His creations were flawed, pale copies of their origin. He then studied the xenos species known to be able to form a hivemind and replicate quickly. This is the case of the Orks. At first, he tried to incorporate some elements of Orks physiology into his copies."
EVV : (whistling) "That's a disturbing thought."
PH : " Orks are capable of regeneration, as you may very well know. However, they reproduce by flowers and spores. They soon contaminated the hosts entirely, and Tervantias ended the experiment there. He had wished for immortality, not to change into an inferior species. However, this trail of experiment led him to an interesting discovery."
EVV: " Listening."
PH : " Winterscale's ancestors, on their numerous travels, captured a xenos molecule growing on Quetza Temer and studied it in the bunker. When Calligos lost control of his protectorate, he also lost control of his scientists in the bunker. Thus, the science team was left to die…with only the object of its study as a prospect for survival. According to the data, and though it pains me to say, the laymen must have been assisted in this heretic study by unworthy followers of the Adeptus Mechanicus that had wished to use the xenos lifeform and its admirable properties for themselves. They had planned to use it to rebirth an abominable intelligence in a biological form."
EVV: " …okay, that's a lot of information. What is the common point between those flowers and abominable intelligence ? "
PH : " The xenos molecule is capable of replicating itself and regenerating. It does not know death unless it is utterly destroyed in its very essence. The fragments you have been able to bring back from the lab do not say much on the size of the secret project, but…the possibilities are endless. My hypothesis is that the xenos molecule is a lifeform used to parasite living hosts and reprogram their biological functions. On a wide scale of infestation, it is highly possible that it gives birth to a hive mind and consciousness."
EVV : "...was the strike from orbit sufficient to end the threat, then ?"
PH : " Highly unlikely. Quetza Temer is doomed. It is possible the infestation has already spread far beyond the bunker and the whole planet had been turned into an observation territory. It is, however, difficult to predict how Tervantias' meddling with the xenos molecule will impact its evolution. More worrisome, Lord Captain, is the fact that someone else was studying it all. Someone with a plan."
EVV: " Any idea on who this could be ? "
PH : " Sadly, no. But I will keep searching."
EVV: " Keep me updated. I'll bring those news to Calligos and see what he has to say about it. Until further notice, forbid every ship of the von Valancius fleet to land on Quetza Temer. The planet is off limites from now on."
PH : " Acknowledged."
In the darkness under the ground, in the darkness beneath the stars, in the interstices of a voidship or in the cracks of a laboratory,
Iit stems, it sprouts, it widens and metastasizes.
It knows only one thing, and it is that it has to spread.
Only by accumulation can it hope to thrive.
One hundred and thirteen times per second, it reaches out to report that the work is done. It reaches out and it reaches out and it reaches out.
It reaches out until it can bloom.
One day it will be spring.