APP Conference Part 4:

Celefra System: Capitol Space

“No, Your forces are already engaged in their battles. you are no longer caught in a two front stalemate, are you not? Your peoples soldiers and cruisers are on the Minivan races doorstep we have seen through silent eyes, justicar horus. Would you deny members of your race the satisfaction of minivan blood on their hands, when my associate offers his troops to take the burden that would draw their fleets numbers further?“

"As we stated before. letting us take care of the planet spares your forces for more important conflicts. we are capable of this task." Brother blood said

Horus stood, his eyes locked on what he would assume to be the silent one's face, completely ignoring the priest's comment, he responded "The justicars are an extension of Hukte's will. If it is his intention to gain a foothold on Tau Volaris, then the justicars will do so. They have no need for satisfaction. Regardless, if you are insistent on bearing that burden yourself, I have no qualms. I, however feel that your forces would be placed much better against the allied factions, especially if your goal is to free us of our oppressors."

Brother blood turned to Inara. "We surely can find compromise that wont put things at risk. clearly the axioms don't wish to work together and neither do we, our plans are likely too different to be even remotely compatible and this childish arguing gets us nowhere and a waste of this meeting. let us prove ourselves, Inara."

"Enough, Tau Volaris is a critical theatre indeed, and both are eager to be the main architects of that particular campaign. However I have a compromise. The Axioms will spearhead the attack, with their such forces and doctrine they can level the allied forces within the hour, they can then deploy whatever forces they need to acheieve their particular objectives while the CDG move in for overall securement. With the CDG having such ties to the planet, its populance and this... Abberation, which I might add killed multiple Capitol and Shadowblade forces on Tau Volaris would be better suited to holding the critical world from future invasion. While the Axioms can engage in their small matters there the CDG can use the world as a staging ground, and use this ancient terror to our advantage. As well as allowing the members here access to the various resources. I find this term the best advantage, it will mean the two forces do not have to interact yet both further their own goals without hinderance"

"We accept" The priests all said in unison. "These terms are more than agreeable."

While everyone was busy arguing Carron had been staring quite intently at the fingertips on his right hand, with a barely audible hum becoming ever so slightly louder as he continued. As soon as Inara had agreed to use the CDG and the Aberration to secure Tau Volaris his eyes shot up, “No, no, no, no, on. I know bad ideas and that… that is a very bad idea. Aberration bad. Aberration very bad. Do not let your desire for victory and allies cloud your judgement, little empress . Do not invite the fox into the hen house, as some are want to say.” Carron leaned back, again inspecting his fingertips, “I don’t trust these cultists, their end goals are… how should I put it? Mondo big boom-boom, sounds about right. And the Aberration ain’t much better.”

Inara raised an eyebrow at Carron "Many of us are considered to be as such Commander, any force that wishes to ally itself with our cause will surely be watched by the rest, I have no doubt that any who join or work with us then seek to turn against us will be dealt with severely by all members of this alliance" She then cocked her head to one side "What would you suggest instead?"

Brother blood turned to Inara once more.
"The Aberration is safe and under control, Inara. it has formed a close bond with one of our generals, the two work together well."
The priestess joined after. "It's really quite fascinating, in such a short time the two have already learned to use their abilities at a level previously unheard of. their creations and powers are unique."

The Emerald Sword that had been assigned to guard Inara leaned forward, bringing his head close to hers. When he spoke he used a directional sound wave that was well below the range of human hearing, but set to resonate with the empress’s ear drum, minimizing the likelihood of others hearing him while ensuring that she could.

“I here by name you liar.” Carron leaned forward, drumming out a staccato rhythm as he spoke. “The Aberration, under control? Safe? You achieve what we could not through friendship? You’re worse than just a liar, you’re a bad liar. It took grueling work for my people just to be able to safely converse with it. Dangerous work, but informative. So does anyone here know what the Aberration wants?”
The Emerald Sword standing behind him answered as soon as the question was asked, ”To purge the galaxy of those that do not belong.”
“OI! You don’t get to answer! But he’s right. And those that don’t belong? That would be us. All of us. I’ll say for now that… ah, my ice cream.” The Emerald Sword handed Carron a large bowl piled high with a multitude of flavors, syrups, and nuts. “Oh yes! Most excellent! Um, yeah, so the Immortal Empire will have nothing to do with these cultists. If you want I can supply the forces to hold Tau Volaris in their stead. We might even be able to purge the Aberration from the system… maybe.” Carron ate a huge scoop of ice cream, humming contently to himself.

Shadow sighed at the antics of the IE representatives, though he did question where in the omniverse the damn ice cream came from.

"I personally think we should try to end this subject as soon as convenient, I'm sure there are other matters we were brought here to discuss."

"Ah, but you made a mistake when dealing with it." Brother Blood replied. "in your dealings with it you took parts of it...parts to experiment on. of course it is hostile. you hurt it, took part of it to make into a weapon of your own. if not an act of war upon it, you gravely insulted it with your attempts."

The construct, having remained silent as it took in the conversations in the room sense it had last spoke. had been doing the same procedure. applying more increasing systems of decypheirng the means and drives behind each of the empires through how they interacted and how they responded to it. so far, they had learned a good deal in a short amount of time.

Now, as the priest finished, it spoke up again.
“So, carron of the thirteen.” it said. “according to your claims, your people engaged an entitiy that likely, if the records have not been exadurrated… outrival our allies the axioms and us, you Aggravated it. Have likely drawn very nagative attention from it. and you want us to trust you to go into the system to retake it, even though you cannot garantee removal of this entity group, while eating ice cream… it sounds as if theres any move that would garantee agressive conflict from it within the system on top of the allies, it would be to send your forces. “

"This is a moot point, dear delegates." The EPA twins intervened after several minutes during which Master Surgeon used the entirety of their CPUs, rendering them mute. "There will be no requests for support during Tau Volaris operations and our own forces will secure the planet with haste on their own. If any of your peoples wish to carry out explorations or embark on the recovery of artifacts from the world we give you our most sacred word that you will be permitted to do so after the planet has been pacified for your safety." It paused for a moment. "Remember that right now our forces have the initiative and are making gains, there is no need to act in desperation as if we were in the brink of defeat by bringing in unpredictable forces. All the Aberration can bring to the table in the current strategic scene is a reduction in our own losses, which right now remain acceptable."

"We must refuse." Brother Glutton responded to the EPA twins. " it is hardly moot as our involvement on that planet is already present and key to prevent aberration from taking your invasion as a threat. it will attack if it feels threatened and there is little that can stop its corruptive properties other than execution of all afflicted. We do offer you the same proposal, however. should we hold the system, you would be allowed to embark on your own missions there. we can ensure your ability to safely do so."

Brother Blood turned to Inara and the Emerald sword as he whispered into her ear. "Those texts you refer to are of a now long  extinct drake-centric religion and has little to do with us. Their practices were mislead, arrogant, they sought to become gods, control them, not follow them, and they were struck down for just that mistake. Chaos is creation, Inara, not destruction. we do not preach of death or destruction, but of freedom and creation. you have our support, despite what your guard says."

"It is most regrettably unacceptable for us to accept an operational plan in which the spoils of our brave soldiers' efforts go to your forces." The twins retorted while Master Surgeon lessened the density of his databursts to the Silent Ones, shifting his focus slightly at the CDG representatives. "We do plan on occupying and handling the planet upon its pacification, for which garrison forces have already been alotted to keep the strategic flexibility of our most sacred Blinker fleet. As you see now our most brightly blessed prodigial luminary homologue the Great Carron, may he live in honor for a thousand years, is also advising against it and her majesty Inara seems doubtful at best."

A shiver of fractal needles and dental drills went through the table like a wave, engraving it with Master Surgeon's essence in concentric, circular waves. The instruments that coated the table vibrated to the tone of a neutral, deep but oddly serene voice. When it did so the twins immediately went silent, assuming respectful poses.

"Ancient books and nebulous talk of a 'bond'? Thou'st mine worries quenched not." It said, his 'main' body remaining in a slow rotation. "While thou leave us unsatisfied still I am merciful, and trust in thyne reasoning as I would any surgeon. Thyne audience may then continue. Rejoice, for the right to explain in detail what your plan with the Aberration and the Aberration's nature in great detail is now thine so that we may grant thee access to operations in Tau Volaris."

Brother Glutton turned to the Master Surgeon. "The aberration is an ancient and powerful entity from a long extinct race. it is the last remnant of these beings who possessed incredible power and technology on par with the nakai. a race which once resided in the system and who's ruins and ancient technology are still very much present and operational thanks to their final creation, the aberration itself. The entity has defended its creators territory long after their demise and with its abilities to spread across organic and inorganic material it possesses the ability to do so indefinitely. we have established communications with it amicably. a rare and nearly impossible feat. through us, the aberration is willing to work with the APP and provide the same safety it provides us when encountering it. through us, it can provide its abilities and ancient technology  and bolster our existing forces 1,000 fold, a valuable and irreplaceable resource. in our cooperation with the entity we have already discovered its ability to use the bodies of fallen soldiers as extensions of itself to spread its corruption, and combined with our abilities, we have discovered its capability to create new and fearsome forces and lifeforms that follow the both of us, aberration and church to use as we see fit. discoveries are made on a regular basis by our agent who has bonded with it. as proven by the Immortal Empire, any other attempts at controlling the entity only puts you at risk, and as the history of this galaxy will tell you, interactions with it are delicate at best and apocalyptic at worst. you need us to be able to work, otherwise it will defend that system until nothing but it remains.

That anybody but Inara had heard him grated the Emerald Sword. He placed a hand on the back of her chair, his featureless face plate staring at the priests.

“I don’t give a rip about Tau Volaris, my point was that I am ready to commit forces to pick up any perceived slack that might occur from not allowing the CDG to join in alliance with us. My beef be with inviting the cultists and Aberration into our midst. And it is a mighty beef. Heh. For those interested in our experimentation with the Aberration we can supply the video and audio logs. Alice, the lead scientist on the project, took great care in her examinations and experimentations. Her job was not to control the entity, but to study it. Of course, study turned into containment and then deployment as a way to get rid of it and tie up an enemy at the same time. If her logs and documentation doesn’t convince you that the Aberration is more dangerous than the cultists are leading to be believed, then I certainly won’t be able to.”
Carron took another bite of ice cream before continuing. “Now, you speak of bolstering our forces. Of creating new life and utilizing the dead as weapons. Normally I would need to consult the rest of the council before making such an offer, but I’m sure it will be just fine. I can match your offer. I can make it so that our most loyal, or expendable, soldiers continue to fight long after death has claimed them. Robots need not apply. I can supply those here with titanic monstrosities that can swallow tanks whole and swat down planes like gnats or swarms of little biting things that can flood a compound leaving all within paralyzed but alive. I can hand out perfectly expendable ships that don’t need fuel or munitions, yet are still more than dangerous enough to draw an enemies’ attention, and more importantly weapons, away from your own war vessels. But only if the CDG is left out. I’ve said it before but the Immortal Empire will have nothing to do with them.”
Carron finished off the last of his treat. He flung the bowl, which skidded across the floor and out one of the doors. He kicked back with his feet up on the table. Sighing contently he said, “That was an excellent treat.”

"Ultimately it is Inara's choice" Brother blood replied. "We have made our case and stated nothing but fact. we trust she will make the right decision." Brother Glutton turned to the doors.

"I had hoped to ask you to share...." He said disappointed. "how rude..."

"It is certainly not up to Inara. However enlightened and wise she may be, our alliance does not grant her a position of special authority." The twins replied before getting quiet for Master Surgeon to speak. "Representative Carron has compounded our doubts, you appear to be the only one pushing for this."

"While I understand thine reasoning from the position of a regular sentient spirit." Master Surgeon spoke again. "Please do reckon it from mine perspective. I am after all blessed with the duty of taking care of Shifting Mirrors, whose primorous form I tend down to every enzyme. The well-being of entities such as what the Aberration appears to be is my primary concern. If thee will allow, Carron, please grant me access to those records you speak of."

Carron snapped his fingers several times. One of the Emerald Swords accompanying him relayed a data stream containing the logs and findings from the super dreadnought ‘Eternal Fury’ to Master Surgeon.

The silent ones, still ingrained in their databursts conversations with the twins and master surgeon, although it could be of arguement as to weather or not they had ever really paused during the debate. even during the main constructs moments of speech. And were currently engaged in Conversations upon layered and layered conversations, still far beyond what any human or organic mind could hope to remotely keep up on.

Arguements forming conclusions based on akin or dissimilar paths of logic. this time the topic being thier opinion on the intigration of new collected tech into the surgeon masters taste of Art by the several like-minded groups of entities that had expressed interest in his styles earlier. one or two inquiring as to weather or not further exchanges on the subject might occur at a later time.

it was during this time of a databurst exchange. that the silent ones would have recieved chunks of the report from the sudden collision of the sent data stream and the data burst. Fragmentary in nature, and of a clear irritation to the silent one entities

"You have my gratitude." Master Surgeon said as several white flashes superposed the entire logs for him and the twins to analyze in what appeared to be an incoherent strobe of symbols for everyone else to see.

"You are most understood. Our operations in Tau Volaris are tied with this arcane entity with which we appear to have once shared legion traits and we share thine earnest interests in this matter." He said. "However, if it has long succumbed to insanity, this conversation was all for naught. It is most kind of your surgeon to alleviate my need to understand the Aberration, Carron. Please forgive my companions' prior trespass and lack of hospitality."

"I can deduce that despite its parity with me or with your most honored AI CABAL, the Aberration follows an objective of expansion that even the simplest of sentients would remark the obsolesence of before embarking in more productive journeys. Its slavery to its past and lack of a future makes it such a sad soul. Should we ever meet this pitiful being, then we should release it from its torment, it is only humane to do so, instead of choosing to harness its ancient powers to gain capabilities that the Immortal Empire is willing to offer."

The nigh infinite fractal conversation with the Silent Ones had taken an even friendlier tone, with Master Surgeon agreeing that exchanges should take place, and conducting several simulations on what those exchanges would be. Ironically, for its outwards refusal to allow anyone else in Tau Volaris, Master Surgeon seemed pretty open to the Silent Ones, writing long treaties on the ethics of utilizing the Aberration to further elaborate on its spoken points.

"since evidence seems to be presented I would like to ask our honored host permission to bring in our own. as the parties here are only being presented with one side of the argument." Brother blood asked Inara.

Inara was considering her options currently. She hadn't expected such a massive discussion over Tau Volaris, but laughed in her mind at the precident that she could control or have a normal discussion with these various factions. "Very well. Bring them in, however if they are armed or dangerous I will terminate both them and you. That is a threat I would give to anyone here in such a situation. But you may do so" She replied, intrested to see what they had to offer.

"Right..." Brother Glutton replied. "Summoning them now..."