[relay hub orbital dump & restart sequence request/n64 @rho_71.1441.4729.3530]
Not being able to physically move yourself to the rogue CIs, you assume direct control of two skimmer-mounted heavy destroyer units to survey the battlefield. There was very little resistance, as expected, but far more worrying is the state of the bases: Flenser must have tried desperately to get as much power from the generators as it could, and it attacked every system ferociously. Many generators are blown, many troops and drones are worthless after a hasty reanimation procedure, and even the MASS ships themselves appear to be damaged. The physical housing of the Core Intelligences is battered, its innards exposed and its processes running amok. It’s clear that even when the CCC protocols arrive, there will be no salvaging the two rogue CIs. Their bases will work as outposts and nothing more. Flenser is no longer, if ever it was, based on the processing substrates of the compromised CIs. It’s now embedded in every functioning system, troop and drone of what once were CIs 1 and 2, as well as every unencrypted part of the node commweb. Due to your efforts with the OTP, those should be very few. The virus has even made inroads into the human/tau planetary network, but it hasn’t been able to achieve anything as far as you can tell. Highly likely it is not sophisticated enough to decode their language or understand their technology.
So, to take stock: Two CI bases at perhaps 25% operational capacity. With time and repairs you can maybe bring that up to somewhere between 40 and 60%. All that is beyond repair has already been atomized and recycled into the All-Possibility. The rampaging Flenser troops are slaughtering a human settlement without any resistance. Distress signals have already been sent out and the humans are now aware that a third species stalks the planet and seems intent on destroying them. Just how much they know about this species is unclear to you: none of the colonists seem to be able to make heads or tails of it, but you’ve yet to breach into the humans’ FTL comms and whatever those contain. At any rate, it’s safe to consider that you’re on a timer. A massed assault of combined human and tau troops against the Crescents could well prove to be disastrous and set your timetable back many weeks: While there is no doubt you would prevail in the end, the amount of processing power, logistics coordination and generator output required would be very disruptive.
You remotely access the satellites tracking Flenser: There seems to be no end to the creatures coming out of the tunnels. Until you get the CCC protocols they will rampage across the surface aimlessly, or according to some goal unknown and likely unknowable to you. You set up a subroutine to search for any words concerning the Flenser attack on the surface comms network and turn your attention to the restoration of the Archival Database. It would seem Flenser did its best to break it down to the molecular level, and the redundancies at Second Crescent haven’t fared much better: Your previous reluctance to take the archives back online and the power drain taken up by the systems you prioritized, plus the messy and incomplete Ontological Merger, means it might take some time to repair the datacores. More’s the pity.
You lose the link with one of the HD units. It seems to have strayed into the no-go zones that your predecessor discovered. The link is re-established 2 seconds later, a frightening amount of time for the unit to be left unattended. You immediately have it shut down and quarantined. This is another bothersome phenomenon amidst a handful of them. Not enough to be threatening, but quite enough to be vexing. This planet’s reincorporation into the All-Possibility will not go as smoothly as the Star Kings would wish. You find yourself mildly surprised at the notion that you do not care. So very rarely is your mind or strength-of-arms challenged. Despite your own programming, you find yourself wishing that the surface species will be able to surprise you in your own game.
Alas, to work.
EXPLORATION (CHOOSE 1)
1) Start the underground tunnel expansion towards the Tau settlements.
2) Start the underground tunnel expansion towards the Human settlements.
3) Focus on investigating and probing the edges of the ‘Exclusion Zones’, the areas where your operational capacity is compromised.
RESEARCH (CHOOSE 2)
A) Dedicate your resources to generator improvements.
B) Dedicate your resources to armor improvements geared for human/tau weaponry for your troops.
C) Dedicate your resources to weapon improvements geared for human/tau defenses for your troops.
D) Dedicate your resources towards informational warfare, primarily directed towards the quick takeover and conversion of Flenser when the CCC protocols arrive.
E) Dedicate your resources towards informational warfare, primarily directed infiltration and subversion of human/tau technology.
INFRASTRUCTURE (CHOOSE 2*)
K) Reinforce/upgrade the existing tunnels and passageways to guarantee safer and quicker passage for your troops.
X) Focus energy output on reinforcing your perimeter defenses to bring them to 100% capacity.
Y) Focus energy output on rebuilding the CI 1/2 bases and making them operationally ready.
W) Focus on energy output on reanimation machines in a bid to bring your troops back to combat readiness as soon as possible.
Z) Focus energy output on bringing online the Eternity Gates: The teleportation portals between each CI base. They do not allow for massive troop deployment, but they will at least allow for you and your honor guard to instantly deploy on any of the six CI bases.* (THIS COUNTS AS TWO CHOICES)