Joint Unity-IR E-Strain Obliteration Efforts

Stockholders and Sector Generals Stark, Deer, and Palmodes,

Once again, I am quite pleased to have the opportunity to work with you. It has been some time since I last worked with the Iron Republic, and we have much to do. If you don't mind my saying so, you made an excellent choice seeking us out as a partner for dealing with the E-strain.

After all, they were first made to hunt the Unity into extinction. We have become ruthlessly efficient in purifying E-strain worlds.

The trick is that one cannot simply bombard their planets from orbit. We WISH it were that simple. Even if one were to pump the planet so full of energy the entire planet was glassed; it would be likely that some eggs would survive. Whats worse, those eggs would have little competition on the planet, and access to underground warrens. Ships you designate as devoid of all life can actually be crawling with E-strain and one would not know; no known sensors can detect the E-strain at depth.

This is why the Unity developed Extinction level protocols for Prophets. They cover a planet in a cloud of deadly toxins in an ever shifting cocktail while also landing Harbringer troop transports and infantry. Additional Praetorians are constructed on site and a sector-by-sector search, aided by the slow conversion of the planet, is carried out to root out all warrens. The planet's resources are then, traditionally, used to build more prophets.

I asked for clarification regarding ownership of the purified planets because after extinction level protocols have been used, there is no life of any kind on that planet excepting Unity cleared combat operatives with a 99.99% certainty. We can handle the processing of the planet in a few ways for you.

1) Simply leave the planet when life has been extinguished on it such that the Iron Republic can land dome cities on the surface.

2) Use Prophet-based infrastructure to deep core mine the entire planet for raw material owned by the Iron Republic; the Unity is paid a fee for harvested matter as a mining contractor.

3) The Prophets perform a full conversion of the planet into a Unity extension, which can act as a forward battle station for Iron Republic and Unity forces in E-strain space.

We leave the choice up to you, as Palmodes expressed that this point is important to the Iron Republic. We currently have a number of Prophets fully loaded and ready for launch. We have a number of potential targets and await your pleasure. Alternatively, you can try out different options to see what are best for your needs. Further, if you have any questions regarding our protocol, we hope to address them presently.

Prime

Prime,

It warms an old man's heart to see an honored enemy such as yourself become an ally.
Between the fleets of the Iron Republic and the advanced technology of the Unity even the insane birthrates of the E-Strain cannot stand firm. They will fall and our mutual citizens will be safe for the first time in nearly three years.

Just as I am sure your oftentimes Allies the Kasanthian Federation will stir up trouble for us, you should know that Rogue HiveQueen Ar'yay is currently beyond our jurisdictional influence so she may use this as an opportunity to stir up trouble for your people.

Sadly both our bedfellows will probably not accept the peace we have so justly brokered, old chap.

On to new business, the Estrain planets. I like option one.

It will also make good PR. I will put into production Nomad City Transports, vessels capable of repopulating the worlds after they are cleansed.

It will be efficient and capital generative. The new colonies will slowly Terraform the planet againcreating jobs and work for the new colonists.

I think pairing our fleets together for the invasion is proper. For the space battles to come, we will support each others fleet while opening the way for these "prophets". They land and do what it is they do. And while they are doing so our Interdictors will prevent any ships from escaping.

This will be fine against Bloom Ships, old chap. But what is our tactical answer if they deploy their galaxy drives. I hear tell the Estrain have three of those fake solar systems at their disposal. And if they are anything like my researchers report they can move entire solar systems at will.

Sector General Palomedes

My affiliations and those of the Unity are unorthodox, according to Iron Republic standards. We actually find it quite productive that elements of the TRILAT will wage conflict with your allies the Quall and each other. It will keep all of us sharp, while costing us little. Rivalry is an essential part of learning, and keeps us from the stagnation of other groups.

Regarding the Galaxy Drives, these are powerful devices. However, the Unity specializes in tactical flexibility. All our ships need do is carry shadow satellites in reserve, and we can bring reinforcements to wherever the wormhole may lead. Further, we doubt that such a vessel could withstand a barrage from multiple Unity Extensions, Iron Republic aggression, and boarding parties. Our primary concern is only the depopulation of E-strain planets.

Regarding logistics, it takes approximately 10 Prophet Carriers to carry out extermination protocols on a single planet. While they are called carriers, they are more like missiles, and are spent after they finish their mission. Normally this is a non-issue, as we had planned on using raw material taken from these planets to make additional Prophet carriers. Much in the way that bacteriophages operate, this would allow us to quickly produce enough Prophets to meet the sheer volume of E-strain worlds. I can allow for spent Prophets to be re-fueled if they are not spent in creating a Unity Extension, but this will prevent me from achieving the exponential growth necessary for destruction of the E-strain. Thusly, if the Unity cannot so much as establish mining or building operations on the planets we purify, we need a second option.

I have a few in mind; thankfully.

Firstly, with my own production capacity, I cannot reasonably afford to produce more than two fleets of 10 prophets per month without using standard planet conversion protocols. If you can get the board to agree to give us access to some your massive fleet-factories; we would be able to easily produce enough Prophets to cull the E-strain. Alternatively, if the Iron Republic can donate raw materials or ships to the cause, we can use them to build Prophet Carriers much more quickly.

Secondly, we can simply use an approach based on bombardment that avoids planet conversion. These approaches would involve introduction of poison cocktails similar to those used in Prophet Extinction protocols, accompanied by underground Harvester/Missionary Sweeps, assassination drops, and a more traditional bombardment of the planet from orbit. I regret to inform you that if I cannot perform full conversions of planets, it will be extraordinarily difficult for me to verify that all E-strain eggs on a planet are destroyed. Part of why Prophet carrier engagements involve full conversion of planets is that it gives us a full view of said planet, making it impossible for E-strain to hide. With some time, I can optimize such systems to seek out E-strain hives more efficiently.

Thirdly, it may be possible for me to modify Prophets in such a way that they convert a planet, but then re-aggregate all significant Unity Technology into the construction of new Prophets. In theory, while the planet would be a Unity Extension for a time, it could be used as an Iron Republic world free of Unity influence. Further, this compromise would allow for quick production of Prophets, allowing us to quickly scale up extermination prophets. This option would allow us the thoroughness of Prophets, but with tactical/political flexibility.

We know these are hard choices. While it would be most efficient to simply have the Iron Republic build dome cities on converted Unity Extensions, this is not practical. In the interim, we are preparing the Extermination flotilla. We STRONGLY suggest option 3, with use of options 2/1 until such time as the retrofitting is complete. I would hear your opinions and those of your peers.

Prime

Palmodes,

It is past time to begin extermination efforts. We have prepared recalibration of the Prophets such that you can have unmarred planets once the extermination protocols are finished. We have prepared 10 Prophet fleets, and have acquired targets. We propose a joint extermination of 7 planets concurrently. All of the planets we have proposed have high population density, and make excellent staging grounds into E-Strain space. Unity Extensions and Fleets will back up these extermination efforts, and we hope we can rely on you as well.

There is little time for delay.

Prime

Dear Prime,

Good on you, old chap. Deer and I have been arguing all week about your proposal. Thank you for offering a solution that I can force that stubborn officer into agreeing to.

If production is a problem i have a huge manufacturing wing that could pump out a fleet of Prophets a week. I can even replace your Praetorians with Brethren Troopers for speed of arming.
I will of course have to refit the vessels for an implanted Brethren Brain to pilot. Yes I know it is a cheap knockoff of your Sagittae technology but even with a treaty I have to make sure as much of these vessels are IR tech as possible for a wide variety of reasons (Deers legal concerns notwithstanding).
Send me the plans for the Prophets and i will begin production today.

Sector General Palomedes

Sector General Palomedes,

With all due respect, I believe you lack the manufacturing facilities to make Prophets or to pilot them. Our manufacturing methods are...profoundly different. I could inspect one of your facilities in order to see how it could be re-tooled...but I suspect this would take precious time.

Further, linear production of Prophets will never be able to counter the Exponential growth of the E-strain. Such a system would cause us to lose two worlds for each one purified. Prophets are effective because they make more Prophets as they clear worlds. This allows for exponential growth, and allows for us to focus manufacturing in other areas. This is the only way to win the fight; and I assume you wish to win. Do not worry, we will quickly clear all Unity technology off the worlds once our work is done.

If we need to increase the pace of purification though, we may take you up on your offer.

If the Fleets of Fate were not present, I'd be more inclined to move with your plan. However, you will need every scrap of production to defeat them, even if we are allowed to assist you. I cannot stress enough how catastrophically bad fighting them will be.

Prime

What is our next Target prime?

Sector General Deer,

We have attached tactical projections regarding E-strain planets we are aware of. You will note, on the map, we have seven inbound Prophet fleets hitting what we have designated vulnerable population centers. Funnily enough, we recycled many of the algorithms which had originally been crafted for extermination of the Quall in the generation of these codes. Heh.

Any support of our Prophet fleets would be appreciated. Each of the Prophets is guarded by 2 Dreadnaughts and 100 Saggitae at this time.

As per our arrangement, we will not be converting these planets. Instead, we will simply sterilize them to the best of our ability, construct new Prophets, and leave the worlds lifeless. You may then colonize/inspect them as you wish.

Prime

How does a pair of I.R. Motherships? Not to keep or even lend.
No I mean I will send in a pair of Motherships who will escort the prophets and help defend them. Their combined starfighter compliment of 300 starfighters should double your defenses.

SG Deer

Sector General Deer,

Why would we expect you to give us control of Motherships? It would ruin our chance to be on the same side as you in a space conflict. It would also ruin your chance to attack our fleets, should we suddenly turn against the treaty. Such trust is not given by those as canny as you without great cause. We have not given you sufficient cause at this time.

We assume that you will be holding those ships in reserve to help fleets as resistance arises. You may also want to keep some colony ships and transports on hand. The work of our Prophets and ground troops should not take longer than one week to effect full sterilization and extraction. Once all Unity technology has been removed, you should begin efforts to re-colonize and inspect the planet as soon as possible. Anything less would be sub-optimal.

Prime