[u][b]Erelvath Verrselith Yrkel Nucleus[/b][/u] While there certainly existed numerous exhaustive, scientifically accurate explanations for the uneven distribution of fertile, habitable ground on Erelvath, when admiring the luxuriant green expanses of Verrselith and recalling the desolate, wind-swept stone deserts of Iurrthellir the thought involuntarily came to one's mind that conditions supporting the growth and spread of life had been distributed on its surface by some vast, entirely arbitrary conscious design. Such was the asymmetry in the world's climate and terrain that, at first glance, it would have seemed perfectly normal to think that such an imbalance was not natural in origin, however fleeting this feeling might have been. However, fortunately for Erelvath's inhabitants' peace of mind, millennia of life on its surface had left them so accustomed to such a state of matters that they did not see anything in the slightest unusual with it; nor were they, in their majority, disposed to ponderings of the metaphysical sort, and they were thus content with leaving such thoughts to superstitious outsiders. Although it could at first seem that the contrast between the two continents' biospheres was most apparent in the thick jungles lying near the centre of Verrselith, upon a closer scrutiny it could be observed that even its milder zones, or perhaps especially those, were as alien to what lay higher upon the surface of the globe as any other. Such a location was the stretch of coast upon which stood the walls and spires of the Yrkel Nucleus. The ground there was mildly sloping along the sides of several low, broadly placed hills, covered with a thick layer of what seemed to be some sort of grey-greenish filamentous moss. About half a mile away, the brown, purple-veined waves of the ocean swayed slowly, crashing into the exposed boulders of the shore in heavy, viscous impacts as a few sparse blotches of sunlight crawled over their mutable surface. The Yrkel citadel towered over hills and cliffs alike, its sprawling form appearing to flow like a monstrous amoeboid organism over the verdant fields. Its silvery curvilinear walls rose steeply from the soil, appearing, through cunning architectural devices and tricks of the light, to writhe as a living, pulsating membrane. The cupolas and jutting steeples, surrounded with spiralling ornaments, seemed inconstant in their positions, their contour lines growing entangled and confused in an Escherian nightmare which, despite its chaotic appearance, was crystallised in a perfect semblance of order and regularity. Though the Covenant had begun its existence in an unremarkable headquarters building at the periphery of a minor Vraslil city some three hundred miles along the coast from there, things had drastically changed in the course of its continuing lifetime. That city had long since been entirely assimilated by what had become the Prime Nucleus, and had spread to become a veritable metropolis, larger than either of the planet's official capitals. But even that was too little, and too localised. Like sovell caps after the spore season, other, subsidiary Nuclei had sprung up all across the surface of Erelvath, crawling their way into administrative centres and strategic positions of various sorts and strengthening the Covenant's stranglehold over the Garden World. Their purposes varied depending on their location: some were the seat of liaisons and representatives to the Iurrketh and Vraslil governments, others potent industrial and laboratory complexes, others yet spaceports and military staging grounds. Yrkel, however, was none of these. Being closer to the Prime than all but two other Nuclei, it served as one of the multiple brains of the network. There, matters most often related to material resource acquisition and allocation were sent to be sifted and settled by diligent functionaries; and it was thus little wonder that it should have been chosen as the seat of his office-laboratory by the Decorated High Administrator Eullvallt himself. Whatever questions of utmost importance might have been decided in his chambers in the past, Eullvallt presently seemed to be enjoying an interruption in his more concrete duties and studies, and dedicating himself to musings of a different sort. Resting his vaguely globular form atop his podium-seat, the High Administrator was intently observing a semi-sphere of crystalline plasma set in the white-golden rear wall of the windowless, hexagonal room. Within the apparatus, energy discharges carefully regulated by minute magnetic fields formed intricate shapes, their colours constantly shifting due to the uninterrupted flow of the pulses, but their form constant. A cluster of thickly set, thread-like lines was woven together to combine into a spherical shape, slowly rotating over a slightly tilted axis, with ripples appearing in seemingly random points of its surface and disappearing almost immediately. Near it hovered a number of characters of different sizes, recognisable as Erelvalthi Standard; the larger ones remained still, while the lesser occasionally vibrated and rewrote themselves, updating the text to match newly received information. All of a sudden, Eullvallt twisted and spun upon himself as the approaching sound of skittering limbs stirred him from his contemplation. Soon, a Vraslil, distinguished by the slightly asymmetrical shape of the tip of his proboscis, entered the room, and, briefly swaying upon his legs in a form of greeting, to which came a similar, albeit more fluid reply, came to flank the pedestal, his gaze focusing upon the hemispherical screen as he moved. Having observed it for a few moments, he rattled one of his forelimbs against the floor, then turned to Eullvallt with a series of clicking noises strung together into a query. “Tarin, still? I understand the replication project has not been successful.” “None of us truly expected it to be.” Eullvallt replied, the suffused vibrations of his equivalent of a voice resounding dissonantly amid the humming of machinery in the background, “But nonetheless, we had better success than with the Avall-Seven samples. The quality of Tarin renthulium really is superior.” He motioned with a pseudopod to an unseen sensor, and the image on the screen briefly changed, after a swirling transition, into a schematic of some rather complex web-like structure, surrounded by numerous markings and annotations. The figure hovered in place for a few seconds, then twisted back into its former planetoidal shape. “What remained from the experiments was sufficient to uninterruptedly supply half the Nucleus with power for nearly two months, and might have lasted even longer had we been able to perfect the grid prototype sooner. Besides, you will have heard from your own colleagues of the effects of irradiated samples on the breeding vat entities. I am no specialist myself, but I was told the growth bursts were something unprecedented.” The Vraslil waved its proboscis in acquiescence. “I will not expand on the technical details, but, to put it in simple terms, a steady supply of that would nearly triple the birthing rate of Contaminators, to say nothing of the other designs. If your own results are any indication, we could also multiply vat installations, and you know full well what that would mean. I will grant that your visionary predictions have a solid enough foundation after all.” “I was, unknowingly, pessimistic. A hundredth part of what is on that moon, and Erelvath would finally be unified. A tenth, and the entire system would be our tributary. But those are only side effects. The actual results would be something neither we nor anyone else on the Council could imagine now. Jalaryias a living reactor, you recall?, would be nothing.” “I am certain the Cycle-Weavers would agree. But I assume you would not be dwelling on this now unless you had made some progress of a more practical sort.” “Correct. You see, no Iurrkhal likes being a visionary for too long. This must be why the Sanctity never took hold with us. All we could do with the samples we obtained at inflated, but acceptable cost has been done. You will not disagree if I said we need more. It follows that we must take more.” Eullvallt motioned again, and the ripples on the spherical representation on the screen somewhat stabilised, forming two more or less steady patches on the conceptual Tarin’s surface. “It is no secret that the Aurolians and the Concordat are meddling in the conflict for myopic goals of their own. To my knowledge, the power discrepancy is, for the moment, not very noticeable. It is likely they both are gathering support where they can. What we must do is clear.” “We provide it. To which side?” “Both. The Covenant did not become what it is by indulging in favouritism. We must act so that neither will know the complete truth, and be ready to offer us a plausible percentage of the resources gained once victory is achieved. A formality, I trust you understand.” “So I had guessed. We have no interest in either outcome. But if we cripple both, we gain not only the renthulium, but weary prey, as the adage goes, as well.” “Precisely. This is what we should stress when explaining the operation to the Combine. With our success, the Concordat will be eliminated, and they will have immediate and total access to the rogues’ implant schematics.” “I figured the constituents would have to be informed.” The Vraslil shifted its hindmost pair of legs pensively, “We might as well draw maximal profit from it. The Cyberforce could be swayed to intervene alongside the Aurolians, do you not think?” “Now that you mention it, I can but agree. I will not be too – visionary if I say that they can be counted on to damage the Concordat with utmost zeal. They depend on the factories, after all, and if these are emptied, their positions are compromised. As do we, actually. We would do well to remember that. On your side, could the Union be induced to deploy its forces?” “It could be easier than we suppose. There is not a single Cycle-Bearer I know who is not impatient to test their new symbionts in the field, and the Swarms are not likely to interfere. Especially not if we guarantee that our own troops will be present.” “And that is fully within our possibilities. The mining operations on Vollir are complete, and the catalyst shipments will arrive within the week.” “Those?” The interrogative rapping was repeated, “All those I asked said the fracking systems are nowhere near being optimised for them. How do you expect it to be done in time?” Eullvallt’s central spheroid sunk into the mass of his lower appendages, then rose again, stretched higher than before. “Some secrecy was necessary. After all, the constituents do not even know of these sediments, and the cargos will have to land in Combine territory. All equipment is fully ready and operational, I tell you.” “Then I can only defer to you in this.” the Vraslil replied. Eullvallt lowered himself once again, and swept a pseudopod in an imperious gesture. All images on the screen disappeared, to be immediately replaced by a schematised view of the Jalaryias system. Where Erelvath was, a ripple originated, which grew rapidly to cover nearby moons and worlds, finally engulfing the gas giant itself and the entire system, and still continued to spread further, reaching the edges of the semi-sphere. “We are what the Covenant needs.” the Iurrkhal spoke. “You shall see there are no limits to what we can accomplish. Erelvath will be one, then the system, then the galaxy itself, and more. The universe belongs to those who dare exploit it, and this is what the Covenant does best. We cannot fail.”