[center][color=crimson][h1]The Forveliam League[/h1][/color][/center]

[hr]

[center][i]Late Morning, Planetary High Court Building, Renali VI, Forveliam League[/i][/center]

The air in the room was tense as the three male Renali stood there tall, tense enough so that it could be virtually cut with a vibroblade right here and now. Yet none seemed to waver as their gazes sat steeled upon each other, none seemed to stand down or submit to the pressures exerted by the others. The first one's body had been replaced extensively with cybernetics and gene-modded flesh and organs, to the point he looked externally more like a machine in the image of a Renali than like a Renali soldier and longtime veteran. His gaze was more cold yet serene, heated yet cool, cybernetic eyes and body language projecting a sort of disciplined but still noticeably agitated mood. The second was a more modern-dressed individual, donning the blue and silver-trimmed modern-style garb of a planetary senator, his gaze keen and steeled like none other. Even with one eye having been replaced with cybernetics only a few years ago, he seemed to hold a certain grace and professionalism that different from a soldier's own type of discipline. The third was dressed in a green and copper-trimmed older garb, a type of old robe reminiscent of the old tribal style or a 'toga' as humans seemingly called it. Even so this higher governor held himself with a certain sense of pride, old and rugged and as stubborn and yet full of strength as the life-forms of the planet itself. 

Ultimately it would be when another standing in the corner would cough, however, that the three males' attention would be diverted. 

"My dear brothers, this is a matter that we need to settle, though simply standing here to intimidate each other will do naught but gather dust and darker things. To this end I suggest we meet another day, and allow these things to gestate within our minds until the time is right to speak once again."

The speaker was a very much fully-organic Renali adorned in flowing red robes with golden trim, whose clothes were even inlaid with myriad ancient symbols that signified his rank. He piped up with a sagely and noticeably aged tone of voice, the kind of tone of one who had seen much and done many things in his days. His reptilian eyes, gleaming with the wisdom of ages past, seemed to glance over the three men analytically before they softened once more in turn. 

[color=silver]"...The Great Elder is right, oh World Speaker and High Governor. This debate can be finished another day, another time. For now, however, I implore you to heed my words. Our people are suffering as potential genetic issues accumulate, and the cases of Recombinant Affliction Disorder have begun to sharply rise to affect almost a fifth of us in the last several years alone.

While a danger is there, we cannot ignore the need for help is here and that we must act before the issue grows any larger than it has."[/color] The first of the three spoke, his mechanical-looking carapace glinting ever so slightly in the light as he spoke in a voice filled with well-meaning organic words and yet inhumanly-well-tuned mechanical tones. 

[color=lightblue]"While I agree in that one respect, that we must speak later, I'm afraid I cannot sit idly by either with what you have said High General.

We cannot entertain nor pretend your ideas do not put our people in danger. Not here, and especially not elsewhere. To contact the CCN, to talk with that dangerous rabble for any attempted benefits or learnings or otherwise, would only turn out to spite your men and all of us in the end. 

Only death would come, and more so it would put the League into a situation with the Federation and others that would have extensive ramifications-"[/color] The second returned in kind, his controlled tone of voice and splendid control over his vocal projection so very fit for a politician, though as he seemed to go on he would soon find himself cut off. 

[color=lightgreen]"World Speaker, those risks are indeed true to an extent we are all aware of...and yet we cannot ignore what must be done. Time is of the essence, and the needed tools might be at our disposal with simple negotiations. We can avoid a disaster without causing another.

Our soldiers and their family bloodlines compose many populations of the Renali. They already have branched so far, gone to such lengths for so long, that most of them cannot conceive with those outside of their enclaves and groups. Only the younger families seem to be able to, and they in due time will fall away in that manner as well. Even if those whom wisdom is sought from are deemed evil and follow a dark path, goodly purpose can be used to guide this wisdom to the benefit of many. 

Would you deny them the chance to ascend the ancient ways that we have respected for so long, even to ensure the issues among their own can be righted and set on a productive course? Would you deny them the chance to get guidance needed to save their own, no matter the cost that simply standing about would bring as well?[/color] the third spoke, his voice holding as firm and tall as a mountain and yet as gentle and soft as the breeze. 

The three stood silent again for but a moment, the questions of the third lingering in the empty air of the grand meeting chamber. Only four of them were there, three of whom had been the debators with each other, and yet the lack of an assembly to fill the vast space of the room otherwise created an almost eerie and haunting sensation...something that seemed to leave all suddenly more uncomfortable as it rose up once more in a sudden wave.  

"I shall keep contact with you all, and organize the next time we will meet after returning to His Highness' side. Until then, I would simply note that we must evacuate the room before the midday meeting begins."

[center]------------[/center]

As he left the Planetary High Court Building, the High General seemed to sigh as he approached the docked vehicle that had been waiting to pick him up. A military spacecraft, an old troop space-surface transport once used for planetary landings at that. It had been upgraded greatly with new technology, painted well, and [url=https://i.imgur.com/zDJE9fw.jpg]transformed in the end into a VIP-moving shuttle for military officials of the League and other important personnel[/url]. Even now the old frontal boarding hatch was opening and lowering, the hiss of decompression and detachment cutting into the air as it opened up and formed a ramp for him to walk up into the ship. Twelve armed veteran Renali emerged, six on either side, their mixed mechanical-organic forms standing at attention with radi-beam rifles in hand as the High General approached and began to walk up.

[color=silver]"At ease, my warriors."[/color] 

The Renali almost sighed after the well-rehearsed words rolled out, though as he reached the top the old soldier noticed a very familiar face. Her face was half-replaced, the left side composed of fitted cybernetics and a bio-mechanical fleshy bits, whilst the right side of her face shone as Renali as the day she'd been born. Even so, her remaining natural eye was itself a peculiar swirling mix of distinct orange and very light purple colors, a sure secondary sign of the genetic modifications she'd inherited from many ancestors in the past combined. 

[color=silver]"Colonel Vrighid...heh, you remind me of your father even now. That look in your eyes of raw determination, that aura of pride you carry in your family name, all of it speaks of his younger days when I was a Major."[/color]

The younger female soldier half-smirked as she looked back at the High General, rolling her eyes as if she was a youngling regarding her own doting parent. Even so her body posture itself remained rigid, defined, and frankly speaking disciplined in every way to a 'T'. 

[color=9370DB]"Please, High General Vorhm, he'd have laughed himself to death on his very deathbed just hearing you say that of all things. But all the same...thank you."[/color] 

A hint of sorrow seemed to carry In Vrighid's half-mechanical, and for a moment Vorhm regarded her carefully before giving a sagely nod and walking forward. Naturally Vrighid rapidly moved to keep at-pace with him, even as the soldiers finished returning into the hold and the hatch began to rise and seal up once more. The metal floor clanked under their feet as well, even as the painted lighter greys and hard red borders of the ship's internal halls would start to pass by them once leaving the vast hold itself. Yet the High General's silence seemed to echo more than any other noise, even as the engines could be heard cutting on for the undocking process from the one of many ship-docking poles that stood up around the Planetary High Court Building. 

[color=9370DB]"...They did not listen, did they?"[/color] 

Vrighid's voice rang in Vorhm's ears, a sense of audible restraint holding back the hint of frustrations he knew lied underneath. In a heartbeat, the older and far more modified Renali stopped to lightly turn his head to his subordinate. 

[color=silver]"Not ignored, not both of them at any rate. The High Governor has sympathies for our plight, our people's plight, and yet that stubborn fool of a World Speaker rebuffs us. While I can understand his view, and the issues at hand, at the same time we cannot ignore the issue altogether. 

We need the information and technology to ensure our military bloodlines are freed of the unintentional defects and unintended combinations of old genetic modifications combining with new ones or certain naturally-mutated genetics of some civilians. While medicine has been produced for many to at least hold back the symptoms, the problem continues to grow and the fact of the matter is that it is projected to rapidly do so over time. Even so, we all are well-aware of the risks involved and the other myriad potential issues that might arise from what we must still do. It is our [b]only[/b] choice to ensure the matter is taken care of in a timely manner before it spirals out of control, and even with many of the League's best and brightest involved it will take too much time for them to organize their work and develop a sure solution before it is too late. Only they know what our people are like, as they are very much similar to us."[/color] 

[color=9370DB]"So we will execute the plan as intended?"[/color]

[color=silver]"Yes. Have the ship's crew turn on the private deep-space comms link to the CCN as soon as we get far enough away from the planet. Then link it through one of the old channels for an unused one that has been abandoned, something no one here will be actively searching for these days. Then meet me in the conference room, where I will be waiting for the negotiations top start once we manage to hail them.  

We sent them a package, encrypted of course to ensure the find the channel, which hopefully arrived through our mutual associates."[/color] 

The Colonel stood firm, face now stoic as she gave a salute before very promptly and quickly beginning to make her way to the cockpit down another side hall. Meanwhile, Vorhm simply stared up at the ceiling above him and let out a long sigh. 

This would be a long day for the Renali indeed, but one that was necessary for the common good of their military families to step above the standard members of their race and become something 'new'. Something that could stand on its own and continue to work alongside the League and fight alongside and for their original people despite becoming a different variant species. To this end, progress had to be made quickly to ensure the growing burden of these genetic issues didn't spread even farther and faster than they already were. And if he could help it, and he hoped he could, he wouldn't sit by and watch as so many suffered...

Not again.