Aotrs scouts are treated to view of an Azura combat landing during the night. It's a moment of clarity - here, against the strange semiaquatic monsters of Tanshin I, the Azura combat doctrine finally sees its most pure expression against its fated enemy.

It is clear that the Azura and the battlecrab species - identified from ancient bunker records as the Tides - have optimized to kill each other. All their doctrine, training, planning and technology is specialized towards this enemy. So many of their technologies blend into each other to the point where it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. Theirs is a battle of venom and antivenom, mighty heroes against clouds of distracting chaff, terror and discipline. Theirs are battlefields of zero visibility and brilliant standards, of terrible blows and invincible armour, of brutal slaughter targeted at wounded who might otherwise regenerate and transcendent heroism in their defense. These are enemies locked in a death grip so tight that they have forever become a part of each other.

What is quietly notable is that this assault is not a cakewalk for the Azura. The Tides here are not an old formation, ancient relics long surpassed in their dance of poison and cure. The battlecrabs fight with modern tactics that push the Azura hard. This is not an obsolete force cut off from its point of origin, this is a well maintained garrison force that expected to fight this specific battle. Tanshin I's inhabitants no longer seem like a rogue bioweapon but the sharp end of some strange society.

But the Azura have local supremacy and sweep the Tides from the field. Immediately after they are forming up to assault the Aotrs position before Tidal reinforcements can arrive. The dropzone battle has given Aotrs command an excellent assessment of Azura numbers and armament. This is primarily an armoured spearhead centered around a number of direct-fire plasma battlespheres, the equivalent of medium hover tanks, supported by a force of mechanized infantry Ceronians. The bright red heraldry and banners identify this force as the Bleeding Sky, and their battleplan emphasizes blistering mobility, close assault, and a widespread use of plasma vent weaponry. The Knights attached to the force are unpredictable - extremely skilled personal combatants though tactically oblivious even by Azura standards. They spent the Dropzone conflict doing enormous damage but got so caught up in harrying the retreating Tides that the assault on the Aotrs position had to be delayed.

There's a little extra time to prepare as a result. The Azura force has paper superiority but no more than what is normal for attacking an entrenched position like this.

*

Boldness was entering a new phase of her biological cascade. Her brain was configuring into new and powerful configurations, enhancing her intellect from 'young genius' to 'somewhat spooky'. The transformation contained a psionic component that further sharpened her mental abilities and increased the threat she posed. She wasn't a match for a member of Aotrs high command yet but given her rate of growth she would be soon. The exact rate was hard to predict - she accelerated the harder the task put before her in an oppositional growth mechanism uncomfortably reminiscent of the Lazerblasters. 

Eventually, she'd be capable of matching Lord Death Despoil or the Furnace Knight on an even playing field. Soon after that she'd surpass them both. And after that things would go [i]really [/i]badly - insanity, agony, mass destruction, death. Cheating your way to the top had consequences. She hopes to be done with her work before then, but understands if she needs that power to accomplish her mission.

But for now she's decoding signal flags, ranks, fleet organization and noble connections. "This is useful," she said. "Thank you."

"The Biomancers are, hmm," she thought for an analogy that would make sense. "They are infrastructure. Like... corporations? Corporations for servitor species. Tools for governments, useful militarily, but not wielders of military power. Wielders of enormous civilian power. This set represents the Kaeri, a warrior species, based on owls. We're related, the Kaeri and I. Same thought. They fight with their intellects. I'm an extreme version."

She's moving her hand rapidly as she thought, kinesthetically coding her thoughts in finger-glyphs against her leg. She's already developing more efficient languages for internal use. 

"The dominant warrior species is the Ceronians. Warriors of Ceron. The wolves. They are the most successful, the most loyal, the most tenacious. Drives the Kaeri nuts, being number two - drives the [i]species[/i] nuts, not the Biomancers, they're professionally disappointed in their children."

She glances aside. "Give them your technology. It's not a big deal. They won't appreciate it, won't understand it, won't bother trying to replicate it. The Azura have spent a very long time making their technology idiot proof, there's no maintenance culture. The only place where meaningful technological growth happens is in Biomancy. If you want a long term relationship - which you might, these are important people - send Aotrs technicians with the devices otherwise they'll break them and blame you for selling them faulty crap."

She focused again. "The Furnace Knight is running a... criminal syndicate? He is out here on his own with his personal allies and resources. The Biomancers are his connection to the legitimate world but they won't die for him. Do not under any circumstances harm them, no matter how he baits you to go after them. They don't know that you don't know that they're untouchable. Speaking of untouchable, I have the following assets in play: an Oratus, who can influence the movements and loyalty of a Ceronian Legion, a Toxicrene, a perfect shapeshifter, and a Diodekoi, who is on this ship," she taps a certain Warsphere, "and is a warrior capable of burning to match the Furnace Knight in hand to hand combat, and has a heart so pure she can be his prophesied end. Problem is that she's currently deeply loyal to him and far away from him, it was the best infiltration I could manage in the circumstances."

"My operation originally planned to use the Toxicrene and Oratus to engineer a grudge between the Diodekoi and the Furnace Knight, and then just kind of hoped they killed each other on the field of battle. Long odds. But... I think there might be a way to do this that not only works, but keeps my sister assassins alive - and if I can do that, I will."

"Most important part, though, is breaking the Furnace Knight from his allies. Some are fanatical loyalists - they have to die. More are dupes, goons, or paid operatives. They need to have their morale shattered. Bribe them, terrify them, exhaust them, their courage will break before their armies crumble. Priority for now is figuring out which forces are which."