“So, boyos, status report?”
Decay Lord Kengana’s hologram flickered erratically, the tele-video signals fading and strengthening almost at random. The bird-like being smiled, waiting for a response.
“Status report positive…” Itaviir replied, monitoring a console, while Galyn fiddled around with some settings, a vague attempt to make the transmission clearer. “Please excuse the poor comms, we are currently sheltering from an expansion storm. What do you want to learn?”
“Mission report first, Decaylin’ report second. Gotta get the formal stuff outta the way.”
“Very well…” Reaching to a nearby desk, Itaviir grabbed a large folder and opened it up. “Started off as a routine Voidborn Monitor mission. Get in, plug in trackers, get out. Being an abandoned Lump, with sweeps to prove it, we thought little of the difficulty and sent in the Decaylings as a testing exercise. As soon as the Decaylings were within the Lump, we were attacked by two Voidborn ships.”
“In ya written report, ya said y’all blew one up?” Kengana queried.
“Yes, we did. They attacked us with intent to kill, firing as soon as they saw us. So we fired back. The second ship attempted to dock and board us, at which point the Time Drake on board created a time loop, trapping us all for an indefinite amount of time.”
“And ya said that ya fellow Decay Lord Galyn was outside of da ship?”
“He had been assisting the Decaylings in getting to the Lump. The Voidborn had sent a second regiment to deal with him separately, and, because he was preoccupied with survival, could not break the time loop.”
Kengana tapped his winged arms together somewhat impatiently. “And then?”
“Well, I do not know…” Itaviir further explained “You have seen the information and automatic data collection in our written report…”
Galyn tutted, interrupting Itaviir. “As the report says, the Decaylings returned from their mission, assisted me in battle and helped me break the time loop. They used a rather eclectic way of doing so, essentially overwhelming the pleasure centres of everything within the loop, giving us the opportunity to wipe out the Voidborn before they could do the same to us.”
“Did ya not get any info or data from any o’them?” Kengana asked. “Or did ya just blow ’em all up?”
“We tried to salvage some data from them but came up empty. The Decaylings however did manage to set up trackers within the lump though, so all is not lost.”
“Ah yeah, the li’l Decaylin’s, how’re they all doing?”
Itaviir allowed himself a small smile. “We are seeing massive improvements on all three Decaylings. They have adapted well to their new environment and are creating bonds with each other.”
“Even Deathbringer?”
“Especially Deathbringer. Flamebearer and Souldrainer are learning well, but Deathbringer has had a complete turnaround ever since he came on board. If things continue on pace, we may be able to debut them as a new Trio much faster than anticipated.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We still need to work on all three of them, especially Deathbringer, but this project is working far better than we could have hoped.”
“Well that there is some darn great news!” Kengana clapped his wings together. “We’ve all be needin’ more Trios for to darn long! How do they get along wit’ them there Time Drakes and Life Goddesses?”
Itaviir shrugged. “We do not have enough data on those yet. But the Decaylings are working well alongside the Time Drake we have with us. The Life Goddess… well, she is as Life Goddesses are.”
“Mhm…” Kengana nodded, satisfied with what he had heard. “Very well, I’ll leave y’all to it. Let us know if anythin’ else happens, alrighty?”
“Will do…”