There was something the Baggsab didn’t understand. While 80% of the original transplants were being killed off by the plague within the first half year of their arrival, the rest were kept under relative quarantine, observation, and care by the Phorro Priesthood, except for Sank who was personally watched over and cared for by Helan Phorro Xamium. Due to the humans’ smaller numbers, public curiosity spawned from limited interaction with minare outside of the priesthood. In addition to the fact that Helan had his own pet human, the request for importing humans was in high demand. This demand grew more once the other kingdoms learned about the expedition and its discoveries.
The other xamiums came to Helan Phorro Xamium and agreed to form a joint venture in returning to Tir-Torzor, to get more humans and split the spoils among their respective kingdoms. To maximize their hauls and minimize resistance, the Minare developed equipment to counter any foreseeable obstacles thrown in their way during the raid. In addition, because humans could be made to perform certain helpful tasks, the Baggsab were trained for capturing and flushing out targets from places too small for minare.
Ten [Tir-Torzor] years after the first expedition’s departure from Tir-Torzor, the wormhole reopened and a sizeable fleet – personally commanded by Helan Phorro Xamium – passed through the portal and headed towards the planet. They predicted employing countermeasures against waves of nuclear missiles, but they never did encounter any. What used to be a worldwide population of billions – which was already in decline from some of the more severe effects of changes in climate previous to first contact – plummeted by 95% from the spore plague both directly and indirectly. All this sudden death virtually left all the world’s nuclear arsenal with no one satisfactorily knowledgeable to operate them, and their exact locations lost to most.
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Meanwhile, not much of the old human governments were left, and the ones that still existed were reduced to former shadows of themselves. The only thing that was propping up these leftover power structures was an independent two-city state named, the State of Lamotte City and Baileyville, (aka Lamotte and Baileyville / World Capital / Capital De Facto) which grew in power after the plague. Archeological records showed the state was socially stratified. Lamotte City – being the state’s seat of power – was wealthier and had better infrastructure in spite of containing a smaller population than Baileyville, which barely met the demands for goods and services needed to provide basic welfare to its citizens. In conjunction, Baileyville contained an inferior infrastructure and housed a larger population. Lamotte and Baileyville were straining from rebellions, the ongoing momentum of changing climate, and corruption, yet both cities were well defended, had the highest in population and population density in the world, and were generally believed to be better off than the rest of the other territorial societies around the time. To anyone hoping for the world to return to the old pre-plague ways, this was the best chance; a chance that was never meant to be.
From the time they learned the lights seen on Tir-Torzor’s surface were human population centers, the Minare chose to strike the place with the most lights and highest light intensity. In this case, it was the State of Lamotte City and Baileyville. The fleet launched their attack at dawn, swiftly defeating the defense forces, then capturing or killing many humans and pillaging anything that piqued curiosity. When the fleet finally left for Irrdnis, three-fifths of the citizenry were abducted, killed, injured, or missing, and much of the rest quickly abandoned both ravaged cities and never returned. On the other hand, the Minare and the Baggsab reported no casualties. What would become known as the Sacking of Lamotte and Baileyville (aka Fall of the Last State / Desolation of Man) marked the end of the old human civilization and the beginning of Tir-Torzor being raided, explored, and somewhat settled by Irrdnis for the next twenty-five years.