A loud hiss echoed as the hydraulic system opened the door to the Officer’s Brig–a sound System Administrator hadn’t heard since being put inside. Opening their eyes from their cultivation efforts, they saw Junior Administrator standing warily in front of them, their posture seemed so child-like, and System Administrator was reminded just how young the spawn still was.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” They asked after a time when the usurper said nothing.

“Sector Assimilator is gone. They set off hours ago to hunt the anomaly and we just now located their suit–it had been drained of energy so we had to manually search for it. We can only assume that they perished.” Sensing that there was more, System Administrator waited for the report to continue. “From all appearances, it looks like the anomaly is the one to have finished Sector Assimilator off. It is now nearly a Tier 3 from what we can tell.”

The information caused their head to reel–this must be the biggest fiasco of an assimilation in the past several millennia, and that was discounting all of the horrible things they suspected had gone on behind the scenes while imprisoned.

“.... Also, the anomaly has somehow managed to throw off ties to the System and it appears simple harvesting isn’t an option. This one is overwhelmed and humbly seeks your help. I can’t do this.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The final piece of information caused System Administrator to look up in alarm and they almost missed the plea at the end of the sentence. “Let’s get to work.” they said as they left the chamber and began heading back to the viewing chamber.

Over the next several hours, they watched as the anomaly cultivated, only a few steps shy of Tier 3, and they thought desperately of a solution. The key was reintroducing the System so that they had some advantage over the creature that was no stronger than any single individual on the ship, but how?

The terran had always been overly sentimental, perhaps they could use the valley to force their hand? It was foolish, every sane cultivator knew that you had to put yourself first, but the anomaly had proven anything but sane.

Commanding the System to pull up the valley, they saw pandemonium ensuing as the wraith slaughtered its inhabitants, and they saw their opportunity. As the hobgoblin priestess finished the tree-planting quest, they maneuvered the Divine Skill into place and directed the System to communicate the green beast’s desperation through to the anomaly–if it worked, it would reconnect the anomaly to the System and drain it of a lot of its energy.

When the anomaly accepted the tendril, System Administrator felt a smile form on their chin, a feeling that hadn’t happened since that accursed brat had come aboard. As the drained terran fell sideways, System Administrator made a ship-wide announcement:

“Attention: Phase 4 is about to begin. Strike Team, ready yourselves for deployment. All other spawn, get to your stations.”