Council Members, Honoured Citizens;

At our last meeting, several matters remained unresolved, and I gave you my word that I would give these issues my fullest consideration, reporting back to you as soon as I had carefully-measured opinions to present.

I now submit the following responses for your consideration:

1 - The Tall Ones and The Power Audit

Now that Tall Ones appear to be manifesting special abilities, they must undergo full examination and evaluation - like the rest of the population. They live within our walls, eat our food, use our energy - and they must, as a consequence, abide by our laws. They were quite willing to undergo medical audits, as a pre-requisite for clearance to use the city's medical complex, and they must also be encouraged to see power auditing as a gateway to other benefits - training in the use of their abilities, assistance should they experience difficulties, clearance to become members of the City Defence Corps (but now, I must emphasise, the ShadowShield), and of course free entry in the City Audit Lottery.

Should there be reluctance to submit to audit, we can, of course, employ covert methods. Operatives can be sent out at night to collect the necessary biological samples in secret - any sightings of operatives can be dismissed as Tall One superstition, as they have a tendency to excessive imagination concerning darkness. However, I would prefer not to pursue this exact method, as it could result in increased tension and mistrust between our peoples, which I would rather avoid. They already fear us to the extent that some Tall Ones never leave their homes.

However, I have been in discussion with the ShadowPets Development Agency, and an alternative could be in the offing.

2 - Expansion of Use of ShadowPets, and Derivations Thereof, Into Non-Entertainment Environments

Now that the ShadowShield program is in effect, I see little reason to divert resources from the ShadowPets operation to any military applications. Should we require additional forces, I am reliably informed that our Mechanical work-force can be rapidly outfitted to serve on the battlefield, and in the direst circumstances, I would not hesitate to call upon our Dominion allies for aid.

However, the Development Agency have been exploring alternative uses for ShadowPet technology - a crippled Tall One can now walk, now that he has been provided with prosthetic legs derived from by-products of ShadowPet production, and a similar, yet more ambitious experiment is being set in motion off-world, under my personal supervision - and there appears to be almost unlimited potential. We can take this as far as we wish to go.

One possible use for "special order" ShadowPets ties into the first question in this report. Should we feel it is necessary to covertly test the Tall One population, we could make use of their own extensive mythology, and create replicas of their more notorious denizens of the night as part of this testing program. The threat of these nightmares, brought fully into being, could encourage the Tall Ones to step forward and explore any powers they might have, at least for their own self-defence, and also improve the image of the ShadowShield, should our forces "confront" and "defeat" these "emissaries of evil" in public.

Given the potential these developments present, I am initiating, with your consent, the ShadowPets Innovation Annex. We have something special, the offspring of our unfettered imagination, and to fail to explore that to its fullest would be an insult to those who fought and sacrificed to raise our City out of the dust in The Days Long Passed.

3 - The Discovery of The Location of Threat One

Skylance-X has been a great success, and our people have every right to be proud of her, her crew and their achievements. One achievement must, for now, remain secret - the discovery of the planet of the entity previously referred to as "The Watcher Beyond", and now designated "Target One". This creature represents the single greatest threat to our civilisation, and we must not alert it to our actions until we are ready to eliminate that threat.

A countermeasure is presently in development, and as I am trusted with the defence of our people and our world, I hope I will be trusted to make use of this asset at the proper time. I would also anticipate that you will grant me the freedom to take any action I deem appropriate to ensure that the entity remains undisturbed until we are properly equipped to remove this darkest cloud from our shared skies.

In closing, I hope that your confidence in me remains strong, and that I have shown in my responses, as I have in my actions, that nothing is more important to me than our world, its people, and our future. Once the last obstacles are swept away, that future will be within the grasp of all who choose to reach for it

The Lady Talona.

For the attention of Bekalth, The White Beast:

The addition of your strength and knowledge to our own is most welcome, but your independent actions, in particular your failed foray into the territory of the Consolidation of Species, make it clear that you still do not fully understand our methods, and the need for us to act as a unified force, rather than as self-motivated individuals. We are certain that, were we to assemble in council, you would yet again remind us of your former status, regale us at length about how you are the only one amongst us to have ever truly known what it means to be a god - and that is why this message is delivered to you in a less public fashion.

It is clear that you need to be reminded that only together can we hope to achieve our shared goals. Your activities have now forced us to move our plans forward ahead of schedule, before we are truly ready - were it simply our intention to conquer, let there be no doubt that we would have struck long before you joined us, and there would be no place for you amongst us, in whatever form you possessed. That is not, however, the case - we value your contribution, but we cannot tolerate any further divergence from the plan, unless you bring a coherent proposition before us for our deliberation - such as The Ancient One did recently.

The time approaches for us to strike, and strike deeply into the hearts of our enemies. Challenges await us, that is certain, as does the potential for ultimate and glorious victory. Let us not squander all we have worked for, all we have waited for, in search of small, personal battles or selfish attempts to grab territory and power when all of that will be offered up to us when we are triumphant. Patience, brother - patience; what better way is there to strike back at the gods who have stood in our way in the past than to strip them of their followers, rendering them powerless? What could be more... delicious?

We trust that you will appreciate our decision to place you in command of the exploratory incursions, which I am sure will require your fullest attention if they are to succeed as we have envisioned. You may feel that such a duty is beneath you, but wait and see - if our next move is successful, our operations in Mutual Defence Imperative space can be left to run themselves, and you will be free to join us as we rage across the stars.

In glory, we rise. In fire, we conquer. In unity, we are Pandemonicum...

Emergency Transmission - Priority Critical - All Vessels of The Sisterhood, All Citizens, All Servants, attend:

Message reads: Faen is lost.

Repeat: Faen is lost.

The Dark Heart beats still. The Conclave has been summoned.

Message ends...