Three hours later.
Inside the flagship's dining hall.
The Talon Custodians sat scattered around a long rectangular table, while the fleet's hired attendants served each Custodian.
When a dessert was placed before Grey at the head of the table, he scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and put it into his mouth, his gaze turning toward his colleague Anreda.
"So, the meeting on the flagship is over. What did you discuss?"
Hearing the Custodian commander's question transmitted through a special encrypted channel only Custodians could decipher, Anreda first swallowed the food in his mouth, then recalled the information he had received from the Master Control Intelligence.
After every meeting, Anreda was responsible for condensing what had been discussed and conveying it, through words or other means, to the officers or Navy commanders on the next level down.
As for the Imperium's participants in the war, their own people would inform them.
"The star-system defense line built by humanity's enemies—the thing made up of seven planets—the Imperials' Warmaster and Regent wanted to make proper preparations before beginning the attack. Reconnaissance, intelligence, that sort of thing. You all understand."
"Lord of Tyran thought the same way, but the most pressing issue now is that there isn't enough Blackstone. We need to mine more."
"A planet with rich Blackstone deposits has been discovered relatively close to Talon, but it lies within a Tau colonial zone."
When Anreda mentioned the Tau, Grey thought of some recent developments in the sector.
The new Tyran Gate Defense Zone had been established, and many xenos civilizations had been discovered during the process. The Tau were the strongest among them.
Xenos who were unwilling to relocate but also unwilling to fight became part of the Tyran Gate defense plan as Planetary Defense Forces. Those willing to relocate