The more Pex thought about it, the more uneasy he became. The congregation members who entered his room to care for him were surprised as well. How could their patriarch, always so resolute and formidable, look so utterly lost?
Pex's vacant eyes suddenly sharpened. He waved away the congregation members attending to him.
Once the room was empty, he respectfully dropped to one knee and bowed his head, as devout as any fanatic.
"Great master, you called for me," Pex said reverently in his mind.
"Your intelligence contained a major error! The swarm suffered devastating losses on Euronia IV, wasting vast quantities of biomass. The Ork clans here are abnormally powerful. They could never have developed to this extent in just over a year!"
The Swarm Consciousness sounded rather like a female electronic voice: calm, precise, and direct.
"I... I don't know how to explain this. I couldn't possibly have miscalculated the time since I arrived in the Euronia System. When I submitted the intelligence, I copied my own memories into it." Pex was frightened. His intelligence had actually caused his master's fleet to suffer tremendous losses.
"You... did not lie. But you underestimated these Orks' potential. The responsibility is not entirely yours. This appears to be another instance of unexpected evolution on their part.
"These green creatures truly are troublesome. At any time, in any place, they seem capable of astonishing feats, their behavior exceeding our projections." The female electronic voice remained exceptionally calm.
"The swarm needs to replenish its biomass for the next stage of the war. What assistance can you provide? The planet's overall situation, the defenses of the human planet, and fleet numbers are all critical intelligence. Ideally, you should seize the spaceport, destroy ammunition depots, and weaken the humans," the Swarm Consciousness ordered.
"But... the