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Cohort Admiralty Meeting Minutes, on board the warship Atropos
The Year of our Divine Emperor 9943
10h00
Subject: BOE Activity, Cohort Strengths and Weaknesses
In attendance:
His Divine Highness the Necrolord Prime
The Saint of Joy
The Saint of Patience
Admiral Lynceus Trianos
Admiral Erithras Hexasis
Vice Admiral Praxithea Duolis
Vice Admiral Nephus Tertius
Captain Lina Quintavet
Captain Aptos Khamsa
Captain Verity Zweis
The meeting was called to order by Admiral Lynceus, who welcomed everyone present and gave particular thanks to Our Lord and Resurrector, the Necrolord Prime, for making time in his busy schedule to attend. The Saint of Joy stated that she also had a very busy schedule. The Saint of Patience told her not to be uncharitable, whereupon the Saint of Joy moved to the opposite side of the table.
Vice Admiral Tertius delivered a briefing on recent BOE activity in the sector, including several bombings that caused damage to Cohort facilities. The Saint of Patience inquired why these operatives had been able to get so close to our supply lines, and proposed sending additional reinforcements and supplies from Colchis. Captain Zweis noted that Colchis was suffering from famine in the past two cycles and would be unlikely to have supplemental supplies. The Saint of Joy said, "Surely someone could do something about that."
The Necrolord Prime asked if there were any more peanuts, and an ensign was dispatched to get more.
Captain Khamsa provided an update on troop readiness and training of new Cohort recruits. He estimated it would take anywhere from six to twelve months to replace the troops lost in the attack on Apsila, but allowed for the possibility of lowering the recruitment age from fourteen to thirteen, which would give access to an additional ten thousand two hundred potential candidates from the Fourth House. The Saint of Joy stated, "Pfaugh, children." The Saint of Patience proposed, possibly in jest, that shorter soldiers would make for smaller targets. The Necrolord Prime told him not to make jokes at a time like this, and then inquired whether there were sufficient instructors to train that many new soldiers at once. The consensus among the Admiralty was that some of the incapacitated troops could still serve as instructors even if they were no longer combat-ready. At that point, the ensign returned with a bowl of peanuts, which Our Lord and Resurrector took and ate.
Vice Admiral Duolis provided an Intelligence briefing regarding Cohort efforts to infiltrate BOE, which have so far proven of limited success, most assets being detected and terminated within four to six weeks. She proposed that a Lyctor might be better able to successfully infiltrate, being undetectable by most standard means available to BOE. The Saint of Joy and the Saint of Patience had a heated discussion about this proposition, which was only concluded when the Necrolord Prime intervened to state that he wouldn't ask such a thing of either of them, as he needed them both for other vital tasks. Vice Admiral Duolis inquired whether it was possible for more Lyctors to be recruited, which was met with laughter by the Saint of Patience and disgust by the Saint of Joy. The Divine Resurrector stated that he would take the proposal under advisement, but cautioned that such a course of action would take many years, and might not prove an efficient method. He stated that he would raise the proposal to the Saint of Duty (not in attendance) and bring back word of his response.
The Saint of Joy stated that if the Necrolord Prime actually chose to gather more Lyctors, she would throw herself out the nearest airlock. The Saint of Patience called this an empty gesture, and stated that "It's not as if it would kill you anyway, Joy, more's the pity." The Necrolord Prime requested to be taken to the nearest secure planet and have them both tossed out a window, upon which note the meeting was adjourned.