A dusty haze reflected against the light coming in from the only window in an airtight room. Ten chairs set around one large round table that took up all the space in the surroundings, each chair having a small device on the table in front of them. As time passed no noise could be heard while the light from the window slowly faded out of existence as the sun set.
Suddenly a flicker came from one of the devices as a short buzzing sound occurred before a hazy image appeared in the seat in front of the device. Soon five out of the ten seats were filled with blurred images of people of different shapes and sizes. One silhouette was of a man with average height, a bald head, and a beard that went all the way down to his chest. It was he who spoke first.
"Seems we're all here." The man said as his eyes roamed over the other people sitting at the table. "Well we might as well get this over with, I'd rather get back to my shop then deal with you lot."
"Always with the temper old man, sometimes you've got to learn to relax." A rather large man that towered over everyone else in the room said with a smile. "You should be celebrating, the ascension is finally happening in our territory for a change."
"He's right you old coot, try to be excited for once." A small figure with wings that kept her image hovering in the air above her chair said with a glittering smile. "We might be able to find some capable people this time around."
"Humph, we haven't been lucky in thousands of years. I highly doubt that will change now that we're in a pinch." The old bearded man said with a scowl.
"…" A drowsy looking women with horns coming out of her head stared at the others silently as she drank from what looked like a jug. "A nice drink always wakes me up." A bright smile filled her face as she cracked her neck and stretched.
"Leave it to you to start drinking this early in the morning. Didn't you drink enough last night?" A stoic man with what looked like a head scarf covering his forehead calmly said.
"Oh come on lighten up three eyes. It's good to have a drink in the morning, gets the blood pumping. Besides if I had to listen to this without a drink I'd pass out in a jiffy." She let out a big smile.
"Alright enough messing around, let's get to business. I'm sure the other five have already started planning out every step of their mission with how that old hag does things." The grumpy old man stated gaining nods from all the others."
"Sure. Then first we all know the ascension this time will be occurring in the Milky Way galaxy." The head scarf wearing man calmly stated. "It seems to be a rather underdeveloped area, but there are some civilizations in it that could be helpful."
"Sadly it seems only a few of them have any influence in their own galaxy. Most of them are still stuck on their home planets. Hell none of them even have any contact with each other." The Giant man said with a furrowed brow.
"Isn't that a good thing? The less advanced they are technologically the better chance they have of coming out in good shape at the beginning." The fairy said while crossing her arms. "I'd rather not deal with planet conquering assholes."
"True, though most of them get weeded out fairly quickly." The horned woman responded.
"From what I can tell there are thirty different intelligent civilizations in the area, ten of which are extremely primitive and won't notice the change in their planets as easily as the others." The head scarf wearing man said as he looked through some data. "Twelve more are out of balance though which could be a problem."
"How bad is it?" The winged lady asked.
"Eight of them are fairly bad off with one gender being completely dominate over the other. The other four have a clear higher regarded side, but the other half is treated well."
"Well those eight are gonna go through hell, but the other four should be alright. Anything else special?"
"There is one planet that is rather intriguing. The people who live on it call it earth. I've found myths and legends from their records that match with a lot of civilizations that have already ascended well in the past. Even some of the top groups have stories about them on that planet."
"Really?" The old bearded man jumped into the twos back and forth. "How is the balance on that planet?"
"Not good, but not bad either. The males of the race were in the dominant position for most of their history, though it is more balanced now. On the other hand they haven't exactly taken great care of their planet in a rush to grow as a species." He responded after quick glance through his data.
"No surprise their hehehe. I mean who gives their planet a name like earth if they truly care about it. How would you like to be called dirt?" The winged lady cheerily said as her image fluttered back in forth.
"Well looks like they're in for a tough time." The giant of a man replied. "Maybe not the worst trial since they haven't exactly been around long enough to destroy their home planet, but I expect them to be taught a lesson."
A short silence enveloped them as they all started looking through the information they had on the planet. As the horned women was about to say something the old bearded man spoke up first. "I'll be over this planet personally, it seems like it might actually have some potential compared to most of the others in our half of the galaxy."
"Hey no fair old man, I was gonna take that one." The horned woman almost growled out as she glared at him.
"Nope, not this one. If it comes down to having to figure out all the old legends and their connections to these people then it would have to go to either me or the old hag. Since I'm the elder statesmen of this group I'll begrudgingly take this task. Though of course I'll be focused on this planet so I'll leave the rest to you lot."
"How can you say that with a straight face you senile old fool! You're just dumping all the work on to the rest of us." The horned woman nearly shouted.
"You're right, I'm senile so l won't be able to handle too much of a load." He replied with a grin. "I'll just have to rely on you young whipper snappers to carry most of my share."
"Oh please I'm only a couple centuries younger than you." The winged lady nearly hissed out. "Though I am fine with him being over that planet since I hate dealing with such a hyper active species. I'll deal with some of the more primitive groups, they're easier to take care of anyways."
"Then I guess that leaves a good nineteen planets for the rest of us to watch over." The stoic man said as he started splitting the last few amongst the giant man, the horned woman, and himself. "Is there anything else to discuss?"
"Nah, just make sure to keep your groups separated during the early phases. They need to develop first before they start getting competitive with one another." The old man said as the others nodded before cutting out their transmissions.
The old man was the only one left in the room as he let out a sigh. "Hopefully this time will get a miracle." After scratching his beard with a thoughtful expression his image faded away as well. Leaving the room to return back to silence.