Only hours after Max had returned to his ship after the Mourning Ceremony, they received a distress call from a planet near the Rift. They were a few star systems away and had received no warning of the arrival of the enemy forces. They just appeared out of nowhere and put some sort of barrier over the planet before invading.
"Should we go? It looks like nobody else has answered the call yet." Nico suggested.
It had only been about fifteen seconds, so of course, any larger force wouldn't have been able to make a decision yet, but they had the flexibility to go anywhere, and Max really did want to get away from all the formalities.
"Answer that we are bringing the Terminus Trading Company force. Then privately tell the Anomaly Defence force to wait here for the ships full of drones to arrive so that they don't have to be the main battle force for their excursions." He agreed.
[Attention Allied nations. The Terminus Trading Company will be going to the rescue of Abraxis Three effective immediately. We will update you on the situation when we arrive.] Nico announced on the general communications channel, shocking all of the politicians who were currently discussing what to do about the first message that they had received.
These first few missions would be critical to the future of their alliance and the reputation of their species while under pressure.
Most of them were convinced that this threat would pass once the enemy had taken a few species down, and that meant their reputation would be of utmost importance in the future, and looking weak or cowardly could get them taken over by their former allies once the conflict ended.
They were especially wary of the humans, as they didn't have any planets in the area and had far too much firepower for the number of units that they fielded. They were a threat on par with the Arisen in the minds of most species, and looking weak would make them look like prey to this excessively warlike group.
But none of them immediately stepped forward to join Max on the offensive. They were frightened of the humans but not suicidal.
"We're all ready to depart. The Anomaly Fleet has confirmed that they will wait for the reinforcements and leave as one large battle group. The mercenaries appreciate the generosity as well. A thousand Titan Class Mecha is far more help than they were expecting." Nico laughed.
"Good, let's get going. We will take the point but keep the Colony Ship full of Drone Fighters close behind us. We will leave the immediate area and then pop through a portal for immediate arrival. The new algorithm should stabilize the portals enough to get there intact." Max ordered.
Max laughed as he sensed the shock of millions of minds who were watching the small fleet move out, not understanding why Max was confident that they could take a planet back from the enemy with such a small fleet of ships.
A dozen vessels, even if it contained a Colony Ship, was barely a detachment for most of these species, not a serious fighting force, but Max was taking only that small group to go alone to a besieged planet.
Once they were clear of the traffic and the unstable space closest to the Anomaly, Max had the fleet portal to the besieged planet vanishing through the void and leaving the rest of the species in shock that he could manage to stabilize a portal at all in these conditions.
They had thought that he would be spending days on the route to the planet and would have time to consider a battle strategy, but it looked like the Terminus Trading Company, as they called themselves, were going to be in battle in about ten seconds.
[Humans are terrifying.] One of the politicians watching the scene from the surface of the planet whispered to the Koleska minister next to him.
[You have no idea. This is their version of holding back. We have seen their combat abilities, and the type of weapons that they decided not to bring here for the sake of not destabilizing space itself are far more terrifying.
They used one near the anomaly to destroy an Arisen Cube in a single shot. Here, check the footage.] The minister whispered back.
The alien officer watched in horror as the Antimatter Torpedo exploded, and his knees were visibly trembling as he got to the analysis data of the explosion.
[What sort of species even invents something like that? Were they planning to end half the universe to prevent the Arisen from reaching their home Galaxy?] The Officer asked.
[Knowing them, it is possible. Their version of cost-to-benefit analysis considers genocide a quantifiable loss.]
While they whispered their analysis of human brutality, Max and his fleet appeared on the other side of the portal, with alarms blaring of imminent impact.
[Evasive measures. What the feth went wrong?] Max shouted.
The ships maneuvered so suddenly that Nico was nearly forced to one knee as the gravity compensators were overloaded, but they dodged the massive Cathedral Ship that was descending through the upper atmosphere below them.
[Analysis Complete. The barrier surrounding the planet has warped reality in this region. Spatial stability has been compromised, and everything that appears within one light-year of the planet is being pulled inside the barrier.] The ship's AI announced.
Max checked the sensors, and the AI seemed to be correct. There were no Cathedral Ships in orbit, they were all headed for the surface of the planet, where a massive battle had already broken out.
But there was nothing above eighty thousand metres. Anything that tried to go higher was forced back down by the barrier around the planet.
Even worse, the enemy had intended for this to happen, and they had already set up defensive weapons to attack any attempted rescuers on their way down.
[Deploy all Drone Fighters and Interceptors. Target the orbital weapons and the enemy vessels that are on the descent.] Nico ordered from inside her Mecha.
[Two minutes to landing. Please pick a deployment location.] The ship's computer requested.
Max searched for survivors and picked a Hive City that was still fighting and not too heavily surrounded.
[Drop us there. We will clear the area and then spread out.]
