The scenes from the battlefield were just beginning to filter back to the politicians in the Koleska Anomaly Station, and what they were seeing was causing the Politicians to panic.
The Morphos had linked up with the Terminus Trading Company, and they were defeating the Great Enemy in battle. Only two factions working together were stopping the assault of a splinter force, and the scene was being broadcast to every single sentient species in the region, courtesy of Nico Tarith.
There was no denying now that even a small alliance was enough for them to defend the worlds that were important to them, so any continued hesitation in sending out their troops would be seen as a sign of cowardice.
Of course, the majority of the politicians gathered here were cowards, but that didn't mean that they would allow anyone to openly say it to their face.
Alliances were beginning to form as the various species tried to pick out the allies that best complemented their abilities in combat so that they would have a better-rounded force to face off against these horrible enemies.
New messages had come in about an invasive species that had been bombarding planets with pods and growing new extremely hostile life forms on the surface.
"Those are what the humans call the Klem. The great enemy took them from our Galaxy for the battle, and they can infest an entire planet in a matter of weeks, and then they will begin sending spores to nearby planets and stars to continue the expansion.
If they're not stopped, they will take over huge portions of territory, and with the interference of the nebula and the random energy, it will be nearly impossible to track their pods, so they could show up without warning even years from now." Fleet Admiral Rashad of Celia's Love was explaining.
The politicians didn't seem to understand, so he brought up a few battle scenes accompanied by an arrival schedule of pod waves on various human settlements.
"These are the times when the pods arrived at our worlds from a handful of nearby Klem-infested worlds. On the other display is a scene of combat against them so you can understand the basic tactics to fight them if you wish to save the planet." Rashad explained.
Some of the politicians were making notes, while others tried not to vomit at the level of carnage in the handpicked scenes the Admiral had displayed.
Of course, they were from a hard-fought battle, where the Klem had overrun the artillery efforts and made it to the front lines of the Fortress' defences before being repelled. Making it look easy wouldn't do anyone any favours.
"Would you be able to join us in these battles as the resident experts on the topic?" One of the alien politicians, a short and muscular creature with six eyes on a furry face, asked.
"Possibly. We have a working arrangement with the Koleska, and we will be discussing targets with their Command staff once the rest of our fleet arrives. They should be here within the day, and then we will be heading out." Admiral Rashad explained.
"Will you be joining the humans of the Terminus Trading Company?" One of the others asked.
"No, we will not. They are going to freelance until they pick up a reliable assistant. Terminus Trading Company prefers to be in nearly constant heavy combat due to the nature of their Artificial Intelligence piloted force."
The alien frowned. "What if the Arisen take them over?"
Rashad shrugged with a smirk on his face. "We're on the same team at the moment, so wouldn't that just be providing more assault units for our allies? If the Arisen wants to take over the Terminus Androids, then Terminus will likely let them and make more for their own use."
A taller, slender green alien woman with four arms rolled her violet eyes at his comment. "Just like that? Make a whole new army on the spot to replace the one claimed by the Arisen and go back to fighting?"
Rashad nodded with a very happy and very fake smile on his face. "Exactly like that. Only, I expect that they would start the moment that the Arisen started claiming the Androids so that they didn't lose combat capabilities while the Arisen were restocked with bodies for their force.
I'm not saying that our Mecha are up to the standard of a War Walker, but they are quite destructive."
The frustration of the Politicians with his nonchalant confidence didn't need an Illithid to detect, and Rashad was enjoying every minute of it.
"Does your army use the same androids?" The six-eyed man asked.
"No, but we have some of the Drone Fighters coming to reinforce us and fill out our numbers in battle. They are of great utility to us since we don't lose the pilots along with the vessel, and our technology can recycle scrap off the battlefield to make new combat units." Rashad informed him.
The politicians turned to each other with panicked looks. It had never occurred to them that the humans might employ a swarm tactic like the aliens that were attacking near their home systems had.
Perhaps that was the key to defeating them. If they could just throw enough firepower at the problem, it would go away, and they wouldn't have to worry about mass casualties. Instead of limiting their involvement, they should have been pushing their leaders to get as many soldiers as possible to the intervention force.
They had been going about the solution entirely backward.
"If you will excuse us, we need to speak to our leadership and get forces mobilized to go see to the needs of our neighbours. Thank you for your guidance. It has been quite useful." The tall woman replied politely, then bowed and hurried out of the room, followed by the others in her alliance group.
"Are you really so loyal to the Koleska that you would reserve your entire force to fight at our side?" Commander Yuri asked Admiral Rashad.
"Don't take it the wrong way, but we know you're not morons. It's much better to fight at your side than to try to learn the idiosyncracies of a hundred other species." The Admiral whispered so he wasn't overheard by the nearby politicians.
Commander Yuri chuckled. "Exactly so, Admiral. I understand very well now."
