[Three more planetary attacks are reported. All Unknown alien species fleets, and all using variants of the tactics that were employed against them during the previous defence. The Reaver fleets have been joined by the Koleska main battle fleet, leaving only the Anomaly Defence Fleet on standby.
Reports say that the Android Army is currently in a restocking stage after taking heavy casualties during the effort to retake Romes 7.
The battle there disabled or destroyed over 70 Destroyer class vessels between the two sides, including two of the ten included in the Android Army. Both have been recovered by the fleet, with minimal casualties, and repairs are underway to make them combat capable again.]
Max stared at the report in frustration and sighed.
Every day for the last three weeks had been the same. More attacks, more units deployed, and more bad news. He had been so busy fielding reports and in meetings regarding the Reavers response to the ongoing hostilities in the Koleska Region that he had barely had time to pay attention to what was going on below him with the dig sites.
He looked down at the next report.
[A formal request from the Cruiser Holy Light to commission an upgraded combat capable vessel to join the defence of the Anomaly from the Great Enemy.] The headline read.
Max skimmed through it, as that was one of the ships belonging to Terminus Trading Company, and while he didn't prohibit them from going into combat, he didn't actively pressure them to do it either.
It looked like a good plan, they were requesting Company Loans to support a Destroyer Class or larger vessel, to be primarily manned by Android Soldiers, as was the current trend among the human fleets. They would also have a strong Drone Fighter presence, the hallmark of the Terminus Trading Company, which would take up most of their mortal staff to control.
So far, so good.
Then he got to the last lines, where they were requesting a supplemental AI presence, to help with their combat tactics and drone deployment. Most of the Reavers on board were skilled merchants and mercenaries, not veteran Mecha Pilots with years of combat training and live combat experience.
It was possible to program a nascent AI into the ship's computers. Easier than programming an adaptive program to account for enemy tactics, in fact. Max also happened to know just the person to take on this task.
[Approval granted. Proceed to Absolution for construction and assignment of your new vessel.] Max replied, then sent the details to Felicity and the Board of Directors.
[Felicity, they want a combat capable AI to take care of their drones, like the Colony Ship that we made for the Android Army. Can you take care of that? Having them be trained in Mecha tactics and deployment as well would be beneficial, to lead the Android Pilots for the new vessel they have commissioned.] Max requested.
[Understood Commander. I will get right on it. The specifications seem to be well within our capabilities. Absolution is currently within the outer reaches of an unmapped and uninhabited star system, gathering resources, and we have space in the Terraforming Array schedule reserved for urgent requests of the Company.]
[Thank you for your understanding. Keep me updated if there are any more relevant developments.]
With that, he relaxed back into his chair and took a break to watch the developments from the surface.
They were on replay right now, as it was early in the morning, both ship time and on the surface, but that was fine, he hadn't seen them the first time.
It was generally dull footage if you weren't invested in finding out what they had found. Max had already read those reports, but watching them dig them up, clearing the Prairie City, was still somewhat fascinating.
Plus, they had just finished detailing the outside of the first Pyramid, and they were going to open the chamber that sealed the interior tomorrow, once they had a suitable containment field in place to ensure that there was no damage to the relics that might be hidden inside.
Sudden exposure to fresh air could rapidly oxidize and decay many forms of paint and plating that had been preserved in an anaerobic environment, and after the multiple successes both at the other city, and along the outside of the pyramid, they weren't willing to risk it.
That should keep things interesting tomorrow at least.
Max was in the process of closing down all the data screens in front of him, and had just stood up from his desk to return to his suite when one last new message came in.
It was a strange time to be getting messages, as most of the Reaver Fleet ran on the same ship time these days, but he opened it anyhow, instead of leaving it for tomorrow as he really wanted to.
Max settled back into his chair and opened the message.
Inside was nothing but one simple image. A Mecha, and a hauntingly familiar one at that.
It was beautiful, red armour plating over a black humanoid chassis, looking like a proud robotic knight, and equipped with an energy blade as well as a large handheld cannon of some sort.
The details weren't clear enough to tell what sort of secondary weapons it might have on board, or even what size it was supposed to be, as it was on a custom fit table and the image didn't show anything else.
Uncle Lu had gone to great lengths to keep the mystery, while still giving him a sneak peek of what they were working on. But as Max examined it, the small details provided some details anyhow. The Mecha should be roughly fifty metres tall, going by the bolt sizes on the sensor arrays, which were a standard item across most Mecha, for ease of maintenance.
That would put it on the tall side of the Titan Class Mecha, and logically, it should have a Dyson Sphere power core to drive the weapons systems.
But with only one primary weapon, it would be a huge waste to use that sort of power on their new variable beam weapon systems, unless it was designed to take out kilometres wide swathes of enemies with every shot.
Knowing Uncle Lu, that was a possibility, but it wasn't all that practical in a large-scale battle. The risk of friendly fire was too high.
As Max examined the image, another message came in.
[The final design will be completed and ready for pickup in 48 hours.]
