The next morning, Max woke up to Nico using his chest as a tray table for her data tablet as she draped herself across him. She had moved his arm to support her back, so Max gave her backside a squeeze to let her know he was up, and she giggled at him.
"Look at the morning reports. We've got nine new attacks today, including both Myceloids and the lesser energy beings, but still, there is no sign of the Cathedral Ships.
Something is going on over there, and it's bothering me not to know what it is.
Why would they leave such a large part of their force out? Why are the Energy Beings only becoming involved now? They should have been there from the start, since their numbers are essentially unlimited.
Did the Myceloids jump the gun because they were so eager to fight again? Or was there another plan that fell through?" Nico rambled as she brought up various images and maps to explain to Max what had been going on recently, and how she saw them tying together.
"Just the fact that the Cathedral Ships aren't there is enough cause for concern. They comprised the largest portion of the fleet during the first wave, so what we are seeing now is more of an expeditionary force.
It seems like they're scouting for weaknesses, but they're committing to full assaults instead of probing attacks that would let them know where to send their fleet. I agree, we're missing something important, and we're not grasping their actual intention." Max replied.
"Worse, it's already beyond the capacity of the species on that side of the Anomaly to sustain their territory. They're spread too thin, and they're unable to recover fast enough. The Reaver Council has sent fifty more assault fleets to the conflict this week, but eighty new battlefronts have opened, while only seven were resolved."
If the enemy was attacking faster than the humans could respond, something would have to change. The nearby species would do their best, but with everyone under attack, they were soon going to run out of allies to call on.
"What else can we do to get this under control?" Max wondered out loud.
"We could appeal to the Alliance and see if they are willing to send more people in. The Reaver Council is already considering sending entirely AI-driven fleets to war, to save on casualties. That's the sort of situation that we're in."
Max sighed. "That's a terrible idea, and everyone knows it. Without a biological override, the AI won't be able to tell if its code gets corrupted. It could well go berserk or be infected and turn against its allies."
Nico nodded. "That is true. But who else are we going to send? The defence forces from our own systems? There aren't that many others left after the civil war and the chaos that followed. The armies that humanity had are all on guard, the Vampires don't have much of an army to begin with, and the Narsians are basically missing in action.
I haven't seen a report of them attacking a planet in the better part of a year now, but nobody has dared to go to their side of the Galaxy and find out what they're up to. I think everyone is just too happy that they stopped to go there and tempt fate."
"Did you get the message from Uncle Lu?" Max asked.
Nico laughed, shaking with mirth as she lay across his body, and then opened up the file that Uncle Lu had sent her.
While the one that Max got was hyper focused to reduce reference materials, the one she got had a deliberately placed water droplet on the camera lens, so it was all distorted and hazy.
"Oh, he did a good job on that one. It's completely blocked out the little details that I managed to identify on mine." Max laughed.
Nico had already accessed his mail to see if he got a better image, so she knew what it looked like, and both of them were already making plans to excuse themselves and get back to Rae 5 tomorrow so that they could pick up the new Mecha.
"Do you think that they're keeping the Cathedral Ships in reserve for when we show up with something more deadly than they're prepared for? It would make sense, if they're treating the rest of the fleet like expendable pawns." Nico suggested.
Max nodded. "I think they might be. But we've sent some new toys there already, and a truly unreasonable number of androids and drones. I was thinking that they would go for them and start bringing out the big guns, but it doesn't look like it's working.
We're either going to have to do something drastic or wait until they make the first move, and I really don't like the idea of that."
Being on the defensive was never the best option, but currently they didn't have a way to take the battle to the enemy, and their allies were already fighting everywhere that they could feasibly defend.
The weaker species were already giving up territory, and moving to share territory with other species to increase the total defences of their region, and hopefully limit the chances that they would be wiped out entirely before anyone could spare a fleet to assist them.
But the real enemy, the Greater Energy Beings, still hadn't made an appearance, and their locations were unknown, even to the Arisen and the Darklings, who Ranarth assured them had been searching for them to dig them out and ambush them.
What one ship couldn't do, a hundred could, and if they managed to catch one off guard, they could cripple the capabilities of the Great Enemy before they ever saw the battlefield.
"How about we announce that we've got an important but utterly boring political meeting back home, so we can let Terminus work without worrying about what we're up to? Most of the news about the other side of the Anomaly doesn't make it to the Alliance media, so they have no reason for concern, and we can hope that they come up with something useful before it's time to send the majority of the fleet to war?" Nico suggested, drawing Max's thoughts away from what the Greater Energy Beings were up to.
"That's not a bad idea. I will come up with a good excuse, and you can prep the yacht for the trip back. I will meet you there in an hour."
