The new Mecha were spectacular in every way that could be hoped for. Even the interior of the units was designed for pure luxury, allowing the Pilot to live in comfort indefinitely while operating in every known environment.
The only thing that was bothering Max was the lack of additional weaponry. When the unit was swarmed in close combat, it would have limited options for self-defence, and we had gotten quite used to working a dozen or more weapons at a time.
Plus, if the main weapon was damaged, the unit would be in a horrible position.
But as he examined the Mecha, and the maximum power output it was capable of, Max realized that it had more available capacity than the Terraforming Array did. If the main weapon was damaged, he could use it for materials and rebuild it in seconds with the available power from the weapon's power source.
It was an entirely different way of thinking about Mecha maintenance. Instead of simply being able to patch its own armour, the unit could completely and constantly rebuild itself out of the surrounding materials.
If he were fighting on a planet, the enemy would have to destroy the unit in under thirty seconds, or it would be at full capacity again. In a lower damage situation, it would appear as if the unit were alive and constantly healing, as impact craters and gouges inflicted in combat would rapidly close themselves and return to pristine condition.
Max could only imagine how freaky that would be for their opponents, but in a way the Greater Energy beings were the same. They also healed rapidly from damage done to them, as their bodies were incorporeal, and they only had to absorb suitable energy, like the lesser energy beings that they always had in their forces, to replenish their own lives.
It was a bad time to be a member of the Cathedral Ship's force. Not only would their leader be consuming their allies if it was wounded, their new enemies would be consuming their corpses as materials to regenerate.
It was a battle of the gluttonous, and Max hoped that they could track down the Greater Energy Beings before they managed to finish whatever plot they had that was keeping the Cathedral Ships off the battlefield.
As Max thought about the convoluted plans of the Gods and their Energy Beings, he sensed another mind on the same train of thought nearby. Ranarth was also pondering what the Great Enemy was up to, but he seemed to know more than Max did.
The Darkling was too far away for him to dig deeper, and he was quickly distracted by what appeared to be the mutilation of a Valkia corpse. No, that wasn't right. The man was still alive as Ranarth cut him apart and reconstructed all his bones. If the Valkia had been aware of all of this, he would surely have been mentally broken, and the only assistants who had the stomach for the process were Androids, so Ranarth was the only conscious mind in the room.
He had a clear plan in mind, to rebuild the man into a healthy adult man, and undo the degeneration that had been caused by a developmental disorder in his childhood.
The old man would have been happier if the subject had been awake and without anaesthesia, but he knew that Uncle Lu would have never approved of such a thing, so he was making do with what he could, to prove that he had the skills to create their own super soldiers to combat the Cathedral Fleet.
As disturbing as his thought process was, Ranarth was actually being helpful, so Max left him to his work without notifying anyone, and finished his examination of the Mecha.
[Commander, there is an alien man here to see you. He says he is a messenger sent from the Moon Base, but he just appeared out of nowhere.] The guard outside the research department notified Max, stopping his work.
[Send him in. I was expecting a messenger.] Max agreed, and went to meet their messenger.
If Uncle Lu didn't feel safe putting it in a digital message, it must be an important topic and not something that should be put off by even a few minutes.
The door slid open, revealing a young Darkling woman in battle armour with her helmet off, showing her angular features, and the pale skin of her people, which looked more like marble than flesh.
"Greetings Commander. I have a message from the one known as Ranarth for you." She informed him in a tone that said she would rather be anywhere but here.
Her thoughts said it was just a personal distaste for Ranarth as a person, so Max didn't take it personally, but he could tell that Nico was wondering what the woman's problem was.
"This was recovered from our ancient records, and Ranarth added a personal message to it. I assume you are capable of translating?" She asked, as she produced a Darkling made data tablet and handed it over to Max.
"I am. Both from ancient human languages and the various Collector Dialects." Max agreed, and the woman's gruff attitude turned a bit more friendly.
"There are events happening all over the universe that we have been tracking, but these ones should relate to you directly. But I have work to do, so I will bid you farewell." She announced, and then tapped a command into her armour and vanished.
Nico smirked at the spot where the messenger had disappeared and then sighed.
"That's such a cool trick. She activated a personal cloaking field at the same moment as a Portal generator, so that the two energy signatures would scramble each other and our sensors wouldn't be able to tell where she went.
I'm actually pretty jealous of that one. I know exactly what she did, and I have no idea how she did it. Neither of those technologies are among our repertoire, even though we have ones that can create similar effects." She explained.
"You can wonder about that later. We've got enough things to do today without trying to redesign personal cloaking field technology based on a messenger." Max reminded her with a gentle hug from behind.
"You're right. Let's see what this message says before I get off track."
