1187 1187 Conversion
After the battle ended, Max began to work on the numbers to see what sort of progress that he was actually making. He couldn't be sure of the end goal of the System Nanobots, but he could say for certain that he hadn't become a Greater Energy Being.
The conversion rate on the energy was terrible, but the remaining energy was sent out as various types of heat, light and radiation, not the stabilized energy that could be used to rebuild the Lesser Energy Beings.
While tearing it apart with the Disintegrator completely dispersed the energy and broke its bonds, this was enough to convert it into something else that hopefully could never be used to rebuild another enemy.
That was precisely what they had been hoping for. SO, even if a part of it that couldn't be converted was being used to make a new energy being in the boundary between layers, there were still going to be a significant net negative number of them wandering around the universe and causing trouble.
They weren't all bad, and it wasn't necessary to go full Nico and Genocide them, just kill off enough of them to make the rest behave.
Perhaps Nico really was infecting his thought processes.
"Admiral, what is our next course of action?" Sylvie asked.
"We are going to find the next imminent breach by the Greater Energy Beings and attack again. I want to take out as many of them as possible, in an attempt to force them to withdraw their troops from the Alliance territory in order to deal with us here." Max suggested.
"Should we ask the others?" Nico suggested, meaning the Darklings and Arisen.
"Might as well."
There was a short pause as Nico relayed the message and asked for their assistance with this new plan that would keep the battle contained to just the one region where they could be more easily managed.
Max could sense right away that the answer wasn't going to be one that he liked, though.
[The problem for them isn't the lack of troops, they could throw them at us at this rate for another billion years and never run out. The problem is that they can only cross over so quickly from the layers where they are hiding.
If they open the boundaries too much, then we can get in while they are trying to get out. The fact that they haven't tried that has led us to believe that they have something there to hide, and unless we can find a way to break in, we don't know what that might be.
For the renegade Gods and their followers, it has always been about buying more time to accomplish their ends.] The Arisen Commander replied.
[We are in agreement. If we could take the fight to them, there might be some point in trying to get them gathered, but at the moment, we have no way to do that. Even if we try to enter through a portal they create, we are soon ejected from that layer or destroyed by the renegade Gods.] The Darkling's leader agreed.
So, getting to them would be difficult enough, even if they found a way to take them out. Max was reasonably sure that Sylvie hadn't been active during an era when such technology existed, so she wasn't going to be much help, and he already knew that the Darklings and Arisen didn't understand the human technologies that had been used right before the Great Enemy retreated the most recent time.
Instead of dwelling on the long term and the nearly impossible, Max decided to go after the plausible.
"Sylvie, were any of the God Class Mecha sent to the Dead Zone with the settlers?" He asked the AI, startling her enough that she froze for a second as she accessed her records.
"I do not believe so. There were six active units at my last recorded date, all of which were accounted for. Unless units were made in secret, it doesn't look like any were sent."
Max sighed. So much for the mission that he had sent Terminus on to find signs of advanced Mecha technology. They had already caught up to what the humans were using for the majority of the other Mecha, so unless there were obsolete designs, or new ones that were produced after they arrived, then it would be a fruitless journey.
There were other species in the region though, like the Shin, and the other plant-based species, which were definitely not derived from humans. Possibly, also the Illithid. They seemed a bit too different to have derived from the same common stock as the Innu and the Valkyries that lived near them.
Nico brought up a set of data from the Darklings. "We have more possible incoming breaches, none of which are confirmed yet. Did you want to head to one of them and see if we get lucky?"
"That sounds as good as anything. Let's see what we can do about eliminating a few more of the enemy leaders this week." Max agreed.
There weren't going to be any arguments against that idea. Even the Arisen and the Darklings were on board with the humans covering some of the possible incursion points. They couldn't find and react to them all on time, when the actual arrival time was never definite, so if Max and his fleet were willing to sit around for a day or two and see if the enemy showed up, it was one less spot for them to watch.
[Contact us if you have issues. Congratulations on the reclaimed vessel.] The Arisen Commander informed them before taking his fleet and vanishing through the layers.
[Likewise. We will be available if you require assistance.] The Darklings added before heading off to their next destination.
"Alright, Sylvie, set our next destination and let's see what we can find on our fishing trip." Max ordered.
"I fail to see how this is fishing. Will there be a hook?" She asked, unfamiliar with the phrase.
"Something like that. I'll explain it to you as we travel."
