1188 1188 Bait
Their destination was a strange energy phenomenon on the border of the Rift, the massive spatial anomaly that marked the edge of the current battlefield. The fluctuations from the ongoing spatial anomalies in the region made it impossible for most sensors to detect, while the thick clouds of nebula gasses helped hide the advance of anything that came out from the other layers while inside the phenomenon.
It was a nightmare for tacticians, and there were few intelligent species living anywhere near it, but during the ongoing battle, it was one of the primary arrival locations for the enemy fleet.
Every species in the Anomaly Region believed that the Rift was the location where most of the enemy force was hidden, but it wasn't safe to inspect it, much less send in an entire attack fleet.
If Nico's theory was correct, then the rebel Gods were most likely hidden near that spot in another layer. That alone was enough reason not to try to go in looking for trouble. They had experienced what the God of the Myceloids could do, swallowing an entire planetary system to take with his people when they were relocated.
Nothing that the humans could do would compare with that level of power.
"Have we heard anything from your mother and Uncle Lu?" Max asked as the fleet settled into position to wait for something to happen at their chosen location.
"Nothing yet. I know what they were working on when we left, but that is seriously out of date now that the attack has actually begun. I have sent a few update messages since we got back, but I haven't heard anything in return. Should I scour the Alliance networks and see if there is anything about their work?" She asked.
There wouldn't be anything on the human networks, the Reavers didn't advertise much when they got cool new toys. On the other hand, the Alliance needed all the morale building that they could get.
The team got back to work on modifying the Emperor Class Mecha to try to create something greater than the combined technologies of the existing Titan Class units and the antique Emperor Class units. It was a tall order, the two Mecha were considered to be the pinnacle of engineering for their respective times, and just replacing them wasn't something that was casually undertaken.
Honestly, the chances that they would get it done without an entire engineering team on their side was fairly slim, but it kept them busy and kept everyone from getting bored while they waited for something to happen with the disturbance.
They were all on edge, expecting the portal to open at any minute, and Max knew they weren't sleeping properly, so having something to occupy their minds other than concern for their safety was for everyone's benefit.
"Why do I get the feeling that sitting alone out here is just taunting them to attack us?" One of the team members asked, gesturing toward the hologram in the main room that showed their surroundings as a spherical projection.
"In a way it is. They don't open a portal everywhere that the Darklings detect one of these disturbances. So, waiting is both a guessing game, and a tactical decision to attempt to intercept them without scaring them away." Max agreed.
"So, we're the bait, and the Drone armies inside the ships are the switch? Bait and switch tactic, making us look like an easy meal? That's not reassuring." She replied.
"But if we were too intimidating, they would run away and pick on someone else. Life would be boring without a fight now and then, wouldn't it?" Max asked.
"I suppose so, but still, I would rather that it wasn't me."
The other team members laughed. "You forget. If nobody ever attacked us, where would we get a chance to try out all these new toys? We've come up with some really good ones."
"It's a true dilemma. What else is there to do?" The researcher asked, pleading for a distraction.
"Check the Alliance propaganda channels, that will give us an idea of how the battles are going for them, and whether they are getting their act together. Absolution should have made a huge number of new ships for the battle, and that should be part of the programming. Once we know how things are going there, we will have a better idea of what to do after our fight here." Max suggested.
The team hurried away, but the distraction didn't last as long as Max had hoped. They were back within seconds, each holding up a different article, and led by a laughing Nico.
"Apparently we're heroes of the Alliance right now. The official releases say that we took the fight to the enemy in their home layer, and that we've only just fought our way back out again to regain contact with the Koleska.
They're saying that the only reason that there aren't hordes of Demons and Greater Energy Beings attacking them is because we have them occupied over here." Max sighed and shook his head at her. "I blame your mother for this, you know that, right? But if we're supposed to be heroes fighting the good fight and keeping the big bad away from the Alliance while the Reavers help them fight off the rest, then we should start feeding them some footage. Have you sent over the data feeds that we got while we were with the Golden Legion?"
"I haven't sent the actual feed yet. We didn't have a good enough connection, so I just sent a basic update. Do you want me to send them to my mother right away so that she can make new videos?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, send that to them now, and then we will deploy the Mecha when this portal opens so that we can have some first person footage of Space Combat. You've got something that I can fight in, right?" Nico nodded. "We replaced the chair in your existing Mecha. It's going to take a while before we have another one ready to go, I have big plans for this one."
