1189 1189 Bring It
Over the course of the next two hours, the intensity of the fluctuations around the suspected portal site continued to increase, marking the likely appearance of a Cathedral Ship fleet. They had almost definitely picked a winner this time, and they were going to get the fight that they needed for the propaganda videos.
Even better, it was just them here, so there wasn't anyone else's fleet to crop out of the videos, or any need to cut scene to highlight the heroics of the humans.
[Estimated time to portal opening five minutes. Are there any changes to the standard deployment orders?] The Drone Ship's AI requested.
[No changes to the previous orders. Refrain from Antimatter weapons until ordered, we are still attempting to lure out the Greater Energy Beings for their destruction.] Max instructed.
With the orders given, Max headed for his Mecha, which Nico had modified for his increased size. He would have to curl up to fit on the bed, but the controls were all in easy reach of the new seating position, so it wasn't terrible for a short battle.
The team was ready and waiting at the cargo bay doors when the portal opened, and the Mecha poured out to meet the Cathedral Ships in battle.
They were learning about human tactics, and they began firing before they had even reached the portal. The energy blasts were making it hard for their side to stabilize the portal, but it also allowed them to fight without first leaving themselves vulnerable to the retaliation of the human fleets.
It wasn't great footage for the films, but it could be spun by the propagandists as the humans fighting them back so fiercely that they couldn't even pass through the portal at first.
The Great Enemy was going all out, destroying hundreds of drone fighters in the first few seconds of the battle, and Max realized that this battle was more likely a diversion. They weren't going to go all out here now that they had realized that it was a losing battle.
[Nico, send a full barrage of Antimatter Torpedoes through the portal, set to detonate well on the other side.] Max ordered.
[I love it when you talk dirty to me.] Nico purred as the ships of the fleet unleashed their torpedoes in a wave of flying alloy that reminded Max of the historical battle scenes from Fantasy Movies, where they would fight with bows and arrows. Thousands of energy weapons fired at once, intending to intercept the torpedoes, but the Drone Fighters were already in position to intercept. Their shields took the majority of the damage, and the Torpedoes began evasive manoeuvres to avoid most of the rest.
Some were destroyed, with the secondary explosions from the breached containment rippling through space, but enough made it through the portal to annihilate an entire star system.
Max could sense the rage of the Greater Energy Being on the other side as the weapons detonated, then there was something else, a protective feeling that created a barrier near the portal and encased the explosion in an energy shield that even the mighty Antimatter Torpedo barrage couldn't break.
[What the Feth was that?] Nico complained as she saw her volley fail to destroy the enemy.
[I think that something else interfered. Keep your guard up and prepare to collapse that barrier if whatever that was tries to come through.] Max replied.
Once the barrier that had absorbed the detonation of the Antimatter torpedoes explosion had faded, the Cathedral Ships came forward, but this time they were accompanied by something else. There was a weaponized moon with them, and there were Myceloids in every part of it.
[Incoming Myceloids with the Cathedral Ships. No more Antimatter, it must be their deity that protected them from the attack. Fight it out, and take it to the surface if they haven't learned how to make spacecraft yet.] Max instructed.
The god of the giant green fungus warriors was a simple creature to please. It liked fights, good fights, dirty fights, even ambushes. But it didn't like slaughters from a distance.
Nico accompanied the Android army toward the planetoid, while the drone fighters went for the remainder of the fleet, and Max picked off the wounded targets.
That seemed to satisfy the Myceloid God that was watching, though Max could sense the frustration of the Greater Energy Being that the creature wasn't doing more to aid his soldiers in their battle.
They were losing badly against the Drones, as they expected from the start, and it simply didn't care because its chosen people had found their fight.
Then Max sent the crab drones to the Cathedral Ships, intending to use them as a breaching force, and the guardian of the Myceloids suddenly felt both excited and intrigued.
It probably didn't understand that they weren't edible, but its thought process was so foreign that Max was mostly only getting impressions of emotion from it.
Max had the drones in position to breach the lead Destroyer when suddenly it all vanished. The Crab Drones, the Destroyer, the nearby defensive interceptors that had been scrambled. Everything in the area was simply gone.
An instant later, the Crab Drones began transmitting again. They were near a planet inside the other layer, and the Destroyer was still there with its shields down. As their instructions dictated, the shields were down, so they moved to breach and board the ship.
It was instant chaos, and great entertainment for the Myceloid God. The crabs were running rampant through the unprepared warriors of the Destroyer, tearing them apart with no concern for their own condition or property damage in general, even firing through structural walls to get at enemies they suspected were on the other side.
The God was in love with the tiny, vicious creatures.
[I think it's stealing our crabs.] Max reported as he sensed the thoughts of the powerful being change.
[It's already done. It took less than ten milliseconds for it to take control of them from us and make them answer to it. We will have to make a note for future interactions that you can't use androids with a response slower than that against a being of that nature.] Nico agreed.
