1193 1193 New Direction
As the enemy retreated, the wounded Energy Beings fought over the ability to absorb the lesser beings that had been created, somewhat healing themselves as the ones created from Max's power instinctively returned to him with a flare of absorbed power.
This power converted much more smoothly, and Max felt his body change a little bit more, but he didn't fully absorb the power this time. Some of it seemed to be held in a reserve, ready to be used again the way that he had directed it into his weapons during the fight.
That was the only effective way to fight a Greater Energy Being. If you coated yourself in their energy, you could turn it against them and cause much greater damage than any conventional weapon had managed so far. One Disintegrator and a sword had done as much damage as the entire team of Colony Ships had done during the battle, lending credence to the legends that the God Class Mecha were a terrifying sight to behold in a fight.
Max returned to Creeping Darkness, where Sylvie was proudly standing in the cargo bay, waiting for him.
"I've got atmospheric and gravity systems online in this bay. You can safely park anywhere you like and return to the Cutter." She announced.
"Excellent work Sylvie. Do you know who is working on the edits of the digital footage, or is Nico sending them to Rae 5 in their raw form?" Max asked.
"She intends to send all the footage as it is so that it can be edited there, based on their needs. Any sensitive information has already been scrubbed from the records." Sylvie replied.
"That will work for me. I just don't want there to be countless awkward questions about how I can face off against a Greater Energy Being alone. Let them think that it is an advancement in Mecha technology that isn't ready for public consumption yet.
In fact, that might not even be a lie, since we're going to try to harness this power to make a God Class Mecha without an imprisoned being." Max explained.
Nico came jogging over as Max was talking to Sylvie. "Did I hear something about a God Class Mecha? Are we going to make the attempt now?" She demanded.
"Not yet, we still need more data about how they bound the energy to the Mecha. Until we know that, there is no point in wasting power that could be used in battle." Max explained.
"Oh, good point. Limited resources. Yes, I think that we can work something out if we can get enough data. Alright, I will have everyone focus on the Mecha once we get back to the ship. We are going back to help out in the Alliance territories, aren't we?" That was a good question. There were no Greater Energy Beings to fight in that area, and there might be some effects on him if he tried to return to the Alliance Territories in this state without being able to control the excess energy linked to him, but they did need the help.
"We will have to discuss that. There are some circumstances from what I've learned about our home region, and now that the System has enhanced me in this way, it might be an issue for me to return, the same as it is for the Greater Energy Beings. Though, if we stay in our home layer, it might be irrelevant, it's the others that are devoid of every form of energy." Max explained.
Nico made notes as Max talked, then forwarded them to the team. "We will have to start the process of testing, but we have confirmed reports of Lesser Energy Beings in combat with the Alliance, it just seems that they can't replenish their numbers."
"That's a good sign. Let's get to work on that while we watch for more disturbances, then. The System didn't give me any more process incomplete notifications this time, so I think I'm in the state it wanted me to be in. I just don't know enough about what it was intending." Max added.
The alien fleet left as soon as they had determined that the area was clear, headed back to defend a nearby planet, while the drone fleet prepared to head back to work clearing out other instances of arrivals from the other layers.
If Max and the others were going to be leaving the area, they didn't need to be here any longer, and there were dozens of potential battles for them to join.
"Do we even have any ideas where to start looking for information on the God Class Mecha?" Max asked.
Sylvie raised her hand like an excited student. "I have an idea now. There are energy signatures in the data that I got from the other AI minds that match with technology from the time of my construction. If we go to where those signatures are found, there might be something intact for us to recover, and possibly even surviving technology from related fields.
The God Class Mecha were the pinnacle of the technique, but the Energy Beings had a whole culture based on that branch of science, some of which humans managed to adapt."
"Well now, that is good news. Plot all the locations on the map of the region, and we will start planning to visit them all before we return to assist the Alliance. Also, prepare me an estimated trip duration so that I can send it back to the fleet. Once they have that, they can start sending out new propaganda messages foreshadowing our arrival."
"And what of Mary Tarith? The others reported that she has been quite insistent about having you found, and your presence reported to her immediately." Sylvie asked.
Nico smirked at the concerned AI. "She will have to make do with our updates and combat footage for now. We will stop in to see her as soon as we return home." "Understood Commanders."
