As soon as they were seated, it became obvious that this was a working lunch. A barrier went up around them, working like a one-way mirror to keep others from seeing the area around their table, and a strategic map opened up above the table using a ky hologram that made Nico''s eye twitch.
She would definitely be offering them an upgrade very quickly if they were going to be holding regr meetings on this projection or others of its quality.
"We will start with the basics since your species is not from here. We have not reached the beginning or the end of the Neb, this entire region of space is the same, as if a hundred thousand suns had died at once and left their remains scattered through space. So, there is a rather high density of gaseous elements, small rocks and other debris that make navigation hazardous.
This map is centred around the portion of space that the Koleska call home. This is the direction that the majority of the Arisen Army attackse from. Portals like yours are rarely used here, as their formation can destabilize the area, like your antimatter projectile. For that reason, we rmend that you use your ship to get close to the battles and then engage with it locked down to prevent the Arisen Spirits from gaining ess to it.
The major offensive this month has been in the CX37 Sector. It''s not particrly heavily popted, but it is close to another sector that was abandoned to the Arisen in the recent past." Commander Yuri exined.
"Do you know why know they are attacking? Issues between the species? Are they voracious predators that eat every they take clean of biomass?" Max asked.
"Neither. It''s something in their personality. They seem to be bent on the elimination of life from the Universe. Every species that they encounter, they attack. The harder you fight back, the harder they attack, but they don''t do anything with thes. They just kill everyone and move on.
Between that and the nature of their War Walkers, it led to the determination that they are some form of a vengeful ghost, a dying species that are still roaming about, reincarnating their spirits into new vessels when they are destroyed."
Nico tapped her chin as he thought, an old habit that she didn''t seem to realize that she did.
"They are also good with technology, and if you leave an AI system or another exposedputer system, they will infiltrate it. Is it possible that they digitized their existence and that they only exist as pure energy at this point? It would exin the strange nature of their attacks and why they leave no bodies.
It would also exin why they retreated when I used an antimatter weapon. Antimatter is one of the few ways to truly destroy and not disperse energy in the Universe, so such a weapon would pose an extreme threat to them on a level far beyond that which it poses to the others.
If they are lingering as energy on the battlefield, and someone sets off an Antimatter bomb, it could well destroy their lingering spirits, and then they wouldn''t be able to rise again, which I assume is the ability that gave them the name [Arisen]." She offered.
Commander Yuri nodded. "There are no people on their ships, and the War Walkers aren''t built until there isbat if they had been destroyed in a previous battle, so it is possible that there are a finite number of consciousness units in their fleet, and they simply return to their ships when the form they are hosting is destroyed.
We don''t really know how the bodies are operated, all that''s inside is a crystal and some strings, like a nervous system. But they move and attack just fine, so they are getting energy from somewhere."
Nico nodded. "The Crystals are simr to our Warp Drive Technology. They are the source of energy, but I couldn''t determine what was allowing them to move either."
"If you learn that, you will be a hero to a dozen species. We''ve all been trying to determine the nature of the Arisen Technology, if that''s what it is, and not actually materialized ghosts. Once we know that, we can make more determinations on the best way to stop them." Commander Yuri agreed.
"How often are the attacks?" Max asked.
"There are usually three to four ongoing at any given time somewhere along our border, but as I said, it isn''t safe to keep using portals, so we ask that you focus on the region around the Anomaly, which will allow us to move more troops elsewhere and bolster areas that have taken losses.
Your Mecha performed incredibly well for their size today, and I feel confident saying that every one of my fighters was impressed with the skill of the human Mecha Pilots.
They are just finding it impossible to determine your Rank since your clothing is so eclectic. Are you perhaps Royalty of some sort?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>
"That is aplex issue with Humans. I lead a Reaver Company, which controls one World Ship and some smaller ships, so you could consider me aary Governor of sorts, though my Rank is technically higher than that by a bit. For my Sumander, her hereditary Rank is a much moreplex issue." Max exined.
The Koleska all turned to each other and discussed the matter for a while, trying to determine where humans would ce these two Mecha Pilots in their hierarchy so that they could determine what level of honour or assistance the humans could have been deemed to have sent for their first representation within Koleska space.
"I would ask how many people are under you, but that might be different between species. So I will ask, howrge of an army do youmand?" Yuri asked.
"Roughly a hundred and fifty thousand Medium and Heavy Mecha, though many of them are Androids and not suitable for use here due to the Arisen."
The Koleska around the table let out an appreciative whistle at that number. It was an impressive military force, and they couldn''t say that they had been slighted with an expendable representative after hearing that number.
"Are they not worried about losing you inbat?" Commander Yuri asked.
"Of course they are. Butbat losses happen, and I am well known for mybat prowess, as is Tarith Nico. That was the determining factor in our deployment. They wanted to make sure that we would be deemed to be an effective military force, despite ourck of numbers at the moment." Max exined.
"Your Mecha are very frightening, that is certain. That weapon that you use, what was it designed to fight against? It creates a beam toorge for attacking another Mecha of your design." One of the other Koleska leaders asked.
"It''s an Orbital Lance. It was designed to attackary military forces from orbit." Max exined.
"Orbital Lance." Yuri mouthed the unfamiliar words slowly, then again, silently, while he tried to rte them to something that he was familiar with.
Nico decided to be helpful since she had been analyzing their military technology through the hologram projector for the whole meal.
"It''s basically the same as the Kumo Pattern Ship Destroyer, but it uses a different energy pattern. The output is simr." She offered.
The Koleska didn''t really have expressions, as their chitin shape didn''t change, but the change in position gave off the impression of pleasure at the understanding before their heads tilted a little to the side, like a confused dog, and the second inmand spoke again.
"You put such a weapon on a Mecha? Do you use Mecha to destroyrge battleships?" He asked.
"Large battleships, lightly armoured military Regiments, small cities. It''s a very versatile weapon." Nico agreed.
The Koleska just nodded, but Max didn''t miss his thoughts on the matter.
"Humans are scary when they go to war."
He wasn''t wrong. Especially in Nico''s case, humans were a very scary species when they went to war. One lone Nico versus a civilian wasn''t even close to a fair fight, but the concept of that sort of scaling would be very difficult to exin to the hierarchical Koleska.
At least their ranks were based entirely on aplishment, and they weren''t inherited or gic, so Max could be sure that the ones with the fanciest robes were the most verifiablypetent in their field. That was a definite improvement on Royalty or Nepotism-based systems.