?


    [Close the distance to the enemy and prepare to repel boarding actions.] Max ordered as the Torpedos made an impact with their first wave of targets.


    The Cathedral ships returned fire with torpedos of their own, but as they travelled at less than light speed, the human fleet had over ten seconds to deal with them using the Mass Drivers. None of them came close to impacting the Destroyers, but the explosions were incredibly powerful when they were destroyed on impact.


    "It looks like they do have a fun toy or two for us to borrow," Nico smirked as she set up the defensive fire to block the next barrage of iing projectiles.


    "I will try to leave one intact enough for you to recover someputer files, but no promises. Just remember the sanitation and istion protocols. There might be something even more insidious on theseputers than the virus that the Arisen had put on the nomads to track them." Max reminded her.


    The Mass Drivers tore apart the light attack craft of the attacking fleet while Max prepared to target the next most threatening group of vessels, now that he had picked out the ones he believed had the highest poptions for extermination.


    The Cathedral Ships were erectingyer afteryer of shielding in all different configurations as he approached. The attempt to prevent him from destroying them in a single barrage was impressive, and there were some shield configurations that he had never seen before involved in this attempt.


    That was valuable data forter when the battle was over, and they had time to do some proper analysis.


    [All Torpedos fire on targets.] Max ordered, then set the ship''s sensors to maximize the amount of data that was collected from the impacts. He assumed that some of the ships were going to survive, and he wanted the data on what shielding formations worked best against his torpedos.


    The Mass Drivers were firing right along with them, clearing out as many small craft as possible to keep them from intercepting the torpedo barrage, but still, two-thirds of it was lost to the defensive measures employed by the Cathedral Ships.


    The remainder detonated against their shields, sending the ships careening through space under the force of the impact before their thrusters couldpensate for the st and then again when the Mass Drivers made an impact.


    Only three of the twelve targets survived the initial barrage, all of them Destroyer ss orrger vessels. But they were also the only ones that appeared to have that specific variety of shielding.


    [Data Collected, sent for analysis.] The ship''sputer reported.


    There was a designated mainframe for that, and it wouldn''t take away from theirbat capabilities, even if Nico weren''t going to take over most of the work.


    Max knew she would. She was very excited to see new shield informatione in for the first time in ages. But the ship''sputer would still dutifully verify everything.


    [Iing interceptors.] Theputer announced, and Max looked at the screens, wondering where they were supposed to being from.


    The otheryer was the answer. The aliens that they had defeated earlier had returned and snuck up while he was distracted,unching a fleet of interceptors betweenyers to get up close and personal with the human fleet.


    The defensivesers shed a brilliant matrix around the ships as the Interceptors approached, and Max gave the order to defend the fleet.


    [All Drones, deploy now.] He ordered.


    The Colony ss ship seemed to explode as the drones exited every possible point on the vessel at the same time, flooding out into space to join the fight.


    The alien craft immediately turned and fled at the sight. They were outnumbered, and they had just realized that the Colony ship was not full of soldiers but a transport for orbital fighters.


    There was going to be no escape for them, though. They had approached in a swarm around all of the ships of the fleet, and the defensive weapons were a deadlybyrinth that they had to navigate while also escaping from the drones, whose navigation systems were linked to the weapons of the main ships, giving them reliable data on what locations to avoid in their pursuit path.


    One after another, the interceptors were destroyed until finally, thest of them managed to flee back into the otheryer where their motherships were waiting for them.


    "Do you think that we should let them know that we can attack betweenyers?" Nico asked.


    "Not yet. First, send out a bunch of the heavy Drone Fighters we made with Mass Drivers and portal them into the otheryer in a group. Make them think that is the only way we can do it, well away from the main ships. If the Drones chase them off, all the better, but misdirection is the main goal." Max instructed.


    The drones were deployed in a matter of seconds, as they were already on the battlefield, and the bombardment of the otheryer began with a bang. Metaphorically, since there was nothing to transfer the sound of the Mass Drivers. But Max''s mind still assigned the shots the same sound that he heard from inside his Mecha when they were fired in space.


    The brutal ambush made the aliens panic. They hadn''t expected the Drones to be sent to them without the main ships, which hadn''t shown any signs of trying to deal with them.


    The Cutter kept a small portal open tomunicate with the drones, and Max sensed their shock and annoyance as the ambush began to wear down their shielding. Nothing was going right for them today, and the rapid destruction of the first fleet had left them confused about the ability of the human fleet.


    The Drone attack only made the confusion worse, and now the vessels seemed to be discarded by their masters, while the aliens were finding no signs of life aboard them. The shock was turning to pure rage as they continued to take fire from the Drones even as they realized that there were no pilots inside of them, and they were taking casualties without even the chance to inflict losses on the humans.


    "That should keep them for a minute." Max chuckled as thest of the drones managed to take out another of the alien ships before it was lost.


    The alien fleet had only taken a tenth or so of their fleet in casualties, but the Colony ship already had more of the drones ready to deploy, and Max was just waiting for the aliens to decide that they were safe before he sent them out.