On the front lines, the appearance of the Android Army was enough to distract the majority of the attack craft that had been sent out by the Cathedral ships away from the attack of the Morphos boarding craft.
Max sensed the Warriors' confidence that they would be able to handle the incoming attackers and that the attack craft group was only going after them out of bloodlust, so it wasn't really surprising. But the Morphos seemed to have all the right tools to deal with the situation, as long as their gear was as good as they believed it to be.
[The first of the Morphos have breached the Cathedral Ships.] The AI informed them as it redirected more Drone Fighters to keep the shields down for the rest of the Morphos landers to attach themselves to the hull.
The number of attackcraft was dwindling with the addition of the Mecha Army, so Max sent them on the offensive.
[All ships move forward. Attack formation Delta. Eliminate all enemy targets that do not have Morphos forces aboard.] He ordered.
The ships began to move forward, and the human fleet began to break out the heavy weapons, the Orbital Lances, The Thermonuclear Thunder Gun munitions, and fresh waves of Drone Bombers unleashing dozens of Warp Capable Torpedoes at once.
In space, a bombing run was a strange-looking process, as the bomber released the bombs, then pulled up and left them sitting in space for a split second before the Torpedos engaged and fired on the target.
The crews of the Cathedral Ships were horrified to realize that the humans could be even more brutal, especially when they realized that the fury of the bombardment was beginning to destabilize space and they weren't slowing down.
That wasn't completely correct, though. Their superiors in the other layer were trying to recall them, but the ships were spamming the anti-Demon Disruptor weapons across the battlefield and preventing the portals from forming, which was destabilizing the region.
"The disruptors aren't working. Portals from the other layer are forming." Nico announced suddenly as a multicoloured sphere of energy formed around the planet.
"Oh, that can't be good. Are we about to be pulled in again?" Max muttered as the energy field began to form.
The Drones weren't programmed for new forms of multidimensional transport phenomenon and assumed that it was another enemy shield, so the Android Army began an immediate bombardment of the shell around the world, which began to crack apart into shards, sending unstable tendrils of energy outward through the battlefield, displacing portions of whatever they hit, effectively tearing them to pieces.
[Morphos Fleet. There is an unstable phenomenon in the region. We recommend immediate withdrawal.] Max broadcast.
[Agreed, Terminus Fleet. Withdrawing now.] The Morphos Commander agreed, and the assault pods began to depart the Cathedral Ships seconds later.
Nico recalled the Drones and the Android Mecha when she realized what had happened, but that gave the Cathedral Ships the chance that they needed, and they began to flee out of the region into the layer of space where Max couldn't follow them.
He was going to have to find a way into that layer eventually, but the sensation of something horrific watching him was back, and he strongly suspected that it was just on the other side of those portals, and he was definitely not ready to meet whatever that thing was yet.
As they vanished, the barrier that they had tried to erect around the planet faded as well, leaving behind only the rubble of the battle and one lightly damaged planet.
From what Max could tell, some of the tendrils had hit the surface, tearing into it and causing massive volcanic activity, and a portion of the atmosphere had vanished, but the death toll was under a million, which was quite impressive, given the situation.
[Do we count that as a win, Terminus Commander?] The Morphos Commander reluctantly asked as they surveyed the damage.
[I would call it a win. The enemy retreated without taking the planet, and we're still here with the majority of our troops.] Max agreed.
[Indeed. Thanks to your timely warning, our casualties were under five thousand, which is incredible for a boarding action.]
The species bred like the Klem from pods with a very short gestation. So they could afford some losses, but too many and they would have to return to one of their colony planets to replenish their staff.
[It was good working with you, Morphos Commander. What are your plans after this?] Max asked.
[We have the forces to answer another distress call right away. With permission, we will accompany your team to their next call. You seem to excel at ranged firepower, and my species has specialized in boarding actions and assassinations.]
Nico smiled at that last word. Giant black exoskeletal aliens, that could crawl along ceilings and specialize in assassinations? She definitely wanted to be friends with these ones.
[I believe that arrangement could be beneficial to both of us. Would your command team like to send over a group to discuss our next intervention location?] Max asked.
[They can be there within five minutes.] The Morphos Commander agreed.
Nico smirked at Max. "Violent, aggressive, filled with acid, and they're punctual? This species is almost too good to be true."
The sentiment back at the Anomaly Station was a bit different. The pure brutality shown by the newly formed dynamic duo was making other species nervous that they might embarrass themselves when they first sent out troops to fight.
Almost all of them had a fleet en route to somewhere at the moment, and it was too late to change the composition of the forces but not too late to change tactics.
Their intentions were completely transparent, and Admiral Rashad was enjoying the moment of peace amongst species which had terrible poker faces that bordered on an inability to lie.
"Well, it looks like it is our turn, Commander Yuri. The rest of my forces are at the Anomaly. Do you have a target in mind?" Rashad asked his Koleska counterpart.
"In fact, I do. There is an isolated distress signal from an outpost world in a system that was mostly obliterated by the Arisen. I suspect that there are enemies hiding there, and I want to check that location out. If it's nothing, then just a few more hours of travel will bring us to this distress call." The Koleska leader explained.
"You have the lead for this mission. Remember that we can use portals as soon as we're far enough from the instabilities here as well. There is no need to fly the whole distance at warp."
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