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 flaky hologram that made Nico's eye twitch.
She would definitely be offering them an upgrade very quickly if they were going to be holding regular 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 Nebula, 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 attacks come from. Portals like yours are rarely used here, as their formation can destabilize the area, like your antimatter projectile. For that reason, we recommend 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 access to it.
The major offensive this month has been in the CX37 Sector. It's not particularly heavily populated, but it is close to another sector that was abandoned to the Arisen in the recent past." Commander Yuri explained.
"Do you know why know they are attacking? Issues between the species? Are they voracious predators that eat every planet 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 the planets. 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 exposed computer 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 explain the strange nature of their attacks and why they leave no bodies.
It would also explain 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 is combat 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 similar 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?"
"That is a complex issue with Humans. I lead a Reaver Company, which controls one World Ship and some smaller ships, so you could consider me a Planetary Governor of sorts, though my Rank is technically higher than that by a bit. For my Subcommander, her hereditary Rank is a much more complex issue." Max explained.
The Koleska all turned to each other and discussed the matter for a while, trying to determine where humans would place 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, how large of an army do you command?" 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 in combat?" Commander Yuri asked.
"Of course they are. But combat losses happen, and I am well known for my combat 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 our lack of numbers at the moment." Max explained.
"Your Mecha are very frightening, that is certain. That weapon that you use, what was it designed to fight against? It creates a beam too large for attacking another Mecha of your design." One of the other Koleska leaders asked.
"It's an Orbital Lance. It was designed to attack planetary military forces from orbit." Max explained.
"Orbital Lance." Yuri mouthed the unfamiliar words slowly, then again, silently, while he tried to relate 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 similar." 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 in command spoke again.
"You put such a weapon on a Mecha? Do you use Mecha to destroy large 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 planet wasn't even close to a fair fight, but the concept of that sort of scaling would be very difficult to explain to the hierarchical Koleska.
At least their ranks were based entirely on accomplishment, and they weren't inherited or genetic, so Max could be sure that the ones with the fanciest robes were the most verifiably competent in their field. That was a definite improvement on Royalty or Nepotism-based systems.
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