Max linked his targeting system to the computers of the Koleska force, giving them a portion of his targeting data. Their software wasn't fully compatible, but they should have gotten at least what targets already had something locked on them, plus a load of hitboxes.
The firing accuracy of the Koleska Defence Force immediately improved, and the War Walker lines began to thin out faster than they could be replaced.
Once the War Walkers were under two-thirds strength, the battle began to become a rout, with the Arisen forces being forced back to maintain their ranks and the Koleska closing the noose around them.
The War Walkers formed into a ball, and then suddenly, the ships behind them vanished, leaving them behind.
"That's not good," Nico muttered over the intercom.
"Turn around. Those ships are coming back somewhere. They wouldn't leave without their War Walkers." Max predicted, but Nico was already beginning the turn.
For a second, nobody else noticed that something was gravely wrong, and they were focused on destroying the War Walkers, but when the enemy force didn't phase out, they realized that it was some sort of diversion, and the true target was somewhere else.
"Fire a round at the Anomaly, fully primed. I think they might be making a run for it now that we're all fully committed out here." Nico yelled, and Max fired a split second later, not even bothering to deactivate the Antimatter warhead in the weapon.
It could be done if there was a need, as well as dropping the warp field, but in the ten seconds it would take to get to the Anomaly, they would wait and see.
The Koleska defenders kept fighting with everything that they had, and Max reached behind him to fire a number of Disruptor shots into the Arisen Army so that they wouldn't realize that he and Nico weren't watching them at all, other than the automated feed of the sensors Max had used to target his shots.
Not that it was ineffective, the Disruptors were tearing apart the War Walkers in wide groups as Max targeted the closest units to keep them out of melee, but the ships were a larger threat.
Nico's guess was good but not quite right. They weren't all going for the Anomaly. The one surviving Cube went for the Anomaly, while the other ships all went for the Station itself, copying their tactic of wiping out the home base of the enemy so they had nowhere to retreat to.
Max saw Shattered Pride pause as Nico linked with Santa Maria and brought the ship online. He moved to defend her Mecha while she was fully distracted, standing between her and the War Walkers and increasing his rate of fire.
She was more practiced with her skill, and she could take care of everything that was happening three planets away. He just had to make sure she didn't get shot in the back.
The ships had just moved into attack position, where they could see the Station past the planet when Santa Maria launched from her berth at the Station, and all hell broke loose.
The Orbital Lance and all six Warp Torpedo tubes fired at the same time, accompanied by both of the defensive heavy lasers and the Plasma Obliterators, at the very same time that the Antimatter Torpedos hit the Cube and destabilized space around the Anomaly.
The Cube was gone, obliterated, barely more than dust in space. But the tremors of the gaseous nebula continued much longer than that, and the Koleska communications network was going insane with panic and alarm codes due to the explosion.
Then the Warp Torpedos hit the ships. Fortunately, these were not Antimatter equipped, but the damage was heavy enough when they were accompanied by the Orbital Lance and the defensive Cannons. The Arisen ships barely survived the encounter, and Max could see that their shields were in bad shape, with the rest of the Station's defensive team bearing down on them.
They took the brunt of the first rank of firing but didn't even try to deploy their defensive fighter planes or more War Walkers. Instead, they just faded back out of sight, along with all of the War Walkers, and the battle came to an abrupt halt.
[What in the Sacred Tomes was that, Commander?] One of the Koleska bureaucrats, whose voice Max recognized, but couldn't put a name to, demanded as soon as the battle ended.
[Per our agreement, I will not let anything through that Anomaly. My apologies for the lack of warning, but no other attack was sure to prevent the Arisen from bringing their war to our Galaxy.] Max replied with his best professional tone.
It took the bureaucrat a moment to look up the actual terms of their deal and make sure that Max hadn't overstepped, but honestly, Max didn't care. The Arisen Fleet was not in the Reavers' territory, and he would gladly take the reprimand if the Koleska bureaucrats were unhappy about it.
The bureaucrat returned to the air a few minutes later and gave the sort of noncommittal complaint that Max expected out of a politician.
[The Central Government's military committee wishes to have a debate on the suitability of weapons of mass destruction while facing the Arisen threat at a future date, and we request that, in the interim, you refrain from the use of Antimatter weapons.]
Max smiled before he answered. [Understood, Minister. I will take it under advisement.]
Nico brought Santa Maria to them so she didn't have to fly back on her own, and Max led his Mecha into the cargo hold with a gentle swing from the bay door. Nico followed him in, and the ship turned back toward the Station to return to their assigned bay.
There was definitely a lecture coming their way, as well as a lot of questions, like how the ship could take action when there was nobody on board and the use of AI was too dangerous while facing the Arisen.
Perhaps they should have kept one of the Co-Operative members on board to stare at screens and do nothing, just for plausible deniability.
Max decided that he would have someone sent over the next time he was in contact with the Company because this situation was bound to come up again. This time he would lie and say that he was remotely piloting both Mecha at once while Nico was on the ship, but they would only buy that lie so many times before he would need a Pilot.
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