Perhaps it was the sense of false security from the easy fights that they had been in lately, or perhaps it was a side effect of whatever had happened, but the next morning when Max was jostled awake, and the alarm went off, he just couldn't bring himself to feel particularly concerned for the first few seconds, when he would normally be running for his Mecha.
It was the panicked thoughts of the crew on duty that brought him to full attention and had him checking the sensor logs as he ran for the new Mecha.
[I need a full situation update. What the feth is going on out there?] Max asked the Duty Captain when he realized that the sensor data made no sense.
[Your guess is as good as mine, Commander. There was a spatial anomaly at our location for a split second. Then we were here. I can't get any bearings. It's like space doesn't exist here. Bah, that made no sense. But there is something wrong with space here. I don't detect any planets or other phenomena, but we are clearly sitting on the ground somewhere.] The Giant responded.
Max climbed into his Mecha to get a better look at the sensor data and froze in confusion. The Giant was right. They were sitting on the surface of a planet. Or at least. It looked like it. But the sensors didn't detect any signs of life, or of a solar system around them, or anything but the formless mass of energy everywhere, extending as far as their sensors could detect.
[Captain, could we be in an enormous holographic projection?] Max asked curiously.
[Not as far as I can tell. The energy here is strange, but it doesn't seem to be any form of a hologram that our combined databases are familiar with, nor does it appear to be directed by anything.]
Max considered their course of action for a moment while reading Nico and the researcher's minds to see if they could make any more sense of this than he could. Everyone seemed lost and confused about what this place was, and none of them knew how they got there.
[Captain, lift off and see what we can find from a higher elevation.] Max directed.
[Understood. Gravity Control thrusters are ineffective. Changing to orbital thrusters. Particle Thrusters are showing limited effectiveness. Liftoff not achieved. Engaging Warp Drive for Impulse Motion. There we go. Expected rates of motion achieved.]
Max watched as the surface of the world moved further away from them, then paused in confusion when he saw the edge.
How could a planet be a flat disc with nothing around it? Where did the light come from, and how did it have the gravity to hold them in place?
[The rules of physics in this place are broken.] Nico mused as she saw the same data set.
The research team was in a panic trying to make sense of the data that they were receiving when suddenly the Cutter was back on the surface again. Max didn't detect any sort of movement on their part or that of the planetoid, but it was undeniable that they were on the surface again.
[I can feel eyes on my back. It's creeping me out.] Nico informed Max a few seconds later.
[I think that whatever has been watching us brought us here for some reason. What that reason is, I have no idea, but it's pretty obvious that it doesn't want us to leave the area.] Max agreed.
[Ship sensors detect something on the horizon. Well, the edge of the sensor range passes for the horizon here.] The Giant on duty informed them, clearly annoyed by the fact that this place made no sense.
Max switched sensor feeds and became even more confused. There were six Galen vessels in the same that their Cutter was, sitting on the surface. But the Galen was under attack by some sort of Mecha-sized monstrosities.
Max optimized the sensors to get a closer look and found that the larger creatures weren't alone. There was an army of little ones with them as well.
"Oh, that doesn't look good." He muttered to himself while Nico's excitement level spiked.
Neither of them had ever seen this species before, but going by the fleshy hide, they were supremely stabbable. If they weren't already engaged in combat with the Galen, Nico would have probably barged out the bay door to see what they were like in a fight.
[All hands to combat positions. I suspect that we will be under attack very soon. All personnel must be in protective armour and equipped with Reaver regulation combat weaponry or greater.] Max ordered.
That meant a pistol and one heavy weapon while wearing augmentic armour. That was enough that the crew at least had a fighting chance if the ship was boarded, but Max noticed that the Research Team wasn't going for the armoury to get heavy weapons. They were headed for the Terraforming Array controls to make themselves something.
Seconds later, a full wing of the new experimental Line Mecha was waiting in the bay, and the Research Team was headed for a much more secure position than a simple set of augmentic armour.
"We did the design work and the testing in VR. We might not be qualified Pilots, but we're pretty good with one of these things, so I think we should be fine to at least defend ourselves if we're attacked." Nergal informed him as she powered up her new unit.
"Well, I can't argue with that logic when I'm sitting in my own Mecha now, can I? Nobody really gets qualified on the first generation of an experimental Mecha. You just prove that you can operate it well enough not to get kicked out of the Pilot's seat." Max agreed.
"We should upgrade them later like an oversized Tech Adept Harness for a Line Mecha. We could do large-scale research from the comfort of a cockpit. Imagine studying spatial phenomena and dissecting giant monsters from the comfort of an ergonomic Pilot's seat." One of the researchers sighed over the radio while the others laughed.
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