Chapter 471 471 Not So Fast
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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As Nico got all of the chaos sorted out and the humans introduced to the myriad of cultures that had arrived in the last few hours, doing her best to keep things under control, using data pilfered from the various ships which had visited Terminus in the past, or were here now, Max made it to the stage to give the first speech for his birthday celebrations.
"Welcome everyone to Terminus, home of the Terminus Trading Company and official ambassador of the humans to the Alliance. It is good to see such a wide variety of faces here to celebrate my birthday.
Today I will be celebrating my eighteenth birthday, the age at which even the slowest developing of human cultures consider their citizens to be adults.
We have a variety of events planned, and all amenities of the ship are included in your room fees for this week, so let loose and enjoy anything that you see. If we can accomplish it, and it doesn't break any laws, we will do our best to provide it to you."
Max's last line caused a round of laughter from the crowd that had assembled by the stage, and he stepped aside, letting a holographic dance show begin while staff moved through the crowd with snacks and drinks.
The contents were clearly listed, as some species that had arrived with the Innu busses couldn't tolerate alcohol or various foods, but that didn't calm the enthusiasm of the crowd at all.
The dance show that was playing in the hologram was all Kepler citizens, enhanced well beyond regular human standards, and performing gravity-defying moves that had the crowd in awe of the physical abilities of humanity.
Max made his way through the crowd, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries while the party atmosphere spread through the ship.
The older infantry soldiers had been pressed into duty as security, though the crowd was peaceful so far, and they were more of an armored tour guide than anything.
Putting them into the augmentic armor might have been a mistake, as most of the Innu hadn't watched the live streams where the design was explained by their technicians, and the guards were all swarmed by excited tourists, eager to find out more about their armor, and the flat space technology in their new watches, which held weapons, in case they were actually needed.
Among the crowd, Max managed to find one of the representatives of the Border Nations, who had arrived by shuttle only minutes earlier, according to the ship's data.
"Welcome to Terminus. I am sorry we didn't put on a proper welcome for you, but as you can see, things are a bit hectic here for my birthday, and everyone is occupied keeping Terminus at full readiness." Max greeted the older woman and her two much younger assistants.
"No offense taken. We didn't send any advance notification. We just snuck over when we saw all of the alien vessels. This is quite the sight. Is that normal for your ship?" She asked.
"Not really. We usually aren't nearly this busy, and some of these species are visiting us for the first time. This Galaxy is a restricted area for them, and a vacation here is akin to war tourism, going to an active conflict area to see what the locals live like." Max explained.
"I see. I can understand why they might view us that way. Normally they don't respond to communications at all, so the chance to meet and interact with them is a novel experience for us. It will also help convince others that your goal of mutual defense and nonaggression has a valid basis in the situation as you are experiencing it.
The Mercenaries have mostly been a threat because of their penchant for taking missions to attack outposts, so if they aren't going to be doing that anymore, there is a very slim chance that the Border Nations will consider taking some of them off the embargo list."
Max smiled at the good news. "Glad to hear it. The more of us that can work together, the less we have to spend on our militaries, and the more that we can spend getting our citizens up to standards.
The Reavers have a number of valuable new technologies to that end, and you will have a chance to experience them tonight. All of the food and drinks here have been made by our Replicators, so you have an opportunity to enjoy the luxuries of one of the most important pieces of new tech that we are offering to our allies in advance.
They can make all of this out of nearly any sort of biomass, and I am sure that an ambassador can see the advantage to that."
Max handed the woman a flute of champagne and a small plate of spiced fried mushrooms that the Innu were particularly fond of.
"Oh, this is divine. Where did the recipe come from?" The ambassador asked.
"You see the pink-skinned aliens with the tentacles for hair? This mushroom recipe is one of theirs. The mushrooms are a species that was known to the Kepler Empire, but the combination of spices comes from their homeworld. We can include it in the programming of the Replicators that you order if you choose to join the Trade Group." Max offered.
One of the assistants chuckled. "See, this Reaver knows how to properly bribe an official. No threats or cash. You give them things that they can't obtain on their own."
Max shook his head. "This isn't a bribe. It is a normal menu item here aboard Terminus that everyone has access to. That makes it a negotiation tactic and not a bribe."
The two young assistants looked dubious, but once they tried the mushroom bites, they were as hooked as the senior was.
"There will be a grand banquet later, available at every food service station aboard the ship, so feel free to indulge in anything that you would like to try and enjoy your time here aboard Terminus. You are welcome to return in the evenings after the meetings as well, as I see that you have managed to procure a suite on the fifth floor." Max reminded them, then moved on to talk to the Shin, who were gathered together with huge containers of some mysterious liquid that was making the sapling on the main floor grow to enormous heights in a matter of minutes.
"Commander, I told you we could grow you a world tree in time. Well, almost in time since everyone showed up so early. But the nutrients are in, and we have modified its genome to reach the desired growth parameters, so it will be on the top floor by the end of the night. It will also give off a healing aura, a form of nonvisible light that stimulates other plants to self-repair and maintain their peak growth state for extended periods of time." The Shin leader informed Max as he approached.
"That is incredible. Though maybe I shouldn't be as surprised by the abilities of your flora since I have met you, and your entire species is beyond what humans considered possible even a few years ago." Max replied.
"Just wait. We have planted moonflowers as well, and once they finally open, it will be incredible. They are bioluminescent, and many consider them a treasure of genetics." The treelike alien replied with pride.
"It is a true honor to have you here aboard Terminus. None of this would have been possible without your assistance."
Chapter 472 472 More Guests
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The party had moved into a slower-paced nighttime mode, and the ship's clock was almost to morning again when Max received a message about more vessels incoming to the planet.
These ones hadn't identified as Border Nations, and they weren't Mercenary vessels, but they had refused to answer any hails from Terminus or the other vessels present.
[Nico, wake your ass up. I need a ship identification, and I need it now.] Max ordered.
[Keep your panties on. I will find out who they are.] Nico laughed, and Max distantly felt her thoughts over on the far side of the ship where the Innu guests who were still awake were brainstorming ways to modify the Materials Printers that wouldn't violate Alliance laws.
Some of their favorite technologies relied upon synthetic Ions, which weren't stable in nature, but could be artificially bonded together through advanced technology. They had a pair of very drunk Valkia lawyers with them, objecting to everything that they proposed, as well as one Giant bureaucrat who would look up the relevant laws and copyrights on their behalf.
He was not getting in the middle of that, so Max let Nico do her thing and just waited for the message.
[Got them. They are Omwat-built vessels, with their hulls modified to evade identification. Their ship's comms have been altered as well, and I am detecting large numbers of Mecha power signatures aboard the vessels.] Nico responded.
Omwat was not part of the Border Nations, but they used them as a shield to keep trouble from their own borders. The fact that they had sent multiple vessels here in disguise was not a good sign.
[Size and Capability] Max demanded since Nico had gotten distracted by the conversation again.
[Thirty Destroyers, with an escort fleet encased in their Warp bubble. True power unknown.]
That was enough for Max to scramble all Pilots and the new Infantry Regiment to ready positions. They had been reminded not to drink too heavily last night, but fighting with a hangover was a longstanding Military Tradition, so the actual level of sobriety was questionable.
If nothing else, running through the halls of a Destroyer during a boarding action would sweat the last of the liquor out of their systems.
The Abrax were not on good terms with the Reavers for a number of generations, so the chances that they were here to join the negotiations were pretty low, and if they were, they wouldn't have needed to send so many vessels.
This fleet was enough to launch a full planetary invasion of the half dozen inhabited planets in the vicinity of the meeting, where the Reavers and their Allies would need to engage in a ground war to try to dig them out without incurring significant civilian casualties.
Even the presence of Cleansing Light wouldn't mean much if they invaded the planets, as Max couldn't unleash his full fury on a friendly planet.
Max did his best to avoid alarming the guests while he mobilized as many of his troops as he could and called the Illithid advisor to his side. The man was a genius with strategy, both for preventing battle and keeping it from spreading if it were inevitable.
The Illithid was a practical species, thanks to their mind reading. They knew that violence was inevitable, so they just did their best to keep it contained, and they had managed to do it so well that interplanetary conflict was basically unknown in the Alliance for centuries, even without anyone taking action to assist other planets.
"What can we do to keep this incoming fleet from causing major issues?" Max asked.
The Illithid gave him a pitying look and brought out a data tablet with their calculations visible. The chances of keeping them from making landfall were less than one percent if that was their goal, and the chances of the negotiations proceeding on the schedule were zero. Not less than one percent, the Illithid had calculated them as absolute zero.
"Alright, then, we will have to be proactive the moment that they make their intentions clear. But if they are making planetfall, we will need clearance from the Border Nations, or at least the ones involved." Max sighed.
[Nico, contact the Ambassador from the Border Nations that is here on the ship and let her know what is going on, assuming that she doesn't already know. We might not have an agreement signed, but some goodwill will go a long way if we can keep their planet from getting overrun by their neighbors.]
[Her assistants are up. Life signs in the room say that the heart rates are high enough that they must be awake or having a nightmare. I will page them, and they can wake their mistress up.] Nico agreed.
After a few minutes of frantic motion behind the scenes, the Ambassador was coming toward Max in her evening gown, and the Mecha were loaded and ready inside the Cutters.
"Commander Max, is what I hear right? The Reavers are willing to come to our defense, despite our history?" The woman asked as she ran up, much faster than her abundant and aged physique would suggest was possible.
"Since there is no agreement at this point, our intervention will not be free of charge. But we are willing to provide as much force as we can to ensure that the Omwat fleet does not overrun the border nations in this region." Max agreed.
"With only a single Colony Ship here and a few Mercenary Groups nearby, what can you even do?" She asked, afraid that her home planet was going to take the brunt of this offensive.
"We can call for reinforcements, but Terminus herself has an entire Heavy Mecha Regiment, as well as a few specialized units. I thought your military would have informed you already." Max replied.
"The Border Fleet was holding the data of your interactions until everyone was assembled so that they didn't cause a panic, or so they said." The assistant replied on his boss's behalf.
"Fair enough. We have a Titan Class Mecha here, and we are perfectly capable of dealing with the Destroyers, but we will be unlikely to stop the majority of the planetary landing fleets." Max informed her.
The woman held up her communication device, a handheld version of the smartwatch Max and most others wore, showing him that everything they said had been transmitted to a group chat.
She kept silent for a moment while they argued, then turned up the volume so that everyone nearby could hear.
"The Border Nations are willing to submit immediately to the Trade Agreement terms as written. The paperwork will be signed and submitted within the next fifteen minutes." A very official voice announced.
Well, that was certainly one way of doing it. They would lose out on any potential benefits and freebies, but they would save the cost of a Reaver military intervention, which might save them money in the long run. It was a calculated risk on their part, but Max would take a win where he could get it.
[Nico, inform the Reavers that we have the entire Border Nation group coming into our fold within the hour and that they are under attack by the Omwat. We need anyone who is free for defense, and I intend to take the entire nation of Omwat as a Reaver territory as compensation.] Max informed the war-crimes loving Cyborg.
[You're so good to me. And on my birthday, no less. I will have to find you a much better present than I had planned.]
Chapter 473 473 Um What? Omwat
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"I am sorry to cut you short, but please deal with my assistant while I head to my Mecha. I will be needed for the defense fight." Max informed the older woman, who just waved him away and turned to her communicator to make sure that she had heard their instructions correctly.
As the Illithid had predicted, there were no messages before the fleet left warp, and the second they did, the fleet at the closest planet started dislodging Landers from five Destroyer Class vessels, as well as fifteen Mecha Carriers roughly equivalent to Kepler's President Class vessels.
That should give them a force of thirty Mecha Regiments headed to the planet in the next five minutes.
[All forces deploy. Nico, get the drones active and shoot down those Landers while we deal with the fleet.] Max ordered.
She was way ahead of him. Max had only just stepped out of the hangar, and Shattered Pride was already ahead of him, surrounded by dozens of drones, which were headed for the atmosphere while she was headed up into open space to confront the fleet.
Max focused all six Disruptors on the closest Destroyer and launched the equivalent of an Orbital Lance at their shielding, making it flicker and flash, then fail entirely as the blasts from the Cutters reached a second later.
The massive vessel, only a half kilometer shorter than Terminus herself in size, violently exploded, filling the space around the Omwat fleet with debris before they could even react to the incoming Reaver vessels.
They didn't hesitate at all, and the Cutters were forced to evade as a barrage of incoming fire came for them. The shields on the Cutters were tough, but the Destroyers weren't lightly armed vessels, and a single hit could well drop the shields of even their new pattern Cutters.
The Border Fleet was only a breath behind them, launching missiles and Ion Beams toward the Carriers, hoping to reduce the number of Landers that could be successfully launched.
Ahead of Max, traveling as fast as her Mecha would carry her, Nico plowed into a Carrier blade first, with both of her Disruptors firing a continuous beam.
Shattered Pride punched through the shielding, then the bay door of the Carrier, and the Super Heavy Mecha disappeared from sight.
Max dodged a few volleys of fire from the Omwat Fleet, moving upward so the angle wouldn't put any of the ships in orbit behind him, which would risk collateral damage from the shots he dodged.
Before he could get in place to fire again, a Carrier exploded, and Shattered Pride flew from the ruins with a foreign-designed Super Heavy Mecha speared on her blade. Nico threw it at a Destroyer and moved to attack the bridge of a damaged Carrier, tearing apart the command center, then firing directly inside the vessel, setting off a chain reaction from the ship's engines that completely destroyed it.
Shields flared as Landers, which were almost ready to launch, were thrown clear, only to be targeted by the Border Fleet ships and the Drones.
Max coordinated with the Cutters and a second Destroyer went up in a fireball as the ruptured engines burned off the ship's atmosphere.
The cloud of Landers was thinning already as the emergency deployment came to an end only a few minutes after their arrival, and Max detected signals indicating that the fleet was preparing to run away from the unanticipated level of damage they had taken.
That would leave the force on the planet vulnerable, but they could still threaten for control of the surface with the numbers that they had managed to get to the surface, even with the defensive fire and the Drones attacking them.
Max knew that they had it easy. They had destroyed nearly half of the forces on their way down and crippled the fleet in orbit. The other planets which were under attack were unlikely to have fared nearly as well. They had defense fleets and orbital defenses, but they didn't have the Orbital Lances that the Cutters launched by Terminus had deployed to deal with the Destroyers, so the larger vessels would have been capable of covering for the Carriers while they finished their deployment.
A red streak raced through space, and Max watched as the engines of a Destroyer, formerly glowing with intense blue light, went dark. Nico had taken advantage of the vulnerability in the shields as the vessel prepared to go to warp to enter the enclosure and attack their warp drive, leaving the ship dead in space.
The last two Destroyers managed to transition to faster-than-light travel and fled the system, leaving behind the Carriers, who needed more time to activate their engines, and who were taking much heavier fire since they were the ones most likely to be destroyed by the Border Nations' firepower.
[First and Second Battalion, join Shattered Pride and board the disabled Destroyer. We will take it intact as reparations.] Max ordered.
He would hold off on the infantry for now until the ship could be secured with Mecha. After that, they would be ordered in to take the ship and clear out the defenders.
They couldn't space the attackers today, as so many aliens were watching and wondering how close to civilized humans were, which did limit their options, but it could be done subtly later, in the form of a funeral rite.
The only hidden blessing in this situation was that the Omwat were not human. They were similar to humans in the way that the Vampires looked vaguely human, but they were shorter, with four arms and four eyes set into thick, leathery skin.
That would let Max play this off as humanity being attacked by hostile aliens, a situation that the Alliance was very familiar with. The fact that humans and the Omwat had been doing business with each other for over a thousand years, and living side by side, could be glossed over for the sake of posterity.
Max and the other three Cutters continued to bombard the Omwat fleet until the last few Carriers chose to stand down instead of fighting to the last. The Border Nations chose to be the ones to board and secure the vessels, as this was their home system that was attacked, so Max ordered the Cutters to standby in orbit until they had agreed on a plan of action to retake the planet, which was currently under attack by more than a dozen Mecha Regiments, and an unknown number of infantry.
Chapter 474 474 Boarding Action
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[Commander, the main hallways of the Omwat Destroyer are secure. Requesting a boarding force to secure the secondary corridors and individual rooms.] Major Miller requested ten minutes after the last of the Carriers had surrendered.
[What is the situation with the survivors?] Max asked so he could plan how many troops to send.
[They were initially reluctant, but we currently have just over two thousand in custody.] Miller replied.
That should be close to the whole crew of a destroyer once the payload was delivered, as they were mostly armor and weapons systems and didn't carry an enormous crew despite their size.
He might as well send the entire Regiment, though. It would be good practice for them, and they hadn't actually done a boarding action together yet, though they had trained together in the VR simulations.
[The infantry are on their way. Hold the hallways, and they will do a full sweep to make sure that we don't have any saboteurs aboard.] Max replied, then called for the First Battalion's Cutter to come to pick up the infantry for the boarding action.
They had shuttles, and other small vessels for this sort of thing, but not nearly enough for an entire Regiment, as Max hadn't really been expecting to do a full clear of an alien Destroyer so soon after upgrading his crew.
They were on a diplomatic mission. Sure, that meant the possibility of failure, but that should mean they were denied, not that they were disabling the largest ships in the nation's fleet.
[Commander, the Reaver, and Cygnus fleets have arrived at the other affected planets via a portal, and a Cygnus Pacification fleet is headed to the Omwat homeworlds to claim them in the name of Cygnus.] The communications officer informed Max while he waited for the infantry to load up.
If anyone was truly benefitting from this situation, it was definitely the Cygnus forces. They had gained a huge number of planets in the last few months, and they were about to gain even more thanks to the Omwat attempt to stop the Border Nations from joining the Trade Group.
If they got too powerful, they might try to take over the whole group, but that was a problem for later. For now, they were the closest ally with the firepower to deal with problems like this since the smaller nations had all fallen into their grasp already.
The one advantage that they had was the close relationship between the Reaver Companies and the Cygnus Nobility. Many younger children had married Reavers, which brought them into the Cygnus Nobility, though as distant relations to the ruling powers. That reduced the chance that they would be betrayed and increased the chances that they would be willing to work together toward the goal of mutual defense.
Max waited in orbit while Nico returned Shattered Pride to its hangar, showing many signs of combat where her shields had been brought down by the concentrated fire of the defenders or possibly where she had caused herself enough damage to drop them while destroying ships with a melee weapon.
[I will take care of the guests. Have fun out there, but remember to come back when you're done. I have a birthday present for you.] Nico reminded him as she settled her Mecha back into its repair bay.
[How could I forget? They will be celebrating all week.] Max laughed, then cut it short as the Cutter deployed the infantry, clad in the finest of experimental augmentic suits, onto the Omwat Destroyer.
Max linked the team leaders' cameras to his feed and linked the sensor data both from the other infantry units, as well as the Cutters and the Mecha force inside the vessel, to their heads-up display.
That way, they wouldn't miss anything that might have been found with a bit more data, and it would be nearly impossible for the Omwat to hide an infiltration team in any secret spaces of the ship.
They had a number of technologies that could block an area from Kepler Scanners, as well as the new versions that the Terminus design team had come up with, but those showed up as black spots on the display. It practically begged the boarding team to search those areas to see what had been hidden in them.
Not many hidden sailors were found, but the boarding crew did find a large amount of contraband among the hidden areas of the ship. The crewmen knew where the sensors couldn't penetrate, so that was where they hid all their liquor, drugs, and porn.
Omwat porn was of no interest to the boarding team, but the rest could be either resold or given as presents to the Border Fleet if they hadn't prohibited them.
[Sir, the ship is clear. All rooms have been searched. We have accounted for the entire crew roster, either dead or alive, and we have two additional personnel that were not on the roster. Signs indicate that they are stowaways.] Colonel Cortez informed Max.
[Juveniles or nonmilitary personnel?] Max asked.
[Civilians, Feline Demihumans of adult age. We found them hiding in the energy conduits outside the main engine bay. What are your orders?] the Colonel replied.
[Bring them back with you. We will verify their story and get them settled somewhere.]
Max turned his attention to the attacking forces on the planet and updated his battle plan. The Border Nations had a significant military force, so the battles were already intense, but there was one region that had an unusually high density of Omwat forces.
[Requesting landing permission to send Mecha forces to the surface to reinforce the troops on the ground. The locations are being transmitted now.] he informed the local military commanders.
[Permission granted, Terminus. Will your Mecha be distinguishable from the other forces?] The local General asked.
[They will. Our whole Mecha force is in the new Reaver Patterns, and our infantry are all in distinctive augmentic suits.] Max replied.
[Confirmed. Good to have you.]
Chapter 475 475 Planetfall
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Max searched the planet's surface until he found the perfect spot to drop off his forces. There was an industrial city near a huge lake in an open prairie area, with frequent rock outcrops that could easily hide a Heavy Mecha. Badlands, they were called on Kepler Terminus, but Max wasn't sure if that was their official designation.
There were two Omwat Mecha Regiments in the area, and a city defense force of unknown strength, so the odds weren't that bad for Terminus, and they could establish a foothold that would let them move out through the region and work on eliminating the rest of the invading forces.
The simple number suggested that if they didn't act fast, there wouldn't be much left to save. Fifteen Mecha Regiments per side was enough to destroy everything worth destroying on a planet within a matter of weeks, even if the defenders did their best to save the infrastructure.
It would be even worse if Terminus were on the attacking side since the Super Heavy Mecha had incredibly capable artillery mounted to them, so they didn't need to bring in any additional forces to level a city and move on.
The Cutters were just finishing the distribution of infantry when Max got the official arrival notice of the Reavers and Cygnus forces at their targets. They had used portals to speed up the process and had decided to split the attack on the Omwat homeworlds, with each force taking half as reparations, while a combined force of Cygnus and Reavers would be sent to each Border Planet that was under attack.
That way, neither ally took heavier casualties, at least not by much, and the Border Nations would see that they were working in good faith.
The Mercenaries were also on their way, looking to get in on the action so that they could salvage the Omwat Mecha for themselves once the battle was over, in lieu of payment for their services.
Everyone but the Border Nations viewed the situation as a win, as they were all getting significant gains out of it, while the Border Planets would have to bear the brunt of a massive interstellar battle.
Omwat would be required to pay reparations, likely through the sale of their military assets, as their nation was about to be split up like a holiday turkey, but the Border Planets would get funding to repair the damage, as well as access to the new technologies that the Reavers had developed, which would let them make state of the art, futuristic cities on the affected planets.
[Cutters, you have your destinations. We expect minimal anti-orbital fire, as the cities have not yet fallen. Get in there and drive the Omwat back, then cleanse them from the badlands.] Max ordered.
[Copy that, Commander.] The pilots of the Cutters replied in unison and turned their ships toward the planet.
Max was about to join them when a message from Mary Tarith arrived at his Mecha from an incoming Reaver vessel, carrying a full Mecha Regiment to reinforce them.
[I like your new strategy. Capture the largest enemy vessel to add to your fleet every time you engage in battle. At this rate, I will have to start looking for fights, or my own Son In Law will overtake my fleet.] Nico's mother laughed.
[Pure coincidence, I swear. But we're not doing badly, are we? Two Cruisers and a Destroyer in the last couple of weeks alone. I'm keeping those, by the way. I will find crew for them later or split off my Battalion Leaders to take charge of them once we get one more ship.] Max replied.
[See, for such a young Commander, you do us all proud as Reavers. My Regiment will be just south of yours, reinforcing the military-industrial facilities. We will meet later.] Mary Tarith informed him, then Landers began to launch from the Carrier that she had arrived aboard.
The data that her ship had transmitted to the allies indicated that this force was implemented the same way that Max's had been, with four Super Heavy Mecha per Battalion and Five Battalions in the Regiment, using entirely new pattern Mecha.
The Omwat were going to have a very bad day down on the planet's surface, and there was still two Cygnus Regiments inbound on the far side of the planet.
With the Cutters on their way down, Max dived down toward the surface of the planet, intending to take a position above the city to ensure that the Omwat forces couldn't overrun it before his men arrived.
He was joined by hundreds of Drone Fighters, as Nico used every spare Pilot and infantryman that they could train to expand the remotely controlled force.
Attacking from above, they were already taking shots at enemy forces in the open when Max arrived over the city, bringing a cheer from the defense force that had dug themselves in along the outer perimeter of the city.
[Keep your heads down for now. The Drones will hold their attention for a while, but they are fragile, and heavy weapons will take them out soon.] Max informed the defense force leaders.
[Will you be staying here with us, Lord Commander?] A wheezy female voice replied immediately after, giving the impression of a lifelong chain smoker nearing retirement age.
[I will make this my Command Post for the day. I have an entire Regiment coming this way in the next few minutes while the Drones distract the enemy.]
The Cutters were already coming over the horizon, firing their retro thrusters to slow their approach as they spread out to deploy their forces in a defensive line.
It was unfortunate that they couldn't just blast the area level and eliminate everything with the Orbital Lances, but this was an inhabited, friendly planet, and they likely wouldn't take it well. Especially not when Max could see a network of roads winding through the badlands on his scans.
If they weren't mining the area, it was a major tourist attraction, and destroying that would breed even more ill will than lost infrastructure.
Chapter 476 476 Command And Control
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The five Cutters touched down on the East side of the city at the same moment, and the Thunder Guns could be heard the second that the doors opened, with the Battalion Commanders leading their forces out.
The Drone Fighters combined with Max's [Unified Force] System Talent gave them precision targeting data on every detected Omwat Mecha Company, and the Battalion Commanders were determined to thin their ranks as much as possible using High Explosive shells before the enemy had even realized where they were being attacked from.
Thanks to the high-capacity organic power cells in the new Augmentic Armor, all of the infantrymen were equipped with Ion Cannons as well as sidearms, letting them take out Light Mecha with relative ease once they were in range, but for now, they were taking the back lines, and spreading out to make sure that nothing got past the lines of Mecha using terrain to block their presence.
[Incoming Artillery] Max's onboard computer warned him as rapidly approaching targets appeared on his screens.
That was sooner than expected, so the Omwat must have realized just how poorly things were going to go for them and set up their artillery before they had secured the area.
The Laser arrays on Cleansing Light burst into action as Max rapidly selected targets, destroying the artillery shells in mid-flight. Nothing got past him this time, but that was a serious workout, given the number of calculations he had to make at once.
Auto targeting, using only Lasers, on every enemy target that approached at high speed would take a lot of the load off of his mind and keep the additional targets for his Regiment active, so Max made the adjustments to his targeting parameters and shifted his Mecha to stand in front of the defense trenches on the side where the Omwat had landed.
With the Regiment out there, they wouldn't be able to encircle the city, so he only had to defend this position for the moment while the others got to work.
[Contact on the left flank. Moving to intercept.] Major Miller, in charge of the First Battalion, announced, and the sound of Mecha combat became clear even to the unaugmented ear, filling the city's residents with fear and sending even the most reluctant scrambling for a spot in the bunkers.
One after another, the Battalions engaged, using their superior firepower to drive back the Omwat Mecha and move them closer together, intending to encircle the entire Regiment before they went looking for the second.
There would be no search, though. Nico's Drone force found the others only minutes after the first battle, sheltered under camouflage nets which had hidden them from detection by orbital scans.
[Omwat forces on the move from the North.] Nico reported, and Max watched a number of her fighters blink out of existence as the Mecha counterattacked.
[Defense Force, hold your positions. I will take Cleansing Light and deal with the other Regiment while my forces hold the Eastern Front.] Max informed his allies, then began to fly across the city, keeping close to the ground so that the Omwat Mecha couldn't target him.
The shielding on Cleansing Light was incredible, but fifty or a hundred Heavy Mecha attacking him at once had a very good chance of breaching his shields, and once that happened, he was only a little more durable than the usual Super Heavy Mecha due to material limitations.
Once he was clear of the city, Max moved to fly just above the ground through the valleys between the rock outcrops, sneaking up on the position where he had found the enemy Mecha. Or at least doing as well as a Titan Class Mecha could do to sneak up on anything.
A powerful energy signature appeared in front of him when he was three kilometers away from the force, and Max saw a drone shatter against a shield. The Omwat Mecha had erected a forcefield on par with a small city's Orbital Bombardment shield to protect their Mecha, and Max could see it advancing his way as the Mecha Regiment raced toward the city.
The two shields would interfere with each other when they reached the city, making it easier to breach the city's defenses. Max couldn't allow that, but he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself yet.
[Nico, send in the drones on a low trajectory and drop some bombs from high altitude at the same time. I want them to think that they have met with a Mecha Battalion trying to break their shield, not more drones.] Max ordered.
[Copy that. We have some replacement fighters incoming now. I will have them bomb from low orbit with Sabot shells.] Nico replied.
The Sabot shells were essentially an ultra-durable slug intended to deal maximum kinetic damage to a shield, but they were easily countered by the layered armor of a Heavy Mecha, dispersing the impact energy.
Max waited and watched the enemy advance for a few seconds until the whistling and flames of the sabot rounds approaching at orbital entry velocity filled the air.
Nico might have forgotten that the enemy could see the shells if they were burning the atmosphere around them and that there would be no way that they would mistake that as artillery, but the bombardment was enough to shatter the shield in an instant, with the last few rounds slamming into the ground and sending up huge clouds of dust before Ion Blasts came from the West and North sides of the Omwat position, low on the horizon, as if the invaders had encountered a Mecha force.
[They are taking up a defensive encirclement, heavy on the west and north. I believe that they have fallen for the diversion.] Nico informed Max before more bombs, these ones at more normal supersonic velocities, shrieked through the air.
They exploded in a storm of metal fragments and small explosions designed to cripple Light Mecha and infantry at the same moment that Max charged, priming all six Disruptors to fire as soon as he had direct line of sight.
Chapter 477 477 Position Clear
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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Max raced between the stone pillars of the badlands, coming into sight of the Omwat forces just as they turned their attention upward to deal with the incoming drone bombers.
They had a single Super Heavy Mecha with them, a development that Max hadn't expected since the designs were so hard to obtain outside of the Reaver factories where Uncle Lu was doling out the good stuff like candy on Halloween.
It was turned to face the West side, where a number of Ion Blasts had just come in, so Max unleashed two of his Disruptors into its back a quarter second apart. The first disabled its shielding, and the second punched through its torso, vaporizing its cockpit and power plant at the same time, sending it crumbling to the ground as Max picked off the leaders of the Heavy Mecha Battalions.
Rule one of causing Chaos, target the leadership first. Then, once the enemy has no leaders, you can rampage.
The tactic was one from Nico's memories, but it was especially applicable here. For almost a half second, the enemy hesitated, letting Max's shots cripple their command structure before they got their act together.
Max set the defensive lasers to maximum attack rate, targeting everything not tagged as friendly, and Cleansing Light began to glow in blue light, discharging lasers all over the encampment while he charged and prepared for his Disruptors to be ready again.
The Omwat Mecha moved to encircle Max, causing him to take damage from multiple sides, but that also moved more Mecha into the targeting range of his Lasers.
Max raised the mighty sword straight out on his right side, sweeping it through a dozen Light Mecha at the same time and ending with a blow that chopped a Crusader Class chassis in half. Then he turned and targeted the next batch of leaders with his Disruptors, this time on wide dispersion, wiping out the entire wing of Mecha around them and killing the pilots inside dozens of other units who happened to be too close to the blast's core.
Max could hear the panicked thoughts as seemingly undamaged Mecha stopped responding, and the command structure vanished again, but he didn't hesitate, tearing his way through the Reaver Pattern Crusaders with a combination of blade and his handheld shield.
He probably shouldn't use that as a bludgeoning weapon, as it contained a number of defensive lasers, but it was just so convenient to crush Mecha with it that Max didn't hesitate to use it if a Mecha got close enough to his left side.
The fact that there was a Titan Class Mecha in their midst had dawned on the survivors through the fog of combat, and the Omwat Regiment began to scatter, running through the hills and valleys to get away from Max's wrath.
Max cleared out the last few stragglers who were in the area, then pinned the location on the map so that the defense forces, or his own teams, could come and recover the Mecha that his Disruptors had disabled. With a quick rebuild of their Electrical systems, most of them could be put back into action. Cleaning the smell out of the cockpit would take somewhat longer.
Not all of the Omwat forces had run away from the city in their rush to get away, so Max turned back in the direction he came from and moved to intercept the ones who were heading toward the trenches.
A dispersed Disruptor blast to the back took out an entire wing of Crusaders while a swipe of his sword dealt with their Line Mecha escorts.
That was one down, and his sensors picked up six more that were heading the same way.
The drones were also moving to intercept, doing their best to keep the casualties inside the city to the bare minimum. Both Max and Nico had learned during the Rebellion in Kepler how deadly a desperate enemy could be, and these Omwat Mecha were beyond desperate after seeing Cleansing Light in action. It wouldn't be surprising if they detonated their power cores when they saw him, just hoping to deal some sort of damage to his Mecha.
If they got close enough to the trenches to encompass them in the blast, it was almost guaranteed that they would use an explosive last stand. With the shielding and failsafe in place, it wasn't even guaranteed that a Disruptor blast would stop the power cores from going critical and blasting the immediate area into ashes.
Nico must have been thinking the same thing because when he approached, she sent him a message.
[Turn back and take care of the fleeing forces before they can hide again and switch to guerrilla warfare. I will help the defenders take care of these groups.]
That might lead to a few casualties from the Border Nations, but it was for the best.
Mercury Seven was a resort planet, and every bit of it was precious to the Border Nations, so letting the Omwat run free and destroy what they would actually be a worse outcome than letting them attack the city defenses.
Max doubled back, racing between hills as he searched the satellite and drone data for more targets. There weren't many of them left, and they were running at full speed, but that wasn't going to save them today. Cleansing Light could attain orbit on its own. No ground-based mecha would outrun it.
The first group fell before they knew that they had been detected, but the next heard him coming and began firing wildly in his direction, hitting him with a half dozen Plasma shots before he could eliminate them.
One more group had fallen to the drones, and Nico was sending him a report of a strange signature. There was Mecha, according to the visual scans, but no life or power signatures. It was possible that the Omwat had ditched the Mecha and made a run for it, thinking that they would have an easier time hiding in the rocky terrain without the armor.
It was the last group that had fled from the scene of his battle, so Max approached with ease, walking up to a few hundred meters away.
When he did, a single life sign appeared on his scanners, but Max chose to pretend not to have noticed yet and kept walking toward the abandoned Mecha.
When he got to fifty meters, the energy readings spiked, and the power cores immediately began to overload. The thrusters on Cleansing Light threw Max hundreds of meters back in an instant, so fast that the gravity made blood vessels burst in his eyes, healing seconds later, thanks to the nanobots, but turning his vision red for a bit longer.
The explosion was truly impressive, ripping through an entire kilometer of grassland and vaporizing the one who had stayed behind to trigger it, but it wasn't enough to take down Max's shields from that distance.
[City Defense, the Second Omwat Regiment has been dealt with. An unknown number of infantry survivors have fled into the badlands, with possible Light Mecha reinforcements.] Max reported, just in case they had missed something on the scans.
[Understood, Cleansing Light. Good work out there.]
Chapter 478 478 Hold Fast
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The appearance of Cleansing Light had put new urgency into the actions of the Omwat attackers in the region. Not only the ones closest to them but even the next city south, where Mary Tarith had landed her forces, was reporting a full-scale offensive.
[Nico, send Drones south to reinforce the Reaver force. We are down to one Regiment here, and we have the superior force.] Max ordered.
The Regiment hadn't reported any Super Heavy Mecha among the force on the East side of the city, and so far, their damages only amounted to a few disabled Light Mecha, with no Pilot casualties.
The shields that the new Mecha all had were making all the difference. If they took a hit, they could hide for a few seconds until the shield came back up, avoiding any actual damage. It was only when they took multiple hits in close succession that they were in real trouble.
The additional forces were a huge benefit to the Regiment, and the Cutters had brought all of the damaged Mecha into their repair bays and would have them active again within the next few hours, bringing the Mecha forces back to full strength while the Infantry had taken no casualties at all, and had only worked to herd Omwat patrols toward the Terminus Mecha Battalions.
For soldiers who had been viewed as expendable for their entire careers, this was the best battle of their life. They all had heavy weapons, with plenty of ammunition, and they had top-of-the-line augmentic armor, as good or better than the Mobile Suits that the Elite Kepler Special Forces had.
It even had a shield, the same unit that was on the Archangel Exoskeleton. The Innu had talked about merging the two, making flying augmentic suits with weaponized wings, but that plan hadn't come to fruition yet, assuming that it ever would.
The Tech Adept Harnesses were everywhere, though, and the entire repair team was wearing them, which allowed them to work together to drag disabled Light Mecha to the repair bays on their own without outside assistance and bring repair parts to any Heavy Mecha which were damaged.
The front lines were a much more dangerous place to work than back at their repair racks, but the advantage was that they could do the repair while surrounded by Heavy Mecha instead of relying on the fact that they weren't close to the known enemy locations to keep them safe.
Max returned to his position on the Eastern Perimeter of the city, waiting for more news of enemy positions, and ducked down in behind an armored military high-rise building, keeping himself mostly out of sight so that Cleansing Light wouldn't scare the enemy away.
While he was waiting, he received a request from the Tarith Reavers to link Cleansing Light and the drones to their combat data feed. It would let them directly use the Drone camera feeds to target enemies the same way that his Regiment did, but it would also let him link his [Unified Force] Talent to all of their Mecha, improving the firing accuracy and targeting speed of the Reavers, who were mostly not professional Mecha Pilots, though the Tarith Family Pilots almost all had a System Interface.
He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but he linked them in anyhow, expanding the force that his Talent recognized as allies to twice its original size and opening a huge portion of the region to his targeting skills.
With the Drone Patrols, they now had almost perfect visibility of the entire area between the two cities, except for areas hidden by the rock pillars. That was much better than relying on the ship's sensors and the Satellite systems of the Vacation Planet, which were lacking to start with and only partially accessible to the Reavers.
[You know, this is practically cheating. Is this your System Function adding all of the targeting data?] Mary Tarith asked Max from her position on the defense lines of the city to his south.
[It is. I share it with the entire Regiment as a matter of course, and it's why we send out so many Drones.] Max agreed, knowing that Nico was weak against her mom and would cave the moment she asked about it.
[Cleansing Light will have quite the legend with you at the helm. Nobody will forget the Titan Class Mecha that can calculate targeting data for entire Mecha regiments at the same time. If we didn't have Pilots with Systems, the difference would be enough to sway an entire planetary battle.]
She had a point. Without a System Function for targeting, many Pilots could only fire half as fast. With his Function improving them, it would double the firepower of a Non-Kepler force without adding a single new Mecha to the lines.
He hadn't thought about it that way before, but right now, he wasn't willing to link all of the Border Nation defenders into his entire data feed just on the off chance that the city got attacked. They would do what they could do, and he would send his Regiment to reinforce them.
The locals already held the Terminus Trading Company in awe thanks to the show of power, so they would accept being overruled on matters of defense, at least as long as the enemy didn't breach their lines. When it came to fighting inside the city, they would be much more territorial, Max was certain.
Short of manually searching through the entire wasteland himself, there wasn't much for Max to do at the moment except watch the screens and keep the targeting data up for everyone else, so he plugged a meal order into the Mecha's replicator and made himself dinner.
The novelty of a fresh, hot meal in the middle of a battle might never get old, even if it did come in a magnetic bowl that wouldn't fall if he had to move in a hurry, and the drink had a sippy cup lid.
Chapter 479 479 Infiltration
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[Commander, we have reports of Omwat infantry in the region around the city. No confirmed scans, but the Drones have picked up some suspicious signals.] Nico informed Max just after night fell over the battlefield.
The data that she sent seemed to show that the shape of the ground as scanned didn't match the surface as it was viewed by the sensors, which Nico believed indicated that some sort of camouflage was being employed.
If she was right, that meant that a large infantry force was approaching the city, and they had no way to accurately predict their location or strength at the moment.
[City Defense, we have received data signals that indicate an infantry force capable of hiding from sensor detection is approaching your lines. Whether they have optical disguises is unknown, but the force appears to number in the Battalion Strength range.] Max informed their allies.
[Copy that, Cleansing Light. We have heard of this phenomenon before, and the last time that they appeared, their disguise included optical cloaks, though they were far from perfect. Our sensors haven't detected anything. How did yours find them?] The Defense General replied.
[We used Sonar on the Drones, and their map of the ground didn't match the reports of the other sensors.] Max reported.
[We will keep that in mind. I will requisition some sonar units from the fishing fleets and distribute them to the units on the line.]
The General's decision seemed like a solid one, and Max wished that they had the option for all of their Mecha, but even having it on the drones was a good start. At least it gave them a small heads-up that there might be an issue.
[Nico, increase the Drone patrols over the perimeter of the city. Try to find the Omwat force again and track them without being noticed.] Max ordered.
The pattern of the drone's flights subtly changed, but if he hadn't known what it was supposed to be, he likely wouldn't have noticed.
It only took a few minutes before the notifications began rolling in. Each drone that passed over the area reported an anomaly, but they all reported it in a slightly different position, moving at a sedate walking pace suitable to short-legged humanoids.
When they got to five kilometers from the city, Max decided to take action.
[All Thunder Guns in range begin bombardment on my signal. Carpet pattern Delta, duration 30 seconds.]
[Commence Bombardment.]
The Thunder guns rang out from five different locations all around the area, peppering the region around the designated point where the disturbance had been seen last with high explosives. When it stopped, and the dust was cleared with the help of the thrusters of the drones, Max found the area littered with not only bodies but also hundreds of Omwat Light Mecha.
There were also signs of blood trails heading for the city lines but no visual sign of the force, so their cloaking technology must still be in effect.
[City Defense, we have done heavy damage to the incoming force, but there are blood trails headed your way, and we have lost the signals.] Max reported.
A single shot rang out, and Max watched as a short body appeared on the ground, missing most of its head.
[Our Sniper Units have been assigned sonar accessories for their scopes. We will keep our eyes open and hope that the threat can be neutralized before it reaches our lines.] The General informed him.
That was an idea that Max hadn't had, but it was a good one.
[Nico, put a drone with Sonar into a position hovering over my location. They know that we can find them now, so there is no need to hide our methods.] Max informed her while the drones moved out, looking for more targets.
Hopefully, there were no lost civilians in the area outside the defensive lines, as the drones were shooting everything that moved, just on the off chance that it was an enemy soldier. They had caught some unfortunate wildlife as well, but that was a small price to pay for the elimination of an invisible enemy.
The infantry Regiment was on high alert at the moment, and nobody was allowed out of their armor for any reason. They didn't have a good way to find the Omwat infantry, and even the lightest of weapons would delete an unarmored head in an instant.
It was shaping up to be a stressful night all around, but the next morning brought good news. The Innu Technicians had managed to crack the cloaking technology, and the electromagnetic scanners on their Mecha could detect the interference. Using that overlay, the Omwat couldn't hide from the Reavers anymore, and the patch had already been sent to the Tarith Family forces to their south, in the expectation that they would face a similar threat.
Unfortunately, the mecha used by the Border Nations weren't capable of detecting the frequencies with their scanner, so they would have to rely on the Reavers to find the infantry and inform them until a method could be found to make the Omwat visible again.
[All units fall back and join the city defenses while the drones scour the area for additional threats. Initial reports indicate that we are nearly done here, but we will hold this city for the remainder of the day and move out in the morning.] Max ordered his troops.
A few more cloaked units were found as the Mecha approached the city and quickly eliminated with heavy weapons that the Omwat mistakenly thought would not be able to target them.
[What is the situation on the planet?] Max asked while he checked the reported locations of the various attacking forces on their scans.
[Most of the planet is holding well so far. Two Mecha forces to our East are currently uncontained after retreating from the defensive forces, and the locals have requested assistance due to insufficient forces to perform an offensive without risking civilians.] The communications officer reported.
Max checked the report against the data that he found and came up with an estimate of half a Mecha Regiment, widely scattered through the wilderness, which would be a pain to hunt, but if they brought the Tarith Reavers with them, they could clear it up with relative ease.
[Nico, contact your mother and let her know of the plan.] Max ordered.
Chapter 480 480 Over The Hill And Through The Trees
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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[You know you're the Commander, right?] Nico laughed as Max saw the group chat open to make the request.
[She's still your mother, and she's got a particular knack for getting past my defenses.]
Somehow, Mary Tarith always found a way to turn the conversation around on him, and Max had no sure counter to her verbal skills, so it was better to let Nico do it. She had a lifetime of experience in dealing with the woman and her doublespeak.
The signs of the enemy disappeared overnight, hunted to extinction or hiding so well that nothing they had could find them. It was possible that a few Omwat had hidden in caves and deactivated their cloaking technology, then powered down their weapons so that they wouldn't give their position away, but that small force shouldn't be a threat to a city defense force.
Just after dawn, when the night watch had a few hours to sleep, and everyone else had gotten a hot meal in and their gear repaired from the little battle damage they had sustained, Max sent the order to move out and meet with the Tarith Reavers to form a sweeping line across the forest. They would march straight out in a spread pattern and clear out any threats that they found with the help of the drones.
[You are moving out with your forces, Lord Commander?] The City Defense General asked as Max broadcast the orders for deployment.
[They might need me on the front lines. Fear not. We have cleared out all the detected threats in the region. You shouldn't have to face anything more than a few stragglers after we leave.] Max assured him.
[While we do feel much safer with you here, I am certain that the other cities would as well. Safe travels, Commander.]
Max walked a few kilometers behind the main lines so that he wasn't a shining beacon alerting the enemy to their presence before the Regiment could get into weapons range while Nico and the Drone Pilots flew patterns overhead, keeping up an active sensor net that gave them a good idea of what they would find in the forest, right down to animals smaller than the common housecat.
As they walked, Max collected updates from the other planets that were under attack, listening to the reports of entire Reaver Companies and Mercenary forces landing on the surface, with the Reavers using Disruptors near maximum range to disable the enemy Mecha without destroying them.
They hadn't shown up with just a few ships per planet as they had promised. They were on a mission to full-out loot the Omwat forces before the Border Nations could make a claim on the military assets as reparations.
The Cygnus Compliance Fleet was also competing with the majority of the Tarith Reavers for the Omwat homeworlds, which were largely depopulated by orbital strikes already, a fact that Max hoped had been withheld from the aliens aboard Terminus, who were watching intently as his Regiment marched through the woods.
The Shin would be somewhere between overjoyed and shivering in terror at the footage, as they viewed the trees as the victims of this battlefield, and unlike the open badlands where the first fights took place, they were marching into a thick ancient forest now.
The occasional flash of Ion fire from the Drones was followed by the report of Thunder Guns blasting at the marked threat from beyond visual range as the Regiment herded the enemy force in front of them.
The Omwat had given up on communications, as it was all being intercepted and decoded by the Border Nations anyhow, so there was a chance that they hadn't yet noticed that the line was as wide as it was or that they were being forced into a dead end, where the two Mecha Regiments would force them back into the guns of the city defenses.
[Contact with the Two Three] A wing leader reported, meaning the Second Battalion's Third Company, giving the Regiment a good idea where the enemy was along their line.
The Mecha had stopped to take up positions while the flanking units split off half their members to reinforce the unit under attack, keeping the integrity of the line intact in case this was a diversion.
This time it wasn't, and a reinforced wing of Crusader Class Mecha was quickly eliminated when the Company Commander managed to get a firing solution and turn her Ion Bombard Arrays on them.
[Good work, everyone. Back in position, and let's keep our pace up. The faster we push them, the less likely they will be to realize what we are doing.] Max ordered.
[Sir, we have a large incoming force on the western edge of the city. How far out are your forces?] A frantic voice asked a few hours later.
That must be the Commander of their destination city's defense forces or the commander's radio officer anyhow.
[Terminus Trading Company is holding pace with the Tarith Reavers to sweep the forest clear. ETA to your location is four hours.] Max reported.
[Requesting an advanced force. We are taking fire from enemy Super Heavy Mecha, and our lines cannot hold against that.] The voice over the radio reported.
[Reinforcements incoming.] Max replied, then changed to a secure channel to hail Nico.
[What do you see? How strong is the force attacking the city?] Max requested.
[The city is taking zero fire at the moment, according to orbital scans. There is some movement along the lines as the shifts change, but I do not detect any damaged Mecha.] Nico informed him.
It was a good ploy, luring him into a trap where they had set up heavy weapons to bombard Cleansing Light the moment that it appeared. But not good enough with Terminus in orbit. It would only take him a few minutes to fly there, and a more impulsive Commander might have done it without thought, but Max preferred to double-check everything before he redeployed.
[Find me the ambush. I want to know where it is before they open fire on the city defenses for real.]