When Max checked the communications network for reports of attacks, he was flooded with incoming messages. The attacks were everywhere, and it wasn't just the cathedral ships' fleet.
There were attacks by unknown aliens, attacks by the Myceloids or the Klem, and even an attack that seemed to be nothing but a giant energy wave that Max predicted was likely to be the same sort of enemy that the Arisen had dealt with here.
With so many calls to report to, the defence fleets were splitting into factions, trying to optimize their responses based on what sort of enemy they were best at fighting.
The Koleska and the remainder of the human fleet decided to go for the Klem and Myceloids, as their fleets had the largest amount of area firepower, but that was not what Max was thinking.
Once those two had a few days to infest a planet, it was most likely to be completely lost without a long and grinding war effort. The best answer would be to cut your losses and purge large areas of the planet, then move on.
He was a Mecha Pilot at heart and not a pest exterminator, so Max wanted to go somewhere where there would be actual combat. That meant fighting the Cathedral Ships or the alien species, which were waging a more conventional war to take over the planets.
Going by the reports, that was definitely the goal. They weren't simply trying to eliminate the local species. They wanted the planets intact to claim as their own and expand their territory.
Perhaps there was a limited amount of living space wherever they came from that was driving them out, but it made things easier for Max to know that there was a clear goal in his enemy's mind when they attacked.
There were only two major issues. Something had to deal with the attacks by whatever greater energy being that was, and there were three reports of planets attacked for every group that could respond to them.
If they had to pick and choose what survived. Eventually, the enemy would be able to consolidate their forces, and there would be nothing left. The response teams were being too conservative and gathered into too large of groups to deal with the number of threats.
They weren't counting on the planets for much, though Max could see in the reports that some of them were doing a decent job of holding off on their own.
Those would be Max's priority for his response now. A quick movement from one to the other so that he could nullify the weakest attackers and let the planets with defences take care of themselves. It would cut down the number of planets lost, as well as the number of large teams that needed to be sent out.
When Nico and the Morphos team finished their conversation, Max brought up the first ten hit-and-run targets for their next wave of attacks.
"These are the targets most likely to survive alien and Cathedral Ship invasions on their own. So, these are the targets I want to prioritize. We will take our fleet, crush the majority of the attackers, then move on and let the planetary force deal with the leftovers." Max explained.
"Is that advisable? Can we be sure that they will win on their own?" Envoy Queen asked.
"Once we have defeated the majority of the fleet, they shouldn't have any issues winning without additional help. There are so many calls coming in that we need to prioritize speed to get through as many as we can, and that means not allowing ourselves to discount the ferocity of a planetary fleet.
As we did here, I can drop the locals a shipment of weapons if they need them, but we will have to fight and move on so we can keep as many planets alive as possible until the number of attack reports is lower than the number of teams we have to respond with." Max explained.
Queen nodded and sent a message back to her fleet.
"They have decided that they wish to join the offensive against the Myceloids. It seems that this is where we part ways, but I wish you all the best in your endeavours." The Envoy announced very formally.
"Be well and live long. I will see you again on the battlefield once this current mission is complete." Max agreed.
Nico led the Morphos team back to their shuttle while Max prepared the fleet's tactics for their new mission. It was just going to be quick and dirty. They would portal into the afflicted system directly, pass through an oversized portal in one cluster, and unleash everything that they had at once.
Torpedoes, Orbital Lances, everything. Then, they would see what was still standing and go from there. The forces they were targeting weren't the strongest to begin with since the planetary forces were holding against them, so the surprise attacks should have a decent chance at cutting them down to a manageable size within minutes, and then he could move on to the next one.
[Understood Commander. New mission priority set to burst damage and rapid destruction of priority targets. Adjusting deployment now.] The AI on the Drone Carrier Colony Ship announced.
Its solution was to have the drones swarm the ships but out of the way of the main weapons, as the defensive weapons arrays would not be needed here, and then everything, even the Mecha and Drones, would be able to fire at once.
It was an insane battle tactic, but the amount of burst damage that they could do to an unprepared enemy would be amazing.
[Alright, as soon as the Morphos leave, get everyone in position. I want a transfer time of less than two seconds, and the Portal needs to close as soon as we are all through so it doesn't reduce our range of fire.] Max ordered.
[Understood Commander. Charging the Portal Capacitors in preparation for rapid deployment now.]
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