Nico ordered the Mecha team that was on the Cutter out to the exterior hull along with all the other Mecha of the Regiment while the Drones held close positions around their ships, ready to attack the moment that the transfer was complete.
[The portal is ready to deploy. On your orders, Commander.] The AI informed them.
[Transfer] Max ordered.
All of the ships moved in unison when the portal opened, doing an elegant side shuffle through the portal in a tight formation, then spreading apart to get a better firing angle as soon as they were through.
The portal closed behind them, and the ambush began. The overwhelming firepower of the Reaver fleet tore through dozens of Cathedral Ships in an instant, with hundreds of smaller vessels falling to the massed firepower of the Mecha.
[Keep firing. I still see too many large pieces.] Nico cheered as the Dreadnaught Class ship in front of them exploded in a brilliant and self-nullifying blast of Antimatter and Plasma.
Another round of Orbital Lances and torpedoes tore through the invasion fleet, leaving very little that was in their line of sight still remotely intact.
[86 percent destruction. Zero intact targets in our line of sight.] The AI reported.
[This is the next target; prepare the portal.] Max ordered.
The harder they could hit before anything responded, the lower their casualties would be, and the more damage they could do at the next location, so Max wasn't going to stick around and wait to see if they had reserves.
They were surely in the other layer, waiting to see where they were needed. If he waited, they would come to him, but if he kept leaving, they would constantly arrive at an empty location, merely replacing the units that he had destroyed seconds earlier.
[Portal ready. Transferring.] The AI announced, understanding Max's intentions.
Again, they arrived unexpectedly, but this time, there was a freshly arrived fleet of Myceloids that hadn't been on the sensor scan under a minute ago.
[Fire. Full annihilation protocol as per the last engagement.] Max ordered.
The Myceloid ships began to turn as soon as the Reavers ships started firing, intent on engaging Max's force before they could make a second volley.
"They're really going to ram us." Nico laughed as the Myceloid ships picked up speed in their direction.
"Not if we can help it they're not," Max replied, then targeted all of the ship's otherwise inactive defensive weapons at the incoming ship.
The other vessels did the same, and the Myceloid ship exploded mere kilometres from their hull, completing its mission of launching armoured Myceloids at the Mecha on the hulls of the ships.
The laser arrays of the Mecha were tearing apart the Myceloids faster than they were flying toward the ambush, but the kamikaze assault only came to a final halt when they got in Fusion Flamer range, and a storm of nuclear fire incinerated the technologically advanced fungal warriors.
The barrage continued as the ships of the invasion fleet scattered, getting out of the direct firing lines of the Reavers.
[Tactic Minimally Effective. One minute elapsed with a kill rate of 43 percent.] The AI announced in a sad tone.
Max looked at Nico, wondering if they should hold here for a few more minutes to keep clearing the enemy vessels, but an impending sense of doom was creeping up on them.
[Keep to the schedule. Portal as soon as you are charged.] Max ordered.
They could come back here after a few more attacks if they needed to, but even taking out half of the attackers in a blitz was a good start to helping whoever responded to their calls for aid.
The roar of frustration from the Energy Being in the other layer as they left told Max that they had done the right thing. Staying any longer would have gotten them ambushed, but now they were on their way, and the enemy was left one step behind.
[After this attack, make one random stop in the secondary layer before returning to the target sequence. 30-second timing in the secondary layer. I don't want them catching on to our rhythm.] Max ordered.
This attack was a smaller scale one, or possibly the planetary defence was already winning when they arrived, and only a few dozen Cathedral Ships remained. All of them were obliterated in the first volley, and the Ai opened the portal again early before the sense of foreboding even seemed to have locked onto them again.
This jump brought them into the other layer between a small Darkling force and a much larger Arisen force.
[Humans, wait here. The Greater Being is following you.] The Darklings ordered.
It was a brilliant bit of luck, and Max was eager to see what this new enemy was capable of.
The ships maintained their defensive formation, unsure of which direction the enemy would approach from, but a minute later, it was obvious that it was coming. The sense of foreboding and power was rapidly growing as Nico issued frantic orders to the ships, trying to get their Orbital Lances modified before the enemy appeared.
The theory was that if they could hit it with enough Orbital Lances modified to banish Energy Beings, it might actually tear this creature apart once and for all.
The thoughts of the Darklings and the Arisen didn't tell Max if that would kill it permanently, but they believed that most of their previous attacks had led to the targets escaping before true death.
The enemy was on them before they even knew what was happening, coalescing right in the middle of the assembled forces and appearing as a five-kilometre-tall version of the winged red demons that Max had fought against in his Mecha.
The Orbital Lances hit the creature at the same time as the main weapons of the Arisen and Darkling fleet, and the creature began to flicker and burn, partially dispersed and being destroyed by the barrage of weapons fire.
[Keep up the Orbital Lances. Overload the systems if you need to, but don't let it reform.] Max ordered.
That wasn't a problem for most of their fleet, and the Mecha were doing their best to supplement the firepower while the Energy Being thrashed and roared.
"The modified Orbital Lances have paralyzed it. It can't escape because they're keeping it from being entirely in one layer." Nico crowed with joy as she realized what was happening.
With a final whimper, the creature seemed to explode, tearing a portal between layers identical to the one that the Cathedral Ships had come through and dissipating between the two layers before dispersing entirely.
[That is true death for a Greater Being. Excellent work, humans.] The Darklings congratulated them. Then, their entire fleet vanished without warning.
Max would have celebrated the praise, but the open portal was letting a fleet of Cathedral Ships through, and it was up to them and the Arisen to deal with them now that the Darklings had flaked out to another battle.
[Remain here until the battlefield is clear and we have closed that Portal.] Max sighed as he prepared to join the battle.
"Let's go, Nico. It's time for war again."
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