Not long after the shuttle reached the edge of the system, another vessel appeared, a spiky cathedral ship similar to the first one that had been fighting against the Myceloids.
This time, they got a good view of its arrival, and what Max saw made absolutely no sense from a logical or scientific standpoint.
It seemed to appear from a portal, but the portal wasn't normal; it was more like a tear in the fabric of this layer of reality, and some sort of energy being was either chasing or throwing it out.
Their sensors were going haywire from the energy influx that they couldn't interpret, and then, as suddenly as it appeared, the tear was gone, and the Cruiser Class vessel was floating in space like nothing had happened.
"Their shields are up, no damage found, no signs of life outside the vessel. As far as the sensors can tell, the energy being was an optical illusion. It is possible that the nature of the layer they came from is fluid, and it was a refraction." Nico suggested, but her thoughts held a great doubt about that analysis.
There was something too familiar about that energy, and they both knew it. They just didn't know what it was.
Then, seconds later, the probe they had left in the other layer spotted another vessel, a Darkling ship of the World Ship class, escorted by thousands of smaller attack craft.
Something big was going on around here, and Max would be much happier if he weren't here for it.
But if they started to move now, it would only attract more attention, and there were no guarantees that the Darklings would leave them alone this time, as they had in the past.
Dahlia turned to Max with a terrified look on her face and whispered. "What in the five pillars is that thing floating in the other space?"
There was no display up. Max was watching the feed directly from the computer using a borrowed version of Nico's skill with technology, but the little alien had seen something.
"What do you see?" He asked carefully.
"I'm not sure how to explain it. Here, there are walls, and I'm on a ship, but that isn't all that I see. There is also another place, and there is an armada of ships there in a terrifying design. I can still tell where my world should be, but it doesn't exist there.
Sorry, I'm not sure how to explain it, but you've been in space a while, so you know what I mean, right?" She asked.
"I know what you mean, but most species can't see that with their eyes. We have to use technology, which is what I'm doing. That is a species known as the Darklings, and yes, they are terrifying if they are your enemies.
I'm not sure where they're going, but I'm not about to attract their attention." Max explained.
Dahlia nodded carefully, still watching the ships move through the other layer with her modified vision, while Nico poked at Max's side for an explanation.
He decided to send it in text form. [Optimize upgraded, and I used it to optimize the little Envoy. It looks like the System found a way to make her species see through the layers. It's rather remarkable, isn't it?]
Nico nodded at Max, then turned to their guest. "How about we get you a proper meal and not just snacks? I would ask what you like to eat, but you don't really have an answer to that, do you? So I will ask which of the snacks you like best instead."
Dahlia's eyes turned from shining silver to plain black as she stopped looking into the other layer and considered Nico's question.
"I think that the yellow one that is smooth and squishy was really good, and the chewy and stringy brown insides one was the best."
Nico smiled. "The lemon cream cake and the pulled pork buns. Not a problem. We have other dishes with similar flavours."
Nico went and got food for everyone and set the trays out on all of the available tables before bringing up a 3D display of the solar system they were in that highlighted all the vessels their sensors had found.
"Something is going on for sure. We just need to know what it is. Until we know, we're going to wait right where we are, mostly hidden by this asteroid belt, and keep our ship silent." She explained to Dahlia, who had no idea what was actually going on.
"Will it be bad for my people?" She asked.
Nico shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. But those ships that passed by in the other layer are bad news for whatever planet they're headed to. That was a lot of firepower to be in one spot."
Max and Nico were still watching the Darkling fleet fade into the distance using the probe sitting in the other layer when suddenly the ships created a tear similar to the one that the Cathedral Ship had come through and vanished from all their sensors.
They would have to sort out which layers all the species could access later since it looked like this third one was also a popular destination, and it had a distinctive portal when you entered or exited it, making it easier to spot than the one that their sensors could see into.
After a few minutes, another half dozen Cathedral ships joined the first one through similar portals, but these ones were in much worse shape, battle-damaged and missing parts.
Then came the Myceloids, piggybacking on their portal to crash into the damaged ships and continue their attacks.
The influx of thoughts as they entered this layer nearly overwhelmed Max's senses despite the million-kilometre distance. The Myceloids were on the warpath, and they were not happy that their prey had tried to flee from them like a bunch of cowards.
They fully intended to steal and scrap the Cathedral ships for spare parts to replace the one that they had nearly destroyed in this crash, and they were not going to take no for an answer.
That seemed to be their primary method of rebuilding after a battle, and finally, the Myceloid technology began to make sense to Max. Every single bit of it was stolen tech that they had looted from a defeated enemy and then hacked and cobbled together to force it to work.
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