966 966 Poke it with a stick
“First, we should get as much data on their combat capabilities as possible. They are using advanced tactics and weapons, and I can’t afford to lose Hunters on this mission.” Khan noted.
“Good point. We’re working with a very limited team size, and I am not sure that any of our allies would approve of us going to pick random fights, so we should make sure that we win whatever ones we get in without losing anyone.” Nico agreed.
That was the most sensible thing Max had heard her say in a long time. But that might only be because it still let her get into combat, as long as she had a solid plan to win without losing anyone.
Her battle mania wasn’t really getting any worse, and her past life memories hadn’t tried to take over her thoughts in a while, which was a positive sign that she was adapting well to reality, but it didn’t really mean that the tiny war criminal was anywhere near changing her ways.
If anything, she had just adjusted tactics from trying to reenact her past life’s massacres to using them as a guideline for future battles, as any well-adjusted soldier should.
“Alright, work on a plan to get us into and out of combat with the enemy while gathering as much information as possible about their capabilities. It doesn’t need to be a melee scrum like the last battle. If we can wipe them out from a distance, that would likely be better.
We just need to know how they can adapt, what their armour capabilities are, and what sort of strategies they can come up with for dealing with a new enemy.” Max decided.
Everyone else was happy to hear that there wouldn’t be any objections from their token voice of reason, and they all started working on a plan to ambush a reserve unit from the cathedral force since they were already fairly familiar with the other aliens.
Most of what they currently used as military equipment had been industrial equipment in their logs from the colony world. They had barely advanced in five hundred years. They were just using modified versions of what they had.
Either the attacks had started recently, which seemed unlikely given the state of things in the colony world, or they had been so intense and ongoing that the aliens hadn’t had a chance to adopt new technologies. They had put everything that they had into survival.
The discussions on what sort of attack they should launch ran late into the evening and then were put off to return to them freshly rested in the morning.
They weren’t in a big hurry, and it didn’t look like the two groups would solve their issues anytime soon. If anything, it was more likely that they were going to drag it out for a very long time.
The small aliens had the firepower to keep the blood-covered ones pinned down, and that was causing them to start building trenches and fortifications.
That would give Nico and the Hunters lots of time to work out their plan and more variety of targets once the supply lines began to stretch out or the forces started to move their reinforcements away from the main battle.
None of the ships had returned to orbit yet, so it wasn’t clear if either side was going to get any reinforcements, but there were cities of the smaller aliens on the world, which presumably had some sort of military capacity left.
The cathedral force seemed to be thinking the same thing, and as they set up their defensive fortifications, they also dug a single trench line all the way around so that they could defend against being encircled while they attempted to find a way past the small aliens’ firepower.
“Well, that does put a wrench in our plans. It doesn’t look like the spiky ones are planning to get any more reinforcements or even put out supply lines.” Nico sighed.
“They could have replicator technology, so they only need a power plant, and then they would have all that they really need already in place.” Max reminded her.
“That is true, but unless we want to actually pick sides in this battle, we won’t be able to pick off a force to fight against.
Are we sure that the small aliens aren’t the aggressive assholes here? I mean, they are on the defensive, but sometimes you get attacked for a reason.” Nico asked.
Khan smiled at the reference. The Reavers had done that more than once, and it had earned them infamy within the Alliance. But they didn’t know anything about the situation other than that it was an ongoing battle.
“Well, we can always check the rest of the planet. They’ve got working computers and such. I’m sure that we can find something out about the conflict.” Max suggested.
“Oh, that is a good idea. We can just take a little looksie at their government servers and find out what has been going on since the biodome group got locked away.
Then we can fight. I don’t really think that the little ones will give us a very fun fight, though. They’re ranged fighters, and the high-volume Mass Drivers would tear them apart in seconds if we actually attacked them.” Nico agreed.
That was a good point. The firepower that the Light Mecha could wield was significantly higher than anything that they had faced lately. Against the Myceloids, it had barely been enough to keep up with their numbers, but against a more reasonable force, it would be insanely overkill.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Even from where they were standing, the Mecha could jump up with their thrusters and wipe out both camps in a matter of seconds unless there was some defensive barrier in place that they were unaware of.
“Do we have an estimated time to gain access to the government servers, or are we going to have to move? I’m asking this in advance because with all the stupidity I’ve seen in the shattered region; it wouldn’t surprise me if they had their supposedly secure government servers online. They did leave their quarantine array nearly unencrypted after all.” Max asked.
“We will see. They have a planetary data network, and we have a signal here. It will just take some time to see if the information we need is part of the public records.”