Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

Max and Nico joined the back of the Darkling offensive against the Arisen fleet, with the attack craft nimbly dodging their shots, so neither of them held back on the firepower as they eliminated the Arisen.

The only concession that they made was to not use the Disruptors in wide pattern attacks so that they wouldn't interfere with the attack craft too much and annoy the third party in their fight.

So, they continued to single-target the enemies while the fight wore on, and the attack craft kept anything from getting close enough to threaten them in return.

It really did feel unfair since they could kill without repercussions, but it was exceedingly effective, and that was the only part that really mattered during a battle.

Once the Darklings learned that Max and Nico together could cause a breach in the Arisen shis' shielding, it was only a matter of time before the Arisen fell. Nothing they did would block the attacks from the two human Mecha. The attack craft made sure of that. So time after time, the Mass Driver projectiles hit the shields a full Warp Speed and shattered the Arisen defences.

"I swear, they're having more fun with this than we are." Nico laughed as the last of the Cubes was swarmed by the attack craft, leaving only a colony ship on the Arisen side of the battle, along with a huge number of War Walkers and attack craft.

As usual, the Arisen began to fade out, but this time, an energy beam from the Darkling ship hit their ship, and the process came to a halt as if they were forcibly dragged back into reality.

"Did you get that data?" Max asked Nico in a hurry.

He had as much sensor data as he could get, but Nico had modified all her own sensors to give her data that an engineer would need, not a soldier, so she would see things that he couldn't.

"I think I got enough of it, and I can almost guarantee that they did it for our benefit," Nico replied, as the ship tried a second time and actually vanished, along with the remaining troops, right before the Darkling ship did the same.

The sense of relief as the battle ended without involving them was palpable, and the Koleska defence force began heading back to their stations when suddenly the battered and burning form of the Arisen Colony ship appeared in space just outside the Anomaly, looking infinitely worse than it had only a few seconds earlier.

It was heading for the Anomaly, and it was too late for Max to stop them.

But they never made it. Just before they should have passed through, an immense form appeared on the other side of the distortion in space, and the Arisen vessel crashed into the raised shields of the Darkling world ship, crushing itself with momentum without a shield or any form of structural enhancement to keep itself intact.

Again, it faded out, and this time the World Ship didn't hesitate to follow it.

[Commander Max, do you happen to have any insights on what in the seven realms just happened here?] Commander Yuri asked as the sudden reappearance of the Arisen ship startled his retreating troops.

[I'm not sure how much I can say that I actually know, but I have a theory that might be mostly correct.] Max replied.

[While Koleska society doesn't usually deal in rumours and theories, I think that we need to hear this one. Something very strange is going on, and it seems clear that it involves your species and the ships you have built that resemble that of the Knife Ears.] The Commander sighed.

The Knife Ears didn't defend anyone. Ever. For any reason. But today, they had guarded the Anomaly that led to the humans' Galaxy, and they had blocked the Arisen fighter planes so that the two Mecha could unleash their brutal firepower on the Arisen motherships without interference.

One of the two alone might have been coincidental, and only because it served their battle plan, but two beneficial actions in a row was no accident.

So, another meeting was arranged at the usual table in the restaurant, along with all the relevant government officials and a number of new people who Max had never seen before.

They weren't even all Koleska, which was a bit of a shock.

"These are the envoys of the Tinnar. I believe you have seen one of their people before among the Co-Operative group." Commander Yuri introduced the tall and slender gray-skinned aliens with no noses.

"Ah, yes. The one that took a liking to our ship Commander. She seemed like a lovely sort. It is a pleasure to meet you all, and good to see that your species survived the encounter with the Arisen." Max welcomed them to the table.

The leader of their group gave a polite bow before sitting down. "Our society was split into seven empires, or the Seven Realms, as they were once known. They have all fallen now, but our species lives on among a thousand other territories." He explained.

A Koleska senior bureaucrat stepped in to get things moving, impatient with the polite formalities.

"Might you explain to us and our esteemed guests how it is that your people came to have such a good relationship with the Knife Ears? They are a species of monsters, and I have never heard of them treating any other with kindness. But today, they fought alongside you and even defended the Anomaly to your home Galaxy on your behalf." He demanded.

"I believe we should order drinks first. This conversation is bound to take a rather long time once the questions start, but in the short form, there is a good chance that roughly a million years ago, they abandoned a group of colonies in our Galaxy and came here." Max informed them.

The Koleska and the Tinnar both looked at him like he had grown both a second and a third head at the same time. There was shock and disbelief in their thoughts, and then they began to realize the similarities in the designs of the vessels, and even more questions formed in their minds.

"See, this is going to take a while." Max chuckled, and raised his hand to bring a server over.