There wasn't much that Max could do about his appearance for now, and the Emperor Class units that Sylvie had made to stock the world ship would be suitably sized for him to fight in until Nico got around to making a new custom pair so that the Commanders of the Terminus Trading Company could suitably express their need for bling and destruction.

The more important matter was to find a way to track the Greater Energy Beings. The World Ship had some capabilities through its sensors, but no better than what Absolution could do, and that didn't help them until the beings attempted to enter their layer.

What Max was looking for was a way to ambush them.historical

The best idea that he had right now was to get a hold of the Darklings or the Arisen and to see if they had a way to track the Greater Energy Beings through the other layers. They likely should, as they were excellent at predicting their arrivals.

Once he had that data, Max was fairly certain that he could ambush another of them and maybe even absorb enough energy this time that the System would agree that he had completed his optimization.

"Sylvie, do you have the frequencies and patterns to contact the Darklings programmed?" Max asked the cheerful AI.

"Yes, Admiral. The Creeping Darkness also has a connection to their status update network, if they are still using it." She agreed.

They didn't have access to the layer that the Energy Beings were hiding their most powerful assets in, but when Max pulled up the data to see if it was still active, he saw hundreds of predicted appearance locations, and realized that their immense power influenced the surrounding layers, which made it possible to track their movements, though not their exact location.

If you were suicidal, you could use that to launch an attack, but you could never be sure what you would find on the other side, and even for the mightiest of the Mortal Fleets, coming to the attention of one of the Gods was a death sentence.

"Thank you, Sylvie, that is precisely what we needed. Now, I see that there is an estimated opening within portal distance of us, and the Darklings have already gathered in the sublayer with the Arisen. Take us there, I wish to join the battle.

Nico, inform the Seventeenth Expeditionary Fleet that they are coming with us to hunt Greater Energy Beings."

Sylvie clapped her hands and smiled.

"I can do that too. They are very friendly and helpful. They have sent me a lot of data on the current state of humanity and the war." She informed Max.

"Nico is their direct Commanding Officer, that's why she gets to do it." Max replied, while the AI seemed to pout. Every chance she got to talk to the other AI made her day a little better.

So, she set a path through the sublayer, and enclosed the entire fleet in her shielding so that they could follow her. It was the same way that the Darklings usually travelled, and to get to this layer, it was the most energy efficient.

Watching her work was teaching Max a lot about how things used to be done. Things that he hadn't had the clearance to know in the early parts of his past life. It was a shame that he couldn't go back and let everyone know that the Great Enemy was never defeated, they had only retreated to let humanity forget about them and grow weak in their complacency.

There were dozens of Arisen ships and one Darkling Colony Ship in place when they arrived, and a number of familiar minds greeted Max's as he took his position in the formation.lights

[Welcome back, human Commander Max. I see you have found an ancient toy.] The Arisen Commander greeted him.

[Indeed I have, and with it, I have picked up the essentials of a new combat technique. How long do we have before the arrival?] Max replied.

lightsΝοvel [Four minutes. You got here just in time.]

Nico nodded at Max from across the room, and sent the deployment orders for the drone fleet to begin as soon as the enemy appeared. They had to make sure that it was actually a hostile being first.

[Did you get my report on the Golden Legion? I tried to send it before I ended up on the other side of the universe.] Max replied.

[We got a large portion of it. We have been tracking a number of friendly Energy Entities, none of which are in this region. This one is coming from the Great Enemy's staging layer, and there are strong signals indicating that the fleet will lead the way out.

They know that we can track them, so they will be prepared for an ambush on arrival.] The Arisen fleet Commander informed them.

[Perfect. I've got a few new toys to try out on them.] Max joked.

Technically, they were not new toys, but the AI had adapted a number of the weapons from Creeping Darkness already, with the hopes that they would be more effective against an enemy that had begun to adapt to their variable frequency Disintegrator.

[Might we be about to see one of the vaunted God Class Mecha in combat?] The Darkling ship's Admiral asked.

[Not today. We are still working on that part, as the construction method is very unique. But I have high hopes that we will be able to show you one again soon.]

There was no direct reply, but Max could hear the cackling laughter of the Darklings and the joy of the Arisen fleet in his mind.

[All hands prepare for the opening of a dimensional portal. Incoming Great Enemy fleet.] Sylvie announced through the ship's intercom.

"That's our signal. Fleet, full attack as soon as the first shot is fired from the incoming enemy vessels." Max ordered.

Nico began to celebrate, then realized that the World Ship as at the back of the formation, planning to use its main weapons, as the Mecha on board were optimized for planetary battles. She wouldn't be fighting today, just sitting here with Max and the others, watching.