"What am I even witnessing here?" Soots, the Ashes Galaxy correspondent for the USNN, asked in shock as she stared into the sky.
"It appears to be some kind of projection of a space battle; however, I can't tell if it's live or recorded," Admiral Eterna replied as he studied the holographic projection carefully in an attempt to see if he could recognise the battle.
"So you don't recognise the battle, Admiral?" Soots asked.
"I do not," Eterna replied before adding, "However, I'm beginning to think what we are witnessing is either a live battle or a recording of one that's never been seen before."
"What makes you think that?"
"For the simple fact that there is a replica of a black knight parting and even holding its own against two enemies. We all know how many black knight replicas there have been over the years since the original black knight saved us at the Siege of Fenix Nest. However, how many of them were capable of handling multiple enemies at once?"
"There is always that one that took part during the UMB Cup opening ceremony, I believe its name was Spector Unit Six."
"I agree, it would seem that the time of the black knight replicas has arrived."
"Could this black knight replica and the one from the UMB Cup be the same?"
"We will have to wait and see what capabilities it shows us. However, if it does turn out to be the same, that would only prove that this footage is a recording."
"True, it's impossible for the black knight to have travelled from Sector Seventeen to Sector Eight in such a short time after all."
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"What the fucks with these unmanned fighters? How are they so manoeuvrable?" One of the enemy mech pilots asked as they once again failed to hit the Micro-fighters.
As everyone in the capital on Fenix Nest continued to watch Spector Unit 6 battle the enemy mechs, the stream's second window was showing the battle of the Micro-fighters and the stream chat soon heard Aphrodite say, "I think I've played around with you both enough."
As she finished speaking and as the enemy mechs were each firing at one of the Micro-fighters, Aphrodite had the other Micro-fighters of each group circle behind their targets before opening fire.
The pilot of one of the mechs noticed the Micro-fighters' actions and managed to evade most of the energy bolts that were fired at it; however, a few of them still impacted it, causing its head, one arm and both legs to be blasted off.
The other pilot who had cursed before was so focused on the Micro-fighter is was attacking, however, that he didn't notice the actions of the other two until it was too late and his mech blew up without him fully understanding how he had died.
"Damn, one of them escaped by a hair's breadth," Aphrodite cursed as she watched the damaged mech retreating before she had the Micro-fighters turn about and head towards where Adam was still in combat.
Adam continued to have Spector Unit 6 absorb the incoming energy attacks, meaning he was unable to aim his triple repeaters at the enemy mechs, leaving only the shoulder cannons with which he could return fire.
[[NDS Level: 11%]]
"What the fuck is this thing? How the hell is it absorbing our attacks?"
"I have no idea, but there's no way he can keep it."
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Why isn't he using his drones to counterattack?]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Maybe they're still damaged from the last battle against the Scorpo.]
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): They look ok, at least from what we can see.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Oh come on, everyone knows you have to build tension before you finish them off.]
[Justiceistruth (Earth): This isn't some cheap ass action flick or shitty Sweeper novel.]
As the battle continued, Adam heard Aphrodite's remark about having played with them enough and guessed that she was about to finish them off before heading in his direction to back him up.
Because of this, he purposefully controlled Spector Unit 6 so that it rotated the battle in a way that they were facing away from where Aphrodite was doing battle with the other two mechs and as expected, she used the Micro-fighters numbers to flank them.
[[NDS Level: 12%]]
As he continued to absorb their attacks while returning fire, the Micro-fighters came within firing range of the two enemy mechs and as they once again evaded the attacks from the shoulder-cannons by flying in a certain direction, Aphrodite had the Micro-fighters open fire on the area of space they were evading towards.
The repeated energy bolts from three Micro-fighters tore through each of the mechs and Adam didn't miss the opportunity to open up on them with the shoulder-cannons and wrist-mounted repeaters.
The combined assault from four different directions was more than the enemy mechs could handle and they were quickly destroyed.
"Nice work, appreciate the help," Adam said gratefully before he had Spector Unit 6 resume course towards the Imperial Down.
"No problem, but if you really want to show your appreciation, why not show it in bed later?" Aphrodite suggested with a chuckle as she had the Micro-fighters follow behind Spector Unit 6.
Adam didn't respond to Aphrodite's suggestion, which didn't surprise her, as she instead asked, "Why didn't you use your drones?"
"If I did that, I wouldn't have been able to see for myself if you could handle operating the Micro-fighters," Adam replied.
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Ohhh, that explains it.]
"You put yourself at risk to test me?" Aphrodite asked in surprise.
"I was never at risk," Adam replied before explaining, "For some reason, the only weapons the four mechs were equipped with were energy weapons. No idea why they didn't even carry any melee weapons."
"Hmm, it does seem kind of strange," Aphrodite replied thoughtfully before asking, "So did I pass your test?"
"Naturally," Adam replied.
"Not surprising, this is me we're talking about, plus the data Spector downloaded to me told me everything I needed to know about controlling them."
"True, but the fact that you can use them so effectively already is a testament to your abilities. There's a difference between knowing how to control them and actually controlling them after all."
"Did you just compliment me?" Aphrodite asked happily.
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"Not at all, it's just surprising after all."
"Ok, well, we're about to enter firing range of the heavy bombers, surely you've noticed them."
"They're a bit hard to miss with how their wings are positioned, I mean, do they really need to be that size and shape?" Aphrodite asked.
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): They kind of resemble the B2 bombers from here on Earth, just more futuristic looking.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): The B2 bomber was designed with that shape in mind because it minimises its radar cross-section to make it appear as a small bird on radar. Perhaps it also inadvertently has a similar effect in making them harder to detect on sensors.]
"It must have something to do with helping them hide from sensors," Adam replied.
"I guess, plus it seems they needed to hide beneath the larger craft to hide their thruster output since they're not using anti-gravity drives," Aphrodite noticed.
"That makes things easier for us. The original plan was based on them using antigravity drives, but their weapons will be useless if they can't reach the target, no matter how powerful they are.
We will each take one, focus fire on their engines and try to take them out before you pass them."
"Copy that."
"Once we pass them, you double back and help the Spector, while I'll carry on towards the Imperial Down."
"You gonna be ok?" Aphrodite asked in concern before adding, "I mean the remaining five ships wont only be armed with energy weapons."
"I'll be fine, you need to focus on supporting the Spector."
"If you say so. I'll deal with the one on the far left then," Aphrodite replied before having the Micro-fighters veer off to the left and towards the medium-class heavy bomber in that direction.
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Why didn't they use anti-gravity drives instead of normal thrust-powered engines? Surely they would be more stealthy? Is it really all about cost?]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Unfortunately, because we don't recognise the design of these ships, and thus don't know who manufactured them. We have no way to answer that question.]
[LadyErkath (Alastor): The most likely answer is indeed cost, however. Stealth ships always cost more than regular ships to make.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): I guess that makes sense, each B2 bomber costs over 2 billion dollars to make after all.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): They do look fucking cool though.]
"I guess I can start getting serious and take care of the other two then," Adam remarked before adding, "Deploy drones."
As he finished speaking, the ten sections of Spector Unit 6's body detached and flew off towards the heavy bomber on the right while Spector Unit 6 itself continued heading for the one in the middle.