331 Large processor 1 (2/2)
”I said no, Styx-B's orbit is too close to Styx-A's ergosphere. All gravitational interference is impossible with that amount of noise.”
”Then can you shield a ship from the radiation it emits? Styx-1 is shielded from it, isn't it?”
”Sure can, if I do some major overhauls... I understand why you're that interested in this mission now.”
With that fast back and forth over, Dax turned to Phillipa with a smug look on his face.
”See? It's possible.”
Responding only with a deep sigh, Phillipa sat back down in her chair, leaving Dax to it.
”Now that we know how we get our insertion, we're doing a direct orbital drop together with a few drones, from there we make our way to the core and knock out the network, although this really annoying 3rd party we're dealing with at the moment is sure to interfere, after running into them directly and indirectly over the cause of this conflict, I've learned enough about them that they no longer pose an issue.”
For whatever reason, Dax seemed confident that the precursor no longer posed an issue, but as Phillipa had a hard time taking his word in good faith at the moment she needed a bit more information than just that.
”Yeah, no. If I'm going to go on a suicide mission with you Dax I need a bit more information than that, what's your plan to counter them?”
”I don't want to spoil the surprise~”
With a grin on his face that didn't match what he was doing, Dax first pointed to Mu, then placed a finger over his mouth, reminding Phillipa that they still hadn't resolved the communications leak.
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”So the pureblood thinks he can easily defeat me?... Well, overconfidence always has been an issue with that model, but that might also be because of genetic shifts… What to do about this?”
Having tapped into all Empire communication, the precursor, of course, kept tabs of Dax and his unit, but even when they heard the pureblood's bold claim, they felt nothing other than mild amusement.
An emotion which they hadn't come to them without stimulants for a long time.
”This dimension sure is fascinating, those old farts sure don't know what they're talking about, I even found this other toy.”
Glancing to the side, the precursor shot a look at the Emergence nerve cluster which completely ignored their existence. They had found this unexpected amusement while travelling around aimlessly, and it was summarily on a whim that they had decided to free this fledgeling intelligence, but after devouring a few trillion lower lifeforms, it had finally started showing results which had made it worth the initial effort the elder had put into it.
”The real question is what will show more interesting results in the long term, this pureblood and his team, or the Emergence?... Well, I guess only time will tell.”