299 Friend or Foe Part 1

[ Taking over the control of the spacecraft was completed. ]

[ Analyzing Spaceship Status... ]

"Great... While you're doing that, can you tell me the name of this asteroid-like spacecraft..."

[ Yes. This spacecraft was named Omen IV. It was the latest interstellar spacecraft created by the Arians. As we have suspected, it was using a similar Raze Drive technology but the record shows that it was an improved version of this technology. The official name was Raze Drive II. ]

"Mhmm... Just like what I thought... Continue your checks on the system..."

[ Status has been confirmed. 

Aether Force : 89% [ Green ]

Raze Drive II - System : 92% [ Green ] 

Shield Nucleus Energy : 1% [ Red ]

Hadron Beam Energy : 100% [ Green ]

Armour Phase : 70% [ Yellow ]

Internal Assembly : 87% [ Green ] 

... ] 

Ace saw a long list of information about the current status of the spacecraft.

He felt relieved seeing that the damage they've caused was only minimal and everything was still functional except to the shield generators that were heavily destroyed. Anyway, it can be easily fixed if ever he plans to use this spaceship for his own benefit. 

He also smiled seeing a huge amount of Aether Force!

At last! He now possesses a huge amount of this energy. Although Aether Force can be acquired if people possess the money, not just anyone could collect them from the source. The GH Drive that also harnesses this energy couldn't be easily found.

Imitations like Raze Drive might appear but the original won't be easily surpassed by these...

The 89% that was remaining made him truly delighted... Not only it was very effective, he was familiar on how to use them and may even have a chance to fully integrate this to mana spell or artifact. 

Considering the size of this spacecraft, it was normal to expect that the Aether Force they were saving up would also be in a large container. Something that could power more than a hundred mid-size battleship for a long time shouldn't be impossible with this size...

"It seems that the Mana Wave was effective against them..."

Ace muttered after seeing that the Arians were still unconscious... 

In the meantime, the automatons worked non-stop to capture all the people inside and gather them on the largest hall within the 13 kilometers wide spacecraft.

"There's a total of 335 crews... All of them were mixed breeds... Interesting..."

The people within the bridge were gathered at the front of the group as they were the high-ranking officers. The person that was suspected as the captain of this ship was also brought at the center of the group... 

After more than fifteen minutes of being unconscious, they started to slowly recover and realize their current situation...

There were even five Mech Frames observing them within the hall...

'What happened?!'

The captain of the ship just woke up and couldn't understand what truly happened...

From what he remembered, they have detected an approaching spacecraft blocking their course and were suddenly warned about the presence of high-grade ECM that disrupts their communications network. It was even reported to have come from Mech Frames that have stealthily approached their spacecraft.

It was truly embarrassing for the latest spacecraft created by their country to be unable to detect the approaching Mech Frames... 

This was the most expensive spacecraft they made!

During that time, the captain even thought that they should've purchased spaceships from the Empire instead of making their own... After all, even if it would be very expensive, they would be able to guarantee its capability.

Sigh~

Based on his memories, after they tried activating their defenses, they were suddenly bombarded by unbelievably strong positron blaster cannons... Their shield generators didn't stand a chance...

Their late discovery of another enemy spacecraft was their biggest mistake...

It was such a scary experience to be unable to properly control the course of the battle.

The enemy didn't even bother to communicate with them so there was no way to learn who was attacking them. He wanted to negotiate but a weird form of energy made them incapable in matter of few seconds. It was a surely an advance form of technology as their equipment had been unable to detect anything at all...

Before he lost consciousness, he was sure that these methods of attacks were mostly being done by the space pirates... 

He can only hope that they would only be robbed and not be killed... 

'Sigh~ I guess we're lucky that we're still alive...'

The captain looked behind him and notice that all the members of the crew were present. They were all unarmed and even their hi-tech equipments or garments were removed. 

Aside from their simple clothes, they didn't have anything else. They clearly lost the battle.

He also noticed that there was an automaton in the middle and was quietly observing them.

'That must be their leader... They all look the same... What race is this?'

After thinking for a moment, the captain had a sudden guess about the automatons' identity...

"They must be from the Xeno Collective!"

The captain said it out loud due to excitement...

Xeno Collective was also a minor race like them and they were ruled by machines. This race was said to lack conscience in their actions but they were not truly evil. They were an artificial race that was created due to some experimentation of one of the Major Races. 

Of course, Ace heard the captain's exclamation. He even smiled a bit about it as they truly seem to be from that Minor Race due to their appearance...

No one has a sign of life at all and they were all made of machines. It wasn't wrong for the captain to think like that...

However, did he truly think that a member of the Xeno Collective would be this faraway from their territory? They were known to be overly protective of their borders and wouldn't leave them unless they were in a truly disastrous situation... Not even space pirates would want to have any connections with them.

Aside from that, he was also curious why the man was actually happy after thinking that they were from the Xeno Collective... Arians and Xeno Collective shouldn't be friendly due to their affiliations...

"Are you the captain?" 

It was a robotic voice that came from the automaton that Ace was controlling.

Since he wasn't meeting them personally, Avalon was instead translating Ace's words to the Arian's Language. 

"Yes! I am Shreguc Stoutsnarl... Captain of the Alliance's First Warship Omen that aims to destroy the relic that could cause war between the Federation and the Empire... We are not the enemy! We only wish to end the tension and have a peaceful era for the future generations... Please, believe us!"

He didn't wait for Ace to ask more questions and stated their affiliations and aim in their voyage... In truth, Ace wanted to ask first about the space mines they've released, but the sudden mention of a certain relic had caught his attention.