The collective focused several sensors on the nebula. Ships were streaming out of the nebula and dropping out of warp in an attack formation. Their numbers already exceeded the local defense forces, and there were no ships in range to reinforce the colony. Not in time to save the colony anyway. It did send orders to several fleets to coverage on the system. It would take them about three days to reach the system, but by then species 11257 would have complete control of the planet.

Scanning the fleet it identified most of the ships as Assault Frigates. A ship configuration it was familiar with, even if it was a bit unusual. The frigates were a threat on their own, but in numbers they were devastating. The high yield spinal mount heavy particle cannons were rather impressive weapons for a frigate, and the Collective was actually interested in the design. It had several subprocessors focusing on running simulations, and trying to solve how they managed to mount such weapons on so small a vessel. The power requirements were the easy part at least for the Collective. The problem was cooling. High yield energy weapons produced massive amounts of heat, which can be very dangerous for ships. Dissipating that heat during combat is a critical element of warship design. The Collective would not be able to mount a similar weapon on a ship that size. Its cooling systems were too bulky and would take up too much space. Although a defense platform of that size was a viable, if not practical, mount for those types of heavy guns. In addition to the heavy guns, the strong armor, powerful engines, and its stealth ability all combined to make them so deadly. More intriguing was that those ships were practically impervious to sensors. Its subprocesses had spent years figuring that out, and it still could not fully penetrate the effect.

Right now its scanners could barely penetrate the hull, and the image was fuzzy at best. It still got some information though, and what it saw was intriguing. Mainly in regards to the hull plating. The scan revealed that the hull employed a phased polarization field to strengthen the armor against attack. It was a fairly intricate, and complex phased polarization field as well. The collective could draw several conclusions from this. First was that species 11257 had the technology for shields, but instead they had, unlike most races, continued to invest their resources in armor. Phased Polarization Fields were a technology most races did not develop, but it had seen the concept employed before. Phase and Polarity are related, and the concept used is to reinforce the hull using a phase and polarity to cancel or at the very least reduce the force directed against the hull. From what it saw, Species 11257 used multiple layers of reinforced hull plating each one infused with a layered field of differing polarities and phase. Clearly layered in a manner meant to reinforce each other and further strengthen the hull. Its subprocesses concluded that this played a role in how their armor hardens against repeated attacks. It did not see any phase control nodes, but given how fuzzy the images were that did not mean anything.

The use of phase polarization did not fully explain the strength of their plating. It was not sure, but it looked like it was detecting other forms of energy running through the alien hulls as well.

One of its subroutines finished work on its scan of the weapon mounts. The image was still fuzzy, but it was enough to determine some basic facts. It seems the particle cannons had been upgraded since it had last encountered the Assault Frigate of species 11257. Instead of using a spatial projector bubble, these frigates used phased pulse arrays to contain and focus the particle beam. Instead of a pulse, they now fired short beams. Its subroutines had already run the calculations and determined that the cannons were now far deadlier. The modifications increased the yield by roughly twelve percent, boosted armor penetration by nearly twenty percent, and improved performance against most shields by a massive four hundred and seventy-three percent. As such these weapons could tear through its standard neutronium plating with only moderate difficulty, and now performed about average against shields. Being a phased weapon they were also naturally shield piercing against shields that weren’t phased. Although most combat shields are phased so that was not an issue. Any race that developed shield technology usually developed phased shield technology within a decade of developing practical shields. Although there are exceptions to that rule. It was looking at one.

Its scans had just revealed to it something that surprised it. The ship was actually equipped with shields. The configuration was a bit unusual, but they were clearly mitigation shields. A type of shielding that was often developed as a precursor to absorption shielding. The odd configuration was ingenious though. Its subroutines had determined that it was optimized for radiation mitigation, and were more than a thousand times more efficient at the task then its own ship shields. Lacking the absorption ability was clearly intentional, and they would allow these ships to get remarkably close to high output stars and traverse certain dangerous regions of space far more easily than its own ships could. Replicating it would not be difficult, but it would have to sacrifice combat level shielding for the configuration. It set a subroutine to adapting it to its current shield technology.

Having already spent precious seconds analyzing an Assault Frigate to the best of its ability. It shifted focus to the destroyers which were also quite numerous. Already there were hundreds of them in the system. This was a major invasion, and it showed. The destroyer it scanned was probably best categorized as an escort destroyer. It had the same armor tech as the frigate, but it was better armored overall. It was able to identify multiple forward-mounted launchers, but no aft torpedoes. Like the frigate, it had a poor aft weapons loadout, but the mount arcs were more balanced. It sported multiple light particle batteries clearly designed for tracking and firing on light craft. Its main energy weapon was a pair of high energy beam arrays, but it also carried heavy particle cannons and those strange lightning weapons that it had no counter for. Its scans of those weapons again told it nothing it did not already know and helped little with devising a counter.

Seeing there was little to learn from a surface scan of a destroyer, it scanned a cruiser. This was one of their capital ships, and again it learned little it did not already know. Well outside of what weapons were on board. Again the cruiser was employing phased particle weaponry of the same type as were on the frigates, and the destroyers it had scanned.

Deciding it was not going to learn anything further from scans alone, it kept an eye on the fleet, even as it made new plans. By now the fleet had fully arrived. Eight massive capital ships that it identified as carriers. Hundreds of heavy and light cruisers, supported by hundreds more destroyers and thousands of assault frigates. All deploying fighters, bombers, and corvettes. It was a force too large for the current defenses to repel. Especially with that gaping hole in the shield grid.

Sure enough, the frigates surged forward ahead of the rest of the fleet and engaged what defenses remained above that hole. As soon as that area was clear, several capital ships moved into position over the hole, and fighters descended into the atmosphere in droves. A subroutine ordered the ground bases to raise shields, and it watched helplessly as its bases were bombed. Every fighter and bomber was going after the bases critical for the grid.

While in orbit the frigates and destroyers were engaging the remaining defenders who were falling all too quickly. There were just too many ships here, and they were being overwhelmed. The sheer number and high firepower of the assault frigates were tearing through the defenses of its orbital assets at a rapid pace. The frigates were also proving too difficult for its fortresses to target, and its fighters were failing to reach them thanks to the destroyers covering their attack runs. It did manage to score a few hits on the destroyers, but every time their armor was about to fail they fell back, and a new destroyer took its place.

Down on the ground, it was not having much better results. By this time, the few defense bases it managed to protect from the aerial attacks were now being assaulted by ground forces. As enemy dropships deployed troops. It was quite clear to it that species 11257 was about to take the planet, and this impressed the collective. In the last thousand years, it had not fought a race that was truly its match. Outside the Sylnari Remnant that is, but they are an exception to the rule. However the Sylnari did not invade its worlds, they destroyed them. Every time it lost the defense of a world they were attacking they bombarded the planet until there was nothing left but a collection of asteroids. 11257 however was reintroducing it to defensive planetary warfare.

Helplessly it watched as one by one its defense bases fell, and as they did it lost more coverage from the planetary shield and more ground batteries. Until eventually there were no bases left, and all of its combat drones had been destroyed. It still had drones and controlled some of the planet’s surface, but it was clear that they had taken the planet. Especially since up in orbit the fleet had already annihilated its orbital assets. Only a few ships including a cruiser had managed to escape the battle, and all of them were badly damaged. The cruiser had taken the worst of it, but it was still repairable, barely, but repairable.

Suddenly it watched as their ground forces began to pull back. The collective was astounded. They were on the verge of total victory, and about to take the planet. Yet, they were now pulling back. Their troops and equipment piling into the dropships that brought them down, and returning to the fleet above. At first, its subroutines could provide no answer for this action. Not initially that was, but it became all too apparent when a new group of Destroyer sized vessels jumped in and assumed orbital positions.

Helplessly it watched through its remaining sensor feeds, as its cities were literally scooped off the face of the planet. The new ships used a focused resonant particle beam to carve through the rock, and then a tractor beam was used to lift entire cities off the surface. Once in orbit, they were broken apart before the pieces were brought aboard orbiting vessels. Not long after the orbital harvesting of materials began it watched as the capital ships came up behind them and began to bombard the surface. High energy phased particle bolts and low yield plasma torpedoes slammed into the surface. They were stripping the planet of all useful materials, and glassing the surface at the same time.

It quickly understood where it had gone wrong in its calculations and what species 11257 was doing. It assumed that 11257 like most races would have been hesitant to destroy a life-sustaining world. Life-sustaining worlds that did not require life support in one form or another were actually somewhat rare. It had made the mistake of going with the assumption that they were trying to take the planet. No, instead they were taking what they wanted from it, and destroying the rest. It was an ancient method of warfare known by many names, but the goal was simple. It was all about denying assets to the enemy, and in this case, 11257 was glassing its world to deny it to the collective.

Over the next two hours, it watched, as its remaining sensors failed from attacks. All the while it was reworking its plans. There was no retaking the planet. It was a glassed world stripped of value, and it would cost more than it was worth to restore the planet. Now it had its subroutines working up plans to prevent another world from being glassed. Only to find it was too late. Two more systems were under attack, by large fleets. Their meager defenses, no match for the enemy numbers. Neither system was majorly important, but they still contributed to the Collective. Reinforcements were also out of position thanks to the first attack, and the majority of its sector fleet was occupied with operations in the nebula. Two more worlds were about to fall, and there was nothing it could do.