Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System
C270 270 Getting Loaded
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[Manufacturing Docks, this is Terminus. We have an appointment.] Max called over the radio as they approached the facility.
The site was a gray market operation and didn't have a proper name, they relied on the code embedded in the radio contact to verify that their visitors were legitimate.
[Welcome Terminus. You are a bit larger than we had expected. Please hold position ten kilometers from the facility and we will bring the shipment to you.] The dockmaster confirmed.
The barge left the facility only a few minutes after they made contact, so they were at least prepared for this sort of thing. Max looked over the shipment information, a load of crystal nanotubes that could only be grown in zero gravity.
They weren't rare or valuable, so why they were being grown in zero gravity was a mystery to him, at least until he saw the markings on the barge. It belonged to the General's family. That meant that the whole facility, and the mines that fed it, were likely deliberately placed to evade taxes, and the General was using his influence to keep them legitimate by calling them foreign facilities when they were actually part of the Kepler Nobility's holdings.
Day by day his views of the Empire as an upright and noble force guiding their people to survival were being jaded by the reality that upright and noble just meant the last person standing with dignity at the end of the battle.
At least they didn't ask any sort of questions. In fact, they didn't ask anything but for Terminus to remove the atmosphere from the cargo bay and turn off the artificial gravity so they could unload. That was easily done, and the payment was removed by a pair of workers, then the bulk cargo was dumped into an empty cargo bay in only a few minutes before the barge retreated to its hangar and a digital message confirmed their shipment details.
[Pleasure doing business Gentlemen.] Max replied by way of farewell, then closed the bay doors and gave the signal for the ship to make its way toward Kepler space.
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Artificial Gravity was left off in that bay to reduce damage to the delicate freight, and Terminus silently glided back toward Kepler Terminus, the closest border point for them to enter the Empire.
It was ridiculous and insane, going back to his homeworld in a stolen Colony Ship, with black market freight. That made it absolutely perfect, and the first signals from the border patrol confirmed that they had made the right choice.
[Colony Ship Terminus. Welcome to Kepler Terminus. Hey, what a coincidence. Send over your shipment documents and prepare to be boarded.]
The vessel was a President Class Transport, the same as Abraham Kepler, making it less than a quarter the size of the Colony ship, but the border patrol had confidence that they held the edge in firepower. It wasn't true, but they didn't know that yet, they had only seen the ship itself, which came from a peaceful species, and so wasn't equipped with any ship-to-ship combat weapons.
[Will you be boarding by shuttle or direct contact?] Max heard Nico ask the patrol.
[We will be sending a Cutter Class interceptor. Do you have docking facilities?] The patrol replied.
[Of course, Admiral. Proceed to bay four, second from the bow on the port side. The bay is equipped with an atmospheric shield, so you can directly enter. The majority of our crew is human, the atmosphere is suitable for your crew.] Nico replied.
They would be wearing armored environmental suits anyhow, but it was a friendly gesture and told Max that he should send troops without environmental protection to the front.
The Cutter approached much faster than Max had expected, reversing thrust at the last second, likely to attempt to limit the amount of time that they had to prepare for the boarding action.
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[Fifth Battalion, you are closest. Send a welcoming party. Lightly armed, no environmental suits. Let's set them at ease, but if we look like pushovers they will get suspicious about how we held the ship long enough to make it our own.] Max ordered.
[On it. I will greet them myself.] Colonel Klinger replied, amusement clear in his voice.
He had much more experience than Max did with boarding actions, and had now been on both sides of the equation. He climbed into his mobile suit and brought two technicians with Tech Adept Harnesses with him, as well as five more soldiers in full battle armor carrying rifles.
Everyone was masked so they couldn't be personally identified by the scanners that all boarding missions should be carrying to look for fugitives, and they were ready before the first boots came out of the Cutter.
Max was still on his way over, with Nico hot on his heels. There were a pair of Corvette Class Mecha, in the Comor Pattern, repainted in Reaver Camouflage the same as his suit was, standing outside the bay when Max arrived, and Colonel Klinger had already finished the greetings.
Max double-checked his mask and lowered the clear helmet on his Mobile Suit to join the conversation, and Nico stepped to his left with a big smile, looking directly at the Commander of the boarding mission.
That guy looked really familiar, now that Max thought about it. It took him a moment to realize, but Nico's thoughts cleared up the confusion right away. These soldiers were all on standby at Kepler 142 Station the last time they were there.
Nico shifted her jacket a little to show off the Tarith Reavers badge and the Commander smiled back at her but didn't stop his very professional speech about the duties and tariffs that a foreign ship entering Kepler space was subject to.
Nico was looking at Max now, and gave him a long blink, signaling for him to read her thoughts.
[Don't lie about your place of birth. They can tell with the scanners, and Reavers can come from the backside of anywhere. Just don't give any extra details.]
Max nodded back. That much he already knew. The traders on the docks of the slums he grew up in were from so many planets that even his impressive memory couldn't store them all, and the crews were never all from one spot.
That was one thing this Regiment had going for them. They were assembled for testing, so they weren't all from one founding. Thousands of soldiers all from one spot would definitely have gotten reinforcements called on them.
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NovelhallHistory
Chapter 271 271 Clearing Customs
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"If you will show me to your Commander, I am ready to begin the inspection." The boarding action leader informed them.
"I am the leader. Anything you need, just ask and I will do what I can to make your visit easy." Max informed him.
"First up, let's see the two cargo bays. I see that one is stored in a vacuum and without artificial gravity?" The investigator asked.
"Yes, the crystal nanotubes. It is the lowest damage storage method. The ship's mass provides enough natural gravity that they don't float around the room." Max replied simply.
"Fine, take us there first." The boarding action leader motioned for his men to follow them into the hallway, then almost tripped over his feet when he saw the two Comor Pattern Corvettes standing at attention outside the door.
"Are those…" He muttered.
"Legally acquired before the alliance with Kepler was formalized into membership. We have documentation if you need it." Nico stated in her best businesslike tone.
Literally, she had a setting for it in her voice box.
"That isn't our primary business here today, since I assume you are not intending to trade them?" The leader asked.
"Zero percent chance of that." Max agreed.
"Good, then we will verify your combat capabilities once we search the cargo."
It wasn't too far to walk, since the cargo holds they used were in the same quadrant of the ship as the patrol Cutter, but they couldn't move too fast, as the team wanted to look into random rooms as they went.
"Pretty empty in here." One of them pointed out.
"Spacious though. The ship was made for a quarter million large people, we only have a few thousand at the moment, since we don't have refugees or a generational population yet." Max clarified.
"No refugees is a good thing, saves on paperwork. Is this the correct bay?" The investigation leader asked.
Max nodded and led them into the viewing bay, where they could look through the armored glass window into the storage bay. The natural gravity of the ship was toward the far wall, not the floor as it was oriented, but that made the pile clearly visible from their position.
The team scanned the load, then ran it through their ship's computer to verify the estimate of their tools. Once that was done they gave their boss a thumbs up and he left the room, motioning for Max to lead him to the next cargo bay.
It was only one bay over, and Max led them in to check the piles of metal and assorted other materials. This one would take a fair bit longer, so the investigator prepared for the next part of their search.
Their patrol ship had already scanned the vessel, finding a ship in one bay, which they identified as a Ghost Ship, of no particular concern to them, but the scans also found a pair of Cutters and a number of Mecha toward the rear of the ship.
"Where did your team acquire the cutters in the rear bays?" He asked, to save time doing his report.
"Just outside Tapani space, about three days at warp two," Max informed him. That was well outside Kepler territory, so the team wasn't concerned. Salvage rights between nations were always a contentious issue, so most nations didn't argue about them unless it was one of their own military vessels.
"And the Mecha in the adjacent bays?" That would be the First Battalion, the only one whose Mecha wasn't inside the shielded storage of the Dutchman when off duty.
"Mostly from Comor, designed prior to them officially joining the Kepler Empire," Max replied.
Some people got System Functions relating to telling when others were lying, so half-truths were the best way to respond. The Mecha were indeed designed before Comor joined with the Kepler Empire, but they weren't built until afterward.
"All done boss. It checks against their declaration." The team reported, and the leader began to smile.
"I love when things go smoothly. Show me your Mecha force and we can finish up here." The investigator announced, and Max called for a cart. It was nearly four kilometers to the rear cargo bays where his Battalion was staying, and he had no intention of walking when they could drive.
The carts were the flatbed equipment decks that were used to hold parts during Mecha maintenance, the same ones he had set the arm weapons from the X137 on way back when it was undergoing the very first round of adjustments.
Everyone hopped on the deck, while a red-robed and hooded Technician with a silver face mask on drove them back to the Mecha bays. Their Tech Adept Harness was drawing a lot of interest from the Kepler forces, which hadn't seen anything like it before. It gave them the impression that this team had been much further afield than most that they encountered, even if their gear had started out in Comor, at some unknown point in time.
Nico arranged for the Pilots to move the Mecha around so that they looked more informal and less disciplined, changing some of the postures in the storage racks, and moving the ones on duty into clusters as if their Pilots had been chatting with the cockpits open just before the investigators arrived.
Unlike the others, she could send a signal without speaking out loud into a radio, which would alert the border patrol team.
"Welcome to the Terminus Trading Company's Debt Enforcement and Humanitarian Aid Department," Max announced as they entered the room, and the border guards gasped in shock.
Four Super Heavy Mecha, One Hundred and fifty Heavy Mecha, and at least as many Corvette Class units were arrayed in the hangar, a formidable fighting force that could certainly enforce any debt that they might have been owed.
"That is truly impressive." The team leader sighed, looking longingly at the Super Heavy Mecha.
"I doubt they are comparable to anything currently aboard a border patrol ship, but they have been good to us in the past. Even against the Klem, they stood their ground." Nico told him proudly.
That was, a fine bit of doublespeak, Max thought. She was right, they weren't comparable to anything on the patrol ship. They would mop the floor with the defense force of the border patrol. But the team took it as the Mercenary Mecha being obsolete technology, and only gave it a few longing glances before turning to leave the room.
"That's enough for us. Here is your certificate of import. Don't lose that code, you will need it for your customer. If you could give us a ride back, we would appreciate it." The team leader informed Max with a smile.
That went much more smoothly than he had expected, and the investigation team didn't show any signs or thoughts about betraying the Empire, so they weren't in on whatever insanity Imperial Command had reported Sector Governance to be up to.
Chapter 272 272 Back in Kepler
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"Is there anything else we can show you? Terminus is a great ship, but a bit sparsely populated, since we haven't taken on any riders." Nico asked as the boarding crew finished looking over the Mecha.
"She is an interesting design for sure. I think we have seen all that we needed to other than the two cutter class shuttles in the next bay. The Mothership wants to confirm that they aren't militarized." The leader of the team told Max with an eye roll at his superior's request.
Even if the two cutters were weaponized, they were no match for the Kepler fleet or even most heavy trading vessels. But the documentation said that these ones didn't have any heavy weapons, and Sector Command wanted to verify that.
As soon as they reached the bay the scanners came out, checking the hull for signs of both hard-mounted and hidden heavy weapons, predictably finding none. The ships did have weapons, just nothing dangerous enough to be classified as heavy weapons and subject to restrictions.
"How do you deal with attackers, since you don't have heavy weapons on the Colony Ship or the Cutters?" The team leader asked, genuinely concerned for this happy-go-lucky group of Reavers.
"That's what the Mecha are for. The thrust packs on a group of the heavy Mecha work wonderfully in space, and their Fusion Flamers do a commendable job of breaching hulls both derelict and hostile." Nico informed him with pride.
"Fusion Flamers is it? Yeah, that would do it. I should have suspected from the thrust packs that those were modified orbital mining Mecha. It explains the size too, mining gear is always oversized for the job, I'm told it makes them more durable." He agreed, coming to a very incorrect conclusion from the information that he was given.
They would do the job fairly well though since the flamers were in fact developed based on mining equipment. It was just the structure of the Mecha itself that had very little to do with the rugged and slow chassis of a mining Mecha.
Their Commander didn't send them any more orders, so the investigation crew headed back to the cargo bay where they had landed and prepared to leave the Terminus behind. They all loaded into their ship, and the shielding was raised so that the atmosphere could be purged and the doors opened.
[Kepler Border Patrol you are clear to leave at your pleasure.] Admiral Drake informed them over the intercom, and the Cutter's engines powered up, then suddenly shut down.
[Kepler Border Patrol, is there an issue?] Nico asked, watching from the observation window.
[Negative Terminus. All systems show as being fully functional. Departing now.]
Again the engines powered up and then down, but the ship remained exactly where it was.
[Give us five minutes Terminus. We seem to have a technical issue.] The Cutter's pilot reported.
"Check the gravity plating and securement. They're not clamped down to our deck or locked in place, are they? Even a light power-up like that should move them a little." Max asked Nico, checking the screen by the door for himself.
The Terminus didn't show anything unusual on its display, and after ten minutes, the crew of the Cutter reported no mechanical issues found.
[Requesting permission to bring another Cutter over to serve as a tug.] The Pilot informed the crew of the Terminus with a hint of embarrassment.
Few things in life were quite as ridiculous as when a law enforcement vessel broke down in the middle of an inspection and had to borrow a hangar bay to either get repairs or get towed out.
[Take all the time you need, Kepler. We always schedule for a few minor mechanical issues. If you need, we have a pair of our own Cutters and we can use them to maneuver you back to the mothership.] Nico suggested.
While they waited for the border patrol to decide what they were doing, Max decided to run a full scan of the star system. If there was someone messing with the border patrol, they should be somewhere within the sensor range of the Colony ship, assuming that the sensors were working correctly.
Hidden in the sensor distortion around a moon, Max found what he was looking for, signs of a Battle Barge Class vessel, more than twenty kilometers long. It seemed to be waiting for something, possibly for their vessel to move along and the Border Guard to proceed to their next point, putting the Battle Barge out of sensor range for a few minutes and allowing them to sneak past the lines.
If they had tried that at warp, they would have been detected immediately, but gliding along with minimal engine power they were harder to pick out from all the other emissions in the area.
They might be posing as Mercenaries, but they were in fact loyal soldiers of the Kepler Empire, so Max knew they had to do something, but they had to do it without blowing their cover.
"Nico, can you tell me who that ship hiding by the moon on our starboard side is? They're putting a lot of effort into sneaking past customs." Max asked.
He fully intended to do it himself, at least he did until he realized that the interface on the panels hadn't been translated, so it was unintelligible other than the most commonly used few screens, and he had no idea how to use it to get more information about the ship in the distance.
"That would be the Tapani vessel Cosmos. I'm not finding much about it, but its computer did respond to a communications ping." Nico informed him.
"I've got it from here," Max answered, then opened the communications portion of the panel.
He sent a hailing ping on the general channel, used to contact any vessel in the area, instead of the secure military channel. As expected, the Tapani vessel's computer didn't send anything back, but now that it had been identified manually, the Terminus noticed it was there easily enough.
The request for an open channel communication code that it sent out indicated that the Terminus was sending the message to both nearby vessels, by location, as well as the nearby Civilian space station and one more border patrol ship in the distance, completely standard procedure, for a general message.
[Terminus to unknown Station, requesting permission to dock for supplies once we have finished with Customs. Our fresh produce supplies are running low.] Max sent out, making the general request that the other vessels would be expecting.
That was enough to alert both border patrol vessels to the presence of another vessel in the area, and Max knew from experience that all hell would be breaking loose aboard as they tried to determine how it had gotten so close without being detected or contacted.
Chapter 273 273 Unexpected Allies?
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The moment that the Tapani vessel was identified and approached by the second border patrol ship, an urgent message from Sector Governance came through over the open channels, informing everyone that was listening that the Tapani had come to assist with the incoming Klem threat and that Border Patrol should stand down.
[That's not how it works at all. Sector Governance doesn't have the authority to tell Border Patrol to stand down, even if they do have the authority to request allied forces to assist with a threat.] Inquisitor General Ming informed the Command staff through their wrist devices text communications.
[If you have a way, contact Imperial Command and let them know what is happening. I will go see what is going on with the Cutter that Border Patrol sent.] Nico informed him.
[Don't bother. I set a jammer on the level below that will prevent their engines from powering up. I noticed the vessel while you all were guiding the inspectors through the Terminus, but I ran out of time to do anything about it before you got back.] Inquisitor Ming replied.
That was a load off Max's mind. At least the vessel hadn't been sabotaged and it could leave them at any time now that the Tapani had been identified.
[Got it. I will have Nico go pretend to fix the issue then and send them on their way, so we can get out of here before things go sideways. Someone is bound to notice that things aren't right in this situation, and I don't want to be here when they do.] Max sent back.
"Sure, volunteer me. I will be right back." Nico told him, stepping into the airlock that led to the cargo bay where the Border Patrol Cutter was sitting.
She didn't bother with an armored suit, opting instead to wear the Tech Adept Harness over a simple atmospheric suit and jumping out into the bay using the harness's gravity control to float to the landing legs of the ship.
She hunched over them one at a time and then stood upright and gave the ship the thumbs up.
[I will retreat to the minimum safe distance, try to release now. I believe it was an interface issue between the Terminus' technology and your landing legs.] Nico reported.
How the landing legs would cut power to the engines wasn't clear to Max, but the crew of the Cutter didn't question it before starting their engines again and gently floating into the middle of the bay.
[We appreciate your help, Terminus. Please make a note of the issue before allowing more Kepler vessels to dock with you. They might take it the wrong way when they can't leave.] The Cutter Pilot called as he made his way back to the mothership.
That was their cue to get out while the getting was good, so Admiral Drake made way for the station, fully expecting to be turned away, due to the ongoing incident nearby.
He was not disappointed.
[Terminus, we regret to inform you that due to security protocol with the incoming Klem threat and the foreign vessel, we will not be able to do business at this time.] The Station reported.
[Understandable, Station. We will catch you next time.] Admiral Drake answered, then turned the Colony Ship for open space.
[Do we have a path on the Klem pod infestation that is incoming from open space?] General Yaakov asked, once they were back at faster than light and headed deeper into Kepler territory.
[We do. By my estimate, there will be seven separate planet falls, two of which will be inhabited planets. What are our orders?] Admiral Drake asked.
[Take us to the closest inhabited system that you suspect will see Klem pods. They are far enough out now that they shouldn't be visible to sensors inside Kepler for another week. That is enough time to make it look like we are just benign traders selling our freight.] Yaakov instructed.
[I will get right on finding us a buyer for the nanotubes. Should I offer up any of the extra materials, or are we holding them in expectation of taking damage?] Nico asked.
[Keep everything but the nanotubes. I hope you two are up on your social skills, the governor of this system is a real uptight arse.] General Yaakov replied with a laugh.
Max pulled up what they knew of the area. The destination was Pallid 9, one of twelve inhabited stars in relatively close proximity to each other that were all colonized in the same wave. The planet was ruled by a Duke, not much detail on him in their system, as he didn't have much interaction with the Military, which Max took as a very bad sign in these times of political instability.
The latest shipment information for the planet showed that they had been importing large amounts of crystal of the sort used for Laser Rifles and other focused energy technology. The crystal Nanotubes that they were carrying could be used in many similar functions, so they might have found themselves a reliable buyer.
[Nico, find us a buyer on that planet. I don't care if you call yourself a Reaver or a Cygnus Imperial Lady, but I want to talk to the Duke. Everything I see in the system is screaming at me that this is a rebel planet that is about to get hammered with Klem and left to die as martyrs by their allies.]
The idea had appeared as Max was reading the data, and he couldn't shake it, so he had chosen to share it with Nico, who was usually reliable about calling him on loopholes. She didn't do it this time though, and that concerned Max even more than if she had called him paranoid.
As he thought about the possible outcomes of this trade and the incoming Klem attack, Max idly checked his system status.
Keres Max
[Compatibility Determined] Rank A
[Primary Attribute] STR 2.5x modifier
[Secondary Bonuses] DEX 2x, SPD 2x
[STR] 3+150%
[DEX] 3+88%
[SPD] 3+88%
[Innate Talent] Mind Reading
[Additional Function Unit Optimization]
[Additional Function Multi Point Targeting]
[Additional Function Split Fire]
[Additional Function Perception 2->3]
His Perception skill had leveled up without him noticing. That might be the cause of this strange feeling. Perception type System Functions often led to the AI of the System coming to conclusions on the user's behalf and giving them seemingly random suggestions about cause and effect.
The speed of his thoughts seemed to be the same as before though, or perhaps he had gotten so used to the change already that he simply didn't notice the difference
Chapter 274 274 Noble Lineages
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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Nico's request was sent as a digital message, not a voice communication, due to the distance involved, and General Yaakov's authority signature was employed, with his permission, of course, to authenticate the message.
What they requested was a direct meeting with the Duke about a large sale of Crystal Nanotubes and a conversation about a matter of planetary security. That should be enough to at least attract the attention of his staff, so Max simply sat back and waited as the Terminus fell into orbit around the planet, waiting on a response that would determine if they could sell their wares here and what this world's fate might be.
The Klem pods approaching Kepler were still outside the range of most planetary sensor systems, so they might not even know about the threat, or they might be in on the deal with the rebels and the Tapani and they might think that they are safe.
It was a good thing that they were playing the mercenaries in this scenario, it would make their implications that the Klem approach might have been miscalculated hold more weight, and encourage the Duke to action when a Loyalist military force would have met with official resistance.
Duke Cass, the local planetary ruler sent them a response twelve hours after they had first requested a meeting, a fairly rapid response given the level of procedures needed to contact a Planetary Governor directly.
[Colony Ship Terminus,
We welcome you to the orbit of our planet and have some use for the trade goods which you have procured. Please proceed to the Space Station at the marked coordinates and dock with the final spur bay for the negotiation of a trade deal.]
The message bore the Duke's authentication, so it was as good as an entry visa, and the Admiral moved the Colony ship into position to dock with the Station.
This one was definitely a luxury station, and it held a number of very fancy interstellar Yachts and cruise ships at its terminals. The approach of the battered-looking Colony ship, therefore, drew a lot of attention from the civilians aboard the facility.
They didn't often have a chance to interact with Spacers of any sort, much less a Reaver or Mercenary crew strong enough to hold a Colony Ship as their own, so the mere sight of Terminus started waves of gossip.
[Docking Clamps Engaged. Same bay as last time.] The Admiral instructed as the ship settled into position next to the station.
This one was large enough that it wouldn't be thrown too much off balance by the Colony Ship, but they still had to be careful with their thrusters and approach, so that they didn't accidentally knock the station from orbit. The Kepler-built stations were blocky and well-defended facilities, in case of dust and small object collisions, but their thrusters took a lot of power to keep engaged and weren't intended to do more than maintain the position of the facility.
If there was an incident that required it to be repositioned, the ships on the station would lend their aid to get the Station into the correct orbit, a synchronized dance of enormous proportions that required tremendous skill and timing, and also aggravated the Captains required to do it.
Max and Nico waited for the Duke to arrive with a small compliment of five Corvette Class Mecha in the back of the bay, in sight of their hosts. It was what every Reaver Ship would do, a small show of force to discourage their business partners from double-crossing them. This planet didn't seem to have any ties to the reavers, so they were especially cautious, in case there was a very good reason for that.
A few curious residents of the station passed by, using an excuse to pass through this terminal to sneak a peek at the new guests, before rushing away, afraid to get caught while in an off-limits cargo transfer area.
"Commander Keres, I presume, and the Imperial Lady Tarith Rage. I ran a quick background check on you before you arrived, I do hope you won't mind. Congratulations on the founding of your Terminus Trade Company, and it is an honor to be among your first customers. The Cygnus Royal Family had good things to say about you, even though they seemed a bit secretive about your origins." The man beside the Duke welcomed them.
"Background checks are always a prudent measure. It is good to hear that they haven't forgotten about me entirely, despite the length of time since my lineage was Royal." Nico responded politely, making the Duke himself smile.
"Are these the nanotubes? It looks like you have stored them in low gravity for the trip?" The Duke asked, indicating the piles of crystal that lined all the walls of the bay.
"It is the best way to ship them without damages. The artificial gravity was off in this room until we docked, then slowly raised so that the settling of the crystals wouldn't cause any breakage." Max informed him from behind the nondescript golden mask he had chosen to cover his features today.
"I have a wide variety of items made on my planet to trade with, what is it that your next customer would prefer?" The Duke asked while sending a technician from his entourage to check out the merchandise.
"Our next customer is a collector of the finer things in life, both for himself and his planet. So, a variety of your locally made rugs, dishware, and a small selection of luxury personal transport vehicles would be a pleasant surprise for him, in addition to the Laser Focusing Arrays that your planet is best known for of course." Max suggested.
The Laser focusing arrays were a military item, and strictly regulated, the Planetary Governor shouldn't be selling them to Reavers, but Max could see by the look in his eyes that he was considering doing just exactly that.
"Might your next customer be within the Kepler Empire?" He asked, seeming uncertain if he should make this deal.
"In fact he is. A true old blue blood, one of those snotty lineage sorts who predates the Empire, but he has been a very reliable customer of other branches of the family." Nico informed him with a suggestive wink.
Chapter 275 275 Intelligence Matters
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That helped set the man's mind at ease. He wouldn't be tried for treason, since the goods weren't heading out of the Empire, and there was a very good chance that they would be going to help a fellow rebel planet upgrade their civilian Mecha to join the battle against the Emperor.
Max listened carefully to the Duke's thoughts, as well as those of his guards, before making his next offer.
"If you need more than just crystals, I do believe that we have a bit of reactor material left. I don't suppose that you might be short a ton or two would you?" Max asked in a friendly voice.
"Now, I believe you are correct, we are a bit short for our industrial robot production. How about we have a seat and we can discuss the other urgent matter while our adjutants work out the specifics?" The Duke responded, nodding to the upper levels, which he thought were private rooms, but were actually cold storage facilities.
"Separate temperature-controlled zones, for multiple product shipments. Right this way is a sitting room, do forgive the lack of luxury, we are still a struggling young company after all." Max informed the Duke.
"Understandable, we all start from somewhere. My own family was once ministers to the local Royal Family, back before the Kepler expansion integrated us into the Empire." The Duke informed Max with a polite nod.
They stepped through the main doors to the hangar, then into the airlock, and finally across the hall into a room that had been hastily prepared with couches and a rug created by the Materials Printer.
It would be obvious to the well-informed that the materials were synthetic and therefore cheap, though they were fashionable, which helped reinforce Max's assertion that they were not yet in a position where they could be spending money frivolously.
"At least you have good taste. You should see the horror that passes for fashion among the Tapani." Duke Cass sighed, settling into one of the couches.
From his thoughts, Max saw that the Tapani didn't believe in cushions on furniture, instead being of the belief that hard seats helped build character. So most of their chairs were hard metal or stone, and an actual couch was basically unheard of, with sitting rooms instead having carved stone benches for group seating.
"The stone benches are not exactly to my taste either." Max agreed, then gestured to the liquor cabinet along one wall.
"We are short on many things, but we have a small selection of Brandy and an ample supply of good Rum. Would you care to partake?" Max asked.
"I wish I could, but I was born to disability in this life, an allergy to alcohols of all sorts that medicine has had no luck curing." The Duke sighed.
That was a lie, he was actually a very heavy drinker, but he didn't trust the alcohol of a random Reaver troupe to be to his tastes. It was his loss, as the Brandy was extremely expensive stuff from General Yaakov's personal supply, brought down for the meeting so that they could appear to be good hosts.
"That is a great loss. In that case, I will get on with the important matters. This data chip shows the trajectory of a swarm of Klem Pods headed for Kepler space. I can confirm that the Tapani already know the destinations, as the swarm passed very near to their territory, but the pertinent part is this bit here. This arm is going to make direct contact with your system. If not the main planet, then one of the outlying ones in this star system." Max informed him, bringing up the trajectory information on a Holo Projector and handing the Duke a copy of the chip so he could check it for himself later.
"And what might have brought about this bit of altruism? A Reaver never does anything for free." Duke Cass asked suspiciously.
"As you said yourself, we are still a new company, in need of connections, customers, and the little luxuries that make life worth living. I believe that you might be able to help us with all three, but it does require that you still have a populated planet to govern.
Though it is a boon to you, sharing this bit of acquired intelligence is also in our best interests." Max informed him.
"A very valid point, Being a border system, we do make for a natural stop on the way into the Kepler Empire. Normally I don't have dealings with lowborn trading groups, but you come highly recommended, with lineage from the Cygnus Royal Family, so I am willing to make an exception.
If you can add two tonnes of Reactor Material to the shipment, I can outfit your vessel for the luxury of two thousand crew members, including a small supply of proper liquor. For the guests who do not suffer my unfortunate allergies that is." Duke Cass agreed.
Two thousand would cover all their Pilots and officers, but not all the enlisted crew from the maintenance and logistics staff. It was a very good start though, and they would be able to put on a good front the next time that they were inspected, showing off a number of luxury crew suites to the patrol members.
It might not be logical, but wealth was still associated with legitimacy. If your Company had been around long enough to acquire luxuries for themselves, they were viewed as more trustworthy trading partners than a group of random Pirates, even if they had killed said pirates and stolen their goods.
"That won't be an issue. We had a rather fortunate encounter with an asteroid soon after we founded the Terminus Trading Company and acquired enough of the materials to purchase ourselves a small army of Mecha, outdated though they might be. Two tonnes are still within our stockpile." Max informed him, then pulled out the trade agreement that had been made up while they talked.
It outlined everything that they had agreed on, and then they added the Reactor Materials and the list of domestic supplies in trade for them.
This planet wasn't a large Mecha manufacturer, but if they were planning to fight off a Klem landing, they would need those materials. Even if they thought he might be lying, they would need them for the rebellion, so there was no chance of loss in the Duke's estimation of the situation
Chapter 276 276 The Good Life
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The trade goods started to flow into the ship within minutes, and Nico reluctantly agreed to allow a group of interior decorators as well as supply staff into the Terminus to decorate crew quarters in a long line down the center of the ship.
The layout made areas for all five Battalions, as well as the general staff, but to an interior decorator, it looked more like they had been separated by crew shifts and duty types. The fact that certain areas of the ship, which hadn't currently been occupied by the Regiment were left entirely ignored by their decorating efforts.
They had no way to know that the ship was nearly empty, running at under ten percent of its normal capacity, so it seemed to them that they were rightfully decorating rooms for the upper crust of the Terminus Trading Company and their paying guests.
Since they were all still cramped into quarters on the Dutchman, other than the First Battalion, who had moved to the aft of the ship near engineering, to be close in case of attack, none of the Pilots or staff were aware of the changes that were taking place aboard the Terminus.
Simple alien furnishings were moved aside to make way for two thousand luxury suites, and the old furniture was moved into storage in the unused rooms.
There were some leftover bits of technology that were kept in the suites though. There was a very interesting form of replicator in each suite, originally intended for a family. It only created a few things, namely a simple uniform in various sizes, and three different alien meals that Max hadn't had the courage to try yet, though Nico informed him that they should be safe for human consumption.
It was similar to their materials printer, only it used a generic block of material as its source, reforming both molecular bonds and even atomic bonds to create exactly what they needed.
When the devices were first discovered, they had searched the ship for a more capable version, knowing that the ship must have had one at some point, but much to Max's dismay, it had been removed when the Colonists left.
When they got the chance, they would analyze these and send the data to Uncle Lu, at the research and development Lab, to see if he could make a breakthrough in the Materials Printing Field, but for now, that would have to wait. They weren't going to be anywhere near Comor for a while, and it wasn't safe to attempt to send that sort of information across the galaxy as a data signal that anyone could intercept.
It took twelve hours for the staff to finish the decorations and depart the ship, but finally, it was time to inform the Regiment that their new homes were ready for occupancy. But first, Max decided to take a look at the suite that had been assigned to him.
There were three levels of the "Luxury Unit" as the designer called them decorated today. Penthouse, Suite, and Dwelling. The names were terrible, but they did make sense to Max if you assumed that the people using them were a noble family and their staff.
In practice, they would be Commanders, Senior Officers, and Officers suites.
Max stepped into his suite, intended for a Commanding Officer, and gasped in awe. All the designs aboard the Terminus were originally intended to be family units, and the interior decorator had converted an entire unit into a suite, which was officially just for him and his guests.
There were kitchen facilities, a small gym with a spa, a luxury bathroom, with a jetted tub large enough for four of him to sit in and soak to their neck, plus four bedrooms and a living room, all decorated in the finest furnishings that Max had ever seen. The decorator had even put a crystal chandelier over the coffee table in the middle of the living room.
This was insane. He had thought that he would have enough room for two thousand men, as his agreement went, but Max didn't account for the translation issues between soldier and Noble. Nobles do not live in a single-room bunk, they live in a suite, with room for guests and entertaining.
"Nico, you are checking out a standard officer's suite aren't you?" Max called out into the hallway, knowing that only eight of the top-level suites were designed. Max had requested five suites for the Battalion Commanders and their Technicians, and one each for the General, the Admiral, and a Guest, which would be occupied by Inquisitor General Ming for now.
"Yeah, I'm inspecting some of the mid-level suites that the designer made. It's still a full-family suite, but it's not quite as swanky as the one you are inspecting. They didn't even use real silver cutlery, and the chandelier is synthetic, can you imagine that?" Nico called back from the next unit over.
In that case, it would still have four bedrooms, suitable for an entire wing of Pilots. Three Pilots to a standard wing, four bedrooms to a suite, which left them room to entertain guests, or have a storage room for every wing. It also gave them three times as many rooms available.
If they moved the Heavy Mecha wings into shared suites, they would have a lot of extra space.
The problem was that the Corvette Class Pilots were in wings of five. But Max had hope that the excess space that had been converted in the higher-end suites might not be wasted in the lowest-grade version.
He was right in his assumption, but in a very different way than he had thought. The "Dwelling" suites, which the designer intended for staff, had ten rooms in a cluster, around a central living room and kitchen, each with a small ensuite bathroom, but no huge main bathroom, gym, or sauna.
"Change of plans. Assign each suite to a wing, based on their Mecha, and then put the remaining ones up for grabs to the enlisted men. They can sort out their own rooms, and I can almost guarantee they won't ever have had a place this nice before." Max called Nico, who forwarded the directions to the rest of the Battalion Commanders, who had no idea what she meant until they got the map of their assigned zones.
The enlisted quarters were comparatively cramped, but the rooms aboard the Terminus had originally been built for much larger people, and they were four meters by six, making them as large as Max's room at the Lab and now had been furnished with a bed, desk, and couch, all in the finest of materials, plus access to the shared spaces.
By comparison, their bunks on the Dutchman were three beds high, thirty men to a room, with just enough room to walk between the bunks and a standard locker for each enlisted crew member.
If they complained about the new rooms, they were free to stay in their old ones.
Chapter 277 277 Moving Day
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The Terminus was going to remain at the station for two more days, giving their crew a chance to disembark and relax, enjoying a bit of time among the civilians. It would have been suspicious if they left right away, since Reavers were known to be the partying sort, not disciplined military forces, and the data that Max had provided to the Duke showed that the Klem Pods were over a week away, giving them ample time to stay a while and still leave the system before they were in any danger.
"I knew that you were looking out for the troops, but this is impressive, Colonel." Inquisitor General Ming laughed as he was shown to his new suite aboard the Terminus.
"Only the finest for our valued guests. The Heavy Mecha Pilots get synthetic furnishings, and have to share a suite with their whole wing." Max responded, doing his best to keep a straight face.
"It was a good call. Not just for crew morale, but for the next time that we have guests or are inspected. Set up like this, I don't think that anyone will suspect us of being anything but a Trading Company.
It isn't official yet, since I don't want to alert anyone by contacting Imperial Command, but I will use my authority as an Inquisitor to have papers drawn up making the Terminus Trading Company a recognized trade entity within Kepler.
Intelligence has a few others among their ranks, the covert operations forces of the Empire. Since we are hiding anyhow, we are in a better position than most, since very few of them haven't had their identities compromised by the Nobility that they work with." Inquisitor Ming informed Max.
"How were they usually discovered? It would be best if we weren't since they are accusing us of being traitors to the Empire." Max asked.
"Most of them have Nobles among their ranks that keep in close contact with their families to use their contacts for intelligence gathering and such. It makes them more effective, but as soon as one of their informants is compromised, or a member of the family gets ambitious, they get revealed as a Government asset." Ming explained.
In light of that, maybe using General Yaakov's name to get ahold of the Duke wasn't the greatest idea, but it was the only one that Max had at the moment. They would just have to be careful in the future not to use it too much, or people would start questioning them.
"I will keep that in mind. I am sure that it is a bit of a nuisance for the General, not being able to openly lead his Regiment, but he is too easily recognized, as a senior Noble of the Kepler Empire, so I hope he understands." Max told the Inquisitor with a sigh.
"He wasn't planning to remain as a Regimental Commander for long. He signed up for the testing phase of the new Mecha, and then he was supposed to retire back home with full honors, doing a publicity tour for the new Mecha designs as his last deployment, to pad up his fame and income." Inquisitor Ming told Max with a smirk.
That explained a little about his relaxed attitude toward letting others take the reigns. He never intended to have them anyhow, he was just there for one last hurrah, and maybe a chance to get back in a Mecha again before he hung the Pilot's suit up for good.
[All Units, your new dorm assignments are now posted. Please move your gear to your assigned rooms within the next twenty-four hours. If this assignment is not acceptable, please see your Battalion Commander for remediation.] General Yaakov announced over the ship's intercom as Max and the inquisitor were talking.
"This is going to be an amazing level of chaos." Max laughed, remembering just how shocked he was when he first saw his new suite.
The Inquisitor's room was toward the bow of the ship, where the majority of the ship's control staff were stationed, as well as General Yaakov and the Pilots of the Second Battalion, whose station was the bow of the ship, should they come under attack.
Now that new dorms had been assigned, the Mecha would be moved out from the Dutchman to locations closer to their posting, with only Colonel Klinger's Fifth Battalion keeping their mecha on the ship.
They would be the mobile response unit if they had to send Mecha out in the Dutchman for some reason, like a small-scale battle, or other short-notice action.
The two Pirate Cutters were being refurbished at the moment, and they would be capable of taking another Battalion split between them when they were finished, but no decision had been made on who would be dropped in the Cutters should the need occur.
[Colonel Max, do you know which bay the Drone Fighters will be in? I don't see them on the map.] One of the staff from the First Battalion asked using the text function of Max's wrist device.
[They should be in the aft, between our Mecha and the Cutters.] Max responded after a few seconds of thought.
They hadn't really worked out the logistics of them, since they didn't have too many available. They were very large, and only a few had been loaded on the Dutchman, but they still had a full crew to Pilot them, as well as the VR pods that the Drone Pilots would need.
Building a new fleet of Orbital Fighters would take some time, and a lot of materials, but if they could get even ten of them active they would be in a much better position when they needed to fight, as they would have air superiority and a much better set of observation sensors.
Before he forgot, Max sent the building requisition to General Yaakov, so that they would have some Orbital Fighters available before the Klem pods got to their destinations. The planets under attack would pay a princely sum for the extra help, and they were in the perfect location to help.
Chapter 278 278 Time Limited Luxury
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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By the end of the day, all of the soldiers had been relocated to their new dorms, and the Battalion Kitchens had been moved from the Dutchman to various spots inside the Terminus, except for Fifth Battalion, who remained aboard for fast-action responses.
With that out of the way, it also gave time for some of the men to go to the Station to unwind. With strict warnings not to blow their own cover and not to get too out of hand. They didn't want to give their Trading Company a bad name for being drunk and disorderly after all.
It was the strangest shore leave that any of them ever had, they were so free to do anything as Reavers, but still under strict observation as soldiers, and the contrast was a bit unnerving. The Station had a lot of fun to be found though. All sorts of games, gambling, even live shows and a very high-tech holographic movie which put the audience inside the scene, looking from various angles at the action all around them.
That last one was a hit with everyone, even the couples that had formed among the crew were up for it since different times of day played different movies. The late-night one was a horror flick, but the afternoon one was a romance that was supposed to feel incredibly real, according to the Pilots that went to see it.
Max skipped on both of them and spent his time on the station hustling games of three-dimensional Pool. Nobody expected the Reaver to have a System interface, so they bet before their brains caught up to their mouth, and Max cleaned them out, collecting some gray market credits that could be used in a variety of nations.
Those would come in handy later, so he had pocket money and didn't need to work small amounts of cash into every deal for the crew. He would still need to do it every time they were going to stay somewhere for a while and disembark, but when they only needed to send a single team for a few hours to accomplish a mission, they could use this stockpile of money to get through without alerting anyone to their use of Kepler Credits.
With the new suites, the crew wasn't even complaining when it was time to leave the Station and head back out into space again. The front edge of the Klem Pods was getting close, and the Admiral assured them that the Planetary authority had sent repeated messages to Sector Command, requesting an interception and emergency rescue team once the trajectory was determined to match the ones that Max had sold to them.
They were definitely going to get hit by one of the smaller branches, but with their limited military force, it could be enough to wipe out their whole population if they weren't lucky with the Mining Mecha.
"Has there been any response from Sector Command?" Max asked Nico, who shrugged her shoulders in response.
"They keep scrambling their codes and keywords, so I am not totally sure, I have missed too many messages to piece everything together, but it looks like they are planning to let the planets get hit and then swoop in with the Tapani as heroes and clean up the Klem, turning the civilians' loyalty away from the Emperor," Nico informed him.
As far as rebellion plans go, it was a pretty solid one. Rebelling without giving the citizenry a very good reason always ended in assassinations and failure.
"Do you think that they will call on us?" Max asked.
"Doubtful. The Tapani have sent a strike Cruiser to the area. It should deflect a portion of the wave into the star, and make it easier to clean up the rest. Low-effort hero points and an easy-to-make propaganda film to send out just as the other planets are about to get hit, painting them as rescuers on their way to save the day."
Max asked the Generals and got basically the same answer. The Tapani and the Sector Fleet would play hero, but only after letting the planets take a little damage so that nobody would doubt their heroic intervention was anything less than noble.
The best plan that they had, for now, was to record what they could, stay out of sight, and wait to see if anyone really did need the help of a Mercenary Mecha force to deal with an infestation.
General Ming had sent regular updates to Imperial Command, now that they were close enough to a Kepler-inhabited planet for him to have an encrypted relay station in range, so they were assured that the Emperor at least knew what was going on here, even if he didn't have a chance to respond right away, since the front lines had turned against him.
Kepler Terminus wasn't one of the planets that were in the path of the Klem, but from what Max could see in the enemy movements, it was some sort of central hub, likely due to its high population and infrastructure.
Their sensors were picking up a lot of traffic in and out of the system, all military, and almost all parts of the Sector Fleet that they already knew had turned and allied with the Tapani. The thought that Kepler Terminus, home of the original accident that caused the System, would go rebel was insane, but Max was watching the evidence build up in real-time.
[Tarith Echo Seven to Terminus Trading Company. We request your presence at the Cargo station of the Kepler Terminus System. Any Reavers in the area, please relay.]
The Admiral was the first to get the message and passed it to Nico, who informed them that Echo Seven was the Cargo Station itself, or at least their family's operation on the station. They knew that Terminus Trading Company was part of the Family Operations, so they would expect them to reply and react right away if it was important enough to send them a direct open message.
[Terminus Trading Company to Tarith Echo Seven. Excellent timing, we were just on our way to you. Expect our arrival within the week.] The Admiral sent back, being deliberately vague so that anyone who was hostile and listening wouldn't know exactly when to set a trap for them.
Terminus changed course, picking up speed, and Max was headed home for the first time since he left on an emergency patrol with General Tennant.