Chapter 391 391 We Have A Deal
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The team that the Hunters sent over had already been waiting in anticipation of the news by the time that the match ended, so they departed within seconds of the order, arriving at Terminus within a minute.
Max nearly didn't even manage to get a team to the bay on time since he hadn't had any more warning of negotiations than they had, and he wasn't sure where they would be taking place or who would be involved, given the matriarchial nature of the Hunters.
They didn't arrive alone, though. Two more shuttles, all filled with Huntresses, followed the negotiation team so that they could see the amenities aboard the ship and see for themselves what Nico was trying to explain about human males.
They had scanned the planets that they passed but hadn't entered Kepler territory yet, so they hadn't experienced the wonders of a System enhanced male physique. The men aboard Terminus would be much different than the random farmers and warehouse workers they had scanned as they passed by the peaceful planets of the outer territories.
Huntress Khan herself had flown back with Nico and her entourage, listening to stories of their battles against the Klem, a species that the Hunters were incredibly excited to face in combat.
Like the Innu, the concept of a violent insect species baffled them at first since they apparently didn't exist elsewhere in the universe, but after being shown some combat footage from drones and inside Nico's cockpit, their enthusiasm for battle was back in full force.
The consensus was that the Klem should be a match for most of the hostile species they had encountered in the past, and their unique method of adapting to their environment in rapid fashion might even make them more of a threat than anticipated since they could have developed new ranged weapons and chitin compositions since the last time they were encountered.
For a Hunter, there was no better game. A more advanced form of intelligence was the only thing they were missing to be perfect. If they were undeniably intelligent like humans were, they could become the apex predators of this entire region of the universe.
"There are other species as well. The Narsians are a force to be reckoned with, though they don't use hunter suits. They are as tall as the Giants and have advanced weapons technology, so they are undoubtedly the finest unarmored combatants humanity has ever faced.
In fact, they are the reason I'm in this mostly mechanical body now. I took up a rearguard action to delay them from following our main force and ended up outnumbered and overwhelmed. It was a glorious battle but didn't end well for me." Nico explained.
"So your evolution into what you are is a result of your technology, specifically designed for battle, and augmentations made after taking on a disadvantaged duel against the champions of a species more than twice your height? Are you sure that you weren't born as one of us? That is a story for the ages. We will ask our historians to record as many of the details as they can so that we can send them home to tell the tale of the Human champions.
It will let the Hunters know all about the virtues of Humanity." Huntress Khan explained.
"A champion is never a coward, even in the face of certain defeat." One of her assistants agreed while the other Pilots nodded along with the sentiment.
Nico was a terrifying presence in combat. None of them had been there the day that she fell against the Narsians, but they had heard rumors, and now part of Nico's side of the story. Certainly, not one of them would have dared to get out of their destroyed Mecha and face a Narsian command squad in close combat.
"What brought the Hunter Fleet all the way out here anyhow? We are a long way from your borders and in the opposite direction from your usual hunting grounds, not a spot that you would typically be expected to come looking for a new Game Species." Nico asked as the gravity beam settled the Cutter into its bay.
"The Alliance did. Or, more correctly, their communications. They broadcast the quarantine reminder, amending it to note that a highly advanced and potentially hostile species was present. That is the same way they classify us, so it was deemed worth it to take the time to explore this Galaxy and look for a challenge." Huntress Khan explained.
"So, advancing enough to be noticed caused us to be noticed by others as well. I shouldn't be surprised, but it is a good thing that we were the first to meet with you. Without the guidance of the Innu, we might not have understood your customs or even had the Alliance Language properly translated into our databases.
Humans are pretty good with language, but a whole new one can take a significant amount of time to adapt to." Nico explained.
"I will make sure that is entered into the data so that the teams that come to challenge the Klem don't make mistakes or get frustrated. Is there anything else that might be worth knowing?" Huntress Khan asked.
"Just this one important point. For the men with Kepler heritage, size doesn't matter in relation to power. Their compatibility with nanotechnology does. The difference in strength between a man from another empire and our Commander is roughly six times. While an average civilian can lift a hundred kilos, he can do the same with six hundred. The only limiting factor at the moment is the strength of his bones." Nico explained.
"What about these ones?" One of the assistants asked dubiously, looking at the leader of the Corvette Class team.
"They're from the medium side of compatibility, but most of them should be roughly halfway in between. Their growth is optimized by the nanotechnology to balance strength and size, so the strongest are usually in the medium size ranks, between 170 and 180cm tall." Nico offered.
The Pilot in question stood up and went to a locker, picking up a rifle for a Line Mecha, an item that was close to the proper size for a Huntress to use but weighed nearly a hundred Kilos with the integrated power pack.
He grabbed it with one hand and held it out to her, his forearm visibly bulging as the task strained his ability to show off for the musclebound and masked ladies of the Hunter species.
The Huntress took the rifle and nearly dropped it at first, not expecting the weight, but then held it up with some effort and attempted to aim it before noticing that it had no external sights.
"It is for our lightest class of Mecha, so the targeting is integrated into the displays and not a physical protrusion. But I see that even the Corvette Class Pilots aboard Terminus are somewhat on par physically with the Hunters, so we might be able to train together or hold friendly competitions with less destruction than a formal challenge."
"Not a bad idea. Our men could barely lift that upright, much less with one hand. We will set aside gender roles while dealing with your humans, Miss Tarith Rage." Huntress Khan agreed.
Chapter 392 392 Keep The Mask On
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The show of strength was enough to break the ice between the men of the entourage and the women of the Huntress's entourage, and happy chatting about combat filled the air as the teams departed the Cutter and began to make their way through the bay.
"We have a transport waiting and rooms prepared in the bow if you don't have any issues being housed near the Innu and Illithid." Nico offered.
"That is fine. We have the technology to keep the Illithid at bay from our minds, and the Innu are good people. What did you do to keep them here, though? They customarily only stay in places with advanced technologies that they haven't seen before. If not, they lose interest, even if they are supposed to be working." Huntress Khan asked.
"We have waterslides with gravity control linking the whole section of the ship reserved for public viewing and residence. They are huge fans of them." One of the Pilots laughed, drawing all the Hunters' attention to him.
"What do you mean by waterslide?"
"A tube, with rapidly flowing water, roughly 30 cm deep inside, and the gravity altered so that it feels like you are always sliding down to your destination, regardless of where it is in the ship," Nico explained.
"Where is this transport? I must see this marvel immediately." Huntress Khan demanded.
[It seems that we have more fans of the waterslides. We are on our way over, and the Hunters evolved from an amphibious reptile. They freaked out a little when they heard about the gravity slides and demanded to see them immediately. They might like them even more than the Innu do.] Nico told Max.
Max looked over at the very harassed-looking members of the Admiral's negotiation team, who were dealing with the obsessive pencil pushers of the Hunters negotiation team, and sighed.
[I am glad you are having fun. The men of their species are completely literal, completely humorless, and obsessed with details. They're expecting no fewer than a thousand pages of an agreement to cover who and what might be hunted in this galaxy.] Max replied.
[Good luck with that. There is a template from the Innu Yacht that you can use as the basis if you like. I believe it is their agreement with the Hunters, but I haven't actually read it. I only skimmed the titles.] Nico informed him.
That should be enough to get them started, and Max could have his team alter the document as they went through since there would be an acceptable hunting species in this Galaxy, the Klem, and they would have to localize the agreement only to the regions that they were familiar with, as they didn't know how some of the species in the Northern end of the Galaxy felt about the Hunters and their ideology, or if they even knew about them, despite their limited ability to move between Galaxies.
"You seem somewhat stressed, Commander. Do you not often negotiate treaties?" One of the Hunter's negotiators asked.
"No, most treaties in the region were completed centuries before I was born. But now, I have two to work out at once. The one with your fleet and the one that we left to come to meet you." Max explained.
"That is a high honor, Commander, and we thank you. Delaying ongoing business to meet a new fleet is an honor to the strangers that we didn't expect." The negotiator told him with a bow.
This species needed to come with a manual. Even though he could read their minds, Max was having trouble determining how they would react to any given situation since their standards and his were so different.
"Our Champion tells me that you might also enjoy the Gravity Slides once today's meetings are done, so I will make sure to have the escort show you the map of where they lead before you retire to your rooms tonight," Max told him, and the man looked perplexed.
Huntress Khan says that you will enjoy it, so I will keep the details as a surprise, but they lead right to the rooms that we have prepared for your team, assuming that you don't need to be on the same floor as the Huntresses. They requested a room close to the Barbecue restaurants, but the rooms we originally prepared for your team were the ones closest to this meeting room." Max explained.
"That is fine. Our teams have very different interests, so they don't customarily interact much outside of mating season." The Negotiator explained.
Seasonal mating. That was another item for the list of details about the Hunters. If his experience in this Galaxy held true, he could expect increased aggression and territorial behavior at that time. The Huntresses seemed to lean toward aggressive and territorial anyhow, so heightening those sentiments could cause some violence, though likely nothing that he couldn't handle, if the Alliance deemed them civilized enough to deal with, though not peaceful enough for membership.
"Admiral. I have a copy of the Innu version of their basic agreement with the Hunters available as a template if your teams would like to start from there. Just be sure to keep it regional since we can't speak for everyone, and be sure to include hunting rights for the Klem, as I have been informed that it is very important to Huntress Khan that they be included and detailed." Max informed Admiral Drake, who was leading the human negotiation team.
"They want to hunt Klem by the planet full, do they? That takes some serious bravery. I will make sure that all the appropriate language is included, including remuneration, if they happen to come across a recent landfall where humans are still fighting. The locals can take it up with the Reavers if they don't like the mercenary fee to save their planet from the Klem." Admiral Drake agreed.
With that settled, Max went to meet Nico, who should be just arriving at the Cruise Ship area now, only to watch the transport skid to a stop from maximum speed as a group of Huntresses rushed out to examine the gravity slides.
"Welcome, Huntress Khan. I am Commander Keres of Terminus Trading Company. I do hope that our Champion spoke kindly of me." Max greeted them, stopping their advance toward the slides.
"You, throw her straight up in the air and catch her." Huntress Khan demanded while Nico laughed.
"They think I'm exaggerating the strength of an Alpha Ranked System specialized in strength," Nico explained.
At 250 cm tall, the Huntresses weren't light, well over two hundred kilos, but that was nothing to Max, who gently took one in his arms in a Princess Carry, then hurled her straight up in the air, crossing over the next floor before coming back down into his arms and being set on the floor.
"Oh, I do approve. I apologize to you, Tarith Rage, for misunderstanding when you said that your men were commendably strong. If the hunters had men like that, we might never get anything done." The Huntress that Max just caught laughed, then turned to look at the gravity slides, with no emotion showing through her smooth metal mask but a clear wave of excitement and joy in her thoughts.
"Take a good look at the map first, you don't want to end up lost on the cruise ship, and the slides run for dozens of kilometers in total," Max informed her, then made a grand gesture toward them.
The fact that the Huntresses were in white cloth togas totally escaped his attention until the first of them rocketed toward the slide at a full run, launching herself onto her stomach and racing away through the tunnels.
Hopefully, they brought a change of clothes, but if not, there were towels available at every exit.
Chapter 393 393 Maybe We Should Let Them
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To Admiral Drake's annoyance, the negotiation team made up of men from the Hunter ships had every intention of working in shifts so that the negotiations could proceed continually from the moment that they arrived until they were finished.
The template that he had received sped up the process a lot, but it was designed to cover all interactions between two species. The Hunters weren't convinced that some Humans didn't qualify as a Game Species. There were also other species that the Commander had instructed him to add to the agreement as mutual targets, which necessitated a Hunting Alliance agreement.
Between the two, it quickly turned the agreement from eight hundred pages to fifteen hundred, but the speed with which they progressed was impressive. Everything was double-proofread so that nobody snuck deceptive clauses into the agreement or made any errors. The work was split into teams, with each group taking care of only eighty pages or so, making it more manageable for the teams to get through.
By evening the next day, they were almost done with the negotiations, thanks to the heavy use of form templates from the Alliance, who had been negotiating with the Hunters for centuries. The basics were that if the Hunters were hunting Klem, they were required to invite at least one group of what they deemed "Civilized Humans" with them. Only groups that were aggressively attacking outside of their own border could be deemed as Game after consulting with a "Civilized Human" faction.
That way, there was at least some assurance that they weren't going to be causing trouble around the Galaxy but that they still did it in a somewhat ethical and sustainable way.
The Admiral had been quite hesitant at first. Still, after they used a few examples of nations that they had passed aggressively attacking everyone around them, not to take over territory or maintain stability, but simply as a continuation of a generational feud, it became clear that there were, in fact, groups of humans that he wouldn't be too upset about seeing attacked by Hunters.
By their rules, they would take no more than ten percent of the population unless it was an invasive species like the Klem, so it wasn't like they were going to be totally depopulating planets. They would serve as an excellent boogeyman if they were pointed at the Galaxy's troublemakers though.
While they were working themselves to the bone, the Huntresses were having a much better time, relaxing and getting to know the Mecha Pilots of the Terminus Trading Company. They were quite shocked to see the ratio of males to females but slowly began to accept that allowing them to mingle freely like this wouldn't lead to the males being bullied by the human females.
They were willing to set aside their judgment of the males' skills and did that right away once they saw the physical capability of all of the Heavy Mecha Pilots and the footage that the Innu had captured during their outing to the uninhabited planet, but the idea that they were on a socially equal footing was harder for them to understand.
Max was having dinner with Huntress Khan, Colonel Klinger, and Nico when the negotiation teams said the deal had been finalized. He had expected the Huntress to want to read every detail and go over it line by line, but surprisingly, she took a two-page summary sheet from her negotiator, the same one that was handed to Max and Nico, and nodded as she read.
"These terms all look acceptable. We will contact you or your representatives on Rae 5 when we want permission to hunt humans. So far, you are the only group that has proven that you are not Game but worthy allies, after all." Huntress Khan informed them, then tucked the paper away in some sort of storage device that Max couldn't see and couldn't find a way for her to be hiding under the plain toga.
"You don't know the flat space technology? I suppose those snotty Alliance sorts wouldn't trade you for it. They've always got some moral reason to hide the good stuff. But we will deal with you. It was developed by the Innu, using an advanced form of the Warp Field Technology that warps the volume of the interior. It isn't big enough to hold me, but perhaps Tarith Rage would fit.
For the very reasonable price of twenty of those lovely Plasma Cannons that the Line Mecha carry, I will give you the design schematic for the flat space storage devices. Just don't tell the Alliance until you can make your own. They get cranky about spreading their technology." Huntress Khan offered.
"We can make you a lighter version with external sights, or would you prefer to alter them yourselves?" Max asked.
"Every Huntress customizes their own weapons. They will adapt them to their own preferences. We don't use any sort of stabilized plasma weapons, so these should be a novel change for our Huntresses, and I have already verified that we can make our power distribution system compatible with charging them." Khan agreed.
"Then you have a deal. We have our own manufacturing facilities, and our design teams love the challenge of adapting new technology." Max told her, shaking her hand to seal the deal.
"See, males? That is how you do a deal. Who needs thousands of pages?" The Huntress laughed while the men shook their heads at her simplistic outlook on what was involved in an alliance treaty. She never read more than the outline, and if there was a potential conflict of the minor details, it was up to an advisor from the foreign affairs team to inform her.
"We must get going now. Our long-range scanners have detected a Klem wave landing on an uninhabited planet beyond the borders of human space, and my Hunters are eager to test out our skills against their chitin." Huntress Khan declared.
"Do enjoy yourselves. We must return to a negotiation with the other humans, so, unfortunately, we can't join you. If we finish early, we will open a portal so we can watch you in glorious combat." Nico told her, making the Huntress laugh.
"See, she knows the way of the Hunters already. Thank you for hosting us, Terminus Trading Company, and we will return soon for barbecue and Gravity Slides."
Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.Chapter 394 394 Drudgery To Chaos
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The Hunter fleet gathered in a circular formation and opened an immense portal to their next destination, not wanting to waste time sightseeing now that they had official permission to hunt the Klem.
The process was highly informative to the engineering team aboard Terminus, who hadn't worked out how to make multiple ships work together correctly to create a large-scale portal to distant locations. Between that observational data and the design schematics for the new flat space storage device, they had a lot of work in front of them.
"Nico, send a copy of that to Uncle Lu as well. He will likely make better use of it than we can, and I suspect there are clues to both warp drive advancements and munitions storage technology hidden in those schematics." Max ordered.
"Oh, that is a good idea. I should have asked for a few examples to test, and we could attach them to our suits and stuff a huge power pack inside. Neverending plasma rifle charges. I like the way that you think." Nico agreed, then her eyes went dim for a moment as she focused on sending the message to Uncle Lu in a way that couldn't be intercepted and decoded.
"Done and sent. Now let's get back to the drudgery before they do something incredibly stupid without us." she finished.
Terminus turned back to the station as soon as the Hunters were gone, not looking forward to the meetings ahead of them but unable to find a way to get out of them. They shouldn't take too much longer, though, as the Rebels had said that they planned to do something big within a week of today.
Everything appeared exactly as they left it. Even General Kirkland's message welcoming them back into position just in time to send the delegation back to the station for the morning's meetings conveyed utter boredom.
"Tedium, drudgery, superfluous, nonsensical, irrelevant," Nico muttered as she sat in her chair beside Max, pretending to clean her nails with a knife.
"Stop that. You're making this more boring than it already was." Max complained as the various nations continued to haggle about borders.
According to the Cygnus delegation, they had been at this since Terminus left and still hadn't finished the negotiations.
"Are your plans still the same?" Nico asked General Kirkland on Max's behalf, and the old noble nodded.
"Yes, we will take and stabilize that one portion of space while we reinforce our borders. I haven't heard about anyone moving, but I think it won't be long now. Once the majority of the fleets are on the move, it will be impossible to hide that something big is happening, even if nobody else knows where it will happen."
"How about I get us some tea and snacks? We can relax while they argue and wait for something worth our attention now that our part of the day's proceedings is taken care of?" Nico suggested, getting to her feet.
"Bring back whiskey instead. Tea isn't going to be enough. While you got to go intercept a foreign fleet, I've been here for days, covering for the Reavers, though you've only had a few questions directed your way." General Kirkland sighed.
The entire day passed as they sipped whiskey and ignored the rest of the proceedings, as it didn't involve them.
The next three days were all the same, relaxing in a comfortable chair and drinking while the smaller nations worked out their differences.
On the fourth day after their return, the first news of fleet mobilizations made it to their ears, and everyone understood that they would have to deal with what they had, as it was no longer possible to hide their actions. Tens of thousands of warships had been spotted moving out of their home nations, and Cygnus was said to be reinforcing their borders, an action that seemed perfectly normal to the outside observer who didn't know that Cygnus was aware of their actions.
The leader of the rebels gathered everyone to the main table again for a full announcement, joy lighting up his face.
"We have the news that we all have been waiting for. The first six Princes of the Kepler Empire joined the Rebellion on the side of the Nobles. They will assume command of the six fleets that we command and rule over the six territories that we have agreed to pacify.
As of 0600 Kepler Throne Time today, the Emperor has fallen.
While his body double was holding a meeting to bring the Princes back into compliance, the Royal Assassins loyal to the Crown Prince assassinated his father. The Kepler Empire is no more. The Kepler Royal Alliance begins today."
The entire audience was stunned into silence. The Emperor was dead at the hands of his own children, and the Royals had betrayed the bureaucracy to stand behind the Princes in establishing a new Royal structure.
It was unthinkable to most of them. The idea that the Rebels were actually Royal agents for the Princes, playing the bureaucracy for fools while they built power and destabilized the Emperor, was never part of the calculations.
Never before had the Princes worked together on anything, and their attempts to kill each other were said to be nearly constant.
For this plan to have worked, they must have been planning this moment for at least fifty years, never once letting on that they were colluding with each other. The scale was unimaginable, but if it was true, they needed to adapt quickly.
The Royal Family would still control three-quarters of Kepler space, with the forces not directly loyal to the Princes about to be annihilated by the incoming attack fleets before they even knew what was happening.
The Emperor had taken direct command, so if he were gone, the Command Structure would be in disarray as Central Command was certain to fall to infighting as they tried to come out on top in the chaos.
[I have used a portal to send the message directly to the Reavers. Every one knows every detail that we have heard here today. I can't verify the truth yet, but I can verify that there is some sort of battle near the Imperial Compliance Fleet.] Nico informed Max of her thoughts after tugging his sleeve to ensure he was listening.
"We must get back to Rae 5. There is much to be done and many preparations to be made." Max declared, getting to his feet.
"Not so fast. Until the fleets arrive, nobody leaves this system. We can't have double agents and secret loyalists sending messages out to their allies. All communications from the system have been blocked for a month, and we will keep the secrecy of our plans as long as possible." The Rebel leader announced.
"That is fine. Terminus will hold right where it is until the chaos dies down, and then we will begin working out the details of who will take over the trade routes." Max replied with a polite bow.
"Typical Reaver, no patience at all. Off to get paid the moment that things get interesting." One of the representatives laughed with his companions while Max feigned innocence, and Nico updated Max on their situation.
[Our messages have gone through, I used a micro portal to transmit directly. It saves on the transmission time from across the Empire.]
Chapter 395 395 It's Not There
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News slowly filtered in as every ship in the system enhanced its communications systems to pick up even the faintest signals. They could receive anything that happened to be sent in their direction but couldn't send anything out, so it was a bit like watching a docudrama.
Max's mind reading was the most successful method of intelligence gathering that they had at the moment, though, as every fleet was using its own encryptions and frequencies. All of the representatives were being kept up to date on their nation's activities, and Max noted them all for Nico to send through to the Reavers on Rae 5.
It was late in the evening that he heard a thought that finally made him laugh at the pure insanity of the Rebel's plan.
[The Crown Prince has searched the Royal Palace, including the vaults. The System Intelligence isn't there. It wasn't on Kepler Terminus when we ransacked the host warehouse, so the assumption was that the Royal Palace had taken it away at some point in the past and only left the original warehouse as bait.] The Rebel leader was informed by his assistant.
They would never guess that the Reavers were in possession of such a valuable National Treasure. Max had been there when it left Kepler Terminus, and he still couldn't believe it. But it made sense that all of the Imperial Princes would want to gain control of it.
The Original Intelligence still had a lot of influence on System Development within the Kepler Empire, and it was the reason that simply stealing some blood to inject into the citizens of other nations didn't spread the System all through the human race.
If they couldn't find it, there was a good chance that it would turn on them and cripple entire generations by limiting the activation of their systems. In the worst-case scenario, the AI might turn malicious and convince the System to turn on any host that tried to damage or harm the Original.
Max knew that it was in the form of an autonomous mainframe, made entirely of nanotechnology, with a small humanoid robot that allowed it to interface with the outside world, but unfortunately, he didn't know what Mary Tarith had done with it after they left Terminus.
That made the Emperor's plan that much more genius. The man himself might be dead now, but his legacy would live on, with only those who had remained loyal to him and those who were allied with them gaining the favor of the System.
"Nico, you know a thing or two about the original accident that spread the system, right? What can you tell me about the warehouse?" Max asked quietly.
"Not much. It was a private lab, owner unknown, managed by a member of my family. Thought that might be obvious because we ran most of the nanotechnology development companies in Kepler. Even on Kepler 142, the branch families still work on new developments." Nico replied.
That brought up something in Max's memory, something about his System and Kepler 142 Station, but he couldn't quite recall what it was. Maybe it wasn't that important because the memory of changing his name, which came just after that, was still as clear as if it had happened yesterday.
He immediately dismissed the thought and focused on what he knew. If they were running the lab at the time of the accident, there was a very good chance that it wasn't possible to separate the Tarith Family from the System. It would explain the strange status that they held within the Kepler hierarchy. Normally a Reaver Family would be expelled from the Empire and not continue to have family branches politically active on multiple planets.
Not because of any criminality but out of loyalty concerns. It wasn't the greatest statement of loyalty to the Empire to have a large chunk of your family go independent without being renounced by the rest of the family's branches.
It would also explain why Mary Tarith got custody. The Emperor likely didn't have a choice if he was going to relocate it and keep it away from the Rebels.
Max just wished he could tell someone what he had realized. He could tell Nico, but her Ego was big enough that he didn't need to give her more reasons to be proud of her background. She might create a new layer on her "Crazy Pirate" persona that even he wasn't ready to handle.
As they waited, news came in that the three largest vessels of the Imperial Compliance Fleet had escaped the trap that had been laid for them, destroying hundreds of smaller vessels and disappearing through a nebula.
The hunt was on for them, as the vessels were damaged, but it hadn't turned up anything so far. Everyone was more focused on the initial attacks that would keep the fleet busy enough that they didn't rally together to establish a Military Authority that could return the Empire to the status quo even without the Emperor at the helm.
In practice, the Military ran the Empire's logistics and security, with the Nobility taking care of paperwork and bureaucracy that kept planets running. Today was intended to change all that, giving the Nobility the military control that would make them the true power in their territories, but Max could tell that it wasn't going to be that easy.
To start with, most of them were incompetent idiots who had advanced through life entirely on nepotism.
Secondly, Someone had alerted the fleet, and they weren't going where they were expected to. Instead, they were showing up in random systems and attacking foreign fleets, then fading away again as if they had only stopped on their way to another emergency.
The Rebels and the allied nations were putting details of every battle and fleet location up on the map of the Empire, keeping track of potential threats, while Nico relayed the details back to the Reavers.
"I have news from the Cygnus Fleet. These seventy-two systems have been peacefully assimilated." General Kirkland told the Rebels with a smile.
The Cygnus plan was ingenious. They didn't attack at all. They waited for the news of the Emperor being attacked and potentially killed by the Princes and then showed up with security forces in the Emperor's name, taking over from the local fleets and organizing the whole region under themselves as if they were simply assisting the Emperor in keeping rumors under control like any good ally should.
By the time anyone realized the truth, they would be peacefully assimilated Cygnus Citizens, and nothing at all in their lives would change except perhaps the badges on the security forces.
The plan also had a hidden upside. If the rumors were false, and the Emperor lived and regained control of the Kepler Empire, or most of it, they could play the good ally and simply hand the territory back with a generous payment for their troubles, which would help them take over their depleted neighbors.
Assuming that others hadn't beaten them to the punch and attacked their neighbors first.
These backwater Nobles and small nation politicians could learn a lot from Lord General Kirkland and his invasion plan. As far as Max could tell, it was nearly flawless, and Cygnus would win no matter what happened.
Chapter 396 396 Failures And Victories
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As the news trickled in, Max began to notice a pattern to the madness. The entire inner rim of the Kepler Empire, closest to the Galactic Core, had proven impregnable to the foreign troops, and the border closest to Rae 5, where the most recent Rebel activity had been, was proving decidedly deadly for the Rebels as well.
Those sectors linked to create a crescent-shaped territory that held the majority of the Empire's rare resources and heavy manufacturing facilities but very few of its citizens. Two nations' entire fleets had been lost with only garbled cries for assistance, and nobody really knew what was happening until the fateful moment that a force finally got a warning out to the Galaxy.
The Titan Class, [Glory of Sol], and the God Class Mecha, [Wrath Incarnate], which was thought lost during the unification wars that formed the Kepler Empire, were working together to eliminate invading fleets in seconds before they could even respond and get out a message to their home nations.
Both Mecha were supposed to be on the Imperial homeworld, locked securely in vaults, without a pilot for the previous few centuries. It was said that they would be given pilots and taken out in times of crisis. Still, everyone had assumed that with the Imperial Princes controlling the homeworld and the Emperor dead, the two legendary Mecha would remain locked in their vaults for the duration of the battle.
That put a serious dent in the allies' plans, and accusations began to fly that the Crown Prince, whose territory was supposed to border the region where the two Mecha were sighted, had betrayed their allies in an effort to bolster the strength of his alliance with Cygnus.
On the surface, it seemed to be a reasonable accusation, as he stood to gain a huge amount of territory if he eliminated the nearest Foreign forces, but both the Rebels and Lord General Kirkland were too shocked by the news that the Kepler Empire's lone God Class Mecha had been sighted in action for them to have been in on the betrayal.
"Drive the traitors out. Cygnus has betrayed us. Wipe them out and take their territories." One of the foreigners shouted.
"With what? Your fleet has been annihilated by Wrath Incarnate, and the Reavers have a mutual defense pact with Cygnus. Unlike the cruisers you all sent here with your negotiation teams, we came prepared with a colony ship and an entire Super Heavy Mecha Regiment. Not just one unit, but twenty-one Super Heavy Mecha." Max yelled back, silencing the argument.
"You couldn't have. The Reavers don't have Super Heavy Mecha. No nation would sell that sort of firepower to the Reavers, and they don't have the capability to make them themselves." A Rebel leader scoffed.
"Please watch your screens for verification," Nico replied.
[Third Battalion, please exit Terminus. The Rebels require a show of force not to do something stupid.] Nico informed the battalion on guard duty at the moment.
"We have an entire reinforced Regiment composed in the same manner as the Battalion on display now. If you want to try your luck, you are free to start a fight, but rest assured, we will be the ones to finish it." Nico informed the room as they watched the Mecha Battalion move from the hangar bay to stand on the hull, facing the Station.
"Those are the rumored Comor pattern Corvettes. I saw the video of them in action some time ago. Does that mean that Comor equipped the Reavers as well? Or did they get these from somewhere else? Does anyone recognize the pattern?" One of the Rebel envoys asked.
"Wait, I have seen those before. Sector Command in the Terminus Sector sent a fleet after Abraham Kepler in an attempt to capture General Tennant. They were rumored to have met with Reaver Mecha of an unknown pattern, larger than the Crusader Class Mecha. We took it to mean they had obtained Cygnus Heavy Mecha due to the described height, but the Reavers scrambled all of the footage before the fleet could transmit it home." A Rebel assistant commented, pulling up the data for everyone to look at.
"Terminus Trading Company. Both there and here. The Reavers have had Super Heavy Mecha for months, and nobody noticed. No wonder they got so cocky with the Tapani fleet." Someone commented.
"We only lost because they allied with the Loyalist border guards and baited us into a trap." A Tapani Commander whined, and Max sensed that a grand fight was about to break out in the room.
Max leaned over to whisper to Lord General Kirkland as the shouts got louder and the pushing started.
"Stand behind us when it gets nasty. Our whole escort team has forcefields, so you'll be safe from stray gunfire."
The warning was just in time, as the gunfire started seconds later, with the Tapani turning on the force that insulted them, calling them a waste of space now that their fleet had been annihilated.
The Archangel Exoskeleton that Max was wearing under his outfit was fully weaponized, with lasers in the wings, but Max kept them folded tight to his back and inactive. He would let the idiots here fight it out without involving them for as long as necessary.
If they gave up on the secrecy and broke off the meeting, all the better for him. The organized attack would fall to chaos, and the Loyalist fleet would have an easier time getting things under control.
This wasn't the first gunfight of the meeting, though, and after a half dozen were killed, the other representatives got the situation calmed down. Only a single ship left orbit with the remains of its representative team.
A half dozen followed soon after, as their fleets were lost to the Loyalists, and they no longer had a chance to claim much of anything. All they could do was return home and face the repercussions of their failures.
General Kirkland retook his seat while Nico stood hers and Max's back on their feet with a mechanical dendrite from the Tech Adept Harness.
[Request for you to either return or turn off the live feed. The Innu videographers are annoying the staff to no end with their requests to get better footage of what happens when human negotiations go wrong.] One of the staffers from the Cruise Ship section asked, making both Max and Nico laugh.
[Denied. They will pout more with no footage, and we can't leave just yet.
Tell the Third Battalion they can go back inside. It looks like nobody will be attacking Cygnus or us for the moment.] Max responded as the meeting was brought back to order.
The two Mecha that tore up the invading fleets didn't seem to be expanding their area of operations, though, and instead focused on stabilizing what they already held in conjunction with the main force of the Kepler Fleet in the region.
It led to an odd stalemate. The Loyalist Fleet held half of the border. Only a small section had fallen to invaders. If you didn't count the section that the Cygnus Fleet had taken without a battle, and the three Princes held the center of the Empire.
Looking at it on the map, it looked like the Loyalists and Cygnus were about to crush the three Princes while a number of the outlying systems had splintered off to independence. The layout of the current situation definitely didn't appear to be to their advantage the way it would if they held a border and could freely move goods in and out.
Comor had officially removed itself from the Empire and returned to Neutral Nation status, awaiting the outcome, and no ship had dared to attack them, as the Comor fleet remained intact and at home.
The strangest part of it all was that the Crown Prince held the Kepler homeworld, essentially succeeding as Emperor while being despised by the locals as a traitor, where only days before, he had been hailed as a war hero and the next Emperor, destined to lead Kepler to glory.
Chapter 397 397 Hoodwinked And Bamboozled
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It didn't take long before the allied nations began to suspect that this had been a setup from the start. The Kepler Loyalists had used the hidden strength that the Rebels assured them was secured under their control, leading to the Kepler Royal Family holding almost everything. At the same time, Cygnus got a nice handout for their trouble and a free shot at their weakened neighbors.
It was just after midnight, Station time, when news came through that the section taken by the two mighty Mecha had declared itself the Inner Rim Federation, under the control of Empress Nobu, the Emperor's Neice, daughter of the Emperor's sister, who was best known for her work in designing the MK IX standard issue infantry laser rifle.
Nobody had thought she had larger business or political aspirations. However, at the key moment, it was found that she had managed to take a controlling interest in the major businesses on over four hundred planets all along the borders of the Kepler Empire.
Through her shell companies, she was making a truly fantastical amount of money thanks to her position along the border and aggressive trade negotiations.
Max was impressed. The self-appointed Empress would have made a better Reaver Commander than any Reaver he knew.
The allied nations were shouting and screaming about the fact that the Kepler Royal Family now held everything that Cygnus did not, and Max was certain that there would be no stopping the violence this time.
Then, a message arrived on his wrist device, tagged as having been sent from Rae 5.
[Commander Keres, Lady Mary Tarith would like to inform you that a trade agreement between the Reaver Empire and the Inner Rim Federation, as prepared in advance by Herself and Empress Nobu.]
Sneaky. Max approved.
"The Inner Rim Federation has completed trade negotiations with the Reaver Empire. The Reavers stand with the new Empress and will be supplying them with goods as approved in our agreement." Max informed the room, and chaos broke out.
It was impossible to say who fired the first shot, but within seconds, energy beams and bullets were flying in every direction, and Nico was herding their delegation and Cygnus back toward the only exit to the room while their team laid down suppressive fire from the Archangel Exoskeletons.
The advantage was overwhelming; by the time they managed to blast the locked doors open, there was very little resistance still standing.
"Get to the shuttles and back to your command ships. It was a pleasure seeing you again, General, and I suspect that we will see you again very soon. There are a lot of weakened and angry nations gathered here, and the Reavers are always up for mercenary contracts if the odds are good and the price is right." Max told the Cygnus Lord with a sly wink.
"Wait for our message. I suspect that the Cygnus Council will have a job for you within the next few minutes, and if your words about the firepower aboard Terminus are correct, the odds should be heavily in your favor." Lord General Kirkland replied with a slight bow, then led his team at a run toward their shuttle bay.
"Let's get out of here before we have to shoot our way out," Max ordered his security detail.
"Shoot our way out more, you mean. These suits are phenomenal. We should really start stocking them inside the Heavy Mecha in case we need to bail out. The firepower keeps up with a Line Mecha, and the shields didn't go down at all during that firefight." One of the Pilots in the bodyguard detail replied while running toward the bay.
The shuttle was powered up and ready when they arrived, thanks to Nico, and they were exiting the station by the time everyone was seated.
[Terminus, to battle stations. I don't know who is going to be the first to attack, but the Allied Nations think they have been betrayed.] Max informed the Regiment.
[We saw it on the live feed. Excellent shooting, Commander. All Mecha Battalions are ready to launch. Take your shuttle straight to the secure hangar. I am informed by Inquisitor Ming that the Shattered Pride has been repaired and is ready to go.] Admiral Drake replied.
This might be just the moment to reveal the fact that they had a Titan Class Mecha of their own, but if the resistance were light, Max would hold off and only take Cleansing Light out when they made it to a larger battle.
[Terminus, this is Cygnus Command. We have an official request for the Reavers. The compliance of Tapani has been sanctioned, and a battle fleet has been dispatched to ensure the compliance of the nations from Cygnus to Tapani.
Will the Reavers be available to assist?]
Now that was the sort of insanity that Max should have expected. The section of space from Cygnus to Tapani comprised half of the nations in the Alliance, and Cygnus intended to take them all into their fold by force.
[Hold for an official response.] Max sent his response back, then relayed the request to Rae 5 so that they could see how the other Reaver Companies felt about the matter.
There was a ten-minute pause as all of the Reaver Company Commanders who were in the main council came to a decision, and then the decision was returned.
[The Reavers can send twenty Mechanized Regiments, led by Thunder Pattern Super Heavy Mecha, to the compliance of the smaller nations, but Cygnus must take Tapani and maintain the border against the Klem threat. Standard intervention fees, with double penalties for lost forces.]
Max relayed the message and got an almost immediate confirmation, with a declaration that Cygnus had dispatched an envoy to Rae 5 for the official signing of the agreement. They also sent a list of planetary targets, all of them single-system nations that had joined the fight against Kepler and had been left very short on defensive capabilities.
That was ideal for the Reavers and would save Cygnus a significant amount of resources in penalty. Max might have to apologize to the Innu, though. They weren't going to get to the next vacation destination before they had to go home. The battles would take too long.
Chapter 398 398 Grax
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"Commander, how about this one? Nobody has claimed it yet, and I really wouldn't mind shooting those jerks." One of the Pilots in the escort suggested.
Nico had brought up the map in the shuttle so that everyone could better visualize the situation. The sight of the map and the details of the request from Cygnus had led the Pilots in the escort to immediately request vengeance on the factions that had been rude to them at the meeting.
The target looked decent from a military standpoint, but Max wasn't sure about the morality of inflicting that much damage on them at first. Then he saw the details of the two inhabited planets.
[Population] 17 billion consisting of 32 million Grax and the remainder hereditary human slaves.
That was more than enough of a detail for him and any other Reaver Commander to take up the job.
[Cygnus Command, Terminus Trading Company officially requests to take on the compliance of the Grax.] Max informed their contact as the shuttle entered the secure bay.
The gasps of the security detail reminded him that only three people on the entire vessel knew that Cleansing Light existed. He could make that twenty-three now since all the guards in the patrol knew, but soon enough, the entire Regiment would be aware of their newest addition.
"Meet Cleansing Light. The latest and likely the only Titan Class Mecha in service to the Reavers.
I know many among the Regiment are Loyalists to the very core, but the old Kepler Empire has fallen. We don't know who the ideological inheritor will be for the moment, so I am taking the Regiment with me in joining the Reavers.
If there are issues with that, we will deal with them later, but I am sure that not a single Pilot will complain about freeing a system full of slaves." Max told the security escort.
"We came to grips with the fact that the Empire had cut ties with us long ago. The chances that a unit ordered to go dark and leave Kepler Territory would ever return to the light were slim at best, and we have done very well as Reavers.
I mean, look at how we lived as soldiers, and look at us now. I don't think the Regiment would have agreed to return to active duty even if they were asked." The head of the team replied, shaking his head at the thought of going back to living in a tiny officer's bunk aboard a transport ship.
[All hands and guests, we are now departing the system and headed for the Grax System, where Terminus will be involved in a pacification action against a culture that still holds sentient slaves. Please prepare for the transition to faster-than-light travel.] Admiral Drake informed the ship as he received the orders.
That didn't mean as much anymore, with the smooth transitions of Terminus, but those who were relaxing did at least keep a hand on their drinks so they didn't spill or fall off of tables.
"This thing is glorious. Why did they name it Cleansing Light, though? It's not even shiny?" One of the pilots asked.
"The forearm-mounted Disruptors can be linked to create an orbital lance level single strike weapon. That is the Cleansing Light that gave the Mecha its name.
We might even get the chance to see it here. The majority of the Grax live in a single city on one planet, with the last million or so spread among the slaves that make up the rest of the population." Nico explained.
"A Mecha that can deploy an Orbital Lance? Oh, you do know what the ladies like." One of the Pilots joked, then winked at Nico.
"Enough jokes. Head back to your unit, and let's get ready to make planetfall.
Nico, you will remain in charge of the Drone Fighter Battalion aboard Terminus while I am in Cleansing Light for the battle.
When we arrive, I will deploy at the same time that the Cutters are launched. Cleansing Light will make short work of the defensive ships, and I will take care of the Orbital Defenses while the Cutters make planetfall.
I don't know if they are using technology to control the masses, but if they are, that will be on you to disable Nico, so prepare something that can link you to the surface. We don't want to kill the humans if possible, so I need that done the moment you find out if it is necessary."
Max's orders were simple, and everyone rushed to their stations, even if Nico was clearly pouting about not getting to drop in and chop things up.
[You got to fight alone when we met the Hunters. You can do technical work this time. Life is all about balance.] Max told her as Nico left the bay.
[If there isn't at least a boarding attempt, I am totally turning up my shell temperature while you try to sleep.] Nico responded, making Max laugh, despite the serious nature of the situation.
The meeting was being held near the border, to begin with, and they only had to move three star systems over to begin their work, with an estimated travel time of two hours at maximum Warp.
They could be there even faster by sending only the Cutters and Cleansing Light, but it was better to take Terminus, as a Colony Ship was taken much more seriously than a collection of smaller vessels.
The remains of their delegation were still fighting at the Station, where the Cygnus fleet had sent ships in to rescue their own delegation and had been ambushed by the nations that felt betrayed by the way that the attempted Coup in Kepler had played out.
That left only a handful of Cutter Class and smaller ships in orbit, according to their scanners, and Terminus had detected only a single Orbital Battery on the surface, in the middle of the major city, which already had its battle shield up.
This might not be as easy as he had hoped, but according to Uncle Lu, the Disruptors could fire every three seconds at Orbital Lance output, so it wouldn't take him long to take out a city shield, even if it withstood the first blast.
[Dropping out of Warp in 10 seconds. All vessels, prepare to launch.] Admiral Drake's order brought everyone to full attention, nervously grasping their Mecha controls in anticipation of their first combat landing in a while.
Chapter 399 399 Combat Landing
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As soon as Terminus dropped out of warp, in orbit around the Grox homeworld, Max began an all-frequencies broadcast from the cockpit of Cleansing Light.
[This is the Terminus Trading Company, under contract to the Cygnus Empire. The compliance of your nation has been sanctioned. Please disable your shields and prepare for the peaceful reorganization of your political leadership.] Max informed them, hearing the laughter in Nico's thoughts from the other side of the bay where she was preparing to launch the Orbital Drone Fighters.
[The Grox answer to no Human Empire. Leave now, and we will forgive this transgression for a nominal penalty.] The response from the planet arrived almost immediately.
[You heard the man. All units launch.] Max ordered, then jumped out of the open bay door so that Cleansing Light could face the Grox Capital.
Barriers were going up all over the planet, as expected, but they wouldn't last long against the firepower of the Cutters, and if they were smart, they wouldn't fight back at all after Max dealt with the Capital.
There would be a lot of collateral damage from this plan, but it was the best way that he had come up with to end the fighting before it started, so Max began to charge the Disruptors on his Mecha for one concentrated burst.
The Grox must have detected the power surge with their sensors because they sent a volley of fire from their Capital defenses straight at him, flickering harmlessly against the shielding of Terminus.
Max moved forward out of the protection of the Colony Ship and let loose the first volley, faintly greenish light from the Disruptors forming a pillar through the atmosphere for the entire second that the weapon took to discharge. Then an immense explosion came from the ground, blinding every sensor that Max had.
Nico's evaluation came in even before Max's sensors had recovered. [The Variable Frequency Disruptor entirely bypassed their shielding, annihilating the city and causing the four fusion power plants below the Capital to go critical at once, with the blast partially contained by the city's defenses.
The chances of survival are less than one in a billion.
Chances of salvageable technology, less than one in ten million.]
While the Captial burned, the Cutters made landfall near the five largest work centers in the system, dropping their Battalions, which immediately split into Companies to secure their assigned zones.
Mecha surged out of the cities to meet them, shouting and chanting litanies that made no sense to the Regiment. They were all in a foreign language that the Kepler computer systems didn't automatically translate but seemed to be some religious litany by the assortment of banners and gilded leadership Mecha.
[Commander, the first translations are in. It appears they are calling us "God Killers." The Grox have set themselves up as deities to the enslaved human population.] Nico reported.
Seconds later, the Orbital Fighters were launched, a wave of drones meant to reduce the casualties taken by their Mecha in the first wave of an enemy counterattack.
[Just great. Now we have to deal with two worlds full of religious zealots. I don't intend to kill every soul in this system, so someone needs to come up with a plan in the next five minutes before the engagement starts.] Max ordered.
They had a staff aboard Terminus that was just for logistics, planning, and data analysis. Hopefully, they could come up with something quickly, or Max was going to have to do this the hard way.
[Plan H is to inundate them with propaganda touting us as the saviors who are here to overthrow the deceivers. We could modify it to call them false gods. Every Grox that we kill will reinforce our message that they aren't deities.] The planning staff suggested.
[That's not the worst plan I've heard today. Get on it. I want it on every television and every radio on both planets. Bombard them with the message that their overlords are usurpers, claiming something that they have no right to.] Max ordered.
[All Units target their leaders. Every signal you get that suggests a Grox lifeform, take it out with extreme prejudice. The loss of leadership will enrage them but also demoralize them and break the chain of command.]
Aboard Terminus, the Innu and Illithid were watching the battle play out with a mixture of horror and rapt attention. Like a live train wreck, they were unable to look away. War might be anathema to their cultures at this point, but the thought that people had been manipulated into accepting their slave masters as deities they needed to worship was equally terrifying, especially once Nico started playing the footage from the planet for them, as the Grox who were stationed outside the main city rallied their forces to move out against the invaders.
They clearly weren't going to come out to fight themselves, so Nico started marking them with the sensors from the Drones, giving the Mecha more targeting solutions that would directly hit the Grox leadership.
Max's [Unified Force] System Talent and the computing power of Cleansing Light gave him plenty of options, fed to him from the entire Regiment as he hovered in orbit around the main planet, so Max chose the most pertinent first. He ordered the Cutters to take out the shields on the various cities and manufacturing areas. Then he obliterated the Grox Temples, where a large number of them were hiding and issuing orders to the Human militaries under their command.
That was all that he could do from orbit, so Max searched the combat logs for the Company facing the direst situation and sent Cleansing Light hurtling through the atmosphere toward their position for some close fire support.
The Second Company of the Fourth Battalion had particularly bad luck with this landing. They had been assigned to what looked like a special forces training area and were outnumbered by Heavy Mecha at least three to one, with more assembling in the city.
The Grox didn't seem to have any Super Heavy Mecha so that the Thunder Guns would help even out the numbers, but for the moment, the Second Company was pinned down and beginning to take casualties.
Six Disruptor blasts turned two wings of Heavy Mecha into ashes as Max landed between the Grox military and his own troops. His arrival brought cheers to his forces and panic to the enemy. A Titan Class Mecha did not belong in a Reaver attack force, and they had no plans on how to counter such a devastating weapon.
Chapter 400 400 Cleanse The Grax
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The Grax military recovered quickly from the shock, returning to action with a vengeance. Zealous cries of outrage rang out as they concentrated fire on Cleansing Light, filling the air with bursts of light and explosions as their attacks detonated against its shielding.
[Shields at 50 percent and falling] the computer informed Max as he turned to place his shield between the main attacks and his Mecha, then unleashed the defensive Lasers and half the Disruptors with reduced power so that he could increase his rate of fire.
Explosions blossomed all through the Grax lines as Cleansing Light tore through their out-of-date Mecha, with the Second Company rising up out of cover to join in the offensive.
In under a minute, the Grax lines broke, and the Mecha fled at full speed back into the city behind the reinforced rockcrete walls, which could take the sustained attack of a Heavy Mecha company for hours on end.
[Grax forces, you have been deceived. We have been sent to punish the false prophets for claiming divinity. Lay down your weapons, and the humans of this world will not be harmed.] Max informed them, causing confusion among the defenders.
They didn't know that the Capital was gone yet, the news hadn't broadcast it, and the blast was out of sight from this location. So, naturally, they didn't believe Max at first, but when their Commanders didn't respond to requests for updated orders, chaos began to take hold in their ranks.
Much of that was Nico's doing, sending out encrypted messages suggesting that their Commanders had fled to save their own lives and abandoned them here, and part of it was because so much of the Command Structure had already been destroyed by targeted strikes that there weren't enough coordinated officers to get timely messages to a billion soldiers.
Under normal circumstances, a handful of officers could rally a dozen Regiments, which is what the Grax had been doing so that they didn't have to send most of their species to work. But when Max began targeting them, the relatively small number of senior officers left everything to the human Regimental Commanders, who relied on the guidance of their Divine Leaders before making any large decisions.
So, they held behind the walls, not retreating and not engaging the Terminus forces, as they waited for orders that weren't coming.
[Commander, I have infiltrated the computers of the city's primary landing bays. I am launching their ships into orbit now. They really should have updated their security.] Nico informed Max, laughing as she worked.
The sight of the Holy Relics, the colony ships that had brought the Grax to their world, rapidly departing the atmosphere without taking any of the Humans with them crushed the forces' morale. Max quickly jammed their standard long-range frequencies so that nobody outside the immediate area could contact them to see what was happening, reinforcing the idea that they had been abandoned here to their fate.
This scene played out all over the planet, but not every Regimental Commander was gullible enough to fall for it. Some managed to scan the ships and found them nearly empty, while others relied on faith to decide that it was a trick and kept fighting.
Over the course of an hour, the two sides dug in their positions, sending volleys of attacks back and forth with some restraint, with the goal of keeping their targets pinned down while they waited for the situation to change.
The forces from Terminus knew that if it came to it, they couldn't take on a military a billion strong, even if ninety percent of it was infantry. But on the other hand, the Grax forces knew that most of their divinities were dead or gone, and they would need to sacrifice many lives to drive this invading force from the planet.
So, the initial shock assault turned into a dozen entrenched battles, with a handful of roaming forces on the planet and sporadic bombing by the drone forces if anyone got ideas about trying to muster up a larger force.
The Grax air force was laughably bad, intended as a civilian police force to keep the humans in line, and they didn't even have weapons capable of damaging the Mecha or the Drone Fighters. After the first few minutes, they didn't even dare to launch a helicopter anymore for fear of losing the pilots needlessly.
The only time that a Grax vehicle was seen in flight was when it was marked with the Red Circle that they used to denote their medical teams. On principle, the Regiment left those alone, letting them evacuate the wounded, a tactic that was confusing the Grox forces even more.
The Terminus forces weren't attacking, only holding their positions outside all the major cities on the planet, and no more orbital strikes had landed. However, they were clearly capable of them. Coupled with the propaganda that was being spread on every outlet, the sentiment of the civilians was quickly turning against their own defenders.
[The Illithid have analyzed your tactical decisions in this battle. Our collective estimates seven more days before the population begins to abandon their alien religion and turn against the military, with a peaceful transition within another four days afterward.] Nico informed Max as he reclined in Cleansing Light, searching every sensor feed he could for signs of an imminent attack.
[Thank them for that. I seriously hope that they are right, but I suspect that given human nature, there will be a last stand, as the most zealous attempt to regain control at the last moment. They won't simply accept that the population has turned against them, especially the ones that were granted a larger amount of power by the Grax.] Max replied.
If there was one thing Max could count on in human nature, it was that they would never simply give in and give up. A large portion of them would be willing to die for their beliefs, even if they were shown evidence to the contrary. It was fundamental to the human psyche.