Chapter 401 401 For The Grax
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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As Max had anticipated, the battles began the very next day, with the most zealous of the human forces working out plans to leave their defenses, which had lost all of their spiritual guidance, and head for some other location that they suspected might be in better shape, with a stronger leadership group.
Terminus had all communications locked down on the planet, with only their own secure communications allowed to broadcast. Still, the propaganda feed on the civilian networks was in full swing, playing an assortment of peace messages, as well as fake news updates from around the planet, showing the Grax abandoning the humans the moment that someone showed up to challenge them.
Nico had been careful to make a point of showing that all of the Mecha Pilots in their fleet were human, just like the civilians, and that they were here to liberate them from false prophets, using the disappearance of the Grax overlords who had ruled these peoples lives for centuries as evidence that they were no more than cowardly aliens.
Max was actually quite impressed by the quality of the propaganda, and the subtlety of the subliminal programming that was contained within it, which the local population wouldn't have the technology to uncover and counter without their leaders and military computers.
That only increased the violence of the rejection by the zealots, though. Their every belief had been challenged, and in the morning, when the entire population typically tuned in for their morning sermon and daily news but only found the new news broadcasts, the Zealots decided that this was their moment to act, to prove to the people with their own eyes that the Grax Administration was still in power and could not be overturned by some puny human ship.
[Commander, we have Super Heavy mecha incoming from zone G6.] Colonel Klinger happily informed Max, knowing that the Commander had been spoiling for a fight after the Hunters insisted that their champion was a female.
[On my way, Colonel. How is the state of your men?] Max responded as he launched Cleansing Light into the air to meet the enemy threat.
[Holding strong. The Company's technicians managed to repair most of our damages overnight, and we are over 90 percent combat effective.] Colonel Klinger informed him as Max began to see the first signs of renewed battle at the city that they were camped outside.
Colonel Klinger had opted to spread his forces around the city, with His Command Mecha taking the North wall, while the Company Command Mecha took the south, and the First Company of the Fifth Battalion split in half, taking the East and West walls.
The enemy had decided to concentrate their attacks and were all headed for Colonel Klinger's Thunder Pattern Super Heavy Mecha, Claret River.
The artillery was roaring at maximum output, the Thunder that gave the Mecha its name, while the Ion Bombard Arrays tore apart heavy Mecha, and the defensive Lasers obliterated the Light Mecha that was either brave or foolhardy enough to show their faces.
The Super Heavy Mecha was still hanging back a few kilometers, letting the main force weaken the enemy like most Kepler Commanders would expend lives to save expensive Mecha.
That wouldn't save him today. Max was headed straight for the Grax Super Heavy, the massive form of Cleansing Light dwarfing the enemy Mecha. Anyone watching from the walls of the city could clearly see the difference between the two Commanders, with the clean lines of Max's Samurai-themed Mecha contrasted against the arches and spires of the Cathedral atop the Super Heavy of the Grax military.
Max saved multiple images and started a video feed to send to Uncle Lu, who had initially wanted his Mecha to look like that. The old man would appreciate the sense of aesthetics if nothing else.
He wouldn't simply obliterate it. That wouldn't give the effect he needed today, so Max raised his physical shield and drew his sword, pointing it at the enemy Mecha.
[Your false Gods have abandoned you. Stand down and rejoin humanity in self-governance. You are no longer a slave.] Max declared over the loudspeaker of Cleansing Light.
[You know nothing of faith. By faith, we are born, and by faith, we will prevail.] The enemy Commander declared, then blasted Max with a Thermal Lance.
The beam crashed against his shield and dispersed without any harm done to the Titan Class Mecha. It hadn't even depleted the secondary barrier on his physical shield, much less forced Cleansing Light to put power toward the main defenses.
[Then suffer the fate that traitors to their own planet deserve.] Max announced and stepped forward, striking downward with his sword and cleaving a large portion of the cathedral and one of the main weapons off of the enemy Mecha in a tremendous explosion of shattering energy shields and power couplings.
Before it could retaliate, Max brought the blade back on an upward trajectory that would take it through the center of the Mecha, gouging a large hole out of the structure but failing to find the power core hidden among all of the architecture.
The Super Heavy Mecha staggered back, flames licking from all over the unit where the chemical feed for the Thermal Lance had ignited on the surface of the Mecha when the weapon was destroyed, and Max aimed his fist down at the fallen Mecha, targeting with his Disruptors.
The blast vaporized half the Mecha, leaving a crater in the ground where it once stood, and Max turned to face the enemy lines.
The blade that Uncle Lu had designed could send out a Disruptor wave for mowing down infantry and light Mecha, an invisible strike that should be suitably impressive to these superstitious folk.
Max swung his sword, sending the wave of Disruptor energy into the back lines of the Grax army, dropping hundreds of Light Mecha as if the mere wind from his blade was more than they could withstand.
[Surrender and exit your Mecha, or we will be forced to take drastic measures to ensure the safety of the human civilians on this planet from your zealotry.] Max ordered.
That brought a renewed barrage of attacks against Cleansing Light, to which Colonel Klinger and Max responded with a full-force barrage of weapon fire, wiping out the remainder of the force in a single second.
Max looked up and saw a swarm of drone fighters in the air, spreading apart seconds after the battle was decided.
They didn't intercede, so they must be the ones Nico was using to film propaganda to broadcast to the populace.
[Your Divine Holiness, Cleansing Light, we apologize for our mistaken attack upon your forces. Please, can you release the daily rations?] The city broadcast to them.
[Nico, what are they talking about?] Max asked.
[Give me five seconds. Oh, there it is. The grocery stores and food warehouses are all keyed to the Grax genome. The humans couldn't get in to get their daily rations, and the Grax didn't allow them to have more than a day's worth of food, as they called it, hoarding. I will have them unlocked in 30 seconds. You can announce it whenever you like.
Make it sound good.] Nico replied.
Chapter 402 402 Not Convinced
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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[I am not Divine, I am human, like every one of you. My forces will have the food supply released to you within one minute. Please have the regular workers distribute food as normal. There is no need for panic or hoarding, the battle for the city is over, and you are in charge of your own fates.
Once the zealots who would see you remain as slaves are eliminated, an additional force will arrive to assist you with governance during the transition to full self-rule. Again they will be humans sent to assist you, not some Divine beings who would see you as beneath them.] Max announced from Cleansing Light, relayed through the city thanks to Nico's control over their public broadcasting system.
The cameras of the drones overhead showed the orderly procession of humans heading to various stores and warehouses while workers in uniforms hesitantly opened the doors, then looked around inside, not finding any of the Grax.
Normally, they would be given permission to proceed, but the automated systems had stocked the shelves, so they began their work with minimal fuss, handing out plain cardboard boxes, which Max could see everyone leaving with.
That was a good start. At least the city wasn't in civil war.
Yet.
The same could not be said for many of the other cities, which had to physically break into their warehouses to distribute the day's supplies. It didn't escape the notice of the civilians that the military had to break into their own facilities, as the Grax weren't there to let them in anymore. The scenes in those cities were much more chaotic, even without accounting for the artillery bombardment that was keeping their mecha forces pinned down and shaking the air of the city.
All day Max waited for something to happen, but the live stream of him and one single Super Heavy Mecha stopping the attacking force trying to leave the city was enough to dissuade the others from making a move during the daylight hours.
[Sir, we have movement from the position at F4. A large mass of civilians left the city with hand tools. If they are hostile, the estimated effectiveness is zero.] Second Battalion Command informed him.
[Maybe they're going to work? Hell, maybe they are running away from the city. We will have orbital data, and drones keep tabs on them in case they're going to a secret weapons warehouse, but for now, let them go wherever they please.] Max ordered.
There was no other news for most of an hour as darkness settled in over the side of the planet that Max was on, then Second Battalion reported again.
[They're coming back, looks like they're pulling carts loaded with supplies. Raw grains and root vegetables. They must have gathered them from a farm storage location.] The logistics officer reported.
[That's fine. We aren't trying to starve them out. Let them go. Propaganda will incorporate it into the upcoming messages. I am sure that they will be overjoyed to find out that we aren't stopping them from getting food or living their lives. We are just after the military assets.]
It might just be the strangest battle that Max had ever been involved in, but over the course of the day, on the far side of the planet, teams left every location and returned with food, using all manual tools and wagons.
It couldn't be enough to support the population, and Max wondered if there was some sort of replicator technology in the warehouses inside the city, like they had aboard Terminus.
The video of the teams going out and back with supplies played in the broadcasts, which incited the population against the Military, which had insisted in most cities that the warehouses could not be accessed without permission from the Grax, and put the food under lock and key.
The teams that were sent out were zealots, gathering rations for the military, and once night fell, the civilians began to feel hungry enough that food mattered more than threats. In some cities, the guards on the warehouses were attacked, and the food supply locations were looted. In others, small teams of rebels left the city, waving at the Terminus Mecha along the route as they passed through to the food warehouses, finding them broken wide open and guarded by a small team of Light Mecha, who helped them load carts to bring food back to the city.
It was a genius idea of Major Miller, who insisted that the key to loyalty would always be food, so if the Mecha made sure that the rebels could sneak into the warehouses to get anything that they needed and didn't attack them, it would help reinforce the subliminal messaging that the invading Mecha were their friends and liberators.
Aboard Terminus, both the Illithid and the Innu were highly impressed by the show, and the Innu had equipped a number of the Drone Fighters with their advanced cameras so they could get a suitable set of footage to end their documentary since they would be heading back home after this engagement.
They had more than enough for a full documentary on the Humans of this Galaxy and planned to make a sequel if this one sold well, but that would be at least two years from now, once approval was given and funding was secured.
They had also helped Nico set up a better social media presence for the Terminus Trading Company and Cruise Line. That way, she could post random videos, the Innu could tag her in their posts, and they could advertise their "Unscripted Adventure Cruise" service, which was a somewhat gray market in the Alliance, but not outright prohibited, except by a few members nations which fully banned travel to high-risk locations.
Mostly those were the more fragile and environmentally sensitive species, who wouldn't fare well in a standardized atmosphere designed for other species of much larger stature.
For example, the Pix, who was only six centimeters tall and whose wings were very easily damaged by energy surges and sudden warp shifts. Their council had deemed the risk of visiting the humans too high, as an attack on Terminus, even if it was absorbed by the shields, could cause an energy surge through the ship high enough to accidentally kill their species.
Another day passed in chaos as the food supply runs on both sides continued, and the situation inside the cities began to deteriorate. The attacks that Max hadn't come until the very last moment, though, and the first of them wasn't aimed at his force but at the civilians.
[Sir, we have a situation. We have an official request from one of the cities to eliminate the military presence within their walls. They have begun attacking the population for failing to adhere to their orders.] Major Miller informed him.
[Prepare to move. I will be there in seventeen minutes.] Max replied, leaving his position and heading for the city that the First Company of the First Battalion was guarding.
The other cities weren't likely to be far behind them, and his forces were stretched thin, so Max ordered Nico and the Drone pilots to stand by for emergency deployment. If they needed to eliminate forces inside the city, the small and agile drone fighters would be better than Super Heavy Mecha, and cause less collateral damage.
Chapter 403 403 Compliance
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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Everyone was in position and ready to move as Max cleared the horizon, using his height advantage to add targeting Data for his Pilots on the ground. That let them accurately target the Heavy Mecha of the Grax military forces with artillery, breaking armor plates, and disabling weapons in preparation for their entry into the city.
[Advance] Max ordered, and the Fast Attack Crusaders activated their thrusters and leaped over the wall, bringing the fight to the enemy, while the others took down the gates and let the Line Mecha and Corvettes flood into the city, with the Heavy Mecha as their backup.
The Super Heavy stood back and continued to shell the Grax Heavy Mecha Regiment as the Terminus forces advanced, joined by the rebels, who fell in behind the Mecha, carrying mostly industrial tools, pitchforks, and shovels, the truest of all melee weapons.
The moment that the protesters inside the city saw that the reinforcements were the Terminus Mecha from outside the walls, the fight against the Military turned suddenly brutal and bloody. The civilians charged the soldiers, while the Light Mecha picked off as many as they could to reduce civilian casualties.
The Grax Mecha responded within seconds, running to the scene just in time to be met by the Fast Attack Crusaders and melted down to slag in the streets.
The antique design that the Grax was using was particularly vulnerable to high temperatures, as the alloy of the structure softened significantly and made the armor plates buckle, letting the Terminus Mecha disable them in seconds.
Before Max fired a single shot, it was clear that the civilians would win this engagement. But when he unleashed the Disruptors on the Military bunker where the last of their reserves were being deployed, all will to fight vanished and the Military vehicles and Mecha began powering down.
Their occupants mostly exited the vehicles to surrender to their civilian neighbors. However, some did flee into the city, hoping to hide and erase any memory that they had sided with the vanished Deities.
The fight raged on for a few more minutes, but there were no targets that needed his level of firepower to deal with, so Max resorted to simply corralling the remaining defenders with his light lasers, crippling their Mecha and guiding them to the main forces to either fight it out or surrender.
Most chose to surrender.
[Sir, we have a large movement at A3. Suspected Super Heavy Mecha and an underground military fortress.] the Third Company of First Battalion reported, drawing Max's attention away from the fight at hand.
[On my way.]
They had taken very few casualties so far, and the medics weren't reporting any dead yet, only injures and broken Mecha, a state that Max would gladly maintain if it were at all possible.
[Multiple uprisings reported. Deploying Drones to assist.] Nico informed Max as a string of reports came in all at once.
This must be the Grax Loyalists' last stand, their organized effort to push the Terminus forces away from the cities while their force is spread thin and they haven't yet received reinforcements.
The number of fighters that Terminus had wasn't high, but even a half dozen per city could do a lot of damage to forces that were unprepared for an aerial attack.
Max arrived at the mining facility designated A3 in under a minute and found something that he never thought he would see in actual combat.
The Grax had created a rolling fortress. Initially, it had been mostly buried, but now that it was moving, it was over a square kilometer in size, rolling on gigantic treads, with its own shielding and numerous defensive guns.
[Would you look at that? It's an actual mobile city. I've seen them in video games, but I never thought that someone would be insane enough to actually try to build one. I wonder if we can get the design schematics for this thing before we leave? The Gamers Museum would love it.] One of the pilots raved as he watched the city rise up from the ground.
The gamer's museum would love this fortress. It had everything a mobile city could need, and it was a shame that they would have to break it to stop the military from using it to wipe out their Mecha forces.
The guns on the fortress were specifically designed for this scenario, Cleansing Light notwithstanding, and they were more than capable of blasting a Heavy Mecha Company out of existence.
Max focused all of the Disruptor beams on one arm and launched an attack against the front gates, the blow causing the city's shield to warp and flicker.
[This shield is a different technology than the Capital shield. I will continue to fire, so prepare to breach the city once the gates are down.] Max ordered.
A second blast caused a breach in the shield, and damage to the gates, while the third blew the gates wide open and cleared the mass of defenders that were lined up behind it, leaving the mangled remains of a Mecha Battalion scattered through the streets.
[Moving in. Command requests that you keep the shield down in case we need to make an emergency evacuation.] The Mecha Company requested.
[I am on it. Nico, see what you can do to disable this city.] Max replied, knowing that she listened to all broadcasts simultaneously.
[Working on it. This is not a Grax-built piece of technology. I think it was left by the humans that were here before them.] Nico replied.
That made sense, the idea of a mobile city was archaic, outdated for millennia, even on the most hostile of worlds now that Terraforming Technologies had advanced so far.
The Terminus Mecha were fighting in the streets, but it seemed that the defensive guns could not be turned inward, and only Max was subject to their sporadic fire. After a few minutes, even that ended, and the city ground to an abrupt halt.
[Commander, we found the power distribution node. The main power to the city has been cut. The facility is nearly abandoned, with only a few surviving soldiers and four Grax clerics remaining.] The Mecha Company Commander reported.
[Excellent work. Capture the Grax for interrogation, and bring the prisoners out of the facility. We will have to sort them out later.] Max ordered.
Chapter 404 404 Not Found
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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The days of propaganda and subliminal messaging were doing their job, and the first few attacks by the drones when they turned on the civilians were enough to convince most of the resistance forces that were still active to surrender to the mercy of their fellows.
In the end, only the one group of Grax that they had found within the mobile city had survived the initial assaults, and from what Max could tell, they weren't talking, but they were trying to influence his troops.
Like the Vampires and the Illithid, they had some mental manipulation ability, but theirs wasn't evolutionary. The scans by his Pilots indicated that it was actually an implanted device in their brains that was used specifically to target the humans and convince them to worship the Grax.
After a somewhat inelegant disassembly procedure, a sample of the device was sent back up to Terminus so that Nico and the technicians could examine it and counteract the effects.
The Grax seemed somewhat horrified by the raw brutality of the Human forces after experiencing that particular surgical procedure, but Max made sure that only his own men would be able to see what went on in that holding cell. They were doing a decent job of impressing the Innu with their morality and letting them film the soldiers torturing and beheading an alien for ease of study would not help their case.
[Once that device is analyzed, send out the message that the planet is pacified and request for payment. Cygnus should have an enforcement team prepared to take over from us.] Max ordered once the sample was safe aboard Terminus and into a lab.
[We're on it. The device seems to be incredibly simple. It works similarly to Illithid mental communication, but on a lower level that might not be perceived by the human consciousness, so it would be like a constant indoctrination message playing in their subconscious.
Just removing the Grax from their presence was enough to begin undoing the damage, but a bit of a tweak to the subliminal messaging won't hurt anything and will undo the damage faster.] Nico replied.
No sooner than Nico had finished speaking, a message came from the Cygnus Military.
[Lord General Kirkland had high praises for your competence, so we sent the enforcement team in anticipation of your timely victory. The estimated time of arrival is seven hours and nine minutes, with sixty thousand peacekeepers and administrators bringing the planet back under human control.
We are analyzing the data that we have been sent now and will adapt our technique to compensate for the former status of the citizens. Your payment is prepared, and you may relieve your troops as soon as we make landfall.
Glory to Cygnus.]
[You have to love that bureaucratic efficiency. It might have been a mess if we hadn't finished on time, though.] Max sighed over the radio.
[I don't think that they expected us to take so many of them alive. Sixty thousand administrators is not a lot for an entire world when the administrative work wasn't done by anyone still living on the planet. They've got their work cut out for them, training a whole new planetary logistics department.] Colonel Klinger laughed, realizing immediately that the Cygnus force would have a much harder time rebuilding things than they had to break them.
The propaganda changed from battle reports to assurances that everything was being brought back in order and that human help would arrive to assist them in getting everything working properly again and the supplies moving to where they needed to be.
That part turned out to be easier than Max had expected. Like Terminus, they had a very basic form of replicator, one that only needed raw biomass. So, once the fighting was over and they started bringing truckloads of raw grains and vegetables into the cities again, their food shortages were quickly solved by citizens carrying on their daily duties.
In fact, they were so well trained to do their assigned tasks that they brought most of the factories and industrial facilities back online on their own, even without directions.
The military was gone, so there was some chaos in the streets, which was being taken care of by newly minted neighborhood watches made up of former building security staff. Even with the Grax brainwashing them, the theft had still been an issue, so there was plenty of civilian security in place, and not all of them had been killed.
In some cities, the damage was fairly crippling, though. Max saw complaints that over half the population in one city had died because the Military moved before the Terminus Mecha had and had gone on a killing spree to eliminate the civilians who were rioting for food.
Max remained at the mobile city, the last bastion of the Grax, while the staff on Terminus worked on a device to counter the mind control devices. They had come up with a handheld tool that would block the signals and lead them directly to the source. The technicians planned to give them out to their Mecha forces in case there were still some Grax hiding and biding their time, waiting for the Mecha to leave so that they could reassert control over the population.
They would also be useful against similar attacks, and Nico added a function to interpret and identify the Illithid communications so that others without Max's talents could hear them from a distance and not force the creatures to come to stand next to them for verbal communication.
For the moment, it was one way, translation only, but the Illithid thought it was a great advancement, letting them broadcast to humans like a radio station so they could get their point across to everyone at the same time. Individual communications were mostly deemed inefficient by the species used to collaborating on everything they did.
He would soon learn that not all great advancements are great ideas. Max had gotten used to the constant chatter, but the device wasn't capable of being selective, and it broadcast every thought and sentence that the Illiithid wished to share with everyone around them, which with twenty of them on the ship, meant that there would be about five thoughts broadcast at any given time.
In the mental realm, the Illithid were incessant chatterboxes.
Chapter 405 405 Extinction
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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After a significant amount of interrogation, the Terminus Regiment found that the Grax population was the last of their kind, a species on the run after another planet's residents had overthrown them, presumably for the same sort of thing that they had done here to the humans.
Their attitude made it both more difficult and more pleasurable for the interrogation specialists to work, as they actually believed that their technology had made them gods. In their minds, that was all it took. If you could force others to do your bidding, you were their god, end of the story. So, they believed that they had every right to do what they pleased and that humans should remain below them.
That explained a lot about their attitude at the negotiations for territory. Max hadn't been able to pinpoint their attitudes among the crowd and had thought that they were merely arrogant. Seeing them here made him realize just how delusional the Grax really were.
[Ground Forces, prepare for incoming shuttles and Landers. The Cygnus fleet also requests Commander Keres's presence in orbit for the final payment transfer and formal transfer of responsibility.] Admiral Drake informed them as Max finished the paperwork confirming that all of the settlements had returned to normal food distribution.
The rest of the issues were no longer his problem, but he had to at least make sure that the people wouldn't starve if the Cygnus administration had issues getting used to their jobs here.
[I am on my way up. Hopefully, Cleansing Light doesn't scare them too much.] Max replied with a chuckle.
Nobody had warned the Cygnus forces that they had a Titan Class Mecha with them, so the appearance of one in the hands of the Reavers was going to cause some serious ripples through Cygnus politics.
[We have a cutter ready if you wish to use it to return to orbit.] Nico offered.
That might actually be the best idea for today. The rumors that the locals spread would be wild anyhow since his forces had eliminated their former deities, so talk of one giant Mecha who had intervened in a few cities would be passed off as superstition.
[Do it. I will ride the Cutter back up, and then you can send it back to the surface for the battalion. Please have a shuttle ready when I arrive unless we are holding the meetings on Terminus.] Max decided.
[Second Battalion's Cutter is closest. Inbound now. Your departure will have to wait until the landers have cleared the airspace above you. We don't have access to Cygnus flight paths.]
Nico was clearly annoyed by that fact, but after the recent news of military facilities being hacked by both Kepler and the Narsians, they had put some effort into upgrading their security measures.
While Max loaded Cleansing Light into the Cutter in a kneeling position, being too tall to walk into the bay, the locals waved a happy goodbye to him, well conditioned to believe their news media, and now well indoctrinated to see the Reavers and Cygnus as their rescuers, but Nico had been careful to make sure that they would see the Cygnus administration as fellow humans helping them get their planet up and running for the common good of their new allies.
The Landers were reaching the ground now, far too widely spaced to be in an invasion fleet, but Max knew that they were bringing thousands of Light Mecha with them for security purposes since the ones belonging to the military were mostly destroyed and weren't compatible with Cygnus repair facilities anyhow.
The Cutter took him back to the bay, where Nico and his security escort were waiting for him to arrive.
"We have the paperwork all ready, confirmed, and double-checked by both myself and the Admiral. Cygnus wants to pay with a mix of materials and goods, to be picked up from their sources. We have the copies of the requisition orders ready to be signed." Nico informed him.
"It feels like we actually did something worthwhile today," Max replied with a smile, making the security forces chuckle.
"Is that our next goal? Turning the humans into less of a Galactic embarrassment?" One of them asked, the helmet keeping Max from immediately telling who.
"It's not a bad goal. Even if we can get to a status like the Hunters, it would be a good start. Once we finish here, I plan to take us back to the western edge of civilization. The Klem has been a problem for too long, and we are in a good position to clear a few high-threat planets while the rest of the region plays politics." Max replied.
"So, we let them do what they do, then we show up afterward with technology and start reshaping the Human Species?" Nico asked.
"Is it such a bad plan? Someone needs to kick them in the ass to get them in shape, and we need to start somewhere." Max asked before he noticed the dubious thoughts of the guards and Nico's misconception about annihilating anyone who disagreed with their plan.
"I say we start in the outer arms. If we start by organizing the Mercenaries and building their technology to match the Reavers, we can have all the unaligned humans on the same page. With all of the merchant and Mercenary forces on another level, it will force everyone else to comply or be left out of the new trade routes that we can manage in days instead of months." Max clarified.
"That's not bad. We could talk to the council and get permission to start bringing the Mercenaries into the Reaver nation. Most of them have already made trade agreements with Rae 5, so it would just be an expansion of what we are already doing and some serious shipments of new technologies.
I think even the Alliance would approve of your methodology, though a Colony Ship full of Titan Class Mecha sounds like a much more fun way to bring planets into compliance.
Just imagine it. A thousand orbital strikes at once, broadcast all over the Galaxy, to remind humans that it is time to give up on the notion of large-scale wars or be deleted from the future." Nico sighed.
"Peace through Genocide. It's a catchy motto, but I don't think that he's going to go for it, Nico." One of the guards reminded her.
"Just wait. He will eventually get frustrated with the stupid people, and my way will start sounding better and better." Nico disagreed.
Max could already see how that was a possibility. That was the danger of Nico's ideas. They would work so much better than doing things the right way. Who would dare to start a war if Terminus would just show up with enough firepower to annihilate your entire culture in a single strike?
It was fairly similar to how the Valkia had done things, but he was hoping that such drastic measures weren't going to be necessary. Even the Hunters wouldn't appreciate that tactic since it wasn't sporting of them to win by pure overkill.
"Don't hold your breath for that. We will do it with technology and culture, not Orbital Strikes." Max replied.
Nico gave a pointed look down at the planet below them.
"Alright, limited Orbital Strikes to make a point when necessary."
Chapter 406 406 Payment Plan
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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Max changed from his Pilot suit into more flamboyant garb that Nico had prepared for him and led the way into the Shuttle. Most of the time, this was the most nerve-wracking part of the deal, where the leaders of your team were exposed, in a light vehicle, on their way to talk to a business partner that you could never fully trust.
They had a lot of faith in the goodwill of the Cygnus forces, at least at this point when the Reavers were helping them take a large number of other planets as well, but that wouldn't last forever. Once they were no longer vital to the plan, there was always the chance that they would be double-crossed or the terms of the payments would suddenly change.
That was the primary reason that the second in Command was usually the one sent to these meetings. They were trusted to do the job, but the Company wouldn't crumble without them, and they were rewarded accordingly.
But Cygnus was one of the great powers among the human species. It would be an insult to them not to show up himself to hand over control of a planet that they had pacified.
The shuttle landed in the Cygnus Cruiser's bay and waited for the hull temperature to adjust while Nico stared at her watch and sighed.
"We really do need to start teaching them how to do essential things. I don't know how we ever survived without the bay door barriers fully functional, and it's only been a month since they were fixed.
Maybe we should mass produce a simple replicator and sell it to them like a microwave oven, where they can put ingredients in and get real food back. Bribe the soldiers through their stomachs." Nico suggested.
"At least teach them to fix the door. That is such an amazing bit of tech that everyone should have it. I was talking to some friends back on Rae 5, and they are already retrofitting all Reaver vessels with it, and it has been incorporated into the new vessels they are making." One of the guards added.
"I will send it to Lord General Kirkland, and he can distribute it. If I deal directly with him, they will take it as an agreement between Nobles, and appropriate payment for the use of the royalties won't become an international incident like it would if we tried to move the technology through the military procurement channels." Max replied.
Once it was safe to exit the vessel, Max led the team out of the shuttle, feeling a bit like a peacock in the black leather pants and flashy gold silk shirt with a long red coat that Nico had put him in. She was, of course, dressed to match and looked amazing, but it was a bit much for Max, even without the hat that she had tried to add.
"Commander Keres, Imperial Lady Tarith, it is a pleasure to meet you both. I am Archduke Von, Cousin to the Imperial Princes." The leader of the deployment greeted them.
"A man of your stature leading the compliance effort on such a backwater planet? I am surprised that you agreed to be so far from the influence of the court." Nico responded after a polite curtsey.
"Trust me. It is far less stressful to be away from Court, even on a calm day. My older brothers all run the planets of our home system, and I was a bit slighted on the inheritance, but Governor of Grax doesn't sound too bad on the resume, and it looks like I will have carte blanche to establish things in a way that I would never get to on a more civilized planet.
I have grand plans for this small system. The asteroid belt alone is a treasure trove, and a small allocation of mining rights would lift the quality of life on the surface to new heights. It is already sparsely populated and mostly wild, so it is the perfect platform for a retirement system." The Archduke informed them.
"A retirement planet?" Max asked, unfamiliar with the concept and not understanding what the man was thinking.
"When they grow older, it is customary to turn their positions over to their children. The aging Nobles of Cygnus are often targets for positions as advisors, business leaders, and other such annoying nonsense. So, I plan to keep the system on a restricted access basis so that they can come here to retire and relax.
It will take some serious upgrading of the city's amenities, but we are prepared for that, and everyone will benefit from it. The domestic staff of a Cygnus Noble lives better than ninety percent of the human race, and I plan to make a whole planet full of them."
"Don't try to set yourself up as separate and above the locals. It will clash with the propaganda that we have been feeding them, that humans are equal and worthy," Max replied.
"As long as I can still set up a hierarchy of employers based on wealth, it should be fine. I take it there was no local hereditary leadership other than the aliens?" Von asked.
"Only the military positions which were put in charge of overseeing the others. There is a whole report ready for your reading." Max told him.
"Ah, marvelous. I will take some time going over everything. For now, the forces on the ground are not nobles, so they will serve as work supervisors and middle management, which every society needed to begin with. They know that they are not the boss, so they should be relatable to the locals, I hope.
Cygnus used the biometric data we could obtain to send workers who looked somewhat like the locals. The facial features will be different, but we didn't want to separate the new arrivals by having them all look wildly different than the ones they were supervising."
Max nodded in agreement. "Good call. They are good about following orders, and they took the initiative in most cities to get things working normally even before we started our efforts to prepare for your arrival, so their job should be an easy one. Now, should we get to this formal paperwork?"
"Of course. We have already verified it, and it is ready for signature. The Reaver Command on Rae 5 has already begun arranging pickup times for the payments to the Companies that are doing the leg work to help Cygnus expand its territory. The amounts were simply too large for most of the vessels to be able to carry, though I suppose your Colony Ship could have managed it." Archduke Von agreed.
The two copies of the agreement were compared and read over one last time, then signed by all parties present before the formal handshake and shot of Rum to seal the deal.
On the way back to Terminus, Max calculated the actual payment for their work, and it was more than enough to build another Terminus and rebuild every Mecha in their fleet. They had lost nearly fifty units but no Pilots, thanks to the new shield technologies that helped defend the cockpit from attacks, even after main power was down.
If Rae 5 was using the payments for this scheme to build the new Mecha they were planning to sell, they had just won the proverbial lottery. Every hard-to-manufacture part and rare resource they would have trouble mining for themselves was included on the list for just this single planet. From what Max knew, there were dozens of others that Companies were working together to prepare for a transition to Cygnus rule as well.
Rae 5 would be busy just trying to unload this all to the dozens of stations in the system, much less process it all into new vehicles and Mecha.
Chapter 407 407 Head West For Adventure
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
[I need all Command staff in the meeting room in one hour for a briefing.] Max ordered as he made plans for their next destination.
There was a human world isolated in the depths of Klem Territory that he wanted to intervene with.
They had sent out a request for assistance or evacuation, but nobody had been willing to take it on so far. Over the course of the past decade, the Klem had taken every system around them, leaving them an isolated pod of humanity in the middle of Klem territory. It was strongly suspected that they were being used as bait so that the Klem could attack the ships that came to rescue them or trace them back to their homeworlds in search of more biomass.
So, he would take Terminus toward the empty space of the Galactic Core, and they would travel in from that direction, leaving no definite evidence of which inhabited area that they had come from.
The location might not be a trap, but it wouldn't be the first time that the Klem had done something surprisingly sneaky when it was near their core worlds and they had communication with their central network of Queens.
They might only work together when none of them stood to benefit personally. Still, when they did, they could be incredibly cunning, far beyond what they were normally considered capable of.
Max waited for the others to arrive at the meeting while he prepared coffee and notes for them all to go over, showing the intended route, the inhabitants of the planet, and the exact content of the evacuation or aid request.
Max was certain that none of them would have an issue with it, though there was a significant risk of injury or death, but perhaps one of them could see something that he had missed or a flaw in his plan.
One by one, they filed in, taking seats around the table with the holographic map in the middle where everyone could see what the presenter was talking about. Last up was Nico, who arrived with snacks to go with the coffee, as well as one of the Illithid.
"The Innu are leaving tomorrow, but the Illithid wish to leave an advisor with us when they go. They're not hiding that they intend to report back to the Alliance about our activities, and they can read minds, so I don't see a good reason not to include them in the planning meeting at this point." Nico informed the group.
"You might as well take a seat. It's less creepy than having people think you're spying on them from another room." Colonel Klinger agreed, making the Illithid laugh.
"It is common practice for all ships in the Alliance to have an Illithid aboard for prevention of deception and mutiny. Now, your ship has Commander Keres for that purpose since it is very hard to lie to him, but I hope that my insight can prove my worth as an advisor." The Illithid introduced himself.
They didn't give themselves individual names, so Max really couldn't call him anything else, except maybe Advisor Illithid, which was both amusing and ironic at the same time.
"Let's get this started. We have received a request for aid. This planet is surrounded by Klem-held worlds and is requesting preventative evacuation. I think it will be the perfect place to pass some time doing good work while things settle down.
The plan for the attack we can discuss in a moment, but the real reason that I have called you here is that I have a plan for the future of Terminus, both as a ship and as a Trading Company.
I want to push humanity toward the standard for galactic acceptance. Now, the standards of the Alliance might be a bit high for an immediate goal, but at the very least, a unified Human Alliance, with sufficient technology tying it together not to be considered archaic by intergalactic standards, would be my preference.
I also have the plan to do it.
What I want to do is wait for the Chaos of the fall of the Kepler Empire to subside and for the new nations to establish basic peace treaties among their planets. While they work that out, we will work with the other Reavers to spread technology to the Mercenaries that they have been cut off from for Centuries.
They have already completed all of the negotiations to ally with the Reavers, and trade between the groups has been authorized, with the exception of a few blacklisted groups. Between the two groups, we have the manpower to completely dominate international trade. The Reavers can take over every single major trade route once they have the new ship technology to break warp 10.
With that, they can spread the basic design of the replicators and the new materials printers to every planet that is interested, with the caveat that they will be wiped out of existence if they use them for war against other nations that share the technology.
It feeds into their feelings of importance, and with so many nations set to fall and others to greatly expand, the timing is perfect to renegotiate treaties.
At the very least, Cygnus, The Reavers, The Death Wind Territory, and the Kepler Free Region, who has already begun working with the Reavers, are in.
I don't know how many small nations will survive this next year or two, so we can't calculate that yet, but that covers over half the inhabited planets in this region of the Galaxy."
Max stopped for a moment to show the regions that were likely to say yes immediately, as well as list out the basic technologies that would be distributed as bribes to sign onto the agreement and improve human living standards even more than they already were.
Nico perked up as she looked over the map. "Hey, that gives me a really good idea. The Replicator technology can use pretty much any form of biomass to create food you see. We have a Klem infestation on the border and a freshly developed technology that can turn them into delicious, nutritious ration packs for our forces and workers."
Everyone stared at her for a moment before the Illithid began to laugh. "I suspect that convincing the population to eat food made of recombined giant insects might meet with more resistance than you have suspected, Miss Nico. Even if it is a perfectly normal ration pack, the innate mental resistance to eating bugs is strong among almost every species, including everyone else in the room, myself included."
Nico frowned but nodded. "Noted. No telling the forces on the ground that we plan to feed them recombined Klem to save on resources, and no giving them out as humanitarian aid packages."
The Illithid looked to Max for assistance. "Her mind doesn't work the same as Humans. Is she always this stubbornly inventive?"
That got everyone in the room in on the laughter. "You have no idea. But the short answer is yes. If there is a creative answer needed, we make sure to ask her. Though the answer often involves a genocide of convenience, her plan always includes elements that will work to solve the problem."
Chapter 408 408 Agreed?
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"But how did you know to call her Nico?" Major Miller asked before holding up a hand to forestall the answer.
"Sorry, I forgot that you can read minds, so nicknames and code names mean nothing to the Illithid."
"Are we in agreement then?" Max asked.
"I don't see any problems with the plan. Even a standard lawn or a city park could feed a large portion of a neighborhood if everything can be made edible. That would make things much easier for the planetary administration and turn naturally grown food into a boutique specialty. That's good for farmers who are growing for more than bulk production.
The addition of new design Materials Printers to small nations will be a huge change. Most of them don't have the technology at all yet, and they are still building conventionally. The limited recombining abilities of the new printer will revolutionize construction for them and allow the construction of ambitious new designs by their local architects.
I think it will work, at least to some degree. There are bound to be holdouts, at least for the first few decades, until we can prove that we have the right plan and that it's working. Then the civilians will vote with their feet. Those who can leave for greener pastures on other planets, the ones that are allied to the Reavers, will leave the reluctant nations, and the pressure should force them to accept or become virtual pariahs." Colonel Klinger agreed.
Max looked to the Illithid, but all he sensed was agreement, and a sense of appreciation for the devious nature of humans, who would shame and leverage their own people into doing what was in their own best interest.
"Excellent. I had expected a bit more resistance to such an ambitious plan, but this makes things easy. Nico, please get in touch with the Reavers, and make sure they know what we have planned. I have messaged the basics to your mother already, but she hasn't responded yet. I suspect that she's too busy with all of the big-picture negotiations to deal with me right now." Max explained.
"She only messages back when she wants to complain. That's just how she is. If you haven't heard from her yet, she thinks the idea is worth considering. I will make sure that it is all organized, though, and that every Reaver Company is being given access to the appropriate plans so that they all have the Replicators and new design Materials Printers." Nico replied with a smirk.
"Where did we get the new materials printers from anyhow? I saw them going up in the repair bays after the last battle, and they're pretty cool, but I've never seen them before." Colonel Lucas of the Third Battalion asked.
"I wasn't planning to say anything until they left, but we might have reverse-engineered them from the technology aboard the Innu vessels that are docked here aboard Terminus.
I am not sure how the Illithid or even the Alliance as a whole feels about that, so I was keeping it quiet." Nico told the thickly bearded pilot.
"You managed to reverse engineer technology, just by looking at it, without disassembling it, and managed to make a working but lesser version using a basis of your own technology? That is simply incredible. I don't even think it violates the Alliance copyright laws since your thoughts say your design is significantly different from the original.
Innovation is encouraged by the Alliance, and I am sure they would be impressed by your resourcefulness in using as much as you could to advance your own species without asking for handouts from other species to move humanity forward." The Illithid replied after a moment's reference with its compatriots.
"In that case, I will keep using as much as I can to send my results to our greatest scientists. Some of the things that they come up with are truly unexpected, and they are already allied with the Reavers." Nico told him with a smile.
[All of the words are true, but I get an ominous feeling from them. How unusual.] The Illithid told Max through mental communication.
[Yes, that is a defining trait of interacting with her. There is something subtly off about her logic, and it is hard to pinpoint what it is until she does something completely outrageous.] Max agreed.
"Now, to the essentials of the plan. How is the modification of the Portal Projector coming along?" Max asked.
"We have the projector on Terminus modified to create a portal large enough for itself to fit through, thanks to the elongated and rounded shape. If you want to use it to approach the suspicious planet, I can say that the technology is ready, but a secondary stop in between so that the Klem don't trace it back, assuming that they even have the capability, would be a good idea." Nico replied.
Colonel Klinger was the next to speak up. "The whole message seems suspicious to me. Since when does Klem leave an entire planet surrounded and unmolested? They have never shown such patience. They use planets near their borders as bait, not ones within it."
Max nodded. "That is a very valid point. You think the planet might be under Klem's occupation and is only generating fake signals from the remaining human infrastructure?"
The other Battalion Commanders all took a moment to think about that while Nico brought up an expansion report detailing the pattern that the Klem had spread by to get to their current borders.
"Stop there. Back up one standard monthly unit. That swarm is not traveling by predicted gravitational adjustments. The Illithid are very good at that sort of math, and that pod swarm didn't originate where the calculation says it did." The Illithid interrupted.
Nico rewound the report, and the advisor added three edits to the projected route of the pods, one of which should have intersected the location of the planet that they were headed to.
"Interesting. The timeline matches, so either it was deflected and passed on very near to its original route, or it landed and was replaced. It is a standard occurrence on planets where the pods aren't bringing invasion but much-needed resources.
I can't see a scenario where humans would be in a position to trade raw materials with Klem, though, so I do suspect that something about that planet is off if the calculations are correct." Nico muttered as she adjusted the projections for the new math.
"Could they be hybridizing? They have done it in the past with other species that they found useful. Perhaps the Klem have found a use for something about the humans and are using that planet as a test site for a new hybrid organism that has a capability that they lacked?" Colonel Lucci suggested.
"What would they even be missing, though?" Major Miller asked.
Nico flipped him off, then wiggled her fingers at him. "Prehensile hands. None of the Klem variants have thumbs or similar opposable digits, so they find it nearly impossible to use humanoid technology. It is one of the greatest advantages we have while fighting them, as all of our most deadly devices are completely useless to them, deliberately designed to need human hands to operate, which they lack.
I have seen them try with tentacles, but the results have been incredibly poor, as their eye-tentacle coordination didn't evolve for the task. So, it is a possibility that they are creating something new and cool out of the formerly human residents of the planet."
Max sighed. "Nico, please do not call new Superhuman killing machines a cool development."
Chapter 409 409 Hop Skip And A Jump
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
"Then it is decided we need to do something about the suspicious planet that may or not be full of hybridized Klem. First, we will make a jump to head into the galactic core, far from any inhabited planet, and then we will jump into the solar system where the suspicious planet is.
Needless to say, if it really is full of Klem, there is a good chance that we will come under attack the instant that we arrive, so we will need to be ready to defend the portal so that they don't realize that we have tricked them.
Unlike the newly colonized planets, the core worlds will have Queens on them, meaning that there will be more intelligence as well as new types of life forms. They are capable of attacking into space, using energy bursts directly or dislodging asteroids from their orbits.
The shielding on Terminus should hold up against either one, but if they start firing pods at us, we could start having issues. The pods can be designed to absorb most types of energy to develop, which includes the ship's shields, so we will need to deal with them, and Terminus is not a weaponized vessel.
So, everyone will be on standby to deploy, but first, we need to see everyone off now that their vacations and the filming are finished."
Everyone in the room rose as Max finished his speech, getting ready to make the preparations for their next move and to see off the new friends that they had made among the Innu and Illiithid.
Max headed to the hangar bays where the Innu ships were stored so that he could see everyone off and make sure that they enjoyed their stay on Terminus, while Nico went to the Cruise Ship section to say a personal goodbye to some of the technicians among the Innu before they left. She had bonded with them particularly well, thanks to their similar skill sets and love for new technologies, and Max suspected that a lot of Nico's new ideas were actually gained by brainstorming with the Innu and reading their data tablets as they worked.
The Innu could do the same thing, of course, so it was similar in a way to how Max communicated with the Illithid, both reading each other's minds, though Max couldn't broadcast his thoughts the way that they could.
It was only an hour before all of the Innu were ready, and the row of handshakes as they made their way back to their ships to head home began.
Terminus was providing a portal to them, saving energy from their ship's systems since such a long jump was beyond their capabilities, and multiple shorter jumps would take a significant amount of time or require them to use a commercial portal at their own expense to make the longer portion of the jump.
It wasn't far from where Terminus was sitting. The nearest one was at the borders of the Alliance, which began quite close to this Galaxy, but the fees for the energy consumption were high, so the guests highly appreciated the service.
"It still amazes me that humans managed to come up with a drive that has such tremendous energy output in a usable package. I am sure that design elements of it will start making their way into Innu luxury ships within a decade at the most.
The Alliance is so used to highly efficient transport that they haven't included the power to make a portal jump of multiple Standard Units for centuries. Why would they, when you can use a dedicated portal station and less than one percent of traffic moves that far?" The Illithid who was staying behind told Max with an odd sense of nostalgia in his mind.
"The Valkia mentioned that brute force to reach higher speeds wasn't the customary way that things were done, so I guess we really are following our own technology path. It does come in handy in this situation, though. Being able to send Innu back and forth to their home system will help us attract guests. Losing hours or days of vacation time to extra travel steps isn't the best marketing strategy." Max agreed.
The Innu and Illithid ships all left through the portal without incident, and Max was about to order it closed when he received a signal from the other side. One Innu ship requesting urgent permission to transit to their location.
[Permission granted. Welcome to Terminus, Innu Vessel. Please proceed to Docking Bay 17 and wait for the Gravity Beam to escort you through the barrier.] Max informed them.
The vessel that arrived looked a lot like the yacht that had just left but in much worse shape, repeatedly patched with the repaired hull sections left mostly unpainted and laundry hanging from lines along the mezzanine.
[What am I looking at?] Max asked the Illithid Advisor, who mentally laughed at the question.
[That, my young friend, is an Innu Tech Nomad. Your world had the digital nomads, who wandered the planet, making videos of scenic locations and their adventures with very little financial backing, as I recall. This is the Innu equivalent. They live off the royalties from new technologies that they send home and the videos they make about them on social media, using open portals as a way of hitchhiking between locations.
It is a good thing that you provide free travel portals because they could never afford the standard rate to send that relic of a yacht back home otherwise.
They might only stay a while, then explore humanity, but given the mission that Terminus is on, you might have just obtained long-term new guests.
Never fear, though. The royalties that they make from videos about the ship should be more than enough to pay for their room and board. In fact, they were likely only one of the dozens of similar vessels waiting at likely transit points for you to send the last group back home so they could come through.]
Max sighed and looked at his advisor. "I heard that we were popular on social media in the Alliance, but I didn't expect to become so popular that we brought ships full of influencers here so fast. I hope they're not as obnoxious as the ones on my homeworld."
The Illithid shook his head. "No, they are nerdy and tech-obsessed, not outgoing and social. If your second in command plays it right, she might even manage to hire them for a while. They are always short on credits, and you can offer free accommodations as part of their pay package, which is their primary goal in life, to exist for free and see new technology."
Chapter 410 410 Into The Unknown
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"Welcome to Terminus. I am Commander Keres, in charge of this vessel and its crew." Max greeted their new arrivals, who were wearing clean but well-worn coveralls tied at the waist with tank tops sporting assorted stains, but smelling of laundry soap.
"Thank you for accommodating us. We are Expedition Wrenched, a Nomadic Vessel in search of new technologies to share with the Innu people. It is an incredible pleasure to be here aboard Terminus, home to so many new and incredible sights." The lead Innu woman greeted him, clearly filming her arrival for a later social media post.
"Well, you can start right where you are. I don't think that any of the other guests took the time to record the sights of the landing bays. They are an archaic design by Alliance standards, as Terminus is believed to be a relic of the early expansions of the Giants, during the fracture of their culture at the point when they joined the Alliance." Max informed the group, who all appeared to be female.
[Is it normal that they are all women?] Max asked the Illithid.
[Totally. Innu women outnumber men by a large margin. They deemed it more efficient to have the majority of the species be capable of carrying children since they have the technology to gene splice between chosen partners and reproduce asexually if they desire.] The Advisor explained.
That actually made sense, in a Nico sort of way. There was no common sense to it, but Max could see that the combination of technology and biology made it the most efficient method for perpetuating the species.
[They don't pick partners to reproduce with for romantic reasons but for developmental purposes. Their romantic partner and their reproductive choice are often very different, based on the way that they want to introduce new genes into their children in an effort to optimize them toward the parent's goals.] The Illithid elaborated.
Yep, they were definitely on Nico's wavelength.
"That is truly incredible. Look at the alloy composition. It's every bit as strong as the hull of Expedition Vessel Wrenched, despite being millennia old. Truly a marvel of engineering for its time.
Even without using a portal, it must still be capable of at least Warp 3, right? Or have the Warp drives been totally replaced?" One of the nomads asked.
"They have been overhauled but are similar to the original design. The ship was originally abandoned because both sets of Crystals had been overloaded and destroyed, and they lacked the resources to repair them. The substance isn't common in this galaxy, assuming it can be found at all." Max explained.
"So you know some of the history? Does that mean that some of the computer files remained intact?" They asked together before making a strange pose of shock and excitement for the camera.
"Some. Once you are settled in, I will introduce you to our second-in-command and lead development technician. You will get along very well, I think, as she shares a similar skill set to your own." Max informed them.
"Oh, we saw that online. Nanotechnology Artificial intelligence embedded within an entire region worth of humans, helping their culture advance. Incredible. If it's at all possible, we would like to experiment with that." The leader of their group, a woman with bright green eyes that Max could tell were artificial, asked hopefully.
"The System's intelligence is all linked and very selective about who it chooses to operate for. But if you can obtain a willing sample, you might be able to interact with the nanotechnology." Max agreed.
"We will work on that later. Will there be swimming? Human males in swimming shorts are one of the top trending topics after you made that stop and went cliff diving."
That made the Illithid advisor chuckle. "There are many pools at the end of the gravity slides. They are a common leisure spot for the crew, especially the ones maintained above body temperature. It seems that the heat helps relax human muscles."
His response brought the chatter to a frenzied squeal of excited Innu planning their adventure, so Max decided to intercede and save his eardrums.
"Why don't we get you all settled into rooms first? My second in command will come to visit you later, but for now, we are about to embark on an exploration mission to a human planet we suspect has been compromised by the Klem, a race of vicious and invasive insects that you might have heard of from our previous guests." He suggested.
"Oh, battle against destructive invasive species. The Flora demographic will love that. Invading species eating their kin and stripping planets dry is the basics of the Horror genre in their galaxies." The Innu informed Max.
"Then let's get moving. If the planet is still holding out against the Klem, additional delays will cost lives, and I've got our entire security force on standby at the moment."
"Oh, yes, don't let us get in the way." They agreed, following Max to the cruise ship area, where they all stopped in awe to take in the majesty of Terminus in all her glory.
"This is amazing. We might have misjudged our budget, though. It looks really expensive." One whispered.
"But the Gravity Slides are unique in the whole Alliance. How could we miss that? We can just ask them for work. There's always some sort of work for an Innu." Another countered.
"They're not Alliance members, though. We don't know any of their tech, and we're not allowed to trade Alliance tech to them unless we want to end up in jail at our next port."
Seeing that they were beginning to panic, Max joined the conversation. "You should know that both myself and the Illithid can hear thoughts. But I do have a proposal for you. We aren't allowed to trade for Alliance tech, but there is no rule saying that we can't hire Innu.
If you would like to join our crew for the duration of your stay, you can help our technicians and engineers make entirely new technologies and work alongside our development team.
Videos of new human technology in development would be good for your streaming videos as well, and we can arrange for all your living expenses to be covered as part of your wage."
"Including clothes, food, and ship parts?" Their leader asked.
"Ship parts might have to come out of your wage, but we can include all meals, rooms, and a clothing allowance. The other Innu seemed fond of human swimsuits for the Gravity Slides." Max offered.
The Innu Nomads conferred for a while, then made their decision. "No contract term and no markup on ship parts. Our Expedition Vessel is in dire need of a cosmetic refit."
"You have a deal. We can make most of them on board Terminus, so the cost will be very low if we have the raw materials." Max agreed, shaking their hands one after another.
"Now go play. You've got a few days to settle in and explore the public areas of the ship before the design team will need you to do anything. My second in command will get you crew security passes when she has time."