Chapter 551 551 Making Progress
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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As soon as they returned to the ship, Nico got started on building the Terraforming Array, and Max sent a message back to Rae 5 as well as the Alliance ship location logs, confirming that they would be at the same location for multiple days unless something unexpected happened.
That let their portals open with just a safety check and not a full confirmation from the Admiral of their location, saving everyone some time and headache when guests wanted to come to the ship.
The upcoming Terraforming had been mentioned on their live stream, so it was no shock that a large number of visitors wanted to join them, but Max got a surprise message from Uncle Lu back at the Rae 5 Moon Base.
He had the first two Cruisers for their fleet ready and retrofit to the most modern of Reaver standards, though they were still much slower than what a custom-made vessel would be capable of.
They were the Cruisers confiscated from the Holy Light Nation and were themed as immense Gothic Cathedrals in space. At just over a kilometer long, they were dwarfed by the might of Terminus. Still, they were thoroughbred warships, each being loaded with an entire Heavy Mecha Battalion and two Interceptor Class Gunships roughly half the size of the Cutters aboard Terminus.
They weren't suitable for Mecha transport, but instead were loaded with heavy weapons for space battles and were capable of launching an Orbital Lance level strike on a planetary target.
[I took the liberty of recruiting and training a crew for you, all you need to do is pick a Commander to transfer over, and they are good to go.
Uncle Lu]
The sight of the two ships falling into formation with Terminus greatly amused the Hunters, and Max's second reading of the message from Uncle Lu was interrupted by a message from Huntress Khan.
[I never pictured you as one who put so much weight on matters of religion, but I must say, Cathedral-themed Cruisers are a nice touch. Very well suited to the Reaver sense of Bling.]
He didn't even have to talk to her in person to know she was laughing at him, but the ships really were glorious looking with the tinted window art, which was actually made out of a meter thick layer of translucent metal armor, and the front ram which was made to resemble two hands holding an open book.
[They are trophies captured from a particularly annoying enemy, but they do have a rather flashy sense of style that I think will help nations we negotiate with to understand the true tackiness that we are capable of when we put our minds to it.] He responded.
[The military equipment is top of the line, despite the questionable aesthetics. We scanned them when they arrived, and the Mecha are the same as yours, but the weapons are even better than your Cutters are equipped with.
The Warp drive system is a madman's delusion, though. To think that someone actually tried to double-layer the field so that an ornamental hull wasn't torn to shreds by a Warp 8 Maximum speed.]
Max laughed out loud at that. Uncle Lu might be a madman, but he was a very smart madman.
[I have it on good authority that it actually works and has been tested. If you like the idea, I don't think we have filed the paperwork for the Alliance Patents yet, so you can sneak in a free license to try it for yourself.] He suggested.
[No need. We already know the technique. It does work, but the power draw is insane. I think only human ships have the sort of drive that could actually sustain that level of output. Nobody else in the known Universe goes that overboard with power capacity.
They did a decent job of optimizing this one, though. I can see that they are working with the data you generated on alternate Warp Field designs.]
[The Gunships are a modern design, at least. Well, modern by human standards. The additional firepower should make our little fleet safe enough that the Alliance Elites shouldn't get their panties in a bunch about sending their kids here to be properly educated.] Max agreed.
[If you're still looking for teachers, how about you hire one of our recent graduates? She has a passion for Xenozoology, and I can't see your academy not offering the course, given your mission.] Huntress Khan offered.
A Huntress teaching students about the study and categorization of new alien species? No way would Max pass up that opportunity. The look on the students faces would be worth any amount of headache from parents about the background of their teachers.
[I will inform the Headmistress that the position has been spoken for.]
Max forwarded the last portion of their conversation to Medusa, who was busy refurbishing the interior of her chosen portion of the ship. The look of shock and disbelief on her face when she sent him a video chat link to confirm that she wasn't being pranked was incredible.
Max had never seen Innu's hair tentacles stand up straight like that before.
"I am almost finished here. This wonderful machine you sent me is clearly made for a much larger area, but it fits through the hallways, so I have been able to create my vision in a single walk-through. I will send out the recruitment advertisements for teachers this afternoon and the student recruitment messages tomorrow once we have a few confirmed applications that we can put on the brochure.
If possible, we should get some human teachers as well. We can upgrade their knowledge before the semester starts if necessary. The youngsters love exotic experiences, and none of them have ever met a human before, so it would help." She suggested.
Max contacted Mary Tarith while he had Medusa still in a video chat and relayed the message.
She sent back a list of six top combat instructors from Rae 5 that would be great gym teachers.
"Well, that's better than nothing, and humans are well-known for their athletic abilities. Not many species we've met, other than the Hunters, can actually outdo us when we're enhanced by the System." Max told the headmistress with a shrug.
"No, that is perfect. Nobody knows better how to perfectly tone a body than a career soldier. She is right, that is what humans are currently best at, and it will do our students a lot of good to learn from them."
"I will send her the confirmation and look forward to your updates on the hiring process. The Academy looks wonderful, from what I can see." Max replied, ending the conversation and letting her get back to finishing the reception and common areas on the main floor.
Chapter 552 552 New Staff And Archaeology
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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There really wasn't much that they could do about a species that might or might not even exist anymore, so the crew of Terminus and the Hunters settled into Terraform and explore the planet, both virtually with drones and by sending down actual teams to explore places that looked interesting enough to save from alteration.
They would still purify them of the lingering toxins and perhaps reintroduce some minerals that had been extracted, but they would do their best to preserve the natural beauty of the place.
That brought Max to his first point of concern. Nico had designed a wonderful city for a hundred million people to be built floating above the surface. Only, she hadn't really designed it. Max recognized it as a spot she had taken over in her past life.
That was a bit concerning, as no matter how beautiful the spot was, he knew what she did there, and the thought of her backsliding into past life behaviors was a constant concern when she brought up memories and designs like this.
Not that there was anything openly sinister about this city. It was absolutely stunning, and everyone who saw it loved it. Even the Shin adored the architecture, and they were hard to impress with anything that didn't contain fresh soil.
They would, unfortunately, be one of the last species that were allowed onto the surface of the planet, as their roots were extremely sensitive to toxins. This planet was so heavily poisoned with industrial waste and poisonous chemicals that even bringing them to the city once it was completed would require an extra level of sanitation of the shuttles at first.
They were well aware of their limitations, though, and were in no hurry to head somewhere toxic, no matter how pretty it was.
For the next two weeks, that was how they passed their days, cleansing and terraforming the planet interspersed with small teams of specialists sent to the surface to explore the ruins.
The live streams of those explorations were a huge hit with the guests. This was a species that not even they knew, so they got to discover everything in real time and speculate on the nature of the species.
They had a general guess about their shape, given the size and construction of the ruins. Still, the statue they had found of the mysterious vessel or mecha from the Hunters' legends remained strictly confidential, so there was no way for the guests to know that they were most likely bipedal since the statue had been extremely slender and long-limbed, with a larger torso, like an arachnid, but with only six limbs and standing upright like a humanoid.
[Commander, we have an incoming shuttle. One of our own, hailing for the Academy using the Headmistress' family code. I believe these are the elite teachers that the Professor managed to poach from other institutions, and the rest of the recruited staff should be here soon after them.] A communications officer informed Max as he relaxed in his seat and watched the exploration streams.
[Just in time. I thought they weren't going to get here in time to get set up before the first round of parents arrived to tour the Academy grounds. Guide them to the designated bay for Academy vessels, and I will meet them there.]
Max sent the news to Headmistress Medusa, who agreed to meet him at the bay so that the new staff could meet both of their bosses the moment that they arrived, instead of having staff members meet and greet them, as would normally be done for new teachers.
The shuttle was a Terminus vessel. The occupants seemed quite at ease inside, relaxing on the couches and chatting about what they might find inside a brand-new academy designed by the infamous Medusa Medellin.
Her name was synonymous with perfection in their social circle, and the fact that she had told off very respected educators in the past for failing to meet her exacting standards was no secret. It also made them both eager and nervous to be working under her.
The fact that any academy she designed and ran would be elite was a given, especially with their presence, the teachers believed, as they had earned their credentials with decades of impeccable results, but her reputation for perfection was still a double-edged blade that could bite them if they made a misstep.
"What are you thinking about?" The woman in question asked as Max listened to the teachers' thoughts while the shuttle prepared to land.
"I'm listening to the teachers' thoughts. They're concerned that your perfectionism might become difficult to work with, as you are the headmistress, but they are excited to be here and see what you have designed. It seems your skills are held in higher regard than your personality." Max replied.
"I am honestly not as bad as I'm made out to be. The incident was blown all out of proportion because nobody could believe that someone stood up to such a wealthy man." She shrugged.
The whole incident seemed like a minor thing to Max, who had seen how his own Commanders dressed down misbehaving soldiers, but that didn't mean that it wasn't a big deal in an elite academic circle.
The teachers filed out in an orderly single file line, based on their years of experience, and lined up to meet the new Headmistress with polite smiles on their faces. Well, on the faces of the species that had them. Their botany specialist was a Shin, and the Harpia didn't have a face that was capable of showing emotions, being mostly beak, but their body language was very expressive.
There were a few other species that Max didn't recognize right away, but a notable lack of the smaller species, which were more susceptible to injury by air pressure and energy flow changes. It was possible that Terminus still wasn't up to the standard that they considered safe but more likely, they simply viewed the risk of coming under attack as high enough to make this job offer a suicide mission for them.
"Welcome to Terminus, everyone. I am Commander Keres of the Terminus Trading Company, and this is Headmistress Medusa Medellin, your direct superior at the Academy. Thank you all for considering our job offer, and we look forward to having you all here at what we intend to make the most prestigious Academy in a hundred standard units." Max greeted them, causing a round of laughter among the formerly nervous teachers.
The Galaxy they were in was well beyond the frontier of the Alliance. There were only a few hundred prestigious Academies within a hundred standard units of here. In their minds, defeating those backwater upstarts with no particular pedigree was not even an issue.
Medusa took over at that point. "Soon, the rest of the staff will be coming to join your departments, and I will be expecting you to bring them all up to the sort of standard an elite academy requires. They are the finest we could find from around the Alliance, as well as some humans and a Hunter, so you should only need to form them into a proper team before the parents arrive to tour the grounds before enrolling the first class.
If you will follow me, I will return the Commander to his duties, and we can get started on exploring the grounds. Welcome to Reaver Academy."
Chapter 553 553 Allocation
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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While the Headmistress got the teachers settled into their new roles at the Academy, Max had his own employees to settle.
Namely, there were two Cruisers that needed new Commanders since they had been sent with a full staff and a Battalion of Mecha each, but the decision as to who would lead them had been left up to him, as the leader of the Terminus Trading Company.
He had been reading the minds of his senior officers for a few days now in order to determine who would be best for the role and had found the answer was unexpected and completely predictable at the same time.
None of them particularly wanted a promotion that would take them off Terminus, but Colonel Lucci and Colonel Klinger of the Second and Fifth Battalions, respectively, were the obvious choices, as both had the qualifications.
Some of the officers thought that sending Casanova might work out well. He was a skilled tactician and pilot with excellent negotiation skills and the added benefit of horrible luck in love, so they wouldn't need to worry about him fooling around on the job.
The man's pride might be irreparably damaged if Max promoted him for that reason though.
There were other choices as well, Reavers who had trained all their lives to take command but were too far down the list of seniority, so they had chosen to take a chance on a newly formed Company when Max expanded the roster and had proven themselves capable after arriving aboard the ship.
The most notable two were Luke Tarith, a distant cousin of Nico, and Marcus Blaze, a Major in the infantry who was from a Reaver family. Both were loyal and well respected, though their connection to Max was distant at best.
He got regular reports from both as leaders of their sections, but neither had shown any attempt to get close to him and try for a spot in his inner circle of trusted Lieutenants.
He needed interstellar vessel Captains and negotiators, not Mecha pilots, for the ships, so Max was tempted to choose the Reavers and not lose two of his Battalion commanders. Then he could pick a Mecha Battalion Commander for each Cruiser from among the new arrivals.
[Luke Tarith and Marcus Blaze, please report to the Commander's office.] Max announced over the intercom, after finally making his decision.
He would have to start grooming new leaders as well since they had more Cruisers coming in the next few months, and he couldn't just send away all his Battalion Commanders to lead other ships. Finding good and trustworthy combat leaders was much more difficult than finding good and trustworthy managers.
The two men came jogging in soon after, one silently, as was customary for the diminutive members of the Tarith family, and one with the solid footsteps of a full conversion cyborg.
"Commander, how can we be of service?" Luke Tarith asked, shifting to a comfortable ready stance.
"I've heard very good things about both of you, and your resumes are impeccable, so I am willing to offer you a chance at a promotion. Terminus Trading Company has two new Cruisers in orbit, and they need Commanders." Max began.
Their eyes lit up in joy while the two tried to remain somewhat professional during what they now realized was possibly the most important interview of their lives.
"You would really choose us over your closest Captains?" Marcus asked.
"My Captains and Battalion Commanders are the best at what they do, and I can't spare any of them to lead a Cruiser. I will pick leaders for the Mecha Battalions aboard your Cruisers from among the ranks of new arrivals, and you two will take command of the ships themselves.
The most important matters during the first few weeks will be building morale and loyalty. These crews were hand-picked for us, but they don't know us. At least not yet. I will be watching closely to see how well you can bring them into the Terminus Trading Company family.
For now, you will be on escort duty, ensuring the safety of the Colony Ship, so I will have both vessels dock with Terminus one day a week to let the new members mingle and get to know the crew and our guests.
The rest of the time, it's up to you to get them into shape. Any questions?"
"Can I choose my second in command to go with me?" Luke asked.
"Within reason. Who did you want?"
The short man stepped over to the data screen on the wall and brought up one of the Sergeants from the infantry, a middle-aged man with one eye who had been serving longer than Max had been alive, thanks to a few extensions in lieu of prison time.
Most notably, he had killed an undercover Inquisitor for countermanding their Colonel's orders and resolutely refused to accept that the man was not a traitor at trial. His adamant stance that the man was, in fact, a traitor led to a hung jury. It was a capital crime to kill an Inquisitor, but it was no crime at all to kill a traitor. Since there was no evidence either way, it came down to reasonable doubt, and the Military Tribunal chose not to convict him of murder but of failure to follow protocol for rebel and traitor officers.
Which extended his already lengthy term of service by an additional year, along with a one-month dock of his pay.
"At the very least, he looks loyal. If you think he can do the job, you can have him, but remember that your crew is a reflection on you, and I will be expecting positive results."
"Thank you for your trust, Commander."
Max looked to the big cyborg to see who he wanted as a second, but the man was deep in thought.
"I don't know the right person to be my second. With permission, I'll pick one from the ship's crew. They've had a few days together, and that's enough to see who the naturals are." He decided.
"Take your time. You've got 48 hours if you need it, but I'll transfer the Command codes now, so you can call for a shuttle any time you want to go meet your new crew.
Terminus will be here for a while, and you will be guarding her, so you can have your belongings shipped to you if you want to go see your new homes right away."
"I'll take you up on that, Commander. But first, I need to change if I'm going to make a good impression on my crew. I wonder if Luke's cousin Nico has any fashion advice." Marcus joked.
Even for a Reaver, Nico was flamboyant. And she had a reputation for finding just the right outfit for every occasion, but never the one you expected. If anyone in the ship could outfit the two new Commanders, it was her.
"Wait right here. I'll call her over to dress you two. You can make yourself a whole new wardrobe when you get to your new station if you want. I'm told that looking the part is important, and as the ship's Captain, you have a rather sizeable energy allotment for personal use." Max agreed.
The two men chuckled at Max's estimation of what the value of dressing the part meant, since he was wearing a black linen tunic shirt and jeans with military boots, looking just like any other Reaver with no meetings for the day, and he had never been one to get overdressed to meet his own crew.
Chapter 554 554 Esteemed Guest
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Nico was overjoyed to get to decorate their new Captains. She was so happy, in fact, that she brought the Tech Adept Harness and a toolkit in case Marcus wanted a makeover of his cyborg shell.
Unfortunately for her, he wasn't that brave, and the makeover ended with just a fashion adjustment, the Reaver version of having a new suit tailored.
"There we go. I could do better if you'd just let me tweak that outer shell. Even Luke let me do his nails and eyeliner." Nico reminded Marcus as she finished.
"He actually makes a good Captain Harkness, though. I prefer my natural looks."
Nico raised an eyebrow and waved a hand in his general direction, reminding him that he was just as artificial as she was, though not nearly as high-tech, so his best argument for not letting her program tattoos and a tan into his synthetic skin was just that, an excuse.
"You've had your fun. Thanks for the help, Nico. They should go visit their crew before we get too busy." Max thanked her, then shooed the two relieved Captains out of the office.
"You're no fun. But I do have fun things for you to do today. We've just received an advance arrival for the registration process. Some crazy Mushroom Guy named Ahmed. He's a riot to talk to, but everyone keeps bowing to him, so I think he's properly important and not just wealthy." Nico informed him.
Max searched the thoughts on board Terminus until he found the man in question. Ahmed Bin Saladin was a Myceloid Emperor in charge of over a hundred populated planets, all from the same base genetic stock as his family's spores. Emperor was more of a nickname than a position, though. The wealthiest Myceloid preferred to be referred to as businessmen, or heads of family, even if their family was billions of people.
They had originally populated planets much like the Klem by blowing spores into space, but the Myceloid weren't hostile or violent and simply adapted their own spores to their new home where possible or faded into either extinction or obscurity if it wasn't.
These days they had the full suite of terraforming available to them, so they did like every other civilized culture when they wanted to inhabit a new planet, which made an entire population from one base stock a rare thing, showing the age and power of their family.
He was with a younger version of himself in the gardens by the World Tree. Not really a child, per se, but a cutting, or a clone, the way you would do with a plant. From what Max could glean from his bodyguards' thoughts, that was the common way to pass down an inheritance in their culture. However, by Alliance law, the clone was considered an entirely new person, so they needed education and background to prove themselves to society.
The process also built another layer of expertise on what they had and helped keep them current with new technologies and cultural developments so that they didn't lose touch with the younger generations by living and cloning themselves in safety and seclusion.
Ahmed, in both versions of himself, preferred to be addressed by his bare name and got mildly annoyed with all the bowing and sucking up that people did when they recognized him, so Max led Nico to the front of the ship while briefing her on the situation.
Max kept listening as they walked and learned one more important fact about Ahmed. He identified as male, despite the species reproducing asexually through self-germinating spores.
The fact that everyone was avoiding getting in his way became clear when Max found the pair and their guards at the ice cream stand in the garden, which was usually packed full of people at every hour of the day and night, all alone in a bubble of calm.
He walked right up and extended his hand to greet the Myceloid dignitary with a smile.
"Welcome to Terminus. My name is Keres Max, and I am told you are here to determine if you wish to enroll in the Academy."
The Myceloid gave him an intrigued look and slightly awkwardly matched the handshake gesture. It was a custom among the species, but his station meant that everyone bowed to him, and nobody would dare attempt to touch him, so Ahmed had become a bit rusty with the process.
"Headmistress Medusa is an old friend of mine. When she was still in school, she won a contest to design a government building on one of the planets I own." He explained.
"Then you are guaranteed to start the semester with at least one friend on board, and she will have all the insider knowledge you could want," Max replied with a chuckle.
There was a lot more to their friendship being replayed in the man's memories, most of it very boring and professional, but it seemed that they actually worked together a lot. Most of her reputation in the Alliance for brilliant architecture had been bankrolled by Ahmed and sold to interested parties all over the Alliance after it was constructed.
A mutual benefit to both of them, though Max would usually call that a Business Partner and not a friend.
"Would you like a tour? The teachers only arrived today, so they're not prepared for visitors yet, but there is no reason I couldn't show you around. I did give the final approval for the design, so I know where everything is." Max offered.
"How many revisions did Medusa go through on this one?" Ahmed asked curiously.
"At least six before she presented it to me the first time, and I don't know how many more before she actually built it. I picked my favorite color scheme and left the rest to her." Max explained.
"That's the best way when dealing with an artist. If you interfere too much, it never feels right, like it was forced or limited. The artistry and life of it get lost somewhere along the way." The oligarch agreed.
Chapter 555 555 First Student
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"Is this a fellow student? Hello Miss, you can call me Ahmed." The younger copy greeted Nico, who had been standing behind Max, out of the way of the conversation.
"Good Morning Ahmed. Unfortunately, I am no longer a student. Those days are somewhat behind me, but it is possible that the recent renovations to my outer shell might have thrown off your sense of age." Nico replied.
"I would like to introduce you to my second in Command, Tarith Rage. Don't let her youthful and cheerful appearance fool you. She is well-versed in the daily operations of the ship." Max informed the duo.
"Oh, I should have recognized you from the videos. You're friends with Miss Lelu, right? What's she like in person? Are those tentacles real or CGI?" The younger man asked, referring to one of the Tech Nomads with a dreamy look on his face.
"We don't use CGI for our videos since we're not idols. It would make viewers question the validity of our tech developments if we altered the videos in any way. Lelu is a sweetheart. Perhaps you'll get a chance to meet her one day. She is often in the water parks on her days off." Nico replied with a wink.
The older Myceloid gave his clone an annoyed look that made Max chuckle. The young one was not good at disguising his desires yet, but they were the same person, so there was a good chance that the old one also had a thing for Innu girls, or at least their hair, and his younger half was giving him away without a thought.
The older Ahmed gave Nico a judgemental look, then turned to Max. "I don't understand your human traditions. Isn't she too sweet and innocent to be Second in Command? Or is the position like that of my offspring, where she will be your generational heir? Are you considered old for a human?"
Colonel Klinger, who was sitting nearby, enjoying a book under the branches of the World Tree, nearly choked on the coffee he was drinking, then burst into laughter, not bothering to try to hide his reaction until Nico turned a glare at him.
"Have I said something strange? You, bystander, explain what I have missed." Ahmed Senior demanded.
"Miss Tarith is one of the known universe's most brutally vicious Mecha pilots, with thousands of confirmed kills to her credit. She even managed to fight a Huntress to a standstill in a duel, ending the match in a draw when both Mecha were disabled." Colonel Klinger explained.
"Are you certain that we are talking about the same person? This small creature here?" The Myceloid asked again.
"Believe me, I was just as shocked as you when I first found out, but I am also a Mecha Pilot in the Terminus Trading Company's defense fleet, and I have been present for many battles with her, as well as the duel with Huntress Khan." Klinger agreed.
"My apologies, Miss Tarith. I have greatly misjudged your capabilities. You don't give off any of the sense of defensiveness that a trained combatant usually does." He informed her with a chagrined look on his face.
Or at least, that's what Max assumed he was going for since his species didn't really show much on their "faces," which were only an approximation of the humanoid equivalent developed to set others at ease while conversing with them.
"A simple misunderstanding. I am impervious to all weapons currently detected within this section of the ship, so I have no reason to be on guard. Unlike a biological life form, which can be quite fragile, I can take a direct hit from a Plasma Rifle without serious damage, and physical blows from any of the species present are no real threat to me." Nico informed him.
"So that's it. Like a Moon Raker in a spore cave, it's not that you're incapable, only unconcerned. My people have always had difficulty telling the difference since we encountered so few predators during our development. Even after all these generations, we still have problems telling the true predators from the dangerous scavengers, as it were." Ahmed Senior explained.
"No offense to those present."
Max smiled at him and gestured toward the exit doors at the far end of the courtyard. "None taken. I doubt any of our crew would deny that she is a true predator in combat. Should we take a look at the Academy before mealtime? There are a wide variety of foods available on the ship, and we have enlisted the help of various species to expand our menu.
If you have a menu item that you would like added to the regular menu or for a special order, we will do our best, or if you have a sample, we can add it to our programming directly. Exotic foods are one of the many reasons guests flock to the common areas of Terminus."
"That would be amazing. Perhaps we could visit other areas of the ship as well? I hear that Miss Lelu spends most of her time in the development labs. Could we visit them on our way?" Ahmed Junior asked, earning himself a swat to the back of the head from his senior.
"That area is unfortunately off limits to the general public, but I can ask her if she would like to do a guest lecture in the science classes from time to time," Nico suggested.
From the excitement in the younger man's mind, Max knew they had their first student guaranteed with those few simple words. It was also a great idea.
[Medusa, we're almost to the Academy with the Myceloid, Ahmed, an old friend of yours. He wants a tour of the facility in advance, and he's got a serious thing for cute Innu girls, so watch yourself. Also, he would greatly enjoy it if Lelu and the Tech Nomads could give guest lectures in the Academy on occasion.] Max messaged her to ensure she was prepared to meet them.
[I am quite familiar with his peculiarities. I will bring a small escort with me and take over at the front gates so you can get back to work.]
Chapter 556 556 Swarmed
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"It's a conspiracy, I tell you." Nico declared the next morning when the arrival notices of shiploads of potential students began to ding on her watch's communicator.
"We did not think this through well enough." Max agreed.
Medusa had carefully vetted the candidates, in her own words, and arranged the walk-through today to give parents an opportunity to reconsider, as well as explore the facility that their kids would be staying and learning at.
But what she had forgotten to factor in was that two parents for every student, plus any other kids they brought along, meant that she had booked thirty thousand people, who were all wealthy enough to have their own private space-faring yachts, to arrive at Terminus on the same day.
If they had no objections, they would be leaving their students here to settle into the dorms and returning home.
Well, most of them, anyhow. The Cruise Ship was completely booked for the first time, with many guests arranging to share space in the larger suites so that they could find a space to stay aboard Terminus instead of in orbit around the planet aboard their yachts.
Traffic control was used to military landing operations, with thousands of Landers operating at once. They were handling the increased traffic well enough, but there was still a long line of vessels waiting to arrive and drop off their passengers.
Max had ordered that a staging system be put in place, where the guests would be dropped, and the staff would return to orbit around the planet, and then pick up the departing visitors on the other side of the ship so that the two lines didn't interfere with each other.
Every five minutes, one hundred vessels landed in twenty cargo bays, ushering their guests aboard and promptly departing to allow the next group to disembark.
They could have used more bays, but that would make for a long walk for many of the guests, and the bays weren't all empty since Terminus had such a wide range of items stored all through the ship.
The applicants were given a timeslot, so they didn't arrive when the line was already too long and cause unnecessary traffic jams. The schedule would take nearly ten hours to get everyone on board, which would keep the traffic numbers through the Academy under control as well, allowing the teachers to serve as tour guides to larger groups and give personal service to the students with questions about the facility.
What had seemed like a huge number of staff only days ago now seemed like it was barely sufficient, with all of their guests wandering around, and Max began to wonder if he should dedicate even more room to the Cruise Ship portion of Terminus.
They could already hold a huge number of guests, but holidays at the Academy would pack their available rooms with guests, even if they weren't already hosting the usual complement of tourists.
Max gave Nico a long-suffering look, and she smiled back at him.
"I will get on the upgrades to host more guests, as well as a departure plan so that we don't have a ten-hour lineup of ships again next time."
"Thanks, Nico. I knew you would understand."
They were waiting near the docks for the next shift of traffic controllers to come on duty so that they could get feedback from the ones coming off duty about how to improve the efficiency of the process. While Max could search more deeply through a person's memories if he wanted, that was still somewhat limited, and if they hadn't thought of something before, it wouldn't tell him what he needed to know.
Directly asking them and having them think up solutions on his behalf was much more likely to come up with a workable answer.
"Incoming." Nico laughed and pointed to where a large number of kids were running their way with a teacher chasing them.
None of them could be more than about eight years old, and they were from a half dozen different species, so they were likely in the same class, organized by Traffic Control to land in the same bay so that they could take the tour together and get to know each other.
Nico extended a light forcefield so the kids couldn't escape the cargo bay and laughed as the kids came to an abrupt halt at the seemingly open door.
"No fair, we almost got out. Can you tell her to let us go for a bit so we can get ice cream? My sister is here on vacation, and she said that the ice cream shop in the forest is amazing." One of the Valkia kids asked Max, assuming he was the one to have stopped them.
"I can do you one better. If you behave for your teacher and complete the tour without any complaints from her, I will have the good ice cream added to tonight's menu in the first group student cafeteria. You are all in years one through four, right?" Max asked.
"We're in year three, and we're all in the same class. How cool is that? Will there really be ice cream in the cafeteria?" The Valkia asked.
"I personally guarantee it, but only if you behave for the teacher. I am the Commander of the Terminus Trading Company. I can order them to put anything we have on the menu as a special treat." Max replied proudly.
"It is an honor to meet you, Commander. I am Kita, youngest daughter of Alliance Councillor Karen. I will be in your care for some time, it seems, as she has instructed me to learn as much as I can about human culture. I heard her talking to her friends from work, and they think your species will be a trading partner in only a few years, just like the Hunters."
"That's silly. Aren't they going to be members? I heard on the live stream that a lot of Innu think they will be made members because of all their new technology patents. My dad is on the Taxation Council, and he was complaining about the loss of tax revenues since all of their patents aren't fully taxable as non-members." One of the Innu boys asked.
[These kids are a gold mine.] Nico's thoughts reached Max with a heavy dose of amusement while she tapped his arm and gestured to the parents, who were almost to them now.
Chapter 557 557 Celebrity Followings
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"I am sure the adults will decide what they want to do eventually. If your parents are friends and you're going to the same Academy, there is a good chance you will all be lifelong comrades, so I hope you can get along and behave for your teacher. You can tell your parents I promised Ice Cream on the regular menu tonight in case they think you're trying to sneak sweets without permission."
"Thanks, Commander. We will see you soon." Kita told him before waving goodbye and returning to where her teacher was talking to the group of parents.
"It looks like we have a pretty prestigious group," Max told Nico, watching the kids leave in an orderly double file.
"The two councils they mentioned are each made of a thousand members. Our district council back home was five hundred, and it only covered a quarter of the planet. I have the Innu looking into the situation since they would normally send their kids to their own alma mater to groom them for leadership roles with their future peers.
There is a chance that there is a political shift going on, and they are distancing themselves from someone, or some school, which led them to send one of their children here to hedge their bets and disassociate the youngsters from whatever is happening." Nico agreed.
"As long as it doesn't cause trouble for us." Max sighed, watching the vessels leave the bay and the crew get prepared for the next batch.
A few more groups filtered through without incident before Nico got her answer from the Tech Nomads. It seemed that some of the senior Councilors had been caught in a scandal that included getting the administration of a prestigious Academy to pass their kids with top marks to keep up appearances.
Those who weren't involved, and those were were their political rivals, were the ones who were here now, making up a few hundred of the ten thousand new students. If the problem spread, they could at least have one successor whose name had no hint of taint attached to it. A safety measure to prevent the political ruin of their family's legacy.
Most of the kids had no such serious concerns. They simply had an interest in new things and indulgent, wealthy parents who agreed to send them across multiple Galaxies to learn at a brand new Academy where the children of others in their social circle were going.
A little while later, a group of older kids, looking to be young adults more than children, came over to greet Max and Nico when they saw them still standing by the entrance to their landing bay.
"Greetings, Commander Keres, Miss Rage. My name is Gordon, and I am a student in the Architecture program here at Reaver Academy, starting today. It is a pleasure to meet you all and have a chance to learn under the legendary Medusa.
We never thought she would accept a teaching job again, so imagine our pleasure when we found out that she would be the Headmistress here and that she had received the certifications to teach higher studies from the Education Ministry."
The young man's thoughts replayed the news article of her slapping her old Headmaster in public, getting herself fired. It wasn't the most recent job she had been dismissed from, but it was a memorable one since she had been defending a student at the time.
"We hope to turn out a new prodigy for the new generation that is just as talented as she is. You have my best wishes on your attempt to be that person." Max replied, making him laugh.
"Oh, I'm not that skilled, but thank you. My father wished for me to express his appreciation to your traffic controllers. He is in the industry and says that it is exceedingly rare for a single vessel to manage this level of the traffic flow without incident or scheduling backups." The young Architect added.
"If he is interested, tell him to contact us, and we can provide footage of a combat landing effort with a human Mecha Regiment. Hundreds of Landers leave a single ship in orbit in under a minute to land all over a planet for a synchronous deployment." Nico offered.
"That's crazy. I will be sure to inform him. Thank you both for your time."
The student bowed and excused himself to return to his father, who was extremely excited about the prospect of seeing a combat landing and the organization that went into it.
There was plenty of stock footage in their archives, carefully sanitized to remove incoming fire and other mishaps, so Nico sent the curious man a short video to sate his curiosity while the students of the Architecture program met with the head of their department to tour the academy and get settled in.
"How are we doing on satisfaction?" Max asked after Nico finished sending the message.
"No refusals or formal complaints yet, and we're two-thirds of the way through the process. We are still on schedule, but the staff of the Academy is starting to look a bit worn. The teachers are only leading their own student group, which isn't bad, but the maintenance staff is having a hard time keeping up with all of the parents and students stopping in the front lobby for snacks and beverages."
"Understandable. Send in some soldiers in Academy uniforms to help them out and keep things clean. Have the physical education students arrived yet?" Max asked since those were the only ones with human teachers at the moment.
"One more group before they arrive. The kids who went with the Huntress seemed pretty terrified at first, but she knows her stuff. I saw the data access logs as she explained what we are doing here to her new charges.
Naming a Huntress Mercy is such an oxymoron, but she's really got a passion for Xenozoology, just like Khan said she did. Her course seems to be a rather popular elective among group two and three students. Much more popular than the same course among the oldest group." Nico replied.
Chapter 558 558 Books Are Hardcore
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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By late evening, the chaos had settled down, and the students were in their dorms for the first time, with many of their parents waiting hopefully for the call that their precious angels weren't ready to be alone and needed a pickup.
Their hopes were rapidly dashed, though, and the Academy staff were all professionals with a lot of experience getting kids used to new surroundings. They had games set up, social activities, and a party that ran late into the night kept most of the students far too entertained to think of leaving.
Even the less social ones, who were exploring the VR pods and the library full of replicated books, didn't have many complaints.
The fact that there were real books here, made of actual paper, was pure luxury to many of them, and the Shin students particularly loved them. They had immediately decided that paper books were macabre things, like making them out of recombined flesh, but the whole species seemed to have a fascination with "Horror Stories," as they called most things the humans did.
Paper books weren't really a thing in most societies, as the amount of lumber and energy that had to be used to create them was never deemed efficient by their species. That led to many of the new students finding out that a Library was a thing only after they arrived in it during the tour.
Their planets had public data repositories, but that meant computer screens, data tablets, and occasionally historical engraved plates that were arranged somewhat like human books.
"It's like a data article on one specific topic, but it can never be altered or updated. What do you do if the Censors determine that it is outdated data or politically incorrect?" One of the Valkia asked the Librarian, a human member of the Academy staff.
"Then they print a new one and explain that times have changed, and the world is no longer viewed the same way. That's why books are important to Humans. Their unchanging nature means they provide a historical reference that an easily edited digital document can't." She explained.
"Wow, that's hardcore. To think you have heroes from the expansion era without editing their deeds. Even our expansion wasn't so impeccable that we didn't have to edit it." The Valkia sighed before gently rubbing her wing feathers across the paper.
"Here, this one is on the rise of the Cygnus Empire. I think you will find it enlightening. Human heroes make mistakes and sometimes do horrible things in order to ensure the best outcome for their people. We just embrace it. I heard that the Valkia are big on law enforcement careers, and that book is told from the viewpoint of a Commissar in the Cygnus Royal Military, in charge of unit discipline and law enforcement." The Librarian explained, handing the student a thick hardcover book.
The student settled into one of the many comfortable reading chairs with adjustable trays so that heavy books could be held in place without tiring your arms, a necessity when not all of their readers were from species that could support a heavy book long enough to comfortably read it.
They read until nearly midnight, and the Librarian was about to shoo them out to their dorm room, so they didn't miss curfew when an announcement dinged on everyone's watches that the first drones of the Terraforming Network were going live right now and could be viewed from one of the many screens throughout the ship, or from their own holographic projectors since the smartwatches of the Alliance students were generally more advanced than the ones that the humans used, and could create very high-quality videos in any light.
That presented a dilemma for the new students. They were supposed to be in their dorms, but the best video screens were in the common areas of the Academy. They might have come here to learn, but this was the very first day of the terraforming of a new world, and that wasn't something that they would willingly miss. Especially since they had no idea how this human technology that was the talk of the tech news channels back home actually worked.
"Are we ready to start the show? Will it even have a noticeable effect for them to watch, or will they need to rely on the data feed around the drones to tell what's happening?" Max asked Nico as they both sat in the control room of the Development Lab to prepare for the beginning of the mission.
"The air is green and toxic enough that you can see it, like a perpetual fog. The Terraforming Drones will create a clear path to the ground and start cleaning the soil and water below. It will fill in pretty quickly, but there should be a two-hundred-meter clear path under each one.
We have arranged all one hundred currently active drones in a line to begin the operation. They're going to make a couple of laps around the equator before spreading out to begin the grid pattern to reform the planet entirely. It should make for a pretty good show, as they make a pristine path around the world.
The rest of the Drones will be coming online over the next few days. We have a shuttle out getting us another asteroid right now, we just had to delay the acquisition until the traffic jam was cleared since the gravity beam needs a rather large clear space for safety, and we didn't want to hit a yacht with a million-tonne rock." Nico explained.
[Beginning Terraforming in 30 seconds.] Nico's voice announced over the intercom in all of the public areas of the ship.
The bars, restaurants, and lounge areas of the Cruise Ship all fell silent as the crowds waited for the first data streams to start coming in.
[Commander, do we have more biomass reserves? Every single restaurant is running low on material for the replicators.] One of the supply staff asked.
[How about the storage bays in the aft, near the Cutter bays? There should be a load of dried algae there from the early days before we had so many guests. How is the current growth doing?] Max replied quickly before the array activated.
[New growth needs eight more hours since we harvested so much for the surge in visitors. The aft storage isn't logged, so I'll go check. Thanks, boss.]
Just as their conversation ended, the Terraforming array came online, creating a clear path twenty kilometers wide and two hundred meters thick. The sight was amazing like they were erasing millennia of abuse and industry in an instant, and a cheer went up all over the ship.
The array started to move, clearing a continuous path as the toxic gases slowly filled in the air behind them, narrowing the path, but the results that they could see, even before checking the data, were enough to assure them that this was a viable technology, especially after the rest of the drones were brought online over the next few days.
The situation on the ship was only getting crazier as they began to realize that the world really was permanently changing before their eyes. The Terraforming process was usually done out of sight since it was either a proprietary technology or involved a world with some form of life on it, which might lead to protests from activist groups.
Max could sense a few annoyed guests who worked in the industry, upset that they were simply showing exactly what happened in real time, but the overall sentiment was positive, and the guests were looking forward to seeing the rest of the drones start coming online.
Chapter 559 559 Impressing The Observers
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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"It looks like we have impressed a few people. The sales for the plans are off the charts already, and we're only a few minutes into the broadcast." One of the Tech Nomads informed them happily, indicating the computer where she was relaying the ongoing Terraforming effort to a dedicated live stream.
That one would run separately from their daily updates and would stay online for at least a week, giving potential customers enough time to view the array in action. It was a subtle bid to get more distributors of the technology but served a much more important role as an advertisement for the companies that were reselling the terraforming packages on their behalf in the Alliance.
Everyone had seen the theory and the small-scale test, but seeing the array working on a planet would be a much better sales point, especially over the course of weeks, when they could build a time-lapse and show the progression of this world.
The Terraforming devices were working flawlessly, and the development lab had a timer running for the next batch to be sent out to begin their work. These ones would be staggered further apart, making a mostly clear path across forty kilometers at a time that shouldn't fill in quite as quickly.
It was all for show until they could get the full array online and begin the comprehensive overhaul, but that couldn't happen until after they had disassembled a few more asteroids and sent them in pieces to the surface to be used as raw materials for the restocking of the planet's rare minerals which had been completely extracted.
This batch would be set to a wider area of effect, working closer to standard output, but that wouldn't be enough to fully clear the atmosphere of a planet this polluted in a single pass. Terraforming took time, and as much as Max would like to hurry the process along, there wasn't much they could do but make more Drones and wait.
Back inside Alliance territory, the feed from the live Terraforming effort was about to cause much more of an uproar than anyone aboard Terminus could have anticipated.
One week into the project, when the worst of the atmospheric contaminants were gone and the full array was up and running, the first life forms were reintroduced to the planet.
It was a monumental proof of function for the Terraforming array, as it proved that their claim of being able to custom design a living planet right down to the minerals in the soil and the types of plants was no joke or exaggeration. But to the wealthy customers of the Alliance, it was a simple proof of one other much more noteworthy fact.
They were getting ripped off by the providers that they had used in the past.
It didn't take any more time for the Terraforming machines to create a full forest than it did for them to reshape the hills, and entire oceans could be stocked in a single comprehensive pass, as the life forms could be introduced over the full depth of the waters, based on their natural preference.
If the planet already had all the essential elements for organic life, all the system had to do was combine them into simple organic acids and then recombine them into living biomass.
The uproar among the wealthiest elites of the Alliance wasn't loud or public, but over the course of only a few days, half a dozen terraforming companies went under, and their operators went into hiding, possibly outside of the boundaries of the Alliance itself.
The situation was so dire that Terminus even managed to gain a new visitor, courtesy of the Alliance's Stability and Justice Council.
A World Ship named Frozen Gates was sent to the system to observe their efforts, officially to make a proper recording, as part of the hearings on the status of humanity as a species. Unofficially, it was a defense force ship, fully armed to defend Alliance worlds against incursions by hostile alien species.
The fear was that the disgruntled and shamed former Terraforming Company operators might try to take their frustrations out on Terminus or some other Human world.
Little did they know that the possibility had occurred to Max long before they had begun this project when they first broadcast the plans to the Alliance and announced that the Terraforming Array would be available for licensing.
There was always a chance that someone they put out of business would attack them, and they weren't particularly afraid of the fact. Sure, the Alliance had mighty technology, but they were severely lacking in warships and weapons.
The chance that a Civilian force would have something that could threaten Cleansing Light was very slim, and the chance that the aggrieved party would actually come to them, where the ones who forced them from their home in the first place would e expecting them to show up was even lower.
But it was a good chance to show off for the Alliance, and classes were about to start at the Academy, which meant that a lot of the parents who were either on the Cruise Ship or somewhere in orbit around the star system would be going home soon.
That would free up space and staff to host new dignitaries, as well as spread the first-hand accounts of what the experience was like among the Nobles of the Alliance.
[Hey Nico, what can you tell me about this ship that has come to watch us work?] Max asked, hoping she had some good information for him, despite their security measures.
[Not as much as I had hoped. I can confirm that one of the students we have here is from a family that is on the Stability and Justice Council, but we have other councilor's kids here as well after that pay-for-grades scandal that spread a few months back.
I think it's not so much for our direct safety as for the safety of our students.
But on the bright side, I can tell you what frequency and pattern their warp drives are using, and I have some data about their power usage. It's rather impressive how efficient they are. They're using a tenth of what we do per person. If I could get our systems to that level, we wouldn't have to consider rationing. We could run everything on full blast all the time, even at maximum warp, without fear of running short on power.]
Max chuckled at her frustration. Getting even a little data from a ship that advanced was not easy for them, so she had done pretty well to get what she did. They also had some of the schematics for the Alliance technologies already, thanks to the scans of the many ships they had taken aboard Terminus, but they couldn't openly duplicate them to lower their power usage. They needed to recreate them in a whole new way and call them a new human development.
Chapter 560 560 Back Home
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
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[Maybe they will take pity on us and give us a status upgrade so that we can start properly trading for things that aren't considered too high risk.] Max suggested.
[That is a possibility, but I think humanity will have to clean up their mess at home first. The Trade Group has made huge progress in bringing our sector of the Galaxy under control since we left, but it's still a mess. There are hundreds of inhabited systems still actively hostile to the Reavers' efforts, and that doesn't even take into consideration all of the species in the Northeast sector of the Galaxy, who were previously more technologically advanced.
They are unhappy about our rapid advancement. There has been word that the so-called peaceful Federation on the North side of our Galaxy has been feeding humans military technology and using double agents to stoke wars for the past few centuries so that we wouldn't get out of control or settle down and start working on ourselves.] Nico replied.
That was news to Max but not entirely surprising. They had the no interplanetary wars part of the requirements down but had been turned down by the Alliance when they tried to contact them due to their technology, which was deemed too primitive to qualify as an advanced species.
As far as Max knew, they still hadn't gotten their hands on a new pattern ship, which would bring their species to Warp 10, which the Hunters at least considered the bare minimum standard for interstellar travel.
But even if they did, it would still be recognized as human technology, and they wouldn't get any credit for using another species' ships to get around. In order for a vassal or parasitic species to gain status, the society giving them technology had to be recognized as well, and the humans were a bit stuck on that recognition part.
As if discussing the subject of hostile aliens had alerted them to the topic, the Alliance vessel hailed Terminus to discuss the likely outcomes should a renegade businessman come to cause trouble for them. Of course, given their limited knowledge about Illithid technology, it was completely possible that talking about it had, in fact, been the cue for them to make contact.
"Terminus, we would like to know if you have safety measures in place should you be ambushed by a criminal group before we are able to intervene." The Illithid in charge of communications on the Alliance vessel asked through the video chat.
"Indeed we do. We have shields up at all times and two Cruisers on standby with Warp 12 capable Interceptors, including a newly developed Warp Torpedo, which can be launched without having to slow down. As long as we can catch them, we can cripple them." Max informed them.
"And what might the penalty be for launching an attack on a Reaver vessel in unclaimed space?" The Illithid asked.
"That's the beautiful part. Since this area is not yet inhabited and doesn't have its own legal structure in place, the punishment is whatever I say it is. By Reaver law, I am the judge of the case, and the officers of any vessels in sensor range are the jury." Max replied, causing the Illithid to smile at him through his humanoid environmental suit.
"So, what you are saying is that it might be wise for us to intervene before you claim an Alliance ship as reparations for criminal activity?"
Max smirked and looked at Nico, who was standing beside him.
"Those are your words, not mine. But I won't disagree with your conclusion."
The Illithid nodded. "I will forward the details of your criminal justice policy to headquarters. Does that apply to all crimes?"
"No, just piracy. All attacks on Reaver's vessels, except by vessels flying the colors of a foreign military, are considered acts of Piracy. For other crimes, we are using a more traditional judge and jury, evidence-based court system, though you will find that very few of our punishments involve incarceration. If they are too dangerous to be in society under supervision, it is more cost-effective to remove them from society entirely, either through banishment or a long walk out a short airlock."
"Understood. Your second in command has sent us the abridged version of the Kepler Military Justice handbook and the Reaver Rules of Conduct. I will forward them to the observers, but they seem to be mostly in line with Alliance standard practices."
He cut the link at that point, and Nico turned the conversation back to the state of the Galaxy.
She had a three-dimensional map up now, marking all the active battles and the areas which were still hostile to the Trade Group.
It looked like they had almost made it all the way out to the Vampires' borders now, with only a few holdout nations between the two groups, but most of the resistant systems were closer to the center of the human territory, being comprised of systems that broke away from Kepler, or who were part of the aborted attacks.
"It looks like it won't take too long to get everyone on board with the new program, at least in name," Max told her as he looked over the scattered group of nations who chose not to join the group.
"On the contrary. The Cygnus leaders and Rae 5 have decided to take a hands-off approach. As long as they remain civil, they will keep the existing treaties in place and leave them alone as independent nations without the protection of the Trade Group.
But since most of them don't border each other, the effect should be the same. Trade Group members won't attack, so they can remain safely isolated and continue to pay the standard markups and additional taxes." Nico explained.
"Then are the battles among the human nations almost finished?" He asked.
"Not even remotely close to it. But they're almost completely contained to individual planets now, which is a good start. Avoiding spreading battles across entire sectors of space is the goal. Getting everyone's act in order is a long-term goal.
Half of these planets won't stop fighting over who should be in charge for a decade or more." Nico laughed.
"Alright. Let me know if there are any developments, either on the surface or in the research lab. I'm going for a nap."