Chapter 611 611 The Volga Weren't Impressed
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Max didn't even have time to finish explaining the situation to the Envoys when an emergency message came through to his communicator from Rae 5 Command.
[All Reaver Units. Multiple foreign attacks were detected. Initial results show the vessels to contain a species of fat slobs known as the Volga. The attached five planets are under heavy attack, and as per Trade Group convention, all available forces are summoned to their defence.
The Reaver Council will be convening in one hour to discuss appropriate punishment and redistribution of defensive forces. The prevailing sentiment is to forcefully take the alien species into the human fold.
Data collected from Alliance databases show that they hold one hundred and seven worlds, a number that we believe can be securely managed by the Trade Group task force, bringing their technology under our purview.]
Max read through the message three times before turning the screen to the Giant and Valkia Envoys, who looked quite concerned by the grimace on his face.
"Does that mean what I think it means?" The Valkia asked.
"That the view of the governing body of humans is that the Volga have declared war on us as a species by attacking our planets? I am afraid that it does, and according to our agreement, I don't believe that the Alliance has a say in the matter." Max agreed.
The Valkia sighed while the Giant began pulling up the details of their agreements and then gave the Valkia a curt nod. Indeed, there was nothing in either of the agreements between the Volga and the Alliance or the Humans and the Alliance that gave them intervenor status.
While they were panicking, the Huntress at the table was doing her best to hide laughter, with her eyes glued on a message that had arrived on her own communicator.
"What is the Hunter's position?" The Giant asked.
"We aren't sure yet. We have an official petition from the Reavers, forwarded by Huntress Khan, to declare the Volga as a game species, citing their attacks on the humans as proof of diminished capacity for sentient thought." She laughed.
That had to be a Nico initiative.
If they were determined to be a game species, then the Hunters wouldn't give them any trouble about anything that they did to the Volga, who were regular customers of the Hunters. They probably wouldn't go as far as to declare the species as non-sentient based on a single attack, but it was good for a laugh.
"Forward that to your superiors, please. I think they will need a laugh as much as the rest of us do, and it will serve as a rather fitting formal declaration of war between the Volga and the Humans.
I understand that we didn't get off on a good note, but they don't seem to understand the nature of the Reaver culture. If you attack one of our planets, you attack them all. That is the law. There really isn't a way out of this without a full withdrawal on their part and a formal apology." Max explained.
"What sort of force are you planning to turn on them? They are notoriously arrogant, and a small show of force won't do much to deter them or their allies." The Huntress explained.
"From what I can tell, we have the support of the New Kepler Territory, the Cygnus Fleet, the Death Wind Mercenaries, seven major Reaver Families and the Border Alliance for a full-scale assault on the Volga."
The Huntress thought for a moment, then nodded. "They intend to take the entire Volga Confederation, don't they? If they control the entire territory, they are the governors by default, and they can claim all the Volga technology as Human technology without violating any Alliance trade agreements."
"Can humans even do that? It's the Volga, not some primitive species." The Giant's assistant asked.
"That's the real question, isn't it? Is this group secure? If not, I can't divulge anything about our military strength. If it is, I can fill you in on the basics so that the Alliance can be appraised of the situation as soon as a non-disclosure agreement is signed." Max suggested.
"Envoy fleets are bound to confidentiality. Other than the Central Council, none of our activities may be broadcast to the general public without the permission of all parties involved. If we leaked such matters, nobody would trust us enough to negotiate with us." The Valkia replied with a professional frown.
The Giant brought out a generic Non-Disclosure agreement and passed it around the table, finishing with Max.
"With that out of the way. I can tell you that while the Council is debating the matter, it is almost certain to go through. The Reavers take getting attacked very personally, and most of the other forces involved just want the technology that they can loot after a battle.
The total should be roughly ten thousand cruiser class ships, plus destroyers and a few larger vessels, each equipped for war with mechanized regiments."
The Envoys sat silently as they digested that information for a moment before the Innu raised her hand.
"I know what is on Terminus and her Cutters, as well as the Cruisers. Is that representative of a standard deployment?"
Max shook his head. "We are not considered heavily armed. A cruiser would normally have an entire Mecha Regiment on board, not just a few Companies. The transport ships will have multiple Regiments of Mecha, plus an entire field army of infantry on board. At this point, don't expect any of them to be green recruits. We are finishing a Civil War. They will all be battle-tested veterans."
"How long until we know the status of the attacking forces?" The Valkia asked.
"We should have updates every hour on the hour, by standard procedure. Any other important questions before I am distracted by the ongoing situation?" Max asked.
"Not a question, but I have a response from the Hunters. They say that if you want to assert that the Volga are not sentient beings, you need to prove it. They will not get involved in the battle either way until a decisive answer is provided."
Well, that was one less ally for the Volga and a big relief to Max.
Chapter 612 612 Waiting On News
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Forty minutes after the first notification, the data from the planets under attack began to flow in. Three hundred Volga attack vessels had been downed, and over a million soldiers were dead.
None of the five planets was currently losing territory, and more forces were incoming.
The Alliance Envoys' shock at the situation was quickly turning to horror as the video feeds of the situation began to resolve on their screens. The Alliance had sent observation craft to the affected systems to check for signs of war crimes and other violations of the involved groups' treaties, and what they found was utter ruthlessness that made even the Hunters raise an impressed eyebrow.
The Reavers weren't trying to eliminate the Volga. They were trying to loot them dry.
The Volga had realized very quickly that the Fast Attack Crusaders could navigate the main corridors of their vessels and that they had no qualms about using Fusion Flamers on anything and everything that they came across. But when they noticed that the Mecha were deliberately ignoring the main engines and the bridge while melting out the power relays that would make them operational, the Commanders began to scuttle their own vessels to prevent them from being captured.
"Have you ever met a species known as the Gnomish? About a meter tall, with a fondness for all technology that is second only to the Innu? Your raiders remind me of them. They don't even fight to kill the Volga. They're just stealing everything that they can get their hands on." The Huntress laughed.
"Spoils of war. If we can take it back to our ship, it's ours." Max agreed.
The Giant seemed to have some reservations about that definition of the spoils of war, but the Innu had begun to sing a high-pitched song about smashing and looting for the good of the tech goddess. It seemed to be a Gnomish battle song, but her mind was becoming hazy, and it was difficult for Max to tell what she was thinking.
"I am pretty sure that the Innu Envoy is drunk off coffee. I'm not sure if it's the Caffeine or the combination of chemicals, but she is almost certainly intoxicated well beyond reasonable for this hour of the morning." Max informed the rest of the staff.
"We will take care of her. She has a fast metabolism, so she should be fine in a few minutes, and removing her from the Café at this point would only attract unwanted gossip from the civilians." The Dryad giggled, taking the Innu Envoy under her arm and swaying in time with the song.
[Commander Keres Max. The remainder of your Vessels are ready and have been scrambled into readiness due to the current situation.] Mary Tarith informed him while they moved into a cheerful song about circuitry.
Max looked over the data and found that their final four vessels were all ready and crewed, just waiting for his Command choice. They would arrive by Portal just before the decision about how to deal with the Volga was announced.
That wasn't much time to get a crew in order, but as mad as everyone seemed to be at aliens for attacking them when they were still sorting out the more annoying elements of their own species, it might not take much to get them to follow the plan without objections.
They were receiving three former Tapani Cruisers and one Destroyer Class battleship, fully equipped for Drone warfare.
That was a new spec, as far as Max knew. Instead of two Mecha Regiments and a Field Army, the Destroyer had fifty thousand Interceptors and Orbital Attack Craft accompanying a single reinforced Mecha Regiment, with twice as many Super Heavy Mecha as usual.
He felt a twinge of pity for the planet that was going to have to face that force. A few hundred or a thousand Drone Fighters were bad enough, but fifty thousand of them should provide air superiority even against a fully developed planet.
"You look impressed." The Valkia remarked while Max read the details of the shipment.
"The last of our preordered vessels have finished refurbishment and have been awarded an emergency crew from among the allied planets' militaries. It looks like the Cruisers are mostly from Kepler, but the Destroyer is almost all Cygnus born. It will be a great improvement in the security of the Terminus Trading Company in the future, as well as our exploration and research abilities.
Drones can explore anywhere without danger to life, so we can equip them for any purpose we want and send them into the most hostile of situations." Max replied proudly.
"That is wonderful. I see the ship's dimensions, and that is no insignificant addition to your fleet either. Congratulations on your purchase, Commander. Will your people be joining the battle against the Volga, then?" The Valkia Envoy asked.
"Of course. It would be considered rude for us not to send at least half of our fleet assets to the battle. Terminus herself won't be going anywhere near the battle, but most likely, I will personally join the attack fleet, to send a message of solidarity to our allies." Max shrugged.
The Envoys seemed to be thinking for a second and then gave him a suspicious look. "That wouldn't have anything to do with that supremely deadly Mecha that you pilot, would it? The Volga are a highly aggressive species, but I am not certain that they can equal such a weapon of war."
"The Reavers consider a Titan Class Mecha to be on par with a Colony Ship or Destroyer, including its contingent of forces. The Volga certainly have that much, as we have engaged larger forces in battle already. I can assure you that we won't deploy anything beyond reasonable into combat."
The Envoys seemed to be even more doubtful about that statement. "And what of the capabilities to level cities? That isn't the sort of thing that most armies would develop. Will the human forces refrain from the use of Orbital Lances in the upcoming battles?"
Max didn't even have to answer that one. The look on his face told them all that they needed to know. There was roughly zero chance that the human response wouldn't include orbital lances and Super Heavy mecha, likely at the same time, and perhaps while they deployed a jamming field to prevent portals from opening in their immediate vicinity.
Chapter 613 613 Time To Move
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The newly refurbished ships arrived not long after, filled to the brim with Reavers spoiling for a fight. It was common knowledge that Terminus was the face of the Reavers for international negotiations, and being sent to them meant that they, too, would be representing the Reavers as a whole on a day when someone had launched a full-scale assault to attempt to take control of five mineral and technology-rich planets.
The attacks hadn't been random. The planets were all very well-developed ones, with state-of-the-art development facilities on them, as well as access to the very best of human technologies.
If the Volga even managed to raid the mainframes of a few facilities on the planet, they could gain a huge amount of data about human industry, but it seemed that their production abilities were lacking, so they needed the entire planets so that they could use the human factories to reproduce the goods for their own use.
It had been a long time since a new threat had arrived to claim human worlds, and in the minds of the Reavers, the Volga were on par with the Klem or the Narsians, unreasonable savages who could only be dealt with through the proper application of brute force.
[Commander, your new vessels have arrived, awaiting your subordinate to begin our mission to defend the Reaver worlds.] The navigator in charge of the Destroyer, aptly named Coup de Grace, informed Max the moment that the portal closed behind them.
"What does that ship's name mean?" The Valkia asked as they didn't have the language in their records.
"Literally, Stroke of Mercy. Figuratively, it is the final blow given to put a wounded foe out of their misery, ending their life with mercy instead of suffering." Max explained.
"Human ship names are always so morbid. I have learned that even Terminus means the end, giving it an odd double meaning, like it is either the final resting place of its occupants or that meeting it would signal the final day for its foes." The Innu replied, slowly regaining her senses as the overdose of Caffeine cleared out of her system.
pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ
"I am afraid that it is time for me to leave you all to your own devices unless you wish to accompany me for a few more minutes before it is time for me to take action.
My Second in Command will be staying behind to take command of Terminus in my absence, and I am absolutely certain that she will be overjoyed with the news when she returns to the ship."
The Huntress burst into laughter at his words and made a symbol toward Max that seemed to be a form of warding off bad luck.
"How does that system work? I am not fully versed in human mentality, but it seems like she would murder you in your sleep for leaving her behind when there is a battle to be fought on this scale." The big woman laughed.
"You would think so, but she secretly likes me. I let her hunt down the first ship, so she can wait aboard Terminus to see if there are any more threats while I accompany the others to our designated target within the Volga worlds.
I will be heading for their Capital city in order to negotiate a cessation of hostilities, so if you would like to send an observation vessel through the portal behind me, I am certain that the Hunters will learn many new things about human negotiation tactics." Max told her with a wink.
"I think that could be entertaining. I will go with the Alliance delegation since I am certain that they won't allow the situation to pass unsupervised. What sort of show should we expect?" The Huntress asked.
"Give me a few minutes, and another update should be here with the final decision, as well as troop deployments," Max told her while he waited impatiently.
[Terminus Trading Company is requested to send fifty percent of their military forces for the compliance of the Volga Capital. Mary Tarith and the Tarith Reavers will be in charge of the negotiation of official surrender terms, while the Terminus Trading Company will be assigned to the Captial City, with the Cygnus 401st, 402nd, and 418th Compliance Fleets, as well as the Black Dog Mercenary Company deploying to the planet to remove hostile forces.]
"It looks like they are about to have a very bad day. A Cygnus Compliance Fleet is ten Cruisers and a Destroyer. Three such fleets are going to the Volga Capital planet, as well as a Mercenary force of unknown strength, as I was not privy to how much of their strength will be deployed alongside us." Max informed the Envoys.
The Giant did a bit of calculation in his mind and frowned.
"Isn't that a bit excessive?"
"There is no such thing. The ultimate goal of defensive action is to end hostilities without losing anyone on your side. Just watch, and you will see how humans convince the universe not to test our patience." Max told him with a casual shrug.
The shuttles with the former Battalion Commanders, now Ship Captains, were already on their way to their new homes, so Max sent the deployment orders, having the two Holy Truth built cathedral style Cruisers remain there with Terminus to ensure the safety of their guests and the planet, while he got ready to mount up Cleansing Light and join the attack force on its way to the portal.
He definitely wasn't running away before Nico made it back to the ship and found out that she was going to be staying behind.
[All units, prepare to open portals to the Volga home system. Destination, one-half light-year from the star, in anticipation of defensive countermeasures. Cleansing Light will lead the charge. Coup de Grace, you are to deploy drones at the first sign of defensive fortifications. All other units prepare for planetary landing.] Max ordered as soon as he was inside his Mecha.
The bootup of the targeting screens as his System came to life was comforting to Max, like he had been away from home for too long, but finally, it was time to stretch his legs again and show the universe that humanity deserved respect.
Chapter 614 614 Worthy Adversary
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pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ To say that Nico was unhappy with the situation was a severe understatement. She hadn't gotten to interrogate anyone because the ship's shields hadn't been able to handle the Disruptors, and the attacks by the Volga on so many other planets had made the investigative work that she was doing mostly useless.
The only redeeming factor was that she had found the sensor frequencies to find their vessels while they were trying to hide and had relayed it to the rest of the human forces, allowing them to see every Volga ship that had come to try to steal secrets or launch surprise attacks on human worlds.
That had led to many of their ships being hit with Disruptors and disabled in an instant before they could even try to fight back, which delighted the locals, who would only have to do minor repairs to get their newly acquired ship functional.
The humans didn't have any agreements with the Volga after all, and after today, it seemed unlikely that they ever would.
The portal opened in front of Max, and he flew his Mecha through the shimmering hole, arriving at the scene of dozens of small attack ships dropping out of warp to create a defensive formation around the planet.
The rest of the Reavers' forces arrived seconds behind him, all relatively nearby since they were following his lead for the attack, as Cleansing Light was the only Titan Class Mecha in the force.
[Advance on my mark. Fire at will.] Max ordered and quickly pushed Cleansing Light into Warp and then dropped back to sub-light speeds just in front of the Volga defence fleet.
The six Disruptors flared to life while every laser on his armour picked out satellites and attack drones to blast out of existence. Just like the other ships that the humans had encountered, the Volga interceptors were incapable of defending against the radiation-based energy weapons and went still and dead with a single shot.
Max didn't even have to slow as he punched a hole through the defences, surrounded by the fire of mighty Void Cannons and Fusion Torpedoes from the Cygnus fleet that had fallen in around him for the attack, getting past the defensive line so that they could target the planetary defences and begin to deploy the landers with their Mecha.
The sight of a thousand main weapons from four Compliance Fleets firing all at once was more than a little impressive, and Max could hear the panic in the transmissions from the surface as the residents realized that someone had come for them and that their loyal defenders were crumbling in seconds under the fury of alien guns.
The broadcasts from the surface didn't seem to know anything at all about what was going on, but the Compliance Fleets had a broadcast playing on a loop, informing them to either take cover in underground shelters or surrender their weapons and turn themselves in for processing.
The Volga government was trying to reassure them that it was all a mistake right up until the first landers began to drop from the Cygnus ships. The angry streaks of fire as a half dozen Mecha Regiments made landfall at the same time were impossible to mistake for anything but an invasion, and then the Orbital Lances began to eliminate the military bases that Max had identified during his flight around the planet.
An intense battle was beginning to form at the outskirts of the Capital, where his Mecha had just begun to land, so Max dropped out of orbit to join them, targeting the city's shields with multiple strikes of the Orbital Lance level combined attacks of Cleansing Light, overloading the shield generator and letting the Cruisers and landers reach their marks undamaged.
The Volga didn't use Mecha, at least not exactly. They used heavily armoured giant animals with a tank turret sort of command center on their back, bristling with weapons. While the combination of technology and local wildlife was a bit strange, he had to admit that it was effective.
Their weapons were strong enough to take out the shields on a Crusader Class Mecha in only one or two shots, and the armour plating was surprisingly durable.
Max lifted his physical shield and hefted his sword to charge ahead of the force, hacking the head off the first creature that he came across, sending it crashing to the ground, where he vaporized the occupants of the carriage with a Disruptor blast.
The next rank charged forward with remote energy shields in front of them, blocking the majority of the incoming fire, while the artillery fire of the Super Heavy Mecha levelled the city around them, clearing a space for them to have a proper fight, despite the densely packed venue, where the Volga lived in a hundred story tall fortress city.
Or, at least, it had been a fortress at one point. The walls were still visible in the distance, but the city had grown well beyond those limits over the years, and the residents who had ignored the initial warnings were running away from the advancing Mecha using every possible form of transport, from hover cars to gravity boards and roller skates.
A horn sounded in front of him, and Max watched as a large section of ground opened up, revealing an enormous Mecha, clearly modelled after the designs of the Hunters but using more conventional materials and not their biomechanical technology.
As it stood up from its storage bunker, a glowing golden light surrounded the Mecha, and it picked up a sword and shield, mimicking Cleansing Light.
Finally, a real fight. Two Titan Class Mecha battling it out in a metropolitan area didn't bode well for the locals, but if they had done a decent job of copying the design, it should be the first real challenge that he had faced since his new unit was built.
The Mecha raced forward at Max, nearly matching his own speed and clashing swords with Cleansing Light before being driven back by a kick from Max's right foot, which was followed by a blast of his Disruptor.
The shields on this Mecha didn't have the same vulnerability as the ships did, and it charged back at him again, firing forearm-mounted Ion Destroyers that Max let impact against the barrier over his shield while he returned fire and moved forward with a flurry of blade attacks.
For a few seconds, the Mecha held its own, parrying every strike, but each blow drove it back a bit further, and Max could see fluids leaking from overloaded systems when it failed to fully withstand his strikes.
A triple blast of his Disruptors made the Mecha's shields flicker, and he drove his sword forward in a spearing strike, nearly removing an arm from the Mecha and leaving a deep furrow in its armour as the Pilot spun it away to save the armour.
The Volga Mecha was on the defensive, and the Terminus forces were advancing all around their battle as the defenders fell all across the city. The Mecha were blasting their way into the lines of soldiers and armoured vehicles, using the city itself as a defensive barricade, while the two Titans fought for supremacy.
If either fell, so would their force. The Ion Destroyers of the Volga Titan would fell even the Super Heavy mecha of Max's force in a single shot, and if Cleansing Light were left alone, Max would wipe out thousands of vehicles every second with his Laser fire, even without deploying the Disruptors.
The two Titans locked blades again, and the Volga defender twisted to the side, falling to one knee so that Max didn't blast it apart with his Disruptors, but that left it vulnerable to Max's shield, and the plate of armoured alloy crashed down on its knee, mangling the left leg of the Mecha in a scream of tearing metal.
The Volga Mecha took to the air, trying to blast at the Super Heavy units of the Terminus Trading Company force, but Max was quick to intercept, sacrificing his energy shields and taking some superficial damage to keep his units alive.
The Volga unit took advantage of the distance he had created and went to warp right there in the atmosphere, tearing apart the air around them and levelling fifty city blocks from the distortion caused by the energy field.
Max was quick to give chase, but he retreated to the upper atmosphere first, and the damaged Volga Mecha was long gone by the time he found its trail again.
[Cleansing Light to all units. A Volga-controlled Titan Class Mecha has escaped from the battle, destination unknown. Keep alert for its arrival, and I will redeploy the instant that it is located.] Max informed the human fleet while he positioned Cleansing Light over the city, maximizing the utility of his targeting skills for his allies.
Chapter 615 615 Breach The City
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The Terminus Trading Company forces advanced with little delay through the outer suburbs of the Capital city before the Volga could mount a proper defence, capturing half of the target within the first hour of the battle.
But after that, progress ground to a halt. It seemed that the Volga did have Mecha, and a lot of them, but they had been stored within the inner ring of the city and hadn't been deployed out to the perimeter with the rest of their forces. Instead, they had dug in and prepared to hold everything behind the original wall of the fortress city for as long as they could.
The bombardment from the Super Heavy Mecha was taking a toll on them, though, as well as the city behind them, and sporadic bursts from the Cutters' main weapons were keeping the city's defensive barrier deactivated, leaving them exposed to the outside assault.
Two hours into the assault, Mary Tarith sent a planetwide broadcast demanding their surrender in the name of mercy to the civilians, who had no part in the crimes of their government.
The response was to send a surface-to-orbit missile at her Destroyer.
That was about all the proof that Max needed to determine that there could be no peaceful resolution to this situation, so he started making a plan to take the government buildings in the middle of the Capital, with a minimum of destruction to the Fortress City itself.
The floors were high enough to march Mecha through, even ones as tall as Cleansing Light, and the government buildings were at the deepest core of the fortress, behind every imaginable form of defence.
He wasn't alone in the city, though, and the Cygnus Compliance Fleets had sent attacking forces to three other sides of the perimeter, crushing the defenders and stopping at the defensive wall while they staged for a coordinated attack.
Going by the numbers that the Alliance had provided, there were just over two hundred million people in this city, so eliminating it from orbit was out of the question. Not even the Hunters would be impressed by wiping out so many bystanders during their attack.
So, Max made a more civilized plan. The Fast Attack Crusaders would rush the wall and light everything within a city block on either side with the Fusion Flamers. Then the Super Heavy Mecha would bombard the defensive lines into pulp, with the assistance of Cleansing Light and six Cutters, so that the main force could rush past them into the fortress and begin capturing the vital points that they had identified.
Power relay stations, water pumps, sanitation sites. They would all be disabled within the next few hours while the Mecha forces advanced, leaving the city in the dark and breaking the morale of the civilians to decrease the chances of an uprising once the city fell.
[If we all have our orders, begin the assault. Cleansing Light will descend in one minute to breach the main gates and lead the push inside.] Max commanded, and the Fast Attack Crusaders leaped into action, melting steel and concrete buildings to slag and torching the defensive positions with atomic flames.
This wasn't the first time that the Volga had seen the Fusion Flamers, but it was the first time that they had directly been used on a defensive fortification, and the result was devastating even before the artillery began, with the sound of Thunder Guns filling the air and echoing down the hallways of the Captial City.
Max waited as the defences crumbled and began his descent back to the surface.
[Fifteen seconds until the main gates are breached. Terminus forces, get in position for the charge.] He ordered, taking aim at the hundred-meter-wide gates as he rushed back toward the surface.
The Disruptors turned the gates to ash in a single shot, and Max rushed inside the city's cavernous interior, followed by the men under Klinger's command, who had managed to claim the prime spot closest to the Titan Class Mecha.
If anything moved near them, it was obliterated. If there was a heat signature that they thought might move, it was obliterated. Not even the small rodents of the city were spared the fury of the Mecha advance on the off chance that they had been weaponized.
Two blocks in, the Volga had set up a defensive checkpoint, made up of what Max was certain were recently recruited, as he could see their flabby hands shaking and terror in their eyes as the mighty form of Cleansing Light bore down on them.
Barely a third even managed to get a shot off before the laser array had wiped them out, leaving nothing intact of their position.
[Gather here and spread out. I want every side street cleared. If they look like civilians, only shoot if they move. We're not here to depopulate the place. They're not Klem. But I don't want any casualties. If they seem in any way hostile, take them out.] He ordered.
That was good enough for the soldiers, and the force began to spread out through the city, meeting up with the Cygnus-based Mecha to form a rapidly closing net on the bottom five floors of the city.
Once they had taken the government buildings at the core, Max intended to spread his forces through the upper floors and clear the whole place, but for now, his hope was that once the government fell, the rest of the city would become at least a bit more compliant, which would save lives on both sides.
Max smiled to himself at the thought of what Nico would say if she could see him now, sparing possible enemies just because they were sentient beings. But little did he know that Nico had her own problems at the moment, and they were in a very familiar form.
The Titan Class Mecha had been located. It had come for the city under Terminus, but the signals from the fleet couldn't make it through the interference of the city and the battle to inform Max of the situation.
Chapter 616 616 Unexpected Pilot
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The moment that the Titan Class Volga Mecha's Warp signature had been spotted, Nico and the defenders of Terminus took action, unleashing a fusillade of weapons fire at the incoming threat, including a suicidal rush by a Drone Interceptor, which had directly hit the Mecha and collapsed its warp bubble, sending it crashing to the surface.
The first thing that the Pilot had done once he recovered was to shoot at the barrier around the city, but he was taking time to breach it, with his Ion Destroyers malfunctioning from the damage sustained in the most recent attack.
Nico scrambled the Mecha of Terminus and took a cargo shuttle to the surface with Shattered Pride, landing between the Titan Class Mecha and the city.
[Everyone, stand back. I don't want any casualties.] She ordered as she exited the shuttle to engage the Volga Mecha.
"Power down and exit your Mecha, and I can guarantee your life." She called out in an Alliance standard accent, giving the Pilot one last chance to surrender before things got messy.
The Mecha raised its sword toward her and turned to engage the much smaller Super Heavy Mecha, which barely reached its torso.
Nico banged her twin swords together in acceptance of the challenge and engaged her thrusters, causing a sonic boom to ring through the city before the sound of deadly steel constructs colliding made ears ring in the closest spires.
The Volga Pilot was injured from the crash, and his Mecha had been damaged by Max, to begin with. He really didn't stand a chance against the fury of Shattered Pride, and within seconds, the right arm, and with it, the unit's sword, had been lost.
With that advantage gone, it was only a matter of time, and soon after, the second arm was lost, and then the power plant was severed from the controls as Nico swung her agile Mecha in behind and targeted the torso joints of the Titan Class Mecha.
[Exit your vehicle now. I will not warn you again.] Nico informed the fallen Mecha and then forcefully opened the hatches by hacking the Mecha's few remaining operational systems.
With the hatches open, she paused and made a detailed scan of the interior of the Mecha. There were signs of movement but no signs of life or thermal differences. So, she waited to see what could possibly be interfering with her scans at this point, with the enemy Mecha so heavily damaged.
After a very tense thirty seconds, a skeletal robotic figure, missing one limb and sparking with many additional points of damage, climbed from the cockpit and put its remaining hand in the air.
[I surrender]
The message was garbled and cut out twice in the short burst of binary data, but the intention was clear. This was the Pilot of the Titan Class Mecha, and they were done fighting.
[Step away from the Mecha, and I will escort you to my shuttle for detainment and emergency triage to prevent cascading system failures.] Nico ordered.
[Cascading failures deemed unacceptable. Loyalty subroutines damaged. The ethical sub-processor is damaged and offline. The legal database is offline. Please advise. This unit does not wish to become inactive.] The Pilot responded, then stepped off the fallen Mecha and out onto the grass.
[Just follow my instructions, and we will stabilize your systems and keep you online. Your previous orders proved incompatible with the actions taken by your programmers, so I will inform you of current events and provide assistance rebuilding your databases.] Nico informed the android.
It was an incredible machine, purely artificial intelligence, but not intended to be self-aware. Perhaps it was on standby too long and had developed a rudimentary consciousness, or perhaps the Volga didn't understand the potential of artificial intelligence. Either way, it was a thing of wonder to Nico, and it certainly would be to the Innu.
Max was blissfully unaware of the fact that his second in command had captured an alien android as he was leading the charge through the city, accompanied by a retinue of ten Corvette Class mecha, which were small enough to get into the alleyways and hiding spots that Cleansing Light was unable to target.
Enemy morale was already faltering, and Mary Tarith was broadcasting the charges against the Volga government, as well as short clips of the evidence against them, on every civilian frequency that the Volga had been using.
It was on every television, every radio station, even playing over the city's public address system, including orders to remain stationary on the floor if they were not combatants. Anyone who moved or attempted to engage the Compliance Forces would be deemed a threat and conspirator.
It was working, the Volga defensive forces had been routed, and they were falling back toward the government buildings, not even stopping to put up a fight as they fled in front of the Mecha.
[Let them run. Slow your pace to the point that they can just barely stay ahead of you, and the survivors should do most of our work for us.] Max ordered, getting an enthusiastic cheer from the Pilots in return.
They knew the horrors of war well enough, and they had seen this scene play out dozens of times in the past few years. Once the planetary defence force realized that their leaders had attracted a force that was intent on eliminating them entirely, they were usually more than happy to do the work themselves and plead for leniency.
The Alliance Envoys in orbit above the planet could only sigh in defeat as they saw how the battle was going. Most of the smaller cities had already fallen, the defence force was in disarray, and anything that they had which might have been capable of staging a comeback had already taken an orbital lance strike.
In short, they had nothing left to give and no hope that they were on the right side of this battle. Their leaders had poked a monster that they could not contain, and now everyone had to pay the price for their decision.
But what else could they do? If they didn't resist, it looked like these Humans, as they called themselves, would take everything the Volga had in reparations and make the Eternal Volga Empire a mere subordinate of their species' might. To the proud Volga, that was unthinkable. But a few hours ago, it was unthinkable that they would lose a battle such as this to a species they had never heard of, and now they feared that anything was possible.
Chapter 617 617 The Capital Building
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Max and his unit were not alone in their advance through the city. However, they were the fastest moving. The Volga defence forces were utterly terrified of the Titan Class Mecha and had begun to flee before Max could fully engage their defences on that side of the fortress.
He was already coming up on the front steps of the Captial Building, with the Cygnus wings of the force only ten blocks away, and expected to arrive within a few minutes unless the Volga decided to mount a last-ditch defence.
"Volga Government Forces. Surrender now and present yourselves for trial in the case of unprovoked war crimes against the Reaver Trade Group." Max demanded over the loudspeaker.
"Why would we do that? The Volga are not subject to any alien court." Someone shouted back from one of the upper-floor windows.
"You have two options. Either you get out here now, or I will use an Orbital Lance inside the city and turn your Capital Building to rubble, even with the pathetic shields that it has erected," Max replied, then waited to see what their response would be.
The sounds of fighting and gunfire came out of the various open windows of the Captial Building for the next few minutes as the Cygnus forces surrounded the building, then finally fell silent, leaving everyone in suspense.
[You wouldn't really use an Orbital Lance inside a fortress, would you? Those things are meant to level dozens of kilometres at a time. The city would collapse if you did.] One of the Cygnus Commanders asked.
[How fast can you run? I can give your forces a head start if it comes to that.] Max replied, channelling his inner Nico.
When it came to negotiations, her method was significantly faster than the standard methods were, and they were deeply satisfying on a level that accepting a surrender document never could be.
Eventually, the sound of organized footsteps, most likely troops marching, sounded inside the building, and the front doors were pushed open. Two hundred Volga soldiers escorted twenty manacled and battered politicians out of the building and roughly pushed them to their knees in the front courtyard.
"Do you have anything to say for yourselves before we bring you back for trial?" Max asked.
"I will never accept this indignity. You have no right to try us. Kill me if you dare, cowards. I will be avenged." The leader of the politicians yelled back up at Cleansing Light.
"Someone provide this man a weapon," Max ordered, making the Reavers chuckle over the radio while one of the Corvette Class Pilots from Max's escort stepped forward and exited his cockpit.
He took a few steps through the confused Volga forces and placed a pistol in the politician's hand.
"It is a human tradition. If you don't wish to be taken alive for trial, you can take the coward's way out and kill yourself." The Pilot informed him, then stood and waited for his decision.
The Volga soldiers looked horrified at the option. What sort of enemy were they facing that would gladly let their enemies die before the evidence against them could be proven in court? Or did they already have a high-ranking scapegoat, and the lives of these ones didn't matter?
If the lives of the Politicians didn't matter to these Humans, what chance did the mere soldiers have of surviving? They had no idea what human laws were like, but they had learned in the last few minutes that the human forces had made an agreement with the Alliance, so maybe the soldiers could appeal to the authority of the Alliance for leniency since they hadn't committed any war crimes, they had only defended their home city.
Max listened to everyone's thoughts until a flash of light brightened the courtyard, and the lead politician chose not to go to trial.
"Anyone else? No, not the soldiers. You are not on trial, so this doesn't apply to you." Max clarified since he could hear their panicked thoughts.
None of the politicians took up the offer, so Max called for a transport to come to pick up the prisoners and escort them back to the staging area, where they could be transferred to a Lander or Cutter and be taken back up to one of the ships in orbit for trial.
It was a tense few minutes before the shuttle came gliding down the main street, and even more so while the Politicians were being loaded, but after they were inside and the shuttle left, all eyes went to Cleansing Light.
"The battle is over. Put down your weapons and report to the officers on the west side of the courtyard. They will maintain order while the last of the resistance in the city is sorted out, and then the planet will remain under martial law until such time as a surrender document is signed and verified." Max informed them.
"Sir Cleansing Light, are we to take it that the Capital was the last city on the planet not under human occupation?" A soldier with a half dozen stripes on his sleeve asked.
"That is correct. As the only city on the planet with a significant political presence, it was the last to be pacified. The others surrendered as soon as their defence forces were routed." Max agreed.
The soldier looked a bit ashamed but determined when he asked his next question.
"What is likely to happen to us next? Will the Humans do like the Volga and eliminate the natives of planets that they capture?"
Max considered that for a moment. That would be a real pain to actually do and hard on their public image. Most likely, they would demand reparations and take over the Volga planets.
"That is very unlikely. Most likely, the treaty will see the Volga give up their right to self-govern and pay reparations for their attack on the human planets. If they agree to that, the burden on the average Volga will amount to nothing more than a tax increase. If they disagree, I can't say what the final decision will be.
I won't be part of the negotiations since I am here with you all. The lead negotiator for the humans is a good friend of mine, and their oldest child is my second in command, so I can say for sure that the deal is in experienced hands." Max assured the Volga soldier.
The man wouldn't be nearly as relieved if he had ever met either of the people Max was talking about. But for the moment, he was holding onto any hope he could.
Chapter 618 618 The Volga Way
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The city was swept clear of the Volga defence forces for the next twenty hours. Everyone who was found to belong to the remains of a government agency or military force was brought to the yard of the Capital Building to wait and ensure that there were no ongoing hostilities in the city, and boredom set in for the Mecha forces in the Capital.
Max learned over the course of that day that the Volga, for all of the arrogance of their leaders, were strictly Caste based in nature and were mostly incapable of disobeying their superiors, much like many insect species.
That made their job easier, as the civilians recognized the humans as the leadership caste once the planets had fallen, and most of the requested personnel willingly turned themselves in, while the citizenry turned in those who tried to resist their nature or the right of the humans to rule over them.
From Max's count, there were fewer than ten thousand civilian casualties out of over a hundred million in the city, mostly those who were in buildings near the edge of the city which were demolished in the fighting.
With nothing to do but wait for others to make a decision, Max had a lot of time to think about what sort of evolutionary path and political leadership might have led to such an intriguing species. A strictly caste-based species normally wouldn't attempt to take over others, as they couldn't fit into the hierarchy, but the Volga did.
He had used his hacking skills and the assistance of a Volga Sergeant, who had asked him during the initial conflict about their likely future, to obtain most of the historical data that the species possessed, but he hadn't had time to make sense of it yet.
He had sent a copy to Mary Tarith, though she had the Alliance Envoys with her as advisors for the negotiation and likely wouldn't need it.
The city lights had gone from dim to bright again, marking morning for those in interior areas which didn't get much natural light when the final decree was passed down.
[As of this moment, the Command Caste of the Volga has surrendered to the Humans, represented by the Reaver Trade Group.
Governance of the Volga planets has been assigned to Alliance arbiters, which will govern and collect reparations on behalf of the Humans to prevent the genocide of the Volga people.
The Eternal Volga Empire is now part of the Reaver Trade Group in law and fact, and the Command Caste has agreed to give up their hereditary positions as the head of Volga society. Accordingly, they will not be returning to the Volga planets, and all correspondence for them may be directed to the Alliance arbiters who will make up the region's new government.
Please find attached the full details of the agreement.]
The document was over a thousand pages long and no doubt drafted by the Giants on the Alliance legal team to be foolproof and without loopholes to get out of their obligations, but Max had one serious question about how this agreement came to be. He had dealt with the Volga Politicians, and he couldn't see any way that they would have accepted these terms.
[How did you get them to agree to that? Did someone use a System Function to convince them that we were the superior ruling Caste of their species or something?] Max asked Mary Tarith.
[Of course not. I mean, we tried, but their minds couldn't accept it. When my husband activated the Talent to convince them that we were rightfully in charge so that we could smooth over the negotiations, they went insane and started attacking everyone.
Currently, there are only four surviving members of the Command Caste, and they have been relocated to an Alliance vessel for recovery from mental trauma.]
That was interesting news. Nobody ever talked about the sort of skills that Father Tarith had, and the man himself was basically a ghost, appearing and disappearing at random and without explanation. Mind control skills were fairly heavily regulated within Kepler back when it was a cohesive Empire, but the problem had always been proving that they had been used.
If he had a skill that convinced people that his words were the truth, coupled with whatever he used to hide his presence, it was no wonder that Mary Tarith had such an easy time convincing everyone to put her in charge of everything.
System Functions weren't infallible, though, and if she wasn't actually good at it, his suggestions wouldn't last long, and she would have been ousted from leadership long ago, but their combination of capabilities seemed to be unstoppable once they got going.
[All is well that ends well, I suppose. The Volga population here on the planet seems to be quite agreeable once you get past the racial superiority complex. Showing up in their front yard with a Titan Class Mecha did a pretty good job of that for us here in the Capital, so I don't think that we will have to be too hard on them. Just collect some taxes and see what sort of useful technology they have that isn't plagiarized Alliance tech.] Max agreed.
[About that. I don't think that we are going to get much usable tech from them. It's all plagiarized. Most of it is a direct ripoff of foreign patents, and the ones we interrogated knew virtually nothing about Volga development efforts other than the ships that they sent to analyze foreign tech.] Mary responded.
[I will ask around. The people here don't have much reason to lie to me.]
Max equipped his helmet and climbed out of Cleansing Light to talk to the surviving officers of the Capital defence force.
"Good morning, gentlemen. The Arbiters and the negotiation team in orbit had a few questions that the former leaders couldn't or wouldn't answer for us. We wanted to know about the research and development teams that the planet is most proud of, but we didn't understand their answers very well." Max greeted a group of Sergeants and junior officers at the edge of the prisoner camp.
"Oh, the ships. You should see them. They are quite impressive. State-of-the-art analysis technology and a cloaking field that not even the Alliance can easily see through." One of the officers answered.
"Yes, they are quite impressive. But what about here on the planet? What sort of unique advancements do you produce just from the Volga's ingenuity?" Max asked.
"We don't really do that here. The Volga assimilate. Like Jordie, we bring things that are the most useful into our fold and assign them their place." The officer answered, but his thoughts said that he wasn't entirely sure what Max meant by ingenuity.
"Jordie was assimilated?" Max asked, just as confused as the officer was.
"Yes. Most of our ancestors were, but Jordie is new. He was born as a Beila, but with the appropriate genetic treatment, he has become a wonderful Volga."
Chapter 619 619 Infectious Humanity
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That was a shocking bit of news to both Max and the rest of the Reaver forces who were listening in. There was no mention of that anywhere in the information that they had received from the Alliance, but the Volga had mentioned it so casually as if everyone should know.
It would explain a lot about Volga negotiations as well. If they were used to assimilating enemy leaders into their species, or at least enough that they were partially under Volga control, then they only had to come back every few years until whatever delivery method they were using had worked, and they were able to take control of the leaders of any race that opposed them.
"It is quite an honour to be chosen to become Volga, I assume? Might I ask, what is his rank within the Volga society? Humans don't use the same system, so it would help us a lot if you explained." Max suggested to the Sergeant.
"Oh, he's transformed, so he holds that rank. Until they prove themselves, new Volga are always at the bottom caste, but they can get a lot of respect for their actions since everyone knows that the designation isn't permanent and their children will most likely be born into a higher Caste." The Sergeant answered.
"So, just their children will advance, or do the transformed Volga advance in rank as well?" Max asked, just to clarify.
"They advance through their children. Whatever rank their children get is assigned to them as well. Jordie will most likely be of the management Caste once his son is old enough to be sorted. He is growing up very well, and it is a good sign for Jordie's bloodline.
I think that the next thing you will ask is if that applies to all of us, and yes. That is how we work. If we raise a failure, we will be deemed failures. If we raise a genius, we will be promoted alongside them as a reward for raising the next generation. The only ones who can't fall out of their rank are the Command Caste."
"That is very valuable information. Thank you for your assistance." Max congratulated him, and the Sergeant's arms turned a sickly green, which the Volga's thoughts identified as their species equivalent of beaming with pride. If they were blushing with embarrassment, it would be their legs that changed.
Max had learned that the trait was common in various slug and snail species as a form of camouflage response, but it looked fairly odd on the flabby humanoid forms of the Volga.
Max took the time to look through their ancient history and found that he had been partially correct about their lineage. They came from a species of slug, which all had defined roles. But when one of the Command Caste bloodlines developed the ability to mutate other species by touch, the species began to evolve due to the influx of foreign knowledge and genetics that weren't fully transformed.
[Mary, check this data. I have found out why the Volga Envoy was so bad at negotiating. They would usually mutate and influence the mind of those they negotiated with through contact and make important figures from other species into fellow Volga or subordinates to their leaders. They can do it faster with injections as well, and I've met a transformed Volga among the prisoners. The rest of the data on how their ranks are inherited is in this info package I'm sending you.]
The negotiations might be over for now, but it was valuable information to have, and if they didn't want the Arbiters who were sent from the Alliance to slowly become members of the Volga, it was likely imperative that they take precautions against being influenced.
It took a few minutes before Mary answered, but her message definitely had an annoyed tone when it arrived on Max's screen.
[Standard Alliance agreement Section 419, subsection 4 Paragraph 3: Regarding the dissemination of military secrets to third parties. In that section, it details that both the humans and the Alliance are prohibited from providing information on the military secrets or strength possessed by each other to third parties.
They have a similar deal with the Volga, so just like they didn't warn the Volga that they would all die if they got into an actual war with the Humans, they didn't warn us that contact with the upper Caste Volga would transform most species in a matter of minutes.
It seems that we are immune to the process, though, as none of the staff are showing signs of influence or infection. The Alliance forces are all vaccinated against the effect, as it is considered a contagious disease by their standards.]
Max spent a few moments contemplating the implications of that in future interactions with non-Alliance species before another message came from the Alliance vessel directly.
[All human units, please refrain from direct physical contact with Volga, especially upper Caste Volga. Updated information from our medical team has determined that humans carry a dominant genetic strain that can rapidly mutate the Volga in a deleterious manner.]
Oh, that was rich. The species that turned everyone else into themselves couldn't deal with humanity, and it was making them sick.
The announcement caused immediate panic among the prisoners, as the humans had been cooking for them all day, and the humans provided the shelters that they were in. None of them had been sick yet, and the humans were in augmentic armour, but that didn't mean that none of them would be sick, and they didn't know what the symptoms could be.
Max requested an elaboration and got back a rather long genetic survey, but the summary suggested that the higher Caste Volga devolved to a vegetative state for a matter of hours before losing the Caste markers that they inherited or had injected into themselves if they were changed in caste by a child's position.
That would cause the other Volga to no longer recognize them since the markers were individual. The medics described it as the genetic equivalent of giving them a doll mask and scent blocker. Not even their family could tell who they were.
"Listen up, everyone. The primary symptom is becoming unable for others to recognize you. It is not life-threatening, but if you see someone you can't identify, please send them to talk to one of the officers, who will be provided with data on the effects of the assimilation of human genetic material." Max called out to the crowd.
There were many sighs of relief, and most of the Volga sat back down to pass the time as they were before.
"I don't think any of us are high enough in rank to have that ability, so there isn't much to worry about. But if there were an infiltrator, we would know fairly quickly since nobody here is a stranger to those around them." The Sergeant who had been chosen as spokesperson informed him with a relieved smile.
Chapter 620 620 Arbiters Arrive
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It was another eighteen hours before the Alliance assigned Arbiters, who would be in charge of the planet now that the Command Caste had been eliminated from Volga society, arrived to begin the task of rebuilding government functions.
"Greetings, Commander Keres Max. I am informed that you are in charge of the troops in this theatre of war. With these official orders, you have permission to stand down, and we will take over responsibility on your behalf." The Arbiter greeted him before handing over a data tablet with detailed orders.
The thought briefly occurred to Max that they could make a killing making those things since the Alliance used them for everything, and official orders like this and other political negotiations used a brand new one every time for data security reasons. He would have to discuss it with the Tech Nomads at some point. The Human version was much more intuitive to use than the Alliance version, which had been standardized for centuries.
"Thank you, Arbiter. I will pass a final message to the civilians, informing them of your arrival and asking for their best behaviour. I believe that it will help you in your work." Max agreed.
The lead Arbiter, a Myceloid man nearly three meters tall and covered in a strange, dimpled hide that shimmered under the light, seemed rather dubious that such a thing was necessary or even beneficial, but Max quickly tapped into the city's broadcast system and removed his helmet to address the people of the Volga Capital.
[Citizens of the Capital Planet, greetings. As many of you know already, I am Commander Keres Max, the leader of the human military forces on this planet. With the agreement between our people complete, an Arbiter from the Alliance has come to manage planetary affairs on our behalf. I request that you treat them with all due respect and recognize their authority.
Should there be an issue with their governance, the contact information for my Flagship has been provided to your military leadership, who will vet any complaints and determine if they need to be forwarded for further consideration.
Again, I request that you all treat the Arbiter as you would your own leader and trust that they will be working in the best interests of everyone while they enforce the terms of the surrender agreement signed by the former leaders.
Thank You, and may your days be peaceful.]
The applause from the detainees, as well as the civilians in nearby buildings, echoed through the city, and the Arbiter gave Max an impressed look before turning to the Capital building.
"How much damage did it take during the fighting? Will we be able to continue working here?" He asked.
"Sergeant, please fill the new Arbiter in on the damages sustained by the building and its records during the apprehension of the politicians." Max requested, and the helpful spokesperson came forward with a paper notepad in his hand.
He had itemized the damages by room and hallway on every floor of the building, so it only took a few minutes to go through everything and determine that it only needed a good cleaning to be back to eighty percent effective and a few more days of verifying documents in the digital system to determine how much more could be directly transferred.
"Tell me, Commander Keres. How did you take a Capital City with so few casualties?" The Arbiter asked.
"Overwhelming force. Once we breached the outer defences and crushed the city's shields, it was only a matter of time before the city fell. It is a bit of a shame that the Titan Class Mecha that was guarding the city escaped, but I am sure that we will get around to taking care of that matter eventually." Max sighed.
"Oh, did the message not reach you here? It went to the location of your mothership, where it was knocked out of warp by Interceptor Drones and disabled by your second in command. The pilot of the Mecha is now aboard Terminus, in the custody of your research and development team." The Arbiter informed him.
"The Research and Development team? I guess I will find out the details once I get back home. But for now, the city is yours, and I do hope that you have a pleasant time with it. There is a lack of local government officials, but the government employees are almost all gathered here in the courtyard, with only a few sent for medical attention.
It seemed prudent to gather all of those who were important to the continued operation of the city into one spot, both for the aftermath of the battle and in case things ground to a stalemate. Without these people, the city would have a very hard time continuing to operate in a siege situation."
The Arbiter looked far more impressed than Max would prefer, like he was startled that a human had thought of all that, but his thoughts were on the standard combat procedures, how they might have done things differently, and the likely outcomes of the various standardized tactics.
More and more Alliance workers showed up over the next hour, stabilizing the city's infrastructure, while reports came in of others all over the planet taking over for the former leaders. Unlike the Capital City, most of the others had taken heavy damage when the shields went down, but none were too heavy, as the cities had surrendered in short order once they realized that things weren't going to go well for them if they continued to fight.
Max read the thoughts of the various Alliance officials that had been reassigned to work here and didn't find any resentment or other negative feelings about the matter, only optimism that they could improve things on this posting and get themselves a promotion back home after their tour of duty was finished.
They also appreciated the condition that the planet was in and had exchanged a large number of gloating messages with friends assigned to other planets, which had suffered under less effective tactics. For example, the 805th Compliance Fleet had decided that the Orbital Bombing of their assigned planet to soften it up before the Mecha landing was the best way forward, and the vast majority of the planet was now rubble, with hundreds of millions dead.
The attack had been a blitz, with millions of bombs in motion at once, so by the time they realized that the Volga couldn't defend themselves, it was already too late to stop the bombardment.
So, the Arbiters who had been sent there had a major rebuilding effort ahead of them in every single city on the planet and a much more hostile civilian population to deal with.
The only saving grace was that they were the only ones to go for a full-scale bombing without a test attack, so over a hundred other planets had suffered only minimal damages, considering the situation.