Chapter 631 631 Giant Terror
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max was more than a little confused by the Giant's outburst. They had never seen anything like this before, not even in Nico's memories or Max's own. There were some similarities to the Dreamcast vessels from his past life, but they weren't as pointy as this was, and they certainly weren't as heavily armed, as their pilots could move between regular space and something else that they called the Dream, simply vanishing when they were under threat.
"I had never seen anything like this before the design was completed. It's in the same design scheme as our Comor Pattern Mecha and the new space vessels, but Absolution is a completely unique vessel, as far as we know." Max explained.
The Giant tapped his way through a few sites on his data tablet, then activated a hologram over the table. Displayed was a twisted and evil version of Absolution, not exactly the same, but certainly similar enough to be shocking.
If he had been asked, the version that the Giant had presented seemed like the version that Nico would have designed, not Absolution. It had a certain demonic and evil vibe to it that made the skin crawl just by looking at it.
The Giant looked at the image with a hint of fear and cleared his throat. "That is Death, in the language of my people. Only what it actually represents is much worse. We have no idea what species pilots it. Only similarly designed vessels will descend on a planet from that mothership, and in a matter of hours, the entire population will be gone.
Not dead, for the most part. They take them all as slaves, but as soon as the ship vanishes again, all transmissions from them are cut off, and they are never seen again. We don't know where it comes from or why it targets the locations that it does, but it has been a scourge on the far side of the Universe since before my people had a language to record it in.
We have shot down many of its smaller vessels in the past, but nobody has ever gotten to see who is inside of them and live long enough to send out a transmission. They don't leave their fallen behind, not even scraps of damaged vessels, to study.
I apologize for panicking, but for a moment, I thought that they were here, set to harvest billions of humans at once."
He was visibly shaking by the time he finished explaining, and the Innu Envoy offered him the remainder of her coffee to calm him down. The tart taste of raspberry juice, mixed with cinnamon and latte, was enough to pop his eyes wide open and shake his thoughts out of a past battle that he had observed when that vessel had shown up.
"Is it just that one ship?" Max asked.
"If there were more than one of them, entire species would be eliminated. Every time, the ship is identical. There are three hundred smaller vessels launched from it, using an unknown energy weapon that disables but does not kill, and the victims are teleported aboard. It's not a transport portal but some form of direct transport beam. It might be a very high-speed tractor beam, but we don't have enough data to be sure.
The creepiest part of it all is that they don't actually take everyone. They leave ten percent of the population of the planet behind in hiding. At first, we thought it meant that they couldn't detect certain hiding spots, but every time it is exactly ten percent. One time an entire population stood against them, and still, they left ten percent behind.
It's like they're harvesting a crop and leaving behind seeds for it to regrow like they're coming back at some later date to do it again."
Max shuddered as he recalled a similar tactic from his past life. The Dirge used to use a similar tactic to gather slaves for their customers. Their ships looked very different from that, but it made Max wonder if he was actually just on the far side of the Universe from his last life. Probability said that patterns would repeat given enough repetition, and a random pattern generator would eventually create the combined works of any great author.
The Universe seemed to favour certain patterns, or perhaps it wasn't as random as it seemed, and the species he had seen were all guided by an outside force, but either way, the probability that he would see similar evils to his past life seemed increasingly likely.
"Well, I can say for sure that this ship came from the twisted mind of my second in command and her Innu assistants, so it is not a harbinger of great evil. But it is a great upgrade in the maximum technology level that humans have achieved, which is why I wanted you all to see it in the first place.
We are here to recruit to staff the ship, and we will make three more stops after this as well so that our new operations center has a wide variety of humans aboard. There will be space for others, of course, both as visitors and as staff, but we do intend to keep it as a primarily human crew." Max explained
"That is understandable. If you are trying to make a place for your species, it won't do to be seen as the lackeys of another species. I wonder what the Federation forces on the far side of human space will think of this? They come grovelling and begging to Alliance territory every few years and get rejected for not meeting the minimum technological standards for intervention, and they are bound to find out about your new development soon enough." The Valkia Envoy suggested.
Max considered his words for a moment, then searched the sensor data from Terminus to see what he was talking about since his thoughts said it should be obvious what he meant.
There was a Vampire ship, with its signature sails raised, coming out from behind one of the inner planet's moons.
Looking at the Vampire's vessel and then at Absolution, there were some similarities, but the angular lines of the vampire ship reminded Max more of the vessel that the Giant was so afraid of.
One thing he had learned from Dave as a child was that there were no coincidences in life, only scams in progress and recruitment efforts. If the Vampires culture was emulating a design, it likely meant that they had seen something like it in the past, and that would be valuable information before this Galaxy saw whatever had been wiping out planets of Giants and their allies.
Chapter 632 632 Vampires Too?
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
[Commander, we have an incoming message from the Vampire ship.] The communications officer on duty informed Max seconds later.
[I will take it here.] Max replied, then opened the link as a video chat, which would project holograms of Max and everyone else at his table to the person that had contacted them from the Vampire's vessel.
"Commander Keres Max, I must say, your new home nearly gave my crew a heart attack. I am assuming that IS your new vessel?" The Vampire asked as soon as the link opened.
"Indeed it is. Would you like to come aboard Terminus and have a chat? I have been on the far side of the Galaxy for a while now, and I haven't had a chance to catch up with the ongoing situation here and within the Federation since the end of the Civil War." Max replied.
"Certainly. We have a lot to talk about and a revelation that I think you will be very interested in, as well as your Alliance Envoy associates. We have been waiting for a response from the Reaver Council on this matter, but they have deemed it of low importance with everything else going on." The Vampire informed him.
"I will accept your shuttle at bay C17. Forgive me if I don't greet you in person, I have a lot going on at the moment, and the recruitment teams are headed to the planet to do the final round of interviews." Max agreed and sent through the clearance codes for the Vampire vessel to dock with them.
"Oh, this should be good. I think that the Vampires have finally realized it now that they managed to purchase a replicator from the Reavers." The Valkia Envoy declared eagerly while rubbing his hands on his wings in anticipation.
"Can I know in advance, or are you making it a surprise?" Max asked.
"I love surprises. They will be here in only a few minutes, so it won't be long either way, but if you can bring them to us, it would be amazing to see the look on everyone's face when they find out." The Valkia suggested.
Max sent a message for the escort to bring the Vampires to the coffee shop since he was already here, and there was lots of room to hold a meeting while everyone was focused on the recruitment and the appearance of the new ship.
The response of the Envoys hadn't been what he expected, and he still hadn't told them about the capabilities of the ship, but given the Giant's response, it might be better not to spring that on him today.
"Greetings, Commander. I am Captain Nostra of the Vampire fleet." The leader of the Vampire fleet introduced himself, while Max stood up to greet him.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I believe that I have met one of your relatives before, piloting a cargo vessel." Max replied.
"Ah, yes, it is a common issue. The Nostra family has been a space-faring family, much like your Reaver Families, for many millennia, so a great number of Vampire Captains share the same name." The pale man chuckled while his red eyes glinted in amusement.
"Come and sit. The Envoys are here to observe our recruitment effort, so you can treat them as bystanders in our meeting. Their rules prevent them from sharing any confidential information that you might have with me." Max explained.
"Then I will get right to it. We recently acquired a replicator from your people, and while the legalities of the purchase might be questionable, we learned something very interesting. You see, the first thing that we used it for was to produce one of the new generation medical tools that are programmed in so that we could cure an outbreak of a new virus.
But the tool had some very interesting things to say once it scanned our citizens. It insists that Vampires are, in fact, genetically modified humans with a rare genetic condition that makes us much more physically powerful, as well as sensitive to sunlight and anemic.
To say that my superiors were offended by the suggestion that it could cure Vampirism was putting it mildly, but it did manage to cure the disease that we were suffering from, and experiments were run that helped with the anemia, reducing our need for additional iron and mineral intake. I feel incredible in the morning, by the way, now that I don't wake up woozy and thirsty.
But with that in mind, I would like you to read this proposal from the Vampire Council."
The speech was a bit long-winded, but it gave Max a very good idea of what was coming next, and the Valkia Envoy was staring intently at his face, waiting for the moment when it sunk in that the Vampires were a Demihuman species like the Canis.
Max considered playing it up, but as a mind reader, he had learned long ago not to respond to emotional input, or he would look like a crazy person all the time, so the Envoy's anticipation slowly turned to mild disappointment as Max's facial expression barely changed.
The Barista was much more entertaining. The revelation that Vampires were descended from humans was a big shock to basically everyone since the genetic data that they had in the past suggested that they were entirely unrelated species.
Max looked through the data and found exactly what the Vampire was talking about. Though their entire genome was different, it was deliberately different. The more advanced medical tools had found the lingering traces of modifications that could still be seen in the descendants, and when the identified changes were isolated, it became clear that reverting them would indeed lead to either a human or a very similar species.
It wasn't exactly an incontrovertible fact, but it was certainly a strong possibility, given the evidence that had been presented.
After moving on from the evidence, Max got to the proposal. The Vampire Council was asking that the Reavers consider the genetic data presented and accept it as proof that the Vampires were a human-descended species, which meant that they would be included in agreements made on behalf of humanity, such as the agreements with the Alliance, which governed interactions between the groups.
"This might be beyond our medical technology, but thankfully we have the Envoys here. I will ask you four. Make that three. Since the Dryad has disappeared again, can you scan the Vampires and determine if they were indeed descended from humans? If they were, to your standard of evidence, then I can present this to the Reaver Council and have it approved very quickly." Max asked.
"Certainly. I can have my assistant bring a genetic sequence scanner in a few minutes, and we will verify the data presented against the Vampires present. From what I can see, they do look quite similar, and their blood vessel structure appears to be very similar to humans, sharing the same arterial pattern, so they might have a case." The Valkia agreed with a smirk.
Max was almost certain that they had done the scans and determined the truth of this matter years ago when the Vampires showed up with the Federation to petition for a trade deal with the Alliance, but they had been holding back on it until the Vampires showed up and reminded him of it.
Chapter 633 633 Humans Are Like That
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
The medical team didn't take long to arrive with their scanning tools, and they got to work as soon as the Envoy explained what procedures he thought they would need to do in order to fully verify the assertion that the Vampires were descended from humans.
They had more than enough equipment here, and Max briefly wished that Nico was nearby so that she could steal some of that medical tech for their own use. Not that they had been having any issues lately with the new devices they had provided to every unit and the Alliance doctors that they had hired for the Cruise Ship, but a little more medical knowledge was never a bad thing.
The team scanned all five members of the Vampire team and then plotted their data on a holographic chart in front of the Envoys, over top of the table.
"In my professional medical opinion, to call the Vampires descendants of humanity is both technically correct and misleading. If you look at the data here and here, you can see where clearly human genetics were forcefully altered, but if you look here, you can see naturally occurring sequences from a species completely unrelated to humanity.
Though I can confirm with one hundred percent certainty that there were humans in their ancestry and that the species, as it is now, is a result of genetic engineering, as they asserted. However, it is undeniable that there was a second species in their ancestry." The Doctor informed the group, looking a bit disturbed.
Max and the Vampire Captain shared a meaningful look with each other, and Max hid a short burst of laughter while the Envoys looked confused.
"It's a running joke among the other species of this Galaxy that, given the opportunity, Humans would try to breed with almost any sentient species just to see if it worked. The data declaring that humans and an unknown, possibly extinct species hybridized to produce Vampires is not a huge shock. Nor is the implication that they then genetically altered their offspring for an unknown reason, perhaps because they were unstable or prone to genetic disorders or infertility." The Vampire informed them in the characteristically dry and unemotional tone of his people.
"Perhaps we should ask our Innu Envoy? I hear you had a lengthy conversation about this topic with the Research Team?" Max asked.
"Oh, yes, I did. It was the result of a cultural difference, where the humans viewed it as polite to show their favourite bits of technology off and allow others to try them out." She began, then paused as all the other Envoys began to laugh.
"Exactly. That is a top-tier date, very nearly a marriage proposal to an Innu, letting them use your favourite tech gadgets. They weren't at all dissuaded once they were informed, though, and began to postulate about whether sensory tentacles or hair would be the dominant genetic trait." The Envoy continued after a moment.
"It's the sensory tentacles. I already looked into it after I heard the story from one of the researchers." Her assistant informed her with a smirk.
"You know, many species assimilate others to integrate them into their group, but I think this is the first time I have actually met one who had successfully hybridized. Perhaps the Alliance will have to study the Vampires a bit more closely now that they are officially considered an offshoot of humanity. A stabilized hybrid, whose split ancestry coexists and doesn't try to subsume one side or the other, is an anomaly worthy of study.
By our standards, they are covered by agreements relating to humanity as a species, as they have some human ancestry, and they are willing to acknowledge it. Like the Canis, they will be considered a human-descended species, entitled to coverage by your treaty." The Giant announced after referencing his data tablet.
"That brings us to the important question. What made the Vampire Council decide to take this action? They were quite adamant that they were not humans only a few years ago and were working with the Federation to attempt to gain recognition by the Alliance." Max asked.
"We are a very long-lived species, as you already know. After following our current technological progression path, it was determined that the likely date to develop our own unique warp ten capable vessels would be a minimum of a century away and that it would likely run afoul of copyright laws, as much of it is derived from human technologies.
Based on that, our achievement would likely be disregarded, setting us back over another century while we tried to create an entirely new mode of travel at sufficient speeds.
Also, human technology has already started to spread rapidly throughout our culture, halting many of our own technological development efforts in favour of the much more advanced human technology, but we are currently limited to only producing the items that we have licenses for, as we have to use human devices to make more human devices, so the logical path forward found a link between the two species that could be used to form an alliance.
Now that we have established shared ancestry, we can be considered separate human nations, and while that doesn't bring us automatically into agreements between the Reavers and the Alliance, it does mean that if we can work a deal to join the Reavers' Trade Group, we would be gaining the full benefits that any human nation would."
The Vampires were always unemotional and logical, so this path made sense to Max, and it was clearly well thought through before the Captain had met them here. His vessel had only been passing by, but when their informants told the Vampire Council that Terminus had started recruiting in this system, they had been diverted in order to attempt to make this deal and get ahead of the priority list for Reaver Political matters.
Max tapped his chin as he thought and then turned to the Vampire Captain. "Should I assume that you will be serving as the Envoy between your nation and the Trade Group? I can get you a meeting with the leadership in the next few days since Terminus Trading Company is rather busy at the moment.
It will be much faster than any other approach, and the negotiations to join the group can often be done in only a few days if both parties are on the same page."
"I think that the Council is looking to join the group, but I will not be the Envoy, only a convenient messenger. If your ship has the capability to open a portal, there is an Envoy group prepared to begin negotiations at any time. They are familiar with the standard agreement and have already prepared a set of terms that they would find amenable, so the deal might be made in very short order." The Captain agreed.
"In that case, send the necessary messages, and I will order you a beverage. Your entourage is welcome to enjoy the hospitality of the Terminus Trading Company while we wait." Max offered.
"I have one more directive if you will allow it. The Vampire Council requests that myself and my ship apply for gainful employment aboard Absolution. Once they saw it, they were adamant that this opportunity not be missed to integrate into Reaver culture."
A shipload of Vampires? Well, if nothing else, they were known to be somewhat trustworthy.
"I will prioritize your applications. I am sure your crew has more than sufficient qualifications to find a home aboard Absolution."
Chapter 634 634 Organizing Mass Movement
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
The recruitment efforts on the planet began as smoothly as anyone had dared to hope for. It had taken a full two hours for the planet's residents to get over the shock of seeing such an immense object in orbit above them, visible by the naked eye in the night sky, and a number of applications were withdrawn once the applicants realized that Operations Center Absolution was a World Ship and not a planetary station.
But that was within the calculations of the Logistics team that was in charge of the recruitment, and by the time the planet had recovered, they were ready and waiting with dozens of Cutters ready to take passengers back from the planet to their new home.
Being a planet used to political envoys and high-level meetings, there was more than enough room at the spaceport to dock them all, and tickets were arranged to get all of the guests and their families loaded within 12 hours, starting six hours from their arrival.
It perfectly matched the published itinerary, but Max had hoped that they could simply send their Cutters to the surface to pick up their applicants instead of having them stop over at a space station with all of their belongings.
It was going to be tight for them to pack unless the planet had an abundance of moving cubes since each family unit was allotted a two-meter by three-meter container to move their belongings with.
There was no need to bring furniture. The units inside the ship were furnished, but family heirlooms and sentimental items, plus kids' toys and clothing, took some time to pack.
The Planetary Governor assured him that they had everything covered, but in Max's experience, that was rarely the case, and he was certain that he would hear all about the shortages leading to delays soon enough.
[Hey Nico, how much staff do you need to get everyone settled in? I've got you scheduled for one battalion. Will that do?] Max asked as the deadline for the first arrivals drew closer.
[Never fear, for Nico is here. I have come prepared to deal with all eventualities, including the mass movement of personal belongings and personnel onto the ship.]
Max sighed at her response and messaged her again. [Please clarify. How do you plan to get everything squared away when you are alone on the ship?]
[That's easy. I just made a hundred thousand androids to pilot the Mecha. They've got sufficient processing power to deal with basic things like escorting staff to their new homes and driving hover transports to drop off their belongings.
They can even shoot the annoying ones if you want. I've programmed summary execution into the termination of employment options in their programming.]
He knew he should have sent someone with her. Maybe someone reasonably sane, like Major Miller, but he was busy with the recruitment paperwork. He would have sent one of the researchers with her, but they would still be tinkering with the Androids if there were two of them there to bounce ideas off each other.
[No killing the new staff. It will scare the others. Just make sure everyone is settled in safely and efficiently, and I will join you with Terminus by the end of the day. I assume that the hangar is ready for us?] Max asked.
[Ready, cleaned and equipped with a low-density atmosphere so that it will compress to standard pressure when you enter. Come by anytime. The weather is nice over here.]
[As soon as the new employees are loaded. I don't want any confusion during the process, so I will keep Terminus right where it is. The Alliance vessel is hanging around outside the system so that it doesn't alarm the locals.]
If it needed to, it could get here in a matter of minutes, so the distance was negligible, but this portion of the former Kepler Empire wasn't used to seeing Alliance vessels, and the presence of Absolution had already alarmed them enough.
[Honorable Lord Commander Keres of the Terminus Trading Company, this is planetary control. The first of your new hires are now loading into the Cutters that your, um, operations center sent to us. Please be advised that the schedule has the last of the families boarding in twelve hours, but we have a cargo barge on the surface that can bring the majority of their belongings all at once.]
The nervousness in the man's voice made the Envoys laugh. He clearly wasn't sure how to properly address Max and didn't think that the moniker given to Absolution fit its status. But he was likely the junior officer on duty, so he had no choice after everyone else declined to be the one making the call.
[Thank you, Planetary Control. Please advise your superiors that the wire transfer of Reaver Credits for their shuttle, moving and recruitment services is on the way.]
That was usually the part that the politicians were the most worried about. The fee for taking a citizen off the planet wasn't large, but it was enough that they could clean out the former resident's unit and clear up any outstanding paperwork that they might have left behind in their hurry to get off the world.
This time they also had to pay for the shuttles to the space station and the moving containers, but that was to be expected when taking in so many families. It would also help reassure their next stops that they weren't doing anything shady and that the planets wouldn't lose a load of money just to save the credits that they were spending on the benefits for the formerly unemployed residents.
There were a surprising number of large families coming aboard, and Max could see that they were all verified by the scanners on the Cutters as being biologically related, though most families were comprised of one son and a lot of daughters, all genetically tweaked for optimal appearance and other physical qualities.
It was one of the things that he had forgotten about the core worlds of the Kepler Empire. There were billions of ultra-wealthy residents, and they all wanted a harem of trophy wives or husbands. Even the common construction workers would blow their life savings in order to have beautiful children, as the more children they had, the greater the odds that one would be chosen and elevate the whole family into the ranks of the wealthy.
He was definitely going to have to warn the other crew members about that. The Reavers would mistake it as an offer of prostitution when really they were looking for a wedding ring, and the aftermath of that was not an argument he wanted to have to mediate.
In fact, he would have Nico add it to the documentation for new arrivals.
[Nico, I forgot what the core planets are like. Add something to the paperwork to explain that there are no billionaires on the ship and that harems are strictly optional.]
Nico's reply was swift. [Got it, boss. I have a flow chart already created of Reaver income distribution, explaining that none of us individually actually have much money and that we try to get promoted for the non-monetary benefits. That should sort out most of them, but I have added a nice short and succinct note to the effect that attempting to steal a Reaver woman's man may result in sudden and violent death.]
[Thanks, I knew I could count on you.]
Chapter 635 635 Lifestyle Upgrades
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
The fact that they would not become Billionaires received much less of an adverse reaction than Max had expected. The whole reason that everyone wanted their children to join an ultra-wealthy family was to get them out of the chronically broke state that they were in as menial workers, not for the actual cash.
Therefore, the non-monetary benefits that the Reavers were offering them were almost exactly what they had always wanted.
Their planet was still working almost entirely with pre-civil war Kepler technology, which made it a very comfortable place to live, but even compared to what was the height of human civilization a few years ago, Absolution was a worker's paradise.
Every worker got a housing allotment based on their family size and position, but none were crowded as they were back home. On the planet, it was normal to have all sons take one bedroom, and all daughters take the other, but the Absolution's design assigned bedrooms in multiples of two.
Not every child of a low-skilled worker would get their own bedroom, but they would never be shared with more than one sibling, a huge improvement from four or five in the same room.
They also got a replicator allowance based strictly on family size, plus a bonus from their job. The details were the most common message that Nico was receiving, as the workers simply couldn't believe that they could simply order anything they wanted off the menu or from the generic items in the database and pay by the energy consumed.
Fortunately, Nico had been prepared for the culture shock, and once all of the new staff were onboard and checked into their new homes, she activated all of the holographic emitters at once.
"Good morning, everyone. This is the first test of the shipwide emergency alert system. Rest assured that there is no emergency today, but I will go over a few of the most common concerns that have been raised over the previous day.
First of all, the matter of work uniforms. They will be provided at your place of employment if you require a uniform or protective wear. For those who do not, you will find a variety of business casual options in the Replicator system, which may be purchased using your energy allowance, should you be short on suitable clothing.
Secondly, the replicator system itself. If you would like to follow along at home, I have updated the interface to make it easier for new arrivals to get a solid grasp of how the system works. Every action now has a number next to it. For example, if I wanted to create this bottle of Reaver Rum, it would take six energy units.
That amount will come out of the food and beverage portion of your allotment, as Rum is a beverage. Please note that users will be tracked for the purposes of public safety. If you are not purchasing sufficient food for your family's needs, a health and wellness counsellor will come to visit you to ensure that your family is still healthy.
However, unless you regularly spend your entire paycheck on booze and drugs or starve your family, that won't be a concern that you will ever have to deal with.
But back on topic, should I want a meal to go with my Rum, I have a variety of options. For those following along at home, please open the Popular Items tab on your kitchen replicator.
There you will see a number of listings. Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes, Steak and Eggs, Lobster and Salmon filets in a lemon butter sauce, and Chicken Karahi make up the first page as the most requested meal items by human staff aboard the Colony Ship Terminus.
As you can see, the meatloaf is actually the most expensive item on the list. Why? You might ask. So I will break it down. The total weight of the Meatloaf and Mashed meal is just over one kilogram, while the Lobster and Salmon filets come in at a mere six hundred grams without an additional side other than vegetables.
It takes more energy to make a larger quantity of food, so while the seafood is rare and expensive when harvested from the ocean of your homeworld, it is, in fact, less difficult for the Replicator to produce.
This also goes for clothing. Larger sizes require more energy, while skimpier items require less. But make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, the Reavers have a well-ingrained sense of decorum, and wandering around in a bikini top and mico miniskirt will earn you many strange looks, no matter how much you saved on making them.
Now, please enjoy your evening, and feel free to ask the ship's computer if you have additional questions."
Max was quite impressed with her prepared broadcast. It covered the essentials, and going by the energy usage charts, it seemed that the new arrivals were starting to get the hang of ordering meals right away, despite the fact that most of them hadn't unpacked much of anything at the moment and had to have the meal created in takeaway packaging, with disposable cutlery.
There were directions on biomass recycling printed on labels on the garbage cans, so they should be able to figure out the trash system easily enough, and Max began to relax as he scrolled through the residential zone cameras. Families were rapidly unpacking their pods, which were made of organic plastic and could be recycled by the ship's systems since they had been purchased from the planet's government.
That was one stop down, and very soon, they could be off to the next one, a tech production facility just inside of Cygnus space.
The residents there were the polar opposite of these workers, and the official applications listed an average of 0.2 dependants per worker: nearly no spouses and very few children. The place was also horribly overcrowded, thanks to a rapid decline in demand over the past decade, and they had been quite willing to part with a great number of skilled workers and researchers.
Mostly junior researchers, but that was no problem for Max. The research team from Terminus would be moving to Absolution to give them more room to work, while a smaller team would remain on the ship to take care of the essentials and new product requests, as well as the ongoing Luxury Yacht production.
Chapter 636 636 Final Pickup
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
With their business done, Absolution opened another immense portal, leading the way for Terminus and the Alliance observation vessel to follow her through to Cygnus territory.
The shock and panic on the communications channels when Nico led the ship through first were more than worth the expended energy, in her opinion, and it would leave a lasting memory with the new workers.
These were more her sort of people as well. Rough and rowdy blue-collar workers, many of whom had spent the majority of their lives on ships and understood the Reaver code of conduct. They would make up the majority of the tradesmen in the first group, as Absolution was taking in nearly a million of them.
That was four times the workers, but still not as many total people as they had gained at their previous stop, but Max wasn't concerned. It was a great spot to pick up people who understood the concept of hard work, and it would bring balance to the culture of the ship.
The living spaces would be interspersed with the first lot of workers so that they didn't accidentally create a cultural divide by the planet of origin right from the start, but the real glue of the operation, the management team, wouldn't be arriving until their next stop.
Max was taking Absolution to Rae 5 to show her off and pick up whatever excess ship staff and management candidates the Reavers had lying around. With them in charge, he could feel confident that the ship would slowly come around to the proper way of doing things, even if the sheer number of outside staff influenced the culture to some degree.
The expectation that they would be working on a Reaver Operations Center, under Reaver rules and Reaver culture, was explicitly clear in the hiring documents and the advertisements, and at the second stop, it was a big selling point.
Even before they started getting all the cool toys, many of the workers here dreamed of being Reavers and getting away from the sweatshops and the orbital mines.
Unlike the family atmosphere of the first stop, there were very few belongings containers at this stop. They had packed light, putting everything into military standard storage cubes for ease of movement.
They were much more aware of what a new generation Reaver Ship should be capable of, as the Cygnus Government had been on an intensive propaganda campaign touting the benefits of all the new technologies that were spreading through their territory.
So, they left behind everything that reminded them of crowded hab blocks and crummy jobs and brought only their most treasured memories when they came to Absolution.
It made for a quick stop, with everyone shuttled over in under six hours and settled into their new homes by the end of the day.
The pace of the recruitment left everything inside the ship in chaos, though. None of the businesses were open yet. There was no functioning crew or staff, and it wouldn't be for another day.
That was when they arrived at Rae 5, and the staff of Terminus finished with the hiring process so that those who had been deemed essential to operations would be moving over.
The entire infantry force, save for a small contingent that was working as security in the Cruise Ship section, would be moving to new homes aboard Absolution to serve the same law enforcement job they were doing now, but with actual work to do, now that they had ten times as many people to deal with.
The crew they picked from among the Reavers would be piloting specialists and such for the actual navigation and operation of the new vessel, as well as the managers for all of the facilities and departments which didn't have their positions filled by transfers from Terminus.
The Colony ship would feel a bit empty for a while, with so many former infantrymen gone, but the Academy was expanding its grounds some, and Max had already made plans to expand the Cruise Ship area, so there wouldn't be very much wasted space inside the ship by the time that everything was settled.
It wasn't like they were using the infantry in the first place, and having them on Absolution would make it easier to whip them back into shape.
None of them, Max included, had seen real combat in a long time, and everyone was starting to get lazy and soft, a state that Max was intent on remedying. His first goal was to get a new combat training regimen going for all of the Pilots within the Terminus Trading Company. It was better to have them at the top of their game now than rusty once they actually saw combat.
Max was certain that if he was still fighting constantly, there was no way that the Volga Titan Class Mecha would have escaped from him, and he was projecting that feeling of softness onto his subordinates.
It wasn't the wrong call, most of them had been slacking off, and only a few still worked as hard as they used to in order to keep their edge. That would all change in the near future, though, and Max's plan would make basic training look like the daycare that it really was.
But first, he needed the rest of his new crew.
[As soon as we are done, we will be departing for Rae 5 to make the last recruitment stop for Absolution. Everyone, please enjoy your journey and prepare for a big announcement once we have the new staff settled into their routines.] Max informed the guests and staff of Terminus.
He could sense the anticipation as everyone wondered what was in store for the adventure ship, which had just crossed most of a Galaxy over the course of a week, picking up staff and viewing local documentaries detailing the history of the planets and regions that they had stopped at.
Before long, the final portal of their recruitment tour had been opened, and the Reavers very first World Ship entered orbit around the Reaver homeworld for the first time.
They were greeted with huge fanfare, even more elaborate than a Reaver Wedding, with ships throwing out brightly coloured flares all over the star system, celebrations everywhere, and even a planetary holiday to commemorate the event.
[Greetings to the Terminus Trading Company and your intrepid ship designers. Congratulations on the launch of your very first World Ship. As is the Reaver Custom, since you are here with so many other Companies, we will hold an official commissioning party for the vessel.
I hope that your hastily assembled staff is ready for what is coming because I don't think that there is a single person in this star system that doesn't want to come aboard, even if it is just to say that they were aboard a World Ship that Reavers made.] Mary Tarith greeted them before Max could even put Terminus into a proper orbit.
[Will there be cake? I feel like this occasion deserves a cake, don't you?] Max asked, making the older woman laugh.
Max was the host, after all. It was customary for him to be the one providing all of the refreshments and entertainment for the guests, not the other way around. But Mary Tarith had a soft spot for her daughter's chosen partner, and she would bring him one of her special recipe cakes as a housewarming gift during the celebration of the first mission for Absolution.
Chapter 637 637 Mary Comes To Visit
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max began preparing to have a massive influx of visitors just after everyone started to get settled in, but that wasn't something that he hadn't had practice with before.
The staff of Terminus had gone through this multiple times before, and the entire city that General Tennant had settled had suffered the same fate, so he knew that he could at least host a party, even if most of the ship wasn't entirely online and ready for regular business yet.
It would help the crew bond, so he began to make plans for a multiple-day event, having his crew party the night before the christening and then continue it through the day with the visitors present.
That should give them an idea of who was local and who wasn't, as well as provide them with a chance to interact with the Reavers at large. They were guaranteed to see a lot of them in the future, given the size of the ship and the facilities that it boasted.
Anything short of a Colony Ship could be built or rebuilt inside the hangars of Absolution, and with a bit of effort, they could find a way to get a Colony Ship inside as well, so any Reaver in their vicinity was likely to drop in for some repairs and upgrades, as well as a chance to visit the city center of the ship to pick up some supplies.
That wasn't as necessary as it used to be, but not everyone's Replicator and Material Printer systems had the same items programmed into them. The ones that the Reavers sold only contained a small sample of the possible permutations, leaving it up to the purchaser to obtain the design plans for everything else.
That way, artisans could still sell their goods, and it wouldn't encourage ships to isolate themselves from the world. Many centuries in the past that had become a huge problem in some Reaver Families and among the Death Wind Mercenaries. Too small of a gene pool and an unwillingness to interact with others had spelled their doom over the course of a few generations.
It also kept interplanetary trade going since the ability to code new items into the Replicators by simply scanning them wasn't a standard feature but an additional function that was only on the units that Nico had developed specifically for their use.
Keeping the Galactic Economy functioning was a delicate balancing act, one that Max was beginning to see had many more layers than just simple conveniences like the Replicators. The planets had been relying on each other for generations, so if they broke those bonds now, the resulting chaos would make the civil war seem mild in comparison.
Most planets couldn't sustain themselves anymore. They relied on others for something that they lacked, so if the few that could sustain themselves cut everyone else off, a lot of people would die, and the nations would break down all over again.
That was why Cygnus was distributing an even more limited older version of the Replicators and Materials Printers than their military was using. It made luxuries possible while still making foreign specialties unobtainable without trade.
Max prepared to send out the last message of the morning so that he could relax for a bit and head down to the Mecha trainers and the gym, getting back on his training regimen.
[All guests and Personnel aboard Terminus. In forty-two hours' time, we will be docking with Absolution for the ceremonial First Deployment Party. Please be advised that the bays of Terminus will be opened once we are docked, and the staff of Absolution will be available to guide guests who wish to visit the new vessel.]
The cheering in the minds of the cruise ship guests nearly gave Max a migraine, but it was good to see them so excited about a port of call. They hadn't gotten to take an off-ship excursion in a while, and that was one of the larger draws of being on a wandering Colony Ship.
He was just finishing a set of curls in the gravity-enhanced training room when his message alarm went off. Some VIP was requesting to visit Terminus directly, and the ship's communications officer had deemed it important enough to inform him or request his permission.
[Sir, Mary Tarith is on her way up from the surface. Your locator placed you in the gym, and I thought that you would like a heads-up before your mother-in-law showed up unannounced.]
The communications staff of Terminus were all great workers and deserved a raise, Max decided. Mary was a handful at the best of times, and being caught off guard only made it more difficult to ascertain what she was really up to.
Her mind was like Nico's in a way. What she was thinking on the surface had nothing to do with her ulterior motives and ultimate goals, and it always caught him off guard when she suddenly changed the topic to what she really wanted.
Max dialled the gravity settings back down from ten times standard to twice standard before he left so that whoever came in next had time to adapt and wasn't accidentally crushed by the gravity change, then went to shower before Mary's shuttle made it up to him.
He barely made it in time, but he was freshly changed and waiting at the hangar when she landed, using one of the new morphable hull shuttles that Nico had designed only a few weeks ago.
"I like the new ride. It looks like Nico keeps you right on top of the newest designs." Max greeted her with a smile.
"Not this time. I had to beg Uncle Lu for a new ride so that I could show off for the crowd at the planetary docks. This is one of his experimental models. He has been using the hull design that Nico sent him to develop new warp shield frequencies in an attempt to give us smooth velocities all the way from warp one to thirty. It would be an incredible feat if he can actually manage it, but making a single warp core capable of that much variability seems to be a daunting task." Mary replied with a shrug, indicating that she didn't understand the complexities of warp core design.
That made sense, his lab was inside the Moon Base over Rae 5, and Mary Tarith was serving as the head of the Reaver Council at the moment, so they had a lot of interaction. The old Comor Royal's ambition was quite impressive, though, even for a mad scientist.
If he could come up with a design capable of something that even the Alliance had given up on making practical, they could sell them all over the Universe. Assuming that the Alliance Government didn't come up with a big money offer to keep that particular technology off the open market.
Max knew that there were going to be at least a few such requests incoming over the next few days when he made the capabilities of the new weapons and shuttle designs public, and they had the chance to see the designs for themselves. He just had to wait for the legal team to go over the rules regarding the weapons' usage before he announced them to everyone and had to answer questions about antimatter munitions on a technical level.
"So, what brings you here so early? We've still got a whole day of staff transfers and bonding before the official ceremony." He asked Mary, who was setting a covered dish on a rolling cart from her shuttle.
"Cake, of course. I am not making enough for an entire city, but I thought that we could sit and chat for a while. I know you have a particular fondness for sweet chocolate cake, so I brought your favourite. It's a prime opportunity while my daughter is away to have some time to chat."
Those were dangerous words coming from her. Not because she was malicious but because she was, for lack of a better term, his mother-in-law, and she could want nearly anything.
While attempting to scour her mind for the true reason behind her visit and finding only the video of a pop tune playing in her mind, Max led her to his suite, with the cake-laden cart floating silently in between them through the empty halls near the Command Quarters. Mary Tarith was getting just as good as Nico at hiding her surface thoughts from him, and he was going to have to work on a way to get around that blocking technique more quickly before he got some annoying song stuck in his head.
Chapter 638 638 Venue Options
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Mary smiled at Max's stressed expression, then patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, I'm not going to ask you for anything extreme. I'm just concerned about my Nico and how she's adapting. You know how she is, she doesn't really share personal matters, but you're inside her head and bed, so you likely know her better than anyone.
Max couldn't help but laugh at that phrasing. Mary was right. He had been both in Nico's head and her bed.
"She's doing quite well, actually. The design of Absolution is her idea, and we didn't even have to stop her from trying to put out anything extreme or demonic. The influence of the Innu researchers might be rubbing off on her, mellowing her out a little bit, but she's just as high energy as they are, so she hasn't suffered from the hyperactive state that many of the other humans suffer from hanging around them for too long.
You have no idea how active their minds are, and they're cheerful at every hour of the day, and even worse when you give them coffee. I've made a note of it in the species logs, by the way." Max replied.
"Ah, yes, I saw that. The Innu Envoy has a fondness for drinking espresso by the litre. I have warned the staff about similar incidents since many of the other Reaver ships have taken some Innu repair staff on board now. There are over two hundred of them among the Reaver fleets in total now." Mary agreed.
It was good to hear that the fleet was slowly integrating with other species, but that reminded Max of the article that he had read the other day about the curious species. He pulled it up quickly and sent a copy to Mary.
"Read that later. I think it will make you laugh. But on the topic of Nico, the latest designs have been surprising. How much has she told you about her memory issues?" Max asked.
He knew that Mary knew most things about Nico, but he wasn't sure how much she knew about her daughter's memories of a past life.
"Her flashes of inspiration? They're almost always combat related, but sometimes they give her good ideas for new weapon developments. Is that where the new munitions came from?" She asked.
Max shook his head. "Quite the contrary. These are totally separate developments from what shows up in the flashes of inspiration. They are totally new things and not from any sort of outside source. I think it might be a good sign that she is finally achieving a balance in her life, where her strange memory flashes aren't guiding her actions anymore."
Mary considered that for a while before answering. "I think that's good, then. She loves combat a lot, no matter how you look at it, but when those thoughts were at their strongest while she was still a toddler, they seemed to be taking over her mind entirely. I think it was the boredom of being a child and being unable to do anything, but I did worry that she might go too far one day.
Plus, these new designs are much more elegant than the old ones. It's like a refinement in an artist's style. The flowing lines, the organic touches, the adaptability, it's all wonderful, and the other Commanders are loving what you're turning out from Terminus Trading Company's labs.
We haven't informed anyone outside of the Council about the antimatter weapons so far, but they should have documents ready for you soon. They found a historical precedent for them, and it has made the exact status in human law much more clear, I am told.
But enough of work talk. I think we need to plan a proper ball. It's all well and good to let the other Reavers and the commoners have their party, but we need to put on something for the Commanders to get together and network.
You are much less rigid than most of them, so I thought you might have forgotten about it, and that's why I'm here to help you plan for a proper party."
There it was, the real hidden reason behind her visit. Showing off her status and wealth in front of people who got to annoy her on a regular basis, thanks to her political position. A bit of petty payback while she subtly bragged about how well her family was doing under her guidance.
Since she came with cake, it was hard to say no to her, and she was right. It was good to get all the Commanders and Ship Captains together in one spot during a party so that their subordinates could actually relax and enjoy themselves.
You couldn't really let loose when your boss, the person who made the decisions that would affect the course of your entire life, was likely to show up at any minute and see you drunk out of your mind or making other questionable life decisions.
"So, what are you thinking? There is a nice garden in the right wing, near the back of the ship, that isn't being used for anything yet. It is designated as a public space, but it's not open to the public at the moment since the Shin and the Dryads wanted to take a look at it before it was contaminated by heavy use.
Or we could use Central Park, which isn't far from the portion of the crew quarters that we have filled so far and wouldn't require transport if they wanted to see the start of the Commercial areas afterward.
I'm hopeful that we can recruit a number of the Dryads to our fleet as well. They're basically hippies and big on the natural order, but they're good with plants and psychotropic drugs that have minimal side effects. You can't keep the crew from trying to find something, but if you find them the best stuff and eliminate most of the addictions, it solves a lot of problems before they occur." Max replied.
Mary chuckled and shook her head. "You really are more lax than most Commanders. Even off duty, most Commanders would whip their crew for using controlled substances on board. That's strictly off-ship vacation behaviour to most Commanders. But I suppose for a World Ship, it makes sense. You can't really make port calls with that thing. You are the port of call."
"Exactly. Terminus is a Cruise Ship, so we expect the guests to let loose and try to sneak things in, but for Absolution, we need to be very strict with what is circulating through the population, and the Dryads are geniuses in that field. It's not like the Reavers have never run drugs before, and they seemed confident that they can keep the unauthorized products under control while still getting their product on the down low to the sailors who are looking for it."
The two chatted for a few more hours, making plans for the party and going over the layout of the green space before Max called in one of the Shin and the Dryad Envoy to add their opinions to the matter of the party, as well as the Dryads' intentions to be the supplier of all things normally considered illicit.
The Dryad was the happiest he had ever seen her when she heard that they saw things her way. "See, if you get them the good stuff, they don't need it all the time, and you can keep the dirty stuff out because who needs it when you can get something better? I think I have a few shipmates who would be willing to transfer to Absolution to take care of the Gardens and some other matters."
The Shin waved his branches in agreement. [I intend to stay here on Terminus and take care of my World Tree, but there will be a shipload of my kin coming soon to apply for jobs on Absolution, tending to her plants. From what I can tell, the designer intended for it to be that way because they made an entire biome with all of our favourite flowers and meter-deep rich black soil.]
Max smirked at the shrub-looking being's enthusiasm and brought out a data tablet with the details of the biome that Nico had designed for the Shin and other similar species.
"Yes, there is one that I am certain your people will love. It's just over ten kilometres long and five wide, oval in shape, and fully customizable for environmental settings separately from the main ship. It seems like a paradise for flora-type species, but you are the expert, not me."
"Yes, very good, very good. The Central Park area where you wish to hold the party is a good choice as well. It shouldn't take any lasting damage from a rowdy bunch of Commanders, and the plants there can be easily repaired and regrown. By the time the parties are over, the non-human job seekers should be here, and they can take care of the aftermath."
Chapter 639 639 New Admiral
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max watched on the viewscreen as small ships began to dock at every conceivable location along the hull of Absolution. Even the maintenance airlocks had been deemed sufficient docking space for shuttles without anyone important on them, and all of their new residents were in a partying mood.
It hadn't taken long once the Reavers were on board to get things organized and start setting up all of the essential services aboard the newly minted ship, and now they were preparing for the pre-commissioning party.
Technically, you could consider the ship in commission, as it had its crew on board now, but it hadn't been assigned any tasks yet, and most of them hadn't even unpacked, so it was more of a move-in and party atmosphere.
The guests from other Reaver Companies had been guided to public areas of the ship, away from where the inhabited residential areas were, and Max was preparing to head over himself to greet their final round of staff.
Through an unfortunate turn of fate, the Crimson Fists Mercantile Fleet had fallen on hard times, losing two ships to debt collectors before Pirates disabled their final ship, and the Company had to declare themselves insolvent and beg leniency from their creditors.
The Commander had been buying goods on credit to sell elsewhere, but after a number of bad calls that didn't cover the cost of transport and purchase and then the loss of all three ships, they had nothing left to give, and the Reaver Council stripped them of their status.
That had proven to be a great opportunity for the Terminus Trading Company to fill two-thirds of the needed Reaver staff. With a World Ship to pilot and manage, they were in need of skilled crewmen, and the men of the Crimson Fists were more than eager to get back to work.
Of course, Max had politely declined all of their senior staff, as they should have been the Commander's Inner Circle, stopping him from making such a horrendous series of mistakes, but they had failed, and it wasn't a good example for his crew to take them in so soon after they had been disbanded.
Terminus Trading Company was desperately short on qualified leaders at the moment, and he had already had to send his Battalion Commanders to pilot ships, despite the fact that they would have been much better remaining in charge of a Mecha force.
There simply weren't enough Reavers that had proven themselves capable and trustworthy to fill all of the positions that needed a competent and trustworthy subordinate, so Max had to make do with what he had.
[Commander, the majority of the staff is gathered in Central Park, awaiting your arrival. Once your speech is done, I have scheduled four hours for you to socialize with the crew before the other Commanders are in the park for the party.
It's not a whole lot, but it should be enough to start to get to know the new staff, and we can adjust attitudes as necessary later.] Nico suggested.
[I'm a bit afraid to ask what you mean by that, so I won't ask, and you can try not to think about it once I get there. Give me three minutes, and I will be on your doorstep.] Max replied, then left to get in a shuttle.
On the bright side, he believed that he had found the perfect Admiral for Absolution. Lord Commissar Penner was a battle axe of a woman, sharp of tongue, wit and features, but she was completely fearless about speaking her mind, and she knew how to keep order.
If there was anyone who Max would trust to put in charge of his home when he was away, it was a Commissar who had led infantry Regiments both through the mud and blood of combat and from the operations center on a planetary scale.
If she could see to it that as many soldiers made it home alive as possible, she could certainly do the same from the command seat of a World Ship. She had been running a mixed martial arts gym on Rae 5 when she saw the recruitment post come through and had initially applied for the position of chief of police.
Once Nico had seen her qualifications, she forwarded the application to Max, and now he would get to give her the good news as soon as he landed.
Nico had sent her to pick him up from the docks, and he would present her with her badges as soon as she accepted Command of the Ship's Navigation and piloting crew. The Admiral was in charge of all docks, movement and deployments, answering only to Max, or his second in Command, if he decided to depart the vessel and leave Nico in Command of the ship for some strange reason.
That was honestly a terrible idea. Nico would take the World Ship into combat at the first opportunity, so he would prefer to leave the Admiral in charge the same way that he did with Admiral Drake when he left Terminus.
"Commander Keres Max. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Eleanor Penner, but you can call me Commissar. Everyone else does." The scarred woman greeted Max as he stepped out of his shuttle.
"I have a better proposition. I need an Admiral to keep this riffraff in order. I think you would be perfect for the job as a battle-seasoned Lord Commissar. How about it? Do you want the job, Admiral Penner?" Max replied.
For a moment, he thought he saw a mistiness soften the woman's hard expression before she gave him a stiff salute and a small smile.
"It would be an honour Commander."
Her thoughts betrayed the joy and gratitude that she was hiding behind the hard exterior of a military discipline officer, and Max couldn't help but smile back.
"You know, it's likely to be a lot more work than just being the Chief of Police, but I am glad you accepted. I really didn't want to search for someone else who was qualified to lead the crew of a World Ship." He told the new Admiral.
Max took her badges of rank out of his pocket and passed them over for her to attach to her coat, an old Infantry Commissar's jacket, mostly red with gold trim and made of thick wool that was uncomfortable in every weather condition.
"Welcome to the crew, Admiral. Now, let's go greet the crew before Nico gets bored and starts a fight club or something." Max joked.
"She's already started a drinking competition, and nobody has realized that she's a cyborg yet." Admiral Penner replied in a dry voice, making Max sigh.
He would have to hurry so that he could save his new management team from their own poor decisions.
When Max and Admiral Penner arrived in the Central Park area of Absolution, the staff meeting had already devolved into the beginning of a raging party. Everyone was getting to know each other, as Max had hoped, and they were all getting along, despite coming from very different cultures.
"Shut the feth up! Your Commander is here." Admiral Penner shouted into a microphone, bringing everyone's attention to the front of the park where they had just walked up onto the podium to give the arrival speech.
Chapter 640 640 Meeting The Staff
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max stepped up to the microphone with a smile on his face as the crowd settled to a low murmur, mostly about what they could expect of working for the Terminus Trading Company with a woman like her in the upper ranks of the ship's command.
[I see you have all met Admiral Penner already. She will be in charge of ship operations and navigation. Those of you in her department, be sure to come to say hello and get to know her later.
If you haven't already guessed, I am Commander Keres Max, head of the Terminus Trading Company and Pilot of the Titan Class Mecha, Cleansing Light. It is an honour to have you all come to join our most recent expansion and make your home here aboard Absolution, the first World Ship Class Operations Center in the entire Reaver fleet.
She certainly won't be the last, now that we have the basic template, as well as the technological advancements to propel such a glorious vessel through space at a reasonable speed.
It will be a lot of work to get a community of millions in order, but I have faith that we have found the most competent applicants in three worlds to take on the job. That is what you are now, not just neighbours but fellow members of the Terminus Trading Company.
It is good to see that many of you have changed into Company uniforms already. Loyalty is more important than anything else aboard a Reaver ship, and proudly displaying the Terminus colours will never go wrong. It is not a requirement other than for certain jobs, so don't worry about updating your wardrobes already.
We will be having a large number of guests arriving soon, an in-service party for Absolution, but I won't expect you all to be at work today. Instead, you can enjoy yourselves today and clean it up tomorrow once you have met your department leaders and gotten settled into your new roles.]
Max paused as the staff laughed for a while and told jokes to their future coworkers about the fallout of previous parties.
[We have arranged a separate party in the residential areas for the minors to avoid any incidents tonight, so please take note of the restrictions. Barriers should prevent anyone without authorization from entering the residential area, but if you do see one, let our law enforcement division know.
They are all veteran infantrymen of the Kepler and Cygnus militaries and more than capable of escorting a few drunks out of areas that they weren't meant to be.]
There was a good chance that at least one spy or another type of infiltrator would be spotted tonight, and they would take care of that too, but there was no need to mention that to the crew during the opening speech.
[Absolution will be travelling the Galaxy for a while, sorting out existing issues, and then it will set course for other nearby Galaxies, at least one of which is officially listed as fully developed, according to the Alliance.
No other human has gone and properly greeted our neighbours, we will be the first, and I expect that you will make a great impression on them.]
"And if we don't, our Mecha will." Someone in the crowd yelled, making those standing near him facepalm at his lack of tact in front of the Commander.
[No, he has a point. Not everyone that we meet is going to be friendly, but Absolution has a significant military presence on board, and we will react with the necessary force if anyone threatens us. Terminus Trading Company spends much more time on trade negotiations than actual trading most days, but with this expansion to our fleet, we can start sending out the main vessels to engage in the primary duties of a Reaver Company.
Trading Goods.
On that note, should any of you have a product made here aboard Absolution that you wish to have marketed off the ship, let the division leaders know. I haven't had a chance to meet them all myself, but we have four hours before the rest of the guests begin to arrive, so make the best of it and make some new acquaintances.]
That was enough speech to welcome new employees, especially when there were nearly a million of them gathered here in the Central Park area. They were already socializing, and Max noticed more and more badges being pinned to coats and shirts that designated which department people worked in so that they could find their coworkers more easily and not have to deal with complete strangers tomorrow.
Nico had done a wonderful job getting everyone ready for his arrival, and the crowd was already splitting into divisions, where everyone sought out those with similar jobs or interests.
The entertainment division sorts were crowded with interested workers, all wondering what sort of places they were working at and the types of entertainment that they could expect from the first day of full operations.
The recruiters had picked staff to do everything that they thought the city might need, and a lot of it was based on their experience staffing the Cruise Ship aboard Terminus, so there was no shortage of entertainment workers in the crowd.
Some of them were even heading to their workplaces early, and Max could see Nico sending out a message to all the management staff, informing them that if their shop was nearby, now was a great time to meet their staff by the doors or even open it up, if they thought they could handle the influx of people passing through to see what they had to offer.
The bar staff was right on top of that. There was a strip of clubs only a block away, and Max could sense the anticipation as the staff made their way over. Tipping wasn't standard practice in Reaver culture, but it was still common in nightclubs and taverns as a way to ingratiate yourself to the staff or show off for a date.
Generosity was always near the top of desirable personality traits, after all.
Max and the Admiral made their way down from the podium once the speech was finished and started greeting the managers who had gathered near the front and shaking hands.
Most of the staff didn't really stand out, but there were a few interesting and impressive characters in the crowd.
One of the hires from Rae 5 was a former researcher for Uncle Lu, who couldn't take the stressful work environment, but she had found herself the perfect home, running a virtual reality arcade in the residential areas. Another was an eighteen-year-old son of a bureaucrat from their first stop who had skipped multiple grades in school and finished his Business Accounting degree only weeks before the hiring notice went out.
He would be in charge of payroll for the sanitation department, and Max wondered how many people had dropped out of the running for him to end up at the top of the list without any job experience.
He was supremely boring, mentally calculating the overtime hours that he would have to add to the payroll to clean up after the party was finished, even before it started. Maybe that was what you wanted in an Accounting Department manager, though. The rest of the accountants didn't seem that much more interesting.
There were big egos, shut-ins who only showed up because they assumed it was mandatory, and working parents who had already decided just how long they had to stay to be polite before they could head home again and relax on the couch with their kids.
At the moment, there were no two-income families on the ship, not that they were actually needed, but Max knew that before long, most of the older kids and spouses would be looking for something to do, and Absolution City, as he was mentally calling the first residential area of the vessel, would start to reorganize itself naturally.
As the ship's population grew, there would be many more such areas, and an entire nation would form within the ship, given its immense size. Each floor was large enough to be a small country on a nine-hundred-kilometre-long vessel, and even with kilometre-tall ceilings, there were twenty floors that weren't designated for industrial or ship docking purposes.
Max had been mingling for two hours and was about to start looking through the nearby shops when he noticed a few very unique appearances in the crowd that were drawing the attention of everyone around them. The botany experts from the Shin and Dryads had shown up to the party to mingle, and the sight of new species entranced the humans.
Very few of the crew had seen someone who wasn't human before, other than those who had fought the Narsians or who had come from other Reaver vessels, so the sight of a tree floating on a gravity pad and talking through a handheld device was a top highlight of their lives so far.
The Dryads seemed to be running interference for the Shin, who was quickly overwhelmed by the questions of the curious humans, and Max noticed that they did an incredible job of blending in with the crowd. They were clearly not human, but once they started talking to the crowd, it looked like everyone had forgotten that and began treating them like new friends.
It wasn't some super secret skill or anything, only an application of their innate attunement to the atmosphere of the crowd that let them know just the thing to say, but it was refreshing to see, and Max wondered if he should bring in more non-human mental health professionals, assuming there were other species that good at setting people at ease.