Chapter 671 671 Official Response
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
It took the group over an hour to make it to the bottom floor of the shopping mall and out to the street with all the curious onlookers and not-so-subtle attempts to draw them into a business conversation, and by then, the Assistants really were starting to get exhausted and hungry again.
The street out front was a pedestrian-only route through the shopping and entertainment district, and the crowd had packed the streets to welcome them and shout questions about the situation in the Alliance with the sudden appearance of the Klem inside their borders.
"I can assure you that a potential solution has already been found, and it has been sent to the Council for final approval. We are hoping to have an answer before we finish dinner, so if you would like to spend a few hours enjoying the amenities here aboard Absolution, we will inform everyone as soon as we get an update." Max assured the crowd.
That calmed them for a few minutes, so Max led the group into the restaurant's private room to sit down for dinner while they waited for messages from both the Council and the Mecha Force on the surface below them.
The first to notify them was Nico, on behalf of the Android Army.
[Commander, the surface has been verified one hundred percent clear of Klem life. The damage to the surface is extensive but repairable, and the planet's surface and atmosphere are still within the categorization of Habitable that the Reavers requested of us.
With your permission, we will begin extraction in thirty minutes.]
"Good news, everyone. The battle is finished. Once they have returned to the ship, we just have to wait for the response from the Council, so we know what they plan to do about the Klem in their territory, and then we can start making plans for our next mission." Max informed the room.
"Excellent. That means that the data analysis will have begun already, and they gave us an estimate of one hour after the battle finished to have their edited numbers submitted. We can't share the Alliance's actual military strength with you, but I am sure that you have gathered from the corporations that have approached you that our individual military strength has lagged behind the rest of our development due to a lack of necessity." The Valkia Envoy sighed.
"That's right. They never come across anyone who can threaten them, so they haven't created new weapons in ages, only new shields so that they could travel in greater comfort."
Their shield technology wasn't for defence but for comfort. That actually made sense, Absolution did the same thing and used their conventional shielding to smooth out turbulence in their warp travel, but Max had assumed that the Alliance had developed theirs to deal with higher technology threats.
They were far from as stagnant and backward as the Kepler Empire had become, but the glacial pace of their society had been evident for a while, with patent protection holding for generations and keeping everyone using the same essential technologies that they had been for centuries since nobody had created anything innovative enough to get around the rigid bureaucracy.
[Go ahead and extract as soon as everyone is staged. Good work this time. Your Androids were incredible, and the Pilots who ran the intelligence drones this time agree.] Max informed Nico and got a short video of Shattered Pride doing a happy dance on the corpse of the single largest Klem that he had ever seen.
She didn't describe it, so it could have been some super Behemoth, or they had found a Klem Queen on the planet. If it was a leadership caste above the Behemoths, it would be incredible for their data discovery, possibly as valuable as whatever the Hunters had gathered from the infested ship during the orbital wave.
The staff brought them out an array of dishes, set to be shared so that the entire table could sample all of their unique creations, and the room fell silent, with even the assistants ignoring their messages for a while to eat.
The Council's response came between the main course and dessert. They didn't send it directly to Max, but from the look on the faces of the Envoys, the answer wasn't what they were expecting.
"It looks like we're not done with our mission at all. The entire government entourage has been assigned to follow Absolution around while we finish the next mission, assuming that you take it on personally." The Valkyrie informed him as he read through the message.
They had all received different directions, and Max couldn't be sure what the actual message was going to be, but each of them was a separate request for assistance from Terminus Trading Company.
It was only when the Dryad Envoy got a message from her leadership that the situation became clear. The Alliance Government couldn't stand to outright ask the humans to deal with the mess from their Galaxy that had spread to the Alliance systems, but they weren't willing to send their forces to fight an unfamiliar hostile species without any training, and they were estimating eleven years to develop and implement a program of training for their intergalactic peacekeepers.
"I know it's rude to read people's minds, but I'm literally incapable of stopping it. Isn't a decade too long to prepare to face a threat?" Max asked.
The Giant Envoy shook his head. "No, that's pretty standard. Not for the people in this room, but for the others, they want a complete study, testing, simulations, and verification, all done separately for every measure that is going to change from standard procedures.
Since we don't use Mecha of the same designs that you do, that means that everything would have to change, even if we directly ported your procedures, resulting in a net time savings of under six months."
"So, if I'm correct, your requests will add up to having Terminus go to the source of the problem and clean it out?" Max asked, making sure he hadn't missed a critical thought.
"Oh, and helping us, including the escort that is going to be following you, in finding out who brought them to us. They have a list of suspects here, and they're all equally bad options, from insurgents, a new cult, or a foreign force, to the Narsians throwing Klem through a portal to get rid of them. Frankly speaking, they have no idea what caused the issue, and they just want it to go away before the protests get any worse." The Innu Envoy agreed as she finally finished reading her messages.
Chapter 672 672 How To Investigate
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
[Nico, it looks like the Alliance is asking us to take care of their Klem issues and investigate how they even developed one, to begin with. Once you're settled back in and Shattered Pride is cleaned and repaired, come to my new office aboard Absolution, and we will talk about strategies for cleaning out a series of planets while searching for hints of the origin and cause.] Max informed his second in command.
[Is it my birthday? No, it hasn't been that long. It's a special occasion, isn't it? You're never this nice to me for two missions in a row.] She replied. He was going to have to talk to her about separating her messaging system from her conscious thoughts so that he would get an organized message instead of whatever she thought when he sent her a message.
[It's not too late for me to put you on managerial duties for the mission.]
Nico didn't bother to respond to his taunting, so Max browsed the selection of dessert options that the restaurant had prepared for them. Now that they had a good idea of what the Envoys were going to have to negotiate tonight, everyone could relax and enjoy their food.
They knew what the answer would be. The rewards offered were quite impressive and included discounts on alliance goods for the entire Reaver Trade Group, which currently encompassed nearly two-thirds of all humans, as well as a lot of Alliance Credits.
The rescue fee for Mercenary Forces hired to save a planet by the Alliance was set at ten percent of the value of the planet's resources and surviving infrastructure. It was set millennia earlier and hadn't been used in centuries, but it was extremely generous, and the Alliance Government could afford it easily enough.
That was the sort of money that would make many human planets much more comfortable since the Reavers would be able to deploy entire cargo ships of advanced technologies to them and change the standard of living in a single mission.
"Do you have a preliminary plan on how you will begin to identify the source of the infestation? Holding the Klem at bay can be done in a variety of ways, but we have had no luck at all in finding the origin of the first infestation." The Valkia envoy asked.
"We have some practice with that, yes. Portals leave a lingering trace that we should still be able to detect. And if you track the position of the planet, as well as the impact sites, you can identify the direction that the pods would have come from if they were sent to you.
If they came from this Galaxy, they would have been sent a million years ago since they travel at less than light speed, and I'm not sure that even Klem pods could survive stasis that long. So most likely, they would have come from another planetary body nearby or a ship.
If it's a vessel that we're looking for, it will be a matter of correlating warp signatures to locations and times in order to identify possible origins, which will be much more difficult since we don't know the signature patterns of every Alliance manufacturer."
The Envoys nodded in understanding. Each design of warp drive had a specific energy pattern that it left behind when it passed, but if a ship was out of spec, it wouldn't be immediately identifiable even with their records, and every ship that was operating as intended would only lead them back to a manufacturer, and possibly hundreds or thousands of ships.
That was a lot of investigative work, and getting the records unlocked would take years by the time they finished, which gave anyone who was a legitimate suspect more than enough time to hide their tracks. That meant that chasing the vessel around to every spot it stopped was the only truly viable method, and they had already spent months doing whatever they pleased with nobody chasing them.
There wasn't much more that they could do here, so the Envoys prepared to step out and make an announcement to the crowd gathered outside the restaurant.
"Should we have the assistants do it? If the crowd is going to yell at someone, it might as well not be us." Max suggested.
The Dryad laughed so hard that fruit juice spurted from her nose, horrifying the normally Elegant Representative but causing the Innu Envoy to laugh even harder.
"I wish we could get away with that, but like official press secretaries, we are expected to make official announcements ourselves and not pass it off to a lackey with no authority to give answers." The Valkia Envoy sighed.
"Well, it was worth suggesting. Do you have a speech prepared? You are the official leader of the delegation." He asked the Valkia.
"I have been provided with a public statement." The Envoy agreed.
"That says absolutely nothing and leaves them with even more questions than when you stepped out to speak to them. This should be fun."
The Giant thumped the table and threw his head back in a full-throated laugh. "He knows politicians entirely too well. I swear, humans have a gift of seeing through subterfuge and doublespeak like no other species. It's almost like their language capability includes a small measure of precognition. They know what you're going to say without you saying it."
One of the Giant's assistants looked up from her notes and shook her head. "That's not precognition. We have analyzed it, and it is a form of pattern recognition. They know what you are going to say because they instinctively understand behaviour and past actions."
The Envoy looked at her in mild annoyance. "You really do know how to take the joy out of the little things, don't you? But you are correct. It is not actually precognition."
"There is a balcony overlooking the street. I suggest that you address the crowd from there. It will let them all see you and prevent your voice from being blocked by the mass of bodies." Max suggested.
"Let's get this over with, and then we can make preparations to get this circus on the move. I swear the Alliance goes as overboard with political observers as the Humans do with military force." The Dryad added.
Chapter 673 673 Public Announcement
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Unlike the store, the Restaurant hadn't become incredibly overcrowded, thanks to the efforts of the staff to keep those who weren't intending to order anything from entering. Most of the people were happy to wait on the street for the announcement anyhow since they had been assured that they would be updated when new information came in.
So, when the Valkia Envoy appeared on the balcony, the entire crowd in the streets turned to pay attention and even called many more out from the nearby shops and arcades to come to hear what the representative had to say.
"Greetings, citizens of the Alliance and of the Terminus Trading Company. It is with great pleasure that I can announce that we have reached one new trade agreement today, as well as two official decisions regarding the situation within the Alliance." He began.
There was a lot of confusion about what he meant by a trade agreement and why it would have been a priority when the talk of every data net was about the planets in danger from hostile invaders, but the Envoy was held in high enough esteem by the general population that they were mostly waiting for his announcement and not shouting at him to get on with it.
"First of all, an agreement has been reached that will allow the programming of coffee beans and derivative drinks into the replicators of all Government vessels." He announced, and a huge cheer went up from the Innu in the crowd, earning them a lot of annoyed looks.
Once they had seen that the humans could take care of a planetwide infestation, they had become much less concerned about the Klem and much more concerned about getting all the new human foods introduced to their home ships. By Innu logic, if the Envoys were in discussions about the matter, it had already been handled and was no longer of immediate concern to them all the way out here in another Galaxy, which had its own Klem infestations to deal with.
Max totally understood that sentiment. You only needed to worry about things that were within your power to affect. The teary-eyed sentimental pleas for trillions of dollars that were playing over Alliance media had already raised more than enough to rebuild the planets from scratch, even if they were purged entirely and terraformed back to a clean slate.
Assuming that the plutocrats and nobility of the planets actually let any of that money out of their hands, that is. If Max's estimation was correct, they would soon be begging the government for funding to clean up the problem so that they could keep the funds they raised.
He would say that they were doing it already, but they were still begging for Government intervention, and asking for both military rescue and recovery money at the same time would just be tacky.
The Valkia used a handheld device to amplify his voice so he could be heard through the area without using the ship's intercom. "In addition to the trade agreement on Coffee, two declarations have been approved today regarding the Klem situation. First of all, the Council has determined that they are an artificially introduced hostile invasive species, and not at risk of extinction, with the stable presence they hold in this Galaxy."
At that point, he had to pause again as the eco-activists began to lose their minds, shouting, screaming and crying in the streets, then beginning to smash storefronts and attack pedestrians until the black-clad security forces of Absolution moved in to detain them.
"I have RIGHTS! This is a PEACEFUL PROTEST!" One man was shouting while he swung a metal bar at the security forces.
The officers looked up at Max to see if he had any additional instructions for them, but Max only winked at them and then deliberately turned his back on the crowd so that he could talk to the Envoys.
"This should only take a minute. The security forces are very efficient." He explained.
The shouts and sounds of breaking glass ended in an instant, followed by the sound of running and then fleshy thumps. Within a minute, the crowd was silent again, and Max turned back to face the street.
"It is good to see that our security forces were able to prevent any major damage. Shops in the area will be compensated for any damages that the vandals have committed." He called to the crowd, using the street intercoms to make himself heard.
"What exactly was that?" The Giant asked, shocked by the brutal way that the humans had used batons to beat the protestors into submission.
"Just be glad that we didn't go by Kepler rules. They shoot vandals in the streets as undesirables. The Reavers just beat the stupid out of them. You can shout and scream, even fight in the streets if you like, but property damage isn't tolerated by our protest rules." Max explained.
"Still, that was pretty brutal. Are they at least getting medical treatment?" The Dryad asked.
"Of course. We're not barbarians. They will be levied a fine equal to three times the damage that they caused and spend one night in our jail cells. Then they will be released. If they can't pay, they can sit in the cells to pay it off with time served at the rate of one hundred credits a day." Max explained.
"As long as they won't be left to suffer. My people consider it cruel." The Dryad explained.
"Not with injuries anyhow. Our jail cells are far from luxurious, and the guards won't give them any information while they are in there. We have found it to be an effective psychological deterrent. Nobody stays long in prison with Reavers, though. If they owe more than they can quickly pay, Reaver criminals are assigned to hard labour to pay off their debts. Then once that is finished, we don't hold it against them in the future unless they re-offend."
The Dryad nodded happily as the crowd recovered from their shock and realized that most of the protesters were still standing around at the edge of the crowd. Only those who had damaged property had been hauled away. Max could sense that many of them were just now realizing that they were truly on a foreign ship with foreign laws, and they wouldn't get away with the same things that they did at home.
The lesson learned was worth much more than the effort of arresting a few dozen vandals.
Chapter 674 674 Waiting To Leave
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
The Valkia Envoy cleared his throat. "As we were saying before, we were so rudely interrupted. The Klem are not an endangered species and not a sentient one. This has been determined by Alliance Government scientists without outside interference and verified by both the Hunters and the Humans.
They are currently being secured by planetary security forces, but Alliance Military intervention is incoming, and the Terminus Trading Company has been hired to remove the infestation from our planets while the Government searches for the root cause of the incidents.
This marks a rather unusual first for the Alliance. No other species has been hired as pest species exterminators as their very first official arrival on an Alliance world, but we would like to welcome the Terminus Trading Company to Alliance territory once the official cleansing of this world is finished and we make the transfer between worlds."
That announcement shocked everyone, not just the Alliance citizens. Nobody on Terminus had expected that they would be heading to another extermination mission so soon, and certainly not in another Galaxy.
Max stepped forward to join the front rank of speakers and addressed the crowd. "There will be some changes made to our Mecha force to optimize performance after the test of the Android Pilots in this battle, but we estimate that we can complete the mission with very minimal casualties and at great reward to the Terminus Trading Company.
Building an entirely new World Ship was no small endeavour, and the resources gained from this mission will benefit not only every resident of Absolution but it will provide generous benefits to all Reavers.
With that in mind, I do hope that you can make our Alliance guests feel right at home here while the mission is ongoing. Their Government has assigned a large number of vessels to observe our performance, as this is our first official extermination mission for the Alliance Government, so we will have guests for an extended period of time.
There will also be upcoming announcements about improvements to the unoccupied areas of Absolution in the upcoming days, so feel free to submit suggestions and requests to your supervisors. We have been listening, and one of the improvements that is being planned is from the very top few requests that we have received."
Max wanted to leave them in suspense, but he was also checking the crowd to see what came to their minds when he said that. There was no public data on the requests, so they could only guess what everyone else wanted.
Their ideas right now would tell Max what he should try to add to the ship to make life better for his people.
It might be a bit underhanded, baiting them into telling him what they wanted, then pretending it had been his plan all along, but it was certainly going to be effective, and judging by the responses in the crowd, it would be simple as well.
The main habitation floor of Terminus was designed to be accommodating to as many species as possible, so it was temperate and moderately humid, but the first thought of most of the humans in the crowd was [Tropical Vacation Resort] or [Gravity Slides].
Both of those were already in the works with the plans to adapt a floor for the comfort of the Innu, who liked warm temperatures, and who might actually riot if he did away with the Gravity Slides.
It was actually a relief that his crew had such simple requests from him. If they had wanted something truly outlandish, he might have had to draw up entirely new plans and not just let Nico and the Innu design a tropical Island Nation on an upper floor.
"Commander, will there still be hiring for Mecha Pilots now that you're reorganizing the Android forces?" Someone called up from the crowd as the spectators who were only here to hear about the Klem situation began to disperse.
"Yes. I won't get into specifics, but we will be having some human Pilots accompany the force in the future instead of having them all guide from inside of Drones. We believe that our new plan will make things even more efficient." Max informed him.
The man gave him a Cygnus Military salute before departing back into one of the Arcades, intending to refresh his skills for an imminent test by the Terminus Military Forces should his application be approved.
[Commander, all units are back aboard and accounted for. We will have casualty and damage data for you soon. Absolution is ready to transfer whenever you are.] Admiral Penner informed Max while he was talking to the prospective pilot.
[Thank you, Admiral. I will give you a schedule once I know what we will do with all the visitors. There is no problem bringing them with us, but we need to inform their ships before we just take off.]
No matter how much fun that thought seemed like. Max could imagine the chaos if he just opened a portal and left with thousands of corporate reps whose ships were in orbit.
"Envoys, how long is polite to wait before opening a portal? I assume that most of these people are coming with us, so they don't really need to leave, but we should change locations as soon as possible to start preparing for the first planetary intervention." He explained.
"Give it two hours. It's enough time to get everyone who wants to return to their ships off of Absolution and for them all to prepare for the voyage. Will you be holding the Portal open for everyone?" The Valkia Envoy asked.
"That's not a problem. We are the largest vessel going, and I will shape the Portal so that your vessel has room to come through as well since it's taller than Absolution. That reminds me, I've been meaning to ask, why are your Envoy Ships spheres?"
The Innu began to laugh and sing a song in her head to distract from what she was actually thinking, but the Giant's thoughts gave it away.
Their World Ships really were round simply because they were called World Ships, and nobody could decide on another shape other than that of a planet.
Chapter 675 675 System Upgrade
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
[All visitors, please note that Absolution will transfer between star systems in three hours. Those who wish to return to their vessels or remove their vessels from our docking bays are free to do so for the next two hours and thirty minutes.
If you wish to accompany us back into Alliance territory for our next port of call, the portal will be held open for all vessels in the region for an additional thirty minutes. Please be aware that the destination will be a system that is currently under threat from a Klem infestation and that the Terminus Trading Company is under contract with the Alliance Government to deal with the problem.
Any attacks on Absolution or her crew while they are working, will be treated as attacks on a government vessel.
I appreciate your understanding on this matter.]
The news wasn't really a surprise to very many, as they had already informed every vessel Captain, but there were a few panicked shoppers and tourists who had been wandering around the core commercial district and not paying attention to current events.
Fortunately, everyone else got the memo, and they were quickly assured that they didn't have to leave. They could just go about their day and depart from the new System when they were finished.
While they waited, Nico sent Max a huge amount of combat data, in addition to the first reports, in order to better analyze his tactics. He had a workout planned already, so he took a data tablet with him to the Gym so that he could go over it as he exercised. He was only a few points away from another fifty-point mile point.
Hopefully, he could [Optimize] a few more systems to improve performance, but as he was sitting in the Gym, doing agility drills while he studied the data, the System startled Max with a notification.
[System Function: Optimize] has been upgraded to [System Function: Optimize 2]
[Optmize Function may now be used to duplicate System Functions for Optimal Pilot Output]
[Selected Functions 0/2]
Max simply stared at the notification for a while, trying to determine what sort of Function that was and how exactly it was supposed to work. It was obvious that it was intended to Optimize the Pilot as well as the Mecha, but having two copies of his own skills wouldn't help him at all. None of them, except maybe [Perception], would actually stack in any meaningful way.
Nico noticed that he was distracted while reading the data that she had provided and had stopped the Agility drills, so she gave him a slap on the ass to wake him up again.
[Valid Target in Contact. Select Random User Function?]
Max was shocked. Borrowing other users' Functions to improve himself? That was positively broken. He declined the random skill option since he wasn't planning on any more combat today. Once they arrived, he would have at least a day of strategy meetings, and he didn't know how long the Function would last.
[Random Function Declined. Select Personalized Function: NICO?]
Max turned to his second in command while he tried to process what he had read.
"Nico, when exactly did you rename your System Functions? The System tells me that your Personalized Function is called Nico." He asked while listening closely to her thoughts.
"It was too cool to just have it called [Technology Manipulation 6]. What sort of lame name is that? Plus, it does so much more now that I'm a Cyborg. It also enhances my own functions and interacts very well with my [Modification] Function."
"That doesn't answer the question. But also, HOW did you manage to rename it?"
"When it reached level six, it gave me the option to make it a Personalized Function. Normally five is the cap, so when you break past the preset limits of the System, you get to name stuff after yourself. If you had focused instead of diversified, you could have called one of your Functions [Swagtastic Commander] or whatever you were thinking of.
Max started to work out again, needing the exercise to focus his mind in order to deal with Nico's revelations.
"First off, that is a terrible name. Secondly, the System isn't supposed to upgrade Functions to level six. That's not a thing. You broke it somehow." He informed her.
"It's not broken. We have an agreement. When I got to level five, I could interact with the nanomachines, so we started to have conversations about fun new ideas, and after that, we came to a working agreement, and sometime after that, the Function evolved."
Max considered her answer for a second. "Is that how you could hide your thoughts from me? Were you using your System Function to prevent it?"
Nico clapped her hands in joy. "You finally figured it out. Honestly, I didn't think that you were going to get it so soon. It's come in so handy for surprising you, though. Surprising a mind reader isn't easy when you're always around them."
"That answers so many questions. But I should tell you that I have evolved a skill of my own. Optimize upgraded, and I can now borrow a System Function from a nearby System User. Up to two Functions at the same time, but I haven't tried them yet to see how long they last before fading." He explained.
"Oh, so you want some Nico, do you? How about we head out of the Gym, and I give you the Nico?" She teased.
"I should have seen that one coming. I'm not sure what Functions I need or want right now. I've got you right here, so there's really no need to borrow your Functions at the moment. But a few additional combat Functions would be incredible. Or maybe one of those data analysis ones that the tacticians and bureaucrats often get. They could be very good when combined with [Unified Force] and my targeting skills.
Nico tapped her chin as she thought, but the amusement in her thoughts never faded, even when it started to gain a hint of lust. Even if they came to some practical decision about System Functions right now, Max was quite sure that he was still going to be getting some Nico later.
Chapter 676 676 Medusa's Insights
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
[Fifteen Minutes to Portal Activation. All Vessels, please hold your position until the Portal is open, in compliance with safety protocols established by Alliance Officials.] Admiral Penner broadcast on all the standard hailing frequencies.
They hadn't had any issues with ships trying to do dumb things in the past, but there was always the first time, and she didn't want to do the paperwork for tearing apart a commercial transport with a Portal.
Not only would it be a PR nightmare, but it would bring them no end of nightmares in the form of corporations filing complaints against their Portal Technology, either in an attempt to get it banned or to get the schematics so they could steal it.
Most of the population of the ship didn't even notice when they first began to move. Only a few very sensitive species, and the ones watching the exterior monitors, could tell that Absolution was moving.
One of those people was Headmistress Medusa of the Terminus Academy. It was somewhat unexpected that the ship would be going into Alliance Territory since the major appeal was the distant Galaxy where the students were located and the relative safety that it granted them being out from under Alliance oversight.
Not that she was particularly concerned while Terminus was docked inside Absolution, but she would have to carefully monitor requests for access and departure from the Academy to be sure nobody was trying anything nefarious against her students.
The ship would likely be in the region for a while, but the students of the xenobiology classes were studying Klem right now anyhow and had an entire planetary battle to go over, while the rest of the students weren't in course paths which usually got new data during the school year.
Constantly updating like that made it very hard to set a curriculum, but a few sciences were all about new things, and the opportunities that following humans around presented were perfect for their needs.
For example, the students of the Quantum Mechanics department were going to be spending the entire year trying to decipher how exactly the Terminus Trading Company actually managed to stabilize the warp drives aboard Terminus.
The design was similar to Alliance crystal-based drives but, in some ways, completely alien. When they had reconstructed the power system on Terminus, the human engineers hadn't truly understood what they were looking at in the schematics since the original occupants had destroyed so much of the data, so they had improvised until it worked and ended up with something not quite the same that they based their future research paths off of.
It had led to a wildly divergent technology that they were now proving wasn't actually inferior to Alliance Crystal Warp technology.
She watched as the Portal opened and then zoomed in on the only occupied planet in this star system. She stared in horror as she saw the devastation, but the local security forces, with the assistance of an Alliance Patrol, had erected barriers around every city and moved all of the residents inside and away from the farms and small towns.
Most of the planet had been overrun by Klem already, and it was clear which regions they had already passed over, as all biomass had been stripped clean, and even the soil looked dusty and dead once they had left.
Huge swarms of Klem could be seen around all of the cities, and she worried for the residents. They were known as the Snorr and were not counted among the Curious Species. They preferred to spend their long lives in contemplation of the secrets of the universe, which seemed like an oxymoron with their designation, but they had absolutely no interest in the practical applications of the revelations they had received.
The only reason that they were among the advanced species was that the Valkia had found them early in their expansion and chosen to protect them in exchange for the insights that their lives of contemplation generated.
The Snorr thought of great universal truths, and the Valkia implemented the ones with practical value, as well as trying to guide them in a direction that would help them develop the areas where their technology was lacking.
If the security forces hadn't shown up, the whole species would have been wiped out, as their own lives barely rated enough interest to them to stop thinking and eat. Even their forms had evolved to a gelatinous version of their original evolutionary path so that they were better suited to long periods of inactivity.
To Max, that actually made his job easier. Nobody was going to be doing things like wandering about, trying to take photos of the Klem, or going on vacations for ridiculous reasons during a disaster. They were happy to just sit at home and contemplate the likely ways they could die.
But to Headmistress Medusa, it was highly concerning since the species was actually quite important to the development of new policies and procedures, despite the low profile that they kept.
While she couldn't prove it, she suspected that the only reason that the Alliance had gone so far as to hire humans to deal with the issue right away was that the Snorr were threatened. If it weren't for that, they would have likely dragged the process through the courts for a number of years while the status of the Klem was challenged before they actually did anything.
That would be far too late for the first planets, which were infested, of course, but it would be perfectly legally correct by Alliance procedures.
She formulated and sent a message on that topic to the Commander so that he would at least have access to her insights if he had a moment to read them. Once she was satisfied that she had told him everything that he would need to know about the background politics and situation, the Headmistress returned to the issues presented by her students.
There were thousands of them wanting full access to Absolution during the next month's week-long break, and that meant they would want to invite family to the ship, stay in hotels, and do all the other vacation sorts of things that every student on break wanted to do.
It was a lot of paperwork for her office to go through, and she still had to schedule a meeting with Max to make sure that it wouldn't be an issue to let the students onto the World Ship for a week when it was still so new and understaffed, with upgrades still being completed.
Chapter 677 677 Captured Computer
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Max stared over the map of the planet below him with annoyance. Sure, the inhabitants had all holed up inside barriers, but that meant that the Klem were clustered around the barriers, and he would have to encircle them to eliminate them without hitting the shielding of the cities, which honestly couldn't take much more damage than they already were.
The barriers had been created on the expectation of civilian riots causing issues, not an aggressive alien species invading them, and they were woefully inadequate for the job.
"Envoy, how long has it been since those city barriers were upgraded?" Max asked the Giant standing beside him, taking notes about the situation on the holographic projection coming from the tabletop.
"According to my data, it was right after the Valkia Resurgence when they rose to the top of the Alliance political system." The Giant replied after a moment's hesitation.
"And when was that?" Max continued.
"Roughly seventeen thousand years ago? I am assured that they are still in peak operational condition, though, and they were recently refurbished, so there is no fear of an unexpected failure." The Giant Envoy replied confidently.
"Can we expect similarly dated technology on the other threatened planets?" Max asked.
"Most likely. It has been serving its purpose for as long as your species has been an interstellar Empire, so there really hasn't been a need to upgrade any of the civilian defences within the core regions of the Alliance." The Giant shrugged.
"I am beginning to see why these particular areas were targeted. They have become so complacent in their safety that they were easy targets for someone who wanted to prove a point or settle their grudge with the Alliance.
Even the most obsolete military technology that humans have is only a few thousand years old, and most of it has been updated at least once a century, just in case there is an increased threat from what they were already prepared for.
After so long, the core occupants of the Alliance have forgotten what being under threat feels like, and they aren't prepared for it.
Don't worry, though. We will be able to take care of the threat on this planet. We will drop on a few cities at a time so that we safely eliminate the majority of the Klem, and then we will spread out and cleanse the planet." Max explained.
"So, you're saying that it's unlikely to be an accident that the Klem ended up here?" The Giant asked.
"Check this star map. What do you notice about the Galaxy that we are in right now?" Max asked.
"Seventeen million inhabited planetoids, twelve intelligent species, irregular elliptical shape with no black hole at the core." The Giant responded.
"There is another Galaxy and a nebula in between here and my Galaxy. There is no way that the Klem, which can't maneuver in space without their few specialized life forms, could have ended up here but not in either of the other two locations. Even if they tried to use the gravitational pull to slingshot around the other Galaxy, they wouldn't have ended up here.
See, these are all the viable routes where they could have ended up without contacting a solid object. None of them are anywhere near the list of planets that we have been given. So I don't think that they came to your region of space on their own. It seems almost certain that they were sent here unless we find a wormhole or portal somewhere that might lead back to their home region."
"All wormholes and portals in the Alliance Territories should be mapped and explored. If they were brought here, it should have been through a portal. But that raises the question of how and why. I can't imagine what might have caused someone to want to destroy multiple planets." The Giant wondered.
Max could see that he really didn't understand the vindictiveness and cruelty of the Galaxy, but his species was good at analyzing it and determining when it would pop up, as long as they had enough data on what had transpired in the past.
[Nico, what did you find for a Commander on the last planet? Was it an immature Queen?] Max asked while his mind was on the topic.
[Even better. It was a new form of Behemoth. One that specialized in tactics. It seems to have been immature, but it certainly wasn't a queen, and it didn't have command over the others. It only provided them with data, like a mainframe computer.
The deficiency was because the others lacked sufficient intelligence to make the best use of the data that it could provide. Unfortunately, it is dead now, but the Hunters have finished translating a portion of the transmissions that it was making, including some from the infested human ship that you destroyed.
It was sharing and storing data from human computers, so Klem has been learning more about our capabilities. Fortunately, the ship was at least a generation behind in terms of Mecha capabilities, but I suspect that the Klem will start improving their tactics all over the front lines of their expansion very soon.]
[You sound entirely too happy about that.]
Nico's happiness grew even more prominent in her mind with his response. [I am. I've got a lovely sample here, and the data we get from the ongoing battles will help a lot with my attempts at self-modification, as well as my attempts to create a biomechanical computer system.
Even the Hunters are excited about it. They found a larval version on the ship they cleared, and they're going to try to modify it into a data storage center and see how much it can hold, as well as how efficient its communications are. It might actually turn out to be a leap ahead for their own computer systems.]
[So that's why. Your new friends found a new toy, and they're going to send you the data of them playing with it so that you can make something new.] Max joked.
[Exactly. If we can tweak it properly, we will even be able to improve the Mecha systems to link them more effectively than our current computers.]
Chapter 678 678 Arcade
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
[Put that on hold for a bit. We need to figure out how to eliminate all of these Klem clusters without breaking the ancient barriers around the cities. I'm thinking total encirclement and doing a few at a time.] Max suggested.
[If we have a Cutter hover over the top of them and extend its shields over the city, we could just Lance the region, and the Cutter would prevent the splash damage from destroying the town.] Nico asked hopefully.
[Do you really think that the super serious Giant Envoy would approve of that? Even a full Mecha invasion is stressing him out because of the damage to infrastructure. They haven't faced a real threat in too many generations. They've forgotten how.]
Nico's agreement was clear, but her mind wandered away to strategies that would limit planetary damage as well as save the cities, so Max turned his attention back to the Envoys.
"While my advisors are working on a plan, is there anything that you all would like to see or do? We could keep talking business, but I suspect that you've had enough of that for a few days." Max offered.
"Do you think that there is a Mecha simulator large enough that I could see what it's like for your Pilots?" The Giant asked.
"We have the VR headsets. That will give you immersion, but it's not quite the same as the full cockpit simulator. Is that close enough? I can set you up with a training program so that you can learn the basics, or you can watch another user's combat footage." Max suggested.
The Valkia got excited as soon as the topic came up. "Yes, we should go to the Arcade. Humans have the most wonderful games, but physical and virtual reality. We haven't had a chance to unwind in a while, and I don't think that the crowds will bother us much at an Arcade. They're more interested in photo opportunities outside fancy hotels and high-end restaurants."|
Max wasn't sure how true that statement was, but the Valkia believed it, and the Giant wanted to go, so they might as well.
"Does everyone else want to come along?" he asked.
"Definitely. The study of human gaming systems is high on my priority list. Our young Dryad friend here will certainly want to as well. She's always been a fan of video games." The Innu Envoy declared on behalf of herself and the Dryad.
Max checked the map for the nearest Arcade and called for a shuttle, which finally brought his attention to the numerous missed messages in his inbox. Everyone had wanted to get ahold of him today, so he skimmed through them quickly while he waited. The Envoys took the opportunity to do the same, passing the next few minutes in silence, interspersed with various expletives regarding the things that others were asking them to attempt to negotiate.
Most of Max's messages were simple updates on status, which he could deal with later, but there were a few important ones to respond to, as well as a request from the Headmistress of the Academy to let the kids take their week-long vacation aboard Absolution and not just aboard Terminus.
That was an easy one to grant. The ship might be mostly empty, but they still had a full city formed for the kids to explore, as well as thousands of square kilometres of wilderness. That should be enough to keep them busy for a week.
It would mean a lot more visitors as well since the parents would want to visit, but Absolution was much more suited to that than Terminus was.
The pod took them straight to the building where the Arcade had been established, stopping above the street out front at an elevated platform specifically designed for public transit pods. The Innu Envoy practically jogged down the stairs once she saw the sign, then stopped in her tracks, torn with indecision, when she realized that it was right across the street from a coffee shop that she had never been to.
The shop smelled of freshly baked muffins and coffee beans, but in the end, her curiosity won out, and she turned back to the Arcade to try out some of the human-designed games inside.
"Welcome, Commander and guests. What can we set you up with first?" The attendant asked.
"At least one VR set for the Giant, who wants to experience Mecha Piloting. Then I think the rest of us will explore until we find something that catches our attention." Max replied with a smile to assure the attendant that they weren't going to be stuffy or formal.
"In that case, please come this way. We have VR beds large enough for the Giants over here. The lids are transparent and latch from the inside, to reduce claustrophobia, so you can lie down and get comfortable for your gaming session. You will be able to select what you want once you are logged in, and all data will be completely private, not stored anywhere outside your unit and cleared when you log out again." The attendant explained.
They were halfway there when a game advertisement caught the Valkia Envoy's attention. There was a new VR game where you played a flying Demon and had to navigate obstacles and kill enemies with a sword. That was exactly the sort of game that Valkia loved, and he was shocked that a human had come up with it.
"Oh, it's the new bestseller. Not many flying species are on the ship right now, so you might get the top score, but a number of our Pilots are experienced with the Archangel Exoskeletons, which are nimble flying units, so you might find that the scores aren't too easy to beat. The Mecha Pilots have a lot of experience with a sword, after all, and not all of the levels are most efficiently cleared while flying."
"In that case, I will take a session on that one, and someone should find the Innu before she gets lost."
Indeed, she was gone, but Max could hear her thoughts. She and the Dryad had discovered Skee Ball, and the simple game had them entranced.
"They'll be fine for a bit. They're just over at one of the physical games."
Chapter 679 679 Tactical Adjustment
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
Whether intentionally or accidentally, the Valkia Envoy had set his game mode to Public, which displayed his point of view on the screen above the game pod, and right from the start, his performance garnered a considerable amount of attention.
Not only were his flying skills in the initial stages of the game incredible, but he also didn't suffer from the verticality issues that most humans did, where they always wanted to be upright, even when it was far less effective than fighting in another orientation.
The virtual reality pod simulated gravity, and being inverted was disconcerting to most humans, so they would try to turn around in the air to fight enemies approaching from above and behind, whereas the Valkia remained horizontal and simply barrel rolled to get to the closest enemies, which was much faster.
He had the strongest start of any player so far, according to the leaderboard, but he wasn't far ahead of some of the fighter pilots, who had also become accustomed to fighting in three dimensions.
After the introductory stage, the game paused, giving the player a chance to modify their settings for the next stage and change weapons. It also allowed challenges, though most players would decline them, as well as the chance to add additional players.
Surprisingly, the Valkia Envoy accepted the option to add another player to his game so that they would be working in cooperative mode.
That brought a mixed reaction from the crowd, with some thinking that whatever random player had requested the invitation would drag him down, but also some excitement to see how good a player had to be to even dare to request to join a game with a score that high.
In this game, the difficulty was set by your first stage performance, so this would be the hardest, and therefore highest scoring game that it had generated so far. Assuming that the additional player was up to the standard, that is.
[Additional Player Added] HuntressKhan
[Additional Player Added] BloodGoddess
The crowd fell silent as they read the names. Nobody on the ship was unaware of who Huntress Khan was, and most of them knew Blood Goddess from Gaming events, though not all of them realized right away that it was Nico.
The game timer was counting down when suddenly, another notice entered the screen.
[Difficulty Mode Altered] Extreme Mode selected.
[Experience Gains Tripled]
ραпdα---nᴏνa| сom Max shook his head and looked around to see if the Huntress and Nico were here, but it seemed that they were playing from one of the many linked locations within Absolution.
Max moved to the bench facing the public screen and settled in for a good show when he got a message from Nico.
[The preliminary selections for Squad Leaders have been made. We can send them with the Android Army for the next battle. The messages just need your approval, and we can begin the mission twenty-four hours after the new Pilots are notified.]
'At least she had finished her work before going gaming with her new friends.' Max thought to himself while he read the notifications.
It looked like she had prioritized tactical skills and System Functions over pure combat system skills. She wasn't picking the strongest combatants but the best leaders from the applicants since they would all be leading Companies of Mecha who couldn't improvise outside of their parameters.
None of them looked suspicious, and they were all from personnel already stationed on Absolution, so Max sent the confirmation while the timer counted down on the game.
The second stage was a toss-up, with both flying and ground fighting being effective, so he was eager to see if he could pick up a new tactical idea from their game. It might not be Mecha, but the combat was similar in both the game and in Mecha. Plus, there was so much information from his past life available, but he had nearly forgotten most of it, and he needed some sort of trigger to remember it all.
Centuries of combat had been unlocked in Max's mind, but even with his mind, only a small percentage of those battles were either memorable or horrifying enough that they came easily to mind.
The Huntress took the ground route while the other two flew overhead, clearing out the incoming enemies before they could slow her down. Each strike was precisely placed for maximum damage, and to most of the onlookers, it didn't look that hard. At least until the Valkia Envoy took a hit in order to quickly kill two other enemies, and it very nearly cut his leg off.
"Did you see that? One glancing blow took two-thirds of his health. That game mode is crazy. I wouldn't even manage to make it past the first group without taking a hit." An onlooker remarked to his friends.
"Yeah, but you suck. Those three are practically war gods. Give him a moment, and his regeneration should heal that strike up, and he will be back to full again.
Watching them all fight was actually very helpful to Max. The scenario that they were in was similar to the battle that the Mecha would have to fight tomorrow, eliminating guards and patrols of enemies around a city complex. The enemies were very different, but the tactics were similar, and it reminded Max of a time when he had to liberate a holy shrine from a force of zealots.
It had been surrounded and put up its shield, which was of an ancient vintage like the ones on the surface here. He had chosen to attack from the outside, and it had given the zealots time to break the barrier, so he had to drop additional forces inside to save the shrine and the Monks.
It was a tactical blunder early in his career, even if it was considered a successful mission by his superiors.
He had very nearly done the same thing here and dropped the Mecha outside of the Klem infestation to work their way in. It was a Hammer and Anvil strategy, driving them up against the shields and crushing them, but taking into consideration the state of the shields, There was a chance that it would backfire on him again.
The three charged into the lines of enemies and made a loop around the city, eliminating everything that they came across. It was a great strategy for a small force and a large objective, but not really relevant to Max's train of thought. Unless he did the same and had his forces dive in and sweep around the city in a rotational pattern.
It would make for a more dangerous deployment, but it would pull the Klem Force's attention toward them and away from the city in multiple spots, limiting the damage to the barrier and the chance that they would try to force their way inside to escape since they could spread outward.
He would just have to place a second group further out in a perimeter ring so nothing escaped, and they could clear city after city that way.
It was unorthodox, but after entering it into the Command Group simulation and running it a few times with [Optimize] active, he managed to come up with a version that had very low estimated casualties and no cities breached by the Klem.
The efficiency was up thirty percent on his original plan, so Max updated the deployment orders for all of the Mecha and sent the new orders to the Drone units, who would begin the battle by softening up the enemy, as well as running interference over the cities that they wouldn't get a main Mecha force to right away.
Chapter 680 680 Battle Plans
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:
+ - Turn on Reset
By the time everyone was done playing around at the Arcade, Max was confident that all of his units knew what they needed to do, and most of the Pilots had already reported to their new units.
Technically they had until morning to report, and then there would be a four-hour refresher course for any Pilots who hadn't checked out on the Simulators in the last week. That was a very small segment, as most of them had been working to keep up their skills on the simulators and in the Gym, but there were bound to be a few who had been slacking.
Once that was done, there would still be ten hours until their drop, as they were waiting to arrive with the dawn over their target cities for the first attacks.
To the Mecha, the time of day made very little difference, but to the Klem, it did. Hitting them at either sunrise or sunset was best because there was a small overlap between their nocturnal and diurnal schedules, where you could attack all of them at once and not have to go hunting for the sleeping spots of one or the other.
They liked to sleep in tunnels, so digging them out was a pain and often left you vulnerable to surprise attacks from below when you passed over one. The fewer Klem that were in them when you attacked, the better since they wouldn't retreat from battle just because their shift was over.
"We should call it a day early. I have a sneaking suspicion that something insane is going to happen tomorrow once the humans begin their operation." The Innu Envoy suggested.
"Are you one of the Illithid now? Do you know something that we don't?" The Giant joked.
"Far from it. But after looking over the data, I think that there is a chance that this entire incident was bait to either get them here or get us to reveal our newest generation of military gear. The ship has been analyzing data all day, including the drop patterns on various planets, and it looks like they didn't spread naturally even after the first infestation. The angles don't work out."
"So you think someone might attack us? Really? That would be amazing. I've looked up the rules on self-defence, and they're very kind." Nico announced as she appeared behind Max.
She was wearing coveralls from the Research and Development department, so that was most likely where she was during the game, but she was alone now, with no sign of the Huntress.
"They strictly prohibit pilfering damaged vessels in an inhabited area. They would become the property of the Government once disabled, as evidence of a crime." The Giant reminded her.
"But how else would I get a chance to test my new torpedoes on a state-of-the-art ship outside of a simulation? The Universe isn't exactly filled with ships begging to take an Antimatter Torpedo to the Warp Nacelle." She countered.
"So that's the goal. You want to gather data on the capabilities of our defensive systems without starting an international incident." The Giant realized, just a bit too late.
"I think this might actually become an unprecedented situation. I've been looking through the records for a while now, and I don't recall the Alliance Government ever going beyond the terms of their treaties to defend a non-member from attack by outside forces before." The Valkia laughed.
"There was that thing with the slimes. The Government sent an entire protection fleet before a deal was signed because the Orruka Alliance had a fetish for slime girls, and half the population had been kidnapped." The Innu reminded him.
"Don't remind me of that. My ancestor was there, and we've still got a slime maid at home. Who knew that they were generationally loyal?" The Valkia Envoy sighed.
Max could sense that Nico was intrigued by the possibilities. They had met a living metal being once before, and it seemed that it wasn't the same species of gelatinous beings that they were talking about now. That meant that there was data on morphable forms that she hadn't collected, which could possibly be used either for her outer shell or the morphable hull shape of her new generation of stealth ships.
They had started out as an experiment in variable velocity warp travel, but it turned out that they were incredible for infiltration since the morphable hull shape made them nearly impossible to identify.
From further out, they could also pose as other designs of vessels and slip through preliminary screening while posing as a standard pleasure yacht. It was a work in progress, but they had been having great luck advancing the technology so far.
"Where will you be during this mission, Commander?" The Valkia Envoy asked.
"In my office, unfortunately. There is a lot of data to compile on the routes that the pods might have taken and other planets that might be under threat in the near future, so I will supervise from orbit unless the surface fleet needs assistance." Max replied.
"Unfortunate, but understandable." The Envoy agreed, but his thoughts told a different story.
[Incoming communications indicate that there is a mole either among our crew or yours. Unauthorized transmissions on a secure frequency were detected. For the time being, misdirection on the nature of our future intentions is best.
From what the Intelligence Service has learned, they don't know that we suspect that the Klem infestation can be traced, though they clearly know that we believe it isn't natural. If you can come up with some reason to get away from the ship and go hunting for clues without an Alliance Escort, it would be for the best.]
Max resisted the urge to facepalm. With all of that advanced technology, they still couldn't stop a message from getting out to unknown recipients on the first day after they arrived.
He probably shouldn't have been surprised, but he would have to get Nico working on a solution for him so that they could hunt for traces of the Klem infestation's origin without attracting too much attention.