The Terminus was going to remain at the station for two more days, giving their crew a chance to disembark and relax, enjoying a bit of time among the civilians. It would have been suspicious if they left right away, since Reavers were known to be the partying sort, not disciplined military forces, and the data that Max had provided to the Duke showed that the Klem Pods were over a week away, giving them ample time to stay a while and still leave the system before they were in any danger.
“I knew that you were looking out for the troops, but this is impressive, Colonel.” Inquisitor General Ming laughed as he was shown to his new suite aboard the Terminus.
“Only the finest for our valued guests. The Heavy Mecha Pilots get synthetic furnishings, and have to share a suite with their whole wing.” Max responded, doing his best to keep a straight face.
“It was a good call. Not just for crew morale, but for the next time that we have guests or are inspected. Set up like this, I don’t think that anyone will suspect us of being anything but a Trading Company.
It isn’t official yet, since I don’t want to alert anyone by contacting Imperial Command, but I will use my authority as an Inquisitor to have papers drawn up making the Terminus Trading Company a recognized trade entity within Kepler.
Intelligence has a few others among their ranks, the covert operations forces of the Empire. Since we are hiding anyhow, we are in a better position than most, since very few of them haven’t had their identities compromised by the Nobility that they work with.” Inquisitor Ming informed Max.
“How were they usually discovered? It would be best if we weren’t since they are accusing us of being traitors to the Empire.” Max asked.
“Most of them have Nobles among their ranks that keep in close contact with their families to use their contacts for intelligence gathering and such. It makes them more effective, but as soon as one of their informants is compromised, or a member of the family gets ambitious, they get revealed as a Government asset.” Ming explained.
In light of that, maybe using General Yaakov’s name to get ahold of the Duke wasn’t the greatest idea, but it was the only one that Max had at the moment. They would just have to be careful in the future not to use it too much, or people would start questioning them.
“I will keep that in mind. I am sure that it is a bit of a nuisance for the General, not being able to openly lead his Regiment, but he is too easily recognized, as a senior Noble of the Kepler Empire, so I hope he understands.” Max told the Inquisitor with a sigh.
“He wasn’t planning to remain as a Regimental Commander for long. He signed up for the testing phase of the new Mecha, and then he was supposed to retire back home with full honors, doing a publicity tour for the new Mecha designs as his last deployment, to pad up his fame and income.” Inquisitor Ming told Max with a smirk.
That explained a little about his relaxed attitude toward letting others take the reigns. He never intended to have them anyhow, he was just there for one last hurrah, and maybe a chance to get back in a Mecha again before he hung the Pilot’s suit up for good.
[All Units, your new dorm assignments are now posted. Please move your gear to your assigned rooms within the next twenty-four hours. If this assignment is not acceptable, please see your Battalion Commander for remediation.] General Yaakov announced over the ship’s intercom as Max and the inquisitor were talking.
“This is going to be an amazing level of chaos.” Max laughed, remembering just how shocked he was when he first saw his new suite.
The Inquisitor’s room was toward the bow of the ship, where the majority of the ship’s control staff were stationed, as well as General Yaakov and the Pilots of the Second Battalion, whose station was the bow of the ship, should they come under attack.
Now that new dorms had been assigned, the Mecha would be moved out from the Dutchman to locations closer to their posting, with only Colonel Klinger’s Fifth Battalion keeping their mecha on the ship.
They would be the mobile response unit if they had to send Mecha out in the Dutchman for some reason, like a small-scale battle, or other short-notice action.
The two Pirate Cutters were being refurbished at the moment, and they would be capable of taking another Battalion split between them when they were finished, but no decision had been made on who would be dropped in the Cutters should the need occur.
[Colonel Max, do you know which bay the Drone Fighters will be in? I don’t see them on the map.] One of the staff from the First Battalion asked using the text function of Max’s wrist device.
[They should be in the aft, between our Mecha and the Cutters.] Max responded after a few seconds of thought.
They hadn’t really worked out the logistics of them, since they didn’t have too many available. They were very large, and only a few had been loaded on the Dutchman, but they still had a full crew to Pilot them, as well as the VR pods that the Drone Pilots would need.
Building a new fleet of Orbital Fighters would take some time, and a lot of materials, but if they could get even ten of them active they would be in a much better position when they needed to fight, as they would have air superiority and a much better set of observation sensors.
Before he forgot, Max sent the building requisition to General Yaakov, so that they would have some Orbital Fighters available before the Klem pods got to their destinations. The planets under attack would pay a princely sum for the extra help, and they were in the perfect location to help.