Max set aside the notes from the last round of messages that they had received and began to work on the plans for the next possible human refugee world that Terminus would be visiting.
That was his priority until the forces on the other side of the Anomaly or the Darklings started to call for a full-scale response again.
There were notes from Ranarth here somewhere as well, and Max was a few days behind on reading them, so he moved them to the top of the pile. If anyone had useful information about defensive capabilities, it would be Ranarth and Uncle Lu, who were hard at work in the Rae 5 Moon Base, designing the next generation of something.
What they were working on was a mystery, but Ranarth seemed to be quite excited about it in his messages. There was some frustration that none of his records contained the vital data on relevant human technologies from the first part of the Eternal War, but they had been making good progress on the mass production of the Dyson Spheres and the replicators that could make them.
That gave Max a wonderful idea. Most ships were still using industrial replicators for their goods. If they started to switch more of the large vessels over to a single pod from the Terraforming Arrays, they could increase the speed with which a defence force could be assembled in the case of an emergency.
Even if it was a cargo ship, they could make a large number of Mecha in minutes if they came under heavy attack from the Great Enemy, at the cost of the goods that they were transporting, if they weren't near an asteroid or other object that they could use for raw materials.
It would give Max peace of mind when they had to send away more of their actual soldiers to keep the threat contained on the other side of the Anomaly, and he had a feeling that it would be much sooner than he would have preferred.
They hadn't even gotten to survey the planets that he had marked out as potential sites for human habitation.
Instead, he was going to send drones through small portals and check as many of them as possible before they moved Terminus, just in case the next planet was the last chance that they got to find some relic of ancient humanity that might aid them in their battle.
The odds were still incredibly low that after all this time the drones would find something of use from up in orbit, but there was always a chance that some sign of civilization, or a reordered star system that matched the ones in their own Galaxy, would be found. That alone would be enough evidence that the humans had been there.
So, one after another, he sent out waves of ten drones to search the systems in advance. They had all been inspected from a distance, but they were so far out from the Alliance that it hadn't been worth the energy expenditure to send more than a single probe there to report, and none of them were designed for the information that Max was interested in.
The Alliance probes were looking for inhabited and habitable planets, as well as unique astronomical phenomenon, not relics from missing cultures.
Nico walked in and hopped on his lap to better read the display on the tablet in front of him, and Max smirked before petting her head.
"A little left, oh yeah, that's the spot." She joked as she read the reports.
"There is a coded message hidden in all of Ranarth and Uncle Lu's reports, so I came to read them directly. It should be hidden in the code, but I have the decryption process." She explained, as she studied the documents, from her perch atop Max's thigh.
"And what did they have to say to us today that was too secret to be put into a regular secure message on the Reaver channels?" Max asked.
"So far we have progress reports, 42 Dyson Spheres operational, some new technology releases from Absolution that have been refined. Nothing much so far. Oh, wait, there's an additional bit. Uncle Lu says we need to come back in two weeks, and he will have a surprise present ready for us." Nico cheered.
"Well, that sounds promising. I think that the universe should be able to keep its act together for two weeks. Did you read through the battle reports and the briefing that I compiled earlier today?" He asked.
Max hadn't sent them out yet, but they were in the Command directory of the ship's server, so she had access, and it would be unlike Nico not to look when there was a chance of something new and exciting.
"Yeah, I noticed that they have a whole new wave of attacks going on. I sent it through to Reaver Command, just in case they hadn't gotten the full transcript yet, and the volunteer forces are already on their way back, or will be as soon as they finish the jobs they're on.
There is good money to be had in helping, and Uncle Lu has promised them first access to new generation ships and gear as a performance bonus for helping keep things under control over there." Nico agreed.
"Ah, so that's the big bribe, a front of the line sidestep to get around the waiting lists for the good stuff that can't be made by just anyone." Max chuckled as he realized the advantages.
Sure, any Replicator could theoretically make anything, but some things were still secrets, and they weren't put into the general purpose units, or even most of the specialized ones. Add to that the complexity of troubleshooting errors in a brand-new starship, along with the custom computer programming that every Admiral would want, and there was still a massive amount of manpower needed to do a new ship build, and even more to do a renovation of an existing hull.
"Exactly. VIP treatment to get all their hopes and dreams of a new ship fulfilled. Even Absolution is sending a small crew to the other side this time. It's in the files, they've got a thousand trained volunteers who have amassed the funds to buy up a Cutter. It's being made on board as we speak, and by the usual standards, it will be able to make its own Android force, as well as a Drone Fleet.
Not big ones, as it is a Cutter, but enough that they should be able to hold their own as reinforcements to a main battle fleet." Nico added.
"Then I wish them the best of luck and happy hunting. I'm not surprised that some of the pilots wanted to get back into battle, I'm just a bit shocked that they managed to buy a Cutter. I don't recall paying them quite that well." Max laughed.
"Should we send them something special for their trip?" Nico suggested.
They were the only actual force from Absolution going, as the Android Army had been purpose made for the job, and the humans who had taken over the command of it weren't from the Terminus Trading Company.
"That's a good idea. Have Felicity make sure there is a Terraforming Array on board, and make them a custom Command Mecha for their Commander. It's the little things that they will appreciate the most."
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