With the rescue mission complete, Max turned his attention to the trade deals that needed to be made in the outer reaches of the Death Wind Territory. Normally, these would be among the last to join the Alliance, but many of them were already on good terms with the Reavers since they were the only group willing to run the embargo placed around the Mercenary-run territory and bring them essential supplies.
The closest base to them belonged to the Black Wolves, a Mercenary Company with long-term ties to the Loutian Clan, a Reaver Family like the Tarith Family. They were trusted allies of the Reavers and were on the shortlist for the alliance, so Max sent a message to their homeworld immediately.
[Black Wolves Command, this is Commander Keres of the Terminus Trading Company, here to discuss the terms of a potential Trade Agreement with the Reavers.] Max's simple message was enough to get the point across, and the fact that it was sure to be intercepted by other Mercenary groups meant that it was best to avoid any chance of misunderstanding.
[The Terminus Trading Company? How did you get all the way out here to the fringes of the galaxy?] The Black Wolves replied, not trusting a random message, even with the appropriate codes, given the strange situation.
[We had a mission to do for the Alliance, and we came here by Portal.] Max told them.
That brought long minutes of radio silence before the Black Wolves replied with a simple set of coordinates for their Space Station.
Terminus set out for the indicated location as soon as the message was received, not wanting to attract more attention from Pirates after they destroyed two vessels and took what they would view as their rightful prize, the disabled Alliance vessel.
Two Cruisers met them at the border of Black Wolf's home star system and guided them in, as the station was hidden behind a complex array of shields and traps. Even knowing where it was would not guarantee that you could get to it safely without an escort.
Max realized along the way that the sensors on Terminus could see through most of the tricks and signal jamming technologies, which made the journey much less perilous for them, but out of courtesy, they closely followed their guide toward the final destination, an immense Space Station surrounding the moon of an inner planet.
The close proximity to the star was used to harness solar energy for their purposes since it was very difficult to get ahold of specialty parts for other forms of reactors, a result of the concerted effort to destroy any Mercenary Company which managed to obtain manufacturing technology that wasn't approved by the powers closer to the center of the Galaxy.
That would normally pose a problem for Max's plan to spread the Materials Printers and Replicators, but they already had the Crystal Matrix power plants used for the Warp Drives and the organic power packs, so Max was sure that he could have the staff create something to provide them sufficient output to keep replicators running.
The solar array was quite impressive, though, and being so close to the star, they would be harvesting an immense amount of energy, so it might not be necessary at all. Their ships could power the Replicators without issue, it was only the Space Station or any planetary settlement that they were in charge of that Max was concerned about.
[Welcome to the Black Wolves home, Commander Keres. Please dock at the closest available pier, and we will send a team to welcome you.] The Station greeted them.
The station fully encircled a small moon, and Max wondered if they had built it themselves or if a failed colonization attempt had left it behind. Many outer arm stars had been colonized and abandoned in the past due to violent fighting between colonies or various crises.
Admiral Drake docked them at the station, using a bay that was almost perfectly fitted to their cargo doors, a small luxury that anyone moving goods between the two would appreciate. Then, they waited.
The Mercenaries knew where they were, but getting here from the far side of the moon, or wherever they were currently, could take some time.
That time ended up being less than thirty minutes, so they must have been led to a point close to where the staff was already waiting for them. The Black Wolves sent a ten-person team, including one man who bore the badge of a Mercenary Company Captain, indicating that he either controlled a ship of their fleet, or the station itself, an honor that Max hadn't expected, given the short notice.
"So, it is true that your Colony Ship can open portals across the Galaxy. We heard it from the informants, but we truly didn't believe it until we got confirmation that you had just been in Klux and sent back two Holy Truth Cruisers mere days ago.
Here you are, so what is it that the Reavers are proposing, a set fee to run the blockade?"
The man was completely practical and was speaking for himself instead of letting his second in command do it, so Max had to answer instead of leaving the annoying part to Nico this time.
"We propose a Free Trade agreement among all members and a mutual defense pact, with terms of nonaggression. You can infight all you want, but the agreement states that no member will be the aggressor between nations and that they will assist allies if another nation does move against them." Max explained, then sent them the official agreement for them to look over.
"Have a seat and take your time to read through it. We have time." Max offered, gesturing to the same round table that they used for the last negotiation.
The decorations in the room had been replaced, as the last set of equipment had been transferred on Klux, but there was a new Materials Printer and a Replicator in the room, as well as one of the more heavily armed shuttles that Nico had developed for moving infantry teams around.
The Mercenaries would love those. They frequently entered hostile environments on foot to search for treasures and valuable materials, as well as the frequently requested bodyguard duties and boarding actions that Mercenaries were famous for.
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