Max landed Cleansing Light beside the entrance to the fortress city in the plains, which seemed to be the most defensible spot on the planet, due to its exceedingly long sight lines, and waited for the Cutter to arrive.
The atmosphere was dense but breathable, and the temperature was within the tolerances of human comfort at just over thirty degrees celsius. The forces of gravity and centrifugal force working against each other put an odd strain on the body, but nothing that the augmented soldiers from Kepler couldn't deal with.
They had been sent to much less habitable places, though only a Klem world could possibly be considered more hostile than this.
[Commander Keres, welcome. Please bring your Mecha inside along with your entourage and have the Cutter return to orbit. Standing outside the walls attracts unwanted attention that would disrupt our meetings.] The base Commander requested.
Max had to duck to get Cleansing Light in the thirty-meter tall doors, and he could see the awe on the faces of the defenders inside the walls when he stepped through the door.
The rest of the First Battalion followed right behind, and the look of awe turned to one of envy.
The doors were closed behind them, and the shield raised around the city even before the Cutter took to the sky again.
Max opened the cockpit of Cleansing Light and double-checked his kit to be sure that his armor was fully charged and his flat space had all of the rest of his kit inside. He was wearing a more formal suit in the Reaver style. Black Leather Pants, a red silk shirt, and a long black cape with golden embroidery.
He looked at himself in the mirror, then removed his cape and put on a leather vest. Nico's insane fashion sense was rubbing off on him again, wearing a cape to a meeting.
He double-checked that the Disruptor Pistol at his hip was charged and secure in its holster, then hopped onto the winch line and rode down to the ground.
Nico had set up a remote on his watch, tied to his biometrics, so that he could close and lock the mecha from outside, as well as engage its shields to surround himself if he was close enough, so he put the Mecha in standby mode and stepped in front of his Battalion to greet the locals with Nico at his side, her long red dress and leather jacket closely matching his own outfit.
"You checked my cameras, didn't you?" He asked.
"Packed you a cape too. I liked the cape. Very superhero when you descend from the Mecha."
So that was the purpose of the impractical clothing item.
They were greeted by a shirtless man in cargo pants and an incredibly buff woman in short shorts and a tank top with scars and tattoos all over her body, both smiling at the sight of the two Reavers and their outlandish clothing.
"Can you even fight in that?" The big woman asked before she even introduced herself.
"Of course, it's slit right up past the hip, and the coat has pockets for all of my blades and explosives," Nico responded with a smile.
"Hmm, not bad then. It might keep some of the biting bugs off the legs." The woman nodded.
Max looked through the thoughts of the locals for a moment and realized that this was no technological powerhouse. They had laser weapons and some limited but flaky, Plasma weapons, but mostly they hunted and gathered from the land while growing the majority of their essential crops inside the city's hydroponic facilities.
They had actually devolved after landing and had not recovered at all, which didn't match with their ability to message the Reavers.
"My name is Ramba, and I apologize for the unseasonable cold today, but we had thought you would take much longer to arrive and sent the message with Warp 5 Travel in mind. That looks like the Human Flagship Terminus, though. We heard good things about you and how well you fight." The man spoke in a slow, gravelly voice, thanks to damaged vocal cords from a lifetime of smoking and a long scar across his neck.
"Oh, now I get it. The Hunters were here, weren't they?" Nico asked.
"Yes. They were quite impressive, and they told us that there were other humans worthy of talking to. One of their youngsters even decided to stay with us so she could build up her combat skills until her Clan comes to pick her back up again." The woman replied proudly.
That also explained to Max why they sent a huge woman to meet with him. The Hunters valued the best female combatants, so it was only logical that they would instruct the humans they met to do the same.
"I will leave the rest of the Battalion out here if you would like to have a seat somewhere to discuss what you are looking for from this Trade Negotiation," Max suggested.
"We don't ask for much, it would disrupt our way of life if we changed everything to match the other humans, but we heard about your replicators and rifles, and we would like to make a deal to get them.
Think of Canis as a Game Preserve. We strictly limit hunting so that the numbers don't get too low. It keeps our people strong and resilient. The Rill Family is among the strongest on the planet." The woman informed him with great pride.
Max checked her thoughts and found that Rill was the name of her entire family. Not a Family name. They all went by that one single word.
She took off her hat, and Max noticed that she did not have human ears but long wolf ears, and in her excitement, Max noticed a long brown tail, the same color as her hair, behind her back.
Max ran a quick scan using Cleansing Light's sensors and found that it said these were humans, at least mostly. They had adapted their genome a little to better survive this planet, and it led to the expression of canine features.
"I think we can work something out along those lines. We always need a good spot to train Mecha Pilots, and I saw many beasts larger than the Mecha that we brought scattered across the planet." Max told her, beginning the negotiation.
She seemed startled. "You are sure? Even most of the Hunters didn't dare to go after the largest of those beasts."
"Perhaps not the largest, but the ones you think might be on par with our Mecha and our soldiers. Like yourselves, we have been augmented. Not for size, but for strength and durability." Max explained.
"You are strong?" The man asked skeptically.
Max looked around and stepped to one side to pick up a stone bench from the side of the road, offering to hand it to the negotiator.
"The Hunters were right. You are strong. Come with us, and we will eat and drink before we talk business."
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