Since they were already on standby, the Fire Warriors Company opened a portal and moved to the home system of the Mimics ten minutes after the deal was signed and the first year's payment was made.
To say that the man across from Max was shocked when he got the news was an understatement. He had heard that the Reavers had a company available and ready to go, but he hadn't realized that the humans had the technology to put Portal Devices on Colony Ships of all sorts and that it wasn't a level of spending reserved for their elite flagships.
"That was quick. How much fallout do you think there will be for hiring human mercenaries among the Human Empire?" The arms dealer asked Max, realizing a bit late that the problems might come from a direction other than the Alliance.
"None at all. It is standard practice for us to guard targets for pay. In fact, even among our own factions, military protection is often part of cooperation deals where one party is much less capable than the other. It lets them work in safety, and the stronger party gets to protect their investments.
It's all in the deal your leaders signed, but the Fire Warriors won't take offensive military action on your behalf. They will only defend. But it is possible that they will work out a wide-ranging deal with your leadership.
Our terms are actually quite simple, only that everyone abides by nonaggression and mutual defence pacts, so it's not too far-fetched that they will work something out." Max explained.
"So, if someone attacks a member of your trade group..."
"Then they have attacked us all. The Volga learned that the hard way, and I think it will be a while before anyone else makes that mistake again." Max finished.
"That was an impressive show of force." Maddox agreed.
"That was us holding back so that we didn't damage the infrastructure of the planets too badly since we were planning to take them over. Humans still stock weapons that can kill planets that are deemed non-salvageable, like those which are fully colonized by the Klem. We can purge them clean in a day and then begin to terraform them again to start with a clean slate."
The Mimics shuddered at the thought but quickly composed themselves and poured a round of drinks for the room, themselves included.
"You know, this place is really taking off, but you're going to need more than one security officer outside and two inside," Max informed them, changing the topic.
There was a fight starting on the main level, but it was just a distraction for a group that wanted to run out on the tab for a double round of shots, and another genuine fight was about to start in the lineup outside over two people in identical outfits.
The boss turned on the display for the security cameras and sighed, and Nico looked to Max for directions.
"Grab the thieves. If they get away with it once, they will try it again. Grab them once they clear the door and turn them over to station security. I think the bouncers will be able to deal with the fights. The hostesses look capable enough," he directed the eager Cyborg.
She disappeared from the room so fast that the Mimics wondered at first if she had used some sort of transport device, but that was just Nico, and with her recent modifications, she had exceeded what the average human could get their System to grant them for Speed enhancement.
She was over nine times as fast as the human baseline, as defined by the System, so when she went all out, it was nearly impossible for the average creature to even track her movements, much less attempt to keep up with her.
"Is she some sort of assassin?" The human Hostess asked curiously.
"She's an Alpha-ranked Kepler Mecha pilot, with her speed pushed beyond the hard cap by her mechanical enhancements," Max explained, knowing that she would understand well enough to explain it to her boss later.
"That's just not fair. As a full conversion cyborg, she's already stronger than any mortal should be, but to be that fast, it's just not fair. It's like meeting a man with his strength capped. He would be a monster in a fight."
Max began to laugh, and the Hostess gave him a disbelieving look.
"Seriously? I mean, you're built, but you're seriously that strong?"
Max leaned forward and lifted the couch across from him, with three people sitting on it, with one hand, then set it back down again when his own seat began to creak under strain.
"What did I just witness? I need to update the files on Humanity. That's not possible." The boss stammered.
"People where I'm from use nanotechnology to enhance our soldiers. Don't think of us as representative of the average human. The strongest of us can go toe to toe with a Huntress. It's a totally different standard than what you can expect from the rest of the species." Max explained.
"Did anyone bother to tell the Alliance?" One of the assistants asked.
"We did, and we even showed them. It should be in the records somewhere, but it's likely locked inside the military capabilities files, since the original group of negotiators treated every single ship our species owned as a military vessel." Max explained.
"To be fair, I've never heard of a human ship with no guns. That's not a thing. The entire Galaxy is too dangerous to make ships without weapons. Even the orbital shuttles at least have a laser in case a rogue meteorite piece comes their way." The human Hostess added.
"They don't just use a gravity beam to deflect them?" An assistant asked.
"Where is the fun in that? We blow them into tiny bits and let them burn up in the atmosphere. It's more efficient that way, and Gravity Beams are a relatively recent development among most of our fleets."
Yes, very recent. Within the last decade in fact.
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