Nico's dad smiled across the table at her. "I know what you're thinking, and I've already prepared the data you're after. We need to talk, so I will follow you to Absolution after lunch, and then you can do as you like once you have the intelligence that I have collected for you." He informed her with a wink.
"I knew I could count on you to come through in a pinch. As long as it covers the basics, it will really help us with our development plans." Nico smiled back.
"Development plans? Are there more new Mecha coming out?" One of the family members asked.
"No, probably not. But there is still a demand for a couple of unique personal Mecha, like the ones that I keep upgrading for myself and Commander Keres here. A few Titan Class Mecha with unexpected capabilities can change a whole war around, assuming that you can find someone qualified to pilot them." She clarified.
"Oh, I heard about that. Your Company came up against an alien Titan Class machine, didn't it? I heard that it was impressive but not enough to keep up with your piloting skills." The man beside Nico's father asked.
"It fought very well, but it was a bit like putting a veteran Line Mecha pilot in a Crusader. The knowledge was there, but the necessary skills were not. The Aliens had an AI pilot, the Mecha, and once it was defeated, we used it as the basis for our Android Army aboard Absolution. There are roughly a hundred thousand of them operational, with ten thousand actual humans mixed in, because what the Androids lacked was improvisation skills when a situation was outside of their programming.
They could fall back on their training programs, but they couldn't adapt fast enough to deal with a skilled and creative pilot one on one. So we mingled in human pilots as team leaders to give directions and deal with unexpected situations, while the Androids do the bulk of the heavy lifting in combat. It worked out incredibly well, and we ended up with almost no lost Mecha during the last rounds of combat, thanks to their defensive programming.
There was an exceedingly large amount of overall damage, but without lost units, that was actually easier to patch up than to do a load of full replacements."
Nico's explanation had drawn all of the other Reaver Commanders in. They all hated having their own on the front lines, so if they could keep androids to operate their Mecha on the more dangerous sorts of missions, it wouldn't get any objections from the crews.
They were officially still under research and development testing, though, and the planets that Absolution had reclaimed during the tests were supposed to be the shakedown runs.
Since they had been so busy, there was no final report done yet, so the status of the Androids was unchanged, and they sat ready for the next mission that Absolution had, but they weren't available to anyone else.
Plates were cleared, and a round of desserts was brought out to everyone, marking the end of the more formal business conversations over dinner. Max could tell that this was a well-practiced routine for most of them. Dinner was work talk and current events, dessert was personal life talk and family talks, like who had children looking for partners and who knew of a possible match for them.
The men across the table had started chatting about a grandson who would be graduating from the Engineering School this year when Max got a notification from home.
[Terminus is preparing to disembark. We have identified Five possible locations for the next school event, and all personnel and passengers are verified to be aboard. Our flight plans are included in the itinerary.] Admiral Drake informed him.
Terminus had actually been in one spot much longer than planned, thanks to the draw of Absolution and its amenities, but they were returning to Cruise Ship status, and he had a number of vacation planets, stellar phenomenon, and one field trip on Canis planned for the next six months.
It would all be broadcast across the Alliance Data Net soon so that potential clients could arrange to be there for the events that they wanted, though the exact route would not be, as they would dodge around for security reasons, and so that they could make unscheduled stops along the way, then use Portals to catch up to the plan.
Once dessert was cleared, Nico's dad was the first to his feet, with an anxious look at his watch. "Well, we hate to eat and run, but we should be on our way. Don't worry, Mary Darling. I will be back in a day or two once I have finished visiting our daughter's home."
Mary didn't buy a single word of his excuse, but he really did have important things to talk about with Max and Nico, and she knew it, so she couldn't find a good reason to stop him from leaving for the night.
"We can catch the next shuttle back up to the base and then take your ship back to the World Ship. I will be there for a few nights, and then one of the other Reaver Companies is giving me a ride back home." He explained as if he had this planned for much longer than the last hour.
Of course, if he had been at Absolution already, he probably had, and this was just an unexpected extra stop in the middle.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road then. I'm sure that Mary is eager for you to finish with business so that she can have your full and undivided attention again." Max teased.
"Well, it was good to see you while it lasted. Try to stay longer next time." Mary admonished them.
"We will, Mom. We just wanted to drop in for lunch before the party tonight on Absolution. The newly renovated floor is opening up soon, and the first residents are getting settled in today, so we're putting on a light show to celebrate the opening of the islands." Nico told her with a smile.
Plenty of other Tarith Family members had the location on their vacation list already since it was essentially a Reaver Controlled vacation world, and the islands seemed like much more fun than a big city, which was a bit too similar to ship life for proper relaxation.
Yes, technically, they were still going to be on a ship, but that didn't really count when it was too long to see one to easily see one end from the other, even when it was an open view.
Nico's dad was way too good at blocking his thoughts, and Max couldn't get anything out of his mind during the trip, which had to be kept to a mundane conversation since this was a public shuttle and a lot of the people on it were shift workers on the moon base, who lived on the planet and did ten days on ten-day off shifts at the base.
They headed straight for the bay, and the older man whistled when he saw their ride.
"I don't recall seeing that in your luxury yacht offerings."
Nico smirked. "I will give you a quick tour while Max gets us back to our home bay. I think you will appreciate the ingenuity of this ship."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢