The bureaucrat shook his head. "After what you have told us, it is too dangerous to send a shuttle to them."
Nico smiled. "Fear not. They can't get through our security. That's how I detected them. So we will send a shuttle from Santa Maria for the meeting. Please inform them that the delegation will meet them aboard their lead ship."
They were understandably reluctant to go along with Nico's plan, but their rules of etiquette didn't allow them to turn her down outright, and they certainly weren't going to let the ships dock with the station for a meeting after they had heard what she had to say about the computers of the Co-Operative's ships.
Max sensed when Nico sent the command to the Replicators aboard Santa Maria to make a shuttle for them to take to the meeting, so he took the chance to inform the Koleska of the plan.
"The shuttle we are taking is disposable and will be recycled after the mission. It has room for a maximum of ten people my size. So if you would like to choose a delegation, there are eight available seats." He informed the Koleska officers.
That was smaller than usual but not small enough to be offensive or insulting to the guests, and they already had a group of five for small negotiations that could be sent.
It was a Subcommander, two Sergeants and two aides to take care of the paperwork, which was just enough for a small mission like this one, where they expected the humans to take the lead in the negotiations, so they were ready to go as soon as Max suggested it.
The team followed Max and Nico back to Santa Maria, looking around in awe as they saw the interior of the ship and the Mecha in the hangar bay.
"You know, they look even more impressive up close." The Subcommander informed Max with a very serious voice.
"It's part of their charm. An intimidating Mecha is a psychological advantage for the user, as the appearance causes a level of uncertainty in the enemy, which makes their responses just a fraction of a second slower than a less threatening appearance." Nico told him with a smile.
They passed the Mecha, headed for the shuttle, and Max smiled as he saw the freshly painted smiley faces on the feet of Shattered Pride. Nico might not get to stomp on people in space, but she still got to kick them in the face now and then, assuming that was how the blank-featured Arisen War Walkers actually processed the world around them.
The negotiation team stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the shuttle that Nico had created as it was in the same style that she had created for all of the new vessels, including Absolution, but she had added the bladed leading edges that they had seen on the wings of the interceptors from the unknown ship.
"It's a human thing. When we see a cool new design, we simply must find a way to add it to something. The shuttle was already compatible with the design, so I simply sharpened the leading edge and slightly reshaped the wing." Nico explained.
"You weaponize your shuttles?" The Subcommander asked in confusion.
"I weaponize everything. I weaponized my own body. I even weaponized my clothing." Nico laughed.
"Is that also a human thing?"
Max laughed and shook his head. "No, it's a Nico thing, particular to her. She loves combat and prefers to be fully armed at all times."
The Subcommander simply nodded and remained silent, not willing to admit that Nico scared him more than a little bit even before he had personally met her.
Nico's combat style had been a matter of some debate among the Koleska troops. Some believed that she was actually suicidal, while others believed that she had chosen that tactic as a diversion to assist the more ranged combat-oriented Cleansing Light.
But now the Subcommander knew the truth. She was simply a battle maniac, and her combat style was intended to get her into the thick of the fight faster, where the enemy couldn't run away from her.
They were no less shocked when they saw the interior of the shuttle and found that it was decorated like a lavish sitting room for some planetary governor and not a military transport.
"Is all this necessary? Or is it a strategy to impress the nomads?" The Subcommander asked.
"It's how we design everything. Comfort is important, and it doesn't take any more effort to make than spartan, though it does use a bit more material.
Plus, the luxury seats serve a double purpose. There are shields embedded in the seat cushions, so if the ship is breached, they will protect the occupants, and there is a pistol in the seat back, in case of boarding attempts." Nico explained.
The Koleska looked around the ship with a new appreciation for the design features of even the simplest, supposedly disposable vessels that the humans made. There was a lot of visible technology and comfort, but there were also abundant safety features, even though the two human Commanders equipped some sort of armoured suits as soon as they entered the ship.
The Koleska delegation also wore armoured uniforms, but they were more in the nature of simple space suits with some hard armour plates for their torso. Whatever the humans had put on was much more intricate than what they wore.
"Why is it that the more I learn about humans, the less that I feel I know about them?" One of the assistants asked quietly.
"I think we just got a strange pair this time. You know how the special forces teams are, right? Well, humans are strange, to begin with, and we got one of their most elite special forces teams, which should be even more unusual due to their experiences." A Sergeant shrugged.
"Don't forget that we're considered a bit eccentric even by human standards, and Subcommander Nico is one of our species' top developmental engineers," Max added, startling the group, who didn't think he could hear them.
"The suits have augments for every sensory input. From this point on, just assume that we have heard and seen nearly everything that is going on around us. Now, we will be launching in ten seconds, so please take your seats and fasten the safety harness. There are directions on the straps if you have never used a restraint of that nature before." Nico explained with a smile that they couldn't see behind the visor of her helmet.
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