While Max wondered about the homeworld of his past life, the battle was winding down, with the Koleska the clear winners of this engagement.
The Arisen vanished right on schedule, including the ship blocking the three human Mecha, and Max prepared for the imminent arrival of a barrage of messages regarding the strange events of this battle. There really weren't too many ways to interpret the events of the day except to say that they had no intention of letting the humans intervene in their battles with the Koleska.
It didn't look like they really wanted to fight with Max and Nico, but they had done it in the past without hesitation, so the Koleska were left to wonder what had changed.
The messages were inevitable, but Max realized that there was something he could do to put the thoughts he had sensed from the Koleska into context. If this whole region was destroyed in the past, forming the massive Nebula, then most of what was here should be newly formed.
He didn't know how long the Koleska civilization had existed or their developmental history, but if they had come here through an Anomaly or other similar event, then the entire region might have only recently reformed stars and planets.
That was also something that he could test. The age of a star could be determined by its composition, and the age of a planet could be determined even more easily by aging the stones and examining the core.
He sent the command for Santa Maria to begin the analysis of everything in this Star System while he grabbed Nico and Sergeant Khalil to take them back to the Destroyer.
[Commander Max, do you have time to come to the station for a briefing? We are struggling to understand the tactics of the Arisen in this battle. They diverted an entire warship to intercept you, but they didn't attack.
The Defence Ministry suspects that it might be their version of a peace offering between their species and yours, which would be a matter of great concern for our ongoing arrangements.]
If the Arisen really did make peace with the humans and stopped attacking them, then the Anomaly would be considered relatively safe, and the extra Mecha, which were supposed to be sent to guard it, would become redundant.
That would mean that the humans and the Koleska wouldn't have a mutual interest anymore, which could threaten their trade agreement. Most of what was traded was military development technology, like learning devices. If the humans thought that would threaten their peace with the Arisen, the bureaucrats believed that they might stop selling such things to the Koleska, who couldn't make them for themselves.
[I will be there as soon as I have finished the post-deployment inspection on my equipment and changed into suitable attire for a meeting.] Max agreed while he moved Cleansing Light into a convenient parking spot inside the Destroyer.
Anyone who walked into the bay would be able to see the Titan Class Mecha since it wasn't hidden away in Santa Maria's cargo hold, but that was a strategy in itself. If anyone from the crew came looking for him while he was talking with the Koleska, they would naturally want to spend time admiring the Mecha, and they wouldn't feel neglected if he took an hour or two to return.
It would also help prevent Nico from having to try to be diplomatic. That part was probably more important.
Max took a quick shower and found a fresh outfit set out on his bed. He didn't think much of it as he tossed the clothes on until he looked at himself in the mirror and realized that Nico had put him in a bright red silk leisure suit, with bell bottom pants and a crisp white shirt that only buttoned halfway up, showing off his chest.
"Nico, I'm going to a meeting, not a retro Disco." He called out from the room.
"I think it looks good, though. You should show off the muscles more often." She laughed.
She threw another set of clothes at him, clearly prepared for him to reject the leisure suit, and Max found himself in tight leather pants with a skin-tight polo shirt.
"Screw it, I've wasted enough time." Max sighed, pulling his boots on his feet, while Sergeant Khalil laughed in the background.
Max hopped in the Pilot's seat of the shuttle and closed the door behind him, leaving Sergeant Khalil to deal with a bored Nico while he went to deal with the Koleska.
She would probably have him writing up reports on the Mecha's handling all evening, but there was a chance she would want interactive amusement and have him run tests in the VR simulation instead.
They had programmed all the new changes into it, but Max didn't think either of them had time to test the simulation yet, other than to run the numbers of likely interaction issues between components, so that was still a necessary part of the testing, and part of the Sergeant's job.
He made it out just in time. Only seconds after the shuttle left the bay, the Command squad from the Destroyer was at the bay, wanting to get a closer look at the new Mecha. It had been on display for the whole fight, but it hadn't gotten to do anything, so they didn't have any idea of what its capabilities might be, only its appearance.
If they had deployed it, that meant it was ready for live testing, which meant it was complete to a standard where the Pilot was relatively safe to be in it, and the Admiral could take a good close look at the systems.
Like Nico, he had been relegated to waiting for something to happen, only for it to turn out to be a non-event.
"Subcommander Tarith. It's a pleasure to see you again. Oh, is that Cleansing Light standing by the door?" The Admiral asked, getting side tracked by the Mecha, just as Max had anticipated.
It was good to see a plan come together.
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