Max was inclined to be generous with this backwater planet, thanks to not only their great hunting potential but the possibility that they might be able to recruit superhuman soldiers from the world to add muscle to crews who didn’t have Kepler-born soldiers on board.

With someone as powerful as Rill or Ramba and an augmentic armor suit, they wouldn’t really need a Light Mecha at all.

The meal passed in a hurry, and the Canis leaders assembled an honor guard to follow them to Terminus, made up of similarly large specimens of their species.

If Max hadn’t scanned the planet to find out that they came in a wide variety of builds, he would have thought that everyone in this world was built like a walking tank, but realistically, they were just showing off their military muscle.

Nico called the Cutter back to the ground while Max climbed back into Cleansing Light and waited for the door to open.

“Do you think that they could break the city barrier?” Ramba asked one of their companions with great interest while Max listened to their thoughts.

“I don’t think that they would have to. The Hunters simply opened a hole in the universe and stepped out to talk to us. Perhaps these humans can do the same thing. We all saw that strange light in the stars before they arrived, and the scholars say it was probably their method of travel.”

Max chuckled. The flash of light was most likely the Warp Drives powering down after the load of the portal was disengaged. The energy field that created the portals emitted radiation in the visible light spectrum, while the portal itself was not and was only detectable as an abnormality in space from the other side.

The group followed Nico into the Cutter while she ordered Shattered Pride to tag along like a lost puppy, taking up the rear of the convoy.

Despite seeing Nico exit the Mecha when she arrived, nobody seemed to find it odd that she wasn’t in it now, so they probably assumed that there was a second Pilot to the giant robot and that the woman accompanying them wasn’t the primary pilot.

Max flew back up and prepared to greet their guests at the First Battalion’s hangar bay, causing a media phenomenon all across Canis as the reporters caught sight of the giant robot flying in the sky.

The Canis team wasted no time disembarking from the ship once they were safely docked aboard Terminus, running around like kids in a candy store, examining everything in the bay, including the staff members that were present in non-combat roles.

“Why do some of these men smell stronger than others, even when they’re the same size?” One of the women on the team asked Max as soon as she got to him.

“Maybe the amount of time they’ve been at work today?” Max asked, confused as to what she meant. She was one of the people with no internal monolog. All that was in her thoughts were the words she was speaking.

“No, their physical strength. Muscle density gives off a specific pheromone scent that we can detect. We use it to determine who is a suitable mate. Why do some smell strong, even when they’re small.” She explained.

“Oh, that’s because we are from Kepler. Our region’s people have nanotechnology living in their bodies, and it remakes them stronger, faster, and more talented than they were at birth. The greater the compatibility, the stronger you will get.

The women have them too if it is going to trigger your males.” Max warned her.

“Probably not. Our women are larger and stronger than yours, except maybe the tiny robot woman, so we shouldn’t have to worry about losing our men to them. But some of the men are quite strong here, and we have more women than males.” The Canis native explained.

“Why more females? Genetics, or selective breeding?” Max asked.

“Testosterone. Men tend to die early seeking thrills, so we have more adult women.” She shrugged.

“Understandable. That has been known to become an issue now and then.” Max replied with a chuckle.

“I think your men might be in trouble, though. They’re strong but small and cute.” The woman informed him, looking over at Colonel Klinger, who had just exited his Mecha and moved to join the Command group.

Her standards for small and cute were a bit off since the man was clearly middle-aged and battle-scarred, but compared to her, he was small. She was nearly 220cm tall.

“I think they can handle themselves. They’ve been small and strong all their lives. Kepler citizens aren’t large by any human standards. Especially the Pilots, who are chosen for their ability to Pilot Mecha, not their brute strength.” Max agreed with a shrug.

“What is this armor? Is that the augmentic armor you spoke of?” Rill asked, pointing at one of the infantry soldiers on duty in full armor.

“That’s right. If you want to follow me, I have some spare suits in the armory, and you can try one on and see for yourself how much they help.”

They would actually have to make some new suits since the representatives were so large, but it only took a few seconds with their new technology to make an armor suit.

They weren’t an easy group to herd out of the room and toward the storage bays. Everything was new and interesting to them, so Max let them do as they pleased for a while, getting their answers from the First Battalion until they had the hang of the basics of the technology in use on Terminus.

Even the Tech Adept Harness was popular. Not because they wanted a better way to repair technology but because they wanted to put pincers on every flexible arm so that they could effectively melee the multi-legged species on their planet.

The thought was enough to make Max laugh. Ten arms and two legs, twelve knives in total, and a huge man with no shirt on charging at what looked like a fever dream of a killer spider. Even with the shielding on the Tech Adept Harness, that was still an incredibly bad idea.