Terminus managed to get ahold of the Hunters that night while Max and the negotiation team were sleeping off the excess of the celebration. The Hunters had found more fun things for them to see, including a human-controlled planet that was under attack by the Narsians.

According to Kepler data, there were no human territories on the northwest side of the Galaxy, out here past Klem territory. But they were currently on one and had been informed of another, so it seemed that there was a lot they didn’t know about the ancient colonization efforts and where they sent their ships to.

Sekot was the name of the new planet that the Hunters had found, and they were currently challenging the invaders without their hunting suits to make the fight more even, in their estimation. They still had body armor and energy weapons, so it wasn’t like they had devolved by much. They had just taken their equivalent of the nuclear option off the table.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to join in without the Mecha. But perhaps we could assist with the Mecha forces and help create a safe space for the locals to stay while the Hunters finish their battles? I don’t doubt they will win, even against a Narsian invasion, but the collateral damage could be fairly high.” Max explained to the Command Group via virtual meeting held from the shuttle’s cargo hold.

“I don’t think they would be mad if we brought the Mecha. The Hunters are good like that. Plus, it’s how the Narsians are used to fighting us, so it’s not like we’re going to sucker punch them. At least not much.” Nico offered.

She was also using a holographic projection, but it was because she was too lazy to get dressed and get out of bed, so she had created a virtual avatar for herself to attend the meeting with.

“Then shall we set course for their location as soon as we are done here? Traveling at standard warp would give us the chance to make a proper sensor map of the region, as our current data suggested that there were no human colonies here when it has become clear that an entire Colony Wave made its way here in the past.” Admiral Drake suggested.

“Excellent idea. Perhaps we should have the Cutters fly in a wide formation to extend the sensor range and get more detailed data on the locations we pass. With their speed, they can get back in minutes should Terminus come across any sort of real danger.” Nico offered.

Max could sense that she was really hoping that they would be attacked by Narsians and have a good excuse for a Mecha fight on their way to a fistfight, but inhabited planets weren’t that easy to come across in lightly colonized space where most of the stars didn’t have any terraformed planets.

“Then it’s settled, send out the cutters in a wide scanning pattern, and extend the depth of the scans as much as we can. We can make this an official mapping survey for the Reavers if we gather enough data. Who knows, maybe we will find more potential trade partners that the Hunters simply found too boring to bother mentioning. They aren’t out here looking for humans after all.” Max agreed.

The Admiral began plotting the course, along with the Cutter Pilots, and within a few minutes, they had a decent map of all the places they could possibly find inhabited planets. Some stars were simply unsuitable, either too early or too late in their life cycle for inhabited planets, but the majority could possibly, theoretically, have an exoplanet that was suitable for terraforming.

If the Canis were correct, then the Cygnus Expansion had sent these ships so that they would have had decent terraforming abilities, but they would have needed a somewhat suitable planet, to begin with, as the fleet was only capable of modifying a liquid water-bearing planet to one suitable for humans.

“We will leave this afternoon after we have confirmation from the Reavers that they know what we are up to and that they don’t object to our deal. I can’t see them making a fuss, even if this ally is so rural. I know our soldiers well enough to know that the women of this planet will be very popular among men of a certain proclivity.”

The other Commanders smirked at Max’s estimation, but he was right. Muscled and tattooed women had always been popular among the soldiers, and if you added wolf ears and a tail, you only increased the number of soldiers who would give them a chance.

Especially after a few years aboard a military ship.

The meeting broke up, and Max headed out to greet the planetary leaders before they left the surface, but not before sending Nico a tersely worded message telling her to get some clothes on and come outside to do her job as Second in Command.

He should have been more specific about how much clothing was considered “Some.”

“Can you take a few of our young along on your trip? It seems that your technology made a great impression on the youth, and some of our more scientific sorts would like to travel with you as allied researchers.” Ramba asked when Max came out of the shuttle.

“I don’t see a problem with that. We have lots of room, and we already have foreign researchers working with our teams to bring varied viewpoints to the process.” Max agreed, then saw what Nico had put on.

She had dressed to match Rill in very short shorts and a bikini top, both in olive drab green and paired with a pair of military-issue jungle boots.

“Good choice. We will teach you how to dress for the heat in no time.” The big woman approved.

“Have you adapted to the insects already?” Ramba asked at almost the same time.

“She’s a cyborg. The only bugs that can bite through her shell are the Klem, and I’m not sure that all of them could manage it either.” Max informed him, making the locals reassess their estimation of Nico’s combat ability.

“Is she really that strong?” Ramba asked.

“You can decide,” Nico informed him, grabbing a cheap knife left over after the party and pressing it against her arm, only stopping when she had bent the blade in a full arc.

Ramba whistled in appreciation. “No wonder you weren’t afraid of the Tree Vipers. Even outside your armor, they likely couldn’t digest you.”

“Unfortunately, it is time for us to head out to the next destination that the Hunters have identified. They say that there are humans under attack by the Narsians, and that is an opportunity both to hunt Narsians and rescue the human locals, so we have to go.” Nico replied with her best artificial sad tone.

That voice box was secretly a blessing for Nico. Before she was a cyborg, she was absolutely terrible at pretending to be emotional about things, even when it was socially awkward. The only things she got properly emotional about were food and killing, but now that she could fake the appropriate response by changing her voice settings, she was actually better at blending in with the rest of humanity.