“Him, really? Well, that’s marvelous. I think you can make an excellent team, assuming you can get your forces back under control and keep order.

We have some construction technology, but most of your capital city survived the battle. I broke a few city blocks worth of it, but most of it is still there, and the bunkers weren’t damaged during the fighting.” Nico announced, looking between the two locals.

“Are you telling us to get married and take over the planet?” The Negotiator asked.

“As I said, we don’t deal in human trafficking, but if she doesn’t object, it will make good political sense for the two most powerful survivors of the battle to take over as a beacon of hope for the people.

You can work a deal with us for Materials Printers and Replicators and rebuild your cities in exchange for whatever your local specialty is. It doesn’t matter what the product your world is famous for happens to be. There is almost always a market for it somewhere.”

“Um, quilts. Our local culture in the Captial is best known for its decorative blankets and the intricate stitched artwork on them.” The young Lady informed her, showing a series of pictures from her phone screen.

“Not bad at all. Everyone needs a good blanket. Now, we can work on the details, and I will make sure that you get the payment in advance so that you can help rebuild the cities that the Narsians destroyed.

But first, I recommend that you issue a press release, letting everyone know that you are alive and in charge, as well as making plans to get everything back to better than normal.

I have a lot of experience with changes in planetary governance, and stability is key. Be bold and confident, tell them how it is going to be, and they will follow just to keep their lives from totally spiraling out of control.

Trust Me. It will be fine.” Nico declared.

A quick announcement was prepared, declaring that the Planetary Governor’s immediate family had suffered a tragic accident during the battle and that the former Governor’s Niece would be taking over his position with the aid and assistance of her new Fiance, the Capital City’s Mayor.

That bit shocked Nico, she thought he was just a middle manager, but it seemed that he simply lacked a direct line to the nepotism train that had actually been running the planet behind the scenes.

Being mayor of the Capital meant that he should know, or at least know about, everyone who mattered, and every common person in the region would know him, a huge advantage when moving up in the world of politics.

In orbit, Max and the Huntress watched the announcement come out, as well as the drone feeds from the meetings, which had been excluded from the video that was sent back to Terminus in the name of political secrets.

“Well, that isn’t what I expected her to come up with. I thought for sure that this deal had fallen through.” Huntress Khan sighed. It was the first planet full of Mecha on which they would have had full permission to hunt if there were no deal.

“There is still time for the deal to fall through again, but I must say that five synchronous Orbital Strikes sent a rather poignant message to the former Governor and his cronies,” Max replied.

“If any of them were still alive to learn the lesson, that is. From what my sensors indicated, their entire government command structure was in that bunker, and all that was left in the secondary bunker where the meeting was being held were a bunch of military communications officers to release propaganda during the battle to keep morale up and pass vital messages.”

Max looked over the data again. Huntress Khan had a point. The Mayor really was the highest-ranked politician alive because every other Mayor and every political position above him had been in one bunker. A bunker that Nico had hit with five successive Orbital Lances, just to be sure that nothing survived.

“Well, now that the fighting is done, what should we do? I don’t really feel like going down to join the negotiations, so why don’t we return to Terminus for a few drinks and a round in the Virtual Reality simulators?” Max suggested.

“That’s a fine idea. I am sure your guests won’t mind a few Hunters on board as long as my girls don’t drink too much. Lead the way, Commander Keres.”

On the surface, Nico intercepted the communication between the two Command Mecha and frowned at her communicator. They were leaving her here on the surface to deal with politics while they went home to play video games and drink.

Even when she managed to finally find some action, she still got the short end of the stick.

Nico ordered the Cargo shuttle to wait here for her since its hold was just barely big enough to fit Shattered Pride inside when it was time to leave and then settled in to wait for the Military leaders to show up for the change of leadership meeting and official briefing on the new trade agreement that they had entered into.

None of them would know that the previous Governor had nearly gotten the planet annihilated for sport, but just to be sure it didn’t leak out, Negotiator Ponce decided to make it clear to Nico before anyone else was here to listen in on them.

“If anyone asks, the Narsians bombed the bunker that the leadership was in, and this is the first round of trade talks. I will make sure that nobody challenges the new Governess, so please tell your Mecha not to kill everyone if things get heated for a few minutes.

They should eventually listen to me since I do outrank all of them, both as a politician and as a Military Officer, but they might be a bit resistant if they have thoughts of seizing power for themselves.”