It didn’t take them long to reach the private room, where a wide variety of liquor and snacks were waiting for them, along with another pair of hostesses that Max identified immediately as Mimics, but they didn’t have the same sense of presence as the boss, and their features looked a bit bland like they had been overly retouched for social media.

After listening to their thoughts, he realized that it wasn’t a permanent thing, they had only recently arrived on board Absolution, and they weren’t one hundred percent adept at imitating humans yet.

Nico realized almost as fast as Max did, possibly due to the sensor suite in her augmentic eyes, and she went directly over to them to examine them. The Mimic was startled but assumed that Nico had been enamoured of her appearance and wanted to dance, so the pair swayed in time with the background music, and the Mimic did her best to ignore the squeezing and wandering hands while Max tried not to laugh.

Eventually, it was too much for him, and the growing panic in the Mimics’ thoughts said that she had realized something was wrong, and this went beyond even a simple pat down for weapons and surveillance devices.

“She’s not searching you for weapons. She’s trying to figure out the extent of your transformation abilities. Subcommander Nico is the leader of our Research and Development department and has a particular affinity for morphable shapes, like her own, or some of our infiltration crafts.” Max explained.

“You have morphable infiltration craft? I don’t recall seeing that in any catalogue or intelligence report.” The other Mimic blurted, while the hostess that led Max and Nico into the room stared at him in shock.

The Mimic Nico was inspecting squeaked as the cyborg grabbed somewhere sensitive, and Max reached out to pull his handsy companion back to the couch.

“As the Mimics aren’t an Alliance species, we have a large number of items that we can offer for sale or trade. Keep in mind that we don’t deal in current-generation military technology, and trading in sentient beings is against Reaver Law. But most other human developments can be had for the right price.”

“No wonder the boss wanted to talk to you so badly. The Mimics are short on ships of all sorts. Thanks to our infiltration abilities, our agreement with the Alliance has heavy restrictions on our production of military equipment. That’s why we turned to ‘alternate sources, ‘ you might say.”

Max nodded. “Understandable. The Alliance also requested that we limit our distribution of military technology. Since you’ve got a working agreement with them, it will become a sensitive matter to trade you some obvious things, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t work a deal.”

“Then could we start by requesting a small favour while the boss is on his way? He has been held up with a Station Boss for a few more minutes, you see.”

“Certainly. What might you be after?” Max asked.

“Ironically, the same thing that the last Station you were at needed. New Warp Crystals for our ship. Only, it’s just one ship this time, and because ours is a relic and in need of refurbishment.”

Her request was earnest, but Max didn’t understand why she needed to ask him directly. “You know that is a standard service that Absolution offers to everyone. There is no need to ask for a favour to get your ship refurbished. Unless you need it immediately?”

The Mimic gave him a confused look, and Max realized where the misunderstanding was. They hadn’t been clear about the services that they were offering, and most of the other species thought that the refurbishment was only for ships currently using human technology.

[There is a bay open right now. More than one, in fact. Perhaps we should change the way that we advertise?] Nico asked Max, not quite on the same page but realizing that the ship overhaul bays should be busier than they were.

“I see where the misunderstanding is. The ships will be refurbished with human technology, but there is no need for them to be of human design, to begin with. It will be custom work, but that is well within our capabilities.” Max added so that the Mimics would understand the situation.

“Well, now I feel silly. My understanding was that it was a service only for human ships and custom orders of new vessels. I will have to let the others know that it is possible to refit their ships here. The Alliance restrictions prohibit us from expanding the fleet or changing the armaments of our vessels since the negotiators were so paranoid about us impersonating another nation’s fleet to start wars.”

Nico smirked and pulled the hostess who brought them in close to her, not realizing that it was an actual human until she began her inspection. “That’s actually a great idea. Humans have used it in the past, so most of our nations ban it as against the rules of war. The Hunters also consider it unsportsmanlike or cowardly, so they don’t approve of it either, even if it works.”

She released the girl, who flushed bright red at the intimate way Nico had been sliding her hands around, then moved over closer to the small bar on the far side of the room.

“You thought you were being sneaky, but you grabbed the wrong one.” Max teased Nico, who was now eyeing the last remaining Mimic in the room.

“We can offer you more data on our species if you need it?” The Mimic offered.

“Oh, that would be good. I could study it later now that I have practical data. You see, my own outer shell is a non-newtonian alloy, and I’ve been working to perfect it. Mimics are organic, the cellular structure is impressive, and I think I might be able to incorporate it into future developments.”

The development she had in mind was for her more delicate internal bits since she had been having issues with making them exactly how she wanted them, even with [Optimize] being used on her multiple times. What level of previously unimagined perfection she was after, Max didn’t quite know, but she was convinced that she could do better.