The door to the room Max was waiting in swung open on its own at the behest of General Tennant, and the guards signalled for him to enter the courtroom.
"Commander Keres Max, the challenge to your position has failed, and we have found no evidence of incompetence or malicious acts toward your crew, so your trial is cancelled. Court is now dismissed." The General announced, then stood to pull Nico into a hug.
"How is it that you haven't gotten any larger since the last time I saw you? I know your mother is small, but your father isn't that tiny." He laughed as he picked the petite cyborg up in his arms.
"That's not true. I grew a whole five centimetres when they did the conversion. It's a bit of a long story, but they thought a partial conversion would be sufficient until they got started, so they ended up doing the job as a full custom build instead of using a premade generic body, and this is the minimum size for a Mecha Pilot that is programmed into the Cybernetic Facility." Nico explained.
"That makes sense. Your personal System Functions must be intact then? You don't feel like any cyborg I've ever met. A little more, and you'll look and feel fully human again."
"I could have lightened my body a little more, but it would sacrifice combat ability. This was the lightest that I could get with optimization and alloys, plus a touch of biomechanical engineering obtained from our Hunter allies. Overall, I'm in a pretty good spot as far as developments go, and I've gained a lot of functions that I don't think any other human cyborg has."
The General placed her back on the ground and reached out to clasp hands with Max, then pulled him into a hug as well before backing away and laughing.
"You, on the other hand, have grown into a fine specimen of adulthood. Congratulations on all the promotions you've had while I was away. Commander of a Reaver Company, Lord of a Colony Ship, and Pilot of a Titan Class Mecha is quite the resume, and you're still so young."
"You should stay a while and take a tour of the Cruise Ship that we built in the bow of Terminus. It's an incredible place and is currently full of Alliance guests who wanted to see the new Terraforming Device that our development staff has produced. The planet below us is nearly half reformed, so if your derelict old Transport ship can wait a few weeks, you can watch the remainder of the process." Max suggested.
"We're not going anywhere. You will get the notification in a while, but Abraham Kepler was deemed to be non-repairable after the battle of Cormack, and I flew it alone back to Rae 5. The only people aboard it now are Reaver colonists and scientists, preparing to make planetfall once you deem the planet ready for full-time habitation."
Max frowned as he read the General's thoughts of how he came to be engaged in such an intense battle while he was supposed to be on the run, keeping the traitorous elements within the old Kepler Empire from declaring him a war criminal.
Eventually, he got to the relevant moment and found that the battle of Cormack was one where the lone God Class Mecha that Kepler possessed had shown up to destroy an invading fleet. Abraham Kepler had moved to intervene, keeping them from getting a shot in on the Mecha before its weapons were in range. Still, the ship was basically destroyed, and her crew was left stranded on the planet until another transport could be sent to recover them.
The ship was left floating in space, with an official status of disabled and all hands lost, but the General was still aboard after he had sent everyone else to the surface, and he got the warp drives running well enough to make a roundabout route through the emptiness between systems, avoiding detection until he could meet up with the Reavers.
He already knew most of the current events when he arrived. The ship's communications systems were functional, so he declared himself a Reaver Captain and member of the Trade Group, formerly a Kepler General, and started recruiting for his ship.
General Tennant smiled at Max as his expression changed, and Nico began to laugh.
"It's really quite fun to watch him dive down into someone's memories. The facial expressions are the best. He doesn't do it often, though, since it's more work than just listening to current thoughts, and the memories need to be in your recent memories. I'm not sure how it works, but I've found the loopholes to keep some secrets from him."
"Well, it's certainly easier than fully explaining everything that has happened since we parted ways. Where might we get a drink? I think we still have a lot to talk about." General Tennant suggested.
"Come with us. We will set you up in a suite next to a hot tub and a bar. I don't think any military ship can compare to the level of luxury we take for granted here. Did Abraham Kepler get retrofitted with a Replicator, at least?" Nico asked.
"One for the mess hall. I didn't have much to pay with, so I traded the spare parts that were left aboard for the Replicator and the equipment to get the settlers into their new homes. I was an old man when we met, and retiring as Governor of a new tourist planet on the far side of the Galaxy doesn't sound bad."
The Valkia looked over at that, surprised by his words.
"You are the one that the Reavers have suggested to maintain the planet for guests?"
"That I am. I might not look it, but I have an extensive education in management and spent over a century as a planetary Governor, defending a portion of the outer borders that didn't see too much action." He replied.
"Well, that is startling. Your visage suggested that you were a career soldier. I would have never thought you were a High Noble of your species." The Valkia said, by way of apology.
"Appearances can be deceiving, and many of our Planetary Leaders are lifelong soldiers, thanks to the violent history of our Galaxy. Especially the ones closest to the human borders, where there are hostile alien species nearby.
Learning to get along and not incite international incidents is a skill that the Council determined was essential to the task at hand. It's probably the only reason that my battered old ship was given such a great opportunity."
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