The Colony Commander departed the barge as soon as it was declared safe to open the doors and made his way into the cargo hold where the meetings were taking place, escorted by a security detail from the Second Battalion, who was on duty in this section.
"Greetings Commander Keres, Lady Rage. I am Jeri, Governor of the Kepler 808 Colony, at least for the moment. The farm equipment that you sent will go a long way to making a sustainable future for the new arrivals to the Colony." The older woman greeted them, her curly hair pulled into a bun and stress lines aging her face more than her years had.
"It is no problem at all. The Reavers' primary business is trade after all." Max shrugged.
"With that said, I do have a proposal for you. On this station is a rather large contingent of Loyalist Kepler Soldiers, whose transport was destroyed by the Rebels in combat. They have expressed a willingness to return to active duty, and we would appreciate it if you could move them to a Kepler loyalist vessel. Off the books that is." She suggested.
That wouldn't actually be an issue for them, they had more than enough room for them, and it also explained why the station had been willing to offer so many infantry equipment items in trade for food. The soldiers they belonged to were still on the station and hungry.
The infantry items hadn't been part of the deal, so they could return the soldiers fully equipped to the nearest loyal ship with only the smallest of excuses, and it would help the station in its time of need. But first, they had to make sure these were loyalist soldiers.
"I need deployment details for them. Their names, ranks, and last deployment. As you know, the Reavers have embargoed the Rebels after their attack on Rae 5, so moving Kepler soldiers is a touchy subject if we can't verify their origins and loyalties." Nico informed the Governor.
"Jeff, bring in the leaders of the infantry. They should have all the details that you need." Governor Jeri ordered, and the leader of the station ran off to do her bidding.
He returned seconds later with an infantry Colonel in full uniform, holding a data tablet.
"Greetings, I am Colonel Ping, of the Tennant Regiment, formerly attached to the Phalanx Class Shining Darkness." The man introduced himself.
"The Shining Darkness you say? How long ago was that?" Max asked politely.
"This will be twenty-two years since the Legendary Shining Darkness went into retirement while the General looked for a successor. But as I have been the Commander of this infantry Regiment all that time, we still hold the honor of using the title." The Colonel informed them with a mix of pride and resignation.
Twenty-two years as commander of an infantry Regiment is a very long time in Kepler.
"We had the distinct honor of meeting General Tennant and his proteges not long ago, though I heard that they were separated by a redeployment, so I am not aware of where either is now," Nico replied.
"Likely whipping some fat-arsed Noble popinjay into shape, if I know him. Pardon my language. Don't believe those rumors about him, no way would he turn rebel or flee the Empire. There is nothing more important to that man than Duty and Honor." The Colonel said with a wink.
"I think you will find that the language regulations are somewhat more relaxed on a Reaver vessel Colonel. How many of your men remain?" Nico asked.
"We have four thousand and change left, including the cripples. They might not be good for much, but the military will take them back, I am certain of it. Even if it is only to retire them to some desk job on a forgotten and forsaken colony." Colonel Ping chuckled.
Max looked through the deployment details for the Regiment and found that they had been the defender of one of the planets he knew to have resisted Rebel's invasion, so at the very least they hadn't openly turned on the Empire. Their depleted numbers made the story more believable as well. Four thousand of a quarter million wasn't enough to hold a planet, so they had been redeployed to a border patrol ship.
Only, they were attacked and they never made it that far, abandoning ship in a group of Landers and ending up here.
Everything the man said added up, so Max nodded his approval to Nico, who extended her hand for the Colonel to shake.
"Get your men and bring them on board. We have some medical facilities, and I am certain that we can get approval for a few augmentic repairs to bring some of your officers back to full fighting strength." Nico told him with a smile.
There was an unspoken understanding that it wouldn't come for free, nothing in life was free, but in this case, they might not be the ones who had to pay the tab. If he could get some top-notch medical treatment, his men would thank him.
Terminus had a lot of medical equipment onboard, some from their refit, some from the military supplies, but they also had the disused pods that the original colonists had left behind, which had impressive regenerative abilities now that they had obtained the operating and repair instructions from the Innu ships to get them operational.
They wouldn't regrow limbs, but they would fix broken spines, nerve and muscle damage, and some neurological damage. The rest they could deal with using cybernetics and the assistance of the system, which could do wonders for those with high enough compatibility if given enough time.
"Hey Commander, what do you think our guests would think of a video series on the reconstruction of injured human soldiers using technological augmentation?" Nico asked.
"You want to make videos of the surgeries for the Innu to watch?" Max asked dubiously.
"I would let them do the surgeries if they were qualified, but I get the feeling that you wouldn't approve of that. We have three teams of surgeons on board right now, which is barely adequate for most Regiments, but we don't take many casualties in transit, so they should have the time to attach some limbs." Nico clarified.
She was right, Max wouldn't approve of letting Innu xenobiologists do augmentic surgeries on injured veterans for entertainment. But selling videos of the process for their entertainment and archives was another story.
According to Nico's thoughts, their social media network was monetized by the view, thanks to advertisements, and Terminus had actually been racking up a lot of interstellar credits thanks to the live streams that they had been doing over the past days. A series of human surgeries might actually pay for the parts that they were using, or at least the raw materials that they used to build them since Max assumed they would be printing them using the ship's resources.
"Fine, but keep it tasteful. You know how I feel about making a fool of veterans." Max instructed.
"Even if you ignore the one taking care of your family right here on Terminus." Nico agreed.
"Even if I... hey, it hasn't been that long since I talked to my family. I should call them to dinner though, shouldn't I?"
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