Max was exactly right, it took less than two minutes for Nico to make it to them with a data tablet in her hand and a smile on her face.

“Amanda. It’s good to see you again. You can call me Rage these days. Relax, there is no need to stand at attention, it makes my back hurt and I don’t even have bones anymore.” Nico greeted her, making the Major wince at the informality before she adapted to the reality of the situation and the new standards.

She wasn’t officially part of their organization at the moment, and all of them were in some sort of administrative limbo as the war played out in the Empire.

Nico continued her happy spiel, giving Major Payne a one-armed hug and showing her the data tablet she was holding.

“Some of the former Cadets have family here, and so do you. Namely, your Mother and two sisters are here on Rae 5, they arrived with one of the other Reaver ships, so they’re living on the coast right now. We can ask that they are transferred, but from what I can see, they seem happy with a beachfront life.”

“That’s good to hear, but I’m more concerned about my own future at the moment.” Major Payne told her while smiling at the picture Nico had pulled up from the immigration logs.

“That’s easy enough. We can put you in the Logistics department, or move you to one of the Mecha groups. As I recall, your skills were more based on analysis and logistics, right? That was why you ended up at the Academy.”

Major Payne nodded at Nico. “Yes, that is correct. I will happily take a logistics position, but I am also skilled in repairs. Perhaps not as much as you, but I do still have repair-related talents.” The Major replied.

Nico turned to Max. “What about the First Battalion? Since Major Miller is being promoted from adjutant, and he handled Battalion Logistics, they could use another skilled set of hands in the command structure.”

That wasn’t a bad idea. With the loss of a Super Heavy mecha team, as well as the promotion of their logistics genius of an adjutant, the First Battalion was certainly short on talent at the top.

“We can give it a try. Call Major Miller over and he can welcome our new member to the Battalion.” Max agreed.

“I should talk to your official Commanding Officer as well shouldn’t I?” Major Payne asked.

“Commander Keres is our official Commander right now. The General just retired and passed the Regiment to him, as much as it is a Regiment anymore. For all intents and purposes, we are the Terminus Trading Company at this point, and we are under official orders from the Emperor to remain beyond Vermillion Classified.” Nico informed her.

Major Payne gasped. “If it’s that much of a secret, why did you tell me at all? Shouldn’t you have been putting on your best Reaver act, making it look like you had departed the Kepler Military entirely?”

Max chuckled at her response. “You actually thought you had an option to not accept? Welcome to the Terminus Trading Company, Major. You have been volunteered. If you need, we can make it official with a signature from a General in the Imperial Inquisition.”

“What is all this logistics Chaos that I’m seeing on my sheets?” Major Miller asked as he came into the room.

“We picked a new adjutant for you, so you will only need to find yourself a technician for your new Super Heavy Mecha once the experimental design for the new Command Unit is ready. Meet Major Payne, a former dorm supervisor at the Kepler Terminus Academy.” Max informed him.

“A dorm supervisor? If you can deal with children that well, you should fit right in with the rest of our unit. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the entire Regiment is a bunch of oddballs whose units volunteered them for experimental Mecha programs.

They’re incredibly skilled, but not exactly the most orderly of Battalions that you could be assigned to. I keep the logistics extremely well run though, and I expect that will continue under your supervision.” Major Miller informed her.

“That’s the first half of the Chaos. We also requisitioned two thousand experimental Line Mecha from the manufacturing facilities in the orbital base. The two thousand freshly graduated Cadets are about to be informed that they have been assigned to test the Samurai Pattern Line Mecha and the orbital insertion drones.” Max told him with a wink.historical

“Voluntold is it? That’s the best way to deal with fresh green pilots. Just give them orders until they know enough to think for themselves. Four hundred Line Mecha per unit is a lot for a Heavy Mecha Regiment though, so I guess we will have to adapt tactics. It shouldn’t be hard.” Major Miller agreed.

“I am glad you see it our way. Light Mecha are better suited to city operations, and pure numbers count for a lot sometimes. The new Cutters will also be large enough to accommodate the changes and still take a full Battalion without issues, so that isn’t a concern.

The last thing we will need though is more staff. We have enough for basic operations, but we have to pull from that for Drone Piloting, so I suggest that we only add three hundred fifty Line Mecha Pilots to each Battalion, and make the last fifty of them drone Pilots, which should be enough to keep the drones on the Cutters operational without stealing from maintenance.” Max clarified.

They needed staff to actually Pilot the Cutters as well, but those could be acquired easily from the Reavers. There were more children than adults this generation, thanks to tactical changes in their routes reducing losses, so the planet had a fair number of trained spaceship pilots, even if they didn’t have systems to enhance their skills.

They could recruit those once they got all their new toys built though.