"Why don't you go forward with the plan to replace the Pilot suits, then? Using old-issue Kepler suits or random bits of gear, as the Reavers do, is working fine for everyone, but I think this will be a much-appreciated addition to our kit.

Especially the watches.

Once we have the whole Regiment upgraded and we have a few rounds of combat tests completed, we can consider spreading them to a larger audience. We certainly can't do it until we are absolutely certain that there are no bugs, though. Even a minor flaw or glitch in the design would be a huge hit to our reputation." Max informed the design team.

With cheers and a round of high fives for a side project going mainstream, they got back to work while Max went to change out of the armor.

"Leave it on, but remove the helmet and gloves. That's how most Pilots spend their days, so it's a proper test." Nico suggested.

Even with the helmet removed, the suit remained active and could still be adjusted and manipulated with a small touchpad on the upper right arm. Most of the pilots and soldiers were right-handed, so the touchpad would be a bit awkward to use for them, but it would also not require them to put down their rifles to adjust the suit.

Max could see that he could also place his hand on the touchpad and voice control it when the helmet was off as well, so that was an option for times when you didn't want to take your eyes off the target but needed to adjust or remove a piece of your armor.

It might be a very rare occurrence, but if you got hit with an incendiary round, it could save your life if you got out of the suit fast enough.

"That's fine. I am sure everyone will be excited to get a sneak preview of the new suits anyhow." Max agreed.

The next task on his daily list was to patrol the ship and talk to whoever he came across, making sure that there were no issues being ignored and giving the Regiment a chance to make suggestions.

Most of them in the Kepler Empire would be about the food, but with the Replicators, that wasn't an issue aboard Terminus. Even if they didn't like the food in their Battalion's cafe, they could go to the Cruise Ship area for something different.

The ship felt pretty empty right now, with only a few visitors. It was pretty much empty, to begin with, as the Innu teams weren't large, nor was the Illithid contingent, but they were loud and excited enough that the cruise ship area at least felt occupied.

Hopefully, they would get more visitors soon, but that would rely on them sitting in one spot for a while so that the targeting scanners in the Alliance could lock onto them.

historical

There wasn't much to report, the ship was in pristine condition, with excellent amenities, but he did hear from multiple people that the ship felt empty with their major entertainment venue not hosting any tourists, only the small team of nomads they had hired as engineers.

They were no fun at all, according to the Pilots. They were only interested in technology and rarely left the workshops and labs, even when they weren't on duty.

They were the last stop on his route, which would bring him back to the research bays where he was doing the testing earlier, so Max took some extra time to visit.

"Welcome back to the stream Tech Nomads and Nomadettes. We are coming live to you from the Human Cruise Ship Terminus again, and we have a wonderful new invention to show you." One of the Innu was speaking into a camera as Max entered.

"We have readied generation four of the Replicators. We call this the Colony Ship Generation of the design, as Terminus was originally a Colony Ship sent by the ancient Giants and abandoned here in this Galaxy when it broke down.

Now, I am transmitting the technical specs in a digital substream. Don't worry. Terminus has filed all the appropriate patents for a low royalty, free application patent, so you are free to build them yourselves if you like. The Royalty fee for this one is quite a bit more than usual, and we apologize, but it is set at the Alliance standard rate for replicator technology at fifty credits per unit produced.

I am certain that it will be worth it to all of you creative inventors, though. This design isn't based off of anything that has come before, and not even the Alliance's domestic units are this capable.

I know, big words, so here goes. Input mass is the standard biomass slurry, as you can see on the feed sensors, and output is . . . That's right, living seedlings!

How is that for development? Using human technology combined with Innu ingenuity, we have made a mass-producible live plant seeding unit for your own home. Do you want rare houseplants? You've got them. The freshest of produce, with that homegrown flavor you can't get from a generic replicator product? Just plant them in advance and let them finish in your garden.

For those of you on low-density planets, you can make the perfect garden with only the biomass from your food waste."

The Innu stopped when she noticed Max standing by the door and waved him over.

"Welcome Commander Keres, the leader of the Terminus Trading Company, who owns the patent for this amazing product. As you can see, he is wearing the hostile environment version of the newly developed explorer's suits, available for your own production in our recent uploads, with a very reasonable royalty fee.

Commander, this is the first time you have seen the Colony Ship Generation replicators. What do you think?"

Max chuckled at her enthusiasm and gave her a very serious-looking warning look. "I think you will be fending off marriage proposals from the hydroponics bay team when they find out."

That made the rest of the Tech Nomads burst into laughter, and they led Max off-camera while the broadcaster finished her explanation of the new design.

"I am glad you like it. Since we're employed by Terminus Trading Company, these design patents belong to the company, but the stream has been doing unexpectedly well, which makes up for the revenue splitting. What we wanted to talk to you about was the chances of a performance bonus to get some extra allocations of resources so we can speed up the renovation of our ship.

We have seen your new warp drive designs, and they make ours look like relics, not to mention that they have almost a million hours on them already." The leader of the Tech Nomads suggested.

The crystals to rebuild a warp drive were a restricted item in the Alliance due to their propensity to explode if misaligned, so they were prohibitively expensive for vagrant inventors like the Tech Nomads, which led to things like millions of hours of travel without a rebuild.

"Are you planning to leave us so soon, or are you doing a renovation video series?" Max asked.

"Renovation Series! They get so many views from our fellow Nomads." The Innu replied in unison.

"Besides, our contract says that on top of materials at cost, we get ten percent of the revenue from patents we assist with while employed here, paid quarterly, and the Colony Ship Replicators have gotten five million paid downloads already, despite the high cost. It might cost half a billion to rebuild a warp drive at a shop, but I think we can do it much cheaper using Human methods and some tweaking." The leader whispered to Max to keep sensitive ears on the stream from possibly picking up even a trace of her voice through the door to the lab.