historical

[Commander, the main hallways of the Omwat Destroyer are secure. Requesting a boarding force to secure the secondary corridors and individual rooms.] Major Miller requested ten minutes after the last of the Carriers had surrendered.

[What is the situation with the survivors?] Max asked so he could plan how many troops to send.

[They were initially reluctant, but we currently have just over two thousand in custody.] Miller replied.

That should be close to the whole crew of a destroyer once the payload was delivered, as they were mostly armor and weapons systems and didn't carry an enormous crew despite their size.

He might as well send the entire Regiment, though. It would be good practice for them, and they hadn't actually done a boarding action together yet, though they had trained together in the VR simulations.

[The infantry are on their way. Hold the hallways, and they will do a full sweep to make sure that we don't have any saboteurs aboard.] Max replied, then called for the First Battalion's Cutter to come to pick up the infantry for the boarding action.

They had shuttles, and other small vessels for this sort of thing, but not nearly enough for an entire Regiment, as Max hadn't really been expecting to do a full clear of an alien Destroyer so soon after upgrading his crew.

They were on a diplomatic mission. Sure, that meant the possibility of failure, but that should mean they were denied, not that they were disabling the largest ships in the nation's fleet.

[Commander, the Reaver, and Cygnus fleets have arrived at the other affected planets via a portal, and a Cygnus Pacification fleet is headed to the Omwat homeworlds to claim them in the name of Cygnus.] The communications officer informed Max while he waited for the infantry to load up.

If anyone was truly benefitting from this situation, it was definitely the Cygnus forces. They had gained a huge number of planets in the last few months, and they were about to gain even more thanks to the Omwat attempt to stop the Border Nations from joining the Trade Group.

If they got too powerful, they might try to take over the whole group, but that was a problem for later. For now, they were the closest ally with the firepower to deal with problems like this since the smaller nations had all fallen into their grasp already.

The one advantage that they had was the close relationship between the Reaver Companies and the Cygnus Nobility. Many younger children had married Reavers, which brought them into the Cygnus Nobility, though as distant relations to the ruling powers. That reduced the chance that they would be betrayed and increased the chances that they would be willing to work together toward the goal of mutual defense.

Max waited in orbit while Nico returned Shattered Pride to its hangar, showing many signs of combat where her shields had been brought down by the concentrated fire of the defenders or possibly where she had caused herself enough damage to drop them while destroying ships with a melee weapon.

[I will take care of the guests. Have fun out there, but remember to come back when you're done. I have a birthday present for you.] Nico reminded him as she settled her Mecha back into its repair bay.

[How could I forget? They will be celebrating all week.] Max laughed, then cut it short as the Cutter deployed the infantry, clad in the finest of experimental augmentic suits, onto the Omwat Destroyer.

Max linked the team leaders' cameras to his feed and linked the sensor data both from the other infantry units, as well as the Cutters and the Mecha force inside the vessel, to their heads-up display.

That way, they wouldn't miss anything that might have been found with a bit more data, and it would be nearly impossible for the Omwat to hide an infiltration team in any secret spaces of the ship.

They had a number of technologies that could block an area from Kepler Scanners, as well as the new versions that the Terminus design team had come up with, but those showed up as black spots on the display. It practically begged the boarding team to search those areas to see what had been hidden in them.

Not many hidden sailors were found, but the boarding crew did find a large amount of contraband among the hidden areas of the ship. The crewmen knew where the sensors couldn't penetrate, so that was where they hid all their liquor, drugs, and porn.

Omwat porn was of no interest to the boarding team, but the rest could be either resold or given as presents to the Border Fleet if they hadn't prohibited them.

[Sir, the ship is clear. All rooms have been searched. We have accounted for the entire crew roster, either dead or alive, and we have two additional personnel that were not on the roster. Signs indicate that they are stowaways.] Colonel Cortez informed Max.

[Juveniles or nonmilitary personnel?] Max asked.

[Civilians, Feline Demihumans of adult age. We found them hiding in the energy conduits outside the main engine bay. What are your orders?] the Colonel replied.

[Bring them back with you. We will verify their story and get them settled somewhere.]

Max turned his attention to the attacking forces on the planet and updated his battle plan. The Border Nations had a significant military force, so the battles were already intense, but there was one region that had an unusually high density of Omwat forces.

[Requesting landing permission to send Mecha forces to the surface to reinforce the troops on the ground. The locations are being transmitted now.] he informed the local military commanders.

[Permission granted, Terminus. Will your Mecha be distinguishable from the other forces?] The local General asked.

[They will. Our whole Mecha force is in the new Reaver Patterns, and our infantry are all in distinctive augmentic suits.] Max replied.

[Confirmed. Good to have you.]