Nico got right to work on the upgrades to the Ion Cannons for the Koleska army while Max started on the improvements to the energy blades that they used. They weren't terrible, but they suffered from a lack of efficiency against the War Walkers' armour.

That wasn't all that surprising. Either weapons or armour was always a generation ahead of the other, so one would be relatively ineffective, but he could bring the blades up to standard with only a little bit of work.

If he integrated a different power field generator into them, they would cut through the armour much more easily but would suffer a bit against the energy shielding. That meant they would rely a bit more on the new Ion Cannons to take out the shielding before the War Walkers made it to close combat, but they were already very ranged weapon reliant.

It should more than balance out in the end, with Nico upgrading their ranged weapons, so Max did what he could to minimize the loss of effectiveness against the energy shielding without losing the effectiveness gained against the actual War Walker.

"How's it going over there? I've got a pretty good basis for the variable frequency Ion Cannon already since it's not a new technology." Nico called to him from across the main room of Santa Maria, where they were sitting at separate tables so they could use the holographic projector to assist in visualizing their work.

"Not too bad. There is a bit of a loss of effectiveness against the shielding but a significant gain against the body of the War Walkers." Max explained, then sent her his data.

"Just bump up the output five percent. They have the spare power to maintain it, and that should bring it back up to equivalent against the shielding and even better against the body. I can't see a reason why they would complain about that." Nico shrugged.

"Good enough for me. Let's send these off and let the Koleska decide what they're doing. Then we can check in on the students later in the day and see how their first training day is coming along. We don't have a lot of samples for the use of the learning device on their species, and I'm sure that someone back in the Alliance would appreciate the extra data." Max agreed. historical

The data was sent out right away, along with a prepared deal for the trade of the weapons and the programming of them into the Koleska Template Constructors, in preparation for them to be deployed all along the battlefield.

It was a good deal, and they only asked for a small price per unit created, with no limit on how many units could be made or where they needed to be created. There was a clear and obvious opening for the Koleska to exploit it by not reporting their created weapons, but Max knew that it would be a last resort for them after they started running out of resources.

If their pride had fallen that far, they weren't far from losing the war, and at that point, Max would be happy for them to make the best weapons that they could in order to drive back the Arisen.

"There we go, the messages are sent, now it's up to them to get the rest of the leaders to agree.

Max and Nico spent the rest of the day relaxing around the ship, waiting for something to happen, while the Koleska leaders examined their proposal and did the calculation on how great the survivability improvements might be as the beginning of a cost-to-benefit analysis.

Max knew that his plan would pass that sort of test. The price was too low not to be overshadowed by the benefit. But bureaucrats were the same anywhere, and they needed to justify their existence with reams of paperwork on every matter that passed through their department.

When they woke up the next day, they had a response. The Koleska government was going to start equipping front-line troops with their upgraded weapons options starting that day, and the first day's training for the students had been a success.

Some of the students had already run the first module of the training twice in order to pass, but eventually, they all had, and today they would start on the second module.

The first was the basic passing standard that the Minister of Education had set for them, and the rest was simply for bragging rights and their own personal benefit, but the Minister had high hopes that a lot of them would succeed and go out the next week as elite fighters.

Max decided to message back to Absolution and see how things were going, using the new implanted communication technology. He wasn't sure what time it was there since he had updated their time to match the local station time, but someone should be awake to answer his message no matter the hour.

[Greetings, Commander Keres Max. This is Felicity. How might I help you today?] The AI-turned-android answered when Max paged the station.

[The battles are going well here. We are helping to upgrade the local's weapons a little to keep them on top of the battles against the Arisen. How are things at the station? Any unusual happenings or interesting guests?] Max asked.

[I have determined that there are six hundred and three new arrivals of interest since you departed the station. Forty-six possible criminals and the rest are of interest due to personality or unique hobbies that are not in my database.] Felicity responded.

[Good work. Have you received word from Terminus since they departed?]

[Affirmative. They have arrived at a world within the Death Wind Territory where they will be remaining in orbit for an extended period of time and studying the local ecosystems, as well as the meteorological phenomenon. After that, they will be headed to a resort world within the Cygnus territory for a shore excursion.]

Felicity paused for a moment, then continued. [I have compiled the matters that require your attention, and they have been forwarded to you for review and signatures. The rest of the matters have been attended to at the division manager level.]

[Thank you, Felicity. You're doing an excellent job. Be sure to keep up with the good work and report back to me if there are any significant negative changes aboard the World Ship or positive change proposals that can't be managed by the Board of Directors.]

[Understood, Commander. I will inform them that you are reviewing their proposals now.]