Once the furor around the arrival of the dignitaries had died down, a calculated matter of timed arrivals splitting the attention of the paparazzi all over the world ship, Max and the Generals decided that it was safe enough to come out of hiding in his office and go socialize with the others.
There was an arranged dinner party tonight, and supposedly there was some secret big news that was going to be released by the Alliance leadership as well. They had been keeping it closely guarded, and even Max didn't yet know what the secret was, as the last guests from the Alliance hadn't arrived yet.
The names on the ship's log would clearly be faked for privacy, but once they were in the same solar system as he was, it wouldn't be difficult to find out.
Before that, they should make some public appearances together, let people take photographs so that the residents would know that they were on board and paying attention to the festivities, and then meet up with a few others, as if it were by chance.
With Max in the group, it wouldn't be hard, and he could pick out the location of the ones that he wanted to meet with in advance, as well as the topics that they were interested in.
Nico, on the other hand, was already somewhat in public, though her actual body was hidden. She had come online as the judge for a gaming event, and millions of people were watching the infamous Blood Goddess introduce the day's contestants for another new VR fighting game, this time a Mecha simulator based on the Line Mecha that were so popular with planetary defence forces now that they were being decommissioned by the main military force.
There were hundreds of millions of them in existence, and although they weren't a main force front-line unit anymore, they were still incredibly deadly compared to anything else with their production cost in the human arsenal.
The PDF, as the homegrown forces were collectively known, was the people's army, the fighting force of the ones not chosen for interstellar military duty, of the farmers, factory workers and law enforcement agencies when their home was attacked.
In short, the game was an immediate smash hit, and the controls of the Mecha were so realistic that the most skilled players were actually being trained into top-notch Mecha pilots. It was absolutely brilliant, and when the next major wave of attacks happened, the casualties among the planetary residents should be even lower than they had managed the first time.
The first wave had the help of the Arisen and the Darklings to repel the force, as neither of them had permanent planetary bases of their own, as entirely mobile cultures, but the human force was improving again, and the Alliance was finally getting their act together and organizing itself for war.
The problem was, there was a lack of training, and no real recruitment structure. That was the central focus of these meetings, along with the secondary matter of what the equipment they were using should look like.
"Why don't we go visit some fun people first? There is an Innu Envoy among the regular crew here on Absolution, permanently stationed by the Alliance as one of the intermediaries between the Reavers and the Government. She is currently planning to escape from her assistants and make her way to a coffee shop to get drunk.
If we rescue her, we can sit on the patio and drink coffee with a group of Alliance leaders for publicity, and they won't expect us to do real work today." Max offered.
"Oh, that's good. The paparazzi know only to take pictures of the Envoys, and not to bother them or get in their faces. If we're with some of them, we're practically invincible to annoyance." General Yaakov agreed.
Tennant chuckled. "Speaking of annoyances, where is your lovely wife today?"
The old General laughed and shook his head. "She's down on Rae 5, having a lady's day, as she calls her all-day spa treatments. She very devoutly did not want to be here for this, and she had no intentions of sitting through the meetings.
I think most of it is due to that rivalry she has going on with Mary Tarith. Can you believe that she actually managed to show up early to two events in a row, wearing the same outfit my wife had chosen? We had to stop halfway there both times when we saw the event feed so that she could change."
Max definitely wouldn't put that past Mary. She could be incredibly petty when she wanted to be, and the two of them were distantly related, if Max recalled right, so they likely spent a fair bit of time together.
"Let them have their internal competition. As I recall, the women of the Tarith Family have a long history of internal rivalry, and given their personalities, it's best if the men keep their noses safely out of other people's business." Max laughed.
General Yaakov nodded. "You are young, but wise. But then, you're essentially married into the Tarith Family as well, aren't you? Even if there is no ring or vow, you have spent your entire career with Nico Tarith attached to your hip. Even I associate the two of you with each other first, then the Company and the Family."
"I'm not sure if I should be frightened or flattered, but I do sense some interesting thoughts coming toward the ship. I know what tonight's big announcement will be." Max declared.
"Not in public, there are likely hidden ears listening to us. But once we're with the Envoys, and we have a chance to talk in private, we can go over it." General Tennant reminded him.
It was going to be a great one, Max knew. The group in the last incoming ship full of dignitaries were all retainers of the Valkia's Presidential Family, along with one happy couple. While the Presidential Family weren't Royalty, per se, they were trillionaires that ruled over fifty different planets and had held seats on the Central Government Committee for five generations, by popular vote.
There weren't many who could compare to them, so if one of them was making a public wedding announcement, the actual details of the military conference would be secondary, and this would be portrayed as one of the most luxurious wedding receptions in history.
