Once the atmosphere inside the Colony ship was deemed safe throughout the whole vessel the Regiment started doing a room-to-room search to see what might have been left behind. There was a surprising amount of supplies left behind by the Colonists when they transferred ships, presumably because the other vessel was already fully loaded and there simply wasn't anywhere to put them.
There weren't any sorts of weapons, and most of the agricultural plus all the terraforming technology were taken with them, but they still left many things behind for the Kepler forces to find. The most notable of which was the Stasis pods themselves.
The technology was impressive and took a different approach to Kepler's designs that were designed to extend one's life. These ones were believed to have the capability to reverse physical aging, while Kepler's technology could only slow it to roughly a quarter of its original rate.
The search was taking some time though, due to the size of the vessel. There were well over a thousand soldiers searching the ship, but it seemed that despite the presence of stasis pods, the ship had been intended to serve as a permanent residence for somewhere around a hundred thousand people.
Many facilities that they searched were too large for humans to conveniently use them, but it would make moving through the vessel with Mecha much more convenient if they were ever boarded.
They did discover the origin of the ship's uniquely organic curved structure while they were searching the engineering lab though. It was based on the hive of an underground burrowing species on the aliens' homeworld. The creatures excreted a unique concrete-like substance that made the underground structures nearly indestructible.
So, when they set out to the stars, they used an example from nature, and build the walls in a way that they knew would absorb incredibly high shock loads, as well as being difficult to damage with impacts, due to the curved surface deflecting objects to mitigate impacts.
Kepler did something similar with the design of the Redemption Pattern Crusaders like Stalwart. The upper shell and shoulder pads were based on the form of a species of local Turtle and deflected impacts to protect the main structure of the Mecha.
That design philosophy gave way to angular surfaces to defeat sensors when they were designing the newer Mecha, but the theory was solid.
The Colony ship had just passed an uninhabited system when they got a message from a Merchant Group, asking if they needed anything.
[We are a bit low on fresh foodstuffs and clothing polymers for the Materials Printers if you have either. We can trade structural alloys.] Nico offered, taking up the role of the ship's spokesperson.
Using any nation's credits here would be done at a heavy loss on the exchange, due to the inconvenience of an independent or Rogue merchant needing to have them exchanged back, but structural alloy was always in demand since it could be put through the Materials Printer to make repairs all over the ship.
[Drop us out of Warp but be prepared for an ambush. Patrol duty to the ready at the airlocks in preparation for defensive action.] The General ordered, and Max tapped the commands that would bring them to a gentle halt near the merchants while Nico got ready to go meet the visitors.
The Merchant's vessel was a fairly modern design, produced in Tapani Territory, and they offered a wide selection of seeds and plant cuttings when General Yaakov told them that the ship's hydroponics bay had sustained a serious mishap and cost them their entire crop. They had some material for clothing as well and offered to send both in a shuttle.
The dismantled Pirate Cutter was no longer recognizable and was in a hangar bay of its own, so she ordered the shuttle there to meet with Max and his Battalion's representatives.
"Don't bring any mecha into sight of the bay, but keep them close in case there is trouble. We will use the loaders that were left behind in the bay, as well as the cranes to do the offload. I trust we are all vaguely familiar with them by now?" Max asked the Company leaders in a group video chat.
"We are. The disassembly time wasn't wasted, we're right up on the use of the loaders. No need to worry about us, just keep up your cover story and we're good to go." Major Ivanov agreed.
Max climbed into a Mobile Suit and grabbed a rifle to accompany Nico as she spoke to the visitors. In their cover story, Max was the actual Commander, but Nico was their designated spokesperson, while Max hid his face behind a mask so he wasn't recognized. It was a bit of a pain, but they had started it that way, and there was a chance that these merchants were actually Tapani soldiers in disguise the same way they were.
"Greetings from the Terminus Trading Company. You may call me Rage, and that is Commander Keres. He doesn't like idle conversation, so I will be taking care of today's dealings if that's fine by everyone involved?" Nico asked.
Reavers and Mercenaries were known for odd behavior, so the Commander not speaking to them personally wasn't a big shock, though it was considered a courtesy to them that he came in person to greet the shuttle Pilot with the trade goods.
The technicians verified the contents quickly, finding that the seeds were all in good condition, and the materials were the right ones.
"It's authentic." They called over to Nico, giving her the thumbs up, and she gestured back to load the alloy onto the shuttle.
This wasn't a high-value trade, more of the equivalent of a grocery shopping trip, where the price was pocket change to both parties involved, but as a first meeting, it was still an important one.
They had never done business with each other before, and the Merchants wanted to make a good first impression. The Colony Ship was huge and was assumed to have a lot of people on board, so it could become a valuable customer in the future if things went well today.
The whole exchange only took a few minutes, and the shuttle returned to the cargo vessel, which reactivated its engines right after and left the area.
"Don't you think that was a bit too small of a deal? A few hundred kilos of alloy in exchange for some seeds for the hydroponics bays?" One of the technicians asked.
"It was more important to get their secure channel codes so we could contact them later. Besides, we wanted fresh food, and this was dirt cheap. If we bought fresh food at a station, we would have paid fifty times as much." Nico explained.
"Now, who wants to get the hydroponic bays activated? They're all ready for seeds, and it looks like the aliens had a rather advanced fast-growing system." Max asked, making the technicians groan as they realized that they had just been volunteered for more work.
