For most of the crew, the flight to Kepler Terminus was going to be a relaxing one, with very little to do but check their Mecha and make sure that everything was at one hundred percent combat readiness.
For Max and Nico, it was a very different story. They were currently in a meeting with the Generals, where Inquisitor Ming had requested a full update and debriefing on everything that the two of them had learned from their interactions with the suspected rebel elements and independent nations that they had met so far along their journey.
That was a lot of information to fill him in on, and the Inquisitor wanted clarification of every single line and detail of the reports that Max had made, making sure that he didn't miss any clue or a bit of nuance to their interactions that could be vital to the Empire later on.
It was clear right away that the planet they had gone to trade off their Crystal Nanotubes was in on the rebellion, but it was also clear that they didn't know they were going to be a sacrificial scapegoat for the rebels and the Tapani to make themselves look good in the eyes of the Civilians.
There was also the question of what exactly was going on with the authorities on Kepler Terminus. Max knew how many ships should be in and out of the planet on a daily basis, he liked to watch them out of Dave's window as he was growing up. The number should be less than ten a day, but over the course of the last twenty-four hours, their sensors had detected over sixty vessels just leaving the system.
Kepler Terminus produced mostly Mecha Pilots, and elite ones at that, there was no reason that they should be sending sixty ships a day out of the system unless someone somewhere had been stockpiling materials for just this occasion.
As they relayed every bit of information that they had and built a data grid to attempt to link them all together so that they could see the big picture, Max began to think about the day that they left. General Tennant had been in a hurry, and Max had detected thoughts about an Inquisitor coming to take his Phalanx Class Mecha, to turn it over to a Bureaucracy-friendly family.
At the time it had seemed like a personal attack because he knew the reputation that the General had, as well as the fact that he refused to replace his copilot. Now, it seemed like the earliest stages of the Bureaucrat's attempts to disarm the Empire and give themselves the upper hand.
"General, since we are headed back to Kepler Terminus, I should warn you before we arrive. The Inquisition on the planet is compromised." Max informed General Ming, then began the long story of how they had been chased off the planet and everything that had happened before and after they met General Tennant, as he learned it with his mind-reading skills.
"That's worse than I thought. One Inquisitor turned might not seem like much, but it is very, very hard to turn an Inquisitor, and until he is detected, he could cause untold amounts of damage to the Loyalist elements.
Worse still, if one is turned, we can't rely on the others, and I can't openly access the Inquisition documents available on the planet, as the rest of the Inquisition could potentially see my activity. It will be like going in blind unless we can identify and eliminate the corrupted elements and the ones who turned them in advance." The General sighed.
"There are still the Tarith Family assets to work with, as we know that they aren't part of the rebellion. They might not be completely loyal, but at least we know that they are not actively working with the Rebellion." General Yaakov suggested.
"That remains to be seen. We will know for sure once we arrive at the station and see what their assets in orbit have to say to us, thinking that we are an allied Reaver group." Inquisitor Ming declared.
He had a point, with a rebellion, you couldn't rely on old alliances or friendship to get you by. Brother would turn on brother, neighbors against each other, and only ideology would stand as a common denominator.
"It's only one more day, and with me there, they will tell you absolutely anything that they know. Or, they will tell me, and I will tell you, but the same thing really. The big question is, what exactly is going on with the Kepler Terminus star system? There are way too many ships, all outbound. If I didn't know any better I would say that they are trying to evacuate the planet without ordering an evacuation.
If that is the case, the rebellion might be using the planet as a staging ground for their future plans, and they are moving the civilians away so that they aren't accused of war crimes and ganged up on by their neighbors. The Tapani are in a rather precarious position, despite their military power. If the systems around them turn on them, they would be eaten alive, without the manpower to both fight a war and defend their northern borders against the Klem." Nico told the group.
That was close to what everyone else was thinking, but it could also be that they are stripping the system bare of assets and then planning to leave the civilians to die when the Kepler Empire retaliates against them, using the small system's legendary name as the source of the initial System as their own propaganda point.
In the end, it would all boil down to exactly how ruthless the Tapani and the Rebels were willing to be with a civilian population to get their way, and Max had already seen firsthand that they didn't hesitate to destroy Capital cities without warning to defeat the Loyalists.
That was information that they all had already, and most of them had seen it in person, on the ground.
