As Terminus approached the Rae 5 solar system they could immediately see the scale of the improvements that had been made. Dozens of partially complete space stations were arranged through the system, and the main planet now showed signs of habitation.
The machinery sent by the other Tarith Reavers had been busy and three cities were already visible. One in the middle of a fertile plain, one on the ocean, and one in the mountains, near where the Regiment's first misadventure here had found numerous mineral deposits that weren't easily mined from asteroids.
That was an excellent start, even if the planet didn't have any cities on its other side yet.
Not much had been done on the moon base, but they were waiting for the large-scale equipment aboard Terminus to get started on that particular project.
Now that they were back, they could start filling the city with people and getting essential services set up. Structurally it had everything a city could need, it just didn't have anyone to operate it at the moment.
"We've got thousands of farmers on board now and almost no commercial fishermen or miners, so how do you feel about settling in the grassland?" Max asked Mary Tarith as they checked the notes about the refugees they had taken on board.
"A capital city in the open is a good idea, it gives more room to expand later and easier access to food supplies." The Tarith family leader agreed.
"Then we will begin preparing Terminus for landfall. It won't be easy on the old ship, but with so many people it would take four or five round trips to move everyone with The Dutchman, and then, even more, to bring down all the equipment.
The shielding has been upgraded, so we should be fine on that account, it's just the gravitational forces that we are concerned with." Max informed her.
"What are the chances of structural failure?"
Max shrugged. "Less than one percent, but stress fractures might require repair before we leave again. Nothing that puts us in the severe risk category, just a small delay."
"That should be fine then. There are plenty of resources already on the planet to finish the repair without depleting the storage on Terminus. If you can set us down outside the city, we will take over the organization from there, and get everyone settled." Mary agreed.
They couldn't land too close to the city with a five-kilometer-long Colony Ship, but the passengers shouldn't mind a little walk if the city didn't have transport vehicles yet.
"I will relay the message to the Admiral and we can find a good landing spot."
Max sent out all the directions, and the Admiral found them a proper landing site where they wouldn't sink the enormous vessel, which had limited anti-gravity capabilities while the main engines were offline for safety checks after landing.
[Prepare for orbital insertion in 30 minutes. Please secure all loose items and be prepared for turbulence while entering the atmosphere.] The Admiral's voice informed the ship.
This should be an interesting trip. The outer hull of Terminus was rounded and well-designed for landing, but it was truly ancient. Even after their best analysis, the ship's durability and performance were only theoretical and they wouldn't know until the first time they made an entry if they were correct in their estimations of its structural integrity.
The vessel began to shudder and vibrate as they reached the atmosphere, but the effect was more gentle than in a modern Kepler lander.
Max checked all the available diagnostics himself, then signaled Nico to give him a report.
"The ship's structural integrity is holding at one hundred percent. Terminus is making the entry like a champ. Weather is optimal, minimal turbulence detected, and we should be down in twelve minutes.
Retro thrusters are active and our speed is in the expected range. " She narrated as she went through the diagnostics.
[Landing Legs deployed, prepare for impact.]
The warning alarmed the refugees much more than the crew had expected, and panic began to spread until the gentle thud of the ship meeting the ground resounded through the hull, and Terminus came to rest on the surface of Rae 5.
"You all suck. I thought we were going to crash and die." Someone shouted and the cargo hold full of civilians began to fill with relieved chatter.
[Please wait for an escort to lead you from the ship. Current hull temperatures are too high for an unprotected departure.
Once you arrive in the city, arrangements will be made for employment, housing, and provisions to get you settled in here on Rae 5, the first sanctioned Reaver-maintained Star System.] The Admiral's voice informed them politely.
The general feeling was somewhat dubious about those claims, but even the hope of a normal life again was enough to keep most of them going.
Once the ship had cooled enough to safely open the cargo bay doors, the first of the Reaver welcoming party approached. Not just from the Tarith Reavers who were in charge of planetary operations, but also from the other Companies that were setting up businesses on the planet.
This was the Reavers first hiring fair, possibly ever, and they all wanted to snag a variety of skilled workers. Not just from the trades, the act of selling to and entertaining Reavers and Mercenaries was an art form of its own that couldn't be overlooked.
An inexperienced waitress left to work alone would probably never show up to a second shift around such a rowdy and crude group, so if they didn't come from the Companies, then they needed extensive training to work hospitality jobs.
"That city is nuts. Did your family have some highly skilled architects on staff that nobody else knew about? And if so, why weren't they working on Kepler Terminus?" Max asked Mary Tarith as the elegantly curved skyscrapers of the new city came into view on their sensors.
The buildings were connected by walkways covered in plant life on multiple levels and clearly designed to be friendly to vehicle-free travel while still allowing for easy cargo movement.
"Apparently the plan came from Nico, out of the database aboard Terminus. This is what the ship's original owners intended to build, a fully self-sustaining city.
The material of the windows is actually a highly efficient solar collection array, and everything but the manufacturing district could operate without a separate power plant.
If we can find the aliens' plans, we might even find more efficient ways to manufacture Mecha and general goods than the materials printers. But that might be hopeless, they don't seem to be in the system, only the basic city was in the ship's terraforming data.
"So the others are the same?" Max asked.
"Modified for terrain, but yes. All three cities are the same, and then there are plans to have different styles on the other continents, for variety." Mary informed him.
This empty planet was starting to show a lot of potential. Max just needed to find a way to get it filled since this single city could hold far more people than even the combined Reaver and refugee efforts had supplied.
