"Then it is decided we need to do something about the suspicious planet that may or not be full of hybridized Klem. First, we will make a jump to head into the galactic core, far from any inhabited planet, and then we will jump into the solar system where the suspicious planet is.
Needless to say, if it really is full of Klem, there is a good chance that we will come under attack the instant that we arrive, so we will need to be ready to defend the portal so that they don't realize that we have tricked them.
Unlike the newly colonized planets, the core worlds will have Queens on them, meaning that there will be more intelligence as well as new types of life forms. They are capable of attacking into space, using energy bursts directly or dislodging asteroids from their orbits.
The shielding on Terminus should hold up against either one, but if they start firing pods at us, we could start having issues. The pods can be designed to absorb most types of energy to develop, which includes the ship's shields, so we will need to deal with them, and Terminus is not a weaponized vessel.
So, everyone will be on standby to deploy, but first, we need to see everyone off now that their vacations and the filming are finished."
Everyone in the room rose as Max finished his speech, getting ready to make the preparations for their next move and to see off the new friends that they had made among the Innu and Illiithid.
Max headed to the hangar bays where the Innu ships were stored so that he could see everyone off and make sure that they enjoyed their stay on Terminus, while Nico went to the Cruise Ship section to say a personal goodbye to some of the technicians among the Innu before they left. She had bonded with them particularly well, thanks to their similar skill sets and love for new technologies, and Max suspected that a lot of Nico's new ideas were actually gained by brainstorming with the Innu and reading their data tablets as they worked.
The Innu could do the same thing, of course, so it was similar in a way to how Max communicated with the Illithid, both reading each other's minds, though Max couldn't broadcast his thoughts the way that they could.
It was only an hour before all of the Innu were ready, and the row of handshakes as they made their way back to their ships to head home began.
Terminus was providing a portal to them, saving energy from their ship's systems since such a long jump was beyond their capabilities, and multiple shorter jumps would take a significant amount of time or require them to use a commercial portal at their own expense to make the longer portion of the jump.
It wasn't far from where Terminus was sitting. The nearest one was at the borders of the Alliance, which began quite close to this Galaxy, but the fees for the energy consumption were high, so the guests highly appreciated the service.
"It still amazes me that humans managed to come up with a drive that has such tremendous energy output in a usable package. I am sure that design elements of it will start making their way into Innu luxury ships within a decade at the most.
The Alliance is so used to highly efficient transport that they haven't included the power to make a portal jump of multiple Standard Units for centuries. Why would they, when you can use a dedicated portal station and less than one percent of traffic moves that far?" The Illithid who was staying behind told Max with an odd sense of nostalgia in his mind.
"The Valkia mentioned that brute force to reach higher speeds wasn't the customary way that things were done, so I guess we really are following our own technology path. It does come in handy in this situation, though. Being able to send Innu back and forth to their home system will help us attract guests. Losing hours or days of vacation time to extra travel steps isn't the best marketing strategy." Max agreed.
The Innu and Illithid ships all left through the portal without incident, and Max was about to order it closed when he received a signal from the other side. One Innu ship requesting urgent permission to transit to their location.
[Permission granted. Welcome to Terminus, Innu Vessel. Please proceed to Docking Bay 17 and wait for the Gravity Beam to escort you through the barrier.] Max informed them.
The vessel that arrived looked a lot like the yacht that had just left but in much worse shape, repeatedly patched with the repaired hull sections left mostly unpainted and laundry hanging from lines along the mezzanine.
[What am I looking at?] Max asked the Illithid Advisor, who mentally laughed at the question.
[That, my young friend, is an Innu Tech Nomad. Your world had the digital nomads, who wandered the planet, making videos of scenic locations and their adventures with very little financial backing, as I recall. This is the Innu equivalent. They live off the royalties from new technologies that they send home and the videos they make about them on social media, using open portals as a way of hitchhiking between locations.
It is a good thing that you provide free travel portals because they could never afford the standard rate to send that relic of a yacht back home otherwise.
They might only stay a while, then explore humanity, but given the mission that Terminus is on, you might have just obtained long-term new guests.
Never fear, though. The royalties that they make from videos about the ship should be more than enough to pay for their room and board. In fact, they were likely only one of the dozens of similar vessels waiting at likely transit points for you to send the last group back home so they could come through.]
Max sighed and looked at his advisor. "I heard that we were popular on social media in the Alliance, but I didn't expect to become so popular that we brought ships full of influencers here so fast. I hope they're not as obnoxious as the ones on my homeworld."
The Illithid shook his head. "No, they are nerdy and tech-obsessed, not outgoing and social. If your second in command plays it right, she might even manage to hire them for a while. They are always short on credits, and you can offer free accommodations as part of their pay package, which is their primary goal in life, to exist for free and see new technology."
