"Welcome to Terminus. I am Commander Keres, in charge of this vessel and its crew." Max greeted their new arrivals, who were wearing clean but well-worn coveralls tied at the waist with tank tops sporting assorted stains, but smelling of laundry soap.
"Thank you for accommodating us. We are Expedition Wrenched, a Nomadic Vessel in search of new technologies to share with the Innu people. It is an incredible pleasure to be here aboard Terminus, home to so many new and incredible sights." The lead Innu woman greeted him, clearly filming her arrival for a later social media post.
"Well, you can start right where you are. I don't think that any of the other guests took the time to record the sights of the landing bays. They are an archaic design by Alliance standards, as Terminus is believed to be a relic of the early expansions of the Giants, during the fracture of their culture at the point when they joined the Alliance." Max informed the group, who all appeared to be female.
[Is it normal that they are all women?] Max asked the Illithid.
[Totally. Innu women outnumber men by a large margin. They deemed it more efficient to have the majority of the species be capable of carrying children since they have the technology to gene splice between chosen partners and reproduce asexually if they desire.] The Advisor explained.
That actually made sense, in a Nico sort of way. There was no common sense to it, but Max could see that the combination of technology and biology made it the most efficient method for perpetuating the species.
[They don't pick partners to reproduce with for romantic reasons but for developmental purposes. Their romantic partner and their reproductive choice are often very different, based on the way that they want to introduce new genes into their children in an effort to optimize them toward the parent's goals.] The Illithid elaborated.
Yep, they were definitely on Nico's wavelength.
"That is truly incredible. Look at the alloy composition. It's every bit as strong as the hull of Expedition Vessel Wrenched, despite being millennia old. Truly a marvel of engineering for its time.
Even without using a portal, it must still be capable of at least Warp 3, right? Or have the Warp drives been totally replaced?" One of the nomads asked.
"They have been overhauled but are similar to the original design. The ship was originally abandoned because both sets of Crystals had been overloaded and destroyed, and they lacked the resources to repair them. The substance isn't common in this galaxy, assuming it can be found at all." Max explained.
"So you know some of the history? Does that mean that some of the computer files remained intact?" They asked together before making a strange pose of shock and excitement for the camera.
"Some. Once you are settled in, I will introduce you to our second-in-command and lead development technician. You will get along very well, I think, as she shares a similar skill set to your own." Max informed them.
"Oh, we saw that online. Nanotechnology Artificial intelligence embedded within an entire region worth of humans, helping their culture advance. Incredible. If it's at all possible, we would like to experiment with that." The leader of their group, a woman with bright green eyes that Max could tell were artificial, asked hopefully.
"The System's intelligence is all linked and very selective about who it chooses to operate for. But if you can obtain a willing sample, you might be able to interact with the nanotechnology." Max agreed.
"We will work on that later. Will there be swimming? Human males in swimming shorts are one of the top trending topics after you made that stop and went cliff diving."
That made the Illithid advisor chuckle. "There are many pools at the end of the gravity slides. They are a common leisure spot for the crew, especially the ones maintained above body temperature. It seems that the heat helps relax human muscles."
His response brought the chatter to a frenzied squeal of excited Innu planning their adventure, so Max decided to intercede and save his eardrums.
"Why don't we get you all settled into rooms first? My second in command will come to visit you later, but for now, we are about to embark on an exploration mission to a human planet we suspect has been compromised by the Klem, a race of vicious and invasive insects that you might have heard of from our previous guests." He suggested.
"Oh, battle against destructive invasive species. The Flora demographic will love that. Invading species eating their kin and stripping planets dry is the basics of the Horror genre in their galaxies." The Innu informed Max.
"Then let's get moving. If the planet is still holding out against the Klem, additional delays will cost lives, and I've got our entire security force on standby at the moment."
"Oh, yes, don't let us get in the way." They agreed, following Max to the cruise ship area, where they all stopped in awe to take in the majesty of Terminus in all her glory.
"This is amazing. We might have misjudged our budget, though. It looks really expensive." One whispered.
"But the Gravity Slides are unique in the whole Alliance. How could we miss that? We can just ask them for work. There's always some sort of work for an Innu." Another countered.
"They're not Alliance members, though. We don't know any of their tech, and we're not allowed to trade Alliance tech to them unless we want to end up in jail at our next port."
Seeing that they were beginning to panic, Max joined the conversation. "You should know that both myself and the Illithid can hear thoughts. But I do have a proposal for you. We aren't allowed to trade for Alliance tech, but there is no rule saying that we can't hire Innu.
If you would like to join our crew for the duration of your stay, you can help our technicians and engineers make entirely new technologies and work alongside our development team.
Videos of new human technology in development would be good for your streaming videos as well, and we can arrange for all your living expenses to be covered as part of your wage."
"Including clothes, food, and ship parts?" Their leader asked.
"Ship parts might have to come out of your wage, but we can include all meals, rooms, and a clothing allowance. The other Innu seemed fond of human swimsuits for the Gravity Slides." Max offered.
The Innu Nomads conferred for a while, then made their decision. "No contract term and no markup on ship parts. Our Expedition Vessel is in dire need of a cosmetic refit."
"You have a deal. We can make most of them on board Terminus, so the cost will be very low if we have the raw materials." Max agreed, shaking their hands one after another.
"Now go play. You've got a few days to settle in and explore the public areas of the ship before the design team will need you to do anything. My second in command will get you crew security passes when she has time."
