Their luck was good, and the location that the Border Fleet chose to hold their first meeting with Terminus was indeed a barren rock floating in space with no atmosphere to speak of. It wasn't a moon as Max expected, but an outer planet of a nearby system with an exceedingly thin atmosphere, which would allow the Mecha to depart directly from Terminus and fly to the surface.
[Terminus Trading Company, please assemble your leadership delegation and meet us on the surface.] The Border Fleet demanded, taking their place in orbit and launching a Lander toward the coordinates marked on the message.
Max waited until they were almost down before ordering his entourage to depart. Until this moment, not a single person in this sector of the Galaxy knew that Terminus was in possession of a Titan Class Mecha. Very few were even aware that they had Super Heavy Mecha among their Battalions, and most who had heard only viewed that as a rumor.
The sight of Cleansing Light appearing from the hold at the rear end of Terminus was enough to fill the communication channels with shocked calls for verification from every Mercenary Group in the region, as well as frantic calls from the Border Fleet back to their command station.
There would be no intimidation by the Border Nations today. That single Mecha could take out their entire patrol fleet with ease. Instead, they would be forced to negotiate terms with the Reavers on a more even footing.
That was the response that Max had been hoping for. If the Border Nations panicked, he could sway them away from their bias against the Mercenary Groups and toward joining the Reavers in their new trade group.
The promise that the Mercenaries wouldn't raid their border outposts as long as they were part of the Reaver's agreement was a great boon to them, reducing the threat level in the region and giving them the chance to build allies to deal with more outlaw sorts, who preferred Piracy.
[Greetings Admiral Bogan. I am Commander Keres of the Terminus Trading Company in the Command Mecha Cleansing Light. It is my most sincere hope that we can resolve this issue peacefully today without the need for further hostilities.] Max began the meeting the moment that he landed.
Normally the Border Fleet would begin with threats and posturing, but they were all still too shocked to respond, even a full thirty seconds after Max had greeted them.
Eventually, a hesitant voice responded to Max's greeting. [My apologies, Commander, it seems that the appearance of your unique command Mecha has taken our Fleet by surprise, and the Admiral has requested a few minutes to confer with his counterparts before we begin.]
Max couldn't see any sign of transmissions from the Mecha on the ground, but he chose not to call the man out and instead gave him a few moments to collect himself while the Mercenaries watching from a distant orbit celebrated.
If the Border Fleet couldn't make the Reavers back down, it was a good sign that they had made the right call by joining the Trade Group, and it would bring many more ships in the region to their cause.
Finally, the Admiral, in a gilded Reaver Pattern Cygnus built Mecha, chose to join the conversation.
[It seems that there has been a misunderstanding between the National Command and the Tarith Reavers. Please, do tell me which families are part of this trade group?] The Admiral asked.
[All of them. The entire Reaver Nation has signed onto the trade group, and they are working together on technological advancements that will be made available to all members as soon as they are properly tested.] Max replied, then waited as the radio silence dragged on again.
This time, there were signals back and forth not only from the Mecha on the surface to the ships in orbit but from the ships back to the Border Planets.
News that every single Reaver Family was working together and that they were pulling in Mercenaries was too large for them to ignore.
After ten minutes had passed, a sigh from the Admiral opened the next transmission.
[It seems that this has become a much larger issue than we can resolve between ourselves. Would the Terminus Trading Company, on behalf of the Reavers as a whole, be willing to join us for a Border Nations summit to discuss the terms of your trade group contract?]
That might be the best news Max had heard all day.
[Of course, we will. Drawing as much of human civilization into a nonaggression pact and trade agreement is the reason that we are out here in the far reaches of the Galaxy.] He replied, giving the Admiral a military salute with Cleansing Light's sword.
There was another short pause while the Border Nations sent frantic messages to determine who would host such a meeting, with the threat of a Reaver Colony ship and Titan Class Mecha above their heads. After much wrangling, the closest planet was ganged up on by the others and was designated as the site of the meeting purely due to location.
They didn't even have a ship in this patrol group, so they protested vehemently that this was not their fault nor their responsibility, but in the end, they couldn't just leave the group of Border Nations over the issue.
[Please follow us to the resort world of Mercury Seven. Over the course of the next week, all of the Border Nations will be meeting there to discuss the new developments with the Reavers and their trade group.] The Admiral informed Max, then did his best not to make it look like he was fleeing as his entourage retreated to the Lander.
Watching the six Mecha fly back up to Terminus instead of using a landing vessel was a unique sort of flex on the Border Fleet, which had access to Cygnus technology that was only a generation out of date, but who couldn't afford to get all the top of the line upgrades for every ship's defense force.
[Looks like we might not have to get the Cygnus Fleet to pressure them after all. Better do some laundry. You're going to need all your finest clothes for this one.] Nico laughed, reminding Max that he had just brought another whole round of negotiations upon himself unless he could find a substitute.
[Contact Rae 5. Get us a negotiation team. We can sit pretty above their heads while the professionals deal with this.] Max suggested.
[I thought you might say that. I'm on it.]
Max docked his Mecha in the hangar and did a double-check of all systems before he left. They hadn't seen any violence, but it was a one-of-a-kind, experimental Mecha design, so it was worth it to make sure that everything was good every time that he moved it.
Nico met him at the foot of the Mecha as soon as he departed, already finished with her own system diagnostics for Shattered Pride.
"Good news. The Staff on Rae 5 has a whole delegation ready for us since we've gathered the Border Nations all in one spot. They have a team from the Reavers, as well as a Cygnus Royal negotiation team coming to do the actual dirty work, and all we have to do is sit here and look pretty. Maybe shoot a few stupid people for effect."
"You added that last part yourself, didn't you?"
"A girl can dream. But speaking of dreams, you've got a birthday coming up soon. What sort of present do you want?"
