271 271 Clearing Customs
“If you will show me to your Commander, I am ready to begin the inspection.” The boarding action leader informed them.
“I am the leader. Anything you need, just ask and I will do what I can to make your visit easy.” Max informed him.
“First up, let’s see the two cargo bays. I see that one is stored in a vacuum and without artificial gravity?” The investigator asked.
“Yes, the crystal nanotubes. It is the lowest damage storage method. The ship’s mass provides enough natural gravity that they don’t float around the room.” Max replied simply.
“Fine, take us there first.” The boarding action leader motioned for his men to follow them into the hallway, then almost tripped over his feet when he saw the two Comor Pattern Corvettes standing at attention outside the door.
“Are those…” He muttered.
“Legally acquired before the alliance with Kepler was formalized into membership. We have documentation if you need it.” Nico stated in her best businesslike tone.
Literally, she had a setting for it in her voice box.
“That isn’t our primary business here today, since I assume you are not intending to trade them?” The leader asked.
“Zero percent chance of that.” Max agreed.
“Good, then we will verify your combat capabilities once we search the cargo.”
It wasn’t too far to walk, since the cargo holds they used were in the same quadrant of the ship as the patrol Cutter, but they couldn’t move too fast, as the team wanted to look into random rooms as they went.
“Pretty empty in here.” One of them pointed out.
“Spacious though. The ship was made for a quarter million large people, we only have a few thousand at the moment, since we don’t have refugees or a generational population yet.” Max clarified.
“No refugees is a good thing, saves on paperwork. Is this the correct bay?” The investigation leader asked.
Max nodded and led them into the viewing bay, where they could look through the armored glass window into the storage bay. The natural gravity of the ship was toward the far wall, not the floor as it was oriented, but that made the pile clearly visible from their position.
The team scanned the load, then ran it through their ship’s computer to verify the estimate of their tools. Once that was done they gave their boss a thumbs up and he left the room, motioning for Max to lead him to the next cargo bay.
It was only one bay over, and Max led them in to check the piles of metal and assorted other materials. This one would take a fair bit longer, so the investigator prepared for the next part of their search.
Their patrol ship had already scanned the vessel, finding a ship in one bay, which they identified as a Ghost Ship, of no particular concern to them, but the scans also found a pair of Cutters and a number of Mecha toward the rear of the ship.
“Where did your team acquire the cutters in the rear bays?” He asked, to save time doing his report.
“Just outside Tapani space, about three days at warp two,” Max informed him. That was well outside Kepler territory, so the team wasn’t concerned. Salvage rights between nations were always a contentious issue, so most nations didn’t argue about them unless it was one of their own military vessels.
“And the Mecha in the adjacent bays?” That would be the First Battalion, the only one whose Mecha wasn’t inside the shielded storage of the Dutchman when off duty.
“Mostly from Comor, designed prior to them officially joining the Kepler Empire,” Max replied.
Some people got System Functions relating to telling when others were lying, so half-truths were the best way to respond. The Mecha were indeed designed before Comor joined with the Kepler Empire, but they weren’t built until afterward.
“All done boss. It checks against their declaration.” The team reported, and the leader began to smile.
“I love when things go smoothly. Show me your Mecha force and we can finish up here.” The investigator announced, and Max called for a cart. It was nearly four kilometers to the rear cargo bays where his Battalion was staying, and he had no intention of walking when they could drive.
The carts were the flatbed equipment decks that were used to hold parts during Mecha maintenance, the same ones he had set the arm weapons from the X137 on way back when it was undergoing the very first round of adjustments.
Everyone hopped on the deck, while a red-robed and hooded Technician with a silver face mask on drove them back to the Mecha bays. Their Tech Adept Harness was drawing a lot of interest from the Kepler forces, which hadn’t seen anything like it before. It gave them the impression that this team had been much further afield than most that they encountered, even if their gear had started out in Comor, at some unknown point in time.
Nico arranged for the Pilots to move the Mecha around so that they looked more informal and less disciplined, changing some of the postures in the storage racks, and moving the ones on duty into clusters as if their Pilots had been chatting with the cockpits open just before the investigators arrived.
Unlike the others, she could send a signal without speaking out loud into a radio, which would alert the border patrol team.
“Welcome to the Terminus Trading Company’s Debt Enforcement and Humanitarian Aid Department,” Max announced as they entered the room, and the border guards gasped in shock.
Four Super Heavy Mecha, One Hundred and fifty Heavy Mecha, and at least as many Corvette Class units were arrayed in the hangar, a formidable fighting force that could certainly enforce any debt that they might have been owed.
“That is truly impressive.” The team leader sighed, looking longingly at the Super Heavy Mecha.
“I doubt they are comparable to anything currently aboard a border patrol ship, but they have been good to us in the past. Even against the Klem, they stood their ground.” Nico told him proudly.
That was, a fine bit of doublespeak, Max thought. She was right, they weren’t comparable to anything on the patrol ship. They would mop the floor with the defense force of the border patrol. But the team took it as the Mercenary Mecha being obsolete technology, and only gave it a few longing glances before turning to leave the room.
“That’s enough for us. Here is your certificate of import. Don’t lose that code, you will need it for your customer. If you could give us a ride back, we would appreciate it.” The team leader informed Max with a smile.
That went much more smoothly than he had expected, and the investigation team didn’t show any signs or thoughts about betraying the Empire, so they weren’t in on whatever insanity Imperial Command had reported Sector Governance to be up to.