455 455 Joyride
Nico escorted everyone to the front of the ship, where there was a crew compartment with windows so that the infantry could see what was going on as they deployed instead of sitting in the dark waiting to see what was happening.
“These will be our seats for today’s voyage. Our crew has already requested for a navigator from the Black Wolves to join them so that we can safely navigate a path around this star system and surrounding areas.
Please buckle yourselves in. The gravity control is quite good inside the ship, but we don’t need any incidents should the unforeseen occur.”
The Mercenaries chuckled at Nico’s phrasing, as common sense dictated that you would get a fair bit of feedback from maneuvering as well as the Warp Transition. Their ships were even more dated than the Abraham Kepler, where Max and Nico had started their careers, and that ship had enough of a lurch that the crew just accepted that a large portion of them was going to feel nauseous every single time they went to warp.
“I will bring up navigational data on the board in case the view out the window gets confusing. The distortion at higher warp speeds can make the world outside the bubble look completely foreign. If you wish to confirm our routes and speed, I am certain that your vessels will have their own logs of our route when we return, so you don’t need to just take our word for it.” Nico added.
Most merchants would be at least a bit offended if you questioned the integrity of their demonstrations, but this was no simple purchase. The Death Wind Territory had been under embargo for over a thousand years, and every time they attempted to create a new shipyard or other military manufacturing facilities, they were viciously attacked by the border nations to keep them deprived of the might to fight back.
That meant that most of these companies had never even had the chance to obtain a new ship. They weren’t pirates who would raid a vessel to claim as their own, and the missions that they took weren’t high enough profile that any client would risk the retaliation of a dozen small nations to pay with prohibited goods.
At least not prohibited goods as high profile as a new military space vessel.
The Reavers were the first in a Millennia that were brave enough to even try, and not only were they offering new ships, but also state-of-the-art Mecha, in medium and Heavy categories, not just the Line Mecha that most Mercenary companies relied upon.
Big groups like the Black Wolves or Exterminators would have dozens or even a hundred Heavy Mecha, salvaged from battlefields or covertly purchased from more distant customers, but that put them in a completely different category than the single-ship operators.
[Departing Hangar in 5 seconds.] The pilot of the Cutter announced, then gently guided the ship out of Terminus’s enclosure and out into space.
That alone was enough to impress a lot of the Captains. Smooth maneuvering in tight quarters was a sign of precision skills and engineering, and they hadn’t even felt the ship move, only watched the bay disappear around them as it left the mothership.
[Black Wolves Navigator reports that the route is ready for autopilot. Engaging Warp Drives as soon as we are at a safe distance.]
pAn,D a-n0ve1,c-o-m The ship’s thrusters took them well away from the station and into open space that was designated for ships going to warp so that the field creation and energy surges wouldn’t affect the station or the defense systems that had been set up to defend the Mercenary Company’s base.
The hull of the Cutter shook gently as the Warp Drives engaged, and the world distorted outside of the window before turning into streaks of light as the ship raced up to maximum speed, showing off for their customers.
“Was that a Warp Translation? It was, wasn’t it? That is incredible. I didn’t know it was even possible to shift so smoothly.” Commander Arnold had lost all sense of decorum once the ship was underway, purely shocked by the experience.
“Why is my data feed getting distorted? Is there something strange about the Warp Field that interferes with communications?” One of the other Captains asked, looking at the messages his crew had sent.
“We are currently heading away from your vessels at Warp 10.5, and the subspace communications that your ships are using only travel between warp six and warp eight. The distortion is caused by the speed differential.
But the high-speed vessels do come with upgraded communications so that you can keep in touch with others as you wish, though those without the new technology will still have trouble contacting you when the vessel is traveling away from them.” Max explained.
They completed the turning point of the demonstration, on the far side of a nearby star, and began heading back, which filled everyone’s devices with a flood of notifications as they caught up to the messages that had been sent to them while they were underway.
Commander Arnold’s smile was getting bigger with every word that Max spoke. “I hadn’t even considered the implications of that sort of speed. This means that if we run an embargo line, we will arrive before the messages warning the reinforcements of our impending arrival. That is a huge advantage when passing through hostile territories. At least for now.”
Before long, they had dropped out of Warp and were gliding back into the hangar bay of Terminus, ready to continue the negotiations.
“Please follow me out of the vessel, and we can have a bite of lunch before we continue the meetings,” Nico informed the crowd.
“Miss, we just landed.” One of the Captains pointed out.
“Oh, not a worry. The cargo bay shielding on Terminus has a hull temperature normalization feature. You only have to turn your engines off before you reach the bay and let the gravity beam to the work, and you can exit immediately upon arrival.” Nico informed him, stunning the room into silence.