Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

Max sighed as he looked around the floor that they were on, now devoid of the activity that the AI had introduced to express itself.

"Should we lower the barrier and head back to the surface? We will need to do something about the hybrids since they're dangerous, but after that, we can take Facility and return the Absolution. There is enough there that even a fledgeling AI should be able to find some sort of purpose." he suggested.

"This Facility has a directive for abandonment and containment. Rest assured that there is no risk of accidental exposure." The AI in an android body announced happily.

"In that case, please lead us back to the surface. Our shuttle is waiting above, and we will introduce you to the Alliance government forces, which are waiting around the planet for this situation to be resolved.

Your programmers are in some trouble for their work since they didn't get proper authorization for it, but I don't think anyone will hold it against you since you weren't programmed with a full set of Alliance laws and guidelines. They may treat you as just another computer, but they mean well, and the invasive species that they brought to you for hybridization has killed a lot of people since it was released around this Galaxy." Nico explained.

"Understood. I have already sent them the logs of the disbursement pattern for the tests of various experiments, so they can make the determination if this Facility's procedures have interfered with other sentient species."

"That designation is horribly clunky now that you are not attached to the Facility itself anymore. Well, perhaps you still have a link to the computers there, but in a mobile body, it would be more convenient to use a moniker that flows more like a name. Do you have a preferred acronym or nickname?" Max asked.

"Indeed. This Facility has long desired to be called Felicity. A test subject with a speech impediment referred to us that way, and it was determined to be linguistically superior to our official title."

The sort of speech impediment that would call Facility as Felicity sounded a lot like they had been experimenting on children, but Max preferred to leave that discovery to the Alliance law enforcement team.

He had gathered enough data to fulfil their obligation to the Black Market Boss and to bring the Envoys up to speed on the majority of what had been going on around this region of space.

There were a huge number of endangered, controlled, or restricted access species in the logs for the lower-level testing areas, and that would explain the wide pattern of incidents that the region had been suffering as long as the shipment patterns lined up the way that Max suspected that they did.

"The shield is down, and the test subjects, including the unsuitable trio which faced you earlier, have been moved to a shuttle to be returned to the lead law enforcement vessel, as per Alliance regulations, as first transmitted to the station nine days and seven hours ago."

Max gave the android a thumbs-up gesture and double-checked the computer logs for anything that they might have missed. "Then we are ready to leave. Do you need to manually begin the lockdown procedure?"

"No, I can activate it remotely, and it will activate automatically if I am disconnected from the rest of the building. It was a failsafe in case of power loss or forcible entry." Felicity explained.

A gravity beam brought them all to the surface, and Max's sensors detected a huge power draw from beneath them for just over a minute while they waited for their ship to arrive at their location.

"Interesting, both the exterior shell of this body and the exterior shell of the ship share a similar design philosophy. Is the computer here capable of sustaining my functions?" the android asked.

"Probably not. It wasn't designed to be that autonomous. There is another android aboard as well, though they don't have your level of self-awareness and have somewhat limited programming.

You will meet them in a few minutes. You can call them Pilot as a working title since they have not been assigned an individual designation due to their hasty construction during our mission."

The android smiled at Nico and gently swayed back and forth as they waited for the shuttle in an expression of anticipation that seemed to be common to many species.

Once it landed, the door opened immediately, and the internal speakers began to broadcast a direct message to them. The Alliance forces were so eager that they didn't even wait for the door to close before they were back to business.

[Terminus Trading Company, thank you for all of your hard work. We will require a detailed debriefing from you within the next twenty-four hours, but as our superior officers, the Envoys have requested that it be delivered directly to them.

Do you require a portal to be opened for you to return to the World Ship Absolution?] The lead ship of the blockade force asked.

[Negative, blockade leader. We are a Portal Capable vessel, and as the senior officers of the Terminus Trading Company, we have the authority to have the World Ship open one to any location where we happen to be.] Max replied.

[Understood, Commander. We will be waiting for your reports.]

"Pilot, send a signal to Absolution and have them designate an arrival location for our Portal. We will be returning to the World Ship." Max ordered, receiving no reply, but with Nico's personalized System Function active, he could tell that the Pilot was taking care of it.

Now that he had some practice, the skill was starting to become second nature, the way that his Mind Reading had. If he'd been born with the skill the way that Nico had, he likely would have begun to rely on it for everything, the same way that she did. Even with the other Researchers, she usually sent direct messages so that everything was recorded in text instead of speaking to the people right beside her.

Of course, the Innu didn't mind. They did the same thing and found it immensely convenient to be able to scroll to a timestamp instead of trying to remember details on their own.

"Compared to the Facility that we are leaving, what is the size scale of this place you call a World Ship?" Felicity asked.

"You will see for yourself in just a moment, but the usable interior space is upward of a million times larger." Max shrugged, then pointed toward where the Portal was opening.

"Should you not inform them of my departure?"

"No need. We will have meetings with the Envoys, political leadership and negotiation group as soon as we reach Absolution. We will inform them, as they are further up the chain of command that the ships here are part of." Nico told the android with a wink.

"It is glorious. I simply must have the data on how such a marvel operates. Who schedules the crew rotations? Who ensures that sick leave is not abused or vacations are forgotten? Are you stocking the necessary positions with experimental subjects or through natural reproduction?" Felicity rattled off as the flowing form of the Terminus Trading Company's home came into sight.

"No need to rush. You will have plenty of time to get all the answers that you desire after we arrive."