Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

What an interesting beverage. I don't believe that I have seen a portion size of this volume before." One of the representatives commented before tilting his head back and downing the shot of Rum.

He immediately began to cough and wheeze, then took a sip of the juice to soothe his throat.

"I see now. It's burning that isn't burning. The juice does help. The sensation that it gives is unusual as well. It is a bit like my brain has gone foggy, and the world is a bit more vague than usual."

"That is the effect of the alcohol. It gets stronger with increased consumption, and your species has had no time to develop a tolerance for it, so be mindful of your portion sizes." Nico warned them.

The leader of the group actually made a physical note of it on a piece of paper once she finished speaking. They were definitely taking this meeting much more seriously than either Max or Nico were. "In that case, I will try the food known as Pie before my senses are dulled.

Annabelle quietly snuck into the large open space that served as the meeting room and headed for the Replicator, with the thought of sneaking a round of pies on her mind. She could just hit the replicate last item button and be on her way before anyone noticed.

At least, that was what she thought before she remembered that Max could read her mind.

He looked up at her with a smirk on his face, and she held up her homework tablet for him to check. They were all correct this time, so she had finished her work for the moment.

"Alright, grab a round of pies for your snack and go sit in the kitchen to eat them. I will let you off easy today." He agreed, and the little Innu grabbed her snack as quickly as physically possible so that he couldn't change his mind.

"Your child is adorable. I must say, though, I would have expected a different appearance." The leader of the Blarg contingent commented, then sighed with happiness as he took the first bite of strawberry rhubarb pie.

"She's not our biological child, of course. We just borrowed her for an educational trip away from home for the week. I take it the pastry is to your liking?" Nico replied.

"Oh, very much so. We don't have anything like this on our replicator menus. We have many sweet food products, but the way that this has been combined is divine. I knew that coming to speak to a curious species would be the right call once it was established that you were not enemies."

A member of their group with a pin that said "Analyst" spoke up next, and Max could tell that it was actually a scheduled event. Once the leader had spoken and expressed goodwill to the hosts, it was his turn to speak, according to their custom.

"We received the data from you about the hazardous biomatter, and I have run the scans through our system's logs. Our ships haven't seen anything, but the patrol fleet from the planet did make a note of it. These are the coordinates where they found the biomass moving through empty space. They didn't interfere, as it was not on a collision course for any of our assets, but the logs are detailed enough that they recorded the biological signature."

Max resisted the urge to facepalm at that comment. They had seen an unidentified alien biomass that could survive in space, made a note of its trajectory, and then didn't tell anyone until now. Presumably, that was because nobody had asked them directly about it before, and they hadn't been curious about where it was going, where it came from or what exactly it was that could survive the void.

"What does your Company specialize in, Commander?" The leader of the Blarg group asked once he got through with the last of the pie samples in front of him.

"We have a variety of patents actually, some minor, like tools and furniture, others more intricate, like this ship and all the systems aboard it, as well as a Terraforming Array that can reconstruct a planet in a much more cost-efficient manner than previous models on the market," Max explained.

"When you say all systems, does that include the weapons systems aboard this vessel? For a pleasure yacht, it is quite well-armed and shielded." The leader asked.

"Don't be fooled by appearances. It is designed to mimic a corporate or pleasure yacht, but it is actually a research vessel for missions which would become more difficult if the researchers attracted undue attention." Nico told him with a smile.

"So it is designed for researching potentially dangerous or hostile situations? We have vessels like that as well, but we had never thought to make them look like regular vessels. They are optimized for function, not for a stealthy form."

Max nodded. "That is understandable. Most species do not disguise their research vessels, but our missions often involve researching other sentient species, so an unobtrusive presence goes a long way to ensuring that we don't bias the data samples by our presence."

Nico's thoughts showed her amusement at that statement, and even Annabelle, who was eating in the next room, was hiding her amusement at the level of doublespeak involved in his comment.

It was completely lost on their guests, though, and Max would be happy to have this meeting ended so that they could get going again and search for more spots where the Klem pods might have originated.

"Were there any other suspicious vessels in the region over the past few months? I will admit that when you approached us here, my first thought was that you were bandits or Pirates and intending to rob us." Max asked.

"There were three. Two were investigated and determined to be mundane freighters of unusual origin designs, and one was a pleasure yacht. Wait, never mind, the last one on the list is you."

"If I can get the data on the trajectories and designations of the freighters, it would be of immense help in our investigation, as they might have come into contact with the source of the issue." Max requested.

"Of course, I will have it sent over immediately. If that concludes our business, I will file a formal request to have the food known as Pie added to our replicators in the near future. The Rum appears to be a bit too extreme for our species, as one standardized serving has caused intoxication among the crew members." The leader noted.

"It has been a pleasure meeting you. I am certain that there won't be any issues on our end getting the replicator data for Pie added to your systems."