[You know that it is considered polite to give more than one hour''s notice that you n to host a formal party for four thousand on someone else''s ship, right?] Celia''s Love broadcast when they got the news.


    [You have a hundred thousand and some people on that Destroyer. I''m sure you have enough staff to host a simple party. We will be over in a half hour with the Rum.] Nico replied.


    [You know, this is why they call you the evil one, right?]


    Nicoughed at the clearly frustrated text message.


    [This time it was Commander Max''s idea. But I should let you get to work preparing a room for the event. See you soon.]


    Maxughed as he watched the two of them argue over a situation that he caused, but there really wasn''t a way around it. His ship wasn''t big enough, and a party was only good manners after a sessful test.


    And this one had been a resounding sess that had left all the gathered species excited about the future and the possible applications of the weapon on their existing ships if the humans agreed to share it with everyone and not just their closest allies.


    Humans were known to be as generous as they were violent, though. So the visitors had high hopes that they wouldn''t be forgotten when it came time to distribute the ns for thepleted weapons.


    The number of shuttles that wereing for the Celia''s Love''s limited number of docking ports almost made Max feel sorry for the Fleet Admiral Rashad, but he knew that the Noble Cygnus Officer was actually revelling in the chance to show off for so many alien dignitaries at once.


    If there was one thing that Cygnus Nobles loved, it was the trappings of Nobility.


    It helped that Max could read his mind and sense the pride as he got to show off his ship and the training of his impably dressed formal reception staff for all of these new people as heworked and made new connections among various alien dignitaries.


    Max waited until almost all the dignitaries were there to join the crowd, as he had such a wide variety of them aboard his own ship that it would take ages to introduce everyone and get them settled into the party.


    Many of the species gathered from the vessels that hade to watch also hadn''t seen a human up close before, and the smiling was freaking a lot of them out, as they associated it with a predator''s show of teeth.


    "Everyone, please wee the human delegation to the event." Admiral Rashad announced as the first few Commanders came out.


    It was a big spectacle, but when the Giant, the Valkia, and then the Innu Envoys came out, the crowd was much more excited. They had never seen any of these species before, so the fact that the humans had brought them to meet the dignitaries of this region of space meant that they must be extremely important people.


    Max supposed that they were, he had just gotten too used to having top level political dignitaries on his ship and had overlooked just how far up the Alliance''s food chain they really were.


    The music was loud, and the staff had set the mood lighting to a nightclub feel, so when the spotlight shone down on the research teaming in the door, they were the highlight of the entire party.


    "Let us wee the real stars of today''s show. The research team that developed the weapons system that was used in today''s test. Thank you all and wee to Celia''s Love." Admiral Rashad greeted them to a standing ovation from the crowd.


    "You are too kind. It''s still a prototype, and this was the first test firing, but we have high hopes that we can make good use of it in the future." Nico addressed the crowd.


    The dignitaries pushed forward, and the Innu researchers got extremely excited to have new people to talk to about their work.


    Max chuckled at the scene, while Commander Yuri gave him a questioning look, which was actually just a tilt of the exoskeletal Koleska''s head, but easily identifiable to the humans.


    "They have no idea what they just volunteered themselves for. The Innu will dly borate on their research for upwards of ten hours at a time if they are not stopped, and these dignitaries don''t have the social experience to deal with the species." Max exined for the benefit of his friend.


    "Should we warn them?" Yuri asked.


    "No, after an hour I will call off the Innu to have them do a round of special shots and that will distract them all from their ongoing monologue. If they don''t experience it firsthand, these species will never learn what it is to be truly excited about your work."


    Yuri quickly realized that Max wasn''t joking. Fully Caffeinated, the Innu were a force of nature that pulled in everyone around them, and they were even pulling in uninvolved dignitaries to use as props for the demonstration of the theories behind their research.


    Surprisingly, many of the dignitaries found an outlet. There was a species that had simr sensory tentacles to the Innu among the dignitaries, and they sacrificed the members of their delegation to the Innu in an attempt to change the topic.


    That freed them up while the two species discussed biology, which was somewhat less interesting to the Innu than technological developments, and it calmed them down a little bit.


    "They seem more adept at deflection than expected." Yuri noted.


    "We still have people to rescue, though. I will go gather the research team and pull them away from the dignitaries for a while so that the politicians can socialize." Max shrugged.


    "Somehow that sounds even worse than a hyper Innu. I don''t suppose that I cane with you." The Koleska Commander asked longingly.


    "Of course. We''re going to be retreating back to the Cutter to analyze the data, and while that might be boring for you, you are wee to join us."