After a short flight, Major Miller deposited Max and Nico near a large airlock on the colony ship. Using the articulated arms on the Tech Adept Harness, Nico secured herself and put power to the touch panel beside the entrance.

It glowed a light blue before the airlock softly slid open, showing a well-preserved interior twelve meters in height. That was a tight fit for the Crusader Class chassis, but it could fit, so Major Miller followed them in while slightly crouching to give himself a bit more headroom.

The airlock itself, and then the hallway beyond it showed signs of much use, but not much age degradation, and the atmosphere had been evacuated, either by intent or because of a breach somewhere else in this zone.

"If nobody else is going to mention it, I will. The touch pads are all three meters up the door frames." Major Miller pointed out as Nico unlocked another one with a touch of the arms on the Tech Adept Harness.

"At least there isn't any gravity plating active or that could be a real pain for the other teams." Max agreed.

Nico snorted in amusement, but only her thoughts gave away her opinion on the likeliness of the other teams actually powering up and unlocking the doors instead of just using the Mecha to force them.

[This is very strange, Colonel. We have been patrolling the exterior, and there are no signs of actual breaches in the hull, only surface damage. Even the area where the Pirates were working isn't breached.] Major Petrova, the leader of Max's Charlie Company reported.

[How is the interior condition in your zone?] Max asked.

[Interior Condition? None of us have managed to get inside yet. Short of blasting the doors apart, I don't think we actually could. As I said, the hull is intact. How did you get in?] Petrova responded.

[Major Nico powered up the door panel and hacked it. The door swung open without any issues.] Max responded.

[You heard that, Technician teams. This is your time to shine.] Petrova sighed.

For a regular technician, hacking an alien door security system wasn't an easy matter. It was only Nico who could actually get them to function for her.

"Max, we found something. I think it is a laboratory." Nico reported, drawing Max's attention to where she was standing.

The wall had windows all around, and a collection of instruments and screens inside, untouched by time.

"Good call. How is the condition inside?" he asked.

"Purged of atmosphere, but otherwise it looks intact," Nico informed him.

Max checked the area to see if there were other similar rooms around, but they all seemed to have the same curved organic walls, with unknown markings on them that seemed somewhat familiar to Max, a vague memory of his past life that he couldn't quite place.

Then he noticed that all the doors that they had passed through were closed again. That shouldn't surprise Max, it was standard that doors on a spaceship had some sort of emergency system that kept them closed in the case of power loss, keeping the crew safe, but it still felt strange like they weren't alone here.

"Pop the door and let's see what is inside. When you get a chance, power up the electronics and see what we can learn." Max ordered.

[All Units, do not damage the ship any further. If you can't hack in, wait on my orders outside. I believe we may have found an interior lab area that will fulfill the mission objectives.] Max directed the rest of the First Battalion.

While Nico worked at the door which lit up red, indicating to Max that it was locked and not just closed, Max examined the next door in the row. Reaching up, he touched the screen by the door to clear the light layer of dust so he could read the writing, or at least record it for their records.

The screen lit up green when his suit-encased hand touched it, and the door, previously flush with the wall, swung into the wall, leaving a five-meter-tall entrance.

"Hey Nico, did you power up the whole hallway?" Max called, alarmed.

"Maybe? I don't know what is on what circuit, but I've got this panel powered up." She confirmed.

"Major Miller, keep an arm in this door so it doesn't lock me inside. I've noticed that they are closing on a timer. I want to see inside this room." Max ordered.

The room was almost completely empty, which was unusual on a Colony ship, where every square meter was precious storage for their next homeworld.

There were still a few neatly stacked boxes in one corner though, and once Major Miller was in place, Max stepped over his arm and went to examine them.

"I have some sort of technological device in a case. The case appears to be Gold plated, perhaps for corrosion resistance. Case contains, one device, six rolls of cloth, and some unidentified liquid." The red markings on the top seem somehow familiar. I suspect that these are First Aid Kits. Recovering one for future study." Max reported for his mission recording, narrating his actions as he removed the storage bag from the compartment on his Mobile Suit and placed one of the suspected First Aid kits inside.

"We are in Colonel," Nico reported happily as the door she was working on finally opened to her hacking skills.

As soon as she was in, Nico blocked the door with one mechanical arm, then turned to the screen by the door and started to work, bringing the whole room to life in a few seconds.

"How is your suit's power capacity?" Max asked, watching her work.

"All good, I am using my internal generator for this. The draw is remarkably low." She reported, then began tapping happily at the keyboard, changing the screen in front of her from a plain design to a series of data sets.

"You can read that?" Major Miller asked, shocked that she was messing with the alien technology.

"I don't have to, my System Function translates and tells me what key to press. The ship is shut down, but there are still fairly significant power reserves if we want to bring the lights online and let the others inside. I don't have any more data on the survivors or supplies yet, but give me ten minutes to work through all this technical data to find it." Nico reported.

Max was about to answer when an emergency message flashed to his wrist device, relayed by the Communications system of the Dutchman.

[Commander Terminus,

It is with great regret that I have to report that the recent raid on the facility has resulted in a total loss of relevant data for your project. Sector Command apologizes for the inconvenience and informs you that they will be meeting with Abraham Kepler in the Tapani System on schedule to obtain their copy of the data. Compensation will be made for the delays.

With Apologies,

Researcher Chen Lu, Comor technology development and entertainment division]

"What the hell is that all about? We aren't aboard the Abraham Kepler anymore, and Uncle Lu knows that." Max muttered, then read the message again.

The Lab had been raided, and the Mecha research data was destroyed, so Sector Command was looking for Abraham Kepler to get their hands on the real thing, or perhaps the research team, which had all conveniently been transferred out of the lab, leaving nobody with any knowledge of the project to be interrogated.

[General Yaakov, did you see this?] Max asked, not elaborating.

[Confirmed Colonel. Standby while I contact Imperial Command.] The General responded grimly.

Max didn't see any way that the message from Uncle Lu was not a warning that the Rebels were hunting them and the research team, but at least it looked like they didn't know that they had changed identities yet.

Max waited while Nico examined the ship's systems, and General Yaakov tried to contact Imperial Command for a few minutes before an update finally came from Inquisitor Ming, who Max wasn't expecting to be in the loop so fast.

[Sector Command is spreading the news that Abraham Kepler and her crew have gone rogue and defected to Tapani. The propaganda is everywhere in the sector and a compliance fleet from the sector Inquisitors is on its way with a battle fleet to apprehend them.

Imperial Inquisition is aware of the situation and assures me that Abraham Kepler isn't headed for the Tapani Sector. They only had one other message before they cut the link though. "Upgrade Security by one rank". I wasn't made fully aware of your situation, where does that bring your security?] The Inquisitor General told them.

[We were already at Vermillion. All units, as of now, this mission has gone dark. No communications with Kepler, her allies, or any other nation are to be made without double confirmation. Complete your exploration of the colony vessel and we will proceed on mission.] General Yaakov ordered.