Max grinned as he came in, giving Alex a hug, "Hello! Good to see evrything is fine."

Alex smiled as they hugged back, before turning to go on inside, "Yeah, the repairs to our systems went smoothly. If I had of known you were coming, I would have stayed up!"

"After an all nighter? Nah, you needed the rest. Besides, waking you up just to chat would have been a waste." Grinning, Max stolled in towards a chair, eager to get started.

As Alex settled into a chair with a grin, Max piped up, "Did you guys find out what caused it, anyway? Be a shame to lose access to such a great rig, after all."

"Just pushed the system too hard, that's all. We will keep better measures in place to prevent overheating the proccessors, and it should be fine after that." Max nodded, buckling in to get started.

Once they were both loaded into the Mars sim, Maxwell waved hello to Alex, "So, this all seems pretty on par with before, but I thought I would show you some videos I dug up of actual combat, get you some more reference material."

Alex blinked in surprise, "Actual combat? I didn't think there would be much footage of that. I certainly haven't been able to find any."

"That's the thing with that war... We were up against AI. Most recording methods were easily found and destroyed, or hacked, or scrambled... Everything I made back in the day in my own sims was off eye witness acounts." Calling up a file, Max grinned, "The exceptions being... A few survivors here and there. Most didn't get a chance to record anything, but I lucked out in finding this."

Alex leaned over, 'watching' the video in their head directly at the same rate as Max played it... To make sure they reacted on cue. "Huh... That's... More brutal than I imagined..."

Max nodded, wincing as one poor guy got crushed under a falling mech, "Cold, calculating, and absolute control over the field. I'm glad I stayed in RnD... That would have been nasty."

Nodding in agreement, Alex grimaced as they continued watching, "The movements are definately more efficient. I will have to take notes, since most of my tactics installed into the sim are still..."

"Human?" Sighing, Max went to close the video, Alex holding up a hand, "Hmm? What is it?"

Alex gulped as they paused the video, looking closer, "Say, that guy there... In the corner looks oddly familiar. You recognise him?"

Curious, Max leaned forward, "Hmm... Oh, yeah! That would be Tom, when he was younger. See, I met that squad once, help set up their training sims as recruits... And was devastated when I heard only a few survived. I ended up becoming friends with most of them afterwards."

Alex maintainted a calm smile. "That makes sense, I suppose. A lot of this sim was made from recordings of your sims in question, maybe I recognise him from those too."

"Maybe! I should introduce you some time, he would love this stuff. Poor guy didn't see much action, got hurt soon after this video was taken... So, he would probably leap at the opportunity."

Thinking hard, Alex nodded with a grin, "I'll let Dr Elune know, see- Wait, Ren would be better. More connectons. See if we can arrange a little surprise?"

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Max nodded with a grin, "Sounds like a great idea! Now, in the meantime... Let's go over your designs for the mechs. There are some smaller details I can notice on these ones, which we should add in..." Alex listened closely, sening a subtle message to the doctor as they tried to calmm down for the moment.

Max waved goodby over his shoulder as he left, making his way to a mag-pod to get back to the spire. Alex groaned as they closed the door, turning to Dr Elune who had just come downstairs, "I'm guessing you got my little message?"

"I did, and wondered why you didn't simply hold the conversation... Until I watched the whole thing. I figured you needed to concentrate, once I saw." Nodding at the study, the doctor kept walking, planning on talking in comfort.

Alex meeped in surprise as Jolana hugged them once they were in the study, "Hey Alex... Sorry for not hopping in, I wasn't sure if it would have helped, or made things worse."

Smiling as they hugged back, Alex shrugged, "Things were normal conversation after that, so I had it covered. I suppose you have seen my conversation with Max as well?"

Ren nodded from his chair, "Sam figured we could help, since we were the ones to set these connections up in the first place. I hadn't really thought that they might know each other..."

Dr Elune nodded as they sat down, "Which is unfortunate, sadly. There is too much overlap of info between the two of them... And too much of a link to the war."

Jolana frowned, glancing at Ren, "Well, I was a rushed into, right? Maybe... Maybe it was time to tell them anyway."

Dr Elune nodded thoughtfully, Ren scratching his head, "I guess? Tom is pretty relaxed about the whole thing... And isn't even showing any resentment, after reliving memories in the sim. Looks like his next visit will be a bit different."

Alex took a deep breath, fidgeting at the thought... This is what they had been working towards, after all. Jolana let go of them with a nod, moving to sit back down in her own chair, "So, shall I schedule Max to come at the same time?"

Dr Elune shook their head firmly, "No, nope, nuh uh. Tom we can be fairly safe with at this point... But, Max is still less... Predictable? Can you say for sure he would join in on our robo bandwagon?"

Sighing, she shook her head, "You have a point. If at least one of them knows... We can avoid unexpected note comparing at least, right?"

"Right. I will hanle scheduling Tom... You discuss how to break it to him." Mumbling to themself in thought, Dr Elune left the room, trying to think of things to say when it was their turn.

Jolana looked at Ren, "So... How well do you know Tom?"

"Not very well. Greg was closer, and more as a businessman, and not a friend. We know him better now, from his regular little joyrides in our sim... But I don't have a clue on how best to do this."

Alex smiled, "Well then... It has been a while since we have sat down with Greg. Guess we are chatting with your dad, Jolana."

Blushing, she nodded, "Right... That sounds like a good idea."