Chapter 787: Dignitaries Abound

Nico and the Minister quickly got deep into a conversation about the relative differences in training methods between humans and the Koleska. The two were somewhat similar, but the Koleska were much more hands-on learners than the humans were, so the amount of book knowledge that they gathered was limited, and instead, they practiced everything at every level of learning.

That way was actually quite compatible with the Mecha training program, where it was assumed that you would have already used the book learning programs to gather all the basic knowledge that you needed for the background to begin to learn Piloting.

The Education Ministry was a big fan of the new learning devices that Max had shown them. They didn't have any similar technology, and the prospect of being able to burn a year's worth of learning into the minds of cadets in a single session was incredibly attractive to them, even though their species didn't have the ability to disassociate themselves from the passage of time inside the simulation, so it felt like they had actually lived the whole year.

"I see that your Subcommander has met the Minister of Education. That makes things easier for us. He can be somewhat cantankerous due to the loss of life in combat that has been caused by the Arisen invasion. He takes every death personally, and while there have been great strides made in the military technology and training of our people, it has only been a few decades since our region of space has come under threat." One of the highly ranked Koleska who hadn't been introduced yet greeted Max.

"I present to you the Minister of Defence, Nabokov. Minister Nabokov, meet Commander Keres Max." The butler informed them.

"Minister, it is a pleasure to meet you. I must say that if you only began your military development a few decades ago, you have done a wonderful job of it." Max replied.

He extended a hand for the Minister to shake, forgetting that it wasn't a Koleska tradition for a moment.

"Ah, my fault. My people clasp hands as a form of greeting." Max explained.

"What a strange tradition. How would a greeting like that evolve?" The Defence Minister asked curiously.

"Originally, it was accompanied by a pat on the back and served a dual purpose. Clasping the dominant hand shows that neither party is holding a weapon, and the pat on the back let you subtly check for hidden weapons through the contact of your bodies. Since we are traditionally more heavily clothed than the Koleska, there are many more hiding spots among our fashion." Max explained with a polite smile.

"I see. It is like how the Wargs smile with their mouth closed to hide their teeth. A show of nonaggression. Our people evolved past that point far in the past, though at one point, it was tradition to kneel or bow in the presence of those far above your rank to make yourself look smaller than they were." The Minister responded as he quickly grasped the correlation.

"We still have that tradition between the very highest of our leaders and their subordinates. The most physically powerful humans aren't always the ones in charge, so the leaders often feel that they could be undermined by shows of physical dominance.

Those who have proven to be the least competent or who have made poor judgement calls in the recent past are the most likely to insist upon it, so the tradition is often used as a form of mockery when lesser leaders issue commands that are counter to the will of their subordinates."

The Koleska Minsters around Max looked confused at that response, and one of them, who Max had been introduced to earlier, but didn't recall the name of, asked for clarification.

"If your leaders are incompetent but popular, what happens to them? In our culture, if the subordinates can prove that they are more qualified or that the superior has made a grave error, they are given a chance to replace them for one year. If they prove themselves, then they get to keep the position and the former superior is demoted." She explained.

"That's very civilized. Human culture is a bit involved, so there are a series of different responses. At the lower levels, if they are incompetent at their job, they are removed from it entirely by their superior and are forced to retrain for another position or look for someone else who will give them a chance. In the middle levels, they are mostly elected by popular vote, so they are removed by a vote of their peers, or the population as a whole."

Max stopped there, but the Koleska was intrigued by the answer.

"And at the highest levels? Many of our planetary outposts have top leadership that has proven to be poor at making military decisions." The junior bureaucrat asked.

At the highest level, if they are deemed incompetent or to have acted against the best interests of their people, we usually just kill them. It's one of the risks of taking up the highest ranks of power. But for those who aren't military-minded, our leaders usually appoint a council of military advisors to help them make decisions and grant them a portion of their power to enforce decisions in emergency situations when there isn't time for the actual leader to be consulted before action must be taken.

In exchange for that extra power, they are granted more resources, but also greater accountability, and are held to higher standards of conduct."

"A council of advisors brought in from outside experts? That has worked well for us as well. But as they don't have any power among the Koleska, whose ranks are very rigid, some leaders have chosen to ignore their advice." The Koleska woman whispered, clearly meaning someone who was in the room with them right now.

It didn't take Max long to understand who she meant. The man in question was here with his wife and oldest son, trying to build support for his leadership among his peers since he was at risk of being challenged for his position by his subordinates, and it would be up to the other people here to determine if the challenge was valid.

It wasn't a large difference between their policy and human politicians, but the lack of ability to grant power to the lower ranks and delegate responsibilities could certainly cause them some issues.

It looked like the other Koleska Ministers who were chatting with Max and Nico were leaning toward a more proactive response already, though. Hearing that the humans, who were more versed in war, used such a similar method but with higher stakes to keep their leaders in line solidified their opinion that the Koleska way was right and that they were just too soft on their peers.

If they knew of the level of cronyism and corruption that had made its way into the human system, they likely would not respect it as much, but for now, it was enough of an assurance that they were on the right path to help them make their decisions. That was one secret that Max would keep to himself. Humans had a good reputation here, and he didn't want to spoil it early.