“Have the other two arrived?” Max asked the host who was leading them to the rooms they were assigned. Captain Catan won the game tournament betting, but Max never did ask who he was bringing as his plus one.
“Yes, Sir Max. They are waiting in the room on the right for your arrival. Would you care for refreshments, or perhaps a light lunch after your flight?” The host asked, motioning toward the room where the Captain should be waiting.
“Both I think. I don’t plan on venturing out much this afternoon.” Max decided and the host bowed before politely knocking on the door of the room.
“Captain, your esteemed guests have arrived.” He announced and then stepped away to fetch the food and drink order.
After a few seconds, Captain Catan answered the door in just a pair of fatigue pants, smiling at his commanding officers.
“Welcome, and thank you so much for offering this amazing suite up as a prize. The staff told us when we arrived that you two had chosen to share a room so that you could offer the second room to the unit.” Catan welcomed them..
There was a second person in the room, hurriedly getting dressed while Catan distracted them at the door, Max could hear the rustling of clothes, so he didn’t try to hurry in and instead stood in the hallway talking to the Commander of the Infantry portion of the Special Tactics Unit.
“It was the right thing to do. We could have picked one winner each, but it was better to let one winner and their date enjoy the luxury. You can tell Lieutenant Breckenridge she doesn’t need socks, we’re not going anywhere.” Nico informed Catan, using a formal and polite tone that was slightly different than what her voice box usually generated.
Max took s second to look into her thoughts and got a shock so major that he almost forgot the reason they were here, standing in the hallway of a resort planet’s most expensive and famous resort.
Nico had been using her System Functions to modify her Cyborg body into something entirely new. It somewhat reminded him of the Scavengers, being a nanotechnology-filled living metal body. But she wasn’t going for their consumption-optimized form, Nico was making herself nearly human again, but out of metallic alloys and with very, very different physiology.
From what he could learn from her thoughts, the System agreed that it would work, and eventually become compatible enough with humanity that her body could assimilate human genetic material to create a second generation of self-propagating superhumans.
How exactly that would work wasn’t clear, but the AI of the System was rarely wrong when it gave information with that level of certainty.
Max could see that she had been feeding the AI data from her past life though, so perhaps some of that information on Genetic Manipulation was helpful.
He had been so engrossed in her thoughts that Max almost missed the others going inside. Breckenridge had thrown on a pair of pink tights and a cream-colored sweater dress, and the mismatch of colors made Max chuckle.
It clearly wasn’t what she had planned to wear, and it was much too warm for the tropical setting, so there must be marks or love bites that she was trying to hide.
“Welcome to Comor. It looks like you’re already enjoying your stay.” Nico laughed and Breckenridge smacked her, then winced and cradled her hand.
“Non-Newtonian shell. The harder you hit it, the harder it gets. I am still working on having it maintain flexibility under impact.” Nico explained, turning the Lieutenant’s wince into a glare.
“You’ve gotten it so close to looking like real skin that I forgot,” Breckenridge complained, then sighed.
“Some things happened, you know. But we have been seeing each other every day this week.” She explained while Catan wrapped an arm around her waist.
‘Did taking her to The Pit flip a switch in her head?’ Max wondered but avoided intruding on her thoughts. He was pretty sure he was happier not knowing about her sex life, but she was well known in the unit for being a bit of a prude and perhaps a bit too attached to her brother under the auspices of having him as her lifelong rival.
As a mecha and an infantry officer, they weren’t in each other’s direct chain of command, so the upper brass wouldn’t have any issues with their relationship. Plus, they looked happy together. Very happy.
“There are drinks and snacks coming. Have you had a chance to visit the floating cities yet?” Max’s question seemed to catch them off guard and the couple just shook their head.
“Accommodations were expensive and hard to find, so we stayed at the Station until this morning. Even if you spent two months there it would hardly be enough to fully explore that place.” Catan shrugged.
He had a point, Max hadn’t had to look for a hotel room on Comor yet, all of his arrangements had been taken care of by others.
“What about you two? Other than the gaming tournament, where did you disappear to? I saw you dressed in your formal best when you left the unit.” Catan asked.
“There was a wedding announcement that we were invited to by an old friend, then we spent a few days with a local scientist that we met there and explored the city as much as we could.” Nico glossed over the finer details since the full story was pretty unbelievable.
Speaking of which, the first of the wedding parties was going to start in a few days, and Max had received his invitation directly from Lord General Kirkland, complete with a personal note from the young couple asking him to attend.
Nico likely got the same thing, since the wedding couple was a big fan of her, and she had some status as a distant member of the groom’s extended family by Cygnus standards.
Room service knocked at the door and then brought in a collection of pastries, finger sandwiches, and fruit along with an assortment of wines and liquors, placing them on a folding table that the staff brought with them.
“You must have really splurged, Commander,” Breckenridge said in awe, making Max laugh.
“It’s an all-inclusive resort. Like the ship cafeteria, but without rationing and the food is actually good.” Max told her while Catan poured a round of drinks.
“To victory and fame.”