The drab green paint on the interior corridors of the crew sections that housed the defence force for the ship were a comforting sight to Max as he made his way down the length of the ship on a transport buggy.
The floors were polished, the interior was immaculate, and the sounds of the crew training in the larger rooms that they passed were a familiar setting for him, and it was good to know that his absence hadn't led to them slacking off.
The gyms were still packed with soldiers, and they all seemed to be in top shape, not getting chubby and soft.
That was what he had somewhat expected on his return, a bunch of rusty cruise ship security guards starting to look like the familiar fat and lazy police from his childhood neighbourhood. But the Regiment left on Terminus seemed to be taking their jobs very seriously, and when the whistles blew to end the training session, everyone ran out into the halls, headed for the showers a few doors down and then off to the evening's festivities to welcome the Commanders back to the ship.
None of them had realized that the two in question were right in front of them until they had reached the hallway, and the startled salutes were enough to bring a smile to Nico's face.
"Welcome home!" The soldiers were shouting at them as they passed, while Nico and Max waved back in greeting to the familiar faces all along the hallway.
Once they were past the training areas, the crowd thinned, until they reached the infirmary, where a surprising number of healing soldiers were waiting with the staff.
Max stopped the buggy and hopped down to shake hands and say hello.
"What happened here? Are the crowds on the cruise ship getting unruly?" Max asked.
The Pilot closest to him laughed and shook his head.
"No, but you could say that their competitors have. It's all in the weekly report, but we got ambushed by a non-Alliance pirate fleet on our way here that were trying to intercept one of our guests.
There were no fatalities on our side, but some of the Mecha got banged up pretty good during the fight." He explained.
"Do we know who sent them?" Nico asked.
"We do, or so I've been told. Admiral Drake captured a couple of the Pirates alive and from what we've heard here in the infirmary, they were plenty willing to talk once the pressure was on in the interrogation room."
Nico pulled up the reports, which hadn't been filed yet, as the incident was only a couple of days old.
"Oh, I see. Yes, we have had problems with this corporation before. They attacked some other Reaver vessels pretending to be pirates. I will take care of this right away, the Tarith Family's fleet has already found their home base." Nico explained.
The Pilots assumed that Nico was ordering a Reaver ship to go attack their base of operations, but what Nico actually did was remotely activate her Mecha and open a small portal to throw an Antimatter warhead through, set to detonate above the facility they had built on a remote moon.
The shielding over the facility might have held, but Max had no way to know now that the portal was closed to keep the explosion from feeding back into the hangar. However, the pirates should get the point that it was time to stop messing around if they didn't want to find out what war with the Reavers looked like.
"We will make sure that is taken care of. Please let me know if the medical team needs anything to finish the healing process." Max added, after he realized what Nico had done.
"We're only moderately accelerating the natural healing. We have found that doing it this way might be more painful in the short term, but instantly healing all wounds leads to the System not recognizing the need for physical upgrades, and a few of the young Cadets have suffered for it when their 50 point upgrade didn't strengthen their body for the rigours of piloting." The doctor explained.
Well, that was inconvenient, but completely logical. If the nanobots didn't see the body suffering lingering damage or struggling, then there was no reason for it to go down the optimization path. So, most of the Cadets who missed out on it would have to wait until near graduation before they had a chance to resolve the issue, and that could be crippling for their stamina as a Pilot.
"Understandable. I wish you all a speedy recovery. Or maybe I should say painless recovery. Now, we're off to what I'm certain is a welcoming party waiting for us at the front of the ship, since there were fireworks to welcome us back." Max replied with a laugh.
"Oh, there will definitely be a party. It's also the students' week long break, so many of them are in the Cruise Ship area, and that means their parents have come to visit as well, so it will be lively. Watch out for flying Valkia, the kids get excited about having more space to fly." The doctor informed him with a smile that said it actually made his life busier and not more entertaining.
The staff was gathering at the VIP entrance to the common areas to greet them, so Max turned the electric cart to meet up with them there instead of coming in the staff doors.
"Maybe we should have changed, we're still dressed for a dinner party, not a beach party." Nico joked as they made their way past the nearly deserted sector where the Academy was built.
"I don't think that they will mind. Think of how many people arrive in suits and only change once they are on board. We should fit right in with the other guests." Max chuckled.
"I still think we should be more flamboyant. You know, for the sake of the photographers. Let me drive, you take off that shirt and coat, and put on a nice flashy silk one. That should be enough to be photogenic."
Max quickly changed his shirt and placed the extra clothing in the flat space storage of his wrist device, then took the controls back, while Nico stood up and changed into a short-sleeved sundress from her research coveralls daily wear.
"There we go, ready to greet the crew. Just let me delete the footage of us changing, we don't need to be giving them any sorts of strange ideas." She joked as they pulled up to the final service corridor before entering the VIP area.
"Alright, we're on foot from here. Practice your best smile, we've got a lot of people waiting for us."
"Of course, when do I not have my game face on? I think that we should play up for the cameras, though. You know, my mother will be watching for them to go online, so we should tease her a little in retribution for her constant grandchildren demands?" Nico suggested.
"Are you sure that you want to taunt her? She is the master of getting even." Max reminded his petite partner in crime.
"Of course. We will be gone for months at the very least, and it will give her something to take her mind off nagging about grandchildren."
This definitely wasn't going to end well. Max knew it already, and he didn't even know the plan yet.
