Max was in the middle of the garden party, enjoying the shade of a large tea tree when his wrist device started beeping urgently, sending a string of notifications.
As unit Commander, he was notified separately of every transfer, and his entire Special Tactics Unit had just been reassigned. Most were going to Special Forces units in the Noctem Regiment, some had been moved to lead other squads, while Ari, Paul, and Vincente had been rewarded with Heavy Mecha wings of their own and an official commendation, which would give them extra benefits at retirement as well as being considered earlier for advancement.
He quickly silenced his watch, but the military alert ring tone was unmistakable. Many of the guests around him were giving him sympathetic looks, knowing that his vacation had just come to a crashing halt.
Nico had also received the alerts as his executive officer, and the guests around her looked absolutely stunned. None of them had realized that she was a soldier, they all thought she was a civilian noble by the way she mingled with high society.
"My apologies, you know how it can be, contacted any time of the day or night. If you'll excuse us, I will borrow Major Max for a moment and return once we have sorted these notifications." Nico told the crowd, before smoothly maneuvering Max away.
You can't just read confidential military dispatches in public, so they would need to go back to their room to see what all had come through and if there were any issues with the orders. Catan and Breckenridge should have gotten notices as well.
Back in their room, Max scanned through the orders, checking for errors and transfers that might cause issues, like breaking up a well-bonded wing.
Some of that was inevitable since some of the Pilots are going to light mecha units for Command experience, but it is better if obvious errors are caught now and not after the Pilots are at a new unit.
"You know what I don't see in any of these orders?" Nico asked as Max worked.
"A demotion?" Max answered, noticing everyone had been promoted or given a commendation and nobody that had a leadership position had lost it in the transfer.
"That too. But what I meant was our names. There is no order for either of us in this group of orders." Nico pointed out, making Max double-check the messages.
"So what are we? A unit of two? I hope this doesn't mean we have to train a whole new Special Tactics Unit." Max sighed.
Nico gave a noncommittal shrug. "I don't know yet. But the other two have 72 hours to return to the station, and we don't have any orders yet."
"If we don't have any orders we might as well head back down to the party before the kids miss us. They will want to know all about what the message was though, so be prepared for twenty questions." Max suggested.
"You're forgetting one thing. The garden party is about to end, and then it is a masquerade ball. Give it an hour to shower and change and we should be right on time for the evening festivities. The hotel is going to be bringing up outfits for everyone attending so that the clothing isn't an immediate giveaway of everyone's identity."
Not that it would matter for the two of them. Not many Kepler women were as short as Nico, and not many civilian men were as broad-shouldered and blonde as Max, thanks to the military grabbing everyone with half-decent system compatibility. There were sure to be more blonde men, some of them bleached blonde, but Max wasn't an easy person to miss in a crowd.
He was just about to get into the shower when a sudden and frantic pounding on the door startled him. They had everything that they could need, who would be so excited at this time of day?
The answer was, of course, Catan and Breckenridge. They had both been transferred to the same Special Forces unit, with Captain Catan getting a promotion to Major and command of the Infantry section of the force.
"Majors, thank goodness we caught you. We will have to leave tomorrow if we are going to get back to the Comor Station on time using commercial flights, and I was worried that we would miss you at the ball this evening. Since we're shipping out, we decided to come along and celebrate for one last night." Captain, or rather Major Catan greeted them the moment Nico opened the door.
"It was good to see that you both got a great posting within the Noctem Regiment. Not only do you get to keep your status as special operators, but you will also be around a lot of people you already know." Nico answered, and Breckenridge nodded.
"About a quarter of the unit's mecha and almost all the infantry ended up with us. From the look of it, the Special Forces unit is much larger than our Special Operations unit was, with a full hundred pilot wing of Corvette Class Mecha. They're standard patterns though, and it will be a sad day to transfer out of the Comor Pattern. The seats are so much more comfortable." The Lieutenant laughed, thinking back to her time in a Line Mecha, which was not only sparsely decorated but also cramped.
"There is still hope. Abraham Kepler is in for a refit and restocking here on Comor, and they don't make standard pattern Corvettes here. You might still get to keep your baby." Max reminded her.
"We can only hope. Those upgraded Mecha were a godsend for my men as well." Catan agreed, then turned to his two former Commanding officers.
"So, where did you both end up? In the Politburo doing propaganda videos and hanging out with political officers all day long?" The infantryman joked.
"No orders for us yet. Everyone in the unit was transferred, so there is a possibility that while you lot are making up for lost Command Assets, we will be training a whole new unit from scratch." Max sighed, not looking forward to it.
"Be positive. It would still be better than being stuck with politicians all day." Breckenridge smiled, then looked at her watch and panicked.
"Sorry, I have to go, there's only an hour to get ready for the masquerade ball and I haven't even showered or shaved yet." She called as she ran across the hall and into her own room again.
"Best of luck to you in the future. I hope we can see you in the morning before we fly out, but if we don't, be safe and do the Emperor proud." With his farewells said, Catan headed back into the room as well to get ready for the evening's festivities.
