Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

The Darkling force headed out for somewhere that Max couldn't detect, and he did his best to record every energy signature that he could from the fleet moving out, as well as what he had gathered from the attack craft.

That would all be invaluable to Nico and the others, who were currently working on the way to move through that layer while they studied the design of the attack craft to see if it was involved in the process somehow like the material of the outer shell was.

"How about we work on this somewhere else? There is a special event coming up a few days back in our home Galaxy that we should be there for." Max suggested to the room full of Innu.

"Do they have bigger Gravity Slides?" One of the girls asked hopefully.

The walk back up the stairs to the top of the slide was the bane of their existence, even if they knew that it was essential exercise to keep their muscles toned. The Innu weren't really bodybuilder sorts, but they recognized that not taking proper care of the body led to illnesses and inferior workplace performance.

That last part was the important part. If they were burdened by deliberate neglect of their body, they would be worse workers, unable to keep up with the others in their group. Disabilities could be accommodated, but being out of shape was embarrassing.

Of course, with the amount of running between workstations that they did, they would probably stay in decent shape anyhow, but they still used the stairs to the top of the slides instead of using the lift that the giants had rigged.

The sound of their own feet on the metal steps annoyed them, so they made a rope and pulley system with a gravity plate on the first day. One tug of the rope and they would be pulled right to the top of the slides.

"Unfortunately, they might not have Gravity Slides. Those were made by our Reaver Company for the first Colony Ship that we renovated. They're a very new invention, so unless the location we are going to has been renovated since we were there last, there won't be any." Max explained to the disappointed researchers.

"Is there at least something cool there?" Nergal asked hopefully.

"Indeed there is. There are a lot of human technology relics that they have kept around for sentimental reasons, which you won't have seen before. But most interesting of all will be the chance to meet Lead Researcher Nico's mother." Max chuckled.

Their eyes lit up in excitement at the prospect of getting to meet more of Nico's family, and Max resisted the urge to tease Nico about how popular her mom always was. Half of the time, it was because she was willing to spill childhood stories about Nico, so it was a sensitive topic.

But once Max mentioned it, Nico checked her calendar and realized that her birthday was coming up and that Max had scheduled her to get home in time for Cake.

"Well, what are we waiting for? All of our studies can be done no matter where the ship is, so we can start heading back to my mother's place now. Or we can stop off and visit Absolution first so that the researchers can experience the full joy of the gravity slides again." Nico suggested.

Nergal nodded. "We didn't get time to go on them last time. We saw them at the waterpark on the upper floor, but we were only there for a day before we shipped out here, so we didn't get time to do anything but adjust to the ship's schedule."

"Alright, we have one spare day, so we will stop off and make sure that Absolution is running smoothly in our absence, and then we will spend the day playing in the waterparks of the aquatic floor. It has plenty of open airspace and various intellectual attractions, so the Giants and Valkia should be happy to hear the news as well." Max decided.

"What about the other humans? Will they be happy to be aboard Absolution as well?" Nergal asked.

Nico laughed. "More than you might expect. Humans are among the finest of party species. We will turn any chance to relax into a celebration if we are given the opportunity."

The Innu smiled at each other. They had been told the same thing about the humans, but they hadn't really believed it, and there hadn't been much downtime after they arrived here, so they hadn't experienced the joys of a large-scale human party. The human crew members were always gathering after work, but so was the Innu, so that didn't seem out of the ordinary. Nico's birthday would be their first real party.

While Nico relayed the message to the crew on duty to head for Absolution and inform the rest of the ships in the area that they would be gone for at least a week, Max sent a message to Mary Tarith to see what the birthday plans were.

[Where were you planning to hold Nico's birthday party? I have a very excited cyborg and a whole Innu research team that's eager to meet you.] Max sent to her, using the implanted communications device to bypass the need to go through the ship's communications systems, which Nico would be tracking.

[We were planning to hold it on Absolution for the extra space and so that the Family members who haven't gotten to see the World Ship would have an excuse to go visit. It's her eighteenth birthday, after all, even though you two don't act like the growing young soldiers you were meant to be.

Just think, if everything had remained as usual, you would just be graduating from the Academy now and heading out into the world for your first deployment.] Mary replied, feeling nostalgic.

[Did you honestly ever think that Nico would have a normal career? But we were already planning to go to Absolution first so the Innu could experience the aquatic level of the ship. I will keep your intentions secret until we arrive in two hours.]

[I will be there with her father and a number of other Commanders when you arrive at Absolution then. We are already aboard the ship, but we weren't sure if you were going to be coming today or tomorrow.]