Max didn’t notice when he dozed off, somewhere in the middle of the second movie. He only knew that he woke up in the firm bed that the motel offered with his head resting on something that was somehow both comfortably firm and incredibly solid.

That something was Nico’s chest. He could see that she fell asleep reading a book, it was still in her hand, and he was draped across her chest. Hopefully, he didn’t drool in his sleep, that would be too embarrassing.

“Good morning. How was the sleep? I’ve been working with the system to adjust the outer shell settings to a more natural feel.” Nico greeted him, still not opening her eyes.

“The texture is perfect, but your torso is still a little solid.” Max joked, before sitting up and realizing he was in his underwear.

“Noted. Let’s get dressed and head back to the unit. We’ve still got time, there haven’t been any updates, but someone has to keep them in order.”

With that Nico also sat up, the sturdy bed dipping with her weight as she put her uniform back on.

“Hey, Max, what makes a person a person?” She asked, staring out the window with her shirt in her hands.

“Their mind I think. Do you recall the lessons on morality in the academy? I think that’s the difference between people and not. The ability to reason.” Max answered, wondering where she was going with this.

Nico nodded, thinking about his answer. “You see, I no longer breathe, I don’t have a heart to beat, and I don’t really eat. But I still feel like me. My system still works, even my [Rapid Healing] System Function finished adapting last night after you fell asleep.”

Max wrapped his arms around her from behind, giving her a solid hug. “You’re still you, no matter what. Even in a different body, just like the last time, you’re still you.”

“Thanks, Max.” This time, Nico’s smile was real and genuine, unlike the forced facial expressions she was practicing while they watched the movies.

Nico just rested there in Max’s arms for a few minutes before finishing getting dressed and laughing at a stray thought that passed through her mind.

“You know, my mother used to say I loved Mecha so much I was going to turn into one. If only she knew how right she was. We should send messages home once we’re back on the ship.”

“I’ll send mine via your parents. Dave would freak out if he got an official Fleet message, it might give him a heart attack. Not to mention the months of paranoia about the government watching him.”

On their way back, they stopped at the truck stop storage room and loaded a tarp full of goodies, and bundled them like a sack. Soda, cookies, chips, all of the customarily unhealthy snacks that had remained the staples of road trips for centuries. The bag made it slow going back to the bunker, but contrary to Max’s fears, everything was running smoothly when they finally reached the rest of the unit.

“We found dietary supplements. ” Max called and a handful of soldiers came running over to relieve them of their burden.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you, Commander?” One of the men asked, opening a bag of cheesy poofs.

“I am a career officer Corporal, it would never work out.” Max replied in all seriousness, making the other soldiers smirk at their unfortunate Comrade.

While Max went to make sure he hadn’t missed any messages, Nico disappeared into the corner of the warehouse where the scrap and damaged Mecha parts were stored for recycling. There were all sorts of goodies hidden there, and her system was begging her for materials to complete the modifications that it deemed to be essential to her optimal performance.

“Need any help, Major?” A Corporal from the third Platoon of the infantry company asked as she started digging through electronics.

Nico only raised an eyebrow at him. Not many soldiers would even understand what she was looking for.

“I am a huge tech nerd. I’ve heard you modified all the Mecha in the unit, but if you need an assistant, I’m happy to help.” He explained.

“Good enough. I’ve sent you a parts list. That’s what I need.” Nico explained.

There were various units of light alloys, capacitors, energy relays, and Plasma conduits on the list, and his first thought was that she was making a new weapon for the infantry. But there were a lot of metals listed and not a lot of electronics, so maybe it was for the Mecha and needed to be maneuverable.

“Corporal Walker, do you understand the principles of stabilized energy barriers?” Nico asked, hoping to pass the time with a similar mind.

“Ion barriers like the one on Stalwart, yes. I’ve been researching them. But these parts don’t all seem to be for that.”

“You’re right. Only some of them are. I am going to make a stabilized energy blade as well.” Nico informed him.

Corporal Walker has read about them, but they were theoretical. Nobody had made one work for more than a few seconds without overheating as far as he knew.

“But where will you find the focusing crystals?” He finally decided to ask as they dug parts out of the pile.

“There are the remains of a Crusader Class Laser Cannon right here. I already grabbed them.” Nico smiled, giving the Corporal the creeps. Her smile was just too unnatural for his mind to accept it, like a predator wearing human skin.

The Corporal just assumed that was normal for cyborgs, and Nico didn’t realize there was a difference between this smile and the genuinely happy one she gave Max.

With everything assembled the two tech aficionados sat down in a relatively clean room to begin their work. There were three items to be created. The energy blade, a combat shield with an integrated energy barrier, and a mystery third item Nico had collected a lot of rare ultra light alloys for.

Corporal Walker didn’t know, but Max who had been searching her thoughts to see what she was up to did. Her System demanded those particular materials for an upgrade to her skeletal structure and internal systems.

The upgrades sounded pretty sketchy, but he had never known the system to harm the user. According to what the system told her, it should cut her total weight by half and increase skeletal and hydraulic strength, while allowing for better integration of the Nanobots.

It wasn’t quite living metal, but it sounded very close to it in Max’s mind.

Nico was doing the upgrade stealthily, sitting on the pile of materials while the nanobots broke it down and rebuilt her body on the molecular level, discarding the unneeded material into the scrap pile.

While the system worked, so did the two soldiers. The first item was a new design of the classic combat shield. Tarith’s Rage has an integrated energy shield, but Bulwark, Piloted by Captain Ari, does not.

This might not be as powerful, but it will take a lot of punishment.

“So, which unit will get to try the energy blade? One of the Corvettes?” The Corporal asked as he sorted the necessary parts.

“This prototype won’t have enough energy output for that. At best will be personal weapons if it works. The unit wouldn’t hold up for Mecha use with the parts we have available.” Nico told him sadly. She really did want to give Tarith’s Rage an energy blade, but it just wasn’t feasible. But for herself, using the cold fusion power cell of her new body, the blade would be sufficient for most purposes.