Chapter 396: A Little Detour?

Everyone had gathered in the command room.

Nolan was sitting in the navigator’s chair, his attention focused on the various displays in front of him.

The twins were seated side by side. They had been the first to arrive after Nolan.

Roka had taken a seat next to the twins, sealing off the possibility of them getting close to Cero. Additionally, her eyes, newfound competitiveness and disdain, threw daggers at the two sisters.

Cero was the last to arrive and was now seated next to Roka.

It was obvious that Cero had woken up on the right side of the bed, with even Nolan thinking that he was smiling like an idiot.

With everyone gathered, Nolan cleared his throat.

"I apologize for waking everyone up so early."

"You better have a good reason," Tina muttered.

"I sure as hell hope so," Gina sighed. "What about you, Cero? Did you sleep well at least?"

"You know you can always sleep in my room if that tiny one isn’t comfortable," Tina said, turning towards him.

"How about we each keep our room, huh?" Roka said with a mocking, sarcastic smile. "What is it, Nolan? We were sleeping very well until the pager went off."

The twins frowned, having grown used to Roka rolling over. Her retort left them confused, and silent.

"There might be a technical problem with the ship," Nolan explained. "It would be best to do a maintenance check."

That immediately got everyone’s attention.

"Already?" Cero asked. "The ship is breaking down less than a week in?"

"It’s not breaking down. It would be better to have a maintenance check, and the time to do it is now."

"Why is that?" Roka asked with a raised eyebrow, unconvinced. "Why is now the time to do it?"

"Our current destination is Borg, a short detour on our way to Jin. There won’t be good enough opportunities for this between Borg and Jin. At least, getting the parts we might need won’t be possible, and it will be much more expensive."

"So you want to stop to check for parts we might need?"

"It would be best, yes." Nolan nodded. "The ship is functioning normally for the most part, but I have noticed some irregularities."

"Anything dangerous?" Cero asked.

"Not immediately," Nolan answered. "Not even necessarily. I just want to make sure. I’d rather have things checked before we continue."

"Hm..." Roka crossed her arms. "I’m not sure if we can afford a detour."

"The ship should have been in good condition before we left though," Gina muttered.

"Right, before we even left Wor," Tina added.

"Where are you thinking about having us land?" Cero asked. "More importantly, how much of a delay would it be?"

Nolan clicked on a button and the display screen behind him lit up.

"We’re approaching VTX." A Planet appeared on the screen. "It’s the perfect place.

"VTX?" Cero repeated.

"A relatively developed Planet," Nolan explained. "It’s directly along our current route. There are several facilities there capable of inspecting and repairing this type of ship. Quickly, and cheaply too."

"Again, how long would that take?" Roka asked.

"That depends."

"On what?"

"It depends on if we find something wrong with the ship. If everything is good and we only stop long enough to have the ship inspected, perhaps a few hours. Around six or seven."

"That’s not too bad," Cero whispered with a shrug, turning towards Roka. She agreed.

"If we’re going there anyway, why not stay longer?" Tina suggested, raising and lowering her eyebrows.

"Right! I’ve always wanted to visit!" Gina clapped her hands. "We could spend the night there or something! Make a day out of it!"

"No." Roka immediately shook her head. "We’re not on some road trip where we can stop at random." She turned towards Cero and, instantly, she didn’t seem so sure anymore. "Right?"

"Well..." Cero stared at the display screen behind Nolan. "I’m never against visiting a new place. And if it’s only for the night..." He shrugged.

"I guess we can afford one night." Roka nodded.

"We’ve been travelling nonstop for days," Cero argued. "It would be a nice change of pace, spending the night there."

Roka opened her mouth, but she remained silent.

Because Cero was looking at her while saying those words, Roka felt particularly strongly about "spending the night there", which made her feel like it was a given that they would spend the night together.

"Alright, Nolan," Roka gave him a thumbs-up. "We’ll spend a night on VTX and leave in the morning."

"Hehe, sure." Nolan chuckled.

Cero, Roka, and the twin sisters exchanged curious glances.

"That chuckle came out more ominous than it should have." Nolan coughed. "On VTX, the sun only shines a couple of months per year. The rest of the time, it is constant nighttime. Get it? So leaving in the morning would actually be... In four months."

No one found this particularly funny, but it was an interesting, curious fact.

"VTX." Cero broke the silence. "It’s a strange name, no?"

***

Several hours later, the spaceship descended through VTX’s atmosphere.

Cero stood near one of the windows, looking down at the Planet below.

At first, not much could be seen apart from the enormous towers covering the surface.

Buildings stretched upward for hundreds of meters, and countless lights illuminated the darkened streets below.

There were animated billboards everywhere and massive holographic advertisements floating on and between buildings.

Neon colors painted VTX’s almost eternal night in shades of purple, blue, red, and green.

"Reminds me of Night City."

"What’s that?" Roka asked, tilting her head.

"Ever been to a place like this?"

"Nope," Roka answered and took another step so that her arm was brushing Cero’s. "Should be fun though, right? For a night?"

A racket coming from behind stole their attention.

Tina was coming out of her room with a large bag. Gina was doing the same.

They laid the bags on the common table.

"Here’s to a great night," Tina said with a smirk, revealing the contents of her bag.

Beer, beer, and more beer.

"Uh-huh." Roka’s eyes turned cold and narrow. "You’re not trying to get Cero drunk, are you?"

"N-No! Of course not!"

A couple of minutes later, the ship landed on VTX for an unexpectedly romantic sojourn.