Raven leaned back in her seat watching the viewscreen as the stars rolled by. They hadn't been followed when they left the station but that didn't mean they could slack off. All of the organics were injured and they had lost all of the drones save for Alpha, Cat, and Leroy. They would need to replenish Ice's points. And arrange for … something special for the newest crew members.

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Ice slowly woke up sitting on the crash couch in his quarters. His body felt like he had been thrown into a blender. He groaned as he stretched, hearing a large number of popping sounds from various joints. The only things that seemed fine were the magenta nano arm and the burgundy nano leg. Everything else ached. As he undid the straps holding him in place he felt liquid crawl down his side as one of the many cuts under the nano undersuit opened slightly.

Ice finally left his quarters after showering and cleaning himself up as best he could. He carried the nano undersuit folded over his shoulder back to the armory and shoved it inside the armor where it quickly reformed. Checking the armor over he saw that much of the damage was repaired, however, the big gash on the chestplate was still open.

"Raven, where are we going? Obviously that …. station is a bust." He asked aloud right before a strange woman he didn't recognize stepped into the room.

Ice reacted by grabbing the pistol off the hip of the armor and pulling the trigger five times into the woman's chest.

"Well that wasn't very nice Ice. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye but I still think that was a little harsh." Raven said as she looked down at the five holes already being filled by the nanofield.

"I was just going to let you know that everyone is waiting for you in the day room just off the bridge. You were the last one to wake up."

"Raven? Is that you? When did you get a body? Are you still in my head?" Ice stuttered out.

"Yes, also yes, recently, and of course in that order." Raven giggled as she answered the question. Ice felt like someone was tickling his brain.

"Oh, meeting. Uhmmmm. I'll be right there. Let me just uhm…" Ice stuttered as he tried to squeeze past Raven to get out of the small room. For some reason the fact he was naked without the nano suit hadn't occurred to him until just now.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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A few minutes later, wearing a fresh coverall and boots, Ice made his way to the day room. Inside he found Captain Drake and Sergeant Brigham both looking the worse for wear. Drake, who was missing most of one arm, was sitting at a small conference table drinking a glass of water. Brigham, more bandage than human at this point, most significantly his right hand, was looking at a small screen on the wall with a frown fixed on his face.

Ice stared at them both and stepped carefully into the room nodding at them as they turned to look at him. Following him were Raven and Ducky both in nano bodies. Ducky was carrying the carbon wafer of Alice who he had been slowly feeding power to since she had been brought on board the ship.

"So," Ice started slowly looking around the table, "any idea what we should do now?"

"We can't go back to the navy. No one would believe us." Drake answered when everyone else remained silent. "If you don't mind, we would like to stick with you. We are both capable soldiers even if injured. I am sure we can help?" The last part sounded desperate.

"Of course, you can stay with us, that was never in question." Ice and Raven answer at the same time. "But where can we go where we won't be hunted?"

"Why not go back to the planet we picked you up on? The only reason we found you is that monitoring that planet's alert network was our job." Brigham answered.

"That…. Isn't a terrible idea. We need to pick up Francis and Ice needs to stock up on points if we are going to be on the run." Raven answered, looking around the room.

"I think I can help." A small voice came from the speakers in the room. "But I will need a partner?" It sounded sad.

"Alice, are you sure about this?" Raven asked her fellow AI, her tone grave.

"Yes Alley is….. Alley is dead. The Theriope are still a danger. Clockwork has gone insane. We need every advantage." Alice stated the facts, her voice breaking only slightly when she spoke of Alanna.

"Fine then you'll need to choose one of the soldiers to bind to." Raven said this while looking at the two soldiers. "If you betray her trust. I will hunt you down and rip her out of your skull myself."

"I would never betray one of the System AIs. The only reason we never tried to rescue her is we didn't know she was …. Alive." Captain Drake sputtered in indignation at the implication.

"I … I won't betray anyone but I'm not really comfortable with having an AI in my head. I'm sorry…" Sergeant Brigham looked at the floor ashamed of himself as he said this.

"It's better that you know your limits and do what you're comfortable with." Ice assured the man patting him lightly on the back with his purple hand.

"Captain.."

"Just call me Drake, please. I'm not a captain anymore."

"Drake, I need you to put Alice's shell in your mouth. Preferably while sitting down. This is going to hurt a great deal." Ducky said, picking up the small wafer and leading Drake to a nearby couch.

"Alice, are you ready?"

"Do it Ducky, it's time for the Weapon Forges to be relit."

"Drake, are you ready?"

"I, uhm … I guess?" He looked a bit queasy.

"Alright put this in your mouth and try not to clench your jaw. You might break your teeth."

Drake placed the carbon wafer on his tongue and closed his mouth looking around for a moment before speaking. "It's gone the wafer disolv…" The next noise he made were screams of agony like a man being stabbed with a thousand needles. Blood came out of his mouth and out of his ears. His eyes were clenched shut and all three of his remaining hands were clenched against the sides of his head.

This went on for a few minutes before he slumped forward.

The next thing he saw when he woke up were the words every System User first saw.

System initialized. Welcome User.