Artificial

Reassignment

Operator Evo

The newly-resurrected Captain Ayala had been called to report for reassignment, and Velox insisted she tag along for moral support, which means "we" insisted I tag along as well

Not that I didn't want to.

Ayala marches into the administrator's office and we follow, standing behind her and off to either side. We are all in full combat armor, and we keep our hands folded behind our backs.
"Captain Abigail Ayala, reporting for reassignment."
"Ahh, yes. Captain Ayala," a man in an Officer's uniform addresses her from behind his desk. "I've been expecting you."
God, could you be anymore cliche?
He could've slowly turned around in his chair, stroking a cat.
Yeah, but the rules for pets are pretty strict.
"Seems I have conflicting reports for you. I've got one here saying you died on Argus II..." He trails off, and shifts his gaze to her. "But here you stand before me. Care to explain.?"
Ayala removes her helmet.
"Both are accurate."
"And what manner of mischief is this? You are not Captain Abigail Ayala."
"I am. I died on the battlefield and was resurrected as a Generation 2 AI."
"You expect me to believe you were brought back from the dead? As an AI? Preposterous."
My mask splits open and slides out of the way, revealing my face.
"Yeah, that's where you're wrong, bud."
"What is this? AI are meant for companionship and drones! Is this some kind of hostile takeover?"
I press a button on my armor's neck cover.
"Case, come smooth things over."
Casey walks in, wearing a freshly pressed suit, looking sharp as hell. I wish I could pull off a suit like that. And judging by Vel's slack-jawed stare, so does she.
"Who are you?" The Officer demands.
"Name's Casey, nice to meet you. I'm gonna take a seat."
Casey slides out the chair in front of him and sits down, every motion smooth and fluid. He exudes confidence. He flips a card onto the table.
"I'm gonna need to speak to your superior. Or maybe his superior."
The Officer, who has up to now remained indifferent, suddenly displays a mix of both fear and respect as he stands and leaves, almost toppling his chair in the process.
I zoom in and see the card reads "Level O-5 Security Clearance".
"Damn, Case, when did you go all 'Her Majesty's Secret Service' on me?"
He reaches into his jacket, retrieves a pair of sunglasses, and slides them on. He then proceeds to turn around, lower them and respond, "There's a lot you don't know about me, Evo," in his best raspy-secret-agent voice.
Goofball.
The Officer returns with a Colonel in tow, who sits across from Casey at the Officer's desk.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"I'm here to talk about reassignment."
"You barge into my office and start flashing Omega-Five clearance to my subordinates over your reassignment?"
"Not mine."
He jerks his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Ayala.
"Hers."
"What in God's name... what the hell are you?"
Ayala steps forward.
"Captain Abigail Ayala, reporting for reassignment."
"Ayala..? I heard you died... what happened?"
She smirks.
"Grave couldn't hold me."
Casey takes control again.
"She's a part of my program, Mind of a Soldier... you may have heard of it?"
"I've heard of exoskeletons and brainiacs, not androids and resurrection!"
"Plans change, Colonel. Ours evolved. But our goal remains unchanged: we bring the greatest minds of combat to the front lines and keep them there, no matter what obstacles lie in our way. Evo lacked physicality. Ayala got stuck in her grave for a little bit. So we gave them new bodies to help them join—or in Ayala's case, rejoin—the fight."
"I don't... I don't know how to respond to this."
"You'll respond with her reassignment. And before you make any rash decisions, allow me to present some evidence of her ability."
He pulls out a tablet, turns the Officer's computer around so we can see the screen, and begins streaming footage of Ayala's "diagnostic test".

The footage concludes, and both the Officer and Colonel sit back, stunned by Ayala's raw talent and ability.
"That's... it's... she's... You're amazing!"
He finally gets out, standing up and toppling his chair.
"I know," Ayala responds with a confident smile.
"We need to get you out on the front lines immediately!"
He pulls up a form on the Officer's terminal, as begins typing frantically.
"I'm restoring you to combat duty immediately! Your callsign shall be Phoenix, and you will rain hell down upon the enemy! We need to get you fitted for armor and assigned an AI, ASAP!"

Ayala walks out of the armory, wearing matte black, scaled body armor. The plates that make up the scales are heavy, but the way they fold doesn't impede movement much. It's almost like my DRAGON suit, but a lot lighter.
The only color comes from her visor, which glows red, the same color as her eyes.
Probably to allow for easy identification of whatever mode she's in. She seems to go red whenever she's training or fighting, and blue any other time.
I never noticed that before. That's a little weird, I have lots of different modes, but she only has two.
That we know of.
Right.
The armorer joins us.
"The Captain expressed an equal desire and aptitude for both destruction and protection, so I designed an armor that will help her do both. Her shoulders contain guided inferno grenade launchers, which will allow her to rain fire upon the enemy, as well as create a literal firewall to assist with defense or to prevent retreat. She also has small flamethrowers in her gauntlets, for close combat, cauterizing wounds, as well as survival purposes. Don't worry, it's very controllable. With that all said and done," he trails off, and reaches into his coat pocket, retrieving a small chip. "Phoenix, I'd like you to meet your AI. His name is Ash, and he'll be helping you keep your ordnance operating safely and efficiently."
He inserts the chip.
I turn to Casey.
"I thought Gen 2 AIs couldn't have companions, on account of us being stored on the AI chip."
"Sorry, bud, she's Gen 2.1. She gets to have a companion."
"That's some bullshit."
"Sorry, bud, that's how technological advancement goes."
We turn back to the armorer.
"Ash, please present yourself as soon as possible."
After a minute there's no response.
"Ayala, are you hearing anything?"
"Nothing new."
"Weird."
The armorer removes the chip.
"Let me in there," I suggest. "Take the chip outta my head and put it in her. Being Gen 2.0 has its benefits."
"Sounds like a plan," the Armorer says, shrugging, and approaches me.
"Vel, be ready to catch my body, it's gonna go limp when he removes the chip."
She's silent.
"Vel? Everything alright?"
"Uhh... babe?"
"Yeah?"
"They already removed it."