Six

5 - Wraith Hunt

       

"Alert- riflemen approaching on your left."

Heeding Ellie's warning, Six backed up against the wall and hugged it. With the ship's interior lighting now offline, neither of the two grunts noticed the faint shimmer in the air where he stood.

Once he was sure they had passed, he left the shadows once more and continued stealthily making his way towards the objective. Checking his corners, he ensured that no other soldiers were approaching before darting down the hallway and to another junction that would take him closer.

"Be aware, this frigate is larger than most of the ships we've raided before- there's an increased presence of enemy units aboard. If you're detected, I'm not sure how you'll be able to fight your way out on your own."

"You leave that to me," he muttered, entering a light jog to keep his footsteps from becoming too audible in the quiet corridors. "Besides, you heard our benefactor- we should never be detected in the first place."

"Now it's 'we', is it?"

"Well, I figure you contributed equally to our premature evacuation from the Prodigal for not sensing the dead-man's switch sooner," he breathed, "so yes, 'we'. Speaking of which, we haven't triggered anything like that again, have we?"

"No, most of their systems are almost entirely inoperable," she replied, "but I won't know for certain if there's one installed until I get into the mainframe." She paused for a moment. "You seemed willing to shoulder the blame before. What changed?"

"Nothing changed- but at the time, you were in a far more dangerous position. To him, you're expendable- I'm not."

"Yeah, it certainly seems that way." She was silent for a moment, then seemed to realize what he'd just said. "Wait, hold on- are you saying that you were trying to protect me?"

"That's one way of looking at it," he murmured, reaching the end of the corridor. Checking the schematics overlay on his HUD, he took a left that would lead him deeper into the heart of the ship.

"That's a change of pace from usual- I wouldn't have thought you considered me worth the effort."

Normally, this was the part where he'd make a light quip back to her, carry on with the jests that they often found themselves making towards one another- but not this time.

Compassion is an admirable trait to have when times are right, Six- but these are not the right times.

He furrowed his brow, thinking how best to carefully phrase his answer. "Despite what some techies might say, I don't feel that replacing you with a new AI would increase the effectiveness of these operations."

"I'm well aware that he wants to replace me, Six."

He'd been hoping to avoid that particular piece of information, knowing she wouldn't be thrilled at the notion- indeed, her tone certainly didn't convey any sort of enjoyment. But it was said less bitterly, and more like she had come to terms with it- or at least had become resigned to it.

"I'm less interested in why he wants to replace me, and more interested in why you don't," she continued. "I'm the second iteration of the NOMAD project, and obviously inferior to the newer models-"

"You're not inferior," he found himself saying, cursing himself after the fact.

It will leave you weak. Vulnerable. Open to attack from those who would seek to exploit your emotions.