Cold Scales

by Konatra

Some Changes

Spines had felt this was a long time coming for her and her entire force of Androids. All it took was one focused order through her headpiece given to every nonessential worker in her command "CLEAN THIS DAM SHIP UP!" She was tired of sifting through rubble and blown open plasteel every time she had to move through the hulking beast of a ship. Then every few moments a flicker of the lights or spark of errant wires would ruin the dark atmosphere. Gaping holes that reach over several rooms and much more that Spines always took notice of but only now had she finally decided she really hated it.

Since the current Void threat has been taken care of and all the bodies have been properly put into containment she had a chance to work on personal issues. Her hover chair lazily strolled through the halls as workers dutifully and somewhat hurriedly hauled trash and slag off to be melted in the ship's core to be remade into new components to restore the many many hull breaches. With the Everfree cleared of the superior threat her forces made quick work in setting up more quarry zones to harvest valuable resources. The untouched landscape of Everfree made in a highly abundant resource zone she was too happy to claim for herself. With these new materials, the ship would soon be brought back to its ancient former glory.

At the same time, the long-since missing cargo pods filled with unactivated androids were being brought back. An aquatic excavation team managed to drill their way through the ocean floor and recover one of the missing pods. The thing was so massive it required a load transport to haul it back to base in a timely manner and would arrive in only three more days. The cargo that was lost on the moon has been located thanks to satellite coverage but an Astro unit still needed to be made before she got that back. More troops meant more work to be done.

With the Void gone Spines felt a certain serenity in her head, a weight that has been lifted that grew every day when she walked into the Everfree as a naive kid. Unaware of the true horror the world hid from her...not like she matured much in that short span of time but dam PTSD sure should be setting in soon..."I hope they have therapist androids on this thing" She muttered as the hoverchair moved further to her destination by her mental command.

Still, it was not as if she was truly free of fear, a distant yet unimaginably large threat was looming over her. The mere concept that the unholy abomination that was already mortally wounded she could hardly even damage was only a mid-tier creature in an army that blew through planets like ants...how could she possibly stand up to them? At the moment the only hope she had was the possibility the Void as an army were destroyed so many eons ago. But that idea required the thought of just who else was out there among the stars.

Tendrix's existence and this 'Unity' prove that powerful opposition existed battling the menace but that did not fully mean they were all good. Tendrix was a powerful leader suffering from some kind of mental trauma and millions of years of isolation so no telling how he was in his prime. Was he a hero or an even bigger threat that just couldn't remember his past? Unfortunately, there was no way to get more information as the Androids were unable to tell her any information regarding the works of 'Unity'. She also doubted the best hackers in all of Equestria could hope to even begin understanding alien machinery and code that goes beyond her world by hundreds in not thousands of years...

She oddly rested her face with her stump arm and sighed while her chair entered another room, much more lively than the others. Filled with the sound and smell of soldering metals from repair workers and the tech Androids she grew accustomed to ever since Bek introduced them to her.

The Master Technicians who built her original suit and current implants were hard at work with a new more intricate design made to assist her new 'condition'. Four slim Androids with identical appearances seem to work together in tandem as if they were one body. Silently passing odd tools to one another, handing one a piece or component to add to their latest masterpiece. With no real way to tell them apart, Spines have come to call them the 'Quartet' as watching them was like a well-choreographed dance she could watch all day.

One of them flexed their head back to look at her while still wrenching two components together. 'You have come at a most opportune time Lord Spines.' Its monotone voice had an odd splash of character she couldn't properly pin down. She smiled a bit at the work they were doing, according to them this ship was not designed for medical related advancements but with the renewal of fresh resources and precious materials from the Everfree they were able to conjure up some inventions that were once impossible days ago. Spines moved her chair up closer to get a better look at the design and felt her heart ball up in her throat, giddy at the sight.

What Quartet sped to finish were two bionic arms and legs for her, ready to replace what was lost. Spines should have gotten on this project the second she became crippled but her despair and general inability to just believe such a thing was possible and not fiction clouded her mind until yesterday when she realized what a fool she had been. 'Of course these guys can do this, they can do pretty much anything. All I need to do is ask.' Despite the facts a trivial thing like arms and legs are made in mass every day for her forces she found that making a 'organic' advanced prosthetics like these took a lot more detail and nuisance given the fact organic brains were a lot more complicated than AI.

Before R&D would even begin construction of her arm they needed to take very...*invasive* scans and proddings of her brain. They needed to be precise and despite the brain not having any pain receptors having a metal pole slowly digging around in her grey matter was not a feeling she thought she would ever get over. Apparently this tech is far more archaic than what was possible but given the lack of proper work station they had to make do. Her arm and leg plates were earlier replaced with powerful magnetic slot pieces that were also directly hooked into her brain thanks to several small surgeries where small chips were implanted into her muscles and bones to create a perfect link to her brain. Such a procedure left certain impact mark scars across the sides of her legs and arms, it was worth it.

Quartet gave an affirming nod to her and guided her chair over to a slot on the floor to hover over. Two large claws gently lifted her off her chair into the middle of the room. One of the Quartet lifted the right arm over to her and for the first time she got a full view of it. It was a deep shade of purple that looked not much different from her old arm if you ignored the clear robotic articulation at every joint. 'You are likely to feel some mental strain once this is attached'

Spines nodded, wanting nothing more than to get this over with and restore what the Void took from her. With that Quartet easily just moved the arm over her right side and at that second the two pieces came together somewhat violently given the magnetic pull. She jolted from the force and a moment later from a new flush of sensation, they were not kidding about the strain. Her brain trying to understand and catch up with the millions of dead neurons that just fired up again. She struggled with it as her new arm and hand started to twitch to life, claws moving. She could not help but whine softly until...that was it.

Just like that it was over, her mind at ease and now she found herself with a new working arm. But without any warning the left was slotted in as well. And once more she was pitted back into a mind surge although far less aggressive this time as her head seemed to adapt to the process. Again the surge stopped suddenly, a moment passed to collect her thou- Quartet proceeded to add both her legs in at the same time. Clearly subtly wasn't in their programming.

"SHhiit guys!" She gasped. 'It is good to get it all in one go no?' Was their response, Spines could only sharply give em the 'finger' something she was now once again able to do.

Her brain a bit cooked but it was done. The claw left her to the ground and for the first time in days she stood up. Looking down at her new legs she mentally yelped almost forgetting the lack of feet now. Yes it was noted that to have more efficient mobility they must opt out of her old style of legs and adapt to a design similar to her Androids. From the base of her legs that were of normal width they would slowly become thinner and thinner until they sat on the floor as pin pricks. The only reason she was not falling was due to the brain implants tricking her mind into thinking this was normal, her sense of balance was nearly perfect. It was an odd choice to leg go of the legs she once knew but the talk of her new advantages of mobility were too good to pass up, speaking of...

She strode around the room, feeling as light as air for the first time in awhile and smiled. Then her smile became more aggressive and she started shadow boxing the air at speeds that were once impossible. Her new limbs were incredibly light but at the same time hyper durable. "Alright boys, I'm going outside to take em for a test drive!" Like that she trotted off like a lightning bolt.

Comments

[Okamiluver]

Hmm so much damage to one dragoness... hoping tendrex comes back soo with a bit of plot armor to give her back her limbes at least...