The man shook his head, motioning to the android's blade while it waited patiently to complete its task. “Apparently HAE's companions are some sort of terrifying monsters that rip people apart with their bare hands. New security measures passed down from on high demand we cut everyone coming in and check their blood. Make sure they're not secretly some robotic boogeyman trying to infiltrate.”
“Has that actually happened?” Ali asked, sounding alarmed. Although probably not for the reasons the guard thought. Aiden gave her a sharp look to shut her up before she blew their cover, but the damage was done.
The security officer eyed her dismissively; they were back in their disguises from when they'd visited the Ceras spaceport, so she wasn't her usual eye-catching self. “Void if I know. Although the way this war with HAE is going, it wouldn't surprise me. So this might become standard security protocol for every spaceport and colony world in the universe . . . I'd expect to go through it a lot.” He smiled reassuringly. “Don't worry. It's just a small cut, and we've got antiseptic spray to seal it afterwards. Won't even leave a scar.”
Aiden smiled back, feeling sick to his stomach. Which clenched in a knot when he heard Ali once again speak behind him. “I thought the entire point of companions was that they put human wellbeing above everything else.”
Okay, he got that this subject was one of particular interest to his companion. Even so, he couldn't believe she was pressing like this.
“Guess not,” the guard replied with a shrug. “We've got multiple eyewitness reports and recordings of the things going berserk and violently murdering Movement soldiers. Some sort of new combat protocol, ironically named “Caretaker”. Although honestly, I don't expect to see one showing up here anytime soon.”
It was obvious the man's patience had run out; he gestured curtly to the combat android. Aiden nodded and stepped forward, trying not to panic and tense as the robot's blade descended towards his arm. He expected it to slash deep, opening his wrist lengthwise and leaving him bleeding to death on the floor, but with barely a tug of pressure and mild sting it sliced a short, shallow cut on his arm.
Apparently satisfied, it then produced a standard medical wound sealant and sprayed the cut, then motioned him forward down the corridor. He went, walking behind the ERI guard and his robotic muscle as Dax stepped up to the android.
While Aiden was doing his best to appear casual, he was tensed to act immediately. Because as soon as Ali, at the back of the group with Fix, stepped forward to get cut, the void would rip open and suck them all into pure chaos.
They'd made plans similar to a complication like this, although they hadn't planned specifically for an adult companion checkpoint of all things. Since who could've anticipated anyone viewing HAE's gentle robots as bloodthirsty killing machines? Was that ERI propaganda to incite fear against their hated competitor, or was there some truth to it?
And what the blazes was a Caretaker? He fully intended to ask his companion, assuming they survived the next few minutes.
The security officer was eyeing Ali again, although in interest rather than suspicion; even plain as she currently looked, maybe the man was so starved for companionship on this backwater assignment that he was willing to hit on her anyway.
She smiled back a bit shyly, playing along and keeping his attention.
Aiden reached back for his cauterizer as his companion stepped forward to be sliced. And as the blade was lowering with machine precision to cut her, he drew the weapon and pressed it to the security officer's temple, wrapping his other arm around him to bind his arms and hold him close.
It actually surprised him how smoothly he and his crew worked together over the next few seconds. Most of that was probably thanks to the superior abilities of the Construct and adult companion, although he thought he did well enough with his own part.
As he was taking the guard prisoner, Ali moved in a blur, not to tackle the combat android she faced but to read off its priority override in record time. The gunner did the same for the other combat android, impressively enough almost keeping pace with Ali as he rattled off dozens of syllables in the alphanumeric code. Behind them, Fix stood poised with its cauterizer attachment ready to blow either hulking robot to slag if they so much as twitched.
In no time at all, the companion was getting to work reprogramming the machines they'd just captured, while Aiden manhandled the security officer to the floor to disarm and restrain him.
“What the void is going on?” the man demanded, seeming bewildered that he'd just been attacked by three people and a combat android who'd snuck aboard his facility on a light freighter disguised as a legitimate resupply ship, and had somehow taken over his own androids. Aiden replied by gagging him, then clamped restraints on his hands and feet.
Before they could pat each other's backs on how well that had gone, the light in the corridor dimmed to blood red and a deafening klaxon began blaring along it.
Guess someone had been watching them. Aiden cursed, glancing at Ali; she shook her head, indicating she wasn't done reprogramming the robots.
“Gunner, Fix, with me!” he snapped, tossing the security officer's kinetic force multiplier, or KFM, to the gunner as he charged down the corridor, cauterizer at the ready. Within a few steps Fix had smoothly pushed past him, graceful for all its bulk, to take the lead. The gunner passed him soon after, hefting the KFM in one hand and his cauterizer in the other.
Well, guess he would lead from the back.
Behind them, according to plan, Ali would finish reprogramming the combat androids and make for where the others were stored, ready to begin disabling or reprogramming them to join the
