Alien AI's Marine (Warriors of the Lathar #14) - Mina Carter Page 0,1

was nervous. The violet streaks in the red were a dead giveaway.

“I may be… diminished,” she said softly.

“What do you consider ‘diminished’?” he asked with a small smile, crouching by the side of the couch and reaching for her hand. It was more like a metal club, the three fingers thick and powerful, but he knew she could feel it when he touched her. He’d woken her up from sleep—or whatever passed for it for AIs—by touching her arm before.

“I will be… I won’t be as strong. No sensors. Limited by a biological design. The expedition variant was smaller and less physically powerful than a normal Lathar.”

His lips quirked as he ignored the group behind them, concentrating on her. “You’ll be human, you mean? Or something close to it.”

Her lights warmed, the soft mechanical rattle that passed for a laugh emerging from her throat panels. “Yes… I will be human.”

“Just so you know,” he winked. “That’s not all bad. And we’re not as weak as these assholes think. Sometimes it’s not about the body. It’s about the brain. And you are about the smartest person I’ve ever met.”

“I’m a Miisan-level advanced AI,” she said huffily. “Of course I’m intelligent.”

“You got this,” he reassured her, squeezing her hand. “And I’ll be waiting for you when you wake up.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely.” He smiled. “Trust me.”

“Okay.” She nodded and reached for something that looked like a headset. Fitting it over her head, she glanced at him and her lights pulsed for a second. A smile. Then they faded. Even before then, he knew she was gone, the vitality disappearing from her touch as the metal body slumped on the couch.

“Good luck,” he whispered, reaching up to brush his fingertips over the blank faceplate. “Come back to me soon.”

1

“Do humans let runts into their special forces?”

“Fuck you,” Jay snarled and clocked the alien warrior in the jaw with a heavy right hook. It connected with a meaty smack, sending his opponent reeling. He’d put all of his weight and frustration behind it. It had been a week since they’d arrived, and they were no further forward now than the moment they’d been brought here by a rogue AI.

Seren chuckled, rubbing at his jaw as he circled Jay in the training arena. “Not bad… for a human. Perhaps you’re not a runt after all. I dunno, never seen another human male. Are you small for your species?”

“You’re an asshole. You know that?” Jay chuckled, shaking his head as he raised his s’tovik again, twirling the staff-like alien weapon around his hands. “Trying to get an emotional reaction… you think I don’t see what you’re doing? It’s not going to work.”

“Really?” Seren rubbed his jaw, spinning his weapon in his free hand. During the last week, Jay had realized just how good the alien was with the bladed staff, and he had the bruises to prove it. “So telling me to go draanth myself isn’t an emotional reaction?”

“Nah.” Jay grinned, circling the big alien and looking for an opening. “That just means I like you.”

The alien was much bigger than Jay, which he always had to take into account, and as fast as hell. They all were, a lesson he’d learned hard the first time he’d encountered them. He and his unit had been veterans, marines… the best of the best. And the D’Corr had ripped through them like they were children.

Shaking himself out of the bad memories, he looked at the alien warrior again. “If I didn’t like you, I’d be more polite.”

Seren shook his head, snorting with laughter. “You humans make no sense whatsoever. So, you’re nice to people you hate and treat people you like as if they were trallshit?”

“That’s about the size of it, yes.”

Jay nodded, creeping closer to launch a flurry of blows forcing Seren to block hard and fast. He hissed as the last strike got through. Sparks flew as he blocked with his replacement arm, and the s’tovik cut a thin line in the hardened metal.

“Fuck!” Instantly Jay pulled back. “Sorry, mate, I didn’t mean to wallop you so hard.”

The alien extended his arm and flexed his fingers. They all worked fine. The damage seemed limited to the plates of his arm. The replacement was so good, and the covering material so skin-like that half the time Jay forgot it wasn’t organic.

“War wounds need tending,” Seren said with a grin, a sly light in his eyes.

Jay’s matched his. “Oh, really now? Planning on asking a certain little lady to help you