The CORE

(AN: I'm bad with names! BTW this chapter isn't exactly something that happens in the actual game, at least last I checked.)

We all looked at each other before maj said "Sure? We can always run, the CORE is stationary." I looked at him before saying "It is weaponized though. And it has three drones it controls personally." we all sat in silence again. Wright eventually said "Why not? I'm sick of sitting around and waiting. And no, you driving two AIED's into the captains room doesn't count."

I just smiled as Smith said "Yeah. Let's go." I just nodded and we all stood up. I reactivated the armour upgrade station before we went though. We carefully peeked into the CORE's room through the elevator's airlock, and noticed something incredibly odd. The aliens had taken control of these assault robots and cleaner robots, making them hostile to humans but friendly to aliens, but the ones in the CORE were both unaffected and alive.

The normal sentry turrets were also... disabled? They weren't destroyed, just turned off. Those two things were what I noticed first, and as I watched, the CORE's support drone approached and... watched us? The CORE then called out to us and told us to approach it.

We walked in, untouched by the CORE's defenses, and eventually stopped in front of it. I waved jokingly at it, and while it looked at me, it didn't react. It then said "Agent awakening; disabled. Cause; unknown interference of signal. Please step forward Major Alexander." we all turned and stared at maj. He looked incredibly confused. He then stepped forward half a step, and the CORE said "Assessing agent..."

We all stared around, and as I was about to ask maj something the CORE said "Fascinating. It appears that my agent was partially activated." I then turned to the CORE and said "What do you mean, agent? Are you talking about maj?" the CORE responded by saying "Ah, the psion. Yes, I am talking about Major Alexander. He is my specially chosen agent, and while I did desire your presence on the ship due to your psionic capabilities and intelligence, he is a higher priority in my eyes.

"You see, Major Alexander, or 'Maj' as you call him, is an android assistance I designed. He is a machine, built to imitate life while being... superior. It was partially inspired by psions in fact. I saw their strength and superiority to humanity, and I wanted to create a robotic version that focuses on physical powers rather than mental ones. That, and you can easily program a machine to not become an unstable murderer."

I said "Huh. Neat idea, but that... what proof do you have that maj is a robot? He looks and acts human." the CORE said "That is because he is only partially active. His personality modules are online and his decision making and mental processors are partially online." maj then said "Uuh... last I checked I was human. Insides and outsides."

The CORE then did something to maj that... sliced his arm off? Maj yelled, but then just stared in horrified fascination as a strange blue liquid slowly dripped out, and I think I even saw a wire in there. The CORE then... brought out another arm? It just... replaced his arm. The CORE then said "Is this not 'proof' enough for you? Now, Major Alexander, step inside the bay to the left for reactivation."

He slowly did, and once inside a wire came down and plugged into a port in his suit, and then he just... slumped? After a while, he 'woke up' again and practically leapt out, saying "Nope, mhm, I do not trust that!" I just asked him "What are you talking about?"

He then said "A lot of information, all on modifying my body. Although, there are six upgrades I want." he then went to a console near the pod and selected something before stepping back in. His armour was gradually replaced and layered in new plates as his suit of armour got upgraded. When he came out again, his armour looked cooler than before, but otherwise everything was normal. He just shrugged at my gaze, and we all looked at the CORE.

It eventually looked at us, and then said "What do you want? If you desire something to do, upgrade your capabilities and, if you can, retake the ships software. I am making good progress in reclaiming the defensive systems in this chamber and levels six through four, but the aliens have likely infected Seargent Gerald, as my progress has been resisted." We nodded and left.