Chapter 132: Rebuilt at what Price?

With the additional numbers, nothing dared to attack their convoy before they reached the Staging Area, where a large crowd of Mecha and an even larger group of infantry were waiting for them to arrive.

The Phalanx Class Mecha is a symbol of hope for the Kepler forces, and seeing Carpe Noctem, which most of the troops didn't even know was in the system gave them real hope for winning back the planet.

Such grand and noble sentiments were the furthest things from Max's mind thought, since he already knew what standing next to a Phalanx Class mecha in combat was really like. He was more concerned with when the battle was going to begin and what his unit's role was going to be.

[General Mons, what sort of timeline are we on? Would there be time for Major Nico to be reconstructed before the battle, or should we hold off until afterward to maintain our capabilities?] Max asked, hoping to get a firm answer.

[There are a minimum of three days left before the last of the units arrive. Major Nico has a Self Healing related System Function, so there shouldn't be a problem getting her patched up. The only question will be what they can do for her. Her body is in bad shape, so they might not be able to biological replacements.] General Mons responded almost instantly.

That made Max feel a bit special, the Generals are busy people, so he was hoping for a response within the hour, as it is with Central Command, but General Mons answered right away. The courtesy of the rapid response wasn't for Max though, it was for the General's peace of mind. Once Major Nico was an intact and whole person again he could order her to exit the mecha and mingle with the troops, eliminating the superstitious rumors that had been circling through his men.

But even better than that, he could order her to teach more of his pilots whatever it was that she did in close combat. Even the Narsians saw fit to give her a hero's burial after seeing it in action and General Mons needed more Heroes on his side.

"Tarith's Rage, please report to the Augmentic Surgery department as soon as possible. It has been determined that your healing abilities will have you ready to fight again before the main battle begins, so they're going to attach some new limbs to you." Max ordered, sensing amusement in Nico's mind.

[I need 10 minutes. I used the Biowarfare containment locks to seal the cockpit, and they are on a timer to disable.] Nico informed him by text again.

[I'm ordering them to give you a new voice box as well. You can't just keep hacking everyone's Mecha when you need to talk to strangers.]

[Stranger Danger. Good Girls aren't supposed to talk to strangers.] Nico responded and Max just stared at his wrist device in shock. How do you respond to that? Every kid learned it in the first grade, but that rule doesn't apply to military interactions.

Max quietly adds a mental evaluation to her workup. She was a bit off even before the Narsians tortured her, but now she has zero inhibitions in her social interactions. Or maybe she's just incredibly bored and messing with him is her only available hobby. It's not like she can read a book and relax.

Ten minutes later, the surgical bay was ready for her with the very latest in Kepler Cyborg technology. The doctors had seen her medical data as she reported it through the Pilot Status reports generated by Tarith's Rage, and determined that at the very least a partial conversion was going to be necessary. She didn't have enough intact and undamaged bones for standard augments, and most of the bones that were whole had healed strangely due to a lack of medical intervention before they self-healed.

The specs on the experimental conversion looked highly promising to Max. They used a form of Non-Newtonian alloy shell that would become harder under the force of a projectile impact, but maintain a flexible and supple state for movement, increasing armor rating as well as longevity in combat while doing a decent job of mimicking skin.

They were supposed to be able to interact with the Nanobots as well, but the amount of upgrade they could get wasn't the same as increasing body attributes. Instead, the System would treat them as items attached to the body, and the enhancement would depend on the System Functions that the user had. For Nico, this was actually a benefit over most augments, other than biological ones which weren't done in combat due to the month-long healing and integration process, but they still wouldn't likely be able to keep up with regular pilot development.

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Once she was set on the table to begin the procedure the doctor in charge looked down at her with a gentle smile. "What color were your original eyes? Or do you want something new? My wrist device is in your hand now, I'm told you can answer that way."

[Thermal overlays on Optical Implants.] Was Nico's answer and the doctor frowned.

"You understand that they won't look natural, right?" He asked and Nico nodded.

The thermal overlays gave the mechanical eyes a red iris, and if you looked close you could see that they weren't biological, but had an adjustable camera lens. Nico didn't mind though, she could wear sunglasses with her uniform, and having mechanical eyes was relatively common among veterans.

Plus, as a partial conversion cyborg, she was going to be clearly augmented anyhow.

"Alright, let's put you under and get this started." The doctor announced and the surgical suite went into full lockdown to maintain the sterile environment.

What was supposed to be a six-hour procedure slowly stretched to twelve and then fourteen hours, and the entire Special Tactics Unit was gathered in concern for their long-lost executive officer.

"She will be fine won't she?" Ari whispered, looking for reassurance.

"I can read the minds of the surgical team. She will be fine, but they kept finding more and more damage that was partially healed inside her body and ended up doing a full conversion instead of a partial." Max answered while staring at the wall towards where she was laying.

Nico had woken up about an hour in, but with the damage she had taken, she was no longer capable of feeling pain, so she simply waited as they worked on her.

At the fifteen-hour mark, the doors finally opened and the exhausted third shift of conversion surgeons came out wiping sweat off their brows and removing their gear.

"It is done. We had to have the medical team make up an entirely new torso for her, as well as some additional structure, but everything tested well and responded as if it were a natural part of her body. She is sedated for the final round of unconscious functionality checks now. The neural links need to be double-checked before she tries to move on her own or it could cause an inability to correctly utilize the cyborg body." The lead doctor sighed, looking into the room with a mixture of pride and regret.

"I must warn you though, full conversions often cause a complete loss of System function. The only natural part of her body is her brain, and even that has been heavily altered to interact with the cyborg body. She might never pilot again."

With that, he walked away and left the officers of the Special Tactics unit to wait impatiently for her new body to update and reboot.

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