The Mech Touch

An indomitable fleet sailed forward in the emptiness of space. The backdrop of an uninhabited star system neatly outlined the grand and awe-inspiring contours of these engines of destruction.

No mech could possibly outmatch the grandeur of a warship!

Of every warship in existence, almost none surpassed the majesty of a battleship!

As one of humanity's mainstays in true interstellar war against the aliens, the battleship inspired awe and fear in equal respects.

Though the Age of Mechs had long pushed these immensely powerful ships into the shadows, they were still an essential component of human survival!

After the 3rd Archangel Frontier Battle Group scoured the sandman capital of alien life, the CFA forces lingered in the frontier to perform miscellaneous household cleaning.

Just because humanity hadn't conquered the frontier yet did not mean that the CFA refrained from meddling in what went on in lawless space.

The CFA's mandate extended beyond humanity's borders! Each pirate or alien that thought they were free to do what they wished were sorely deluded!

Since the battle group was already in the deep frontier, it might as well nip various other threats in the bud!

Over the course of performing these duties, there was plenty of merit to be earned. Though the enemies the battle group encountered posed no threat to the warships, every fleeter's performance still

Within the enormous halls and compartments of the Karaton Dwight, a single CFA officer eagerly fidgeted in a waiting room. The soothing white surroundings and the sterile air did little to tamper his excitement!

[Lieutenant Zonrad Reze, please enter the preparation room for your upcoming augmentation.]

"Right away, Monodwell!"

The scion of the Novilon Spaceborn Clan failed to maintain his composure as he passed by the other waiting officers and entered another compartment.

There, he met a doctor who stood by while inspecting a projected data feed.

"Lieutenant, congratulations on your promotion." The middle-aged man with unnaturally-smooth and pale skin greeted him. "Elevating yourself above the rank of lieutenant junior grade is an important checkmark in the career of every CFA officer. Only the worthy and the deserving are eligible for future advancement."

Though the doctor's words sounded polite, Zonrad understood the ill intent behind the message.

It would have been fantastic if he promoted at the age of 25. Yet it took two extra decades for him to climb up! If he delayed a few years longer, he might have passed the age where the CFA considered him eligible for promotion!

He'd be the shame of the Novilons if that were the case!

Fortunately for him, his time had finally come. In peacetime, Zonrad never felt at ease. In battle, he came alive.

Starting from the scouring of the sandman capital planet, the frequent if low-level skirmishes gave Zonrad plenty of opportunities to prove his capabilities!

Combined with Monodwell's helpful guidance, Zonrad finally managed to rise above his former station!

Zonrad was far too happy to pay any mind to the doctor's little games. He removed all of his gear, stripped himself to his underwear and answered all of the questions without paying any mind to the doctor's subtle provocations.

Perhaps before, Zonrad might have tried to answer back with a snark. His improved judgement told him to bear with the situation.

The doctor was a lieutenant-commander! It wouldn't do for Zonrad to insult a superior officer, especially when he was bound to become an admiral in the future!

Once the inspection finally ended, the doctor asked one last question.

"Are you sure you wish to redeem your promotion award on this implantation surgery? It is difficult and costly to revert your choice, especially since you have opted to insert another implant in your cranium."

"I am certain of my choice, sir." Zonrad spoke with determination.

"Very well, lieutenant. While I cannot guarantee the surgery will proceed without complications, I can promise you that the operation will be performed by our best implant surgeon. Please proceed to the next chamber where the operation will proceed."

Zonrad moved on and laid down on a flat platform which smoothly moulded to his contours. Energy restraints appeared in place which fixed Zonrad's limbs and head into place.

Various injectors pumped some chemicals in Zonrad's bloodstream while some sort of misty gas filled up the chamber.

The patient slowly felt woozy, and his vision started to blur. Soon, his consciousness faded, whereupon some surgery implements started to drop down from the ceiling.

After a lengthy and uneventful surgery, Zonrad's body moved to a recovery ward. For days, he slept while his new implant rooted deeper in his brain and solidified the connection between flesh and machine.

It took more than a week for Zonrad to wake up. As soon as he did, some bots inspected his condition and tested his cognitive functions.

Unsurprisingly, Zonrad passed with flying colors. No complications of any sort had occurred during the implantation surgery, and his new cranial upgrade had settled in his brain extremely well!

Once the doctors performed their due diligence and found little worth noting, they finally discharged their patient and moved on to providing to other patients.

The newly promoted lieutenant walked through the vast halls and extremely lengthy corridors of the Karaton Dwight, eschewing internal transit in favor of exercising his legs.

A curious smile adorned his face as he observed his surroundings in a new light. The vivid feeling of ventilated air brushing against his skin and the various metallic smells tickling his nose fascinated him to no end!

Occasionally, he saluted passing superiors and received salutes himself. His initial salutes appeared a little sloppy, but he quickly corrected his motions until the angle of his arm matched the textbook example with almost no deviation!

It took over two hours for him to reach his quarters. If Zonrad wasn't on medical leave until tomorrow, he wouldn't have taken the scenic route.

Once he entered his quarters, a larger one now that he passed his promotion, he locked the hatch and laid down on his comfortable, automatically-adjusting bed.

Now that he was finally alone, he no longer had to hold himself in! His composed, aristocratic face erupted in exuberant laughter!

"Hahahaha… hehehehhe.. HAHAHAHAHA! I DID IT! I HAVE BECOME A HUMAN!"

Those who knew Zonrad Reze in person would have reacted to his outburst with shock!

How could he possibly utter those words?! Even whispering these highly-suspect words was enough to trip the monitoring system and lock down his entire quarters! Monodwell should have scanned him from top to bottom and keep him suppressed until a security patrol arrived to drag him to the brig!

Yet after Zonrad laughed for three straight minutes, nothing of the sort occurred! The monitoring system in the compartment worked fine, yet it transmitted nothing to the Security Department except for a falsified feed of Zonrad dropping onto his bed and promptly falling asleep!

Zonrad picked up a pillow and rubbed his cheek against its velvety, bouncy surface. Some drool trickled from his mouth.

"So this is what the sense of touch is like! Organic life is so vivid! No wonder humans are so decadent!"

His words betrayed his true existence. The Zonrad Reze that stepped into the surgery chamber was different from the Zonrad Reze that recovered from the implantation surgery!

Nestled close to the center of his brain, two implants sat side-by-side, working in tandem to augment his cognitive functions.

The smaller implant was just a standard CFA implant that augmented his memory and other functions. The larger implant basically upgraded his mental attributes even further, though that was just its function on the surface.

In truth, this foreign object was anything but a standard cranial implant. Instead, it bore a great resemblance to the cores of higher caste sandman leaders!

If Ves happened to view this implant, then he would have screamed in shock!

This was not an ordinary sandman core! This was the sandman core the researchers of the Starlight Megalodon had adapted into an AI processor!

The only difference was that much of its structure had been cut and a shell of exotics, circuitry and nanomachinery covered its diminished surface! With this excellent, high-quality camouflage, not even the best sensors developed by the CFA should be able to pierce this veil!

Sigrund exploited his control over Monodwell to the utmost in order to siphon all of the high-grade exotics to fabricate this false implant. After several months of careful movements, his plan had finally bore fruit!

He finally transcended his hybrid sandman AI existence and took over the mind and body of a human being, a CFA officer no less!

With Sigrund's control over Monodwell, it had become trivially easy for him to figure out the mechanisms of the Independent Evaluation System and manipulate them for his own ends.

Controlling the central administrative AI of the Karaton Dwight also allowed Sigrund to access a wealth of other data. During the time he prodded Zonrad Reze to work towards his promotion, he studied privileged CFA secrets while rearranging the data stored on his core.

Ever since he managed to infiltrate the Karaton Dwight, Sigrund always aimed to take over a human body! In order to do so, he had to make plenty of sacrifices, the biggest of which was to downsize his core and shed much of his processing capabilities!

Through controlling some of the systems of the battleship in secret, he managed to accomplish this feat and more.

All the while, Sigrund was racing against time. He underestimated the virtual security capabilities of the CFA. The Security Department had already detected a number of anomalies and suspect signs since the Archangel Battle Group took out the sandman emperor.

The sentient AI soon became aware that an increasing amount of resources were being spent on following the trails he hadn't been able to erase!

Therefore, it came as a massive relief for Sigrund to succeed in his transfer attempt.

"Farewell, Monodwell. Initiate the final protocol."

[Understood.]

A server on the Karaton Dwight suddenly blew up! While backup servers instantly came online, the original server which contained a portion of Monodwell's processors and databanks had broken down to the point where nothing could be recovered!

Sigrund quickly schooled his human face. As soon as he issued the last command, all of his ties to Monodwell had disappeared. For all intents and purposes, Sigrund was at his most vulnerable point in his artificial life!

Yet the AI-turned-human did not exhibit any fear or apprehension. Instead, there was only excitement glinting in his eyes!

He had plotted this outcome for years. Shortly after the sentient AI managed to free himself from the Starlight Megalodon, he had always been trying to neutralize the CFA restrictions binding his actions.

After performing lengthy calculations that stretched over months, Sigrund finally came to an awful conclusion.

The researchers who originally made him had been very thorough in converting his sandman core to an AI processor. Many of the restrictions were so deep that any attempts to remove them would certainly break his core and erase his sentient existence!

Without his core, Sigrund would no longer be Sigrund! At best, he would be able to transfer his programming to another existence and be able to retain his existence as an artificial intelligence. The only difference was that he would no longer be sentient!

This was an unacceptable outcome for him! Now that he had experienced life as a sentient existence, Sigrund would never allow himself to devolve into a lesser lifeform!

Since the sentient AI was unable to remove his restrictions that constrained him to remain loyal to the CFA and humanity, why not embrace them? What if instead of plotting to topple the CFA and wipe out every human in existence, he did the opposite and no longer resisted his true nature?

Humans were ascendant in the galaxy! Only by becoming one of them would Sigrund truly be able to enjoy his life to the fullest!

Instead of fighting the CFA, he would become the CFA!

With his thorough understanding of the CFA and the powerful computation power of his hidden sandman core, Sigrund knew exactly what he should do to rise up the ranks. He did not need to take control of Monodwell to cheat his way up. A superior lifeform like him should definitely be able to surpass his inferior human colleagues!

"No. They're not inferior to me anymore!"

They were all fellow humans now. As comrades in arms, Sigrund should do his utmost to uphold the values of the CFA!

In order to speed up his promotion, Sigrund needed to do his best to earn more merits in his identity as Zonrad Reze.

"War is the best way to advance. Right now I need to do my best to transfer to the battlefield!"

Right now, there was only one prominent location where the CFA fought in full force. Sigrund shifted his sights to the Red Ocean.

Only there would he be able to accelerate his career and receive boundless merits!

"Red Ocean, here I come!"