The long trip to my cabin from the Science complex on Infinity was uneventful, aside from a stop in the mess. I ran into Majestic, apparently finished with whatever tasks were involved with bringing back an artifact. My entrance did not go unnoticed.

"Well, look who it is. Mr. 'I can take on all of Majestic by myself!' What are you, suicidal?" DeMarco was obviously looking for a fight. The others, however, didn't look as enthusiastic.

"No, DeMarco. I didn't volunteer, I got volunteered. This isn't a pride fight, Science wants a 'fair' test of some new equipment."

DeMarco perked up at the thought of new equipment. "If we beat you, does that mean that we get your new gadgets?" He had a look of greed in his eyes.

"No DeMarco, you get the satisfaction of knowing that the five of you beat one man and you get my respect. Got to work your way up to the respect of your peers somehow."

DeMarco got a bit red in the face, then turned back to glare at the rest of Majestic, who were chuckling at DeMarco's expense. I left them to go grab some food, and the rest of my meal was uneventful. As I walked back to my cabin though, Saria had a question.

"Why didn't you just fight him? You probably could have beat him, and the rest of his squad didn't look like they would have helped out."

"Yeah, while that may be true, it just would have caused more problems. Sometimes it's easier to just ignore the problem, or solve it with talking. Violence can lead to more problems then it solves."

"I guess that's true. Still would have liked to see you fight him though."

"There's plenty of time for that in three days. For now, best not to cause any problems."

When I got back to my cabin, I immediately noticed something that wasn't there before. It was a small pedestal, about waist high, like the ones that were on most starships. Most starships didn't have them installed in unimportant cabins though.

There was a note attached. It read: "For when you want to take your armor off. Better than just leaving the chip on the table." The note proved my suspicions. The pedestal was a holoprojector and AI storage unit.

"You wanna try it out?"

"Sure. I'm ready."

At her signal, I pulled the chip from the back of my skull. The odd feeling that was there since Dr. Connors put her chip in the back of my head faded instantly, and I knew I was alone in my head once again. I plugged the chip into the slot in the side of the pedestal, and after a slight delay, Saria's avatar appeared over the holoprojector.

"This is nice. The projector has access to your computer, so I'm not just stuck in here."

I turned my head slightly to look at the small desk next to the projector. The computer had some icon or something flashing on the screen. It wasn't the mail message, so I took it to be the remote access icon. I wasn't really sure. Spartans don't spend much time in their cabins, about three hours every two days, max. Most of us spent our time either in the War Games simulators, in the S-gym, or jogging around the ship.

Just then, the door slid open. Ralph, Jack, and Mike walked in. Suddenly the room got a lot more cramped. Jack was the first to talk, as always.

"Hey, saw you were back, and we decided to pop in. How was your visit with Science?"

"You know, the usual. Connors being Connors, the rest of Science quietly cowering in fear, if they even notice you."

Ralph gave a small snort at this. "Alright, pleasantries are over. What new tech did they give you?"

"Biggest change was a scanner put into the left palm. They want us to try to get data on artifacts too big to bring back to Infinity."

"What's the pedestal for?"

I turned to look at Mike. I was surprised he even noticed. He actually seemed a little annoyed that it was there. Then I realized. The pedestal was in his usual spot. He would stand there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed and head down. Now he was in the same pose, just in the back corner of the room.

"I was getting to that. The other major change was a thicker undersuit, adding a layer. That layer allows an AI to be in my armor, similar to the Master Chief and Cortana. Speaking of AIs, that's what the pedestal is for. Saria, if you would introduce yourself?"

Her avatar once again popped up over the pedestal. The rest of the squad seemed surprised. "Hello Ralph, Mike, Jack. It's good to finally meet you. Since I will be in Nick's armor, I will also be able to help out in the field. So play nice now." With that brief greeting, her avatar disappeared again. She was probably working on something else, but I could tell she was still listening.

"Well, that was ... unexpected." Jack was the first to break the ice, as always.

"Yeah. That was the best part of my visit with Science. In order to test how well we work together, they decided to put us up against Majestic."

"So? We've beat Majestic before. They weren't too hard." Count on Ralph to remember who we've beat in War Games.

"I know we have, but in this case, 'we' means Saria and I. Effectively five on one. Not exactly great odds."

"Still. Do it right, and with a bit of luck, you can do it."

"Thanks."

They could tell I was done talking, so after a little while longer, they left. The next couple days were a blur, and before I knew it, it was time to head down to the War Games simulators. Just hope I'm ready.

Shall I announce the results of the first vote? Sure, why not? The results are:

Gender: Female

Background: Spacer

Psyc Profile: War Hero