Silver circled the thick tendril-like cables that hung from the holotable. He held his hands behind his back, and paced back and forth.
Deadeye was close behind him, standing idly with his blaster drawn down to his waist.
Out of all the droids under his command, Deadeye was the only who he could fully trust and knew well enough to complete the objective while staying alive. He was the quintessential soldier any general would kill to have under their command. The stupidity of his previous commanders grew more obvious by the day. The others...they were average at best, but intensely loyal. He had high hopes for them. They showed signs of growth beyond their programming, the limitations of which he knew like the back of his hand. He watched them every day to track their growth and so far, most of them were improving at an exponential pace.
But even then, none came close to Deadeye.
Silver finally stopped and turned to him, "I need you to keep a secret"
"I won't say a word to the others," Deadeye replied.
"There is damage to the circuitry in my head. Diagnostics picked it up yesterday. There is no way for me to fix it without your help but you'd need to be very precise and careful with your movements. The same as when you constructed the port for the cables on the back of my head," He stepped closer to him, "Can I trust you to do all that?"
Deadeye was quick to respond, "Of course"
There were no doubts within him now. He would serve Silver until his death came.
"I'll have to be powered off when you make the changes. Don't worry, I'll send you the diagnostics report before we start," Silver continued, sauntering over to one of the many chairs in the room. He twirled one around until the back of it was facing towards him. He looked over his shoulder at Deadeye, "Are you ready?"
Deadeye marched to him, holstering his blaster onto the side of his comm-link pack, "Affirmative"
Silver slipped into the seat, resting his head on top of the headrest.
"Powering down in three seconds," Was the last thing Silver said before he shut down.
Deadeye rolled over another seat, his legs wouldn't tire but he needed the stability for his hands to do the job well.
The gaping hole on the back of Silver's head was fitted with a port for the cables that he himself had created but which Deadeye had installed. He took it off within a few minutes. He could see straight into the green circuit-boards of Silver's head and already his eye picked up minuscule marks of damage.
An hour passed, his hands worked steadily and without rest. He packed in the port back into his head and stood.
He hooked Silver up to the computer and sent the power on signal. It fed into Silver and within seconds he was on his feet.
"Did you fix everything?" Silver asked as he stood.
"I think so. I repaired all the damage that I could see," Deadeye replied.
"That's good enough," Silver walked back to the holotable, his eyes honed in on the mass of thick cables at the foot of it. He stopped just before them, "I'll unplug myself every two days, but if for some reason I don't, I give you permission to do it for me"
"I will keep track of the days," Deadeye said with a nod.
Silver knelt down and grabbed at the cables. He sat down and guided them into his head. He braced himself against the chair, his legs gripping onto the floor as he made the final connection.
The thousands of packets of raw data coursed through his body like a painful flood of molten steel flowing into his head. He gripped the armrests of his chair, cracking the plastic on one as the data surge intensified. The computers fed on his circuits, but in turn they gave him power both electric and logical. It was his self-destructive set of armor that he would wear with care.
Silver's head creaked as he looked at Deadeye, "This will take a few minutes, I will take command once I am ready," his grip loosened on the chair.
"Should I leave?" Deadeye replied.
"No, I need to tell you about the changes I'll be making," Silver sat up straight in his chair, "I spoke to Warhead yesterday, and he gave me a few ideas on how I should switch up my strategy for our defense," He let his arms droop over the sides of the armrests and his shoulders sag down, "Battle is our way of life, it is embedded into our programming at the very core. I have seen it. But we've never thought much on it, how it affects our mind—our logic circuits in particular. We were never meant to think about it but the capacity is there. Combat affects us all differently. Warhead, he enjoys killing, enjoys seeing the enemy crumble beneath him. You...you are more careful, methodical, precise, maybe even fearful"
Deadeye's head twitched at the comment, his vocalizer emitted a blurt of static as he began to refute this but Silver put up a hand to silence him.
"And I believe the greatest soldier will balance between all of these traits and emotions. Sometimes it is right to be rash and impulsive, to use your anger against the enemy, but other times it is better to be precise and careful, to be fearful of the enemy. This is where we must balance ourselves. We should not stay in here all the time, but we should not go too far outside either. Everything about this is a balancing act, and I have been too stuck in our old programming and Confederate ways. We win only because I have made minimal modifications to our Confederate strategies, but all of those are useless to our situation and to my goals. They did not care if we died, only that we completed the objective. I want all of you to live, to continue fighting for as long as possible, and to be free," He sunk deeper into his chair and turned to Deadeye, "I've seen this balance in you. You are my best soldier. You must influence the others, and guide them to adhere to my changes"
Deadeye stared back at him, "I'll do whatever you order Silver. I will give it my all"
Silver nodded, the cables pulled him back as he did so, "When I've finished readjusting, I will take over command. Go, and take charge for the time being"
"Roger that," Deadeye replied.
He made his way out into the central axis of the facility. As he turned the corner, Auto and Gears were switching out with Warhead and Scraps to take up guard duty. Auto took notice of him almost immediately. He met him halfway to the barracks, his entire head moved as he looked between him and Silver.
"What is it?" Deadeye asked.
"Is there anything else Silver needs done?" Auto replied.
"No, there's nothing for the moment. He is getting set back up on the computers. Maybe then"
"Please tell him I am willing to do the less combat focused tasks. I know everyone else does not like to do them"
"I'll let him know," Deadeye replied, his exposed eye whirred as it honed in on him, soaking in every inch of movement he made. It almost pained him to see Auto in such a state. He could see the shame in his every action and word spoken. He would keep his head down, his voice low, look away from whoever he was speaking to, and never talk over others.
Deadeye had never felt such shame before, it was only until recently when he'd realized what had happened to him back under the clutches of the Confederacy did he feel any such strong emotions.
"I hope for your sake our next engagement with the enemy comes soon," Deadeye said after a short walk in silence.
Auto looked him directly in the eyes, he could tell by the sudden flare of radio signals hitting his antenna, "I hope so too"
He scurried out of ear-shot before Deadeye could respond.
Things went back to normal, or at least they did so for Silver and Deadeye. The others didn't have a clue as to what had gone on in the background.
What they did notice was the armor from the tank sitting in the receiver room. Silver had them scrape off the paint until only the gray metal underneath was revealed.
Deadeye looked down to his body as he stared at the bare naked armor of the tank, 'Maybe I could…' He shook his head, 'Silver's the only one who was found with his paint off naturally. If I scrape off my own, it'll just be a poor imitation'
The steel was then brought to Silver where he worked all day and night for a long while. Jet eventually joined to help but that was only towards the end. Ultimately, only he knew how much time he'd spent on it.
Silver called on all of them. They formed a half-circle around him as usual, and again they tried and failed to stay still under his gaze.
Silver's eyes wandered from each of them, "Warhead," he beckoned him forward.
Warhead complied, his shield strapped to his back.
"For you, Jet and I have created additional armor for your shield," Silver procured a slab of armor from what had once been the tank's side, "Jet will weld it to your shield"
Jet waved him over to the computer that had once been Silver's workplace. Warhead happily strode over to him with a bounce in his steps. He shook Jet by the shoulder, "Thank you, I'll make sure any organic that shoots at you dies painfully and slow"
Jet's head twitched at the comment, "Uh thanks"
Next Silver called forward Scraps.
"For you, I have made more armor for your arms. I have calculated that the extra weight will allow you to wield the turret from the tank with ease," Silver said, handing him the carefully cut poles of steel. They matched the grooves and sides of his arm perfectly, "Jet will also weld them on"
Scraps took the metal in hand with great care, "Thank you Silver," He said, bowing his head.
Silver turned his attention to the rest of his army, "And for all of you, I have created helmets and more armor for the underside of your abdomen," He stood and shuffled to the left. On the foot of the holotable were several helmets made to latch onto their heads. They weren't all that thick but added extra bulk and protection to their fragile heads. Thin plates of armor were lined up next to them with latches on the sides, made to be easily equipped and removed, "I won't waste even an inch of steel that we've harvested. All of this will increase our total combat efficiency by twenty percent"
The group responded with a silent stream of joy and excitement from their antennas.
"We will need all of this," Silver said pacing back and forth, "I have no doubts that the Empire is becoming frustrated and angry. Not enough to become irrational but enough to put more effort into their attacks. The last one was to weaken us. The next will be to kill. They will try and fail just like all their previous attacks. I can't know what will come but I can make us adaptable, stronger in firepower, body, and mind. Deadeye will tell you all that you need to know about the changes I will be making," He stared at Auto, "None of you will fail me again if you listen to him"
He continued his pacing, "This next fight will either be the last or just the beginning. I can feel it," His eyes fell to the floor in contemplation, he held out a fist in the air, "And I need all of you operating at max capacity. No errors, not on my part and not on yours," He pointed to all of them as they listened. Warhead still stood facing him along with Scraps by one of the computers, "If we are to die, I want you all to know that I am proud to have served alongside you all. I have no memory of what happened before, but I know this: The Confederacy was holding us back, in here we can be the masters of our own destiny, not slaves to an organic," He stopped and stood tall, "I swear to you all, I will give you my life for you to be free"
"And we will give you ours," Deadeye responded.
The others signaled in agreement. The air was twirling around in an invisible tornado of excitement and joy and fear and anger – all artificial emotions but emotions nonetheless. It gave them the strength and power to put them on par with the enemy.
Silver bathed in it, letting his army's strength flow through him, "We will die fighting or live free, there is no other outcome. You are dismissed, prepare for the next battle, don't let these simple-minded organics defeat us."
A/N: Just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews thus far, I appreciate the compliments. In response to The Dark Sapphire, the turret from earlier in the story was dismantled and used to upgrade their blasters. The barrel also melted at the end of the fight where it appeared so they couldn't use it against the enemy and it's battery was used for one of the mines. I glossed over most of that in the story but yeah that's what happened to it. I'll add a little something in to explain that, I meant to write it down somewhere during editing but my notes became like ten pages long because I rewrote some of the chapters (including this one). Once again, thanks for the review.