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his eyes.
    “Do it,” he growled. Sprite rebooted the firmware and watched the
patch kick in. It went in smoothly and the implants rebooted. After a moment
they ran through POST checks and then signaled all clear.
    “Done,” Sprite replied sounding smug. “The visual problem was a
bit of grit in the shutter Proteus cleaned out and there was a software bug.
I've fixed the bug; Proteus took care of the contamination.”
    “Thanks,” the tiger growled.
    Irons watched as the AI ran through the tiger, doing what they
could. Neither were medical AI so they didn't have much to go off of, just the
firmware and drivers in the tiger's implants. Still they were cleaning him up
and repairing a great deal of the damage.
    “We can't do anything for the leg, it's a simple spring
prosthetic,” Proteus reported to both the admiral and the tiger as both AI
withdrew. “You need to see a dentist about the abscessed tooth and a doctor
about the arthritis. A good dermatologist could help with the scaring and
mange,” it reported.
    “It's okay, I've learned to live with it,” Nohar growled, flexing
his claws on his left hand paw and then flicking away a piece of dirt. Irons
nodded.
    “I've got more advanced models for both legs,” Irons replied.
    “Thank you,” Nohar said, slowly opening his eyes. His eyelids
flickered a few times as he blinked. Irons could see the artificial lens zoom
in and out. He nodded.
    “For a fellow soldier and a sleeper, no problem. Anytime,” Irons
replied.
    “I'm not a soldier,” Nohar replied, sounding almost angry. “Not
anymore anyway,” he said bitterly as Irons withdrew his hand.
    “If you change your mind something can be done about that and your
implants sergeant,” Irons replied. Nohar stared at him. “I've been reforming
the Federation and the military with people like you. I can give you a voucher
and you can get your implants rebuilt or replaced with full cloned parts in
Pyrax.”
    “Why?” Nohar growled. He'd heard something about Irons. He'd been
tempted to go to Pyrax but it was a space colony. He just knew he'd go stark
raving nuts trapped in a ship let alone a space station.
    “We need experienced people. People who know how it's done and can
show this new generation how to get it done despite the cost,” the admiral
replied quietly. “You heard about the pirates?” Nohar and Hank nodded.
    “Hell man, who hasn't?” Hank asked.
    “Well, they are a bit more than we or anyone knew about, a lot
more. A couple of years ago the Carib Queen came in to Pyrax screaming about a
pirate fleet chasing it. I managed to gather some volunteers and together we
salvaged some derelict warships. We had just enough time to get the ships
sorted out before we had to bust up a small pirate fleet at the Agnosta-Pyrax
jump point. You may have heard about it?” Both Neo's nodded. The event had
happened a few years ago and had already become a legend. “We found out the
pirates are from Horath.”
    Hank's eyes went wide again. “Horath!” he spat.
    “Ah, you've heard of them huh?” Irons asked, smiling slightly at
that reaction.
    “Who hasn't?” the bartender rumbled from across the room. Irons
looked his way and then nodded. “Bunch of racist fagots,” the gorilla growled,
showing a curled tooth.
    “Right,” Irons replied. His voice instinctively picked up to make
the pitch to the room at large. “I started a seed, a small navy and marine
detachment in Pyrax and Agnosta. They will turn those star systems into a black
hole for the pirates while building up the tech back to what it was before the
war,” Irons replied.
    “But to do that... the keys...” Hank mused, eyes flickering as he
thought furiously.
    Irons nodded. “Which they have, or at least some of them, things
are a lot better in Pyrax than ever before. They're working on expanding but
they need help.”
    “Help,” Nohar said, not sounding like he fully believed his ears.
    Irons nodded. “Help. People like you, who know