The machine hadn't spoken [i]a word.[/i]

It was silent being brought onto the ship, silent as it viewed every compartment and room with monk-like secrecy. When called to the meeting room and informed to listen to a cryptic message, it made no quips or responses. It doubted the notion of even a single member surviving. The message was most likely on loop as a distress to draw in more ships to their doom. It was a simple trap and they were to fall in like a mouse hunting cheese. It had taken one of the most recluse areas of the ships to call 'home': The cargo bay. Stowing itself in a more dimly lit realm of eight by five by four. Affixing its feet into the floor and shutting power down to its optic, it became a statue, running numbers and calculations in its computational matrix.

It had taken a liking to feeling the 'heartbeat' of the ship, the steady humming flow of power. As if struck by lightning, the machine powered on the optic and began moving, around the time the Monroe jumped into hyperdrive. "Calculating ETA." It spoke lowly, the first words it had ever made. 
"Maintaining current speed without delays; one day, two hours, seventeen minutes and forty nine seconds." It logged in an obscure memory bank. "T8NG0, encode ship overall cyber-defense software in bit-code. Transmit via physical link or external copy." It commanded, assuming it had better fill its role upon the ship. The machine rotated all four wrist joints like it was nervous, actually just verifying that they all still worked. It had been under shackles for months before being released here. Even small amounts of humidity from prison cells could make rust with time. It knew T8NG0 extensively. It was hard to miss AI's in ships, especially when it required an AI core for piloting orders. The machine could feel its presence as the power flowing to the room shifted to accommodate the AI viewing its contents.

[i][color=ed1c24]Create sub-folder, begin log... Extract stolen dossiers: Error, encryption key required. Error, partial memory dump recorded. Error, encryption key lockout virus detected: Isolating... Purging.[/color][/i]

It had seemed that the Committee had several contingencies in place. Nexus had not thought to take anything from the encryption area. It would be forced to actually.. [b]Speak[/b] with these people. How miserable. The machine lurched to a stop immediately, just entering the Hangar. It would have appeared like it struck a wall. [i][color=ed1c24]Recovery in progress. Scanning. . . . Unencrypted data recovered. Summarizing...
 Logging stations, races and years aboard Monroe.[/color][/i]

It would have to manually go to each crew-mates area of work and log information, a task too tedious to perform during an monitored jump into unknown space. With seamless movements, it maneuvered itself in the complete opposite direction down the ramp.

"T8NG0." It commanded, making a gentle leap over the hand rail to land with a rather harsh bang on an unoccupied platform. "Access to AI Core would provide additional resources. We would be more efficient in defending ship-wide systems against attack, offering additional tactics and situational awareness ourselves. Proposition created." It stated more than asked, although it preferred it that way. Speaking direct to another machine felt much more natural. Harboring its shell back into the secluded area it called 'home', it prepared to wait out the jump to the S.O.S.

____________________________________________________________

Neglecting to actually secure its feet into the metal paneling this time, it was torn from the ground and sent stumbling into the cargo door, roughly smashing its shoulders into the steel and leaving two dents behind. "Repairs later, T8NG0, provide sit-rep on current cruiser condition. We will move to control opposition craft systems." It stated, borrowing the opposing ships transmitters to invade their power grid personally. Wireless infiltration was much more difficult than physical, meaning that even though it could place itself inside and get a view, it would take minutes to properly access anything important. Rooting its feet to the ground in preparation for evasive maneuvers, it diverted most of its power to flooding one of the enemy ships, a randomly selected assault-class frigate, with random directives and continuous power-fluctuations. Anyone viewing the opposition, would see one ship list off slightly to one side, pointing a little away from the Monroe before firing its primary weapon and thrusting backwards slightly. It was as if the crew had gotten drunk.

Of course this was corrected readily by the ships engineer, as power fluctuations were locked out of the machines command, but that frigate was temporarily out of the fight. Rather than leave its own ship defenseless, it diverted a few processing cores to focus their attention in Nexus' body, monitoring the power-filled hum of the ship ready to counter if need be.

[i][color=ed1c24]Attempting to breach enemy ship weapon controls; processing. . . ETA: 5 minutes for total, 3 minutes for partial.[/color][/i]