There was a bit of shoving and leaning to glimpse the AI, supposedly this ship was getting one of the good ones. Frankly, Allison never cared for them, especially after the accident. Her life had lost the only thing outside of the military that had ever given her real focus so her career had been geared into overdrive.

It wasn't that she'd forgotten her past, you don't lose a husband so shortly after marrying them and walk away without scars. It was that she'd had to learn how to move on; and she had. She'd become an exemplary soldier if one who had managed to avoid long runs on the bigger ships. It had always been Leo's dream to work with the AI that ran things like this. He'd said he could perfect them, make them even more useful by integrating them directly into items soldiers could use.

She had never had much use for the AIs after she lost him, but this time running into a standard ships contingent had her damn near dropping her rucksack.

"Alpha?" She shouldered her way from the rear of the group forward. The little AI looked like a generic suit of armor but she knew that voice. She knew the attitude behind it too, it was exactly the way he got when he knew he was the smartest guy in the room and he was going to have to slow it down for the rest.

She faltered and stepped closer still. "Leo?"