“It’s Nathan!” Lana exclaimed.

The pod opened, revealing the smiling, yet tired looking young man.

“Hello,” he said weakly. “Did we win?”

Nori and Bulco exchanged astonished looks.

“Oh, god, yes!” Lana beamed. “It was brilliant, Nathan. We swooped down from the sky, and Unity latched onto that ugly Broodmother with her legs, then she opened her mouth and wham!” She banged her fist into her palm. “We melted almost her entire head off and that was that.”

The young Technomancer winced at the mental image. “Good,” he said simply. He glanced guiltily at the Gunner station. All signs of damage had already been scrubbed off.

“Don’t think about it,” Nori said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was.” He looked down. “Unity kept calling me, but I was scared. Too afraid of what it would do to me ...” He swallowed hard. “I was wrong.”

“What happened to you in there, Nathan?” Lana asked meekly.

The young man glanced up at his companions then looked down again. “Ever since the Calamity,” he said in a subdued voice, “I could feel the Tec inside me, trying to change me. It got worse every time we leveled up. They kept wanting to mess with my mind. I didn't understand why. I thought they were trying to corrupt me, turn me into a Warped. So I kept resisting them—which also meant sabotaging my bond with Unity. But seeing Noah die …” His voice faltered. “I can’t let people die because I’m afraid. So I acquiesced. I let the Tec do what they were supposed to and completed my connection with Unity. Along the way, they fixed my mind.” He looked up at his friends, meeting their eyes. "Unity healed me. We're bonded, now and forever."

Bulco shook his head. “I got to admit, kid, I’m still getting used to you being able to talk.” He stepped toward the young man and clasped his shoulder. “But it’s damn good having you back and hearing your voice.”

“Likewise,” Nori said, stepping forward and clasping Nathan’s other shoulder.

Lana stood back, beaming.

“So can you activate that Alter Mode again if we need it?” the Engineer asked. “It’ll be damn handy to be able to shoot that big beam weapon when things get dicey again.”

Nathan nodded. “Now that the bond is complete, it can be activated at will, but it’s just a fancy drilling bit. It’s not … not really meant for war.”

Nori’s console beeped. “We might have to test that one out soon,” she said grimly as the old library building appeared in the distance. The Inthidlon scout ship was hovering just in front of it.

“Damn,” Bulco said as he took in the structure’s destroyed front doors. “The blue fucker attacked my men.”

Unity closed in the distance in seconds, then touched down gently next to the other spacecraft.