Friends with enemy

Chapter 5:   Friends with enemy 

 

 

 

"What?!" screamed Cap. "You just led us behind a rock where our enemy can annihilate us and we wouldn't even be able to return fire, not speaking of calling for help. Plus, you are asking us to help him?! Are you out of your mind?!"  

This was Cap's reaction after hearing the quick Virus' backstory and his question about them helping him. 

So much about not overreacting, thought Rasp. "He is not bad at all, you just didn't meet him yet. He is a really good guy. I mean, he was presented by our nation as a enemy. He just wanted answers why everything happened to  him and what happened in the years he was frozen. All the killing was about the anger that was boiling inside of him for all eternity. Please, just talk to him!" Rasp was urging Cap into a meeting with Virus. 

Cap looked at Rasp, "Why do you want us to help him so much, what happened to you down there? What made you think he was a good guy? You were always that kind of person that didn't give a damn about who's good and who's bad, you would just beat the one they told you is the bad and you would do it without questions." 

"When I was down there, I was an inch from death. My leg was broken, I was under a collapsed mech, and without any hope that you could find me. But then he got back for me. He only shot me in self defense. I was the one that first started hunting him. And if he didn't deflect my shot I would be the one standing above him, and, knowing me, I would probably finish the job. He could do that too, but he didn't, he showed me that its more harder to give life than to take it. Now, please, speak to him." Cap was looking at her puzzled, she never saw her like that before. Rasp and Cap knew each other since they were kids, Rasp was the childish one and didn't care about anything, but Cap was the one that had to think about everything and take care about them both. She knew that she can't convince Rasp to do something different, and she knew that the only thing she can do is to listen to her. 

"Alright. I will speak to him." 

"What?! He is our enemy!" yelled Light. "We should kill him and not talk to him!" 

Cap ignored her, "Where does he want us to meet?", she asked. "On his bridge, don't worry, I'll go with you, he won't harm us."  answered Rasp. 

Rasp walked out of the door and Cap went with her. They approached the airlock and went through it. 

Cap was on unknown ship and she was skeptical and scared, but she was doing this for Rasp. 

Rasp led her through a few doors and up some stairs. Finally, they arrived at the bridge. 

They walked in and Cap saw him for the first time. Virus was sitting on the captains chair and, when they walking in, he smiled.  
"Welcome! You must be Anabel, am I right?" he asked. "Yes, and you are Virus? I thought that you were more careful about who you let in your surroundings. I still have my sidearm and, from what I see, you don’t have yours." Cap replied. 

Virus smiled, "Look better." He clapped his hands and a shield appeared in front of him. Two anti-personnel defensive turrets raised from the floor and aimed towards them. 

"You told me you wont harm us!" Rasp said. "Of course I wont. I am the man of honor and I would never harm you. I was just showing my defenses." 

From the look of his turrets, Cap figured out that she can't do anything to him. But having that found, surprisingly made her calmer. Because she knew that he can kill her within a second I she couldn't even pull out her gun. If he wanted them dead, they would be. 

She then focused on the reason she was there. To speak with him. She looked at him better and noticed something. 

"Why do you look so young? You look like a teenager." she asked. "Ah, that's because my body stopped ageing, due to some of the experiments they've done on me. Have Rasp not tell you anything?" 

"Oh I did, but in short cuts, cause I didn't have much time. But you could tell her everything." said Rasp. 

And so it was. Virus told Cap everything he told Rasp but a lot faster and shorter. 

"The only thing I want is to find out what happened to me and why did it happen to me. And I want to go back to my planet. I remember that I had a sister, maybe I can find her family. My family." he looked through the space and seemed far away, probably thinking about Earth and his family. 

Cap felt a little bit of guilt. She put herself in his position. To be took away from your family, your planet as a kid. To be forced doing various experiments that could have killed you easily. To be frozen for hundreds of years. That was horrible and she could imagine what he was feeling. 

"What do you want to do?" she asked him. "I want to find why I was chosen to be a test dummy. Was it random or was I picked on purpose. But for that will need to go to one city with a large repair bay where I can install a new part for my warp drive." he answered. 

Cap, after listening and speaking with him for a while finally answered. 

"Listen. I can't believe I'm saying this, but... we will go with you. More like a 'guards' or something. Protecting others from you. And when you finish your mission, I will let you to see your planet and then I'll lead you to Drow Empire to be judged for your crimes." Cap said to Virus. He smiled to that and replied, "As you wish, I just want answers and I want to see my sister's bloodline. Then you can do whatever you want with me." 

They made agreement and Cap and Rasp went back to their ship and told the others what they did. 

"We to team up with him? Are you crazy? He could kill us any moment!" yelled Light. 

"He could kill Rasp all the time she was near him and he could kill us right now, but he doesn't want that." said Cap. 

"I don’t give a damn, if you think this is right, I'll follow you." said Pilot to Cap. 

"I'm also with you." added Crazy. 

"Arrgh! You are all crazy! Who made me go to this mission with you!" said Light. 

Cap was really annoyed and really wanted to let Light go back to their planet, but she couldn't. She didn't have another ship to send Light back. Then, a ridicules idea fell on her mind. 

"You know what, I've had enough of you! Rasp, you said that Virus is a man of honor and won't harm us if he gave us his word. We will transfer to Virus' ship and Light can take this one and set it to autopilot back to home. You annoyed me since the beginning of this mission!" yelled Cap. 

Light stood there in silence, shocked. Then she made an angry grin and said, "Fine! You go there and get killed, I didn't like anyone of you anyway!" 

"Everyone, get your stuff ready and transfer to Virus' ship. Pilot, set this ships AI to get Light back home. This is an order!" yelled Cap, and added really silently. "I really hope that Rasp is right and he wont harm us..." 

Everyone except Light, set into motion and soon enough they were at Virus' ship, boarding it. 

"We will have to share rooms, there are only two rooms on this ship. I'll show you where everything is. Cap, I think you should go to the bridge. We will join you later." said Rasp. 

Cap nodded and went to the bridge.  

She entered through the doors and she was behind the captain. Virus turned around and said "Oh, hey there. Uhm, why have you suddenly became so calm with me? You wanted to kill me a day ago." 

"Well, I saw what you have and I saw that you can kill us with a push of a button. So, if you wanted us dead, we would be dead long time ago. And, also, I really trust Rasp." Cap replied. 

"Rasp. She is different from you all. She trusted me so much that she came with me to my ship and even made you come aboard, too. She didn't even think that I could kill you instantly and that maybe this is a trap."  Cap suddenly started sweating and thought that, maybe, Light was right, he just wanted to kill them. But then Virus turned around with a small smile and said. "But I won't. That kind of trust must not be tested. If you want me to be your ally, I will be. And I won't harm you. You can relax and trust me. I'm not a man I used to be and I will try to get better. At least if the situation doesn't require me to kill."  

Cap was still not relaxed, but she thought that if Rasp trusts him, she can too. Virus then added, 

"We will go to this bay, it's a pirate bay, but if you are careful enough, you won't get killed." 

He turned around and showed a small asteroid on the map on one of the screens. "Why a pirate bay? Why can't we go to some normal bay? Safe one." -asked Cap. 

"Because safe bays of yours don't have parts I need. Cause they are illegal in most of nations. I must warn you, there will be dangerous stuff out there and some of you could get hurt. I'll try to defend you as much as I can, but I can't guarantee you anything. Do you understand?" said Virus. 

"Of course I do. Still, we are the best squad in our military, that's why we were sent to... find you." she added awkwardly, but Virus just laughed. "If that's so, then I could take your whole planet by myself." 

"Just kidding, you aren't bad.", he added after the look of Caps face. 

"I would like to meet all of you, can you please call them to come to the bridge?" Virus asked. 

Cap nodded and left the bridge. She went down to the rooms where other member where arguing how will they all get in one room, because Rasp forgot that one room is Virus'. Pilot was still not there, she was making a path for Light to get home.  

When Cap showed up they all went quiet and waited for her word. 

"Virus wants all of us to get to the bridge so he can meet all of us in person." she said. "I almost want to get back to our ship, I don't like this." added Crazy. 

"Don't worry, he wont harm us. I don't know if he said this to Cap, but he can't stand hurting a woman. That's why he got back to save me when my mech got damaged." said Rasp. 

"He didn't mention that. Well if that is true, then we don't have to be afraid." replied Cap with weak smile. "Alright, lets get to the bridge." 

Rasp, Crazy and Cap got up to the bridge. Virus was waiting for them. He was in his captain's chair. 

"Welcome! My name is Virus. I am the captain of this ship, and the guy you needed to kill." On those words everyone shivered. He continued, "I took my time and got some information on all of you." 

He waved his hand and everyone's military records showed up on screens around them. 

"Rasp, support gunner and mech pilot. Isn't a team player, prefers solo, never had a serious relationship.  Crazy, best hacker in Drows Empire, not good in hand to hand combat nor close quarters fights, likes medium range. Cap, medium ranged gunner, experienced leader and an engineer, biological and robotical. By the way, I just learned everything about you from your military network, but still I can't get anything about your Empress, it's like she is trying to hide herself. Do you know anything about it?" 

 "How did you get info on us so fast? And no, I have no idea about our Empress." answered Cap. 

"He must've got something of ours, like a satellite or a ship, so he can connect via it to our system." said Crazy. 

"Indeed. You are as smart as it says here. I have one of yours satellites which I grabbed while passing near it. I don't know where it went, but that doesn't matter, I have it." Virus replied. 

"Attention. Unauthorized heat signature detected near the airlock." said the computer. 

"That must be your fourth member. Pilot. Rasp can u go get her? We wouldn't like her to get sprayed by some of my security systems, would we?" Virus added. 

Rasp literally ran out of the bridge and got to Pilot. They joined everyone else on the bridge and Virus said, "You must be Pilot." Every monitor was now showing Pilot's image and her history. 

"Parents died when you were young, just like my, but in my case I died. You can say It like that. Excellent pilot and high rank in air combat. Well I won't separate you from your job. You will be our pilot, too. I will give you access to total mobility control over this ship and you will fly it. Is that alright?" 
Pilot agreed and was trying to hide it, but she was excited from her new position. She could drive an unknown ship. She got bored of all the same Drows ships and really wanted to try something new. She just nodded. 

"Ehm, what about the rooms? We only have two of them." asked Rasp. 

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I will sleep in the hangar and two of you can get my room. I will make it look just like the other, unused one." Virus answered. "Now, let me show you what we will do." 

Galactic map appeared behind him on the biggest screen.  
"First, we will go to the pirates bay and get upgrades and weapons. Then we will go to the main Tarren republic's communication center, where we will see if they know something about Earth and me. I can't find Earth and its galaxy anywhere. It's really weird. Then, if they know where Earth is, we will go and see it, and then you can take me to Drows Empire and, probably give me death punishment. I would like to see that." he added with a smile on his face. 

"Your ship just warp out if you wanted to know." he added. "Well, it looks like Light's gone." said Rasp with a sad face.  "She annoyed me, I think she was sent with us to keep an eye on us. Or something like that." replied Cap.  

"Pilot, you can stay here and my AI will teach you how to pilot this ship. I will go and empty my room and move to the hangar. Rest of you are dismissed." said Virus. 

Everyone left the bridge except Pilot. When leaving, Virus added: "You can just start talking to the AI, he responds like a normal man." 

"Ehm, hi?" said, unsurely, Pilot. "Hello. Welcome to the Black Star. I am VirOS, ship's AI. I will teach you how to pilot this spacecraft. Would you please take a seat?" said the computer. A big pilots chair rotated to meet Pilot, so she can sit. It wasn't a normal chair. Nothing like that. When Pilot sat on it, it rotated to its previous location. It didn't have a control board or anything like that. It had places where pilot could place his hands in till the elbow.  

"Please put your hands in the command ports and we will start the simulation." said VirOS. She did as it asked. As soon as she put her hands in, a hologram appeared around a meter from her and went all around her. It showed everything, from engine usage to ships weight and engine propulsion. It had damage indicators, weaponry, systems and subsystems of the ship and lots of other small information. 

"Starting simulation" said the AI. Everything went black, like the ship went out of power. Then, only the glass, showing to outside lightened, but it wasn't showing outside. At least not the outside Pilot was looking a minute ago.  

"Welcome to the ship piloting tutorial. Specify your knowledge about piloting..." asked AI. 

"Uh, Mastery Pilot in Drows Ranks." answered Pilot. "User highly experienced. Skipping initial training. Switching to flying." 

All of a sudden, Pilot couldn't feel her hands. It felt like they were cut off. She tried to move them but instead her arms moving, the whole ship moved. 

"What the heck?" said surprisingly pilot. 

"Instead using old ways of piloting spacecraft, using a command tech like this, where pilot IS the ship proved that pilots have more mobility and awareness of the ship and its position in any time. This also decreased pilots response time to combat scenarios and it increased the pilots skills and fighting maneuvers." explained AI.  

Pilot was a little bit unsecure about the new way of flying, but at the same time she was excited for something new. New holograms appeared around her and the ship she was in appeared in front of her as one of the new holograms. It showed the ship in different perspective and projected everything around it. Pilot was amazed. 

 

While pilot was learning about the new ship, Rasp and Crazy moved into Rasps old room and Cap with pilot will move into Virus' room. 

Virus cleaned his room and made it look just like Rasps. Unused. 

"Can we talk?" asked Virus Cap. He led her to the hangar where his mech was resting. 

"Listen. There is something I have to tell you. I don't think this will mean anything but I'll tell you something nobody knows about me." Virus started talking. Cap stepped one foot back and looked at him suspiciously. 

"Oh, don't worry. Nothing too serious. You know everything I went through when I was young. All the experiments." Cap nodded. He continued. "Well, it gave me... uhm... multiple personality disorder, let say it like that. It’s a Earths term for someone that has, well, two or more personalities in one body, mind. But, you see, my case is different. Usually, the persons that have this disorder are mentally sick, and it's not like literally there are two mind in one body. Usually, they forger about things they just done, or think someone else did it.In my case, I, do, literally have two minds in one body, and I do think I'm a bit crazy." Cap moved one step backwards. 

"But it's more like this. Imagine two brothers playing a computer. The older one is almost all the time on the computer, and the younger one is watching. But he knows everything that older brother does and plays. Sometimes, the older brother will let the younger one play, and he will have different play style and almost everything different. It is like that. I can hear and feel my younger brother like he is speaking with me over the comms and he is always with me. I know it sounds crazy and weird but it is how it is. And, I think if I didn't mention this now, you wouldn't even notice. Please don't tell the others, I don't want to scare them. I told you because I thought you will understand as a biological engineer and scientist." Virus stopped. Cap was looking at him, not knowing how to understand this. She knew that that can happened as a disorder, but in a case like this, it was very weird. But she chose to bare with him. 

"As you said, other you can play anytime you let him. Is that right? Mind if I... speak to him?" she asked him, with a small smile, to comfort him. She never heard about a case like this and wanted to see how he would react to this request. 

He looked at her and looked away. When he looked back to her she knew something had changed. His eyes went from beautiful blue to scary and alien greed. He looked at her and smiled. 

"You should see your face now, it's quite funny." 

"Virus?" she asked slowly. "Yes, and no. Virus is, as he stated the first one to appear. The older brother. That is, I must admit, a really good example. I do look at him like a brother." he answered. 

"What is the difference between you two?" asked Cap. "He is more normal." he said that with a smile.  

"I'm a bit crazier and more homicidal. And he has that thing about woman. He never hurt a girl. I, personally, don't give a damn about that." 

"Mind if I speak to other one now, the one I spoke a moment ago?" asked Cap. 

"Yeah, of course. And, by the way, while I'm still talking, he likes one of your...!" Virus' own hand slapped his mouth shut. He blinked and his eyes went back to blue. 

"Idiot! Shut the heck up!" Virus' face went red and, when Cap saw that, hers also. 

Awkward silence. 

But then, Virus started laughing. "Let check on Pilot and, if she's ready, get going." 

Cap nodded and they, both, went to the bridge. 

They entered the bridge and they found Pilot siting in a pilots chair all sweaty. 

"Anything wrong?" asked Virus. "The combat simulations are so real. I can feel every hit on the ship and they are really scary and really exhausting." 

"Are you ready to fly this ship? VirOS, set up our destination. Give user Pilot total administration of our moving systems and subsystems. I trust you wont screw anything up, alright?" He asked Pilot. She nodded and got ready to drive. 

"Whoa! Everything went black!" she said. "You thought it was only in a simulation? It is always like that, so you don't have to focus on things around you. Now get us to that bay." 

"Yes, sir!" she said instinctively and at the same moment bit her tongue. She didn't know how Cap will react to her not listening her but Virus. "Sorry Cap." she added very silently 

Both Virus and Cap noticed her mistake and Cap added. "It is Virus' ship and he is captain here. You haven't made any mistakes." 

 Virus was just standing there. No one, ever, called him 'sir'. He felt like someone in high ranks. Like a real captain. 

He liked it.

Author's Note

New chapter here! Whoo!
Thanks for the reviews! Really means a lot! :)