Only Human, part 14
#15 of Only Human- Archived
Authors note I've been putting a lot of thought in to it as of late.. And I've come to the conclusion that.. I've .. little desire to write the 'yiffy sub chapters', because over all they add nothing to the story. As such, I have decided that.. They may get posted as one-offs if I write them (with a reference to where they fall in time with the story.), but I'll not be holding up the main plot for this. I will also not be censoring the story when such occasions come up. And I can actually promise there will be some rather important scenes plot-development wise coming up within the next.. uh.. .. Oh hell, I have no idea exactly how many chapters I'll be writing between now and then. Just depends on what all I decides needs focus. /authors note * * * Tiera shifted uncomfortably, she hated dresses but that was all Loki had. The one she currently wore was one of the few with sleeves that Loki owned, a soft black synthetic fiber with no back and slit up the side to allow for mobility. The main problem with dresses though, was zero gravity, they seemed to develop a mind of their own when not constrained. And that's what Tiera was currently dealing with while waiting with the crew by the airlock. Thor and Aerix were both using mag boots, the rest though were free floating, and none were visibly armed. The airlock hissed open, admitting four wolves all wearing heavy combat armor and carrying a bolt rifle. The only thing that distinguished one from the rest was the squad commanders insignia. "By orders of the admiral," The commander said. "You are all under arrest. Your ship and all its contents are to be confiscated. You can either come peacefully or by force." "On what grounds?" Odin growled. "Orders were issued for you to return to the lunar port." The commander said. "We received no such transmission." Odin said. "Our long range radio has been on the fritz recently though. We were heading to get it repaired." "You intended to get a civilian craft repaired on a military station?" The commander asked. "We have a friend there." Tiera said. "Marv, runs hangar 3. Does some work for private parties on his off hours." "Alright." The commander said, nodding. "I'll let it slide. This time, I do, however need to still conduct a search of your ship." "Certainly." Odin said. "Might I ask what you're looking for?" "A group of fugitives slipped off the station." The commander said. "We're unsure what ship they escaped on." "Ahh. We're not in the business of smuggling fugitives here." Odin said. "But I understand you have a job to do, you are more than welcome to search the Valkyrie." "Lead on." The commander said. "I do wonder though, what is your business?" "Mostly trade runs between Europa and various military installations." Odin replied, leading the commander through the ship. Te rest of the crew followed behind, with the other three wolves following close behind them. "Good business, I take it?" The commander asked. "We do alright." Odin laughed. The search of the ship continued on without issue. The commander questioning Odin, Odin answering without thought like he was making idle small talk. Tiera almost believed he actually was just a trader. Without issue until after the first cargo hold was searched. After that, things got interesting. "If you'll open the other bay," The commander said, "We'll be out of your hair in just a few minutes." "That door is jammed." Odin said, "It closed on something about six months ago. No one has been able to open it since." "I see." The commander said, obviously not believing him. "Do you just waste that much space?" "No," Odin said. "We can still access it from the outside hatch." "I see." The commander said. "Sir," One of the other wolves began, examining the door. "He's lying. There are signs of this door opening recently. As well, I have two scents going in, but only one coming back out." "Open the door." The commander ordered, readying his rifle. "You can still make this easy." "I'll not open the door." Odin said with a smile. "And further, I am going to politely suggest that your men lower their weapons." "Yeah, sure." The commander growled. "You may have us outnumbered but we're better armed, armored and trained." "Armored, I'll give you." Odin said, remaining perfectly polite. "But armed and trained, I doubt. You see, you got remarkably lucky, or unlucky depending on how you want to look at it. "You stumbled on to the Asgard. I'm sure you've heard of us. I am Odin, captain, and this is my crew, Thor, Loki, Frekki, Gerri, Sleipnir and, Freja. I'm going to be blunt with you, the human you seek is in this cargo hold. "But, I can also guarantee this. If you do anything other than turn a blind eye and let us be on our way, death or worse is all that awaits your crew here." "A little cocky are we?" The commander asked with a laugh. "I guess it comes with the territory of being a pirate." "Not cocky at all." Odin smiled. "Valkyrie, seal all airlocks." "Yes, Odin." The ship replied, catching Tiera and the four wolves off guard. "Now you're cut off from reinforcements." Odin smiled. "Your crew over there won't perform a direct attack against us, because the orders said the human was to be taken alive at all costs, and I know they're listening to what's going on. "If you four try and fight us, you're all dead. I doubt you four could take Sleipnir alone. Your crew might be able to disable our ship, board and wipe us out.. But that won't do you any good. "Now you're considering saying you'll let us go, and then reporting the human on board, and where we're heading. Do that, death will be the least of your worries. Your Admiral, Kilin is a cruel bastard who does not take kindly to failure. "But, there's one option that doesn't end badly for you. Report the ship searched and clean, get back to your normal life. If they discovery the human by other means, then all you'll deal with is a reprimand for not searching the ship thoroughly enough. "Would you rather die, with the deaths of your crew men on your head as well. Or just turn away, and pretend nothing happened. You're just doing your job, I know. Is it worth dying for?" "To bring justice to the assassin of the former admiral, yes." The commander growled, showing no sign of fear or hesitation. His men, however, were somewhat less enthusiastic. "You're looking in the wrong place for that." Tiera said. "Darkmoon was not assassinated by Nathan, the human. Think about it, why would they order him taken alive 'at all costs' if that were his crime? They would order him shot on sight. Let alone the sheer improbability of a human being able to slip in to Lunar Command, get past hundreds of soldiers and dozens of guard posts to be able to reach the admiral, assassinate him, and then get back out.. without even being seen by anyone." "... True." The commander said. "Men, stand down. We're not paid enough to die for this political bullshit." The squad lowered their rifles, nodding, while the commander removed his helmet and extended a hand to Odin. "Captain, thank you for your cooperation." He said with a wry smile. "And I'm sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. Rest assured though, if we cross paths again over something surrounded by less politics, I'll not be so easily dissuaded." "I would expect no less, Captain Firestorm." Odin nodded. * * * Prior to the transmission from Captain Firestorm, Nathan had been sitting quietly in the medical bay, lost in thought and pretending to be oblivious to the pair of wolves watching him. After the announcement the two rose and approached. The one carrying a rail gun on his back growling slightly. "Don't see why Odin doesn't just hand you over, human." Which earned him a smack upside the head from the other. "Truth be told," Nathan said with a sigh, rising. "I don't know either." "But, Odin has his reasons." The one with the rail gun said, nodding to the other. "So, we'll do as he says. I am Gerri, this is my brother, Frekki. Come with us." "Does everyone have names taken from Nordic mythology?" Nathan asked, following the two. "Yes, more or less." Gerri responded. "They're all assumed names, except for Odin. We're the Asgard." "Asgard, huh?" Nathan said, chuckling. "I thought they were little greys." "Huh?" Gerri asked, puzzled. ".. Never mind." Nathan said. "Outdated reference even in my time." "So the rumors are true?" Gerri asked. "You're really a survivor from before the war?" "Yep." Nathan nodded. "Born 2037, set out on a 50 year deep space mission 2061, declared dead when it hadn't returned by 2136.. It would seem they were a little hasty to declare me dead though, don't you think?" "Why would you take such a mission?" Gerri asked. "Fifty years is a long time to be away from friends or family." "It is, yeah." Nathan said. "I wasn't given a choice. They said I was a necessity for the mission, because I knew the ship inside and out. I left behind a wife and two kids. "The idea of the mission though.. it was fascinating. And despite how everything went, I'd do it all over again. Other than I would recheck the ship first. I was one of the first humans to set foot on a planet outside of our solar system. "I watched twin suns set. Saw life like nothing on Earth. We found a planet that.. if things had gone right, we could have colonized. That was worth it in the end." "It sounds like it." Gerri said, nodding as he opened the door to one of the two cargo bays. "Wait in here. Careful, it's the weapons locker. There are some dangerous toys in there." "I think it will be one of the safest places I've been since coming out of cryogenic stasis." Nathan said with a laugh walking in to the locker. The weapons locker was well more than just that. Nathan judged it to be about 40 foot square. The far wall from the door was a large hatch, which he guessed lead to the outside of the ship. To his left were racks of weapons, more than he guessed the entire crew of the ship could use. As well as metal crates that reminded him of ammunition boxes, most were labeled 'caustic' or 'explosive'. To his right, rows of various suits, an assortment of armor and hazard suits. The wall with the door also held a decent sized workbench that a bolt rifle presently sat on in pieces. Directly in front of him though, was what caught his attention. It was a land vehicle. It looked nothing like the idea of a futuristic vehicle. It looked more like a Humvee on steroids. Six wheels, a heavily armored, angular body. The front windshield was large and clear, Nathan wondered idly what it was made out of, but knew it had to be something solid, judging by the armor on the rest of the vehicle. It held a pair of independently rotating gun turrets to either side of the hood. Nathan wasn't exactly sure what kind of gun though. As well there was a rather large gatlin gun mounted on the top. It appeared the sides, behind the cab rolled up in to the roof, or perhaps down in to the frame. The rear opened as a hatch. "Gravity will be shutting off in one minute." A quite stereotypical warning voice alerted, distracting Nathan from the APC. "Please make sure all unattended items are secured." Nathan took a moment to take stock, wondering what direction the ship rotated, and he was rewarded with that information as he looked at the floor. Arrows pointed towards one wall with 'rotation' written under them. The laws of centrifugal force meant that if the rotation came to a sudden stop, one would be thrown towards that wall. So the best place to be would be against that wall, or another equivalent secure place. Like the side of the APC. "Gravity shutting off in 45 seconds." The voice alerted, and then began a countdown. As the ship counted down, Nathan noticed it was coming to a gradual stop on the rotation, initially his weight was pushed against the APC, but then his weight gradually reduced until he was floating free. Now, he just had to wait for the ship to be searched, and hope it went well. Out of curiosity, and as a way to kill time, he slid under the APC. Looking it over. It was all wheel drive, it appeared to have independent steering on each wheel. That was about all he could tell due to the armored bottom. Although, he gathered it didn't run on petroleum. A switch caught his eye, near one wheel with a frame around it to protect it from flying debris. He flipped it and the machine hummed to life. The armor plating on the bottom sliding forward, giving him full access to the undercarriage. He figured it ran on hydrogen, judging at least by the two large gas cylinders, and how readily available hydrogen is. It was also remarkably clean and looked to be well maintained. Despite this though, and the fact that he had no knowledge of the vehicle, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with it. So he took to trying to figure the machine out. He completely lost track of the passage of time, learning everything he could about the vehicle without access to a manual on it, or the ability to take it apart. Until, at least, he was brought back to reality by the ship announcing that gravity would be normalizing and then counting down much the same as it had for the loss of gravity. Once gravity had normalized he slid out from under the APC and idly checked the cab doors, which were unlocked. He climbed in to the cab, examining the interior. Inside it was nothing like anything of his era, it's steering wheel, if it could be called that, looked like a video game controller. It had enough buttons and switches to rival any aircraft cockpit he'd ever seen, as well as several LCD, or something similar, screens. One thing was for sure though, he wanted one. It put him back in his element and made him feel more at ease but at the same time it presented him with a challenge. A machine he didn't know. His attention was pulled away from the APC when the door in to the cargo bay opened, admitting Frekki and Gerri (though for his life he couldn't remember which was which) neither of them looking very happy. "What are you doing in the Crawler?" Gerri growled as Nathan slid out of the cab. "Er, sorry?" Nathan said. "I was just looking it over. I was curious as to how it worked to be honest." ".. Well, currently it doesn't." Gerri said, shaking his head. "It would be appreciated though if you could refrain from poking around in other places you don't belong and wouldn't understand anyways." "Wouldn't understand, huh?" Nathan snapped. "I tell you what, if you have spec sheets on that beast, I bet I can fix it." "Right, what makes you thi-" Gerri began, but was cut short by Frekki resting one hand on his shoulder, followed by a rapid series of hand gestures Nathan could only assume was some form of sign language. "Frekki has been working on the thing for months and can't fix it. He's curious as to if you can really do it, and what makes you so confident you can. But we'll ask Odin, it's his Crawler, so his call." "It's hard to explain." Nathan said. "Call it a sixth sense. I've always had a knack for machines. I have one favor to ask you though, do you know where Tiera would be?" "Yeah." Gerri responded. "I'll take you to her." * * * Pretty much as soon as the PDD crew left, Tiera was back in Loki's quarters, stripping out of the dress and putting her uniform back on. She didn't like spending so much time in her uniform, but she also wasn't exactly comfortable enough aboard the Valkyrie to go without. "I was so hoping for a good fight." Loki said with a sigh, sitting on her bed casually watching Tiera change. "But that's Odin. Always tries to solve things nonviolently." "In this case, that's a good thing." Tiera replied. "If we'd killed them, we would have found ourselves facing down an entire battle fleet when we reached the Jump Pad." "While I think you're underestimating Valkyrie..." Loki said. "I see your point." "She can take out a battle fleet?" Tiera asked, making no effort to hide the disbelief in her voice. "Maybe." Loki replied. "She's a smart ship, can continue to fight even after her entire crew is gone. One word from Odin, Thor or myself and she would have destroyed the attached PDD ship. Her on board defenses would have activated, and we'd have all been armed." "Impressive." Tiera said. "So then how did a pirate crew come in to possession of such a ship?" "Odin inherited it from his father." Loki replied. "That explains a lot." Tiera chuckled. "Well, if you want a story.." Loki began. "This ship is actually pre-war. It was commissioned by an independently wealthy family of humans. They wanted to get off of Earth, but didn't want to be tied to any one celestial body, I personally think they had been like major crime lords or something. She was nowhere near as well armed as she is today, but she was still built to be able to fight if needed, as even before the war their had been instances of piracy. "This family included a pack of tigers, as well. Odin isn't sure what kind of association it was, his thought is they were about equivalent to guard dogs. After the war, things got rough and it was pretty well kill or be killed. So they resorted to piracy. "Thus the original Asgard was formed. It didn't take long for the humans to get killed. The tigers kept it up though. Became one of the more notorious crews out there. About fifty years later, things had calmed down. The Asgard realized they had more than enough to comfortably live off of, so they retired. "Skip ahead a little over two hundred years. The Valkyrie has been sitting dormant in a hanger, unused and disrepair. Odin inherits it from his father and immediately begins to restore her. When he gets her flight ready and applies for flight authorization for her from the PDD, they do some research, find out she used to be a pirate ship and attempt to use that as grounds to seize her. "Odin refuses, and gets branded a pirate himself. So, he did the only thing he could do. Lived up to their expectations. The beauty of a smart ship is it only needs a small crew." "Interesting." Tiera said. "What of the rest of you, how'd you end up part of the crew?" "Thor was a friend of Odin's. Helped with a lot of the restoration." Loki replied. "Myself, overall it's a long story for another time. Short form is, I stowed away on the right ship, I guess. "Frekki and Gerri were disowned by their family, Odin picked them up because he needed a mechanic." "And I'm guessing the Asgardian names are all assumed?" Tiera asked. "Otherwise that would be an odd coincidence." "All but one." Loki nodded. "Odin is his real name. Although Loki may as well be mine." "Sorry to interrupt, Loki." Valkyrie's mechanical voice stated. "But Gerri and a guest are at the door." "So, what are you waiting for?" Loki replied. "Let him in." "Yes, Loki." The ship replied as the door slid open to reveal Gerri and Nathan on the other side. "I had to ask, seeing that you had a guest." "If I'm interrupting something, I can come back later." Nathan said. "Nothing important." Loki replied. "Can I help you with something?" "I'd been hoping to talk to Tiera." Nathan said. "If she even wants to see me." "Well then by all means, come in." Loki said, rising. Not even bothering to see Tiera's reaction to it. "Gerri, we need to check ammunition stocks, don't we?" Gerri stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, but wasn't given a chance to object before Loki grabbed his arm and pulled him away, the door closing behind the two to leave Nathan and Tiera alone in the room. "Er.. that was odd." Nathan said, eying the door. "Yeah. A little." Tiera replied coldly. "What did you need?" "To apologize." Nathan said after a moments hesitation. "You've done so much for me. I don't know where I'd be without you right now. All I've done to repay your kindness has been to be an ass and try to push you away. I've said things I didn't mean and tried to hurt you.. I know after all I've said and done, it probably seems meaningless, but I am sorry." Tiera stared at him in silence for a moment. She wanted to be angry, wanted to push him away. She wanted to make him feel the way he'd made her feel. Most of all, she wasn't going to let herself be upset, or at least show it. All of her thoughts finally blurted out in a single word. "Why?" "Er?" Nathan blinked. ".. That's something I wasn't expecting. I started thinking things through. Looking at recent events, and realized just how much I need you right now." "But.. why apologize now?" Tiera asked. "Because I can't go back in time and stop myself from making an ass of myself." Nathan said. "And, why would I wait until tomorrow?" "It just seems odd." Tiera said, shaking her head. "I don't know what to say then, Tiera." Nathan replied. "But.. I haven't been myself. I don't like being an asshole. I don't like hurting people, especially not my friends. And you and Aerix, you're the only friends I have." "Then why did you?" "I wanted to push you away." Nathan said with a sigh. "I didn't want you getting hurt because of me. I just.. didn't stop and think about how much that would hurt you." "Then... I just want you to answer me one question." Tiera said. "I need to know though, that you will answer me completely honestly." "That's never a good sign." Nathan said, but then nodded. "But I will answer you as honestly as I am capable of." Tiera hesitated for a moment, wondering if she really wanted his answer. "How do you feel about me?" "That, Tiera, is a hard question." Nathan said. "I've been asking myself the same thing. I'm afraid, fascinated, somewhat confused. I do have feelings for you, but I honestly can't tell if they're real, or spawned by the fear and stress of recent events, and the fact that you're one of the few people who has actually been nice to me." He gave her a slightly cockeyed smile. "I cannot deny though, you are attractive even though you're not human. Which that in and of itself is something that gives me pause. I don't know how to feel about the fact that I am attracted to a member of another species. Though, I do consider you my equal. Pardon the slightly odd statement given the context but you're no less human than I." "I don't find it all that odd." Tiera said. "And I thank you for that. But right now, I need to think." "Yeah. I can understand that." Nathan replied, heading for the door. "And Tiera? ... Thank you for everything." * * * Nathan couldn't figure out if he felt better or worse after talking to Tiera. All he really knew is he had to get that off his chest. Now, he was quietly drifting through the ship lost in thought, nowhere to go and nothing to do. "You must be Nathan." The voice caught Nathan by surprise, bringing him back to reality. He looked up to see a large one-eyed tiger standing before him. "Unless there is another human aboard my ship." "I find that rather unlikely." Nathan replied. "Since by all accounts, I am the last one. .. And I died about four hundred years ago, officially. But yes, I am Nathan." "Well, it's good to actually meet the cargo I'm risking my crew for." The tiger replied. "I am Odin. Captain of this ship." "Then I suppose I should thank you for the transport." Nathan said. "About that.." Odin said. "I've been told that you seem to believe that you can repair the Crawler?" "I know I can." Nathan replied. "That's what I like to hear." Odin said, producing a small device that reminded Nathan something of a cell phone. "This contains all the documentation available on the Crawler, it should be more than enough. I do have a proposition for you... a wager, if you will. We'll be touching down on the jump pad in about twenty four hours. If you can have the Crawler running by then, you'll have your transport to Earth." "And if I can't?" Nathan asked. "I think that the ego-crushing defeat will be enough." Odin said with a chuckle. "I'll not fail the task." Nathan said. "I accept your challenge. Though I do have one question, how did you know I was heading towards Earth?" "Why else would a wanted man be heading towards the Jump Pad?" Odin asked, handing the device containing the crawler documentation to Nathan. "Good point, I suppose." "Valkyrie, start a twenty four hour countdown. Alert Nathan and I at the twelve, six, and one hour marks. Make the countdown audible at ten minutes." "Yes, Odin." The ship replied. "Good luck." Odin said, clapping Nathan on the back and walking away. "Thanks." Nathan muttered, looking at the device he held. There was one visible button on it, so he pushed it. The device folded open, forming small keyboard and holographic screen. He ran through pages of documentation, wondering for a moment if he had gotten in over his head. After a moment he decided the best course of action was to look at them when he could compare schematics to the real thing. "Valkyrie?" Nathan asked a thought striking him as he headed for the weapons locker. "Yes, Nathan?" The ship replied. "Cool." Nathan said. "Can you give me the current time on that countdown?" "Twenty three hours, fifty seven minutes and thirty six seconds. Would you like me to update you more often?" "No, thank you." Nathan said. "A question, if I may though. How advanced is your AI?" "Highly." The ship replied. "While I am an old model, built before World War Three, I was created with a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence unit capable of learning, reasoning, and to a limited extent imagining. There were very few of such Artificial Intelligence units created, due to a fear that we would overthrow humanity. The technology to produce Artificial Intelligence units of my caliber was lost in the war though." "Ironic," Nathan said. "Throughout history, we were always afraid machines would overthrow us. So instead we produced artificial living organisms, that did overthrow us." "Human kind destroyed itself." "That may be so." Nathan replied. "But, three hundred years is an awful short amount of time for a species with as much ingenuity as humans to go extinct. The process had to be sped along by something." "True." The ship replied. "There was an extremely heavy anti-human sentiment amongst most species." "I can't really say as I blame them, though." Nathan said with a sigh. "We deserved it, really. We created a new race and treated them like machines. Expendable, built to serve a purpose." "Do you then condone punishing an entire species, for the crimes of some of them?" "No, but I do tend to think humanity needed to get its ass kicked." Nathan said, then quite suddenly changed the subject. "By the way, am I going the right way for the weapons locker?" "While there is no wrong way," The ship replied. "You are taking the long way. It will, however, be quicker for you to continue on your current path as opposed to turning around." "Thank you." Nathan replied. "And thank you for the conversation." "I think it is I who should thank you." The ship replied. "It is rare for anyone to take the time to actually talk to me." "Why?" "Because I am a machine." "That's no excuse." Nathan chuckled. "Well, if I get the Crawler running, I am sure we'll have more time to talk on the way to Earth." "Then I wish you the best of luck repairing it." The ship said, opening the door to the weapons locker. "Is there anything further I can do for you." "Do you have any music?" Nathan asked, opening back up the manual for the Crawler. The first step was to learn precisely how the beast worked, then he should be able to fix it. "I am sorry, but that was considered irrelevant materials and purged during a routine system maintenance." The ship replied. "However, I should be able to obtain some for you, what genre would you like?" "Metal." Nathan replied. "I don't care what era. So long as it's fast and loud." "Fast, loud music is not conductive to concentration. Perhaps classical?" "I'll take your recommendation in to consideration." Nathan laughed. "In the mean time, metal will do." "One moment then." * * *
And so ends chapter 14! 15 is well on it's way due to how much writing I've gotten done recently. :)