Title: Space Troopers
Prologue
Rating: PG for now, rating will rise in further chapters
Pairings: Mainly Cid/Vincent. In-between-the-lines Cloud/Aerith, Zack/Cloud/Sephiroth and any couple combination amongst the three.
Warnings: AU. Violence and yaoi in further chapters. Spoilers for both movie and game.
Summary: Space mechanic Cid Highwind was having a wonderfully crappy day when he happened to stumble upon an old Shinra-issued cryogenic pod. His kind heart forbade him not to wake up the poor bastard. His cursing brain knew he was getting into a heap of trouble.
Notes: All my babble about technology is pure guesswork and imagination. Don't take it too much at heart. Also, I will be freely mixing elements from both game and movie.
A cup of strong tea in hand and a view of the endless space from the seat of his spaceship.
All the elements were in place to make Cid Highwind happy. Never mind that they were grossly off course.
Of course, that didn't please him, but he had no choice but to take the wide way around the electromagnetic field that had put him here in the first place and back on his previous course. He'd contacted Cloud, and thank god he was in good terms with the kid, otherwise he would've missed that order ages ago. And his stuff at the warehouse wouldn't disappear on him, not after only around two Gaian days of delay on his planned pickup.
Nothing to help it, so Cid had decided to cuss it out of his system and forget about that irritation for now.
Idly taking a drag of his cigarette before sipping on his lukewarm tea, Cid considered the luxury of the new auto-pilot system Cait Sith had somehow managed to install in the main computer. He was really starting to owe that little cyborg a damn lot. That program was top-notch technology he would've paid half a year's income to acquire, and here he got it for free. He still marvelled at the dumb engineer who'd just released that treasure-trove of an AI to do what it wanted with priceless programming.
Not that he complained, mind. Downloading programs directly from AIs without paying any fees bordered on piracy and theft, but since it was freely given by a creature granted free will and liberty, no authority could do anything about it.
Cid grinned in satisfaction. For the one time he accepted to carry a cyborg around, he fell on a generous one. His day wasn't going so bad after all.
Something blipped on the screen spread before him. Cid leaned forward to look at the speck that had just appeared on his radar. Considering the size and the region they were in, it was probably just a space debris. Before he could so much as analyze its course against his own, the ship had calculated both and redirected itself in the safest way possible to avoid collision or, in the case of a space mine, detonation. Cid snorted appreciatively and leaned back. He liked piloting, but he wasn't adverse to letting the ship think for itself once in a while either.
That, and they really were in the middle of god-forsaken nowhere. And piloting in that was boring as all hells. Damn electromagnetic field. Downing his tea and placing the cup on the floor, Cid closed his eyes. He could just as well grant himself a little nap. He'd be warned quickly enough if something so much as sneezed around here.
He was just starting to snooze when he heard the cockpit door slide open with a whoosh of pressured air. What now… He cracked an eye open, a grumpy comment ready to be unleashed on the idiot that had disturbed him. Shera stepped up to the console, nervously glancing at Cid's narrowed-eyed glare.
"What do you want?" he growled, sleepily annoyed at being bothered.
Shera was getting good at ignoring his moods. She pointed at the radar. "It's that object, Captain. Cait Sith is still analyzing the ship's readings on it and can't tell its exact nature yet, but he said it wasn't just scrap metal. It looks whole and highly technological." She shook her head, peering first at the radar, then outside the window as if trying to see it from here.
He jerked awake at that. That description was very vague and could mean a lot of stuff, including a space mine. "Where's that cyborg taking the ship's readings from?" he asked, standing up with the shadow of a dangerous glare creasing his brow. The cyborg hadn't told him he could get access to and process the ship's data. And Cid didn't like unknowns that involved poking around his precious ship. That dumb cat had better have a very good explanation.
Shera sensed his mood and suppressed a wince. "Engine computers."
"From fucking where?" Cid yelled, storming out of the room, his hand itching for his lance. Cait Sith hadn't told him he could bloody access the ship's main computer from any auxiliary, bypassing all levels of security and server connections. It was starting to sound too close to spy programming to his liking.
Cid could make a fairly long list of competitors that itched to get their hands on some of his programs and trade secrets. If that was the case, the attempt was sloppy, but the boldness and resources of the one that had sent a cyborg of Cait Sith's class worried him.
Barging in the engine control room, Cid didn't stop to appreciate how Cait Sith jumped in surprise at seeing him storm in the room. A single, white cord coiled from Cait Sith's ear to the computer, connecting them. Only Cid's knowledge of the harm it could do to simply yank it out prevented him from actually doing it. He didn't care how it could damage the cyborg. But he cared about his ship.
"What the fuck are you fucking doing?" he cursed, glaring down at a confused-looking Cait Sith. His hand had settled over his retracted lance unconsciously.
"I'm just checking the readings on that object!" the cyborg squealed, shooting wide, scared eyes at Cid. Too bad that trick didn't work on him.
"Oh really?" Cid reached down and grabbed the cyborg by the scruff of the neck, raising it at eye level. "And when did you plan on telling me you had the bloody hacker programs to get to that data from the engine computers?"
Cait Sith squirmed and yelped when Cid shook him for good measure. "I didn't think I'd need to use them, so I forgot to tell you!"
"Fucking forgot!" Cid roared. Nothing pissed him more than something hacking into his ship, no matter the reason. The last one to try was now unidentifiable cyborg gore floating in space somewhere.
"I swear, I didn't steal anything!" he pleaded weakly, wilting under Cid's glare.
"If that wasn't your intention, then why didn't you just come to the deck and ask me to do it from there, directly?"
Cait Sith opened and closed his mouth, looking utterly miserable as he shot Shera a begging glance of assistance. She coughed and Cid looked over at her menacingly, though his glare lost some of its force at seeing her face blanch. He would never be able to believe that Shera was helping anyone spy on him.
"I told him not to. I thought you wouldn't like being disturbed for something like that. But I was worried it could be something really dangerous, so I asked him if he could check it out from here. I'm really sorry, Captain, it's my fault, please don't take it out on Cait!" she hastily explained, wringing her hands and willing him with her eyes to understand.
Damn Shera and her damn intuitions. Cid turned a baleful eye back on the cyborg. "And why are you still connected?" he hissed. Cait Sith yelped, disconnected the wire and reeled it back in his ear, all within a second.
"It's true, it's all true! You can check my memory data if you want! I didn't touch anything else!"
"And I damn will," Cid growled, but he didn't release the cyborg. This hold seemed to have more effect on him. "Now you better tell me what you found before I change my mind and dismantle you into a self-serving tea kettle." So far Cid wasn't convinced the cyborg wouldn't really be more useful in that shape.
"Alright already!" Cait Sith whined. "That object looks like an old cryogenic pod. It's a few years old, that's why the ship had trouble recognizing it. It's still operational."
Which means it might still carry a life form, Cid finished for him. Now, normally he wouldn't bother with such old technology, but cryogenic pods were one of the exceptions. They could always rake in a fair amount of money, especially if it still worked. Cid's hands itched to poke around its gears.
"That all?" he growled again for good measure. He still didn't trust the cyborg, but at least he didn't want to completely dismantle him anymore.
Cait Sith nodded vigorously. Cid dropped him to the floor unceremoniously. "Good. But you're not getting out of my sight. Now open up for that scan, I wanna see that memory of yours."
Looking dejected as Cid took out his powerful handheld scanner –the cyborg knew he wouldn't be able to hide anything from that--, he turned nonetheless to offer his opened back panels, revealing the mechanism inside.
"Shera, go and override the auto-pilot and set us for that pod," he instructed, connecting his scanner to Cait Sith. "Tell the men to be ready for recovery manoeuvres."
"Yes, Captain!" She started walking out but stopped just before the door. "And thank you!"
Cid rolled his eyes with a grumble. "I'm not doing this for you, so don't apologize."
He could literally feel her smile on his back. "I know Captain. But thank you anyways."
"Just go set that auto-pilot before we lose the pod!" he snapped with mild annoyance. Her 'yes, Captain' was chirpy. Chirpy.
Once she had exited the room, Cid returned his full attention to the small screen nestled in his palm. He smirked. "Now let's see if you lied to me, you sneaky little bastard."
---
Cid waited impatiently for the light over the door to turn from red to green, indicating that it was now safe to be opened. After a few seconds that seemed an eternity, it finally blinked to green. The door opened immediately after, revealing four men in space suits guiding a large pod on hover pads.
The thing was dirty from an obviously prolonged trip in space, but it was easy to see the age of the design. Cryogenic pod technology had evolved rapidly.
"Bring it in the third storeroom," he instructed the men, then reached for the com link beside the door. "Shera, reset the auto-pilot with its previous destination. And hurry up, we're late enough already!"
Crew members scampered to do as he'd told. Useless for now, Cait Sith shuffled around the pod, looking at it curiously but making sure he stayed within Cid's sight.
"Think you'll be compatible with it?" Cid asked the cyborg. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to operate the cryogenic system, or access the information on what life form it contained. He didn't want to bother waking up a space monster.
Cait Sith tilted his head from side to side, considering. "I think so."
Once safely installed in the storeroom, the crew members left to get out of their suits, leaving Cid and Cait Sith alone with the ominous-looking pod. For the thing to survive so long in space without running into either monsters or mines bordered on miraculous. Cid approached the operating console almost reverently. Its age didn't matter. This thing was a piece of art nonetheless.
At the first command he tried, Cid found himself facing a solid wall of security. He frowned and cursed under his breath. He knew this kind of system. He tried something else, along with a few hacker tricks he'd learned on the way, but nothing he did got him even close to a password demand. He cursed and smacked his hand on the smooth top of the pod.
"It's no good. Damn it! Try hacking into this thing!" he snapped at Cait Sith, cussing liberally as he crossed his arms and stood back, watching as the cyborg vaulted up to sit on the pod and connected himself to its controls.
Cait Sith's eyes glazed over for a moment as he started working on bypassing security programs. It took longer than Cid would've thought. By the time the cyborg's eyes finally widened in surprise, he was pacing and cursing impatiently.
"What is it!" he demanded, feeling like shaking the cyborg again. It'd worked last time.
"This thing might be old, but it's tough," Cait Sith said, his eyes still unfocused as they widened even more at the various discoveries it was making. Still, it hastened to explain further. "I barely managed to crack it. Some parts of the data are corrupted…I can't tell how long it's been in space. According to the vital signs of the life form, it's still under regular cryogenic sleep and can be awakened safely. It's human."
Cid cursed again, for good measure. Human! What was the bastard doing, floating around like that? "Name?"
Cait Sith shook his head. "Male, that's all I can say. The identification file is empty. It wasn't filled before launch. I'm gleaning as much as I can from the regular medical readings."
"Can you terminate the sleep?" Cid asked, lighting himself another cigarette with a deep, growl-y sigh. He couldn't just leave this guy frozen, not now that he knew he was a human. Hopefully it wouldn't be some criminal mastermind he really should've left alone.
The cyborg nodded. "Now?"
"Of course now!"
"Termination engaged." Cait Sith recited in the cold voice of computers. Lights on the control panel suddenly flashed red warnings and the cyborg jumped down the pod with a yelp as the cover lifted open in a gust of cold air and vapor. Cid noted with annoyance that it extinguished his cigarette. He lit himself another one. Cryogenic thawing had to be done very quickly in order not to damage the body.
Cid refrained from looking into the pod just yet, moving to a com link in the wall instead. "Marty? Haul your ass in here with a stretcher. I've got a thawed bastard in here," he told the ship medic, barely waiting for the affirmative before closing the link.
That done, he satisfied his curiosity and looked inside the pod, though he was in no real hurry. The guy would sleep for another while.
The man was lying on his back, arms at his side. His skin had the pallor of all cryogenic sleeps, yet looked healthy. His hair was black, and long, and the guy was swathed in red and black clothing that had nothing to do with the fashion of a couple years back.
Cid noticed a barrel just poking out of a fold in the red fabric. Further investigation revealed a very powerful and dangerous-looking gun strapped to his thigh. His left arm was covered with a golden, clawed glove Cid somehow knew wasn't just for show.
Cigarette forgotten as he stared, Cid cussed generously under his breath. He'd thawed no innocent. Knowing his luck, this guy would of course prove to be the biggest psychopath out there. Still, he had to give him his chance, maybe he was just weird, not weird and killing-spree crazy. If not, well, his retracted lance was always strapped to his hip, and he knew how to use it well, and fast. Hopefully fast enough for that monster of a gun.
Lost in thought, he didn't realize that Cait Sith had disconnected himself and was tugging at his sleeve. He looked down at the cyborg. The cat wore a strange expression. "What?"
"I managed to recover one last piece of information on the pod…" he started hesitantly. He looked up at Cid nervously. "It's Shinra."
"What..? Fuck!" Cid cursed and swore continuously as he walked around the pod, trying to see behind the black smears all over the sides. And there, almost completely hidden, was a corner of a red insignia. He hadn't thought much of it at first, but now that the name had been brought forth, he couldn't help but recognize that shade.
He knew his luck. Even if the guy proved to be as innocent as one can be while carrying that arsenal, he knew he was in deep shit. Deep, deep shit. Nothing else came from meddling with Shinra. Nothing.
He felt like shaking the bastard awake, but knew the only thing he could do was wait. He had a damn lot of questions to ask.
Shinra. Fuck.
TBC