"What…" Samantha's mouth dropped.
"The…" Kira's eyes widened.
"Hell?!" Robert yelled as he realized a giant ship was hovering a few feet from their new home.
"Oh good you all ready know it's here." Nick said as he and Winny walked out of the teleporter, they looked around the courtyard to see the four men in the suit waiting for them. Nick walked up to them and waved his hand, the men saluted him and Nick pointed to his friends and mentioned a few things, the roar of the atomic engines attached to the sides and bottom of the Black Crain drowned out Nick's voice and the rest of the group was left about fifty yards away in a complete stupor. Winny walked over with a huge smile.
"I bet you'd like to know how my date went!" The comment earned her a glare from Kira and a sheepish grin from Robert and Samantha, who both sweated under the killer intent Kira was radiating. Catherine sighed and walked in front of Winny.
"Trust me, you don't want to go there." The ten-year-old said simply. Nick waved to them and they all obedantly walked to the ship. When they got close enough Nick knocked on the ship's hull that was currently floating five feet above the ground and a small hatch opened in the side, followed by a ramp coming down. They all entered and the door quickly shut, inside the noise created by the engines was muted. They walked through the dull gray hallway into a small room with three computers with multiple screens and several coffee tables surrounded by circular sofas.
"Skyler, or Nick as you know him, has informed us that you are new recruits to the Black Crain. As such he has asked that we give you a complete breakdown of the crew's history." Three of the four men dispersed to the computers, they're fingers expanded to long metal wires and they began to type furiously on the keyboards. "Judging by his description, he is also suffering from memory loss that is commonplace in most body swapping procedures. We will go up to the mess hall to talk with the rest of the crew."
The group gave confused looks at Nick and he shrugged. While the huge man led them to an elevator in the back of the room, he looked back and mouthed 'go with it' to the group. Kira and Samantha's veins bulged at the statement and Winny smiled and grabbed his hand, earning a twitch from Kira.
As they entered the chrome elevator, the man pressed the middle button and a lurch sent them flying upwards. After three seconds a beep was heard and they opened a door to see an assortment of men with various metal parts replacing limbs, bones, or just being whole robots. The man stepped forward and explained the memory loss and Nick's new friends, the crew stared at them with confused looks.
"Skyler brought kids on the Crain?" A voice rang out. Nick stepped onto one of the tables and gave a hard look at the medium sized crowd.
"Looking out onto this crowd, I can only say one thing…" Nick roared. "You all look like tough mother-fuckers, but not one of you assholes could have put up with the amount of action these guys have seen behind me. It's because of them I lived to see this ship again, and if you don't like them…" Nick summoned Gabriel and pointed the gun upwards. "Then you and my friend are going to have a little talk." The crowd murmured a little before one of the men from the group raised his fist and gave a cheer, the rest of the crowd started to shake their fists and cheer in tune.
"Is Ni- er, Skyler, always like this Mister?" Samantha asked the man in the suit.
"Call me One." The man said. "And yes, Skyler is a very stubborn and charismatic man." The man walked next to Nick and one of his eyes bulged out of it's socket, it glowed bright blue before shooting off an image of a tall man with long blonde hair and a strong face. The crowd cheered and Nick sat down at the table, the rest of the group sat down with a confused look. Nick looked to them and motioned for them to pay attention, Winny ignored the comment and placed her head on his shoulder, to which he rolled his eyes and smiled.
"This is Skyler V. 4, his original version was before proper documentation was available." One smiled. "Skyler was a victim of epidermis deterioration, just like most of us here." A loud harrumph was heard through out of the crowd. "He built the Black Crain with the help of his brother and sister, who have disappeared since the raid on the Ventora Mining Facility." A hush went through and several prayers were heard.
"Skyler started off the Black Crain's long pirating career with the biggest cyber-scam of all time." Nick and Robert's ears perked up at Cyber and Nick resisted the urge to ask for the nearest computer that could access the Internet. "This scam involved black mailing the Handorian Prime Minister using a complex virus that used his server as a proxy for millions of other viruses that would be uploaded to military stations across the cosmos, leaving an obvious trace to him. Using the money he got for the blackmail, he upgraded the Black Crain with all the upgrades to last her throughout of the centuries!" The crowd roared again. One continued by stating numerous other crimes, involving gang fights to destroying mining facilities, even murder, which Nick immediately scowled at the word.
One finished his speech and turned to Nick. "And now we sit before the new version of our leader, in a new, organic body; but twice as worthy of his title of the Pirate of the Centuries!" The crowd cheered and Nick nodded his head.
"What's the schedule here now?" Nick asked. One smiled and handed him a piece of paper, with dates and times to explain various plans and how the ship ran. Nick nodded and raised his hand. "Okay! Finish your dinners and ready the ship for immediate takeoff, I'm in no rush. I'll be in the simulator if anything happens." Nick flipped the paper around and memorized where the Simulator was on the map.
---
Nick and Robert both smiled. This wasn't a normal smile, like the one you would give after receiving a gift or hearing a joke. But a smile of complete slavery, one that you could only compare to that of a maniac… it was the smiled Nick and Rob gave after they realized the Simulator was a giant flight simulation video game that required at least two to fly, and the rest were either turret or Arma, full sized ships that took off from the hull and acted as defensive fronts. Nick and Robert counted and made sure they had six; they then furiously placed everyone in the pod seats that sat next to each other. Nick took the pilot's seat and Robert in one of the Arma.
"Hey wait a minute!" Samantha yelled as she got up from her seat. She looked around at the controls and saw that she and Robert were Arma pilots, Kira was the Navigator, Catherine and Winny were manning the turrets, and Nick was the pilot. "Why am I the only girl in a fighter?" Samantha was still trying to grasp the idea of actually flying and honestly, it scared the crap out of her.
Nick smiled sheepishly. "Because Skyler, being the upfront and arrogant person he is, would probably prefer being a pilot of the whole ship so he could give orders easily."
Samantha tilted her head angrily and put a hand on her hip. "Then why does THIS pod have Skyler's name engraved on it?" She pointed to the golden calligraphy on the head of the pod. Nick stared at it for a second before shrugging. "Change places!"
Catherine dove for the pilot's seat but Samantha beat her to it. She started giving the puppy dog eyes, but Samantha shoved her away with her left arm, yawning with her right. Catherine started bawling: "I WANNA FLY THE SHIP!"
"Too bad!" Samantha laughed manically. She noticed that Catherine was being more open, like how she used to before their parent's died. Nick's vein started to bulge and Samantha turned around with a slight shiver before Kira picked up Catherine and put her in the Navigator's spot.
"You're a little young to be a pilot, but you can be the Navigator okay?" Kira glared at Nick. "Besides, we need a sensible person telling us where to go…"
"Hey! Are you making fun of me for the one time at Comic-con-?"
"Yes I am!"
"WE WAITED TWO HOURS IN LINE FOR AN AUTOGRAPH FROM THE WRONG PERSON!" Robert yelled in anguish.
"Oh way to go Kira! You made him go fanboy on us!" Winny, Samantha, and Catherine stared at each other before pulling the three apart and telling them to start the simulator. Samantha pressed the start button on the pod and a HUD flashed up in front of her.
"Err… do we want practice or combat mode?" Samantha asked carefully.
"How about Tutorial mode?" Kira asked flatly. Samantha looked on the blue screen for the button and pressed it, the HUD felt solid under her fingers and it scared her. A loud blip was heard and two arms shot out and shoved her eyes open, she scrambled to push them away but the arms stubbornly persisted until they put in contact lenses in both eyes. Samantha shook her head and opened her eyes to see the dark simulation room was replaced with the cockpit of the Black Crain.
"HOLY CRAP ON A STICK!" She yelled as she got up from her pod. The others looked at her with quiet glee and she started yelling crazily. "WHAT DID THEY PUT IN MY EYES?!"
"They're contacts, I used to wear them for sight back in my world." Nick mentioned. "Don't worry, these are just holograms to help simulate flying." Samantha started hyperventilating before sighing and sitting back in her seat.
"Fine," A large blue screen appeared in place of the HUD and Samantha nodded slowly. "Okay, so these buttons start up the engines and these knobs start the thrusters. Standard procedure is check with the navigator then to launch the Armas and start up the turrets simultaneously while taking off." Samantha looked around the circular room, above her was Catherine's pod and she was reading similar instructions, to the left and right, Kira and Winny sat in large domes with doors in the back, inside were large white rooms with an impenetrable glass revealing the whole outside, the circles were on a large track that went across the whole ship so they're were no blind spots, they were controlled with pedals and the turret by two handle bars with buttons on the top.
To Samantha's rear, Nick and Rob were grinning crazily at the instructions in front of them, they were in little pods that shot down the eject chutes and Samantha assumed they landed in the Armas. She nodded and pressed a button, Catherine's face popped up the HUD, the blonde looked at the blue screen and smiled widely.
"Hi Sam!" She grinned.
"Hey Cat, you got the Navigation set up?" Catherine held up a finger and pressed a few buttons, her pod, which was only a few meters above Samantha's shot up through a hole in the cockpit and zoomed up to a higher spot on the ship covered in the same glass the turrets were. Catherine pressed a button the armrest and a large map appeared before her, she read the note on the bottom side of the screen and pressed the Zoom Out button, the entire mining facility they lived at came up and she looked around for a large exclaimation point in the sky, which was part of the Tutorial. She found the point on the map and clicked on it, a black ship at the bottom shot out a circle and the note at the bottom said it was a radar beacon. She raised an eyebrow and pressed the communicator button and Samantha popped up on it.
"Uhh… what's a radar?" She asked innocently. Nick's face popped up and he smiled softly.
"It's a device that scans for bad guys and other buildings. Be sure to let me know if anything shows up after it rings okay?" Catherine nodded and pressed the SEND button.
Samantha's screen got a readout of where the exclamation point was and she nodded. Pressing a blue button on her armrest, Nick and Robert's pods came online. They gave childish grins and pressed the red buttons on their armrest, shooting their pods down the black chute. As yellow lights streamed past them, Nick got a tactical read out of the ship that looked like complete nonsense to him.
"Dude?" Robert's face shot up on the screen. "What the hell is a Ukily Crystal Cannon?"
"Beats me!" Robert smiled. Nick shrugged and scanned the down the list. His eyes shot open and he started waving his arms wildly.
"DUDE! THEY HAVE SIDE THRUSTERS OVERCLOCKING (SEE A/N AT END) AT 200 PERCENT EFFICIENCY!" Robert started freaking out and pounding against the screen.
"BARREL ROLLS!"
"BARRRRRRREL ROLLLLLLLS!" They were screaming out random tactical maneuvers as they shot down the shoot and eventually landed in a large black ship. Several engines closed off the pod. Nick looked around and noticed the ship's layout was a lot like a jet back in his world, only less buttons and not as many instruments to tell him when he was 50 feet above the ground. (Like he needed it.) Nick saw a large wing shoot out diagonally and he pressed the same button on the armrest, a large blue HUD popped up with read outs from Cat that motioned him covering the right side of the Crain. He nodded and grabbed a hole of the joystick in front of him. He pushed it forward and the Arma started to float in the hanger, the hanger slowly opened to reveal the front of his house, he shot out of the hanger as soon as he was sure he could fit and rolled sideways to avoid crashing into the house. Nick then did a full three-sixty around the house and came up on the right side, Robert already on the left.
"How the hell did you get out so fast?" Nick yelled. Robert's face popped up on the side of the screen, he was wearing a cheesy grin and Nick resisted the urge to smash the window in.
---
Kira and Winny both pressed on one of the pedals and the turret dome shot to the right, they then pushed both pedals and brought the turret upwards as per instructions, the turret went straight on the top of the ship and Kira and Winny were facing the air on their backs, they were both strapped to the chair, which stopped them from freaking out and falling out the back door of the turret dome. Kira pressed a communicatior button and a screen with Winny's calm face popped up and she smiled.
"Kira right?" She asked. Kira nodded.
"You cover Robert okay? I'll get Nicky." Winny seemed offended and she shook her head.
"Un-un, you get Robert, I'll get my Nicky." A vein in Kira's forehead bulged and her eye twitched a little.
"Your Nicky? And who the hell are you?" Kira finally asked. The whole time they had been together, all Kira knew was her name was Winny, and she was the skank that was stealing Nick from her.
"I'm Nick's girlfriend!" Winny yelled.
"Since when?"
"Since the date!"
"You've only been on one date!"
"Oh and how many have you two been on?"
"More than you can count on your fingers I assure you!" Winny's jaw dropped and she pressed the communicator again, Nick's face popped up and he smiled.
"Yea-?"
"KIRA AND YOU WERE GOING OUT?" Nick's eyes widened and his smiled disappeared. Nick turned to hover mode before looking back at Winny.
"Uh… oh that's right! I thought you two did a whole introduction thing while I was looking for an apartment."
"WHY WOULD I INTRODUCE MYSELF TO HER?" Kira's face popped up and Nick sighed.
"AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?"
"YOU HAVE TO ASK?" Kira yelled. Winny twitched and opened her mouth before closing it again.
"Ya' know what? I'm not going to stoop to your level…" Winny retorted. Nick covered his face with his palms before looking sadly at Kira to see her start shaking in her seat.
"Oh god if I ever get out of this I'm g-" He perked up. "Hey wait a minute… Kira didn't you say you didn't like me anymore?" Kira glared at him and he shut up immediately.
Samantha's face popped up and she waved at everyone. "Hey morons! I'm about to takeoff, read your instructions so I can actually do this right!" Nick started praying with happy tears in his eyes. He then looked at his instructions and brought Robert up on his screen.
"Okay, enemies will come at us somewhere, so I want you to get under the Crain in case they try to surprise us from ground level." Robert nodded and his Arma barrel rolled before gliding down to the belly of the Crain. The large black ship started humming loudly and the engines turned a bright blue. Samantha lifted the handlebars in front of her up and the pressure on the bars became lighter as the ship rocked and it slowly rose up. Samantha smiled before pushing the bars forward easily and the ship slowly moved away from the mansion. She pressed more forward and the bars locked when she pushed them as far as they could go, she read the instructions in front of her and pulled up a big trackball on a platform that rise up in front of her, she pulled it back to adjust it to her height and pressed a green button on the side of the trackball.
"Okay… so, enemies will come at us as soon as I get a good distance away from the mansion. The track ball tilts the ship depending on the amount of pressure blah blah blah… There is also the thruster bar on the other armrest, use this to adjust speed when not taking off/landing… also note the big red button at the end of the armrest, use only in emergencies and after the Navigator sets a Turbo course." A large smile came over her face after the word Turbo and she resisted the urge to press the button right then and there. She pulled her arm back onto the thruster and pushed it forward a bit.
---
One walked into the simulator at saw the six screens simultaneously working on the big screen in front of him. He smiled and pulled out a picture of a brown-haired teenager with a bunch of mechanized men around him.
"This Skyler seems much more human than the other ones…" He mused to himself. "I'm glad he spent the last century finding a new home…"
---
Overclock: A term used while building computers that means to push the component over what is its recommended power level. In reality if you overclocked anything on a computer to two-hundread percent it would either:
Blow up
Stop working
Fry every cable in your computer (If you overclock a processor you'd be surprised how paranoid you'd be after watching those sparks.)
Anyways, so now we know several things about Skyler: He's a pirate, he's a really good pirate, he likes to switch bodies, he hasn't been seen in over one-hundred years.
We're also going to find out that Nick and Robert are really biiiiiig nerds…
Example:
Nick: OMFG! AN AMD DUEL CORE PROCESSOR THAT WORKS AT 3.0 GHz AND WORKS WITH LESS POWER THAN INTEL BRANDS!
Robert: OH MY GOD! AN AFFORDABLE DDR3 RAM STICK THAT WORKS AT 1900 MHz!
Nick & Robert: (Look at each other)
Nick & Robert: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Yes I know many of the people who read this story didn't understand what was so funny about that… that was the point.
And I realized that… Winny was never formally introduced to everyone . so I made a special point to have Kira and Winny finally realize their both after the same boy, man, idiot… you get the idea.