VanDread: Forgotten Memories

Since it's been so long that I posted the Prologue and the 1st Chapter, I thought about making a quick release of the 3rd Chapter shortly after the 2nd!

But please, do not expect me to be able to keep updating the story this fast.

It was a one-time thing.

Now, have fun with the 3rd chapter!

Chapter 3: Memories Part 1

Nirvana, Bridge

"Captain! We've just received another distress-call! The freighter Mantra V requests permission to come aboard! They've been attacked by pirates and their life-support-systems are failing! They also request medical assistance, as well as technical assistance to repair their ship so they can get past the magnetic storm!" Ezra summed up, as the Captain arrived on the bridge, having been called there from the meeting by Ezra.

Magno narrowed her eyes, before nodding at BC, who looked up at her.

BC then turned toward Ezra "Tell them they've got our permission, and that we'll be preparing our medical staff."

Ezra nodded, relaying the information to the crippled vessel floating in space ahead of them.

"This really does look bad..." BC muttered, inspecting the freighter from afar. It looked like there was severe damage to several parts of the hull, as well some less serious, but still heavy damage to other parts of the cargo ship. The vice-commander was impressed that the freighter was still in one piece, to be honest.

"Keep your eyes on the scanners! I want to know if someone moves into our range immediately!" BC commanded, watching as the bridge-crew followed the orders.

Opening a line on the inter-comm, BC spoke to the crew.

"Attention everyone! We'll be receiving injured men and women of an freighter that send a distress-call! Prepare the infirmary and get some security teams down to the hangar!"

While that all was happening, Magno was watching the two shuttles that left the hangar of the shuttle.

'These shuttles... they look heavily armored... why would they need such shuttles?' she thought to herself, as doubt about the other parties motives started to spread in her mind. 'A good thing BC ordered the security teams down there as well...'

Nirvana, Barnette's room

Barnette narrowed her eyes as she heard the announcement from the vice-commander.

'So this is it...' she thought, growing excited at the prospect of a battle ahead. Her instincts told her, that the people approaching weren't actually coming to make friends. The green haired woman grinned, as she grabbed an M16 and two Beretta M9 from her stash of firearms, before leaving her room to head toward the hangars, to 'greet' their guests.

Nirvana, Infirmary

"Where did Uchuujin-san go?" Dita asked, as she looked around in the room, Duelo looking surprised that the boy had woken and left while he wasn't there. And then there was the fact that he could not see Paiway either.

"Dita, Misty, go look for him. He's probably just at the canteen, stuffing himself." Meia said absentmindedly. This wasn't good! She got a very bad feeling about whatever caused Hibiki to leave the infirmary, but she pushed that feeling aside, focusing on her duty as dread-leader, and headed down to the hangar as well.

Misty and Dita, following Meia's order, left the infirmary to Duelo, the canteen their destination.

Jura sighed, she was getting a headache from all this. But on the other hand, she now was alone with a man. Alone in a room. With plenty of beds. A small smile appeared on her face, but quickly faded as Paiway entered the infirmary, heading straight for Duelo and engaging in a conversation about the preparations for the infirmary.

The blonde pouted, another chance missed, but maybe she could find someone among the people who they were planning on taking aboard to take care of them. Her smile once again appearing, she looked down at herself, after confirming that she looked stunning as always, she left for the hangar.

Nirvana, Old Section, Research Cargo Bay

Hibiki was still shocked from hearing the voice he thought he only had imagined, in his wakened state. The announcement from the vice-commander came from the far end of the corridor, from the other side of the blast-door. It was almost completely muffled, but his instincts, and the voice in his head told him that this was it. That the attack was going to happen.

'I want you to listen to me once again, Hibiki. All you need to do, is open the glass-cube, and touch the Crystal. I promise it won't hurt, and you'll feel better after taking it... also, you will... remember.' Samantha's voice rang in his head.

The boy groaned "How come I keep hearing you? And why should I do as you say?"

'If you take the crystal, it will be explained. As for your second question... don't you want to protect your friends?'

"'Course I want to protect them! They're my friends!" Hibiki replied angrily.

'THEN DON'T ARGUE WITH ME AND TAKE THE FUCKING CRYSTAL YOU IDIOT!' Samantha yelled in the boys head, causing him to fall over and holding his hands over his ears.

"That hurt..." he complained, but got up again, and hesitantly opened the hatch ontop of the cube, before reaching in, and touching the crystal. Light flash from the green crystal, and Hibiki started to feel groggy.

Inside Hibiki's mind

Hibiki groaned as he once again found himself at the place where he had met 'Samantha' before. And again, she was there, waiting for him with a kind smile. Only now, did he notice her looks, and to his own surprise, thought her to be quite appealing to the eye.

She looked directly into his eyes, her cheeks getting a slight red color as she giggled. "You musn't have such thoughts, Hibiki. At least not toward me."

Now it was Hibiki's turn to blush, quick to apologize, before catching himself and looking at her. "Why am I here now?"

In reply to his question, she only pointed behind him. The boy turned around, and in the distance could see what seemed to be pictures and videos, moving in his direction with a very fast speed.

"Oh man... is that gonna hurt?" he asked quietly, and as he got no reply, turned around, only to find out, that Samantha had vanished somewhere.

"Great... and what the hell happens now?" Hibiki groaned, turning to face the approaching pictures and videos.

Nothing could ever have prepared him for what happened next.

Shuttle 1, approaching the Nirvana

"Okay everyone, you know the drill! We want to get as many of them alive as possible! So switch your damn guns to a lower energy level, if you haven't done so already! We can't get the bounty if we have nothing to prove that they are dead if you shoot them with all you've got!" the leader commanded, speaking into a secure comm-line that could be heard in the other shuttle, but was nearly impossible to decode. At least with the technological level of Taraak or Mejere.

And so, the bounty-hunters aboard the two shuttles, 32 in numbers, prepared for non-lethal combat as they approached the now open hangar of the Nirvana.

Inside Hibiki's mind

Hibiki was shocked, surprised, and in awe at what he saw. The pictures and 'videos' that hit him, where memories of someone! And soon he could also figure out whom they belonged to! It was quite a shock for the Vanguard pilot to see his own memories, thinks he could not recall ever having done, yet, without a doubt knew that they were his!

There were memories of him fighting in full-body armor, using the weapons he recalled were lying next to the cube. Styles of hand-to-hand combat he thought impossible to perform, things he could never imagine himself to say, or do. And yet, that all felt really familiar the moment he saw it.

Then, one of the most important bits of information, he figured, appeared.

"Tokai... are you sure about this? I mean, we've got Class 4 or 5 AI's ready! The first generation is just too unstable!" a man in military uniform said, looking pleadingly at Hibiki.

"Sir, I am sure about this. The first generation is not unstable. They are just very powerful. So powerful, that people have trouble controlling them. Let me try it Sir! The firsts are still the best we ever made!" Hibiki replied seriously, looking back at the man in the military uniform, who then sighed.

"Fine... tech sarge! Let him in the configuration room!" the man shouted at a man on a console next to a double-reinforced window, that let them look into the 'configuration room'. Gulping, the man did as ordered, and opened the door, letting Hibiki in.

On a small podium in the center of the room, a small chip lay, connected to the electrical systems of the research facility they currently were in. Over the loudspeaker, he heard the tech sarge's voice. From that alone, Hibiki knew that the man was honestly scared.

"O-okay... Generation 1 AI chip in place... beginning configuration sequence. Please step onto the platform to your left." the shaky voice of the man behind the window came, and Hibiki sighed silently, following the orders.

Then, a robotic voice spoke up "Initializing scan for personality reference."

Hibiki, the tech sarge and the man in uniform all froze at the same time. This wasn't supposed to happen!

"Admiral! Sir! I-I..." the tech sarge exclaimed "I can't do anything! The AI took over the system!"

"WHAT?!" the uniformed man bellowed, not that it would have changed anything.

"TOKAI! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" the admiral yelled, but the sarge replied swiftly.

"Sir, he can't get out. The AI has the whole system under control... it's locked him inside."

"Damnit..." the admiral muttered "I knew this was a mistake, Tokai..."

Hibiki calmed down relatively quickly. Soon behind the podium with the AI chip, a hologram flickered into life. The hologram, thanks to the technology of the holo-emitters, soon took a rather physical form, through which you no longer could look. A tall woman, with long black hair, amethyst colored eyes, wearing military boots, shorts and a vest, leaving most of the skin of the AI exposed. The sheer amount of weapons the woman was carrying though, unsettled the people in the other room, as the woman narrowed her eyes on Hibiki.

"I am War-AI 578221. And who are you, that you dare think you can order me around?" she asked, her voice full of venom.

"I'm Hibiki Tokai. And I'm not here to give you orders." he replied, ignoring the two people outside the configuration room, and also surprising the AI in front of him.

"Oh? Then if you don't want to control me, what else could you want of an War-AI?" she asked, a bit of venom had left her voice, but she still did not trust the young human infront of her.

"I came here, because I wanted to ask for your help." Hibiki replied calmly.

"Ask for my help?" She laughed "I don't think so!"

"Please, I ask you to consider it. There is a war going on out there, millions of innocent people dying every day! We are losing... But... now we think we have a chance... our military has launched a new program, that might help us to finally turn the tides in this war, and save countless lives! In order to help them... I need an AI." Hibiki said.

The woman rose an eyebrow "You guys already have four other generations of AI's you could use. Get one of those to help you, stupid human!"

"No." he stated.

"What?!" a low growl escaped the woman's throat.

"I said no." the boy repeated himself.

"You little shitty human! Don't you dare talk back to me! If you don't want to die now, then-..." she started, but got interrupted by the boy.

"I said no, because the AI's of the generations two to five are good... but I need the BEST! This team has to be made of the BEST soldiers and AI's we can offer! THAT is why I ask you, and not one of those 'okay' AI's! Yes, you of the first are hard to handle, but I do believe that only to be the case, because they think they can control you! I don't believe I can control you! I KNOW I CAN'T! And because of that, I am ASKING you, if you'd be WILLING to help us in our moments of need! It is very well possible, that right now, YOU have the lives of billions, if not more, people in your virtual hands! So I b-" Hibiki said, but it then was his turn to be interrupted.

She laughed. The woman laughed. Hibiki lowered his head in defeat. He had tried to convince an AI he knew no one could possibly hope to handle.

"At least let me leave... please." he stated, turning toward the door and started to move.

"No can do." she replied in a voice way to cheerful.

"What?!" he asked, shocked. This was turning worse with every second!

"Silly boy..." she laughed once more "You expect me to help you, and yet you want to leave without completing the configuration?"

Hibiki stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening.

In the control room, the tech sarge and the admiral looked at each other, equally shocked.

"You agree?!/She agreed?!" three voices sounded, and were answered by the laugh of the woman.

"You've gained my interest. Now let's see if you can keep up to my expectations... partner." she said, extending her hologram's hand towards Hibiki, who was not the least surprised to find out he actually could grab her hand.

Smile's spread across both their faces, as the woman said one final sentence.

"By the way... call me... Samantha."

A smile spread on Hibiki's face as that memory left him, so he could regain others as well. Within a short span of time, he figured he had most of the important memories back, but knew there were quite a lot missing. But he didn't care about that. Right now, he was happy that his memories about his military training, and about Samantha were back.

If he remembered correctly, a War-AI was very unique. Easily the most powerful AI out there, capable of all forms of combat, able to make incredibly strategical and tactical decisions, as well as powerful Cyber-War. And of course, the basics every AI could do, like performing scans of the area, delivering messages to allied forces and such.

"Sam?" he called out, now a lot calmer about all this than before.

"Yes, Hibiki?" Samantha asked, reappearing behind him, quite happy that her partner remembered her now.

"Two things... the memory about how you got into my head... I'll get that back as well?" he asked.

"Eventually, when you find the crystal where it's stored at." she replied.

"Good... 'cause I really wonder how we did that... the other thing..." he could sense her almost shiver as his old self took over, a predatory smile spreading across his face "Let's hunt some bounty-hunters."

Finally we see some action coming up!

Are you all ready to see what Hibiki will pull out of his arsenal?

Now that he finally regained some of his memories, what will the others think when they get confronted with all this?

Not spoilering on that, so you'll have to wait for the appropriate chapters!

R&R please!

Until next time!