He was still capable of many things. One of those happened to be flying a ship. He's been a pilot of Enterprise series cruiser for several years while parallel taking missions of the smaller crafters and some Raptors.
The job has been easy enough and with that intensive training Noel once received there was no place for wonder. A guy could keep himself in sky so he did.
Noel had a friend. More like a brother. They'd once been inseparable. To this day the man had no direct answer to the ancient question if what exactly had happened that brought them apart.
Besides that'd been long ago.
Noel "Narcho" Alisson had been Lieutenant Commander for a while now. Not that he lacked anything to back up his title. Contrary, he had loads of base.
But there was one tiny mystery he avoided ever talk about unless it was Nate. Because only he deserved to know at least the fact itself.
They'd originated from planet Earth. They both happened to meet while some kind of weird camp relieved an orphan center from two worthy of nightmares. They ended up sharing roughly a decade until all the secrets and monsters one day took a hefty spill, and what at first seemed to look like a military training facility, slash campus for tough orphans, literally came apart at the seams, and what supposedly were just a bunch of kids ended up being a very different kind of facility hiding the kids.
It had been a freaking disaster for all sides involved and nothing good could ever came out unless the barely teens sneaked someplace far away and few accidentally woke up elsewhere.
It just meant to happen that the disaster duo just went to a ride further away than they could ever expect in their lives. And they were barely twelve and fourteen. Or at least what they were told to believe.
All Noel cared about was that Nate was a bit younger and that they were brothers in his book. Family. That was it. For both of them. So following several years they spent to become bestest thieving company ever and at least at that point no regrets followed.
Well, being honest, Noel still believed it was why he was so good at what he did and not thanks to his military training. And not because of pity because he had injury that changed things.
He preferred earning his medals in fair game not due to somebody being soft.
And so after magical space travel, as it seemed to be after they landed some time later and went out to inspect, they simply made themselves a new life. Crafted out some skills out of what they honed before and just adjusted to the new situation. Simple as that.
However they didn't obviously need any extra knowledge, it seemed, nor did they felt less snarky.
Noel had this knowledge of things without even trying and after couple awkward scribbles on paper he automatically knew how to write. Also reading just happened seamlessly.
For some strange reason they both had about millennia of guesses they knew how to do everything and it kept happening automatically without thinking. Like robots.
It felt creepy for about round five seconds before turning just that. None had ever dared to ask anyone why they were this way and quite frankly Noel still couldn't care less. After all the needed paperwork followed and eventually they even ended up into proper database without trying too hard.
What he did try to never think about ever again was .. Samara.
Who she was they never debated if they ever had this discussion. She was absolute magic and half their age above. She was very fair and loyal. She knew all and could do skill. None their group mates were like that. Only the older ones.
How did a girl from older group ended up with kids they had no idea but her presence made all things seem easier and less terrifying.
Samara was something Noel once wanted to become. Well... one could say he'd achieved it now.
That girl had been masterful at fight, artfully skilled in weapons, tranquil and zen in sneaking. She had knowledge of languages and signs. And the way that girl moved and flew on top of enemy head seemingly out of nowhere. And not a sound was heard.
Yeah, he'd given a lot for such art and skill. Even domestic skills came easy to her. Not what could be said about him. It was magic he survived even microwave meals.
But Samara was now a faded mystery. He'd never spoke of her nor thought. It was pushed back down and deep. None of that should ever be recalled...
Unless his brain could comply, ever.
Narcho was a nickname he got from her. Or maybe it was her sister's idea. He'd be lying if he said he knew.
But it did stick to him all along and there was just this one thing that made him never forget. Narcho was something Noel never was and whoever knew his other side along with the name should never speak aloud.
Narcho was a reminder of a guy he was before that and before all that.
He was not who Noel was now.
He found out his brother left after waking up in the hospital he found Nate. Nate's been once again injured in a way Noel misjudged the guy for. He regretted badly. Almost howled like a wolf.
Nathaniel Holler had been tough guy and so was Noel Alisson. In their range there used to be a legend they discussed while sitting on top of tall buildings and reminiscing about old days and adventures.
Yep, the guy was annoying as hell, though still willing to be his skillful self and make the locks tick open and locks click all the way. He was more of a transport guy with a knack for electronic stuff while Nate mostly specialized in manual lock picking which included pockets eventually.
However soon Noel was witnessing something he couldn't believe years that followed.
See, even if they knew it all still they chose their favorites. So it naturally led Noel to transport maneuvering namely flying and Nate to deep internal tech unlocking. The guy had a mean techie soul so why not.
But mistakes happened. And one that was made because of certain accident led to Noel falling down the length of a skyscraper and Nate getting zapped by roof size electrical field. Or something.
Noel knew the moment his brain came online again it was going to be a very different life for him. And he just knew he will never be able to return.
He feigned memory loss the following month when his body woke up and invited brain to tag along. It was The Day.
Only he did remember. To an extent if course.
His spinal cord had been left in a bad shape. He'd fallen flat so there was obviously massive extent of bleeding. Almost all the vertebrae from neck down the butt had been cracked or shattered. It was a purest miracle. Adding a craniofacial fracture net on the right side of his face and head accompanied by the severe skull fracture at the base of the whole thing it truly felt like one.
He also severely suffered a complete scapular dissection due to massive bone damage and structural muscle shredding from that.
What was left of him after such experience was a very crippled man.
Fragmental spinal fusion all the way up and down. Major muscle removal along with bone particles from the right shoulder area. Titanium alloy rods holding together the shoulder and special hook system attaching all that to his chest and fusion areas. He sported some rods in the right hand and ankle. There were plates holding his skull together and some smaller ones that made his face intact.
That was just bones alone.
The nerve damage followed was merely segmental and simple as that. Right side of face was numb and the numbness enclosed this side of head like a boxing glove. It affected his hearing too since the nerve injury went deeper than skin and the way it intervened his head got it hurt in the incident. He could hear muffled sounds and that basically was all. His neck was stiff from partial supportive fusion and his most troubles were intubation area. They noticed his trachea had damage beforehand so he sported obvious tracheostomy hole in this throat looking ominous and creepy.
The right hand was also stiff and wrist didn't function properly due to nerves being fried. He could live with that since typing wasn't affected that much.
However what made biggest difference was the huge gaping hole of sunken inwards skin over his right side of back and shoulder. For the most part he had no sensation from T2 all the way down to T8 on just his right side. Yes the injury of lower spine was less severe, still his legs weren't same either. He couldn't walk nor move his right upper side of body and for reason he only guessed breathing also was affected.
But once a fighter, always a fighter. Noel simply came to a decision that best remedy was to fuck that shit and kick his own ass by himself. It appeared to have worked eventually.
According to his latest test- as he concluded while being rolled outside sitting in a wheelchair- he only suffered his fainting spell because of falling beforehand. So it seemed okay and once he was back in his vehicle Narcho decided it was some sort of misfire like always.
After all it was years since the fall. A decade at least. More. On this planet two most likely.
Nothing to worry about.
Now he just had to find his man he somehow made into something more than just a friend or brother.
He still felt odd when they played their little game with medical staff but now, sitting in his ground vehicle, Noel began to feel some odd tickle deep within.
Maybe he was hallucinating. Because how could they be more than just that was beyond the man's brain capacity at the moment. And wasn't he always been worthy?
Still... why the heck not?