Chapter 4:
Are These Friends of Yours?
The room had stayed uncomfortably silent for a long time. Even Groot could feel some semblance of impending doom for his little friend. It seemed to be radiating off of Rocket. Agent 19 was pacing around the room. It was difficult to tell if she were trying to calm down, or keep the fire fueled. Rocket finished eating, trying his hardest to do it slowly, but there was only so much food on the plate. Despite the fact Agent 19 hadn't said anything. Rocket could still feel the growing urge to change into his armor in a timely manner.
Give Rocket a projectile weapon of any kind and he could wreak havoc on anyone. But the truth be told, Rocket was only mediocre at hand to hand combat. If he was able to work in an element of surprise he could probably win, but in a sparing match, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. That was one of the main reasons he and Groot always traveled together. Groot was the muscle and he was the tactician. That and the fact they were friends.
Rocket got up from the table and retrieved his leather armor and tall leather boots from the locker. “Will this have to do the same effect thingy that my fatigues did?” Rocket asked politely, still trying to smooth things over between he and Agent 19.
“Let's have it be a surprise, shall we?” Agent 19 snapped back, turning her attention to the wall. Yep, she was still pissed. Rocket thought, before slipping out of his fatigue bottoms. Upon closer inspection, the armor was nothing more than a black leather outfit. Much the same as a motorcycle jacket, with a breathable fabric interior. The other striking differences were the thousands of nanomites that moved through it like a swarm.
Rocket slipped into the pants, pulling his tail through the hole in the back. It was a shame that they hadn't included a tail cover with this armor. What happened if someone cut it off? No sooner had he thought of it then the pants tightened to be more form fitting. When he looked back, his tail was encased in leather protection. The nanomites in the suit had manifested a leather covering for his tail by taking leather from the other parts of the pants. Rocket shivered. Nanomites were creepy things. As one may have guessed, the burning followed the adjustment of the pants. It wasn't until the cooling phase that Rocket continued to get dress. He stepped down into the boots, pulling them up around his pant legs to knees. There was a light vibrations coming from the nanomites inside his boots as they bonded with the nanomites in the pants and socks. Rocket couldn't help but smile at how powerful his legs felt now.
The leather jacket was heavy in his hands. He pulled it on over his tank top and zipped it up. The jacket tightened around him, compressing him, making his body feel stronger than it had been. The nanomites started working, building gloves to cover his hands. His pants becoming one with his jacket. After a strong surge of heat, it felt as if the leather armor was one piece suit now. Rocket felt better than he'd ever felt before. Stronger, faster, his sense of smell was even better. It felt as if he'd just jumped into a pool of freezing water.
Everything was tight and responsive. Everything he thought of, the suit provided. He wanted hip holsters for his blasters. Then they appeared. It seemed like the holsters were even made for that brand of blaster he was holding. When he wanted a back pouch to hold all of his ammo, then it appeared. A pocket on his thigh, for his pipe pouch, there it was. Rocket slipped his double barrel atomizer across his back. Even with the armor and all of his items back on, he was still light as a feather. Rocket shot a thumbs up to Groot, who offered a deep laugh and returned the thumbs up.
The only thing he lacked now was his helmet. When he searched through his locker, he turned to check the foot locker at the bottom of his bed. There was nothing in their either, except two towels and a hygiene kit, but no helmet. Perhaps he hadn't been given one just yet. Agent 19 hadn't been the most responsive since he'd gotten her mad at him. Maybe he should at least inquire about the helmet. The thought of being punch in his bare face, was not something he welcomed.
“Sorry, to bother you. I can't seem to find my helmet anywhere. Do you know where it might be?” Rocket asked warmly and politely.
“There is a switch behind your right ear piece, if you push it. Nanomites will build you a physical helmet. You can slip it on and off just like a normal helmet, but your visor will go with it. If you want to take the helmet off and keep your visor, just hit the same switch again.” The fiery tone was still in her robotic voice.
“Thanks.” Rocket said quietly.
When he reached back to find the switch, he didn't realize it was going to be so small. He'd missed it the first few times he hunted for it. The third time was the charm though, the switch flipped easily and in seconds his head was enclosed in a snugly fitting helmet. A respirator conformed over his muzzle, feeding him filtered air. This must be what Tony Stark feels like when he's suited up, Rocket thought, a smile moving to his lips.
“It should, he was the originator of this design and many more. My boss took them and adjusted them to make use of the nano technology.” Agent 19 informed coldly. “Are you ready? If so, lets get a move on.”
Rocket didn't have time to respond as she was already on her way to the door. Rocket followed up closely with Groot behind him. Something in the distance sounded like a pop, or an explosion. The whole ship shook, hard enough for Rocket to fall back against his friend's sturdy leg. Rocket's visor came to life, emergency warnings danced in the corner of his eyes. Something about a direct hit, leaking plasma fluid in the lower deck, two wounded. Then a reading played across the visor. Shields have been engaged. Were they under attack? Rocket asked the rhetorical question.
“What is going on up there?” Agent 19 barked aloud, turning on her heels to cross the room.
“Port Window 32; retract blinds.” As the words left her lips, the whole wall across from the door into the room folded back giving a clear view into space.
There was a ship not too far off the port side of the floating space station. Agent 19 recognized it immediately. It was a particular vicious group of space pirates. Apparently word of Vargus's demise circulated quickly and revenge was the name of the game. White photon beams hit the shield hard somewhere above the window. The shield became visible for a second, hundreds of thousands octagons of a shimmering blue color. It was a spectacular thing to witness, but was gone as quickly as it had come. The ship rumbled and the shield seemed to be sucking up most of the damage.
“Damnit!” Agent 19 snapped, as she headed towards the door again, stepping around Groot quickly.
“Who are these guys? Friends of yours?” Rocket teased as he followed closely behind her.
“Not likely, however I think they were friends with Vargus, you know, your date from the bar?” Agent 19 huffed out as she picked up her pace.
“Oh har flarking har, you mean the guy your goons stabbed? That's too bad. Apparently somebody liked him.” Rocket was starting to feel the surge of battle washing through him.
“So it appears. We have to get to the hanger, so we can scramble the DLS battle cruisers. I have twelve Agents in route to meet us there.” Agent 19 tore around the corner seeing the sign for the elevator in visor read outs.
“Why can't we just unload a few round from this big ass ship into them?” Rocket stayed right on her heels.
Secretly he was happy that they had been attacked or else right now he would be getting his ass stomped in the sparring ring. The three made there way through the hallway. Rocket focused on Agent 19, not wanting to be slowed down by information download. It was already a chore to keep up with her with how fast she was moving. Rocket watched as she manipulated the elevator controls. The door slid open and they filed in one after another. Groot had to duck because he was far too tall to fit, it made the compartment feel even smaller. Agent 19 pushed another button and the elevator came to life, launching downward towards the hanger.
“It's simple, Rocket. This ship isn't equipped with weapons. It's the only passenger carrier we have in the fleet. I regret that I took in now, I didn't foresee us having an all out space battle.” Agent 19 was passed distraught now, whatever was flashing through her visor was worse than what Rocket was seeing, he could hear it in her voice.
“Okay, so what's the plan?” Rocket asked looking up at Agent 19.
“You two are coming with me. We're going to take a cruise, strike these bastards as hard as we can, and take them out.” The door opened into the hanger, Agent 19 pushed her way through.
“So I'll be the one flying, right?” Rocket asked as he watched her climb into a sleek looking cruiser.
Rocket found himself whistling at the impressive cruiser set before him. It was a slick black machine. It's look was very similar to that of Earth Air Force's F-19 Stealth Fighter, a powerhouse of a battle cruiser. Loaded with a quad injected field drive, capable of faster than light travel in an instant. It must have been a Nova design core that the DLS 'borrowed'. It was loaded with two frontal quantic ionizer canons. Definitely not made for rapid fire, but power behind the guns could rip through a shield and shut down important systems aboard any ship. Under each wing was a photon missile distributor, considered it to be the uppercut of a close quarters dogfight.
If there were ever a ship in all the galaxy that could turn Rocket on, this was the one. Just standing close to it was enough to make him swoon. After he had time to study it so closely his visor sucked up all the information about the cruiser, including how to fly it and operate the fire power, hell right down to navigation and communication. This was going to be fun.
“Don't get any ideas Rocket, this is my baby and I will be the one to fly it.” He could hear her voice echoing in his head.
Agent 19 strode up the ramp at the back of the cruiser. Rocket was still right behind her, Groot bringing up the rear. When they reached the cock pit, Rocket noticed that there were three seats. It appeared that all of the battle cruisers were controlled by three separate pilots. The seat on the front left was for the main pilot. The seat on the front right was for co-pilot and gunner. The third seat which sat behind and in the middle of the first two was reserved for the backup pilot and communications officer. In case of severe flarking, Rocket thought to himself. Agent 19 slipped into the pilot seat and started strapping herself in. Rocket begrudgingly flopped down in the co-pilot seat, while Groot did what he could to wedge into the third seat.
“Come on 19, you should let me fly. I'm good at it. You know, I'm being too humble. I'm not just good at it, I'm flarking great at it. I mean, just ask Groot.” Rocket argued, hesitating to buckle himself in.
“I am Groot!” Exclaimed Groot in a matter of fact way.
“See, the best there is. Thank you buddy, it does my heart good when you compliment me like that.” Rocket chuckled and looked over at Agent 19.
Agent 19 powered up the vehicle. “No one flies this ship but me.” She said.
“Fine, let me out I'll fly my own cruiser.” Rocket said getting up from his seat.
“Sit down and shut up!” Agent 19 yelled, it had been the first time she'd ever openly lost her cool. “These cruiser are only programed to fly with three pilots present. It keeps them from being stolen. I need you to be my gunner... Please cooperate.” Rocket couldn't tell if she was being sincere or not, with her helmet on.
“Fine, I'll help you. But if after all of this shit goes down and you don't take your helmet off for me, I'll rip the flarking thing off myself. Do you understand me?” Rocket gleamed at her with his eerie red visor eye slits.
“Yes, I do. Buckle up, both of you.” She said trying to get her voice to be even again, despite being flustered.
“I am Groot...” Came from the back seat.
“Yeah I have a bad feeling about this too buddy.” Rocket clipped himself into his seat looking around.
The inside of the cruiser was much the same as the inside of the freighter, everything smooth and black. With Rocket's helmet, he could make out all the digital consoles and read outs along the dashboard of the cruiser. There were a total of ten monitors that handle various different functions. Life support statistics, core drive read out, hull structure percentage, helm navigation controls, energy read outs, forward blaster condition and capacity, missile bay conditions and capacity, shield integrity, communications, and a warp drive calibrator. All the stuff Rocket knew a great deal about, that is, thanks to the helmet.
“Alright battle cruisers, we are going to fly in a cross formation. I will be in the front leading the charge. Cruiser four, you'll follow behind me. You're going to be my heavy hitter. Cruisers two and three you will follow on either side of me and slightly behind. I will need you to be my steady attackers. Our mission is to take their shields down, once they're down Cruiser four will deliver the death blow. Sound off if you understand. Ask questions if you don't.” Agent 19 listened in on her comm link and nodded when everyone understood.
“Alright, on my mark.” Agent 19 started shifted the accelerator, the cruiser lifting off from the floor gliding gently to the center of the hanger.
Once center with the open hatch that let out into space, she rocketed forward. The cruiser responded beautifully to her touch. Through the hanger door they flew engulfed in the blackness of space. A second later cruisers two and three joined them, with cruiser four bringing up the rear. All four ships glinted with a blue shimmer, signifying that their shields were now active. Rocket armed the weapons and scoffed shaking his head. It was loud enough for Agent 19 to take note.
“Problem, Rocket?” She said, it was clear she was still fighting to keep her voice calm.
“You have no idea what you're doing, do you? Have you ever been in a space battle?” Rocket looked over at her, even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was making a smug one.
“Yes, hundreds of them.” Her tone was confidence and cocky.
“How many of those were real and how many were simulation? Be honest now.” Rocket asked as he checked his systems over.
“They were all... simulation.” Agent 19 hesitated and then decided to answer honestly.
“Holy shit, we're going to die!” Rocket gasped, it was more exaggerated than it had to be.
The battle cruiser passed around the back of the DLS personnel freighter. The pirate warship was now in site. It was at least ten times larger than the cruiser that they were flying now. Rocket was starting to get concerned now that he'd seen what they were up against. It wouldn't take more than a few hits to completely demolish one of the battle cruisers. Rocket's hands were uneasily on the gunnery controls.
“Have you ever fought a space pirate before?” Rocket asked, already knowing that the answer was no.
“Yes, several of the simulations that I aced were against space pirates.” Agent 19 was starting to worry now, thanks to all the questions.
“Simulations don't count for shit out here. If you go in against space pirates in a military formation, they're going to pick you off easily. You have to fly fast and loose against them.” Rocket closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying the clear his mind.
Agent 19 snapped. “I have a ninety-nine percent success rate, I'll have you know.”
“Doesn't make me feel any better, sweetheart. That one percent failure is us being vaporized to dust. Do you know how many space battles end in survival? One out of three. That's why they give out so many Purple Stars to military personnel's families and not them. You know why? Because they flarking die in space battles.” Rocket was exaggerating, but only a tiny bit. Many space battles didn't end well.
“That's a lie and you know it. How many have you survived?” Agent 19 spat back, she was starting to fume again.
“All of them, because I'm that good.” Rocket stated a fact.
“I am Groot!” Groot agreed.
Agent 19 looked forward and started her first run against the Pirate's warship. “All ye of little faith, Rocket, watch this.”
The battle cruiser moved in quickly raining down heavy ionizer fire. Cruisers two and three followed suit. The Pirates warship's shields held firmly to the barrage of fire, much to Agent 19's surprise. Their shields were still at ninety-nine percent. They should have been taken down just with a few bolts from the ionizer. Rocket released a few photon missiles, they hit their mark causing the shields to ripple, but not falter. Whatever shields the Pirate warship had were dynamite.
“We need to regroup and rethink out strategy, 19.” Rocket suggested, he could feel the sweat beading up on his forehead.
“No we'll be fine, just keep up the offensive. You have to trust me on this.” Agent 19 did a good job keeping herself cool under pressure.
Just then a sonic ripple from a heavy explosion rolled over their cruiser. The force pushed the ship into a barrel roll. Agent 19 fought to regain control. She called for a status report from the other cruisers, but when she called out to cruiser two, there was no answer. Agent 14 was no more.
“I am Groot...” A sad cadence from the back seat filtered forward.
“That right buddy 'ol pal. They are in a better place.” Rocket said solemnly, trying to keep his wits about him.
Agent 19 brought the cruiser back upright and steadied it. Maybe Rocket was right, they should regroup and rethink their attack, Agent 19 thought, but then again. That's what the Pirates would be expecting. Now would be the optimal time to attack now that they were celebrating the victory over the fallen. Without a second thought she flew right back at the Pirate warship. Rocket opened fire, trying to hit any of the critical spots. If they pumped enough ionized energy into the shields, they would be forced to drop. The Pirates would then be sitting Howards for the kill.
“Careful about getting too close to the aft of the ship, they have ripper cannons. One of those projectiles get's through the shields and we're screwed.” Rocket shouted at her.
For a moment Agent 19 believed that Rocket was trying to be helpful. But then again maybe he was trying to show her up, trying to get her to relinquish control of the vessel. That wasn't going to happen. She had to prove him wrong, she had to make her father proud. There was a weak point at the aft of the ship, she was going to find it and exploit it. The ship careened around behind the pirate warship.
“What are you doing, stop!” Rocket yelled, but it was too late.
There were several quick, hot bursts coming from a small turret on the back of the ship. A ripper bolt was not unlike a piece of shrapnel from a grenade. It was thin, small, and deadly. Most of the time ripper bolts are magnetized, so it was undetectable by shields of a Octagonal Drive Corporation design, which was unfortunately the exact type of shields the battle cruisers had. The ripper bolt passed right through the shields, cut a hole in the lower hall and ricocheted around a few times. Rocket watched in horror as the weapons monitor flashed a red. “Offline” signal.
“We've lost weapons.” Rocket said softly, his terror level was rising, and he was doing everything could to not freak out.
Agent 19 hadn't heard him, she was too busy trying to recover from the last hit. Rocket glared at her through the red lenses of his helmet. She had deliberately disobeyed his suggestion and put them in great peril. Leaving them with no weapons to strike back with, their shields weren't programmed to deflect ripper bolts. Now they were the ones that were sitting Howards. Once the Pirates figure that out, they were dead. A rage was building up inside of Rocket, something bad was going to happen if he didn't get control of the ship. She wasn't going to listen to reason, that left him with only one choice, he was going to have to take it by force.
“Gimme the controls 19, you're going to get us killed. They're trying to get you to make another pass in front of them so they can hit us with their photons. The photons don't have a long distance but they will tear us apart.” Rocket was up out of his seat now, pleading with Agent 19.
“Trust me, the goddamned shields will hold. Why don't you so something productive and fire back?!” Agent 19 yelled at the top of her lungs, the feedback from her robotic respirator echoed in the cockpit.
“Because the first the shot you flew us into disabled all of our weapons, like I said it would.” Rocket was standing next to her now, his stance menacing.
“Back off Rocket, that's an order!” Agent 19 yelled as she veered the ship hard to the left.
“Stop what are you doing!?” Rocket yelled grabbing one of her hands on the flight control stick and pulled hard the opposite direction.
“I AM GROOT!” Groot too was up out of his seat now.
Agent 19 growled and elbowed Rocket hard in the gut, and then headbutted him. There was a heavy pop in Rocket's helmet and all he could hear was the crackling coming from his comm link. The cruiser drifted along the front of the Pirate's Warship. The whole cruiser rattle violent and all the screens lit up with red alert buzzers. Agent 19 was fighting to even out the ship. The damage was bad, critical as per the system read outs.
The forward destabilizing photon blaster from the front battery of the Pirate's warship was far stronger than Agent 19 had expected. It only took two blasts to cripple them. One to neutralize their shields, and the other to tear through their drive core. The ship was going to go super-nova. Plasma smoke from the drive core was filling the cockpit. Thanks to the respirators in their helmets they would be fine, but Groot was still in danger. There was a count down timer on the main view screen for how long they had until the ship blew. Five minutes wasn't long to make any rash decision. They had two choices, to return to the personnel freighter, or land upon the forest moon's surface.
Rocket grabbed the arm of his seat and pulled himself up, the sounds coming from the ship were terrifying. There were beeps and blaring horns all around him, even in his head. There was a crackling coming from his comm link. Why weren't the nanomites fixing the goddamned thing? He thought to himself. When he looked at the flat screens he saw the digital read outs. 'Critical' was the word that continuously flashed across them. Then he read 'Plasma smoke detected in the cockpit'. His heart jumped into his chest, Groot was going to suffocate to death if he didn't do something.
“Do we have an oxygen mask for Groot?” Rocket yelled to her, but she just sat there looking at the screens.
“We have to get back to the freighter!” Again there was no response.
Rocket stepped closer and grabbed her shoulder firmly, she snatched around to look at him with her red lens covered eyes. “Are you listening?! We have to do something! Do we have a gas mask for Groot?”
Agent 19 was at a loss for what to do. Panic took hold of her. Every rational thought she had was blocked out by her mind screaming that she and her pride had caused all of this to happen. Groot reassured her, that Rocket was the better pilot, and perhaps he was. Why didn't she listen when she had the chance? Now Rocket was screaming into her comm link. Four minutes left on the timer.
“Flarking come back to me!” Rocket slapped the side of her helmet and she gripped his chest.
“Yes, under his seat, there should be a gas mask.” She choked out as she was trying to regain control of the situation.
Rocket was on the move, he knelt down next to Groot's chair and pulled out something that was not unlike a dentistry head gear. There were three simple instructions. Rocket was relieved that it wasn't more complicated than it had to be. The only resistance Rocket met with was the straps were almost too short to fit around Groot's head, but he managed to work it out. Rocket pushed the mouth piece into Groot's craggy mouth and activated it. The soft hum of the oxygen device was lost amidst the beeping and blaring. Groot's eyes fluttered open slowly as he looked at Rocket. There was a great sigh of relief pushing through him.
One problem down, one more to go. He was on his feet and at Agent 19's side again. Her fingers were flying around the many flat screens. Obviously she had a plan of some sort, hopefully it was better than the plan that landed them in this mess in the first place.
“What are you doing?” Rocket yelled to her, that was the first moment that she realized his comm link was broken.
“I'm trying to jettison the drive core. We'll lose the rest of our power, but when the drive core ruptures the force will push us into the gravitational pull of that moon. The moon below us is registered as an M-class world, which means we'll be able to survive there, until rescue comes.” Agent 19 finally brought up the prompt to drop the drive core.
She moved her finger along the screen in a sliding motions. A green 'Success' flashed across the screen. The beeping stop, the blaring ceased and suddenly everything went quiet. There was an a small crack in the hull that sucked all the atmosphere out of the cock pit. Gravity failed. Rocket's feet left the floor leaving him hovering helplessly in the air. Groot wedged himself against the ceiling, reaching out to snag Rocket on the way by, pulling him close to his chest.
There was less then a minute on the countdown. It didn't matter. Agent 19 was doing everything she could to right this wrong that she cause. She rerouted all the energy left into the ship's thrusters. There wasn't even a minute worth of energy left in the energy cells. Slowly, she managed to rotate the ship so the bottom was towards the drive core. With the last ounce of energy she sealed the crack in the hull. It won't hold indefinitely, but it may just give them the chance the need.
Agent 19 was keeping the counting going on in her head. Ten...nine, she thought. When she turned to see that Rocket and Groot were secured to the ceiling. Eight...seven, she counted. Rocket was beckoning her to join them. Groot had wrapped several vines around Rocket to keep him secure. Six...five, she continued as she fought to free herself from the belt. Her body lifted weightlessly into the air. Four...three, sweat was running down her face from the building terror inside of her. Groot snatched her up in his other arm and braced her against Rocket tightly shielding them from as much harm as he could. Two...then the explosion.
There was no sound from the explosion, only the heavy push that the ship got. The push was so massive that their bodies jerked hard, it made their muscles ache, their teeth hurt, their noses bleed. It hadn't taken much to push the cruiser into the atmosphere of the moon, if anything they were now traveling faster than they should be. The outside of the ship was getting hotter, to the point of a glowing a red tint. Luckily the ceiling was well isolated or Groot would have been burned to a crisp. The trees were rushing up to meet them at an unfathomable speed. Rocket looked at Groot and clung to him, Groot held the Rocket and Agent 19 tightly to him as if they were his children. Agent 19 stared out the front window at the land coming up on them. The last thought she had before the wreck was that she had been so wrong, about everything. She had even miscounted, if she would have been free floating when the explosion happened, she would be dead now. Maybe Rocket and Groot would be better off without her.
Then there was a jarring rumble. The vibrations were harder than anything they'd ever felt before. The cruiser careened sideways and tumbled end over end. Then... blackness.
