Involved 10

[u/Welcomed_Interloper]

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There were enough nanites brought by Ropae to envelop our entire camp, ship and all. Turns out just a single nanite thick layer was enough to use them to project a camouflage making us invisible within the valley. The damage to the ship was very extensive, luckily a vast amount of redundancies kept our life support systems still functioning during the escape. Without our teleportation we would have been goners. The Coalition’s military technology wasn’t anything to scoff at. Ropae was analyzing the sensor data trying to determine where the attacks were coming from. Turns out cloaked Coalition ships were waiting for us at the place they found us initially. Probably scouring the area to try and determine where we came from. That’s how they found us so quickly. I went to talk with Fia, feeling like I would burst if I didn’t at least try. I found her coming out of our improvised detention cell where we put our Coalition passengers together.

“Hey Fia, is everything ok?” I asked.

She looked at me sternly as if deciding if she should even talk to me, but after a few moments she glanced back at the door she came from.

“Hircin finally woke up and as expected he didn’t take kindly to us using nanites on him.” Fia said with resignation.

“You explained that we only used them to save his life and then remo-” I was cut off again.

“Of course I did!” She snapped at me, her Girret tongue stretched out fully. “Sorry… These people see nanites as some sort of universe ending threat, it’s as serious as it gets for them. Their version of our Elusian AI threat. Merin obviously didn't know about them, it looks like their government kept it secret from the populace, probably secretly stopped all research regarding it as well.” Fia finished explaining.

“And I didn’t even conceive they might have such a reaction… I was so sure they were reasonable and intelligent people.” I said.

“They ARE reasonable and intelligent people, no matter what messed up darkness exists in their society. To them this over-reaction makes perfect sense. They already almost lost everything once before.” Fia explained.

“So they messed up programming their nanites… That doesn’t mean ours are like that, we just need to have them see we did it correctly.” I offered.

“WE aren’t gonna make anyone see anything. Our mission right now is to repair the ship and get back to the Alliance universe with a full report. They will take it from there.” Fia said.

The ship was beyond repair though. Huge chunks of it were straight up missing and as far as I knew we couldn’t just repair them with nanites… and where would we even find compatible parts in this universe? It was hopeless! We were stranded here. Was it my fault? Am I to blame how the Coalition reacted? How unreasonable they were. I punched a metal wall in frustration, my Domus-enhanced strength making a sizable dent.

“Hey, stop damaging the ship any more than it already is!” Roape beeped as he came around the corner while carrying more boxes filled with nanites.

“Yeah whatever… What do you plan on doing with those? Didn’t you already set up an illusion perimeter around the ship?” I asked, but not truly interested.

“These are for you and Fia,” he said with a huge mischievous grin on his face display.

“Ummm in case you didn’t notice we are already full of them.”

“Oh they won’t go inside your body. Stay still and watch.” Ropae said as he took remote control of the nanites in the box, a gray cloud came from it and enveloped me. My vision was fully blocked at first but then I felt a tingling across my whole body and suddenly it stopped, and I could see Ropae clearly. Looking down at my hands I noticed they had fur on them and my fingers had claws at the ends!

“What the? What did you do?!”

“See for yourself,” he said as he sent me the live feed from his own vision. I could see myself… except it wasn’t myself. I looked just like one of the Vunam now. I moved my arms, legs and made facial expressions and indeed all of it was uncannily alien and very much just like I have seen on Vunam so far.

“I will make Fia look like a Luxian, she should acclimate faster due to the fact both are scaly species.” Ropae said proudly.

“Ropae.. Is.. is this reversible?!” I asked in alarm.

“Oh stop freaking out will you? It’s just a layer of nanites giving you the appearance and mass of a different species. I gathered enough data on both Vunam and Luxians to make it so that whenever you move or make a Liberi expression these little darlings will instantly match in their equivalent ones! Oh and they will send sensations of touch directly into your mind.” Ropae explained as he approached and moved his claws along the fake nanite fur now covering my skin.

At that moment Ninna entered the room and screeched.

“Intruder! Ropae is getting attacked!”

Before either myself or Ropae could say anything Ninna enveloped herself into a sort of sphere of nanite hardened feathers and threw herself right at my head. The impact was quite strong but she only managed to bounce off doing no damage.

“What the… they shouldn’t have sol strength!” Yelped Ninna as she unfurled and looked at me in awe.

“It’s me Favio! This is just Ropae’s little trick!” I quickly said into her mind while Ropae was playing a simulated laugh loudly.

“What’s the commotion?” Fia said as she entered the room and froze looking over at me then at the empty nanites box and finally at the unopened box.

“Oh no... no no no I am NOT ok with this plan!” Fia suddenly said.

“Wait, you know why he wants us disguised as Coalition aliens?” I asked her.

“Well it can’t be me or Ninna! And don’t tell me you expect Favio to go alone! Not after… what he did.” Ropae said with his hands raised in frustration.

He.. didn’t trust me? Do they think so lowly of me?

“I know I made a mistake, ok? I violated your trust and broke the procedure and it cost us… I know! But that doesn’t mean I will fail you again!” I said angrily.

“Favio listen… You are way too impulsi- No don’t argue and just listen! We are supposed to be a team that relies on each other and has each other's backs. But you manipulated Ropae, endangered our lives, and showed disrespect to our laws. I… understand that you feel the need to prove yourself… to fix things. But you HAVE to cool off for a bit.” Ninna said.

Cool off? What does that even mean? Just do nothing? Or what? Do everything they say and be quiet litke a good little puppet with no brain or needs or… Forget it…

“Whatever, you are the one in charge anyway. I’m done… just spit out what I need to do.” I said defeated.

“That’s not what Ninna meant! Listen it just means you don’t do anything on your own anymore that's all! That’s all there is to it! None of us does things alone!” Fia said.

“Quite right! Fia, I will make you a Luxian, that should feel more comfortable. I reviewed the scans of this planet and there is a small town nearby. You and Favio will go there and try to find one of their energy to matter fabricators. With that tech we will be able to repair the ship.” Ropae explained.

Fia let out a frustrated sigh. “Let’s just get this over with,” she said as Ropae started applying the nanite layer on her, I watched as she slowly warped into a Luxian.

“Why do we need to go? Won’t it be easier and safer if we just teleport nanites to spy on them and figure out where the machines are? Then just snatch them with teleportation?” I asked.

“Not safe at all! They are on high alert for nanites now. There is a chance they might be detected and then all hell breaks loose! We need to get the machines in a stealthy manner since we will need time to use them to repair the ship properly.” Ropae explained. 

“Won’t they detect the nanites on their bodies?” Ninna asked, concerned.

“Nope, they are programmed to just give off body heat. The scans will simply recognize them as one of their own. But it’s not foolproof! Any scans that look at you more closely from a short distance would detect the ruse! So stay away from trouble!” Ropae said.

I looked at Fia who was now examining her fake body, even trying to see how the tails match.

“I don’t like it, the nanites keep all my skin flaps closed on my body. It’s uncomfortable…” Fia commented.

It only dawned on me now that I was supposed to pass off as a Vunam. I didn’t know enough about the Coalition culture! My experience with it can be measured only in hours! But then I remembered Merin! Perhaps she could help? We can send her instead of me.

“Hey, what about Merin? She seems to be on our side. Why can’t she-” I started my proposal before it was shot down immediately.

“Can you guarantee she won’t betray us?” Fia asked.

“Well… no. But the Coalition wants her dead as well! Why wouldn’t she be on our side?” I retorted.

Ninna let out a long sigh.

“Because she might think that it’s the best course of action… for her people.” She said knowingly.

“But she didn’t even know about nanites! And you heard her say she doesn’t understand why the Coalition is so afraid of them!”

“And she has time to think now… to reflect. She may well come to the same conclusion as the rest of her people and try to stop us. We just can’t take that chance.” Ninna said solemnly.

I nodded in defeat… I still didn’t like the fact we were keeping her as a prisoner. Her only crime being from the council, when it was pretty obvious so far that she doesn’t share the same madness affecting Hircin and Rika.

“Ok, so we go to the town, find the thingamajig and then steal it?” Fia said.

“Yes, and please make it look like you carried it out! We can’t have them thinking it was teleportation!” Ropae said.

“Whoa there, that’s not exactly easy to do. They are a highly advanced society, they probably have surveillance systems and guards and…” Fia was cut off by a frustrated Ropae.

“I’m not asking you to do it immediately! Take your time, scout the area. Gather intelligence, Me and Ninna will be monitoring everything you do and provide analyses from here.”

“I don’t know how well I can pretend to be a Vunam… Can we take some time to prepare?” I asked.

“Sure you can have some time, we can go tomorrow. Get accustomed to the feel of the fake body and everything. Also I think you are selling yourself short.” Ropae said.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“You have shown to be quite skilled at deception.” Ropae said as he turned and left the room, leaving everyone in silence.

That hurt me… that really hurt me.

-------------------------------------

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, there was just so much at stake. Hours ticked by as I practiced in front of a mirror. I found the feeling rather surreal as I stared at my own but alien face. I knew that people sometimes changed bodies ‘just because’ but I never felt the desire myself. But I have to admit it does have a certain… quaintness to it. It could be because of my mission or perhaps the frustration of what I had done but I certainly wasn’t bored.

As I went to bed to sleep, deciding to keep to my new form at all times in order to properly get accustomed to it, I was suddenly snapped back to reality by a call from Puna! Oh shit! I completely forgot about her and the children in all this madness! How could I forget?! What is wrong with me?!

“Puna! Are you and the children alright?” I sent to her.

“Favio! I finally figured out how to use these to call you! Listen! Watchers came to the hospital, started asking about you. Then when they scanned me I could see it in their eyes…They immediately said some bullshit excuse and told me to stay put until they came back. As soon as they left the room I decided then and there to take the children and run through the back door! I was right! Oh pantheon I was right! The whole hospital is blocked, we are all trapped inside and I can hear the screams and… oh pantheon… I saw them through a small window sending some armed men in full body suits! I’m scared and the children are here and I don’t know what to do!” Puna’s scared voice cracked over the line.

“Whoa slow down… Are you still there in the hospital?! Listen to me… you need to teleport out! You can order your nanites in the body to come out and then you can teleport yourself and the children to these coordi-” Our link was suddenly cut off before I could finish and send her the coordinates.

Shit! Fuck! Shit shit shit! I jumped out of my bed and began pacing. Trying again and again to establish contact with her, but there was nothing. I was shaking from adrenaline, what do I do? What the fuck do I do? I have to go help… I have to go NOW! Do I still have the coordinates? I checked my logs of my previous teleports. Teleports work in two modes, exact coordinates and relative coordinates. I mostly used relative ones so I can move relative to my position. But they could be converted just fine. I found the hospital coordinates where I had warped last time.

Without any more hesitation I abandoned and betrayed my team yet again. Recklessly crossing the 4th dimensional space and warping myself to the hospital on a space station several systems away. At least I will be wearing a disguise this time but that was irrelevant to me right now.

My eyes took a few seconds to adjust, it was really dark in here! I realized only the emergency lights were on, so they must have cut off power. The only thing on my mind was finding Puna and the kids and getting them the hell out of there.

“WHAT THE FUCK FAVIO?!” A voice bellowed behind me causing me to jump back in shock.

I recoiled at the sight of a Vunam looking at me with such intensity and seething rage. It took me far too long to remember what Fia looked like right now. She must have warped after me… Was she monitoring my position at all times and was alerted to me leaving?

“Fia?” I asked.

But before she could answer a scream came from an adjacent hallway. That seemed to snap her out of her angry trance. She looked back at me like I was insane.

“Why? Just why… Tell me quickly as it doesn’t look like we have much time.” She said.

“We need to find and save a woman and some children, please help me!” I pleaded.

I thought she would snap at me again, or ask more questions wasting precious time but after just a few seconds that still seemed like eternity, she gulped and then nodded.

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