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The Swarm War

Chapter 4

As the team made to leave the briefing room the holo projector in the middle if the table sprang to life. Lupa materialized and begun to speak. "If you guys so desire I can give you a tour of the ship."

Fox decided to answer for his team "sounds like a plan to me."

"Excellent since I can't project in the hallways you will just have to follow the directions to the locations you wish to go to, where would you like to go first."

Falco unsurprisingly replied "let's go check out the armory."

"Alright then please head this way" as the tour started they all walked into the hallway and went towards one of the many rail lifts. As they climbed into the lift fox had the urge to ask a question.

"So Lupa" he began "how long have you known Varrus?"

Her voice responded a few moments later "I have known Varrus since he was a trainee at Hells Gate, this was before I had a body. I was one of the A.Is stationed there to teach them about the history of warfare."

"So you have known him for a long time, tell me is he always so depressing to be around?" Fox asked thinking back to the rather sad briefing they all had just attended.

"No he was a surprisingly happy kid even after the events that took his home and family he was the guy that looked out for all the other trainees and took care of them."

The lift stopped at the designated floor and they all left and followed Lupa's directions toward the armory and continued their conversation.

"Sounds like a huge responsibility." Peppy said "having to take care of all those kids

"Yes, well he always was one to look after others, he started to change when they began doing there first combat missions, he was the leader of all the remaining members of the pretorians and was the one who assigned them missions."

"Sounds stressful" Falco said.

"Yes well it got worse as the years dragged on and the war kept escalating less and less of his men were returning from their missions until only a few remained. So he then put the remaining pretorians in his own squad to keep an eye on them. Sadly he could not protect all of them and eventually he was the last one left."

"That's terrible" Krystal said

"At least their sacrifices pushed the bugs back and gave humanity a fighting chance for the future."

"But at what cost" Fox said quietly to himself.

At that they arrived at the armory where Fox and Falco became mesmerized by the dazzling array of weapons and equipment.

"Holy crap" Fox said "this place is AWESOME"

"Damn right it is" Falco replied.

"Yes all of these things belong to Varrus as he is the last of the pretorians and all of their gear was put aboard this ship."

"You think he would be willing to let me barrow some" Falco said As he walked along the rows of weapons each more interesting then the last.

"Yeah" Fox said distractedly staring at a particularly elegant pistol.

"I am not sure you can ask him later" Lupa said "I'm sure he won't mind in fact I think he would be happy to see his friends weapons being used once more."

At this both Fox and Falco looked at each other and grinned "I think we could find a use for these" they said at the same time.

All of a sudden Slippy pipped in from halfway across the large room "what is this?" He asked gesturing to a huge door with a keypad and the symbol of Varru's order plastered on the front.

"That there is his personal armory where he stores his most cherished gear and equipment."

While Fox Slippy and Falco explored the armory Krystal and Peppy hung back near the door as they didn't have a particular interest in these kind of things. Noticing this Lupa turned to them and said "since this place isn't to your liking can I interest you in somewhere else?"

"Not to be a bother but maybe somewhere more... Quiet" Krystal said indicating how loud and obnoxious the three were being.

"Ah yes maybe the library will strike your fancy" Lupa said.

"Yes a Library would be splendid!" Peppy exclaimed.

"Very well then follow me" she said signaling them to head towards the exit.

As they went towards the library Varrus was in the bridge and was just plotting the course for their next jump when he received a urgent call from Fleet Comm and so he patched it through. "This is Varrus go ahead command."

"Pretor we have troubling news a scout fleet of the parasites are heading towards one our outer colonies and your ship is the closest that can respond in time." A officer said as he appeared on the holo table.

"You want me to go and help them?"

"Yes I also think you would be interested to hear which colony they are going to attack."

"Really?"

"Yes it's new Arcadia."

"Seriously?"

"I'm afraid so please Pretor the colony will fall if no help will arrive."

"Of course command ill plot the course right now."

"Thank you Command out" the officer said and he disappeared in a flash of light.

As Varrus plugged in the new destination he couldn't help but see the irony of which colony had been targeted. "I guess that name is cursed" he said to himself and activated the slip space drive.