{"sf1_id":875190,"sf2_id":null,"title":" Discoveries","author":"Drake_The_Traveller","words":2953,"posted_at":"2015-06-19T04:31:00.000Z","tags":["Anthro","Character Development","Human","Romance","Starfox","Story Progression","Story Series","dead space"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/875190-discoveries","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/875190","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=875190\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Starfox: Liberation\nChapter 6: Discoveries\nLife is an endless process of self-discovery...\n-James Gardner\nAlaric was in the engine room of his ship,\nrecalibrating the drive core and making sure that everything was functioning\nsmoothly. The last thing he wanted was for the drive to give out and get\nstranded somewhere in space. As he worked, he found himself thinking about his\nguest.\nKrystal, the cerulean vixen, was turning out to be\ninteresting. Something about her seemed to calm his demons, even temporarily.\nTheir conversations distracted him from his brooding and his mission. That was\nboth a good and bad thing. It had been a day since they entered the shock gate\nand they were about a little less than halfway to Katina, with maybe two more\ndays if the computer was functioning properly. From there he would narrow down\nthe location of The Undying, and see what it was that went wrong. Alaric was\nstill puzzling out how he was supposed to balance doing his mission, and\nkeeping her in the dark. He somewhat regretted letting her come with him, but\nhe was glad, however little he truly was, to have the company either way.\nSilence had a tendency to make one recollect their past.\nAlaric took off the observation panel to the core\nand looked inside the blue glowing matrix. It looked to be functioning\nperfectly, although he really should replace the outer housing as soon as he\ncould. It was rusted and partially decayed, which was probably breaking half a dozen\nsafety regulations. Thank the lord these Asimov freighters were built to last. Otherwise\nthey might have never been able to get this far. \n\"Having fun there?\" Krystal asked him merrily. The\nvixen was sitting near the entrance to the reactor room, sipping from a plastic mug of second\ngrade coffee. It was a part of the MRE's standard package, which meant that it\nwas probably the worst damn coffee ever made. Still, it was better than no\ncoffee at all. \n\"Not really.\" Alaric replied grouchily as he turned\naway from the core. \"Maintenance was never my favorite thing.\"\nShe grinned while sipping from the mug and flopped\nher tail on the deck lazily with a soft drumming. \"I can see that.\"\n\"Oh shut it.\" The man grunted roughly. He sounded\ncrass and more than a little bit rude, but by now she had come to understand\nhim better and knew that he wasn't really cross with her. Over the course of\nthe trip they seemed to have fallen into a slightly irregular rapport. All\nthough it was prone to rough patches every now and then if anything relating to\nhis past was brought up. Alaric would become viciously defensive. \nMost of the reason Alaric was being less confrontational\nwas purely because he unconsciously craved societal interaction. He had been\ndeprived of it for more than seven years. The man was starved of that human connection;\nironically it was not a human that he was connecting with. But at the moment,\nshe was the best option and so he forced himself to tolerate her slightly annoying\npresence. On the plus side, she had a pretty face to look at. \n\"You know...\" He muttered gruffly as he tried his best\nto clean the outer core of the reactor with solvent and what could be alluded\nto as a mechanic's steel wool. \"You could always pitch in and pull your own damn\nweight.\" \nThe vixen nodded sagely and flicked her tail as she\ndipped her shapely, cream furred muzzle into her mug and sipped gently. \"True...but\nthen you wouldn't be able to say you fixed this ship all by yourself, think how\nimpressed people would be to hear that.\" \nAlaric rolled his crimson eyes as he wiped his brow\nwith an exceptionally dirtier cloth then he started out with. \"Uh huh...I think\nyou just don't want to get your paws dirty.\" \n\"....Perhaps.\" The vixen relented after a brief\nsilence eyeing with an air of amusement, as if she found all of this to be entertaining.\nAlaric scoffed and turned away from her, finishing\nwith the left side of the paneling and starting on the right. \"Damn freeloader....\"\nHe grumbled to himself as he set about the arduous process of cleaning the\nlarge swath of protective bulky armored sheeting that covered the reactor. \"Don't\neven know why I let her come along. Fucking useless...\" He continued to gripe\nirritably, making the azure vixen giggle at his expense. \nAn hour later, he finished with the dirty task, and\neyed the female fox disdainfully as he dusted himself off. \"Thanks for the\nhelp.\" He uttered sarcastically. \nKrystal smiled brightly and stroked her tail\ncontentedly. \"You're most welcome.\" \nHearing that, he stopped and gave her a hard look.\nAnd yet even though his gaze was heated enough to rip hull plating of a battleship,\nall it did was cause her to smile even more. After a minute, his left eye\ntwitched and he walked away without a word, exiting the compartment.\nKrystal sighed and shook her muzzle before speeding\nafter him. \"Oh come on, lighten up.\" She called out to him as he stormed off. \n\"Starting to think that I was better off in the\nprison...\" He muttered darkly to himself as he thundered down the hall towards\nthe bridge.  \nShe caught up with him and had a difficult time\nkeeping up with his ruthless pace. \"Can't you take a joke? I was just playing\naround, I mean seriously, fun, have you heard of it?\" She demanded as she\nlooked up at his unamused face. \n\"No...\" He retorted stiffly.\nHer muzzle twisted into disbelief. \"Really...?\" \n\"There wasn't much time for fun in my life.\" He growled and stepped into the bridge. \"It was a\nluxury I could ill afford.\" \nKrystal was baffled. \"What do you mean? Everyone has\ntime for fun, how can you not?\"\nAlaric walked towards the newly repaired captain's\nchair and placed his hands on the back and looked out to the soft blue aura of\nshockspace. \"Not everyone has a life of pleasure and superfluity, as surprising\nas that must sound to you.\" He scowled irritably. \"Sometimes, people are given a\nshitty hand and they're forced to play it, as was my case.\"\n\"But...never...?\" She asked in horror. The thought that\nsomeone could go their whole life without even a shred of enjoyment was an anathema\nto her kind hearted nature. She believed that a life without happiness was no\nlife at all. \nAlaric paused to give her question some thought.\nThere as not really any time he could recall where he genuinely enjoyed his\nlife. Even now, all he was working towards was the chance to attempt to have a\nhappy life. He guessed that the times he and his men were given to rest before\nthe next mission could be counted as somewhat happy. Yet, there was not much to\nbe happy about when you spent your life killing innocents and those who fought\nfor a better life themselves.\n\"Never.\" He told her with a sigh. \nThe vixen huffed and crossed her arms with a pouty\nmuzzle. That just would not do, she decided. Krystal was going to do something to\nfix that. \"Well, it seems that it is my responsibility to make you have fun.\"\nShe stated determinedly, slowly growing a smile the more she thought about it.\nAlaric openly scoffed at her. \"I don't think so.\" \nKrystal's grin deflated, and she looked to him in\nshock. \"What...why not?\" She demanded angrily.\n\"I have neither the time, patience, nor desire to pursue\nfun.\" He replied coldly and moved to sit in his chair, which creaked dangerously.\n\"There is far too much for me to worry about to play silly games.\"\n\"But that's exactly why you have fun!\" Krystal exclaimed\nloudly and moved to strand in front of him. \"Without fun, what point is there\nto life?\" \n\"Surviving.\" He responded simply. \n'Clearly\nthis was going to be more of a challenge than I expected.' Krystal thought to herself. The vixen tapped her\nfuzzy chin with a clawed digit as she tried to think of a way to get the human\nto open up more and have fun. Then a light flashed in her eyes and her tail\nbegan to wag as she had an epiphany. \n\"What do you like to do?\" She asked excitedly.\n\"Fight.\" He answered simply.\nKrystal's tail ceased its wagging and she rolled her\nhead back in exasperation. \"Alright,\" She tried again, \"What else do you enjoy doing?\nWhat makes you feel the most relaxed and laid back?\"  \nAlaric took a moment to think about her question. He\ndecided to play along, if nothing more than to amuse her. He thought back to\nwhen he had spare time to himself, to what he did when he had that opportunity.\nAlaric did remember that he liked to sit in the armory and work on his\nequipment, when he fixed things he felt more at ease and allowed himself to\ndrift off and become distracted by daydreams about a better life. Anything that\nmade him temporarily forget about his life or past was what he supposed made\nhim 'happy'. But that was incredibly vague. It was more of a sentiment than\nanything else. And because of that he did not know how to classify it in a way\nshe would understand. \n\"What do you like to do?\" He suddenly asked her,\nflipping the interrogation around.\nKrystal was starting to think that he did not\nunderstand, and she decided that she would show him the ropes so to speak. \"I\nlike to snuggle up in bed and read a book, or have fun with my friends. Oh and\nsometimes I like to meditate.\"\nSnuggling in bed was definitely a no for Alaric, and\nhe never did things with his men that could be considered fun. And they were\nnot friends, more like a tightly knit family. \"Meditation...?\" He repeated\ncuriously. \n\"Yes, sometimes when I have a lot on my mind, I find\nthat sitting down and relaxing was the best thing.\" She explained quickly,\nhoping that he would think about it.\nBut after a moment, Alaric shook his head negatively.\n\"That's not for me.\" He was a man of action, so sitting around until he felt\nbetter did not appeal to him. \nKrystal frowned and dropped her tail. There was\nnothing it seemed that could change him...at least for now. She would pull back\nand regroup with a better plan. Krystal vowed that she would find a way inside\nhis defenses. There was a normal person locked inside Alaric, and she was going\nto free him. \nAlaric stared at the vixen with concern. He did not\nlike the look on her muzzle one bit. He could tell when someone was planning, and\nshe definitely was churning the gears in her head. \nHe decided that his time could best be spent working\non the bridge and so he stood up from his chair and walked over to one of the\nfunctioning consoles. With a few clicks Alaric brought up a task menu and tried to see if he\ncould somehow eliminate the glitches inside the ship's systems. As he worked\ndiligently, fingers dancing across the two dimensional holographic display,\nKrystal took his seat and watched him work. \nShe liked the expression he made whenever he was\nreally going at something. He looked so determined and confident, as if he\ncould fix anything, do anything. And yet, at the same time she could see a\nfaint unhinged air about him, as if he could barely keep a hold on himself let\nalone something else. Krystal was exceptionally perceptive, especially when it\ncame to people. It was not only because of her latent telepathic power. She had\nlearned it from her father, who was Cerinia's King. He had been an excellent\ndiplomat and empathetic ruler, and he had taught her much before he and the\nothers of her race died. He, along with her mother, had been the driving force\nin Krystal's life and she missed them dearly every day. \nShe was so deep in thought, that she did not notice\nthat she had been sitting there for quite some time. Alaric took her out of her\nmusing when he hesitantly shook her shoulder. \n\"Are you still alive in their?\" He asked gruffly and\nwith a hint of amusement in his tone.\nKrystal flushed in embarrassment at having been\ncaught so off guard and nodded quickly. \"Yes, just lost in thought was all.\" \nAlaric seemed to eye her gently for the first time. \"Yes,\nI suppose we all get lost in thought every now and again. I was just letting\nyou know that I'll be heading back to my cabin.\" \nAlaric did not wait for an answer and walked out of\nthe room, leaving the vixen to her thoughts once more. She watched him depart\nand leaned back in the chair, which threatened to break if she attempted to\nlean any farther back. She hummed quietly to herself and thought about the real\nreason she decided to go with him. Alaric was withholding information from her\nabout that ship. And she was curious to know what exactly that information was.\nShe had heard of the Solarans or humans, (whatever they liked to call themselves),\nbefore her homeworld had been destroyed. But due to their far off location, she\ndid not know much about them. But she was willing to bet that they were not all\nlike Alaric. He was something else entirely. He was, perhaps, the strangest man\nshe had ever met, and that was what drew her to him. Something inside of him\nwas not working properly, and she wanted to be the one to make it right again. But\nin order to do that, she would need to know more about his past, and how it\nmade him what he was now. The problem was, how would she get him to speak, he\nwas hostile if it was brought up. Krystal sat in the chair and patted her tail steadily.\nIt would take some doing, but she felt that she could get him to talk.\nAlaric stepped into his cabin and plopped down on\nthe chair pulled up to the desk. His rifle and sword's hilt were laid alongside each other on the wooden desk and his armor stood up under its own power to the left of\nhis bed. He reached towards the rifle and picked it up, running a hand down the\nsmooth black framework and snapped it open where the barrel started to separate\nfrom the main body. He carefully slid out the cylindrical magazine and deposited\nit on the desk gently. \nAlaric liked guns.\nThey were easy to understand and easy to fix. They\nhad one simple purpose, to defend the life of their owners. They did not talk,\ncomplain, cry, berate, nor hate you. And you could always rely on them if you\ntook care of them. Guns could always be fixed, replace parts, oil parts, and it\nwould always keep going....unlike people.\nAlaric did not like people.\nPeople were impossible to understand. They had no\npurpose besides what they give themselves. They talked, complained, cried,\nberated, and hated. All the ones he had met were unreliable...and they could be\nbroken. And eventually, no matter what you did, at one point they would ultimately\nand unequivocally cease to function. There was no stopping this, it was\ninevitable, a fact of life. It did not matter if they had fur, scales, skin, gills,\npaws, flippers, hands, muzzles, snouts, faces. They all had a limited time in\nthis universe. And there was absolutely nothing one could do to stop it.\nWorst of all, they formed attachments with one another. It was also a fact of life. People\nneed other people; they need to not be alone. But, with attachments come consequences.\nIf the ones you are attached to die, the pain you feel is almost physical and\ndebilitating. It haunts you till your dying days, and the only way to escape\nthis is to either distance yourself from others until you die or hope to perish\nbefore they do. \nAlaric did not like pain.\nAnd yet pain was something he was unfortunately all\ntoo familiar with. He had been born into pain, raised with pain, taught with\npain, and ordered to inflicted pain. His life was a seemingly unending cycle of\npain. \nAs Alaric sat at the desk and fiddled with his\nweapons. He thought about his life. What was there to becoming free? He would\ninevitably experience loss and pain. It was an unalterable and factually\nassumption. What was truly the difference between freedom and damnation? To be\nfree is to be in pain. And to be shackled it to be in pain. So why would one\nwant to experience either...why did they not just end it?\nThe answer was simple.\nFear.\nFear of the unknown, fear of what lies beyond the\nend, fear of what death may bring. That is what stayed the slice of the knife, the pull\nof the trigger, the leap into the abyss. \nFear was what kept people alive, it was the one\nthing that every living thing shared. Everyone fears something. \nTo be fair with Alaric's dark conclusion about\nlife, the human had never experienced the joy that life brought that often\ncounteracted the terrors it carried. He had not experienced family, friendship...love.\nThose were foreign concepts he could not come to terms with. Concepts he barely\ngrasped the meaning of. They were so strange as to almost be abhorrent. He\nconsidered those things to be flaws when they are in fact...our greatest strengths"}