Change
Starfox: Liberation
Chapter 7: Change
A change in behavior begins with a change in the
heart...
-Anonymous
Alaric at the captain's chair, idly reading from the
console in front of him. The Serpent's
Lair was slowly turning into a decent ship. He had cleared up most of the
junk and placed it in the hold to space it when he had the time and most of the
interior was now squared away, including the elevator, which he got operable
less than an hour ago. The only real trouble left was going to be buying parts
for the systems that didn't work. For example, while the hull was in great
condition after being worked on back on Fortuna, the shields remained offline.
He checked the generator and saw that it needed several parts replaced, and
that would neither be easy or cheap. Then there was the weapons system, or
rather lack of it. The ship didn't so much as have a single railgun. All it had
was a small turret on the top for clearing asteroids, and that wouldn't do much
against a military grade ship or pirates for that matter.
He also needed furnishing for his cabin and the
other five cabins down on the crew deck. Then there was the whole thing with
the food situation, which he didn't want to even think about.
"MRE's...pff." Alaric muttered darkly to himself.
He just hoped that once he had done what he was
asked of, that the UEG would hold up to its promise. Otherwise he would be
pretty pissed to have done all this grueling work for nothing.
Alaric checked the screen in front of him for an
update on the ship's flight status and saw that they were a half an hour from
their destination. Now that he was so close to his objective he started to
think of a plan for finding the ship. His best bet would be to try and pinpoint
its last exact location, and compute how far it could have gone. He had been
told that it was last known to be in the Katininan gravity well, which placed
it with a few light-years of the planet and its surrounding space. So with luck
he would find The Undying in an hour or maybe two at most after exiting
shockspace.
Now, when he found it he had another problem to
contend with. Krystal was aboard his ship and she was bound to be curious and
ask questions. And if he had to go aboard The
Undying he felt uncomfortable with leaving her all alone on-board his ship.
Not as much as for her safety, but more so that she couldn't do anything to it.
Yet he was more worried of what would happen if he brought her with him. The Undying was a clandestine human spy
ship, so the crew would not be happy to see a cornerian on their little
infiltrator vessel. And if he knew intelligence agencies, which he did, they
would go to great lengths to silence her before she could talk about it. And
that would place Alaric in an awkward position; he would have to save her. For
some reason the vixen was starting to grow on him, even her childish views on
the universe and her soft hearted ways. And so saving her would probably result
in killing the crew. And that was kind of against the purpose of what he was
supposed to be doing. Then he would be hunted down like an animal and put down
by the UEG's attack dogs. All in all, that plan didn't sound all that great.
His brow was furrowed as he tried to decide what to
do before it was too late.
"What's with the frowny face?" Krystal requested
from her seat next to him. The vixen had been quietly sitting while he worked
and chose that moment to speak her mind.
"I'm trying to come up with a plan." He replied
stiffly, not happy to have his thoughts interrupted.
She silently nodded a little hurt by his rough
response. Alaric was becoming more and more testy the closer they got to their
destination, and she didn't know why. What she did know, was that it had
something to do with the ship. She could sense that much from him and Krystal
was curious to know more, and there was a way she could find out. But would it
be the right thing to do? She could use her powers to slip into his mind and
see his thoughts, but there would be no coming back from that. The vixen
thought to herself and decided that she could at the most try to get a more in
depth surface reading. With that she would learn a little more, without digging
to deep.
Krystal closed her eyes and exhaled quietly, opening
her mind completely to her surroundings. She did not often do this, preferring
to not be flooded by other people's emotions and thoughts, but she would make
an exception this one time.
Immediately after she opened herself up, she almost
gasped. There was an immense void of swirling rage, grief, and isolation. And
it was all coming from Alaric. Krystal shot open her emerald eyes and stared at
the scarred human in amazement. His uncaring outside surface bellied a
hurricane of tumultuous emotions. How could he look so calm with such dark thoughts
churning unbridled in his mind? It was almost enough to overcome the vixen's
own, but with an extreme force of will she managed to keep herself from
becoming consumed.
Yet she still had more to learn so she steeled
herself and tried to delve deeper into his chaotic mind.
Alaric was unaware of her intrusion into his mind,
although he did feel exposed for some reason. But he shrugged it off as a
random sensation and returned his thoughts once more to how he was going to
handle his furry problem.
Krystal shuffled through Alaric's surface thoughts,
which mostly were errant considerations about his ship and how he was going to
get it running. But a few others grabbed her attention in particular because
they were in regards to her. And she couldn't help but take a deeper peak; she
was curious to know what he truly felt about her, without his heavy layers of
protective sarcasm and anger.
She was surprised to find out that while he did
think she was rather annoying, that he genuinely enjoyed her company, probably
more than he would admit to himself. She began to feel a warm sensation that
built upon itself the more she discovered. He also thought she was pretty! The
vixen couldn't help but giggle happily at the thought, which happened to grab
the human's attention.
Alaric heard Krystal giggle quietly and turned his
focus away from the console and his brooding to stare at her curiously. "What's
so funny?" He demanded with a questioning grumble.
Krystal twitched, as if she had been shaken awake,
and looked to him with an innocent smile. "Nothing...nothing at all." She replied
lightly as her tail started to bounce happily behind her.
He eyed her closely, but after a few seconds he
shrugged with a scoff and went back to his brooding, muttering about 'crazy
women'.
Krystal smiled and stroked her tail as she watched
him work. For some reason knowing that he liked her, albeit grudgingly, filled
her with such glee that she felt as if she was laying on a bed of clouds.
Alaric heard the faint beeping of the ship's
navigations system and a few moments later it shuddered softly and the blue
haze of shockspace faded slowly to reveal a curtain of stars with a brownish
world floating in the background. "We're here." He notified the blue vixen, and
frowned at the stupidly pleased grin that was plastered on her muzzle. "Hey are
you in there? Ground control to Krystal." Alaric muttered and snapped his
fingers in front of her muzzle.
Krystal shook her muzzle quickly and blushed as she
responded. "Yeah I was just thinking...again."
Alaric rolled his eyes and focused back on the
ship's controls. "Didn't look much like thinking to me."
"So we're here you said?" Krystal asked quickly,
changing the subject.
"Yeah, just got to pinpoint where the ship is,
then..." The human trailed off. Then he had no idea what he was going to do. He
supposed that he would just take her with him. It was not like his life could
get any worse. "Then we see why the ship went missing." He finished.
"Alright." She nodded in agreement.
Alaric maneuvered the controls and set The Serpent's Lair out from the
ShockPoint beacon. The bridge of the freighter was silent as Alaric followed
after the navigation trail of The Undying. Somewhere along this specified path
way, the ship went missing, and perhaps they could find some clues as to why.
Krystal was growing increasingly bored. She was never
good at keeping still for very long. In an effort to keep herself occupied she
started to groom her fur, running a clawed paw through it and picking out the
dust and anything else that got stuck in her soft cerulean coat. But that only
kept her busy for a few minutes at best, and when she was done she became
restless. Humming a tune to herself, she rocked in her chair and looked around
the bridge for something else to do.
But the only source of entertainment was the grumpy
human piloting the ship...who she decided to bother.
"So..." She said, turning her chair to face him with a
grin. "Do you like flying?"
Alaric sighed and lowered his head, answering
reluctantly. "Yes."
"Why?"
Instead of saying something rude, as he usually did.
Alaric decided to try being nice for once. "I like the sense of freedom." He
chuckled ironically at that. "You can go anywhere. The whole galaxy is open to
you." And after seven years of confinement, that level of liberty was particularly
enjoyable for him. But he left that part out for obvious reasons.
Krystal wagged her bushy tail at his explanation, but
more so because he had responded without his usual indifference. "That's nice."
She said sweetly.
Alaric looked back at her smiling muzzle and
chuckled, smiling himself. "I suppose it is."
The human and the vixen stared at one another
silently, neither able to look away.
Alaric found himself absorbed into her bright
emerald eyes, which were so vibrant and full of life, so unlike his own. She
was carefree and happy, untroubled by life and its inherent miseries. Nor had
she been deterred by his bleak outlook, rather instead feeling the desire to
make him see and experience what joys life could bring. Alaric was starting to
feel that she may be right about life, and that all he needed was fun. He
decided there and then, he would try and be a normal person, if nothing more
than to spite those who reveled in his misery. The only one who would suffer if
he chose to live despondently was himself. The problem, he thought sadly, was
that if she discovered what he had done and been all those years ago, she would
think him a monster. So, he vowed to do whatever it took to keep his past a secret,
she was the only friend he ever had, as pathetic as that sounded. And he would
do almost anything to keep her.
Krystal looked into his dark ruby red eyes, and saw
a slowly mending soul. Whatever his life had been up to this point had scarred
him deeply. His anger and grief were his guiding emotions. She would have to
replace those with happiness. Krystal chose to dedicate herself to seeing that
he would have a better outlook on life.
Alaric noticed that they had been staring for too
long and so he cleared his throat roughly and scratched at the color of his
shirt. "Yes well, I suppose we should focus on finding that ship." He suggested
stiffly, trying to recover his hardened aura. The human wasn't ready to
completely throw off his protective attitude.
"Yes you're right." Krystal agreed with a warm smile,
glad that she had made a brief breakthrough.
Alaric scanned the stars and checked the screens.
From what he had been told, The Undying
had last reported in somewhere near the edge of the Katininan gravity well.
This should place its location within a few hours flight of the planet itself.
So banking his hypothesis off that, Alaric had The Serpent's Lair focus its
efforts in that area. And he was surprised when he almost immediately got
results.
The ship's computer announced that it had a lock on
two ships of different sizes and classes, one of which was The Undying. Alaric was dumbfounded that he had discovered it so
soon. And he was also concerned over the presence of another ship. He had been
told nothing about any other vessel. The computer said that they were five
minutes away at full engine burn and he could see the faint outlines of two
ships. One was small, and the other was massive, dwarfing both his freighter
and what had to be The Undying.
"Is that it?" Krystal asked from beside him, and the
human nodded.
"Yes, but I don't know what the other ship is."
"It looks like a Starliner." Krystal said in
surprise.
Alaric decided to run a database inquires on both
ships, and got results in moments.
As he suspected, the smaller ship was The Undying, a frigate-class science
vessel. From what he was reading it had a crew of a little more than a fifty.
It was small, even for a frigate. But the ship currently attached to it was
another story entirely,
Krystal was right; the other ship was a Starliner, The Magenta. It belonged to Lylat Cruises,
a well-known subsidiary of Phoenix Enterprise. From what the database told him.
They used to be a weapons manufacture that went philanthropic. At that moment
though, he couldn't give a shit. He was more concerned with the fact that it
was docked with a human infiltration vessel. Of course they probably didn't
know that, but that was beside the point. If there was no emergency, then why
did The Undying go off the grid? If he wanted answers to his questions, he
would have to get closer.
"Let's take a closer look." Alaric suggested and
brought The Serpent's Lair closer.
Once he got close enough, he began to realize why it had not reported in. The
aft section of human vessel had been shorn off in what looked like an explosion
of some kind. And he could see debris floating in space around it. That would
explain why it had failed to report in, and why the cornerians would have
docked. They probably wanted to rescue any of the ship's survivors. Still, they
should have been hailed by The Magenta before they even got this close. The
ship's silence put him on edge.
Alaric rose from his seat and looked to Krystal.
"Try and contact the Starliner. I need to get ready..."
Krystal didn't bother questioning him on what he was
getting ready for and just nodded as she took his chair.
Alaric ducked out of the room, as he heard Krystal
trying to get a hold of the Starliner. He headed towards him cabin and quickly
slipped inside. Standing in the center, he paused and looked towards his armor,
which stood dormant. The man walked to his bed and sat down, staring at the
suit of black plate. He was sorely tempted to let it rot in the ship, but he
rather be safe than sorry. Alaric stepped towards it and grabbed the Hydra's
Fangs patch on the shoulder and tore it off, throwing it on the bed. He didn't
want Krystal asking questions he would rather leave unanswered.
He keyed in a code on his bracer and the back of the
suit hissed open, armored plates peeling back to expose the inside. Alaric
climbed into the armor and felt it close around his body. He refrained once
more from activating the helmet, and after grabbing his pulse rifle and
slinging it on his shoulder he buckled his sword hilt to his waist.
With his equipment ready he left the room and walked
back to the bridge.
Krystal was sitting in his chair and turned to face
him. Her usually smiling muzzle was dipped into a frown. "The ship isn't
responding...and what is all that for?" She inquired, gesturing to his armor and
weapons with a delicate paw.
"I don't like this. Something's wrong, and I'll be
damned if I walk into a strange situation without protection." He answered
simply as he motioned for her to vacate his seat, which he regained.
Krystal stood next to him, eyeing the intimidating
armor and weapons carefully. He was certainly serious about being prepared she
observed as she looked to the sleek black rifle he had on his back.
Alaric decided that since they were not responding,
they wouldn't mind if he docked with the ship. The one of the only remaining
docking apparatuses was on the other side of the huge vessel and so he twisted
The Serpent's lair around and flew it to the other side. He maneuvered his ship
so that the docking tube on the side was level with the Starliner's own. Using
the maneuvering jets, he managed to get tube to connect with the port and
locked it down. Seconds after he and Krystal heard the dull clanking as the
Starliner's automated system connected its clamps.
With that done, Alaric and Krystal left the bridge
and made way towards the tube. It was down on the maintenance deck of the
freighter and so after a short ride in the lift they walked towards the
circular bulkhead. Alaric activated the airlock doors and stepped inside,
helping Krystal in with him. The vixen was beginning to feel a deep seated
dread but could not figure out why. All she knew was that the closer she got to
the Starliner, the worse the feeling became.
As they waited for it to pressurize and open the
next partition into the walkway, Alaric saw the blue female fox nervously rubbing
her paws together. Concerned, he asked her a question.
"Are you alright?"
Krystal smiled weakly at the concern the usually
dour human displayed and nodded.
He looked unconvinced but let it slide when the
doors opened, admitting them into the brief walkway that would take them into
the Starliner. They crossed the threshold and passed the short rubber-like tube
to the Starliner, stepping out of it and onto the cool deck of the massive
vessel.
Krystal looked around and felt her unease spike
exponentially. The open deck around them was deserted, and the lights were
dimmed with a few shut off all together. Luggage was spread out haphazardly as
if the owners had been in some great rush to abandon them and the air was
unnaturally frigid and clammy. She felt herself unconsciously moving to
Alaric's side and grabbing his gloved hand for reassurance.
Alaric was a little stunned at her act and looked to
the vixen, ready to drop one of his sarcastic comments about personal space.
But when he saw the women's fear etched muzzle, he found himself doing
something entirely different. Instead, he squeezed her paw comfortingly and
smiled down at her. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." He of course meant it,
but didn't expect that he would need to. At most he expected to deal with a few
disgruntled tourists and maybe an armed guard or two.
But to Krystal, the promise was much more than mere
words. It meant that he cared for her, deeply. At least that's how she
perceived it. And she enjoyed and preferred it that way.
After a few moments, he let go of her paw and
brought his rifle up. Just because he didn't think he would need it didn't mean
that he would not be prepared. "Come on, let's go find out what's going on
here. Our best bet is to head towards the bridge...wherever that is." He
suggested as he led her out of the abandoned room and into a long corridor.