{"sf1_id":906144,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Conscience","author":"Drake_The_Traveller","words":6001,"posted_at":"2015-09-03T10:08:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Anthro","Character Development","Drama","Fanfiction","Human","Multiple Species","Sci-Fi","Starfox","Story Progression","Story Series","Violence (not In Yiff)","dead space","suspense"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/906144-conscience","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/906144","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=906144\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Starfox: Liberation\nChapter 9: Conscience\nSometimes you face\ndifficulties not because you're doing something wrong, but because you're doing\nsomething right...\n-Anonymous\n \nAlaric growled in\nfrustration. Krystal had not been back at the ship or anywhere in-between. It\nwas as if she had just vanished into thin air. This left the human at a\ncrossroads. Should he continue to look for her, or go back to his real mission?\n\nTechnically this ship\nand everyone on board were irrelevant. He could go look for the docking tube\nfor The Undying and finish what he\nhad originally come here to do. There was nothing saying he had to find out\nwhat happened to the people onboard the starliner. In fact it would go against\nhis orders. He was supposed to remain covert and continuing down his current\nroad would jeopardize everything, throwing his freedom on the line.\nBut if he did that it\nwould mean leaving Krystal to whatever fate had in store for her. He had only\nknown her for a few days and she was consistently grating on his nerves. Not\nonly that but she was a liability to his mission. If he knew what was good for\nhim he would just abandon her.\nYet even as he\nconsidered that, he thought back to his days on the ship prior to arriving\nhere. Krystal had been compassionate and understanding. No one in his life up\nto that moment had ever acted that way towards him. She seemed to genuinely\ncare about his feelings and treated him like a person. She never pressed when\nshe asked about his past or anything else about him she wanted to know. He\ncould recall every facet of her face in his mind as clear as day, her turquoise\neyes that shone with life and mirth, and her snowy white muzzle that always\nheld a smile. The vixen was an icon of innocence and purity, so unlike him. \nAlaric would forever be\nstained by his past. He could drown in an ocean of all the innocent blood he\nhad shed. He had ended so many lives...many like her. She did not deserve to be\nabandoned, especially by someone of his sordid ilk.\n\"Dammit...\" He sighed,\ndropping his shoulders in defeat.\nHe would find Krystal,\norders be damned. \nHe owed her that much. \nAlaric picked up his\npace and traveled back to where he had last seen her. From there he would widen\nhis search in a spherical pattern until he found her. The human rifled through\nnumerous cabins, all carbon copies of the first one he had been to. And in\nevery one of them there was no sign of her. \nHis frustration was\nquickly transforming into anxiety. It had been quite some time since she\ndisappeared, anything could have happened to her. He was confident that she did\nnot just up and get lost, nor would she purposely run away from him. That meant\nthat something had happened to her. \nHe remembered when she\nhad adamantly told him she had seen something, thinking back to the strange\nbone-like object he had found. 'I should\nhave listened to her.'\nIn all likeliness,\nsomeone or something had probably taken her, all because he had dropped his\nguard. Alaric berated himself. 'I never\nshould have left her on her own.'\nHe needed to find her,\nfor her safety and his own piece of mind.\nAlaric stopped\nsearching the rooms. He doubted that she was still in the area at this point. She\ncould be anywhere on this damn ship. It didn't help that the starliner was\nmassive. It would take forever to comb it from top to bottom. Yet he was not\neasily deterred. He would find her.\nAlaric shouldered his\ndetermination and traveled deeper into the ship.\n**********\n \nKrystal groggily opened\nher eyes, her thoughts were a little jumbled and everything had a fuzzy look to\nit. With a groan, she sat up from what felt like a cushioned table. She shook\nher muzzle and tried to clear her thoughts as she rubbed a paw across her bleary\neyes. \n\"Ugh...where am I?\" \nShe had not been\nexpecting an answer.\n\"You're in a safe\nplace.\" \n\"Whaaa...\" She yipped in\nsurprise and turned to the voice. It did not sound like Alaric. \"Who are you\nand where's Alaric?\" The area round her was dark and she could not make out who\nwas there. But judging by the voice it was a female.\n\"Don't worry, I'm a\nfriend.\" The hidden woman replied with a smile in her voice as she stepped\nforwards from the darkness.\nKrystal was stunned by\nwho she saw.\n\"Katt...?\" \nThe pink furred feline\nwas grinning widely at Krystal as her reedy tail flicked lazily behind her. She\nwas wearing a black sleeveless vest and white tank top with a pair of blue jeans\nand boots on her hindpaws. Strangely, her clothes looked a little ragged and\nstained and her fur was disheveled and unkempt. She knew the cat would never\nwillingly let herself get like that.\n\"The one and only. I\nmust've scared ya because you fainted and I had to lug you back here. You\naren't as light as you look girl.\" Katt giggled. \n\"How? What are you\ndoing here?\" The vixen was still disorientated but she did remember where she\nwas. What was Katt Monroe doing on the abandoned starliner? Last she heard the\nfeline was flying solo somewhere near Papetoon. This was the last place she\nexpected to find her.\n\"I was flying\nprotection for the starliner and after it\nhappened. I got stranded here just like everyone else.\"\nKrystal sat up and got\na better look at her surroundings. She was in sort of store, the bed she had\nbeen lying on was actually a display case with clothes tossed over it. The\nstore itself was deserted, but the vixen could faintly hear movement and\nconversation outside its doors. She picked up on Katt's change of tone and\nlooked to her.\n\"It...?\"\nThe feline looked as if\nshe had just been struck.\n\"Wait...you don't know\nwhat's going on here?\" \n\"No. Alaric and I were\ntrying to find where everyone had gone.\"\n\"Alaric?\" The feline\nrepeated with a raised brow. \n\"Yes, the human I was\nwith. Have you seen him?\" The vixen asked, suddenly growing worried.\n\"The only human here is\nin a coma. The others...\" Katt trailed off absently.\nThe cat shook her\nmuzzle. \"Anyways, did you and this Alaric encounter anything...strange?\"\n\"No. All we saw were\nendless abandoned hallways and rooms.\" The vixen frowned. \"But there was that\none time.\"\n\"Really? Tell me what\nhappened.\" Katt leaned forwards interestedly.\nKrystal got a little\nflustered. \"Alright...well. Alaric went to go check a room and left me in the\nhallway. While he was gone...\" She shuttered. \"I could have sworn that there was something with me.\" She pointedly left\nout her embarrassing panic attack.\n\"Well Krystal, you were\nincredibly lucky.\" \n\"Why?\"\nInstead of responding,\nKatt changed subjects. \"Does this Alaric fellow have a ship?\" \n\"Yeah...of course.\"\nKrystal replied slowly.\n\"How big? How many\npeople can it fit?\"\n\"What does thi-\"\n\"Just humor me,\nKrystal...okay?\" The cat cut in with a hint of desperation in her voice.\n\"Okay...maybe twenty or\nthirty if you packed it full.\"\n\"Damn.\" Katt scowled\nand leaned back in disappointment.\nKrystal was tired of\nher friend's constant evasion. The vixen wanted some answers and she wanted\nthem now.\n\"Katt, it's time you\ntell me what the hell is going on here.\"\nThe pink feline sighed\nheavily and looked down. \"All right Krys, I'll come clean. I just wanted you to\nbe ignorant for a little while longer.\"\nAt this Krystal felt\nunease slither through her. \"What...what's happening here, Katt?\"\n\"Follow me. You need to\nsee it to believe it.\" The feline replied reluctantly before turning to exit\nthe store.\nKrystal nervously sat\nup from the makeshift bed and followed after her friend. The vixen did not like\nwhere this was going. She desperately wished that Alaric was with her right\nnow. She could use his comforting presence. \nOutside the store, she\nsaw that they were in some sort of huge mall-like area. The entire place was\npacked with lylatians. It looked like everyone in the ship had been jammed in\nhere. And they all looked shell-shocked, like survivors of a war-torn city.\nSmall groups of families were huddled together and most of the store lots were\nfilled with just the same.\n'Why did I not sense them all before?' \nShe could sense them\nnow, all frightened out of their wits. There were at least a thousand souls in\nthe mall, but she could not sense any farther than that. And for a panicked\nmoment, she realized that she could not sense Alaric either. The human's aura\nhad completely vanished, as if he was dead. She reached out with her power as\nfar as she could but still could not feel him. \n'Where is he?!' \nKrystal forced herself\nto calm down, promising herself that he was fine wherever he was. That was all\nshe could do at the moment and the vixen prayed it was true.\n\"Come on, Krystal, it's\njust over here.\" Katt waived towards her friend who had fallen behind.\nShe nodded and\nincreased her pace, catching up just as Katt stopped at door with a pair of\narmed wolven security guards standing by the closed room with grim expressions\non their muzzles. Krystal was alarmed to see dried blood on their uniforms and\nthe one on the left had a bandage wrapped around his right eye. \n\"Miss Monroe.\" The one\non the right greeted tiredly.\n\"Hey Lucas, I need to\nshow my friend.\" She replied.\nThe guard looked over\nthe feline's shoulder to Krystal and nodded slowly. \"Alright, but make sure she\nstays back. We have it chained up, but we don't know for sure how strong they\nare.\" \nKatt nodded in\nunderstanding.\nWith that both guards\nturned to the door and opened it, walking inside.\nKatt took a deep breath\nto steel her nerves before she looked back to Krystal. \"It's inside here.\"\nThe vixen's anxiety\nskyrocketed. She still had no idea what they were talking about. What was this it\nthey were talking about? There was only one way to find out.\nKrystal entered the\nroom.\nImmediately her sharp\nnose picked up the cloying and revolting stench of decay that threatened to\nexpose the contents of her stomach to the deck at her hindpaws. Krystal pinched\nher nose to block out most of the fetid smell and took shallow breaths as she\nwent deeper into the dark room after the guards and Katt.\nIt looked like this had\nonce been the security room for the mall and she noticed that all the guns and\narmor on the wall had been taken, leaving it barren. Inside, there were several\nmore guards in the same condition as the others. They were all staying far away\nfrom a room at the far end where they would put the shoplifters in. \nFrom inside the room\nshe could hear banging and snarling, as if a rabid beast had been trapped\nwithin. The vixen felt a paw on her chest and looked down to see that Katt had\nstopped her. \n\"Careful, Krys, don't\nget too close.\"\nWith that comforting\nstatement she and Katt traveled the rest of the way to the locked room.\nAnd when the vixen\nlooked inside and saw its monstrous occupant she gagged in revulsion.\nShe screamed\ninternally. 'What is that thing?!'\nWhen she voiced what\nshe thought, the feline responded.\n\"That...is the it.\" Katt replied with a nervous titter.\n \n**********\n \nAlaric stepped into a\ngiant antechamber. There were tables spread across its expanse and he could see\na set of stairs that weaved all the way up to the top of the ship. A pair of\nelevators was also inside but they glowed red with dysfunction. The massive\nroom itself was deathly silent. All that could be heard was his steady\nbreathing and the thumping of his boots on the marbled tiles.\nThis ship was bigger\ninside then he thought. \nAlong the way he had\nfound a functional terminal and had ripped the schematics for the starliner's\ndeck plans and downloaded it into his RIG. If he was reading it right, he was\nclose to the ship's bridge. And yet still he hadn't found hide nor hair of his\ncompanion. At this point he was starting to believe that something bad had really\nhappened to her. \n'She better be alright.'\n Alaric activated the guidance system in the\npalm circuits of his right gauntlet and followed the guiding light up the\nstairs. This continued silence was eerie and the hairs on the back of his neck\nwere raised. \nAlaric swiveled his\nhead backwards and stared down the stairs into a well of blackness. He had\nclimbed a hefty distance and the bottom was shrouded in the dark. \n'First thing I fix, ship's lighting.'\nA shadow flickered down\nbelow and he quickly pointed the light on his pulse rifle into the void.\n\"Krystal?\" He called\nout cautiously.\nAfter standing still\nand not receiving an answer he turned away and continued his ascent. \n'Where is that damn vixen?'\nHe resolved himself\nwith heading to the bridge. If he could restore full functionality to the\nship's systems the job of finding her would be made much easier and perhaps he\ncould read the captain's logs and find out what happened here. But the most\nimportant thing was finding her. He would feel better when he did.  \nAlaric stopped at the\ntop of the stairs and followed the blue light towards the bridge. It was only\nabout a ten minute walk away. He followed the now carpeted floor until he\nstopped at an imposing pair of heavy duty doors.\nAuthorized personnel only, was plastered in bold red cautionary letters of\nlylatian script. Off to the side was a small rectangular paw scanner. He would\nhave a tough time cracking the encryptions on these. Their security was bound\nto be tougher on this level.\nHe ripped the panel\nopen and summoned a hacking tool from his RIG storage. The small pad had a\nhandful of color-coded wired that he connected to ports in the inner circuitry of\nthe scanner and began to play around with the security system. It was long and arduous\nwork and would take at least five minutes to crack it.\nThree minutes in there was\na brief nose behind him, something hitting the softly carpeted floor of the\nhallway in the distance. \nHe paused and craned\nhis head over his shoulder, seeing movement far away, too far to make out\nanything besides its humanoid appearance. Even the light from his gun did not\nreach that far, strangled by the imposing darkness a few meters from the tip of\nhis rifle. \nAlaric let the pad hang\nfrom its connection and shouldered his rifle before backtracking towards the\nfigure. The closer he got, the stranger it looked. There were odd lumps coming\nfrom the figure's shoulders and they looked slightly...distended.\nWithin a hundred meters\noff the figure, his RIG popped out an announcement tone and startled him.\nAlaric glanced down to his bracer and read the scrolling text as it appeared,\nhis unease growing with every bold faced word. The last announcement made his\nblood run cold.\nEstablishing wireless connection with other RIG operator...\n..............\n..............\nConnection established...\nDownloading operator profile....\n..............\nDownload complete...\nName: Adam Wheeler\nBlood type: O+\nMilitary ID#: 42-588-326\nStation: The\nUndying\nRegistered security officer\nFor further information, please contact fellow\noperator\nWarning! Vital signs undetected for Adam Wheeler,\nplease seek medical attention immediately.\nAlaric looked back up\nto the distorted shadowy figure at the end of the hallway and began to back up\nslowly. He had no idea what was going on. But at the moment his instincts were\nscreaming at him to maintain his distance. Something was very, very wrong here.\nSuddenly, the figure\nrushed towards him, emitting a spine-chilling howl that did not belong in any\npair of human lungs.\nAlaric's heart took a\ndive and he aimed his pulse rifle at the charging apparition, squeezing the\ntrigger frantically as he backpedaled towards the locked doors of the bridge.\nThe last thing on his mind at that moment was that he was currently shooting at\na fellow human. \nThe figure stumbled\nunder the fusillade of pulse rounds slamming into his center of mass and\ncollapsed to the floor. Alaric turned tail and sprinted towards the doors,\ngrabbing the hacking tool and hurriedly trying to unlock them. \nAn enraged growl filled\nthe hall and he turned back to watch in disbelief and horror as the figure\nscrambled back to its feet. \n'What the fuck?!'\nHe had thrown enough\nlead down range to drop ten men. There was no way in the realm of possibility\nthat this Adam Wheeler was still alive. \nYet despite the laws of\nnature, the shadowy figure balanced itself before resuming its breakneck\ncharge. \nAlaric scrambled for\nthe fore-grip of his rifle and throttled the trigger in a white knuckled grip\nand an avalanche of weapons fire. Even after the body hit the ground again he\ncontinued shooting, only stopping after the gun clattered empty. \nHe reloaded the weapon,\nfumbling with the clip in adrenaline fueled gauntlets and stared at the distant\nbody. After it had not moved for a few minutes he sighed in relief and lowered\nhis rifle.\nWhat was that thing? It\nhad definitely not been any human he knew. They tended to die after a bullet or\nfifteen. He took a step forwards to inspect the body and maybe figure what\nexactly in the hell he had been shooting at. But his plan was interrupted when\nhe heard more movement farther down the corridor. \n'Fuck that royally!'\nHe scampered back to\nthe doors and finished the hack. \n\"Scan accepted, welcome\nback, Captain Taylor.\" An automated female voice announced before they clicked\nand popped open.\nHe didn't wait another\nsecond and pulled the heavy doors open all the way as the noises behind him\ngrew louder. Once inside he pushed them closed with a bang and locked it. \nHe panted breathlessly\nand stepped back from the closed barriers. \"What in the hell? What the actual\nfuck?\" He leaned forwards and sucked in air like a bellows as his body\nattempted to breakdown the adrenaline that had been suddenly dumped into his\nsystem.\nSeveral minutes later\nand he had settled down. \n'What did the UEG get me into? They sure as hell\ndidn't tell me anything about whatever the fuck that thing was.' \nWhat had they really\nbeen doing here? They had not been one hundred percent transparent with him. \nFrom a distance it had\nlooked like a person, but it was just...off. He had not gotten a good look at\nwhat he had been shooting, but he had a feeling it was not human, RIG message\nbe damned. No human could absorb bullets like sponge, not without dying, and\nsure as hell not getting back up for more. \n'Well at least that explains what happened to the\nship.'\nNo doubt whatever that\nwas is responsible for the state of the starliner and why its residents were\nnowhere to be found. If they had half a mind they would have buggered off to\nsomeplace they could fortify. \nAlaric's heart suddenly\nstopped beating as a revelation overcame him.\nIs that what had\nhappened to Krystal?\nHad one of these things\ngrabbed her?\nHe hoped to all the\ngods that be that it was not true. He had to find her as soon as possible. His\nmission was now a secondary objective, if it even still applied anymore. If\nthings like he had just fought were roaming the ship, he had to get to her\nbefore they did. He refused to entertain the thought that they might have\nalready got to her. \nAlaric turned to\nexplore the bridge. The sooner he got things running again the sooner he could\nfind her. \n \n*********\n \nKrystal studied the creature\nraving madly inside the small cell. Somehow, they managed to tether it to the\nbed with layers upon layers of bindings and handcuffs. She was not envious of\nthe guards who had been forced to do it. \nThe monster, as there\nwas no other way to identify the thing she saw before her, had once been human\nfrom what Katt told her. But it did not look like a human or any other sentient\nbeing she had seen before. Its bones were warped into obscene angles and its\nflesh sloughed off its body in certain places while stretched to unbelievable\nlengths over others. Two curved and bladed talon-like appendages burst from\nopenings on its wildly thrashing shoulders and a small pair of vestigial arms\nwiggled from its open bowels, exposing its rotten intestines to the open air\nand no doubt the cause of the horrible stench in the guard room. \nYet, the worst part of\nthis twisted amalgamation of nightmares was its face.\nWhatever life that had\nexisted in this person's eyes before the change was gone, replaced by a\nravenous and dull luster. Its jaw was fragmented into a gut-wrenching arsenal\nof razor sharp mandibles and clumps of wiry hair still clung to its ruined\nscalp. \nThe eyes were what got\nto Krystal. She could feel the hunger\nradiating from them, even at a distance of several meters. This creature wanted\nto eat her and everyone else in the room and she doubted that would satisfy its\nlust for flesh. Not only that but she could feel nothing from it. There was no\nsoul, no sense of existence, inside the creature. It was literally a biological\nmachine with one sole purpose. \n\"I-I-I've seen enough.\"\nShe choked out tearfully, turning her head away from the gruesome sight. The thought\nthat it had once been a living, breathing, feeling person horrified her.\nKatt nodded sympathetically\nand placed a paw on her friends shoulder to comfort her as she led the vixen\naway from the cell and towards the doors. \"It isn't pretty to look at, that's\nfor sure.\"\nOnce outside the room,\nKrystal went to the closest wall and retched, emptying her breakfast onto the\ndeck. \nKatt rubbed her friend\non the back tenderly and let her ride it out, chuckling softly to herself.\n\"You're taking it better than I did. I didn't even make it out of the room.\"\nKrystal spat out the\nbile in her mouth and whipped her muzzle with her furred forearm, turning to\nKatt with a distressed expression. \"How did that happen? How did all of this\nhappen?\" She needed to know how something like that could exist. It was beyond an\natrocity, a mockery of life.\nThe pink feline sighed\nand grabbed her tail, petting it for comfort. \"A few days ago I was patrolling\nthe area around The Magenta, watching for pirates. On my way back from my\npatrol I saw a ship drifting lifelessly. It was just floating there, engines\ncompletely destroyed. Immediately I called it in and the starliner moved to\ndock. We were trying to rescue any survivors....if only I had never seen it.\"\nKatt shook her muzzle sadly.\n\"Anyways, we docked of\ncourse and after we opened the hatch a half crazed human ran out screaming\nabout monsters. The guards thought he was suffering from an overload of stress and\nmaybe a little delirium to boot so they took him to the clinic and sent some\nguys inside to check it out. They never came back. Before they could assemble a\nnew group to find the missing one, those things emerged.\" Katt scoffed grimly.\n\"Twenty guards you\nknow...some of the toughest guys I had ever met, veterans of the Lylat wars. And\nthose monsters tore them to pieces in seconds. It all went downhill after that.\nI barely got escaped with my life. The captain had everyone evacuate to the\nmall and we locked it down. No one in or out, and it seemed the things couldn't\neither.\" She flicked a padded thumb towards the room. \"We got that about a day\nago, found it trying to claw its way in from a bulkhead. It never would have\nbeen able to but we grabbed it all the same. That little rodeo had not been\nfun.\" She felt her side in remembrance. \"Got a cracked rib or two...\"\nKrystal let what her\nfriend told her simmer in her thoughts. It was still hard to believe, and she\njust got a look first hand. It was hard because she did not want to. She did\nnot want to believe that something like this could happen. This ship was filled\nwith monsters, a very real nightmare. \n\"How did you find me?\" \nKatt shrugged. \"That\none's easy. I was scavenging for supplies. There are a lot of mouths to feed\nhere and the mall only had so much food. I was on my way back from the kitchens\nwith a few bags of food when I ran into you.\"\n\"How did you make it?\"\nThe pink cat grinned\nproudly. \"I'm pretty sneaky when I have to be and it's pretty easy to stay away\nfrom them if you're alone out there. Too much ground for them to cover. Not\nthat it was easy having to lug you back with me. I'll say though, never thought\nto see you just wandering around here. You gave me quite a shock as well. I\nthought you were still working with Fox. What happened with that? Is Mister Hero\nhere as well? We could sure use his help.\"\nKrystal shook her\nmuzzle. \"No. It was just me and Alaric.\"\n\"You keep mentioning this\nAlaric guy. Who exactly is he?\" Katt inquired curiously. \"I know he's a human but\nnot much else.\"\n\"The team and I met him\non Fuscina after he helped me and Slippy in a bar. He was looking for the\nmissing human ship you guys found.\"\n\"Running off with some\nstranger, Krystal? And a male no less, what's with that eh?\" Katt asked with a\nsly smile.\n\"It's nothing like\nthat!\" The vixen retorted indignantly. \"I just had a hunch that I should follow\nhim.\"\nKatt raised her paws defensively.\n\"Alright...alright, just grinding you gears girl, don't take my head off.\"\nKrystal was about to\nscold her friend when she realized something that she should have a long time\nago. \n'Alaric!'\n\"Oh no! Alaric is still\nout there with those things. He has no idea that they're here! They'll kill him\nfor sure! We have to do something, Katt!\" The vixen looked about franticly,\ntail lashing erratically.\nKatt grabbed her friend's\nshoulders and tried to hold her still. \"Calm down, Krystal! There's nothing we\ncan do. With the ship's systems are down which means the security cameras are\nas well. There's no way to find him without them.\"\n\"So we just let him\ndie! Is that what you're saying?\" Krystal snarled, barring her fangs and raising\nher hackles. \n\"No, of course not!\"\nKatt snapped back. \"What I'm saying is that it would be stupid to run out there\nlike a bunch of headless chickens. We'd be in no condition to help him and\nwould only get ourselves killed.\" \nKrystal forced herself\nto calm down. The thought of leaving him out there alone had riled her up. The\nvixen was startled that she had reacted so violently. \"You're right of course,\nKatt. I'm sorry.\" \nThe feline smiled\nreassuringly. \"It's no biggie, Krysie. I'd be surprised if you didn't act crazy,\nI'd act crazy.\"\n\"So...what do we do?\"\n\"Well for starters...\"\nKatt replied as she led her friend away from the entrance of the guard room. \"We\nshould clean you up a little bit.\" \nKrystal looked down to\nherself and saw that she had flecks of stomach bile in her fur. \"Right...\" She\nagreed in embarrassment.\n \n**********\n \n\"Well isn't this just\nfan-fuckintastic.\" Alaric muttered angrily as he finished his examination of\nthe bridge, closing the sheet of metal under the console in front of him.\nNothing worked.\nThe whole bridge was offline.\nNone of the major systems had enough power to work. The only things that still\nfunctioned were life support and artificial gravity. The generators must be\neither damaged or working under full strength. \nThere was power in the\nship, but it was spread too thin amongst hundreds of individual systems. He\nsupposed it might be possible to reroute some of it to restore a few vital\nsystems, but which ones?\nThe human studied the\nconsoles around him and took time to figure out what each one did. There was\none for primary, secondary, and tertiary systems. It looked like they ran the\nwhole starliner from here. He went back to the panels and cut power to systems\nhe knew would not affect anything too important. He doubted that the ship\nneeded to maintain its pool cleaning machines at the moment. \nOnce he had shut down\nthirty or so unneeded functions, there was sufficient power to turn on three\nvital systems, a balanced trade in his book.\nThe dim bridge slowly\nstarted to illuminate as the light strips in the ceiling kicked in with a\nsteady flicker. Unfortunately, he could not restore lighting to the entire\nship, but he could at least get a good portion of it back up and running again.\nThe console informed him that the engineering deck and the four levels above it\nwere still mostly dark. \nOne other thing he\nmanaged to do was lift the lockdowns on several doors, allowing him access to\nmore of the ship. But for some reason he could not open the level where the\ndocking tube for the Undying was on, it appeared that there was a manual override\nin place that he would have to physically switch off.\nThe screen in from of\nhim alerted him to a drain in power. The text was telling him that a large portion\nof the newly freed energy was being siphoned to the shopping mall on Deck-A.\nPerhaps that was where all the lylatians had fled to. He tried to activate the security\ncameras to see if his thesis was true but it looked like the controls for that\nhad been rerouted as well. \nThat made his job much\nharder.\nThis left Alaric with\nan ethical dilemma. He could use the remaining freed energy to power the comms\nrelay on the ship and call for aid from the lylatian government, failing his\nmission but ultimately saving anyone still alive on the ship. Or he could leave\nit offline, able to finish his mission without interference but most likely\ndooming the survivors. \nIf he did the right\nthing, help would arrive in the form of lylatian ships. They would be able to\nsave the survivors and deal with this threat. But...they would uncover the truth\nbehind the human ship's purpose (whatever the hell it was), possibly tarnishing\nhumanity's reputation. This would mean his contract with the UEG would be\nvoided and he would end up imprisoned once more, if they did not outright kill him.\nThe thought of going back to that hellish gulag frightened him, back to the\npain and darkness. After having a taste of freedom, he could not face a return\ntrip. \nHowever, if he disabled\nthe comms system all together no one would be able to use it, condemning the survivors\nto whatever fate awaited them. But this would allow him sufficient time to find\na way into the Undying and figure out what had caused this. He knew from experience\nthat all infiltration vessels used quantum entanglement communicators and he\ncould use the one on the Undying to call the UEG and fulfill his contractional\nobligations, thus granting him his freedom.   \nIt all came down to one\nthing.\nHow much he valued his own\nlife. \nDid he think it was\nmore important than those of a thousand others? Was he willing to sacrifice\nthem all for his own selfish desires? \nWas he willing to\nsacrifice Krystal? The only one who had ever shown him selfless compassion?\nThe right answer was as\nobvious as it was difficult to accept.\nNo. \nHe could not do it.\nWhat was freedom if it was bought with the blood of the innocent? If he allowed\nhimself to do that he would be no better than the butcher the Sovereign\nColonies made him out to be. He would be falling back into his old role, this\ntime of his own devices. Alaric could not consciously make such a decision. He\nwanted to show the universe and himself that he was no demon. He was a good man\nwith a good heart. And no upright person, human or otherwise, would place themselves\nso high as to think they were more important than so many others. \nWith a heavy sigh,\nAlaric transferred the remaining power to the comms system and tried to activate\nthe starliner's emergency beacon. But instead, the console flashed a red\nwarning symbol.\nEmergency beacon unresponsive, relay dish has\nsuffered damage. Repairs are needed before beacon is able broadcast. \n'Of course when I try to do the right thing nothing\nworks.' Alaric growled in\nfrustration and located the radar dish. It was on the top of the hull somewhere\nnear the middle of the ship. He should be able to reach it via EVA. He looked\nfor the closest hatch. It looked like the closest one was near Deck-A, above\nthe mall. That meant he had to get there just to use the airlock. That was a\nlong distance from the bridge, kilometers of interwoven corridors with any\nnumber of those things he fought in-between here and his objective. \nAlaric steeled himself\nfor what must be done and headed towards the doors to the bridge. \nWARNING! BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINTION DETECTED,\nINITIATING LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES.\nA deep robotic masculine\nvoice thundered inside the bridge.\nThick bulkheads slammed\ndown, blocking the doors and the armored shutters reeled down from the bridges\nviewport as dark orange hazard lights strobed through the room. Alaric could\nhear the air vents locking down in a similar manner before everything went\nsilent.  \n\"Great...what now?\" He muttered\nin exasperation. \"I swear this ship is fu-\"\nBANG!\nOne of the vents in the\nroom shuddered under some sort of powerful force, as if something was trying to\nclaw its wat in.\n\"What in the....\"\nBANG! BANG!\nThe violent tempo\nincreased and he could see the vent's bloated sheeting as it crumpled under\nextreme force. An unearthly howl reverberated through the deck and shook the\nvery air. \nBANG!\nOne final hit and the\nvent exploded, showering the room in shrapnel. Alaric covered his face as\nshards of steel bounced off his forearm and sprinkled to the ground. He heard\nsomething drop to the floor with a wet sounding flop and dropped his arms in\nalarm. He couldn't see anything with the amber strobe lights throwing\neverything off. He could hear scuttling, like talons scrapping across steel and\nhis eyes caught movement in the back corner but it was distorted by the\nflashing lights. The whole room took on an ominous atmosphere with the erratic\nlighting and strange sounds. \nAlaric scanned around\nhim with his rifle and backed up to the wall behind him. It was his best option\nat the moment. The wall would cover his flank.\nSomething whipped across\nhis vison and he ducked as a series of thuds hit the wall behind him. He looked\nback for a second and saw a series of barbed spikes buried into the thick\nsteel. They looked organic, not like any weapon or munition he had ever laid\neyes on. \nNot forgetting his\nenemy he turned back just in time to feel a heavy weight pin him to the wall\nshortly before a searing pain wrapped around his shoulder. "}