Chapter 4

(July 12th)

(12:09 GST)

Krystal seemed to limp around the ship all day, she refused to see a doctor about any of her injuries but, Aryn could tell that she was in pain...she seemed to wince ever time she sat down and her steps were taken with caution, he could only tell that she had either cracked or broken ribs. Whatever the situation her constant act of being tougher than she was was beginning to get on Aryn's nerves in a major way, he saw no point in refusing help where it was needed, and right now it was something she needed badly. As Krystal sat down in the ship's kitchen to eat she winced painfully from a jolt that shot through her right side; she thought back to the incident, she had no idea where the bar was she was headed to, how was she supposed to know that the directions she was given were that bad? It was Aryn's fault in the first place, he should have told her where the bar was before ever leaving the ship, she was jumped as soon as she'd gotten anywhere near that alley, she wouldn't have been surprised if the one that gave her directions wasn't a member of the gang to begin with. They did seem to go for her weapons rather fast for common thugs, making clear to strip her of her spear and make damned sure that it was nowhere near her when she was in their hideout. Chances were some of them had a bone to pick with her, she was a well known bounty hunter and had quite a few enemies. As she sat there refusing to eat what she'd made for herself because of the pain caused by her every motion Aryn walked into the room with a small metal case with him and placed it on the table where she was siting...she instantly began to panic when she saw the syringe he removed from the case and jolted to get up...

"SIT DOWN!!" Aryn demanded, "Being strong is one thing but, putting yourself through unnecessary pain is another." He said filling the hypodermic with a clear liquid, "You're no good to me in this condition, and I'm a little tired of watching you wince every time you fuck'n move so just hold still."

Aryn noticed Krystal's paws shaking as he grasped her arm, she had a clear fear of needles that he was not aware of, "It dose help if you look the other way."

Taking his word for it Krystal turned her head the other way, she found that not looking did take her mind off of the small spear, but did not help when she felt the strange liquid rush into her body, it burned and itched but every time she attempted to scratch the injection Aryn slapped her paw away. After a few minutes she no longer felt any pain but, her eyes were getting heavy and a bit scratchy, she began to feel bizarrely tired and soon fell forward onto the table before her. Aryn placed his things back into the medi-kit and picked the blue vixen up off of the table carrying her to her room where he lay her on her bed...

"Hopefully a few hours of sleep'll do you some shred of good. At least it'll keep you from annoying me any further."

-000-

Aryn took a shower and had a bite to eat before he headed to the bridge, he figured that he could go over Nex's report first thing in the morning, at the moment however it was past 1 o'clock and that meant he had a chess game to play. However, no matter how long he sat by his computer his friend never came online, it had happened before however, sometimes in this hectic life of bounty hunting you loose track of things. He was certain that he'd see his friend the next day, maybe even early in the morning after his daily work out. After this disappointing turn of events there was nothing else left for him to do, he simply headed to his room and found his way to sleep...and after his day that was none to hard to accomplish. The next morning proved a bit less that eventful as well, that is until Krystal finally woke up. Her paw instantly shot to her head as she began to roll out of bed, the whole room was spinning which took her mind off of the searing pain in her side, the headache went on even as the warm water from her shower soothed away most of the pain she felt. It was a bizarre feeling that she had, like standing up too fast after sitting for too long but, constant...her stomach also felt a bit nauseated. After getting dressed for the day she headed out toward the kitchen with her laptop as she remembered that she was supposed to do something important, When she arrived in the kitchen Aryn was there, shirtless as he often was at the present early hour, most likely fresh out of the training room. It was as Krystal sat down that Aryn slid a plate of hot food under her nose...

"I'll help with the nausea..."

"What the hell did you give me last night?" Krystal groaned.

"Daxothrill...really powerful sedative. It's the reason for the headache too." Aryn replied.

"I didn't ask for your help..." Krystal growled.

"Yeah and you're never going to...but like it or not you're a member of a crew...and I have a strict policy of not letting crew members die on me." Aryn said walking toward the door, "Regardless of how much of a idiot they are."

"Hey! FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!!" Krystal shouted.

"YOU'RE NOT MY TYPE!!" Aryn's voice echoed back in reply from his position a short ways down the hall.

Krystal winced in pain, as she threw the plate in front of her across the room splattering it's contents across the far wall of the room. Aryn slowly made his way toward his room where he retrieved a black tank top that matched his fur so well that in was almost unnoticeable against his body, his only place to be other than his room seemed to be the bridge where he sat down going over the report; ship numbers, recent transactions, crimes recently committed, not much compared to what Nex was capable of pulling up on someone. However it was enough to get what he wanted, he reached over to the panel on the arm of his seat and punched in a short stream of numbers...

"NAV...run this ship ID through the CHSA's archives and see where it was last headed."

"Full scan of the archives requested will take 3.458 hours..." The ship's computer replied.

"Just do it..." Aryn snapped in a annoyed tone.

It was as Aryn sat there that to his clear happiness a message appeared stating that his friend was online, there were hardly ever any words between the two at first, they simply sat there playing their games. As usual the games ended as stalemates one after another always seeming to end in the same manner as the game before it. The hours seemed to pass without notice for Aryn, he was simply happy that every time he was playing, Krystal seemed to be nowhere to bother him, he did feel a small tinge of responsibility for what had happened to her...but for the most part it was her fault for actually trusting someone other than herself...

"So...missed you last night." Aryn typed as the computer set up another game.

"Sorry...turned in early...didn't really have much of a choice, got messed up pretty bad the other day."

"Sorry to hear it...member of my crew got hurt the other day...nothing too serious though." Aryn replied.

"So you think either of us are going to win a game anytime soon?" Foxy1 asked

"Great minds think alike I suppose..."

With that said another game started, for a short while during the match Aryn was ahead but, as soon as he felt he would win the game ended in it's natural manner causing him to sigh and shake his head with a feint smile. The games went on for more hours until Aryn finally looked over at the clock, a digital readout displayed the time as 3:25pm, he really had work to do on the ship but really didn't want to leave his game, unfortunately he was forced to finally call off the games...

"Sorry got work to do...I'll be free at about 10 or 11 if you feel like playing some more."

"No...but thanks...I'm cutting in early tonight, ribs are killing me."

"Yeah but you'll feel better in no time..." Aryn typed.

"And how would you know that?" His friend typed.

"I make it my business to know these things..."

Aryn simply cut off his connection after that last line, he always had to have the last word in nearly every situation. He was content now however having had his fun, and headed off into the ship to check for anything that might have gone wrong over the course of the passing days. Krystal on the other hand sat in the kitchen with her open jawed expression glued to the screen of her laptop...a small chess game had ended in a stalemate, but her wide open eyes were fixed on the last thing the other player had typed, 'I make it my business to know these things...', she was positively flabbergasted. How could someone so nice during their games be such a dick in person? Did he even know that she was Foxy1? She doubted it. For the longest time Krystal sat there filtering through the facts, what were the odds that the person she'd been playing these games with over the past year would be the one person that she would be forced to partner with? For a moment she thought about telling him...but then again why should she? He'd been nothing but a complete asshole to her since they'd met, maybe he'd act differently if he knew the truth, would he even play anymore? She really didn't want to stop playing whether he was an ass or not. It took her some time of consideration but, decided it best not to tell Aryn the truth, she enjoyed their games, and maybe she'd be able to get some information as Foxy1 that Krystal just couldn't get to.

Aryn found himself in the docking bay after a short while, seems the biggest problem with space travel was the amount of stress the electrical systems went through, there was hardly a week that went by that he couldn't remember there being a blown relay here or there, or one of those rare electrical shorts that often baffled the mind. His tank top hung from the end of his wolfen's wing where it wouldn't get dirty or sweaty, he didn't really like changing more than once a day. As he stayed below the many panels of the floor in the area referred to as 'The Hole', Aryn could hear the light echo of footsteps through the area, As he peeked his head out of the missing panel in the floor he shook his head roughly spraying sweat from his fur as it was always rather hot in the hole. He looked around but there was no one thee, then his nose twitched against the stale air, there was a hint of a familiar smell that lingered in the vicinity, but, before it could completely catch his attention a rather sharp blade forced his muzzle to raise a bit, it was the familiar blade of a spear that held him by the neck...

"You're surprisingly stealthy when you wanna be..."

"You hang around a crew like Star Fox and see if you don't pick up a few things." Krystal replied mockingly as she pulled the blade away from his neck, "Listen, I never really thanked you...you know...for helping me."

"Forget it..." Aryn said disappearing back beneath the floor.

"Why did you help me in the first place? We don't exactly get along." The blue vixen asked.

"Whether or not we get along is besides the point...my crew always comes first, and as much as I hate having one, you being here makes you part of a crew..."

"You know you sound just like Fox?" Krystal chuckled, "He had the same philosophy, said the crew was like family."

There was a loud rattling sound below, "Fuck'n wrench." Aryn half growled, "I'll admit that I only met Fox once, and even that time we only talked for about three minutes but, he was one of the few people that I didn't hate at fist sight..."

"Why do you hate everyone so much Aryn?"

Even below the floor she could hear him sigh, "I have my reasons..." He said finally pulling himself out of the hole and replacing the panel in the floor, "You wouldn't understand and lets leave it at that."

"Can I just ask one more question since you seem to be in a listening mood?" Krystal asked,

Aryn simply turned and waited for her question, "Why are you always wearing those?" She asked pointing to the old shackles on his wrists.

"That's the part you wouldn't understand..." He answered walking out of the room.

She was glad she caught him in a listening mood, it at the least gave her the chance to learn something; someone, somewhere along the lines of his life had done something that had completely shaken his faith in all people, he stayed in space on his ship because that was the one place they could no longer hurt him...at least that was how it seemed to Krystal. She wondered if that odd feeling she always got on the ship was from him, or from the events that caused him to feel the way he did...but, his faith couldn't be shaken in all people, after all he kept coming back to play more chess, maybe that was just what was left of his civilized mind trying desperately to cling to what ounce of friendship he could get. Whatever his reason the fact that he called Foxy1 his friend told her that he wanted to trust people again, that he wanted a reason to, but, then again this could have all been some sort of fantastical scenario that she'd placed inside her own head. Krystal had never met anyone like Aryn, he seemed to hate everything but, at the same time he cared and tried desperately to hide it...whether this was to keep from being hurt or simply because it was in his nature, she didn't know but, she knew what it was like not to trust anyone...to be ridiculed for your actions just because the masses couldn't see things from her point of view. After leaving the Star Fox team all sorts of rumors began to spread about...her favorite being that she was only there to get close to Fox so she could kill him in his sleep, the fans were quick to stand up for their hero, last she'd heard or seen of him Fox had admitted several new members to the team and given leadership to Falco...other than that she had no clue what he'd been up to.. For the longest time she thought she still had feelings for Fox but, over the years they dwindled away, leaving him in the back of her mind, but, regardless of how his fans may have treated her for leaving him Fox was her friend and he did save her life on Sauria, she owed him as much as clearing his name for him. She knew him far too well that to believe he'd ever raise a paw toward Slippy in anger or otherwise, Falco was another question him and Fox got into fights all the time and sometimes even beat the hell out of each other but, Fox had never even raised his voice toward Slippy, she still couldn't believe that he would do such a thing and only imagined what would have happened if she were still there, she was an accomplished fighter herself but, she wasn't so proud that she couldn't admit that Fox was better by far. What if it was him? Would he have shown any mercy on her? Or would the details of their past have caused him to go further than with the other two?

(on the bridge)

Aryn practically threw himself into his seat, "NAV...give me the details on that scan of the CHSA's archives."

"Ship registered to one Jacob Henssen of Papetoon...registration number 351-15486-400-09. Last hyperspace path ended near the edge of the Lylat and Dan'jas systems, last known docking Dan'jas system Planet Zarr...approximately 2.356 hours ago."

"Set a course for Zarr then and keep that number on the scanners if a ship matching those numbers hits the scan track it and pull us out of hyperspace."

For a time Aryn couldn't think of anything else to do other than to hope that his friend would soon come online for another game but, it was only past 4 o'clock, and he had told his friend to come back at 10 or 11...then again Foxy also mentioned checking in early and getting some sleep. That left him with absolutely nothing else to do, and there was nothing that Aryn hated any more than being bored. As he sat there in his captain's seat staring into the open abyss of space his mind wandered off toward the questions Krystal had asked him. When did he start hating so much? As he asked himself this he could hear the beginning of everything that started it...

-Flashback-

(21years ago)

A familiar looking older hound stood at the front of the room, his face seeming to be the only part of him showing his natural brown fur as he was dressed in a bright red military uniform decorated with small ornamental ribbons showing the many deeds he'd done over his years as a normal soldier before becoming a general...

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to Black Star...the last unit you will ever be in." Pepper said walking about with his paws behind his back, "You've all been selected not because of your performance on the field though that would be reason enough for most of you...rather you are here with the opportunity to become the greatest soldiers the galaxy has ever seen..." Pepper said stopping near a white vixen sitting in a chair, "To start things off lets get better introduced; this is intelligence officer Emilia Jones..." This time he moved on to a black feathered avian, "This is infantry airman Raven Thorn, one of the best pilots since James McCloud himself..." The hound moved on to a red furred vixen with long red hair, "This is Rose Grants expert sniper..." He moved to the next who seemed to be a dark gray wolf of a rather scrawny build, "This is Mashif Borrell demolitions expert..." He moved on to a much younger black fox, "And last but not least this is Drayvn Dark, stealth, tactical, and infiltration."

The white vixen Emilia raised her paw, "Pardon me General but, why exactly are we here?"

"I am afraid I can only answer that after you all sign the requisition forms for this particular team. I apologize for the secrecy but this small team will be based on some research that is deemed highly classified."

Soon the general went over the pages finding them to be filled out accordingly, "Now...a short time ago there was a discovery made by James McCloud. A planet called...Cerinia. The main study of this facility is of what you would call Parapsychic Phenomena..."

-End Flashback-

Aryn woke with a start as the ship jolted forward leaping from normal space to hyperspace, his breathing was a bit labored and his body felt unusually warm. He didn't recall falling asleep, and that was the last thing he wanted to remember right now. Aryn sighed as he wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and he quickly left the room heading for his own, hoping that this time his sleep would be peaceful, instead of being filled with mistakes...

AN: I apologize for my recent lack in getting in chapters for most of my stories but, some things just can't be helped. Well this marks Chapter 4 and opens some answers as well as new questions...but, then again it's still only the beginning of the story so there'll be more questions before answers for a short time. Anyhow R&R and let me know how this one's going. Thanx for the loads of support to all the fans of my work and C'ya all next time...

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox