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Chapter Three

"Your Life Begins Anew"

"Finally you fell asleep"

Natasha thought to herself as she crept out of bed "I need to speak to the Captain, she will want to know that he is here" biting her lower lip in attempts to be quiet, she opened a drawer that was next to Alex's head and took out a small cell-phone from it, flipped it open and with a soft click she took his picture and pushed buttons on the key-pad, then closed it. "Please Capt'n don't be angry, wish I would have remembered to do this earlier" she headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. The phone vibrated and she opened it and read a text and began texting the Captain.

"So this is Alex? Hmm, he looks familiar to me somehow... Why did you take him from the Hardy; have a good excuse"

"He repaired my ship with an impressive display, while illegal he installed heavy type IV plating on the vessel without so much as even altering its weapon capabilities and handling, I don't know how he did it, someone who can do that with armor plate can surely be of use to you and this ship; I strongly feel a great use, he worked as a weapons technician and computer software dude; and if he can repair the ship the way he did. He has more under his belt then he is letting on."

"But yet he repaired your ship entirely? AND upgraded it?"

"That is correct, he was a little rebellious, stating that 'it was not his field' but I convinced him and he took the job"

"Is he trust-worthy? How much does he know?"

"I don't know yet, he knows very little, I only told him what happened with the Hardy..."

"So, he feels like a criminal , I assume you told him of the illegal upgrades"

"Yes, and he has been hating himself since, he was hoping I would not notice"

"Lol, Heat of the passion? Your so called 'famous' after all"

"That could be, what will you have me do with him?"

"The upgrades do not exist, he is clear of those; since the crime was committed on the Hardy, and the hardy is now evidence. He is your responsibility as of right now, he is not allowed to go anywhere without you, if he sees anything confidential; you know the rules. I will interview him and learn his intentions, tomorrow. Put him in a trainee garb for now and speak to me first thing".

"Aye, Captain"

"And one more thing, try not to text me at 0200..."

A final shut of the phone, Natasha smiled and did a little wag of her lengthy and thick tail, excited, oddly. She exited the bathroom to narrow her eyes and smile even more, looking down at the quiet and content Alex whose head was squished into the pillow of his. She felt better knowing the Captain was content and not furious at his presence aboard the ship. She felt even better knowing he has a chance to make something better of himself now, but even though what she did was against protocol, and if anything should happen things can get nasty quick. But the Captain seemed to not care at all, for Natasha and the Captain were once 'sisters in arms' during their service doing land missions and defense operations back at home.

Natasha returned to bed, re-covered herself with the blankets and prepared to really sleep, lucky for Natasha, she was to be off-duty for the next couple of days starting at 0600 today.

The alarm blared at 0830, Alex grumbled and groaned pressing the pillow over his ears.

"Come on...five more minutes!" He grumbled under his breath.

Natasha reached out and silenced it with a harsh thump on the top of it with a closed fist.

"I don't blame you, WAKE UP!!!!" She was silent speaking under her breath until she yelled loudly at Alex, who seemingly lit up like a light bulb and sprung at her yelling.

"What!!?"

"Get up! Now! You have things to do!"

She opened a closet the was at the foot of her bed, below the TV where there were three drawers, opening the very bottom a gray metallic box was pulled from it and dropped before Alex's feet.

"Put these on, then get outside to the lobby; speak to no one at all, I am watching you and its time for you get to know the federation" "Joy..." Natasha left the room in a hurry, Alex hoped that the whole day was not spent rushing to everything, he would hate that. Putting on a black and red jumpsuit marked "Trainee" from the gray box. He realized he was now a recruit...not just a tool for a demanding Soparla, but now a tool for anyone to use and mess with.

The federation vessel that he was on was a battle cruiser, he recognized the design of the ship from his view back at the Hardy. Not knowing what ship he was really on...

He was on a massive "flagship" titled "Grand Exhibitioner" this vessel had more then enough firepower to obliterate a small fleet on its own, if piloted correctly and used right, for it was a form of flagship, but not one. A Class IIIV Combat-Cruiser, nearly 1500 feet long and 600 feet wide, and housing nearly 300 crew members; with a max occupancy of 600.

This vessel was equipped with the state of the art in many weapons, equipment, scanners, data-banks and warp-drives. This beast on its own, combined with the great crew and equipment. It is a force to be reckoned with, It was also rumored that it's Captain was a very gifted individual. When it is in battle, it can only be called. "The Disaster" for it wreaks havoc on its enemies. The ship had seen a lot of action, and its Captain is no newcomer to the operation of it.

Meeting Natasha in the lobby as ordered. He knew that he was just a body ready to be worked till either broken or dead, then thrown away like a piece of trash, the lobby a large room of tiled tile, many pillars of solid concrete with many tables. It looked to be more of a mess hall, but massive letters "Lobby" showed he was at the right location. There were hallways that lead to other sections of the ship in more big letters like "Crew Quarters, Armory, Medical Bay, and Gym" Natasha greeted him with a smile, acting as if nothing happened.

"Come, we need to speak with the captain. but first, put this blind-fold on" He now defiantly felt like a tool, not trusted with anything, but he considered the environment he just came from; they have the right. Seeing nothing but black and the tight compressive sleeve pushing down on his eyes. He wondered one thing, why? Alex had not been on the ship long, and already he has to talk to the captain. It must be some red tape he figured. Natasha, with a soft voice she spoke to him.

"Ok Alex, your new here, so you need to be accepted into the ranks to even be on this vessel, for it is a security clearance only zone, technically; your not to be here already, this vessel is a grand master vessel you could call it that..."

"But why the blind-fold?"

"Its classified, until you're accepted"

"Joy, am I going to get the shit whipped out of me?"

"That all depends on the Captains mood"

A loud hissing sound of two double doors opened, a few muffled voices as he felt Natasha cover his ears. He could smell steel, with a faint smell of lavender. Lavender?

Letting go of his ears she led him some more. The lavender smell going away.

"Why am I even blind-folded?"

"That's still classified..."

Suddenly the smell of lavender rushed into his nose as another set of double doors opened with that same hiss. This smell even harder then the last.

"Captain, and Lieutenant Regal."

"Hello, Sergeant Riggs"

Said a warm sounding female voice, It made Alex focus his ears on it. It sounded familiar...

"This is Alex? You told us he was a larger human" said a male voice that bellowed deeply.

"Who cares? He is a human none-the-less and holds a great talent with machinery and weapons, and he is only 22... I looked into the files the Hardy had of him while he was working on my ship. He was born on earth; raised by parents who lived in the federation, but they died during a raid at age 15, then lived in an orphanage till 18 where he applied for the Hardy Express and was instantly accepted"

"Instantly accepted? I bet..." He muttered with a soft groan.

"Come now Regal, don't be rude, please Ms. Riggs, remove the blind-fold, I think he is quite confused and deserves answers being torn asunder as he was"

The blind fold was then removed, he was in a brightly silver lit room, marbled floors with glistening crimson colored pillars, and many lavender plants surrounded the perimeter, a soft radiant glow of moonlight was falling from the ceiling. Yet there was no lights to be seen.

"How...?"

Alex looked at the ceiling, the room itself was bright with moonlight, and not light. The room a long rectangle, the end of the room was a staircase of 12 steps leading up into a chair that was turned away from him. A large man who held no skin, but a substance that flowed quickly like that of water, literally water... But nothing was getting wet, you could see a small detail of his handsome face, but to much of it was flowing, he could see long pointy ears wet and dripping onto his shoulders, He stood upright with his arms crossed and seeming to be staring directly at Alex, he could not point out his form, he was wearing an extremely fine silken fabric blue and black colors with many metals that seemed to hover in front of his chest. A long curled tail wagged behind him as water dripped. But none hitting the floor.

With a hard stare looking at this figure, Natasha popped a raspberry and blaringly said. "This is Lieutenant Jackson Regal, as you can see he is made of water... for he is a water elemental, a being of energy by his element He takes the form of a wolf, or he really tries to...he says he was meant to be a wolf but was born an elemental instead"

He took a long pause and then it registered in his head, he looked at Natasha and said "But...they don't exist!"

"See? This vessel is full of many things that people just don't know exist, and that's how we plan on keeping things"

He then became less curious as to why he was blind-folded. It said a lot to him and it made sense.

"Alex Wilhelm, I look forward to working with you lad"

Regal bowed to him as a gentleman would. Alex kindly returned the gesture.

"Thank you Sir"

"Regal, you may go; please prepare living conditions for our friend to stay in while we decide our action for him, may it be to leave or accept him"

"Yes Captain"

Natasha then took three steps behind Alex. The chair atop the staircase slowly turned and the moonlight faded into pitch blackness. He tilted his head to the side.

"Alex, I apologize greatly for you not being able to see my face, but I will ask you three questions... answer them to the best of your ability, Ha! Consider it as a job interview!"

She seemed very happy and kind, her laugh gave that away to him, a soft warm chuckle despite Alex not being able to see her.

"Sure, I'm game"

"Ok. First Question, What is more appropriately found within a government institute, Corruption? Or Honesty...explain your answer"

He then heard paper shuffling...and a loud click of a pen. Alex put his hand to his chin and thought for a few seconds...

"Corruption, with a dash of honesty. Because many who get into the position of power will abuse it in some form, it is near impossible for any life form to not take advantage of ones power once they have it, and the dash of honesty because they will consider their lies honest in order to cover their tracks"

The scribbles of a pen could be heard. The area began to feel cold, he felt his energy begin to fade away, his mind started to grow hazy and clouded, he found it hard to think. He could not see himself at all, just listen to his breath, and the sounds that the Captain was making in the distance. He found himself having a difficulty focusing on the sound of her writing, one moment it was in front of him, but was now behind him; no sound was absolute...always moving.

"Second Question, Would you rather feel no pain for a day, or have all the pain in the world for a month to save the grief for others?" He felt terribly sick now, but he forced the sentence

"...No pain for myself, I always say this and often stick to it, save your own ass first, if others can be helped; then do so."

The pen clicked and the sound of wood scraping against steel sounded, like a chair was being scooted across the floor. He began to feel cold, and only getting colder. He started to shiver and cough.

"What is going on here?" He thought to himself, rubbing his arms and hopping up and down a little bit.

"Final Question" Alex felt his heart seem to skip beats, and slow down, the coldness sank into his bones, his heart was beginning to lurch up into his neck it felt, a painful jolt of each slow heart beat that made him stagger. A soft wind drafted through the room...

"Are you scared of anything?"

The captains voice went from happy to really sinister sounding, Alex felt his bones completely chill, his heart started to race, his pupils widened and his legs began to wobble. He was about to faint, his legs crumbled and he felt a hand hold him up from his shoulders. He felt his body quitting on him, wanting to shut down, his eye lids grew heavy, his body went limp and he began to feel an intensely sharp pain throughout his entire body.

"Uhm..." He groaned distracted from his ailments.

"Well?"

"Y-yes, I am scared of the d-dark" His voice almost went silent for he could only whisper...he felt he was about to die.

A massive wind suddenly struck him and he felt floor, he was laying his back on the ground when the lights suddenly went bright, Natasha was far away from him, she was looking in the corner. Not paying any attention to him, she looked sad... her arms crossed and head low. Her tail wrapped around her in a submissive manner, the spines on her head were tightly folded against her head.

The Captain was gone, there was no one else inside the room.

"Did I pass?" he asked Natasha with a raspy breath, she only remained silent. Turning over, he crawled to her and touched her ankle. She was like a brick; did not move or acknowledge his presence... it was like he was a ghost and she did not feel his hand.

"Listen Alex..." He recognized the Captains voice.

"Whenever your caught in the dark, just turn on the lights"

The room flashed and it was back to normal, the moonlight returned and the chair he was facing did not turn yet, like nothing happened. He was standing again, his strength returned... like nothing happened at all.

"Regal, you may go; please set up a room for our guest to stay in while we decide our action for him, may it be to leave or accept him"

"Yes Captain" Regal said, as he left the room.

Alex was dumbfounded by what happened, Natasha took three steps back as the chair slowly turned around again, this time. He could see her, the lights did not dim this time around. "Captain?" Natasha sounded very confused herself, did she realize what just happened?

"Alex Wilhelm, I think you will do well"

A very beautiful human figured white wolf sat before him in the chair. Her golden black streaked hair, long and luscious, yellow emotion-full eyes, delicate features upon her well-shaped body and very well groomed fur. Her tail long curled and puffy laid across her uniformed lap of silver fabrics with solid black greaves. Many, many metals lined the chest, she could barely fit any more on it. She stood from her chair and then approached Alex, stepping down the flights of stairs, her intense but soft scent of lavender filled his nostrils growing more and more powerful as she drew closer to him, the smell putting his mind at ease.

Natasha looked at the Captain and yells.

"Captain! You never expose yourself to newcomers!" Alex looked at Natasha stupid. "You did not see what just happened!?" He yelled, She then looked at him and tilted her head.

"What the hell are you talking about!" She yelled in return.

The Captain then raised her hand and said.

"Hush, Alex... I am Mu-all Luxa. I think you will do well within our ranks"

Natasha seemed to not like the results, Luxa touched Alex's shoulder and with a soft smile she winked at him. He then realized what really occurred... It was the test. Something she did made it appear as though nothing happened, but behind the scenes it really did. He asked no questions, did not care as to how she did it. But was glad to know that he passed and was now ready to be a tool again. She let go of his shoulder, turned around and sat back down in her chair and then turned around the chairs back covering her once again.

"Natasha, put him in the cage for the start, introduce him to Beast, let his technology experience bloom down there, show him where his work place is at, I will notify the Beast your coming" Natasha saluted and then turned to leave, Alex began to do so himself to follow her.

"Oh and Alex?" He stopped.

"Yes Ma'm?"

"Your not a tool" He reacted very sharply to that.

"W-what?" He shook his head and then left, Luxa intertwined her fingers and waited for the door to hiss shut.

She dimmed the lights and touched a panel on her chair.

"Mr. Beast, I have a new recruit for you, he is very talented with weapons; while you handle the armory he will aid you with anything you need, don't be harsh like you did with the other recruits you had, understood?"

"...Yeah"

"Good, now prepare for him now" she then pushed another button on the panel. "Come in Federation... Call Priority 1"

"Go Ahead"

"This is Luxa of the Combat-Cruiser Exhibitioner, I have interviewed Alex... he did not pass the interviews. But his heart had proven more then able to change".

"Luxa... you idiot! Do you understand the risks of this!?" shouted a male voice.

"Yes, Admiral"

"If anything leaks on your watch... so help me God I'll remove you, your personnel and all of your hard work on getting your ship will be for naught! I will destroy everything!!!!!"

The transmission ended with a loud click. Luxa took an angry sigh, she hoped that her decision will not come back to haunt her... She leaned forward with her hands on her chin. She closed her eyes and thought, she also knew of the risks, but she decided to trust in Natasha who she feels trusts in Alex.

" 'Command, Control, Listen' The three words our federation lives by...we are all robots in a way, they expect us to be robots. We perform drill-down like robots, take orders with no question or refusal like robots, you tell a soldier today to jump off a bridge and that idiot will do it without a seconds thought, in history; the soldiers had a conscious; they did what they were told and what was right, but cared for themselves also...they would decline that order with a giant middle finger, I miss those days... But today, We fight in wars like robots, cook and clean like them, hell, we even shower and eat like them; they try so much to control us in this manner by calling it 'disciplined' I will admit, I think its total bull, no freedom except what they call freedom by obeying those said orders and doing what your told and how your told, and freedom is only rewarded by rank. Just like they claim so many laws is enacting freedom. Its not freedom if its against the law to eat trans-fats, I enjoy fast-food, well did... but now can't because one family sues a company for one of them dying from a heart attack. I'm glad how my people live, with freedom, integrity and common sense"

Alex was already inside the armory, Natasha was still dumbfounded, but she does not realize what really happened back in the Captains room, nor was he about to tell her. The armory a very oily smelling room, a large red light in the center dangling from a rope lit up the room surprisingly bright, many tables of many machines, loose bullet casings, wrenches and other hand-tools were sewn about, the place was a mess. Oil stains on the steel, burn and scorch marks on the tables, the machines were dirty, but very well maintained and cared for besides the oil and dirt. The room had the same smell like back at the Hardy Express. He looked around as Natasha did as well next to him.

"So...where is this 'Beast' fellow?" Alex asked.

A loud crash from another one attracted their attention.

"Why, I think he is in there" she said with a smile and pointed at a room to their left.

Alex glanced at her and chuckled. Turning to approach the room a large man with jet black fur and white streaks down his bare and dirty back came from around the corner as multiple tools had fallen to the floor with a thundering crash.

"Dammit! It took me two hours to stack all those damned things!!"

His Scottish accent made Alex want to chuckle a little, for he found it funny to listen to someone get really angry at an inanimate object. He took his frustrations out on a small box on the floor by kicking it back into the room he came out of in a hurry and making it break with a thud, several bolts had tumbled from it.

Taking a snarl as he turned, Alex took a step back. He saw bright silver eyes staring at him, they then focused onto Natasha.

"Is this him?" He asked with a heavy tone. She crossed her arms and nodded 'yes' to him and almost in an instant his demeanor changed.

"Welcome to the Cage lad'E!" He greeted Alex with a happy smile, approached him and gave him a hug with his muscular arms, Alex found himself being crushed by the mans hug... dropping him and with a hard slap on his back, Natasha with a hand motion told him to 'come here' with her index finger, went around a corner and his expression changed again to one of annoyance.

"Man, she is a downer" With that he went around the corner.

"This is going to be very bad..." Alex thought to himself as he looked back at the mess in the other room, a small mountain of nothing but metal parts and tools up to your knees, and he felt a stirring in his stomach that things were about to get rough... very rough indeed.

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