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Second to last chapter of Star Hopper! All that's left is the wrap-up! Hope you guys have enjoyed reading and very very soon it will be avalible on Lulu.com it you would like it. Again, sorry about that format. It's not supposed to be like that, it really has no spacing.

16

Ian punched in the coordinates that Bot gave him to rush back to the space station, where all this stuff had began. He set the ship on autopilot.

"You're going to leave it in the paws of the Autopilot! That thing doesn't know an asteroid from a star." Bot complained.

Ian gave him a glare, "I'm not in the mood right now."

He crawled back to the hull area where Colleen and Skye waited. Colleen lay in one of the births, her breathing was beginning to get labored. Skye watched as Ian sat on the bed and gently stroked her fur, much of it came out with every pass. Skye moved her eyes down to the floor of the ship.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?" He said without looking at her.

She sighed, "It's all my fault. Everything." Ian turned to her.

"Where did you get an idea like that? If anything you're the victim."

His eyes turned back to Colleen on the bed. "You've been tortured and tormented."

Tears started to flow from her eyes, "But I told them. I'm the one who told them!"

Ian sighed, he was stuck in the middle of all this. All he wanted was to escape this and hide from it.

He stood up and kneeled in front of Skye, "I don't blame you."

She choked and snuffled from her tears.

"It's not your fault." He looked at her injuries, missing teeth and missing claws and sighed.

"Look, I don't blame you and I'll never, ever blame you. I'll fix you up and we'll get you back to your shop but first I have to help Colleen."

He turned back to the fox, Skye watched him. "Y...You love her don't you." Ian moved back to the bed.

"Oh, you don't know."

"What about her?"

His tail wagged a bit and his head slowly nodded. "I think."

Colleen's paw reached up and grabbed Ian's wrist. "You seriously don't know?"

A small chuckle escaped from her, "You are clueless sometimes."

He leaned in, "No, no, no I knew I just wasn't sure!"

"That's the thing." She said, "You should know. I love you back."

Her paw fell from his wrist and she coughed. Some blood came up with it. Ian ducked in and whispered in her ear. Skye stretched her neck to try and hear what he was saying.

"Colleen, when we get though this I'd like to spend my life with you. Will you marry me?"

Colleen coughed again and feebly nodded her head.

"Don't worry Colleen, we're gonna get you better. I promise." More tears formed and fell onto Colleen's chest. He rubbed her paw, more fur fell from it. Tears fell from his eyes and he slid in next to her quietly crying.

Skye kept from saying anything, just listing to the couple.

The small Star Hopper entered the airspace of the space station. Having already done it once before, the autopilot let the automatic docking system take over and take them in. Ian and Skye listened to the docking procedures and the sound of metal on metal and air hissing. As soon as he could Ian hit the door and the hydraulics slowly brought down the large door.

He picked up Colleen once again in his arms and waited impatiently for it to entirely open.

"Come on!"

Once the door was open he rushed out in the hanger where it all started and bolted down the hallway where the room lay at the end. Skye followed slowly trying to take in all she could.

Ian reached to large door and Bot pushed the button to open the door for him. Inside was exactly as he remembered it, the broken chamber in the back left of the room, the consoles, the sticky liquid that had stained the floor red. Ian franticly searched for a place to set Colleen down.

"Over here!" Bot called him from over at the back right of the room. Two in wall cots, which were already open, were there. He placed the fox down and left her in Bots care while he ripped through the room trying to find anything. Skye walked into the room and like him before, gawked at what lay inside. It was like nothing she had seen before, the technology that was used in this room was absolutely incredible. She watched as Ian frantically searched through cupboards and drawers. He was fueled by Colleens coughing, which got worse with each passing minute. Each vile he found, every flask he picked up was empty. He moved the large closets at the far end of the room and rummaged through them, throwing the stuff he didn't need behind him.

"They've got to have something! Anything!"

His searching slowed as he made his way through the last of the cabinets. "That's it." He said to himself in disbelieve. He fell back and sat on the floor, a tear formed at the base of his eye but it was quickly sucked up by his fur.

"Ian." Bot said from Colleen's side.

"What!" He yelled at the brink of tears.

"You'd better get over here."

Ian picked himself up and dashed toward Colleen lying in the bed. She coughed and more blood came up, it splattered all over her white fur which was already spotted with blotches of crimson. Bot motioned for him to look closely at her legs. He did and under her fur small cuts started to form in her skin. They spread up her leg and gradually grew deeper. Another cough, this time it had some substance to it. Her breaths began to get choppy.

Ian looked over her torn body, he couldn't hold back the tears. They flowed from his eyes like an ocean held back by a dam that had broken. He leaned in and kissed her blood covered muzzle and slipped his paw into her own. She squeezed it acknowledging that she had been listening to everything that he'd been saying.

Skye watched as he broke down and curled up next to the vixen. There had to be something in this bucket of bolts that told at least the history. Maybe in the infirmary? While both of them were occupied Skye quietly snuck out hoping to find something that would help.

Suddenly the station shuttered. Bot hopped up on the window sill and watched as the Trepidation came out of warp right in front of the station. Aboard it the Queen and Daysus growled with anticipation of their prey in their grasp.

"Ian, it looks as though they followed your warp residue again."

Ian balled his paws, "I am so fucking tired of this chase." He glanced around the room looking for a computer console similar to the one that had been in the power room. He found one not exactly the same but it kept the same basic outline. One button flashed, he pressed it and as before a screen popped up giving him a live feed from the bridge inside the Trepidation. The Queen sat regally in the captains chair while Daysus stood behind her right shoulder.

"You will not escape this time. I for one know that nobody is going to suddenly pop out and save you."

Colleen coughed loudly, they could hear it though the microphone. "Sounds like someone is coughing up a lung over there."

Ian growled at them, "Keep her out of it!"

The Queen rolled her paw, "Oh law di da da. She's going to die anyway if not already."

Ian's breathing quickened as rage built up inside of him, "You shut up! Now!"

"Oh, did I press a button? I bet she's suffering right now, maybe you should kill her?"

Ian slammed his paw on the screen, "Shut up, just shut up! I'll kill you!"

The screen cracked a little and the video became a little distorted. He sat there breathing heavily, suddenly he was thrown off of his feet, a large shot from the ship had hit the station. It was before he the computer had even put up the shields.

"Warning, Warning, Warning."

Ian turned up, his head quickly shifting back and forth. "What happened?"

"Shield Generator damage extreme. Unable to charge."

The station shook again and made him roll back and knock against the panel.

"Guidance systems offline."

Warnings and buzzers began to go off as the station shook again.

He picked himself up and moved to the panel.

"Weapons systems?"

A list appeared on the distorted screen, it flashed a couple of times. He scrolled through the weapons again. He saw what he was after. Eradicate Pulse, the same one that had broken up the flagship and Commander Ashtin. Quickly without thinking he pressed it, again like before he heard the loud metallic clash and a low hum ensued. He quickly raced to the window and stared out side.

"What!"

The glowing ring did not go straight for the ship, instead it moved a little upward and cut a little bit off the top. Small explosions came out from the cut area and it floated out into space. The video feed came back for a few minutes, lights flickered on and off in the bridge and some sparks spewed from electrical panels. Daysus sat in the captains chair making orders.

"Fire all! Destroy the station if you have to!"

Ian pounded the eradicate pulse button again but it flashed red and said. "Charging."

He randomly picked another, pulse cannon.

He heard metal against metal and whirring of gears. A warning note appeared on the screen. "Guidance systems offline. Manual fire required."

With a loss of words Ian grabbed the joystick that emerged from the panel. Aiming wasn't his most favorite thing and he wasn't the best but he had to try. He moved the courser with the stick trying to fit the ship in the crosshair. The station shook again as another shot ripped through it. Ian stumbled but quickly regained his stance and hit the fire button.

It was as though the station went into slow motion when it fired, everything got quiet and a low humming of the gun priming filled it. Then with a violent clash of color out the window the large plasma bolt screamed through space toward the Trepidation. It skimmed the underbelly shaving some armor off like a wood shaver off a board.

"Give it up!" Daysus called at him from the bridge. "I know your shields and guidance systems are gone."

Ian frantically searched through the warnings, they all said different failures of major systems.

"The station is full of holes from out here. Frankly, I don't know how it's still held together."

Ian's mind began to get overwhelmed by all the different lights and sounds.

"look." He said, "I'll even cut you a deal. If you turn yourself in, we'll let Colleen live."

A different beeping caught Ian's attention, the Eradicate Pulse was at eighty-five percent and climbing.

He thought to himself, go to get him to talk a little while longer. Then I can use that and kill him.

He made a glace over at Colleen, nothing had changed about her. He looked back.

"How do I know you'll keep you're promise?"

On the screen Daysus shrugged. "You don't know. But, we'll make her a maid or something. So she doesn't have to die now. Although you'll have to, after all you're the one who corrupted her."

Ian checked the status. It read ninety-four percent. The Trepidation drew closer to them, "sacrificing yourself for the one you love. A pretty good trade if I do say so myself, she'll still think pretty high of you."

Ninety-seven percent. Daysus paused, "come on. You're not going to get another chance like this." The ship grew even closer, almost to point blank. "You are dead anyway."

Ninety-nine percent, close enough. Ian slammed the button. "No, not yet!"

He ducked his head to blind himself from the explosions. Like before, he heard a loud metallic slam and then an angelic humming as the line spread through space.

"Holy fu...!"

The ship lay right in the path of the white line. It barely had time to move before it was hit. The beam tore through the hull and innards with ease, explosions blew from every possible corner as it drifted off into space. The back end blew up into a million pieces from the anti-rockets that powered it over reacting and going into meltdown. The explosion shook the station just as the weapons had.

For a quick moment Ian stood there with a loss of words. He'd done it. He'd killed the Commander twice and the Queen. It was over. His tail lifted, it was really over. They were dead! He'd won! He raced over to Colleen, unnoticing the computer telling him a rescue operation was underway.

"Colleen! We did it! We've won, the Commander and the Queen are dead!" He looked closer, "Colleen?" His voice went from excited to somber. Ian grabbed her paw in both of his and squeezed it. "Colleen? Come on! You've got this!"

He felt a faint squeeze, if you could call it that. It was more of a twitch. Her eyes blinked once and breathing grew raspy.

"I...I...I"

Ian drew in closer, "Don't talk! Shhh, it's be ok."

Her head shook, "N...No."

"Come on Colleen. Don't think like that! We can finally get started, without judgment."

"I...k...know." Her voice had completely changed, almost as if someone had torn out her larynx.

Her paw fell back to the bed. Her breathing dwindled to a almost unnoticeable rising and falling of her chest.

She turned her head slightly to stare directly into Ian's eyes which began to fill up with tears. With all her might she smiled at him as if to say "don't worry."

Then with a faint glimmer in her red eyes the last breaths left her body and her head fell back. Colleen, the princess, the lover of the pirate, the vixen, lay dead.

Ian gulped, trying to keep his loud sobs quiet.

A door opining brought Ian's attention to the other side of the room where Skye ran through and straight to him.

"I found this in the medical room. I don't know..." Her voice trailed off with what she saw. In her paw was a bottle of strange blue liquid and a syringe.

Like a savage Ian ripped it from her paws, he injected the syringe into Colleen's arm and forced the liquid down her lifeless throat.

"Careful! I only went by picture directions! I don't know if this is even the stuff or if there is even any." She looked past him, "is she dead though."

Ian didn't respond, he cradled her in his arms quietly whispering in her ear.

The door at the other end of the room opened again, Skye turned but Ian was too zoned out to even notice. In walked the Queen with a pistol drawn, she shot Skye in the lower chest. She hunched over and fell over rocking back and forth. Then a bolt blew its way through Bot; he crumpled into a heap. Ian turned to find himself staring down a barrel. The Queen picked him up by his collar and threw him against the wall.

"You're not getting away this time!"

She shot both his legs. The searing hot plasma burrowed its way through his flesh and bone releasing waves of pain, he screamed in agony. The Queen let out a laugh, "Oh this has taken way too long!"

She growled, "It was supposed to be a simple death and you had to make it complicated. You and that bitch Colleen."

Ian grunted, "How could you call your own kit a Bitch?"

The Queen shrugged, "That's what she is, where is she anyway?" The Queen searched around the room, "Ah! Did she finally bite it? Finally die! To her long enough."

"Just shut the fuck up!"

The Queen scoffed and kicked the cot. It bounced and Colleen fell out rolling across the floor. She shot the body in the leg. Ian wanted to just get up and kill her. He wanted to crush her head within his paws but his legs prevented it.

She turned away from Colleen and kneeled in front of Ian. "I bet you want to kill me right now." She shoved the plasma pistols barrel in his neck, fur obscured the tip. "But who has the gun."

Ian smiled, he could only think of one thing to say. "Well, who has had the gun all the other times."

She didn't appreciate his sarcasm. "You are going to die in this fucking place!"

Ian looked at Bot, the crumpled heap that was left, Skye who was wriggling to fight the pain, and Colleen who already lay dead. "You know. I don't really care anymore. You're probably going to finish of my sister, my mechanical friend is dead, and Colleen is dead. Also, my Kit is dead." He thought for a second

"What does your kit, Sapphire think of you?"

The question put her off balance.

"Sapphire?"

Ian nodded, "Or what will she think of you."

She dug the barrel in further, "She won't find out. Besides, I did this all for her!"

"Ha! That's a laugh. It sounds like you did this for yourself to gain power."

The Queen moved the gun barrel to his temple and dug it in. "I will kill you!"

Ian laughed. "Do it!"

Skye watched through her blurred eyes, she saw Ian laying against the wall with a gun pointed in his face. Her eyes scanned and she saw Bot, he lay in a small heap with a giant hole in his small body. She heard distant voices. "Must be Ian and the Queen."

She moved her attention to Colleen. Something didn't look right. For one she'd moved from the cot to the floor but her finger twitched.

Skye struggled with it, she thought her eyes were playing tricks. But no, her entire paw moved and closed. Skye couldn't believe what she was seeing, Colleen was dead! The arm reached out for a large piece of broken glass that had been left behind by the glass chamber broken long ago. It clenched it like a knife and brought it close.

The Queen still ranted at Ian trying to get him to show some type of remorse. Nothing came. Ian noticed something different behind the vixen. Colleen twitched. He watched as Colleen lifted to her knees.

In her paw she clutched a piece of glass. Slowly but surely she got up but stood with a limp. Then, one by one she inched her way to the Queen.

"You will be lost forever! Stuck in this station until that sun engulfs it!" The Queen took a step back and aimed the gun at Ian's head.

"Now for my sweet victory."

Behind her Colleen raised the glass, it glowed with red from the dying sun and brought it down on her. The glass penetrated her skin and the Queen twitched at the sensation. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. Her breathing stopped short as the glass delved deeper, a shiver shot up her body. Colleen grunted behind her as she pushed the glass further through the Queens body. The Queen stumbled and coughed. Ian winced as blood from her cough hit his fur. Colleen let go of the glass and wobbled. The Queen coughed again and dropped the pistol that she had pointed at Ian. Slowly, she brought her shaking paw up to touch the piece of glass that was protruding from her chest. Blood rolled off of it and dripped from the tip. She fell to her knees as Ian pulled himself back against the wall.

"Didn't...expect that."

She said with her eyes completely blank. Once again she coughed and fell over, her blood feeding into a small pool.

Colleen dropped to her knees and fell to the side to avoid the Queen. Ian used his arms to drag himself over and propped her up so she wasn't laying on the floor.

"I thought you were dead!"

She had a blank look on her face. She spoke one thing

"Who are you?"

Ian stared deeply in her eyes, a hint of silver began to show in them. "Colleen! It's me." He said begging at her. "I thought you were dead. Remember."

The blank face stood and Ian cradled her rocking her slowly back and forth watching her face. But, slowly it began to change and a smile formed in her muzzle.

"How could I forget my mate."