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The Swarm War

Chapter 6

While Varrus was on the bridge receiving the communique from Fleet Comm Peppy and Krystal arrived at the ships library. Upon entering they were astounded to see such a large quantity of old fashioned paper books. As there society mostly relied on electronic pads with books stored on them this place was somewhat of a novelty. "Wow" Krystal said "why are all these books on paper?"

"Captain Varrus has a fixation with reading books the old fashioned way he prefers to feel the pages as he reads." Lupa responded.

"That's a fine way of thinking." Peppy said as he also prefered to read books on paper. "I find that it isn't quiet the same as reading with the book in your hand."

"Yes well he often comes here when he isn't working reading helps him as he often is stressed as he used to be a vital part of the war effort until his reassignment."

"Why was he so important?" Krystal asked

"Captain Varrus is the last of the Pretorian guard and so being, is forced to do many missions in order to keep moral and wins at an all time high and make up for the loss of his brethren he in the past year alone has conducted over 400 operations."

"But that's more than there are days in a year!" Krystal exclaimed.

"He had no choice most missions could not be achieved by normal units as they were not capable enough to carry them out."

"How does he do it?" Peppy asked.

"Well captain Varrus sometimes does 3 operation a day or as many are needed to keep the enemy back and is on medication to keep him focused."

"They're drugging him!" Peppy and Krystal exclaimed in unison.

"yes well his commanders need him for missions so they give him combat stimulants to stave off exhaustion."

"That's brutal!" Krystal exclaimed outraged.

"Captain Varrus understands why they do it and has come to terms with it he cannot abandon humanity because they need him."

Before the conversation could continue the man they were speaking of cut in on the ships intercom. "All crew members please report to the bridge this is a code black."

Lupa upon hearing this stopped the conversation short. "Oh no a code black is very bad!" She said worriedly.

"Why what's a code black?" Krystal wondered.

"A code black means either there is a planetary invasion or a enemy fleet is heading towards one of our worlds."

"That's not good at all!" Krystal said with a grimace on her muzzle.

"Yes we really must be going now" Lupa said as she ushered them out of the library and towards the bridge. On the way to the bridge Krystal was continuously intrigued by Varrus and vowed to speak with him alone when the opportunity arrived.

While the trio were heading towards the bridge Fox,Falco, and Slippy were still exploring the armory dazzled by the vast array of weapons and armor completely enthralled by the exotic nature they possessed. There perusing was interrupted when they heard Varrus give his announcement. Upon hearing it they hurriedly made there way to the bridge. On arrival they were greeted with the sight of Varrus at a huge holo map of a planet they have never seen before. The group was then completed when Peppy and Krystal showed up and Lupa materialized next to Varrus.

"I'm afraid our trip to Corneria will be delayed" he began "I received an urgent message from Fleet Comm and we are going to divert course to one of my peoples colonies to assist in a siege. The Starfox team looked worried and it showed. "Don't worry you guys will not be participating in the siege as you are too important to risk protecting one of our planets."

Upon hearing this they all felt a little guilty for their initial reaction to his news and Fox decided to speak up. "We want to help its what we do."

"I'm sorry to say but you can't you have yet to receive the training necessary to fight our enemy and I won't risk endangering you." Before they could argue he cut them off "This is non-negotiable you will stay on the ship while I go down and help and when I finish we will head to Corneria." Realizing that arguing was pointless they all assented to his demand and he began to talk once more. "Lupa what is the status of my Arcani"(battle droids)

"They were ready but unfortunately just a little while ago their software malfunctioned and now they won't be ready for another week." Varrus smashed his gauntleted fist onto the table startling everyone and denting it heavily.

"DAMN!" He roared his suits external speakers making it seem more like a snarl. "They were vital to the defense of the planet and it will now be almost impossible to repel the hoard of monsters."

Lupa responded "not to rush you captain but we will arrive at the colony in approximately twenty hours."

The team looked worriedly at Varrus he seemed to be deep in thought until finally he spoke. "Lupa prepare the Alpha protocol I need to go to the armory to prepare." With that being said he turned his armored bulk around and thundered out of the room.

Falco ever the smartass said "I think that this meeting was a resounding success."

Once again he was smacked upside the head by Krystal " seriously Falco do you always have to be like that?"

This time Fox backed her up "I have to say she's right man this serious business."

"I was just trying to lighten the mood" he said rubbing the back of his feathered head "if you keep smacking me Krystal I'm gonna get a concussion."

"Maybe it'll nock some sense into you" she retorted.

Peppy tried to restore order "alright guys settle down" he then turned to Lupa who's hologram was still in the room "is there anything we can do to help?"

She looked sad "Varrus was right your team is to important to risk for this planet he will have to do this one alone."

While everyone contemplated her answer Krystal took the opportunity to make her way out of the room and to where Varrus was. The last thing she heard was Slippy asking a question out of the blue "what's the alpha protocol?"

Meanwhile Varrus was in the armory going over his weapons and armor making sure they were up to par. His mind wandered while he worked and he couldn't help but think about the blue vixen on the starfox team sadly he couldn't remember her name he needed to rectify that he thought to himself then he started to ask himself why he was suddenly interested in her and for the life of him couldn't find the answer. She did have a certain alien beauty about her and her exotic fur color was appealing yet still he never felt anything like this before for any women and he pondered on why this women was any different. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't hear the very person he was thinking about enter the armory and make her way towards him. He was brought out of his revere by a soft feminine voice "excuse me Captain?"

He brought his gaze up to look at the vixen in front of him she was tall but was still dwarfed by him even while he was leaning over his workbench her eyes were a sparkling green that drew his attention her fur was immaculately brushed and a bright radiance surrounded her. It seemed to emanate kindness and compassion while studying her he couldn't help but notice her posture seemed to show she was a little uncomfortable at the moment and her tail wasn't wagging he took all of this information at a glance and responded "please relax and don't call me captain sounds to formal just call me Varrus."

At this she seemed to visibly relax and loosen up. "Alright... Varrus I just thought I should properly introduce myself as none of us have really got the chance."

"Ok Krystal is it?, I'm sorry I don't remember I have been preoccupied as of late and I know that it isn't a good reason and I apologize wholeheartedly."

She was taken back by this complete flip of character just a little while ago he was raging and roaring about the loss of the use of his Arcani (whatever those were) and now seemed to be acting like a complete gentleman. "Don't be sorry It's perfectly understandable as everything seems a little rushed now as we've only been on your ship for a few hours."

"You're right this does seem rushed but I'm afraid it's for a reason my people, quite frankly are running out of time we need help in order to beat this enemy. I'm hoping that your people could be the answer I have been praying for since I first started fighting."

She took a while to process this information before responding. "I hope that we can help to although I'm not from Corneria."

"What?" He said surprised

"Yes I'm actually from a place called Cerenia"

"Where is your home?" he asked questioningly.

She frowned and seemed to instantly become saddened "it was destroyed many years ago I'm the last as far as I know"

Varrus became solemn "I understand although I'm not the last of my kind I know what it's like to lose your home planet if you ever need help feel free to ask and I'll do what I can"

"Thank you that means a lot to me I'll take it to heart." She felt that she could trust this man even though she only just met him and felt drawn to him even more now.

He seemed to have shifted his focus back to his gear and was fiddling with something on his left bracer. It was a lot thicker then the right and it appeared that there was two buttons on it. Before she could ask what it was he finished and backed up from the table "well I finished up here and I need to head back to my room to change into my regular outfit as I want Lupa to do a once over on my armor would you like to walk with me?"

She jumped at the chance to spend more time with him and to see what he looked like outside his armor and so with her tail wagging responded "that sound like a great idea."

"Excellent" Varrus said "Alright then follow me." He the gestured to the door where they proceeded to walk towards the lift at the far side of the corridor. Krystal decided to strike up another conversation and asked "so how old are you?" Not realizing until the words left her mouth that they might be a little rude yet he didn't seemed bothered when he responded "I'm twenty and my birthday is in two months." She was surprised at how young he was even though she had an idea from what Lupa told her about his past.

"That's awfully young to be fighting" she said even though she was two years younger then him.

"Well my people were desperately in need of soldiers and so they did what they had to do." Then the lift opened and they walked to his room surprisingly it was very close to the lift only being a few feet away. He put in a complicated code and the door slid open with a hiss he walked in but she stood at the threshold not wanting to be rude. Noticing this with a tilt of his helmet he gestured for her to come inside "don't worry about being rude come on in and take a seat" he said pointing towards a table she went over and sat down. He walked into his closet and closed the door she heard armored plates being disconnected and turned her vision to study the room and she saw wondered why there were no family pictures. On the wall was a huge mural depicting five soldiers similarly armored to Varrus standing on a hill overlooking a huge desolate battlefield with the flag of the Terran Empire behind them. There appearance was battle scarred and there armor cracked but the mural depicted them as unbreakable even though they seemed tired there will was still strong.

She was mesmerized by the image until she heard the closet door open she turned to look and was awestruck by his appearance. Clad in an armored navel uniform he was a tall furless man she could see how they resembled apes as they had similar flat faces yet he was a Carmel color and had a small amount of fur on the top of his head. He was also well muscled she could see he was a man who worked out often and couldn't help but blush upon staring at him for too long, luckily her cerulean fur hid her blush quite well. What really grabbed her attention was his eyes they were a deep brown that held in them a kindness that reflected her own she was lost in them for a while until she stopped staring realizing she was doing it again and blushed harder. Then she noticed something that stopped her blush immediately he was scarred and not lightly his body was a poster of scars each depicting suffering he had gone through in his short life. She gawked at how many there were until he cleared his throat awkwardly, upon discovering her faux pass she became embarrassed and apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to stare!"

"Don't worry he replied kindly I doubt that will be the last time someone will stare at me, it's alright I don't mind."

She relaxed after his response "still it was rude of me."

"I said don't worry about it how about we head down to the mess hall and I'll whip all of us up human food so you guys can try it yourselves."

She surprised to figure out he could cook as most male cornerians weren't big on cooking themselves. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." She said and after taking one last look at the mural they went in search of the rest of her team. On the way she was behind Varrus and was surprised to realize she was attracted to this man she didn't know him well but she could just feel that he was a kind and honorable man and made it a goal to get to know him better.