Legacy of the Precursors

Chapter 17: Cataclysm

Fox walked out of the infirmary with a puzzled frown. He had gone down check on Six's condition and found that the spartan had already up and meandered off. The only one that had been in there was Miyu, the feline dozing in a chair that had been pulled up to the bed. He had woken her up in hopes of learning where Six went but she had been just as stumped as he was.

MAD, the sickbay's hovering med droid, had been the one to tell him what he needed to know. Apparently, several hours ago, the spartan left with Krystal in tow, the pair heading down the hall towards the main lift. This led Fox to assume that he had gone back to his room, but for what reason?

With this new information he quickly traced the suspected path Six and Krystal had used until he came to the elevator. A short ride later and he found himself on the upper crew deck and made his way down the hall. Stopping at the spartan's door, he gingerly knocked.

*****

Six's sharp hearing prematurely stirred him from his slumber as he detected the muted thumping of footsteps approaching his room, years of living on war-torn battlefields having conditioned him to react to the slightest unfamiliar noise or movement. As he listened, the footfalls stilled just outside his door, only to be replaced moments later by the faint rattle of someone knocking against the steel.

The spartan had moved to answer the summons when he finally detected the dainty, fuzzy weight resting across his chest. Glancing down, he noted Krystal closely huddled up against him. The vixen's lips were curled into a pleased smile as she snored softly, the gentle sound echoing quietly in the stillness of the bedroom. Her soft, steady exhaling triggered an itch on the exposed skin of his neck, one that he tried his best to ignore.

The sight of the sleeping fox sparked his temporarily clouded thoughts, bringing back to mind the happenings of hours prior.

He remembered that she had insisted he get some more sleep, and the exhausted spartan had decided to grudgingly follow her advice. It was difficult for him to admit to himself, but his wounds were still a source of irritation. He could move… and fight if need be, but he was not so foolish as to think he was at full functionality. Every pained breath and sharp pang in his chest was a glaring reminder that he had been close to death not so long ago. Thankfully he had always been a fast healer, and the medical technology of his allies was quite a distance ahead of the UNSC's. He did not expect for it to be long before he made a full recovery. And if not, he would not let it hinder his obligations.

Knowing this, and him, Krystal had insisted that she stay to ensure that he actually get the rest he needed. Otherwise he would have in all probabilities tried to shrug the nearly fatal wounds off. And so he had found himself resting in a crowded bed, the cot while having been made for two, had not been meant to support a man of his stature and another occupant.

It had been an extremely uncomfortable and awkward situation for him, at least at first. But after a time and some quick acclimatizing, it had become manageable. In actuality it was pleasant in an unexpected way, being the fastest he had fallen asleep in a long time, his slumber sped along by the sound of the vixen's gentle breathing and the sincere beating of her heart against his chest.

Six carefully extracted himself from the vixen and her affectionate paws with a degree of indiscernible reluctance, watching as the female fox grasped at the spot he had been occupying moments ago with a quiet whimper.

The spartan clutched the hem of the bed's blanket and draped it over her body, smiling down at her fondly and chuckling quietly to himself.

He didn't know what it was the future held in store for either of them, but he had made his decision and he would do his damndest to see that she was cared for. Six never defaulted on his choices and would fully commit himself now; to whatever it is this was between him and her. If anything it mattered not what he wanted, only what she desired. She loved him, oddly enough, and he wanted what was best for her. And if she believed it involved him, then despite his reservations, it was his duty to make her happy. At least in this way he would be more attentive to her wants and needs.

The only question of his that remained was why she felt this way about him. He wasn't exactly the most romantically minded individual. He had absolutely zero experience in these matters or any that could closely resemble them. He wasn't even sure what this inclined, or how it changed the dynamics of their previously established relationship. But as long as she was content he knew he was preforming his job adequately.

A firmer knock on his door reminded the spartan he had business to attend to.

Turning his back on the napping vixen he crossed over to the door and keyed it open with a wave of his hand. The steel portal pulled to the side to reveal Fox standing in the doorway, someone he had not been expecting. Six scanned his superior officer's expression and noticed he appeared to be troubled by something.

“Hello, Fox."

“Six… I'm surprised to see you up and about already. From what MAD told me you should still be resting." The vulpine curiously looked up to the spartan's neutral expression.

“I never stay in a hospital longer then I need to."

Fox smirked at that. “Right… we can talk about the proper lengths of recovery time later. Now however, there's something important I want to discuss. Care to let me in?" He motioned towards the interior of the spartan's room.

Six glanced over his shoulder to the slumbering vixen snuggly wrapped up in his bed. “Perhaps we should conduct this somewhere else."

“What, why? What's going in there?" Fox inquired, peering through the gap between Six's arm and his chest. As his eyes sifted through the darkness the vulpine's muzzle split into an infuriatingly smug grin. “Oh…. I see. Looks like I missed out on something pretty big."

“I would prefer you do not delve into my personal matters, Fox."  The spartan suggested with a curt edge to his voice. What he decided to do with his time outside of combat was none of Fox's business.

The tod's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected animosity and he regarded the spartan oddly, taking an involuntary step back at the aggressive words.

Upon Realizing the tone of voice he used against his commander, Six was momentarily shocked by his actions. “That would be appreciated." He added, hoping to lessen the bite of his previous demand. Six did not know why he felt such hostility to what was a harmless remark, but he could not shake the feeling. He had never shown such a level of disrespect to a superior before and it had caught him completely unawares.

“Uh... yeah dude of course. I understand completely." Fox nodded easily, in all appearances seeming to have shrugged of the human soldier's unexplained anger. “Well then, why don't we head down to my quarters instead?"

“That would be the best decision." Six nodded and stepped out of his room, eager to agree to his commander's suggestion after his insubordinate outburst. Closing the door behind him with one last backwards glance to his unexpected guest, he followed Fox, striding down the hall till they arrived at the door to Fox's room, entering it a few moments later.

The inside was not all that different than the one he kept back at the villa, the only variance being the different pictures on the desk, all of the vulpine and what looked like his parents and that same long eared vixen Six had seen in the photos back on Corneria. His room was somewhat larger than Six's, the desk being a full double the size of the one he had. The spartan extrapolated that this must be because of his status as captain, it certainly made sense to him that the vulpine's quarters would reflect his status.

“Take a seat." Fox gestured to the chair placed on the opposite end and the spartan swiftly complied, sitting in silence as the vulpine assumed his place behind the desk.

“What's the situation?" Six asked. Having been unconscious for more than a day, he hoped to catch up on the events he had missed out on due to his involuntary incapacitation. Were they still over Fortuna? Or had the battle ended?

“Well… it's not a great one." Fox mumbled a sigh and leaned back in his seat to rap his claws on the steel bureau, the sharp black nails clacking against the polished metal.

“Bad?" Six offered.

“That's one way of putting it." The male fox chuckled and gave a grim nod.

“Really bad?" The spartan prompted again. His captain was visibly agitated and it was clear that whatever he was referring to was directly responsible. After the battle he had expected for his commander to feel elation, not despair. Something had indeed transpired in his absence.

“That sounds a little more accurate." Fox concluded, ceasing the movement of his furred digits and pulling himself forwards.

“Here's how it plays…."

*****

“That's about all I know about what's going on. Peppy, myself, and now you are the only ones who have the full truth about the existence of these aparoids. And I would like to keep it that way for as long as I can. You can't tell anyone, not even Krystal. I… hope you understand." Fox finished his long winded monologue, eyeing the spartan intently.

Six did not wait long before nodding steadfastly. “I understand."

And he truly did. The human soldier knew the value of keeping secrets. This was something the populace did not need to know. In fact the war with the Covenant had been kept secret for as long as the UNSC could hold the civilians in the dark. His only disagreement with this policy was in keeping the rest of the team out of the loop. He thought they deserved to know what might be happening and did not approve of keeping secrets from fellow squadmates. But if this was the vulpine's wishes, he would obey, as he was conditioned to.

Fox grinned sympathetically. By now he understood Six quite well, and did not need to read his expression to know what he thought of the command. “I know you don't like the idea. But I think that for now it is for the best. Not everyone is like you Six, we all can't be unkillable stalwart baddasses. There are some things best left till later." Not for the first time, he envied the spartan's resilience. He had handled the news on the possibility of an aparoid invasion without a single tell on his face, though he never really showed any emotion besides distaste anyways. It was as if the threat of invasion from another race was to him, a minor detail. And recalling Six's war fraught past, Fox supposed he was the only one of them with any kind of experience in a dire situation like this.

“Tell me Six…" Fox began, looking to his friend hopefully. “What would you do?" Certainly the spartan's familiarity with such a unique state of affairs left him with some kind of preemptive procedures they could follow.

The human warrior clasped his hands together under the table and assumed a more assertive pose, stretching over the table to speak in a low, but no less, powerful tone.

He did indeed have an expansive well of experience on problems of a similar caliber.

“If this threat is as real as you say, it's time you fully mobilize your military. Call in all the reserves, increase the intensity of your training regimens and rebuild your fleets. The sooner they prepare the better chance you will have to win. From what I have heard you possess no means of anticipating their attacks nor can you repel the type of force they are capable of exerting. Time runs against you in this fight and rapid response is the key to victory. Protecting noncombatants is vital, as is keeping them out of the fight. The populace needs to be drilled for rapid response emergency evacuation. If your people do not already have them, I would advise the General to establish civilian shelters on all planets as well as extraction vessels in all major starports. Believe me, you will need them."

It was sage advice, but the CDF hadn't done anything like that, not even during the wars with Venom. There were shelters of course, but the senate had never bothered with any sort of preparation initiatives. What Six was suggesting was little more than a full military takeover. “Essentially, you're saying we instill martial law?"

Six shrugged dismissively. “Call it whatever you want. But you'll do it if you want to have any chances to survive, or win for that matter. I know what it is like to face a technologically and numerically superior foe. All you can hope to do is defend your people and your planets and save as many lives as you can in the process." The war with the Covenant had taught him a great deal on defensive maneuvers and strategies, though most of what he knew was for when the enemy was already on the planet, area denial, guerrilla warfare, siege tactics, all things to buy time for escaping civilians and personnel, or for the arrival of more UNSC forces. However the methods did not matter so long as they achieved the same ends.

“That probably won't go down well with the civvies." Fox could only imagine the amount of public unease that would be generated if they followed Six's counsel, especially after it seemed the war would soon be over.

Once more the spartan was indifferent. “The advice is there. Do with it what you will. I'll fight by your side all the same. Though doing that would make my job easier." Six grinned, his smile capable of intimidating a hardened warrior, but not Fox. He knew the man too well now. He could tell when the spartan was being serious or not. Six did have a tangible sense of humor; it was just hard to read through all of his inlaid cynicism.

The vulpine returned his friend's smirk with one of his own, grateful for Six's attempt at wit, however bad it may be. It was comforting that the spartan could make light of the situation. It gave Fox the confidence to hope that they would come out the end of this thing alright. And that had been what he worried over the most since learning the news.

“Oh I wouldn't want to do that. Don't want you getting soft Six. After all you haven't threatened one of us is in a few weeks. I think you might be losing your touch." Fox chuckled.

The last time any threat had been uttered from the spartan had been a minor dispute with Falco back at the villa. The avian had tried to convince Six on the superiority of energy weapons. Needless to say, the disagreement had been quite amusing to watch for the team. 

Six's smirk remained unchanged, but the look in the spartan's cold red eyes choked the vulpine's laughter. He had only ever seen that look once, back when they had talked on the patio that one night. “No we wouldn't… would we?" The spartan inquired dispassionately.

“N-Not that, that's a b-bad thing m-mind you!" The tod recovered quickly with a nervous splutter.

He had gotten so comfortable around Six that he forgot who he was talking to. The spartan considered him a friend, (at least Fox hoped so), but there was still a lot of distance between them, distance that would be hard to cover, ranging both from species and even emotion. There was little to no common ground to share with him. And as long as Six's past was just a story the human did not like to tell, the vulpine would have a difficult time trying to relate.

Many times Fox had found himself wondering on the place Six had come from. What it must have been like to be in the human's shoes, or boots rather. He knew most of what the spartan had gone through, but it was the kind of thing one needed to see, for them to truly understand. What he talked of, a war of extinction against a tireless and vicious enemy that would not be satisfied until your entire race was obliterated down to the last man, woman, and child. Fox wanted to know, to understand the suffering of his comrade so that he could better help him recover from the psychological injuries such a war would unarguably leave behind in its wake.

But for now, he just hoped he hadn't undone some of the hard work he had put into getting the spartan to open up to him.

Thankfully, Six chuckled in amusement, the low easygoing rumble calming the worried vulpine. “You're right, it's not. Though I don't care for… losing my edge as you so frankly put it. Perhaps you can help me with that?" 

“Uh… sure." Fox agreed uncertainly, getting the uneasy feeling he had just kneeled under the headsman's axe, crescent blade poised and ready to strike. “How could I?"

The grin had yet to leave his rough expression. “I have been curious as to what type of hand-to-hand combat styles you cornerians utilize. And I understand there is a gymnasium onboard this ship… one with a sparring ring."

Fox's muzzle plummeted in horror, the vulpine slowly grasping what the spartan was suggesting. The very idea of trying to fight Six in any form, especially in a test of physical prowess, threatened to send his knees wobbling.

“I'm not really the ship's close quarter's expert. Miyu is the one that knows the most, her and Krystal." Fox suggested in hopes of diverting the spartan's curiosity on to others. The vixen had taken some of the skills she had learned from her fallen homeworld, and Miyu had been the toughest hand-to-hand fighter in her academy, top of her class. Together, they were the most experienced team members in that field. That, and he definitely did not want to step into the ring with Six on the other side or anywhere close. The vulpine fancied his bones unbroken and his internal organs firmly packed in his body where they belonged, things that were threatened if he tried to challenge Six in any capacity. Fox knew his limits, and a physically augmented supersoldier was definitely one of them. Even without his enhancements, the spartan boasted a wealth of military knowledge and experience honed over a lifetime waging the most grueling war imaginable.

“Is that so…" Six muttered to himself, cataloguing that information for later. “Still, what kind of mercenary would I be if I didn't test the endurance of my captain? Don't worry Fox… I'll go easy on you. I promise." The smirk on the spartan's face bloomed into a full on grin, a sight as rare as it was unsettling.

Fox was starting to regret trying to change him. “….Okay." He sighed in defeat, throwing his paws up in the air. “But not today, I think you'd rather spend it with Krystal." Fox added, both pushing Six's attention away from his idea and hoping to broach the subject with his comrade. He was genuinely curious to learn what it was that had changed from his previous stance on her. From what he had gathered, the spartan had shown little if any interest. Yet something had changed, literally overnight.

The human soldier's smile faded and the hardened glint in his eyes softened as he adopted his typical unfaltering silence. Six sunk into his chair and focused his attention onto the desk, clearly not comfortable with broaching the subject of the vixen currently sleeping his room.

Fox curiously observed this swift change in emotion. The vulpine was no stranger to love. Fara was his dream, had been since they were kids in school together. And on the day they reunited, it had been the best thing to happen to him since he recreated his father's mercenary company. Everyone needed someone, and he assumed that Six would be no exception, no matter his unusual background. So he was justifiably confused to why the spartan was finding it so difficult to embrace this fact. It seemed the human had already figured something out with the woman who adored him. Perhaps he was just uncomfortable talking about it with others?

If Fox had learned anything about the spartan in the past few months, it was that he was a man of few words. If he wanted to find out what had happened, he would have to approach the topic with a little more tact then he was used to, skirt around the issue until the spartan fessed up for himself.

“She's a good woman… Krystal. A guy would be lucky to have a girl like that." Fox stated casually, watching the spartan closely for any kind of reaction.

“Yes." Six replied ambiguously, the vulpine unsure of which remark he was acknowledging.

“You know… at first she had been adamant against you joining the team."

The spartan nodded.

“So you could imagine my surprise when her opinion changed so quickly. Krystal's really good at reading people as you might have guessed." Fox chuckled good-naturedly. “She must have seen something in you to make her change her mind so fast. And that makes me curious." The vulpine shrugged; matching the spartan's gaze as he lifted his eyes from the desk, stooping closer. “But honestly, I'm even more curious about what you think. So Six, tell me… what do you see in her?"

Fox studied the spartan, watched as his expression went through a series of brief transformations until settling on his blank mask, the look that was just as unreadable as the visor he hid behind.

“Do you want to know what it is I see in her?"

Fox nodded keenly, eager to find out.

“I see the life I lost the day my family was slaughtered and my world, burned to ash. I see the ruthless training facility where at the age of five I spent most of my life being forcibly molded into a solider to fight in a war I knew I would die in. I see every death I have witnessed and been part of since the moment I picked up a gun." The bitterness in the spartan's acrid words was almost as potent as their intent and Fox found that he could not find the words to respond to the unexpected tirade.

Six paused, the intensity of the flickering rage behind his eyes fading. “I see what makes that agonizing existence, all the hardship, pain, and loss… worth every single excruciating, nearly unendurable moment. I see why soldiers like me were created, what it was we were meant to protect. There is nothing I would not do for her, no length to which I would not go to protect the one who showed me why it is I fight. Why it is I became who I am today." 

Fox was speechless, stunned by the gravity of the spartan's confession, and that he would confide in him with words that had undoubtedly come from the heart. The vulpine had been planning to try and have a big brother talk for Krystal on her behalf. But now he saw that would be unnecessary. He had never known Six to tell a lie. And he knew that she would be safer with the spartan then with any male in the entirety of the Lylat System.

Six grinned half-heartedly; a surprising show of humanity on the spartan's behalf. “You must be wondering why I would tell you this?"

The vulpine could only nod mutely.

“I… trust you, Fox. You are a good man, a solid leader and a competent warrior. I am grateful that you took me in, even when at the time I was disinclined to join. After Reach, I never thought I would find a… team, like Noble, but you have shown me how wrong that assumption was. There is not a single place I would rather be then right here, right now. I believe on the day I joined Starfox I said I would follow you to the gates of hell." A different kind of fire lay in the spartan's crimson eyes as he flashed a fierce grin. “I want you to know, I would fight through all nine layers." 

Six suddenly rose up from his seat and gave the vulpine a crisp salute. “It is an honor to be here, Sir. And I'll stay for as long as you'll have me." The spartan did not linger after his words, shifting on his heels and marching out the door.

Fox watched the human soldier leave, minutes passing before he moved. The vulpine rubbed his eyes with a furred fist, drying the unanticipated wetness that had developed underneath them.

*****

As Slippy glared at the partly assembled contraption lying abandoned on his workbench, he tried his hardest not to have a conniption fit. After so long, he was close to finalizing the work on one of his many side projects. While possible in theory, the practice behind it was harder to realize. Thankfully, an idea had come to him, something he had overheard recently that gave him newfound inspiration.

Originally, the energy powering the device was to cycle through the conductive edge. But now, he had decided to scrap that plan entirely in favor of something as simple as it was unconventional. Yet before he could get started on the changes, he had to deconstruct the original specs and convert the power supply to handle a transition that would put more stress on the generator, which meant he would have to solve the issue of power limitations. From this of course, another dilemma would reveal itself. How he was supposed to find a battery powerful enough to keep the device powered for extended use and endure any amount of unforeseeable stress factors.

Despite this, the toad could not be happier to be once more immersed in a technological challenge. Fox may be a legendary fighter ace, but just as the vulpine was skilled in a cockpit, so was Slippy in the art of engineering. There was no mechanical problem he could not fix, and if by remarkable chance there did indeed exist such a thing, he could easily invent a way around it.

He had already finished most of the concept work on Six's armaments, piecing together the inner mechanics of the weapon designs he had sketched out shortly after the spartan bestowed his guns upon him. And Slippy was willing to admit he had impressed even himself with what he had devised. They would be the culmination of his work, his masterpieces. For hours he had labored over fantastical theories and mathematical conceptions, bridging the extensive gap between ballistic and thermal weaponry. All he needed now was to implement his theories into actual practice. But before then, he wanted to pour all his focus into this device he was trying to create, a late gift for Six, one he hoped the spartan would appreciate.

He took all of what he knew about the spartan and assumed it would be the type of present that catered to his interests. Slippy would have never believed it to be a practical tool but after observing the spartan's… unique methods. He realized it would be a perfect match for his tastes, or so the toad hoped.

As he toiled away, the amphibian occasionally glanced up to the suit of armor he had meticulously cleaned, scrubbing away the thick clotting of caked on gore and carbon scoring etched into the battle worn cerulean plates. That had been one of the more unpleasant tasks he had ever assigned to himself, but it was the most he could do to help his friend. After he had finished washing the suit, he had discovered that there was nowhere to put it, and so Slippy had decided to do Six another favor, quickly machining a stand to rest the heavy armor on. It wasn't one of his best works, far from it actually, being little more than a quick fix. Yet it did the job just fine.

Just hanging it up had been a chore in itself for the toad, even with Fay's help. Neither was especially strong and the battlesuit weighed nearly as much as half the machinery in the shop. They would have never been able to get it on the rack without the crane lift, a device he used to raise the replacement parts for the arwings and the landmaster while he worked on them.

The armor had seen better days, nearly all of the bright sapphire paint that had once tinted the suit had been worn away by time and war, exposing the scared silver hue of the naked alloy underneath. The gauntlets were charred up to the forearm plates, the shadowy charcoal residue ending just above the battered elbow guards. On the left side just under where the wearer's ribs would be, a circular hole punctured through the heavy plating, rimmed with torn metal fragments. The greaves were chipped and tattered, speaking of a lifetime of heavy fighting in close quarters. Notches marked the entire surface of the suit where heated blades and blunt instruments had impacted the thick steel.

Slippy was a master mechanic, and he could tell that despite its current dilapidated state, underneath all that abuse was a masterpiece of military engineering that was lightyears ahead of anything either Venom or Corneria was capable of producing. It was a marvel really, a feat of tactical industry of the likes he had never seen in all his years working closely with his father.

Guiltily, he had been unable to resist studying the armor now that the spartan was not currently occupying it. And what he discovered was a military contractor's wet dream. Fashioned of some unknown alien metal that far surpassed the types of steel they were capable of manufacturing to date, it was more durable than most of the materials used in armored vehicles and starship hull plating presently in use by the CDF. And Slippy regretted not remembering what kinds of materials the spartan had requested to use in the repairs.

A look into the helmet and breastplate had revealed that the suit functioned off an internal generator, powered by what he believed to be a fusion reactor of some type, providing the suit with nearly limitless energy to draw upon. The fact that Six's race was capable of producing such small scale, large quantity energy generation was an incredible discovery in itself.

The toad did not know what technology was put into the bodysuit, but he could only assume it to be as equally impressive as what he saw here. If the CDF was able to get the information in the designs of the spartan's armor, Slippy could only imagine what strides in research and development they could make.  It would change the field of war, and possibly even the civilian sector, forever.

He had spent a time trying to understand the method to which the armor used the shielding system Slippy had seen Six employ. But the method was beyond his grasp of understanding. It was as if the humans had taken it from an even more advanced source as it seemed to function of a completely different set of rules, using some sort of process he had never seen before.

Maybe if he had more time he could have cracked the system, but he couldn't breach Six's trust like that, nor was he willing to face the consequences if he did. His hope was to ask the spartan later and perhaps get his permission first. If he could get it, the possibilities for enhancements in the defensive abilities of the team's gear were endless.

Slippy was glad to have a soldier like Six on their team, if not for anything then the scientific wonders he could uncover just from being near him and the peace of mind it gave him while his friends were on mission. That and the chance to learn from another race, was too good to pass up.

As the amphibian daydreamed on the possibilities of different technologies, he heard the sliding doors to the engineering room hiss open. Wondering if maybe Fay had come back for something, the toad turned to help her. And was suitably surprised to see Six walking about. The spartan was back into the primary shell of his armor, a form fitting underlayer that covered him from down to his feet and all the way up to his neck. That alone was a formidable piece of defense, composed of materials of alien manufacture and what looked like additional alloy that provided a supplementary layer of protection.

He could see why Six was quite literally a walking tank. After his in-depth examination of the soldier's armor, he knew now that they had never been truly close to seeing the full extent of Six's capabilities. The spartan had been holding himself back from the beginning. He was truly a god of the battlefield, the spirit of divine retribution. And to think, he had been just one of many other warriors like him. The scale of warfare the humans appeared to wage was a league all its own, compared to the Lylat System.

It seemed as if the human was looking for something, finding what he needed in the form of the toad that had been watching him. Picking up his pace, Six made his way towards the amphibian weaving through the cluttered mess of Slippy's workshop. He looked to be barely affected by the injuries he had suffered in the battle on Fortuna, and the toad was not surprised after all he had uncovered.

“Hey Six, didn't think to see you of bed so soon. But I can firmly say I'm glad to see you back on your feet!" He greeted the spartan cheerfully, truly happy to know his friend was okay. They did not talk much, but he liked the spartan, even with his eccentricity. Like himself, the human was inclined to mechanics and not too bad with them either.

Six's lips curled into a virtually unreadable smile, the corners of his mouth raising a hairsbreadth as he looked down upon the portly toad. “It'll take more than that to put me down."

“Don't I know it." Slippy laughed, dropping the miniaturized capacitor he held in his webbed hands. It was not quite the right fit for what he needed. In order for the device he was creating to work, he had to find a smaller battery that could hold a longer charge. “So, what can I do ya for?" It was clear to him that the spartan had come down here with a purpose. After all, he did everything with purpose.

Six glanced over the amphibian to his armor mounted on the stand Slippy had created. “My purpose is twofold. First, I wanted to thank you for caring for my MJOLNIR while I was otherwise… occupied. Secondly, I had a question I needed to ask."

Slippy shrugged of the spartan's gratitude. “It was nothing a friend wouldn't do."

“…Of course." Six dipped his head tentatively in acknowledgment, his faint smile faltering. He still was not quite comfortable with the nomination. But he was doing his best to embrace it.

“So, what's the question you needed to ask?" The toad inquired, oblivious to the spartan's facial que.

“Does the Great Fox's carry paint in its inventory?"

It was a slightly obscure request, but that did not phase Slippy. “Yeah, I have a couple cans here and down on the storage deck, gotta keep the team's colors flying somehow."

“Would it be possibly for me to have access to the supply?" Six questioned.

“Yeah of course, you're part of the team. What's ours is yours. You need help finding the right colors?"

“No." The spartan replied with a curt shake of his head.

“Alright, well the cans I have up here are in the back by the lathe. If you can't find what you want there then head down to the stowage deck. I keep the paints in storage room B. They're next to the spare G-diffusers."

“Thank you." Six passed the toad and checked over by the lathe for the specific colors he had in mind, and was pleased to see that they were indeed there, not a surprise considering they were the team's main colors. Sorting through the buckets with his eyes, he grabbed the three cans he needed and set them down over by his armor.

Looking back to Slippy, he saw that the toad was once more engrossed in whatever project he was currently working on. Seeing that he had some level of privacy, Six focused on his MJOLNIR, running a gloved hand down the scorched plating along the gauntlets. The damage was most extensive there and would take the longest to repair. Deciding that was the best place to start he retrieved the materials he had taken time to prepare weeks prior and got to work.

*****

With a loud yawn, Krystal languidly stretched herself out across the bed, groaning happily as she loosened the cramped muscles in her back, the vixen gliding her paws across the cool sheets and tucking them under the pillow, resting her muzzle against the downy cushion with a satisfied sigh. Eyes closed, she buried her snout into the silken casing and inhaled deeply, drawing in the exquisite scent of her male.

She had waited so long to reach this point, and she intended to enjoy every second. Though she was disappointed to wake up to the absence of Six. But she knew the spartan well, and he was probably already wandering the ship with a purpose. And for once, that didn't bother her. She had finally obtained what she wanted. No matter where he was, he would come back to her, and that was all that mattered to her now.

However, Krystal was willing to admit that she was somewhat disappointed. The vixen had been hoping to get some more time in bed with him and bask in his company now that they had reached the next step in their relationship. But perhaps she should just count herself lucky that he had allowed her to get in the time that she did. He was still not used to this level of affection and she recalled how uncomfortable he had been at the start. It would take time to whittle away at his barriers, and hopefully, sometime soon, she could see how far should could push this. Now that her fantasies had a chance to come true, she found herself yearning to make them a reality.

But for now she would just lay here and enjoy his particular brand of scent. Six had no distinctly unique fragrance, just the natural aroma of a clean body and the faint lingering trace of weapon oils. Not particularly romantic or heady by definition, but it was his, and that's all she cared about.

The vixen allowed herself a few more minutes to linger in his bed before at last deciding to get up. After all, his scent may be there, but he wasn't. Picking at her clothes, Krystal left his room and made a quick trip to her own to change. A swift swap of outfits later and she went out to see what the team was up to.

Strolling through the ship, she found Falco in the rec center. The avian seemed more adamant about his training than usual. Seeing him in one of his focused moods, she decided to leave him be, knowing how he got when anyone interrupted him. Fay was down in the common area, munching away at a burrito as she scrolled through a data pad. An enquiry told Krystal she was working on some sort of upgrade for the radio transmitter onboard the ship, trying to puzzle out a decent encryption on their transmissions.

Krystal decided to spend a little while in the common room, chatting with Fay while she worked. She didn't know much about radio waves or canceling out frequencies but she did want to spend some time with Fay since they did not do so often. Eventually though, she got lost in the technical jargon and just decided to let the spaniel talk without interruption.

Sometime into their conversation, Miyu arrived, the feline making a beeline towards the vending machine and inputting her meal order. And within a few minutes a tray popped out of the small hatch, a steaming bowl of tomato soup and a side of grilled cheese freshly made and ready to be eaten. Sometimes, the technology the system used amazed Krystal. Cerinia had never had a machine like that, not being a technologically minded race.

Miyu grabbed the tray and lazily made her way over to the table, sliding it into position in front of her as she lithely set herself down.

“Hey Miyu." Fay greeted her friend cheerily and set down her half eaten burrito.

“Sup." The cat replied neutrally, dipping her spoon into the red broth and pushing the utensil into her waiting maw.

“Did you see Six? I heard he's back up on his feet already. Can you believe that?" The spaniel asked amiably.

Krystal watched as the lynx halted.

Miyu stopped the spoon from making its next round to her muzzle, eying the snowy canine darkly. “No. He was gone when I woke up… in fact they both were." The feline's amber gaze shifted to linger on Krystal, eying the vixen with intent. And she could feel the ire brooding in her friend's thoughts. “Kinda sucked, ya now?"

Fay picked up on the suddenly frosty atmosphere, seeing that something had upset the lynx. Not one to handle confrontations well, she quickly excused herself. “I'll uh… get going now. I want to run this new encryption algorithm over with Fox, see what he has to say about it. See ya gals later!" The canine vanished almost instantly, the only sound of her departure being the doors shutting loudly behind her.

Now alone with Miyu, Krystal focused her full attention on her disgruntled friend. “How are you?" She inquired politely. Reading her friend's emotions however, she already knew how the cat was.

Her concern only infuriated the feline more. “Oh don't give me that load of bullshit!" Miyu hissed, releasing her spoon and letting fall into her bowl. The utensil sunk into the crimson broth with a loud splash, splattering tomato juice all over the table. “You damn well know how I'm doing. You and Six just traipsed off, not giving a damn about me!"

Krystal shook her muzzle adamantly. “That's not how it was at all." She could see why Miyu would be upset. And she could only sense that there was more than just ordinary anger here. The lynx was infuriated at more than the fact they had left her behind.

“That's exactly how it was!" The cat snarled through clenched teeth. “Apparently I wasn't even worth waking up, not like I was worried about him either. But no… who needs her anyways? Fuck me, right?!" Miyu growled mockingly, claws screeching against the table as she curled her paws into fists. The feline had a right to be angry. It seemed every time she tried to show Six that she cared, she was refuted and dismissively ignored. It was enough to make her want to scream!

Krystal serenely weathered the storm of the cat's anger, knowing she was partly at fault. It was true, they had left her behind. And she had not given much thought to Miyu, how she must have felt. Now that Krystal looked back, she could see that she had not been the only one with an interest in the spartan, in fact it had been blatantly obvious. She just had not wanted to see it. Yet Krystal did not think Six was at all to blame for this. She doubted he had bypassed with any ill intent. That just wasn't like him. He had simply prioritized his duties, and the vixen was lucky enough that she sat on top of that long list. And she felt a need to defend his actions.

“I swear to you that was not what happened." Krystal made sure to convey her certainty in that regard. Miyu was her friend first, and teammate second. And the vixen was willing to what she could to smooth this situation out. “Six just wanted to talk with me privately. Otherwise I would have been the first to wake you. You know that."

Hearing the vixen's sincere tone, Miyu's expression of anger faltered, hesitation making itself known on her muzzle as she thought over what Krystal said, knowing subconsciously, that her friend was speaking the truth. A silent moment passed before the cat sighed, slouching her shoulders and muttering harshly to herself. “Why does he always want to talk to you?"

Krystal reached over the table and rested a paw on her friends arm supportively. She knew this was upsetting Miyu, but she had to let her friend know. “He wanted to talk and I… well I told him how I felt."

“You did?" The feline gasped in equal parts shock and jealousy. She had known for a while that Krystal had felt something for the spartan. But she had not thought the reserved fox would ever get the courage to confess.

“Yes… and he accepted." The vixen finished with a small apologetic smile.

“So…" Miyu mumbled quietly, piecing it together and realizing her chances with Six had been effectively ridden into the ground and shot through the head. “That's it then…. I'm just essentially… what… out of luck? I was just too slow?" She desperately tried to grasp for a reason that would explain all this craziness.

“He will always be your friend." Krystal added, hoping to console her friend.

“But nothing more… right?" Miyu muttered bitterly.

“I…" Krystal hesitated, having nothing she could say to answer that in a way that would please her friend.

“Yeah, that's what I thought." Miyu growled quietly. “I hope you're happy with him." The feline pulled herself away from the table in a fury and stormed off, tail lashing violently behind her as she thundered out of sight.

Krystal watched her friend depart, a deep frown etched into the slender curves of her muzzle. Sighing in resignation, the vixen dropped her furred head to the table and groaned through clenched teeth. She was happy with what she had with Six.

So why did she feel so terrible?

*****

'That's one part finished.'  Six set down the newly refurbished gauntlet, neatly laying the piece of cumbersome armor beside its twin; both having been repaired to the best of the spartan's abilities. They looked as close to new as he would ever be able to make them, scratches buffed out and reinforced with the extra materials he manufactured weeks ago. All that was left was to slap a fresh coat of paint and they would be good to go.

Restoring the gauntlets alone had cost him several hours, the process of repairs being a slow and tedious one with the conditions he had to work with. If he had better facilities of the likes of ONI, he would have been able to finish the entire suit in the time it had taken to fix them. Yet he would not give what he had now, even if he had the chance to go back. He was done with ONI, with humanity. They were gone, or at least in a place he would never find. And he had no problem keeping it that way.

Six returned the gauntlets to the stand and hefted the bulky breastplate, transferring the slab of titanium alloy over to the workbench he had been tinkering on for the past few hours. He set down the weighty hunk of steel, a dull bang echoing in the empty workshop as he reached for the bin of pre-rendered armor components. Sifting through the mismatched selection, he picked one of the smaller sheets of titanium, less than a centimeter thick, and laid it across the right pectoral of the breastplate.

One thing he did miss about the UNSC was its efficient supply lines. Back in the war, he could expect to have a replacement part shipped to his location in less than a week. But here, he had to rely on what he had, which was why he had to rely on this less than satisfactory method. The spartan grabbed a blowtorch and hammer, flicking the hose on and activating the pilot light. He used the plasma fueled device to heat the thin sheet metal over the armor, intending to hammer it to the contours of the breastplate. It was a barbaric means of renovation, but an effective one nonetheless.

Knowing the high heat caused by extended use of a plasma torch in a sweltering place like the workshop, he had pulled down the top section of his bodysuit, letting it hang from his waist in the same way as he had done for Miyu. With his armor being worked on below him, he did not have the use of its internal temperature monitoring system.  He was thankful that the inner workings of his MJOLNIR had been unaffected. While capable of fixing the more straightforward aspects of his suit, he had little understanding of the electronic nature of the powered armor and would not have been able to solve any malfunctions therein.

Six picked up the hammer, the sheet metal placed carefully on his armor now glowing a bright cherry red. Gathering a portion of his strength, he brought the hammer swinging down; smashing the hunk of blunt iron into the heated steel in a dazzling spray of sparks that bounced harmlessly off his bare chest.

With heavy practiced motions, he molded the thin metallic pane to the characterized muscle-like delineations of the hunk of armor. Once finished cooled, he would chisel out any flaws and set it aside for painting. It and the greaves should be what take the longest to repair, his helmet had managed to avoid the majority of the damage he suffered in battle, and would only need minimal corrections to restore it to full working order.

Finished hammering first the piece of titanium, he reached for another and placed it on the left side.

So concentrated was he on his work, Six did not realize he was no longer alone. Krystal had come down here in search of him, figuring that it had to be the last place he could be. Yet the vixen had not figured on finding him half-naked and hammering on his armor like a feudal blacksmith. She stood frozen in the doorway, a tray of forgotten food held in either paw as she watched him work, mesmerized at the sight.

With lips pulled into a focused grimace, the spartan used a small share of his impressive strength to bend the metal to his will with each weighted stroke of iron upon steel.

Krystal watched with a startling rush of budding desire and arousal, her yearning emerald eyes thoroughly tracing each flex of his impressive muscles as the reverberating clang of the pounding hammer matching the throbbing beat of her now racing heart. Stricken helpless with inaction, she unable to tear her eyes away from a sight that would haunt her for days with its lusty suggestions. She wished her paws were not so otherwise occupied so that she might have been able to put them to better use somewhere lower.

The unawares spartan finished the piece he was working on and reached for another when he noticed the vixen standing by the door, who flinched when his hard crimson gaze rested on her. He made no outwards reaction at seeing her other then carefully setting down the hammer.

Taking her que, Krystal buried her lurid thoughts and crossed the room towards him. As she closed in, Six folded his arms across his exposed chest, eyeing her neutrally as she made her advance and the vixen doing her best to ignore the sweat glistening on his pale skin.

“Hey Six, you hungry?" She asked, offering the extra meal tray she had brought for him. Not knowing the spartan's taste for anything other than Carobollen, she decided to get him a sandwich and hope for the best.

The spartan nodded and took the tray from her, clearing a space off a worktable to set it down. “Yes, thank you." Smithing was indeed tiring work that built up an appetite, even for one like him. Six turned his attention back to Krystal, and upon noticing something he quickly walked off and returned with a short crate for her to sit on, motioning for her to take a seat.

Smiling up at him, she set herself down on the storage box and gently placed her tray on her lap.

With her taken care of, Six leaned against the table he had been using and studied the food he had received. It looked not that different then what he had sometimes eaten when in transit from one battlefield to another, a sandwich with white bread and some type of meat and leafy grins. Shrugging, he took a bite out of it.

Not bad, a little dry but nothing worth complaining about. As long as it kept his body fueled he cared little for taste.  

They say in silence for a time, neither offering any words to broker a conversation. To both, this relationship was still new ground upon which to tread and there was still a great deal of uncertainty to work past.

Six was not sure what one did once a relationship was established and still knew little on its meaning. But he did enjoy her company, even as it was so muted. It brought him that same armistice of emotion that he had once considered uncomfortable but now merely… unique.

Krystal was just glad to have the prize of his company and the attention of his thoughts. She felt accomplished and lucky that a man as distinctive as Six found reason to stay with her and appreciate her presence. But it also sought to remind her of someone else who had desired the same thing, someone also close to her heart.

Six looked up from his meal and noted the grim curl of her muzzle. “What troubles you?" He would always remain concerned over her wellbeing, of that he knew to be certain, no matter their vaguely understood romantic affiliation.

Reacting to the gruff sound of his voice, the vixen faced him, turning her grimace into a smile. “Oh, you don't have to worry about it." She hoped to brush him off. None of the situation with Miyu was directly faulted onto him, it was something she wanted to remain between them until it was handled.

“You should know deflection will not work on me." He retorted casually, setting down his sandwich and eyeing her with more intent. He did not need the vixen's powers to tell when something was wrong. Instincts earned over years of brutal war gave him much the same type of sixth sense. He had spent his life learning the minute emotional ques of power armored soldiers, so he could read body language fairly effectively. And he had learned the tells of this alien race as well. It was quite clear to him that something troubled her dearly. And it was his responsibility to find that trouble and remove it.

Krystal's smile wavered until she sighed wryly, with a soft, inwardly amused chuckle. “I should have, shouldn't I?"

Six nodded stiffly.

Knowing he would not relent, she tried to ponder a way of telling him the truth without really telling. She doubted he would understand the more refined intricacies of a gritty romantic triad.  

“Miyu… she's a good friend right?" The vixen wondered aloud.

Six paused, clearly not having expected her to ask such a roundabout question.

“She is a part of the team." He replied with an unbiased frankness. He felt as if he had suddenly stepped into minefield and only his wits would see him out to the end unscathed. Internally, he did consider her to be a good team member, a good… comrade. But he was never sure what to feel about her. Just as with the others, he felt the need to protect her. She was a member of his team and as such he had a responsibility for her welfare just as with the rest of Starfox. Yet it was slightly more than that. Her mother had passed in war, as had his own. And while he did not have the same memories as she, he understood her pain. If he could, he would have seen that her pain ended. His own mother had always been a peculiar topic for him, the very one that had almost triggered him to kill the psychiatrist that had interview him. Perhaps he hoped that if he understood her better he could find his own closure on the issue of a woman he hardly remembered, yet had given him so much.  

“Yes, but do you... feel anything about her?" Krystal asked timidly.

“Like what?" He asked in confusion, not sure where she was trying to take this conversation.

“Like the way you feel about me." She prompted finally, curious and anxious of what his answer might be. The vixen watched his face closely, hoping to read his expression, yet she could not crack his unwavering blank mask.

Six pondered on what Krystal was suggesting, that he cared for her wellbeing in the same way as he did hers. And he supposed… deep down where he dared not tread even in himself, that she did mean a great deal to him. But so did Fox, he was the one who gave Six this opportunity that allowed him to find all of this inside himself. He cared for the vulpine just as much as he did Krystal, though in a different way. So yes, he did care for the lynx, he just could not tell how far that care extended. And so, never one to tell a lie, he answered her.

“I don't know."

Krystal nodded perceptively, having expected an answer along those lines. Six had no experience in something like this so it went without saying that he would be confused. She could have worried over it, but for now, she decided to leave it be.

“Alright, thanks for being honest, Six." She turned her attention back to her food and reached for the fork.

 The spartan was silent, not sure what he had said or how it impacted her and at the moment he wished things could be simpler. He could meet a losing battle with stiff resolve, but he could never understand the heart of a woman. But he supposed, some things were never meant to be understood by the minds of men.

*****

They finished their meal in silence, not uncomfortable, but companionable. By the time they had empty trays Six checked the clock in the room, seeing that it was late in the evening. He had spent most his day overseeing the repairs of his armor, and his talk with Fox.

Six studied Krystal as she cleaned up their mess, the vixen completely oblivious to the possible destruction of their way of life. And for the first time since he was shipped off Currahee, he felt the desire to disobey the direct order of a superior officer. He wanted to tell her of the aparoids, of what might happen to them. He appreciated her too much to want to keep her in the dark, even if the information might dismay her. She deserved to know what was at stake, what could be lost.

What he might lose.

Krystal hummed a tune to herself as she dumped the empty plates into the trash bin, tail merrily swishing at her side. Despite his answer, she still loved him. It was not his fault if he felt that way. He knew no other way to think. All she had to do was find a way to resolve this issue, and hopefully keep everyone happy, especially Six. He deserved to find happiness after all he had been through, after what his own people had done to him. And if she had to make a small sacrifice to give him that, she would.

The vixen turned around, surprised to find herself so suddenly enclosed in the spartan's embrace. “Six!" She gasped in pleasant surprise as the spartan held her close. Krystal did not waste thought power trying to understand this sudden change in her spartan. It was much better to just live in the moment, here with him.

The spartan's mind was occupied by thoughts less cheerful then hers.

If these aparoids came, if they intended to bring an end to the new existence he had managed to ferociously claw for himself.

He would end them first.

She could feel the ship's artificial gravity pull on her as Six lifted her off the deck to press her closer, the strength of his hold almost enough to steal her breath away. No. What stole her breath was not his embrace, but the kiss that followed. Seizing her chance, Krystal wormed her muzzle closer and aggressively pressed her lips against his. This being what she wanted for so long, she made sure to give it her all. She wanted to be out of breath by the time she was finished.

The spartan did react to her kiss, flinching at the unexpected contact. But for once, in a move that made her love him all the more, he did not pull away. Sure, he was about as responsive as a brick wall, but she hoped to work on that in time. Feeling the warmth of his mouth on hers was enough to satisfy her craving… for now.

Eventually, Six gingerly set her down on the deck and took a slow step back, hesitancy plastered heavily across his rugged features. It was obvious to her that he had stepped far out of his comfort zone with that action. Wanting to show him how much she appreciated it, Krystal matched his step backwards with one forwards, hugging his chest. “Thank you." She whispered softly, clutching him fiercely enough that her claws dug into his skin, but did not draw blood.

The human soldier nodded apprehensively, patting her on the back, the only way he knew how to respond at the moment.

“Come on, I think you worked hard enough today." She suggested, grabbing him by the hand and lead him out of the room.

The spartan silently, but diligently, followed after her as she took him back to his quarters, she guiding him along like a lost lamb. Whether he had reverted back to the conditioned responses of his youth or had just decided to follow, she was not sure. Krystal had to remind herself that he had been through a lot, emotionally and physically, and there were some things he was, as of now, just not mentally equipped to handle. Perhaps she should have taken things a little slower with the kiss?

But, there was no going back now, what was done was done. As she walked, the vixen glanced back towards the spartan, whose expression had remained unchanged, the look of confusion and uncertainty still clinging to his face.

However, once they arrived back in his room he seemed to regain some of his older self.  He slipped the top half of his suit back over his shoulders and climbed into his bed. This came as a surprise to her, as from what she had come to know about him, he was reluctant to sleep. If he was so quick to change that… perhaps the kiss may have indeed been a bad idea.

Feeling somewhat guilty, Krystal decided to not press the issue and turned to leave. She would have preferred sleeping in his bed, but she knew she had pressed him to hard. He had come out of his safe zone for her, and she exploited that.

Sighing at the extent of her own foolishness, she turned to leave.

“You do not have to leave… if you do not want." The spartan called out to the departing vixen, stopping her in her tracks.

Slowly, she turned to face him with a weary smile.

The spartan sat up from his bed, legs firmly planted on the deck beside it.

What she did had caught him by surprise, and he was not at all certain on how to take it. For now he decided to compartmentalize, throw what happened deep into his mind till he could give it more thought. And if at any other time, where the dread threat they faced did not loom over them, he might have turned away from Krystal and let her walk out the door, and perhaps, even his life.  

But now, facing a time where he could lose everything at any point…

He decided that some changes had to come sooner rather than later.

The vixen, overjoyed at what he offered, smiled and returned to his side, sitting on the bed next to him and.

“I just want to show you that I care." She tried to explain herself now that she knew he would not push her away.

“I know."

He wrapped his hand around her paw and squeezed gently.

“So do I."