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The Swarm War

Chapter 13

Fox had left her room a few minutes ago by then she had finished brushing her hair and got ready for bed. Krystal laid in her bed for an entire hour but for the life of her could not sleep. Her thoughts occupied by Varrus as she tried to puzzle out what he meant to her. She was too restless deciding that a walk would do her some good she went to the terminal in her room and called for Lupa. After severely seconds holographic wolf formed on the small holo emitter next to the device.

"How can I help?" She asked with a bow.

"I was just wondering" Krystal started to say "if there was anywhere on the ship one could go to relax?"

"There just so happens to be a garden at the very top most deck." Lupa replied conveniently.

"A garden?" Krystal asked "on a military ship?"

"Yes Varrus requested that one be put in a few days after the incident on Aquincium. So it is a relatively new addition to the ships overall design.

"Oh well that sounds like a nice place to relax."

"Indeed Varrus spends many hours there in his free time."

"Do you think you could take me there?" Krystal asked hopefully.

"If that is what you wish." Lupa replied with another small bow. With that being said Krystal hurriedly tossed on a robe for modesty and with Lupa's guidance made her way to her destination. Taking a couple of minutes they soon arrived at the door to the garden. "Here you are." Lupa said.

"Thanks for the assistance." Krystal said gratefully.

"I live to serve." Lupa replied with a small smile before disappearing leaving the corridor in shadow as it was on the ships night cycle. Nervously standing in the dark Krystal quickly opened the door and stepped inside.

Inside she was momentarily startled as the garden was quite beautiful. It surprisingly large but the most breathtaking thing was the ceiling . It was composed entirely of some type of reinforced glass. This allowed her to see the magnificent beauty of the cosmos. She spent many minutes staring into the awe inspiring constellations eventually she brought her sight back to the garden she had originally come for. She walked among the strange yet also familiar plant life. She was particularly interested in a group of strange red flowers they were quite beautiful. She was shaken out of her study of these interesting flowers when she suddenly heard a melodic tune in the distance. Curious she went to investigate it didn't take long for her to unveil the source of the strange melody.

She arrived at a small patio like structure at the heart of the garden. She was hidden by the tree line as she watched what had grabbed her attention. Sitting at one of the many tables on one of the many chairs sat the one who occupied a large portion of her mind. It was Varrus and from what she could see he was absently gazing at the stars with some sort of cup of unidentifiable liquid in his hands steam was lazily wisping out of the cup. He was in some sort of casual clothing a simple shirt,pants,jacket, and was wearing a pair of boots. She heard the music that had grabbed her attention coming from a little gadget placed on the table in front of him. It was playing some sort of soft orchestral piece that perfectly fit with the setting he was in.

While she was busy taking in all this new information a gust of wind shook her out of her thoughts. It would seem that this place had a sophisticated climate control system. Krystal suddenly realized she was in a loose outfit if you could even call it an outfit,that was ill suited for such cold conditions. So preparing herself she stepped out of the shadows and made herself known. "Hello Varrus."

She had startled him it seemed as he was jolted out of his reverie of the stars and turned to look at his visitor. "Krystal what brings you here?" He asked obviously surprised to see her.

"I needed to go for a walk and Lupa suggested that this was the place to go to unwind." She explained.

"Of course she would." He said knowingly to himself. After a brief moment he noticed that she was still standing where she had revealed herself. "Please have a seat." He gestured to the seat next to him.

Thankful she moved to the place specified. As she got close he got up from his seat and pulled hers out for her. "Thank you." She said sweetly as he pushed it in and resumed his own seat.

"It was my pleasure" he replied kindly. Then seeing her state of dress as he was too enthralled by her breathtaking appearance to register what she was wearing earlier became suddenly worried. "Krystal you don't seem to be dressed for this type of weather."

Looking down at her state of apparel she began to blush heartily and close her robe more securely. "I didn't think it would be this cold and I thought I would be alone." She honestly answered back holding her tail to her chest in an effort to stay warm.

"Would you like something hot to drink?" He asked politely seeing that she was freezing.

"That would be wonderful." She said thankfully. "It's awfully cold in here."

"Indeed the weather control system likes to keep this place really cold." Thinking if a way to warm her up he had an idea. "Have you ever had something called hot coco?" He asked as he stood up.

"Yes I have and I have to say it's rather good" Krystal said with a smile.

"Excellent would you like some?"

"I would love some!" She said enthusiastically tail bobbing side to side expectantly as soon she let it go. Shortly after receiving her answer Varrus made his way to a machine she hadn't noticed sitting on one of tables near the rails of the patio. Quickly grabbing a cup he filled it up with the warm chocolate drink and brought it to her. As his hands met with her paws when he handed it to her they both blushed and he hurriedly went back to his seat.

She took a small sip to help warm herself up. "Aahh" she said with a contended sigh. "Its just as good as the last cup I had."

"That's good considering I made it myself." Varrus said happy that there was someone who appreciated his cooking again.

"Really?" Krystal said surprised.

"Yep I made it from scratch." He said with pride layering his voice. Unfortunately he could see she was still shivering. The hot drink must not have been enough to keep her warm. He had another idea so he got up and went to her chair. She watched him curiously trying to figure what he was doing. Her question was answered when he took off his jacket and gently laid it on her shoulders. Almost immediately she stopped her shaking.

"You didn't have to do that." Krystal said the white spots on her fur turning a light shade of pink.

"I couldn't let a beautiful women like you go cold." Varrus said with conviction.

Blushing even harder she wrapped the coat around herself tightly while still managing to hold on to her cup of precious liquid warmth. "Your to kind." She said quietly.

"Think nothing of it." He said with a comforting grin. When she saw his smile she felt all the coldness she had leaving her body to be replaced with the warm feeling she started to attribute to whenever she was around him. Krystal suddenly found herself gazing deeply into his eyes becoming lost in there welcoming brown depths. When she realized what she was doing she hurriedly broke eye contact. Still she noticed he was continuing to smile as he asked his next question.

"So since you are here is there anything you would like to talk about?"

"Actually I was just here to relax I didn't expect that anyone else would be here." She said offhandedly. When she looked back to Varrus he has a slightly disappointed and hurt look. Quickly she reviewed what she had said in her mind and realized that it could be interpreted as uncaring and dismissive. "Of course since that there is someone here I would love to talk." Krystal said hurriedly nervously running her free hand through her tail. The smile she was beginning to want to see reappeared. "Why did you have this garden built it seems out of place on a warship?"

"It all started when I came back from Aquncium. I went to a planet called New Jerusalem to visit the tomb of an old friend and report to my commander. After the events on Aquincium I was slated as emotionally compromised." He said starting his tale.

"How?" She asked him.

"You see, the artifact emitted a signal that over a long period of time began to warp peoples minds."

"Right." She said upon remembering when he was looking over the console and encountered the information.

"I wasn't there long enough to receive any lasting harm but there were some...'side effect'" he said with a shiver.

"Like what?" Krystal wondered curiously.

He seemed reluctant to divulge the information but after a few moments he relented. "Some times..." He began quietly "my dead friends came to torment me they came almost every few hours." Krystal was horrified she couldn't imagine seeing your closest friends who has passed on harassing you endlessly she tried to comfort him by placing her paw on his arm. Once her touch graced his arm on the table he seemed to relax placing his other hand on hers. "I tried to ignore them but the longer they went ignored the more vicious they became they couldn't do any real damage as they were simply the manifestations of the signal in my mind. But they could torture a mans most important tool, his mind. Eventually the evaluator told me to go for walks to clear my head and hopefully that would do something to help my condition because he was out of ideas.." He said with more confidence with Krystal's support. "That's when I found it."

"It?" She said puzzled.

"Yes it was a garden you see" he started "there was this little garden inside the base. Some soldier must have had a green thumb and made it in his spare time. Yet while I was there I felt at peace for the first time in a very long time." He said his eyes looking out into space he looked at ease his muscles relaxed and he had a faint smile and his eyes were less haggard. "The garden had calmed me down and to this day I can't quite place why. Perhaps it was the abundance of life there counterbalancing all the death I found in that dark place." He said more to himself them to Krystal. Still she listened in an effort to understand the kind of person he was and what he has been through. "Anyways soon after I was cleared for duty again I asked that a garden be placed on the ship noticing the effect it had on me the evaluator approved with admirable haste and so the story ends." He said returning his attention back to her.

"That's an interesting story." She replied her focus entirely on him and then the garden. "It does seem to have a calming aura to it and I can feel the life in all the plants."

"Ah yes I almost forgot you are a telepath" he said after hearing her last statement. "Tell me what is it like."

She took a few minutes to collect her thoughts before speaking."Imagine that everyone you see is like an open book." She began "each one tells a different story most are normal but a few are stories you wish you had never read. Not everyone has normal thoughts some people are strange."

"Have you been in my mind?" Varrus questioned her.

"Honestly" she looked down at her cup embarrassedly ears flat on her head. "I did try the first time we met but I couldn't access your mind. Your mind is one of the most guarded I have ever come across.

"That's probably because of all the conditioning I went through in boot. They forced us to train our minds as much as we trained our bodies."

"Why would they do that?"

"They did it so we would be better in every way compared to the average soldier, we would have to command entire fields of war and be smart enough to use every advantage we could in the hopes of stopping the tide of monsters threatening our empire."

"That's allot of responsibility."

"It was and still is but I take comfort in the fact that every battle I win helps defend my people and bring them hope. Let's not dwell on that or me why don't you tell me about yourself." He said trying to bring the meandering conversation back to her.

"I don't know I'm not all that special." She said looking down at the floor.

"Don't say that all people are special and unique."

"How could you say that ?" She wondered.

"Everyone is different no one is or ever will be the same we all have our quirks that make us different. We should cherish all that makes us unique and be proud of who we are."

She looked thoughtful "I never thought like that before.

In any case here are also things I don't feel like talking about."

"Sometimes we all need a change in perspective that's all, and if you don't want to tell me about yourself now that's alright I can wait."

"Ok thanks Varrus."

"No problem anytime, now" he said getting up from his chair "it's pretty late and we should get some sleep before tomorrow we're going to have some long days ahead." He turned to Krystal and helped her up from her seat. He noticed that the pads on her hand were warm and soft like velvet. "You have very soft hands." He blurted out and then his tanned skin turned a noticeable shade of red.

"Thank you." She said with a little giggle.

Trying to blunder a way through his absent minded comment he stuck his arm out. "Would you like an escort to your room?"

"That would be delightful!" She said exuberantly putting her arm through his. He lead her out of the garden they made a little small talk for a couple of minutes until they arrived at her door.

"Here's your room milady." He said bowing theatrically inciting another giggle from her.

"Thank you for the escort sir knight." She said playing along.

"Tis my duty fair lady."

"Such a noble knight deserves a just reward." She then kissed him softly on the cheek. "Thank you for talking with me."

"You can always count on me Krystal." He said "we haven't known each other long but I'll do what I can to help you."

"I appreciate that Varrus." She said hugging him.

Varrus was lost in the wonderful sensation from her hug her fur was soft and warm. He didn't realize that they were embracing each other for a long time. When he did figure it out he drew back. "If you want when we come back from this mission we can talk more on the way back to Corneria." He suggested.

"That would be wonderful." She said before opening her door and stepping inside. Varrus turned to walk away when he heard her call out. "Oh and Varrus thanks for everything."

"What have I done?" He said confusedly.

"Thank you for coming to a star system that isn't yours and endangering your ship, Lupa and yourself for people you don't even know." She explained.

"It's my duty ma'am." He said seriously. "And a privilege." He said with the smile she craved before turning to walk down the hallways to his own room. She watched him go for a few seconds then closed her door and went to her bed. She then remembered she was still wearing the jacket he had given her. So she took it off and then began to study it. It was a jacket made of some unknown leather it was supple yet sturdy and was still warm from her body heat. She brought it to her muzzle and took a deep breath his scent was still on the jacket and the smell comforted her. She laid it on the bed and took of her robe and snuggled with it under the blankets. She soon pieced out she was falling for the human and she couldn't be any happier.