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Halo: First Contact

Chapter 5 :Findings

Liam sat on the ramp of the pelican with a deep seated frown. This was not what he had signed up for. He was a shock trooper, trained to crash on to planets and complete extremely dangerous missions. He was not some fucking military exchange student! He growled and tightened his hold on the helmet in his lap, and it began to creak dangerously. "I take it you are not a fan of your new job eh?"

He turned to Falco; the avian was sitting on one of the crates stacked in twos on the side, the ones to be loaded onto the pelican for him. His arms were crossed and he was looking at Liam with a hard to read expression. "I am not entirely enthused." Liam replied after calming himself down with a heavy puff of released air.

Falco nodded. "I can understand that, if I was in your position I would not have taken it as well as you had. I cannot imagine being separated from my friends."

Liam shrugged. "It happens more often than I would like, you get used to it. Although I wish it weren't so. What I do not like, is being taken out of the USNC military."

"Why, you like being in the army?" Falco was curious. He himself did not like the army. It was too constrictive for his tastes. He preferred the freedom that only a mercenary could have.

Liam smiled wistfully. "I love the army. I have always wanted to help people, defend those who could not defend themselves. My father was like that, and he was an amazing man. The army gives me that chance." The ODST looked down at his helmet thoughtfully, gazing into the reflective visor at his own face.

Falco unfolded his arms and leaned forward. "A noble ideal, is that really the reason you joined the army?"

Liam lifted his head to look at Falco. "Well that and I got to kick some ass."

At that, the seated avian erupted into laughter and stood up. "I like that!" He exclaimed, walking over and patting Liam on his armored shoulder, his beak turned serious. "I had my misgivings on whether or not having you around would be a good thing. But I think that you will fit right in."

Liam looked up to the grinning avian and could not help but join him. "Thanks, it's certainly good to know that may stay will not be as unpleasant as I thought."

"Making nice Falco?" They both heard Miyu ask with a throaty feminine chuckle.

The surprised duo turned to see her, tail lashing softly behind her, as she led the rest of the team over. Falco shrugged, embarrassed that they had seen the friendlier side of him. Liam just gave them all a smile. "He was just humoring me."

Fay noticed his smile. "Does that mean you are feeling better?" She asked hesitantly. They all saw his fuming departure from the briefing room.

Liam chuckled warmly. "Indeed, I am feeling much better. Besides it can't be that bad to spend some time with you all."

"That's good to hear, we are glad you will be joining us." Fox stopped in front of the sitting human. "I guess that makes you a mercenary now."

"So it does, I don't know whether that is a good or bad thing."

"It is a good thing. I think you will enjoy the freedom." Falco replied, walking up the dropship's ramp to get settled in.

Liam had no answer to that as he stood up and began to drag the first crate inside. The team was forced to sit in the very back as the ship was soon filled with crates of various sizes. Krystal watched as the ODST tackled a particularly heavy crate, grunting in exertion as he pushed it up to its position near the mouth of the ramp. His muscles were visibly rippling under his armor from the effort he exuded to make the heavy box go against the demands of gravity.

"Getting an eyeful are ya?" She heard Miyu ask with a smile in her voice as she nudged the now blushing vixen, turning scarlet under her cobalt coat.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Krystal retorted in as much counterfeit aloofness as she could muster, swiftly turning from her obvious stare at the heavy lifting soldier.

"I wasn't condemning you, he is quite nice to look at, for an alien. Now, are you sure you weren't looking" Miyu asked again, giving her a golden stare.

"Well maybe I was." Krystal admitted with some effort, brushing her tail with an errant hand in an effort to calm herself.

"See, it's not that hard to admit it." Miyu congratulated before adding. "I will admit I was peeking as well."

"It's just that...he is such a nice guy. There is not that many around now a-days. It doesn't matter if he is human; he is good enough for me." The beautiful sapphire vixen looked down.

"What's wrong?" Miyu asked gently, placing a paw on her friends own shaking ones.

"What if he doesn't like me like that? What if his thinks I am ugly? I mean look at me, I am covered in fur and I have a tail. He could be disgusted by me!" She gestured to herself.

Miyu shook her head. "Krystal, you are the prettiest women I have ever seen, besides me of course. And if he can't take what you look like then he is not really a nice guy."

Krystal looked up to her friend and smiled. "You know, you always have the right words to say."

Miyu shrugged. "It's a gift."

They heard a commotion and looked to the ramp. Liam was trying to worm his way through the stacks of crates in order to get to the inside, his large body and armor kept snagging on the corners. He finally managed to climb over one of the stacks and squeeze through. The ODST popped out and almost fell to the floor, ignoring Fox's and Falco's chuckling. He righted himself and dusted off. Once he was satisfied, he walked by them and flashed Krystal a warm smile as he ventured over to the cockpit and climbed up the steps.

The smile eased her worries and made her stomach heat up and get all tingly. The vixen's tail was jumping excitedly in her lap and her ears were perked up. "See I told you not to worry." Miyu admonished. "The only thing you have to worry about is letting him know how you feel." That put a hamper on the vixen's good mood. How was she going to do that?

"How? I don't want to screw it up." Krystal pleaded, turning to her friend for help.

Miyu looked deep in thought and played with the golden loop in her right ear as she pondered her friend's dilemma. "I don't know right now, but give me a little time and I will." The lynx declared confidently.

Krystal sighed in relief and leaned back in her stiff metal seat. It may have been uncomfortable, but she ignored it, focusing on her current problem.

While the two girls talked about him, Liam was in the cockpit talking to the pilot about something he had seen. 'What's with the big ass container outside, is that ours?"

The helmeted soldier turned to face him and nodded. "Correct, it is a part of your mission gear. The admiral had more to say that could only be done in private. I have a datapad for you to look at, straight from the admiral himself. Read what is on it and do not allow anyone else to read the pad." The pilot ordered and handed him the datapad, urging him to leave the cockpit so that they could take off. "Don't worry about the container I'll pick it up with the mag locks on the underbelly. You just get seated and read the pad, the sooner you do the better."

Liam nodded uncertainly, worried about what the admiral was planning. He turned and left, walking down the small staircase and into the crowded hold. He stared at the ominous black screen and was moving to take as seat as far away from them as possible, not wanting for the information secreted away on the tool to be compromised. As he walked, Slippy piped up hopefully from his seat next to peppy.

"Hey Liam, can I see some of your equipment now?"

Distracted, he pulled his service pistol from its holster, ejected the mag and stowed it in an ammo pouch, racked the slide to release the round inside the chamber, which he stuffed in a pocket, flicked the safety on, and tossed it into the toad's lap. "Sure Slip, just don't play with it." The technological savant of a toad nodded his head emphatically and gazed at the weapon in his lap with something akin to a child opening his first Christmas present. Seeing this, the helljumper gave Peppy a pleading look.

"I will watch over him." The experienced hare assured.

Liam gave him an appreciative look and pressed on to sit in the front, away from the others. He sat down and looked to the pad curiously. He powered it on and waited for the system to boot up. After a few moments it beeped and lit up. It required his personal ID code and a password that only he and the admiral knew. He tapped in the codes and the screen divulged its contents. His eyes absorbed the classified material from the electronic device key words burned through his thoughts, assassinate , infiltrate , espionage. The helljumper's heart stopped.

Liam,

If you are reading this the plan has gone through. You have been told that this is an exchange program of sorts, which is partially true. Admiral Mark and I have come up with a plan to halt any retaliatory attack from the venomians for their disastrous defeat a few weeks ago. If this succeeds, we will have a full military alliance with the cornerian government and they will consider further steps. What we are asking you to do is the most dangerous mission you will have ever done. I must admit, the chances for you coming back alive are incredibly thin, bit if anyone in the fleet could achieve this goal it is you. I have faith that you will complete your objective and come back alive. Do not let this information fall into anyone's hands, if the venomians were to somehow get wind of this plot, it could spell disaster for both us and the cornerians. Down below is the relevant information for your assignment. Good luck and Godspeed.

Admiral Mathias, UNSC 1st expeditionary fleet

Objective: Infiltrate the planetary capital of the venomian empire. Steal any data pertaining to invasion plans, troop movements, logistics, and economics. Enter the underground bunker of the venomian hierarchy, and assassinate their leadership...

The rest of the pad was filled with schematics and anything the cornerians had managed to dredge up on their foe and gave the date for the attack. One month from today he would board a prowler that would pick him up from Starfox's ship and would take him to the planet in question. He would then insert under the cover of the meteor shower dated for that day in a HEV, as close to the capital as possible. From there he would have to manage to break into the fortress and complete the objectives. Supposedly, there would be some sort of escape craft for him at the far courtyard, courtesy of a cornerian spy that has been gathering the intelligence for this bold and daring mission. Oh and not to forget, he would have to extract the fuzzy bastard too.

What the fuck was the admiral thinking?! It would take at least a company of ODSTs to accomplish this, how in the hell was he supposed to do it by himself?! How could the admiral do this to him? How could Mathias do this to him? That man had taken care of him since his father died, he was the one who guided him once he was lost, and now he was basically killing him. Liam's hands were shaking as they held the datapad, the feeling of betrayal, despair and dread was permeating his soul.

"Liam, are you okay? You're shaking." The helljumper looked up from the pad and saw that Krystal and the others were giving him worried glances and that Fox had spoken.

Acting quickly he cleared his throat. "Oh I'm fine, just a little nervous; it is not every day that you get to live amongst aliens."

The others accepted his response and returned to their own musing as the dropship began to liftoff. That is everyone except for Krystal, Miyu, and Fay. The cerulean vixen had picked up on his blatant emotions and knew that the whole truth was not being told. With a look to Miyu and Fay, she stood up and made her way over to the clearly distressed human. The lynx and spaniel followed suit. Krystal sat beside him while Fay and Miyu sat on the opposite side.

"There is more you aren't telling me, I can sense it." She said softly, trying to coax the information out of him.

When he heard that she could sense a problem he panicked, believing that she could see into his mind and reveal the secrets there in. "A-are you reading my mine?"

"No, no, I would never do that unless I had your permission or that it would save your life. I am merely saying that I picked up on your emotions and am hoping I can help." She placated, doing what Miyu had done for her not too long ago and stopping his shuddering hands.

"I-I wish I could tell you, but I cannot. It would compromise my orders and jeopardize my mission." He said sadly, looking down in anguish, all the various terrible emotions from earlier compiling on the fact he could tell no one.

"Mission?" Miyu grunted in surprise. "I thought you were training us and learning more about cornerians in general."

"That is true, but it seems that both admirals had more to give me, but I cannot say more than that." He grumbled, disappointed in the fact he had to keep secrets from them. "I want to tell you guys, but my orders say that no one can know, not even the Starfox team.

"Why?" Fay asked, surprised at this new development.

"I cannot say, please forgive me." He ducked his head in shame. The one thing he hated more than insurrectionist and those who fed on the weak, were those who were not always truthful with their friends.

"That's okay, we understand." Fay said with a canine grin.

That made him feel better, but it did not alleviate all of his stress. The women attempted to get more out of him, about other things, but he became distant for the rest of the flight, wallowing in his guilt.

CDF Valiant, briefing room...

"What do you think Mark, did I do the right thing?" Mathias asked as he paced the length of the rooms table, arms clasped behind his back as he thought of how betrayed his godson would feel when he read the missive.

The venerable husky nodded solemnly. "It was, if he succeeds, we will have struck a decisive blow against the venomian threat and you would have gained a favorable position for any talks of a more permeant alliance."

"But at what cost? The possible death of my godson, my deceased best friend's only remaining son. What would he think of me, what do I think of myself?" Mathias stopped at the seat Liam had taken and stared at it intently. "If he fails, then I would have sent him to his death for nothing. We would accomplish nothing, and he would have died in vain."

"You told me that he was the only one in the fleet you considered capable enough to handle this." Mark replied. "If you have enough faith in him to say that, then you made the right call."

"Maybe," Mathias said quietly. "Or maybe I was wrong."

"Only time will tell, we will have our answer in a month. Until then, I suggest you focus on taking care of the men you are responsible for here," Mark said gently. "There are many more in your fleet that need you, just as there are people in my fleet who need me."

"You are right." Mathias concluded, grabbing his cap and preparing to leave.

"I usually am." The husky replied jokingly, managing to get the other admiral to laugh. "Now, let's go, my commander would like to speak with you. We have a destination."

'Where is that?" Mathias inquired, fixing his bleached white admiral's cap on his bald head as his ODST honor guard formed up behind him.

"You and your people are privileged Mathias. A week from today, you are going to see our capital world, Corneria." The husky answered, putting his own cap on as he led the way out of the briefing room, flanked by his bodyguards.

Venom, underground headquarters, capital city of Toxeria...

Below the polluted atmosphere and toxic rain, below the rusted capital city full of impoverished civilians, below kilometers of corrosive black dirt, laid the heart of the venomian government and military headquarters. A pitiful green and black spotted salamander attendant, flanked by two burly reptilian guards, trembled as he was led deep into the bowls of the ministry of defense. The two brutish reptiles chuckled as they tossed him into the room awaiting him. The poor salamander, Grigori, picked himself up from the floor and fixed his ruffled uniform with as much dignity as he could scrape up from his years of abuse.

"Why have you intruded upon my musing?" A menacing voice whispered dangerously from the shroud of shadows concealing his desk.

Grigori locked up at the sound of the most feared individual in all of lylatian space. He shivered violently as he gathered his wits and his dataslate. "S-s-s-sir, I h-have here, a-a report from the attempted invasion of the c-c-cornerian world of Papetoon." The salamander replied, surprising himself that he had only stuttered a little bit.

"Attempted?" The soft voice full of malice inquired with the same tone of a funeral bell. He sounded...unhappy, and that was a terrifying prospect.

"Y-y-yes s-s-sir, the fleet was d-d-destroyed, no survivors." The salamander cringed and closed his eyes, waiting for death. When it had not arrived, he opened them and looked to the sinister figure sitting at the massive desk at the far side of the room.

"Interesting...how did this occur?" The figure asked, waiving a paw in the air, demanding an explanation.

"Sir, last transmission from Admiral Perseus spoke of an alien fleet appearing in system. He was confident that he could handle it, but it would seem that he failed...disastrously." Grigori explained with a little more confidence, hopeful that he would leave this meeting still breathing.

"Indeed it would seem so, did the incompetent admiral send any information about these aliens before he was killed?"

"...no sir."

"That is unfortunate, now go, summon my counsel, we have much to discuss." The figure dismissed, with a cruel laugh.

"Of course sir, right away Lord Oikonny!" The lizard exclaimed, leaving the room in a hustle, glad that he got to live another day. Often attendants were...discarded.

Oikonny watched as the feeble reptile slithered out of the room. This was indeed a serious turn of events, one of his fleets had been utterly destroyed and the arrival of a new alien species threatened the tattered balance of power in the entire system. Venom needed to prepare. He brooded in silence until his counsel arrived.

The first one to walk in was a heavily scarred and massive komodo dragon. His name was Kalessin Agornin. The most brutal and ingenious strategist that Venom has ever seen, he was responsible for over half of the overwhelming victories of the venomian fleet. His only downside was his insatiable blood lust, sometimes overpowering his brilliant mind. The dragon stomped over to his leader and kneeled. "You summoned me Lord Oikonny." His voice was more of a prolonged guttural growl then actual speech, resonating inside the large chamber.

"I have need of yours and the others services." The ape replied as the next member of his ruling counsel entered.

The next arrival was a thin but lean baboon. Jerric Logos was the acting commander for the entirety of Venom's ground forces. After the mysterious death of his mentor, the young primate stepped up to the plate. So far he has performed to satisfaction, but it was too early to tell. "My lord." He greeted in a soft and conniving tone, bowing deeply.

Oikonny ignored him, in favor of the last one to arrive. The frail old cobra slithered in wearing a beaten lab coat and a pair of worn out glasses. Archedon was the scientist in charge of Venom's research and weapons development. He had created toxic plagues and dangerous explosives in the name of Andross and now him. The snake simply nodded and slunk to his positon beside the nefarious dragon commander.

"Excellent, now that you are all here, listen. It seems there is a new player in this game of ours. An alien race has destroyed one of our fleets. They are more dangerous than the pitiful cornerian scum and might actually pose a threat to our plans. We must take preemptive measures against them." Oikonny emerged from his throne-like chair and began to pace in front of his counsel.

"What would you have us do?" Kalessin asked in his thrumming voice as he lethargically rose up from his kneeling position with a hunter's grace.

"Kalessin, I want you to supervise the construction of another fleet, and many more, we will need them for my plan. Jerric, step up the training regimen for our warriors, I want them in peak shape if the aliens decide to preemptively strike. And my old friend Archedon, is the project underway?"

"Of course sire, all is going according to plan. Testing will be ready in a month's time." The old snake croaked, rubbing his scaled hands together.

"Perfect, with it we will be able to lay waste to all who would dare stand in the way of Venom's resurgence. Oikonny cackled loudly, the wicked noise rebounded off the steel walls of his underground bunker.

The Great Fox, hanger bay...

Liam stood in the hanger of Starfox's ship, holding his rucksack; the supplied had just been unloaded by the crew of the cornerian destroyer that had taken them to the planet The Great Fox was berthed on. They told him that it was a cornerian dreadnought. It sure was a large ship, at roughly 2,670 feet long it proved to be a little larger than a UNSC frigate. That was impressive considering that there were apparently only seven...or now eight crewmembers. "Pretty great isn't it?" Fox asked, nudging him. The vulpine was immensely proud of his ship, Liam could understand considering that it was his. If he had owned his own frigate sized ship he would be like that too.

"It is certainly an interesting ship, and the design is pretty cool. Overall I have to say this is one of the coolest ships I have seen." Liam replied, causing Fox to grin happily.

"Thanks, my dad commissioned it before he was killed and I took it up afterwards." The vulpine explained as he led the way deeper into the ship, everyone trailing behind the two and into the center of the ship.

"What happened to your father?" Liam asked as he studied the ship. The corridors were a silvery grey and shone with an inner brightness while the ship's walls were rectangular, like a USNC vessel. And Liam wondered why that was.

"My father was betrayed by a team member and was killed." The dark orange vulpine answered, taking a door to the left at the end of the hallway and entering a large elevator.

Liam grunted. "That is something we have in common."

"Really, how is that?" Fox asked, turning his muzzle up to look at the taller human, eyes shining with curiosity.

"My father was killed by one of his friends, an insurrectionist sympathizer. The monster led his entire battalion into an ambush, only one of them survived." Liam told Fox with a deep seated anger in his tone. "They never caught him, and so he faded, unpunished for his heinous crime."

Fox bobbed his head sadly. "I see. I managed to get revenge when I shot down the bastard who did it."

"How did he get away?" Falco inquired, wanting to hear more about his friend's background, even if it was dark.

"He slipped away after he killed my father and the trap was sprung, the only reason we ever found out was that the surviving soldier witnessed it before he was non-fatally shot, which led the insurrectionist to thing he was dead. The soldier ran after the battle and managed to report back in."

"Do you know who the soldier was?" Fay wondered.

Liam shook his head in denial. "No, was never told his name. But whoever he was, he has my thanks for releasing the truth." The elevator doors opened and the team exited into a large hallway.

"This is the main deck, crew quarters, rec room, mess, and all the residential things you need aboard a starship. The floor below has the armory and workshop. The floor above is the bridge." Fox explained to the helljumper as he led him to his room. The mercenary leader stopped outside a room at the end of a long hallway, the others had trickled off as they went to their own rooms, leaving only Fox and Krystal. "And this here is your room. Inside is all the stuff you'll find at a five star hotel room. If you need anything, we are all here to help you get settled in. If you have any questions come see me or anyone else." Fox said as he turned to walk away.

Liam watched as the vulpine left, taking the elevator. Then he finally noticed that there was one person who had not departed yet. "What do you need Krystal?"

The cobalt blue vixen played with her tail as she looked up to Liam's curious expression. If he had known anything about vulpine facial tells, which he didn't obviously, he would have noticed how coy she was being. But he did see the blue fur around her cheeks tint a shade darker than usual. He had no idea why though.

"After you get settled in, I was hoping that you could join me for lunch." She asked hopefully, hinging on his response.

'Sure I would love to, when do you want to meet?"

She grinned widely, flashing her sharp sparkling teeth. "Great! I'm right next door, so just nock when you are ready." The usually demure vixen yipped excitedly, and went to her room in a rush to get ready, tail blazing away behind her as she zipped into her chamber.

Liam smiled and turned to the door of his room...and his smile faded. How the fuck was he supposed to get in? He looked for any doorknob or handle and was stumped. When he noticed the small pad a few minutes later, the same color as the door, he smacked his palm onto his face in disbelief. He grumpily slammed the button and caused the door to slide up into the ceiling. That startled him for a moment before he shrugged and went inside.

Inside, the room was comfortably large. In fact it could easily fit another five people in it. His military mind thought it overly excessive, but his regular mind thought it was the damned coolest room he would ever sleep in. With a sigh he set down the heavy rucksack and opened it. He took out one of his civilian outfits, a pair of blue jeans, unarmored boots, grey sports shirt, and leather jacket. He left the leather jacket behind and took the rest, entering what he thought was the bathroom. It was in fact the closet, so he mumbled to himself as he entered the other room, which was thankfully the bathroom. It took him awhile to shower and check himself in the mirror. He decided to shave and cut his hair using the kit he brought with him. In half an hour he was done.

He set the rucksack down on the huge bed next to his discarded armor and laid the datapad inside, next to the picture of his family with the purple heart, prisoner of war medallion, and legion of honor medal he received for his 'courageous' actions on the blood soaked world of Caldernum, Liam shivered. Quickly, the helljumper zipped, sealing the bag and the memories inside the rucksack. Then he stood up and gave himself a speedy onceover. Satisfied that he was good enough for a casual meal, he stepped out and into the hallway. He only had to walk a few feet to Krystal's door. He was about to knock when he stopped himself. Why was he feeling so nervous all of a sudden? He shook his head and knocked on the door. The vixen called out from behind the door. "Just a minute, you finished faster than I expected." Less than a minute later her door hissed open and Liam's jaw dropped

Krystal had undergone a complete overhaul. She had swapped her armored clothes for a simple pair of pants and t-shirt. Her hair was long blue hair ran free down her back and her feet were clad in sandals, showcasing carefully lacquered crimson claws. Her tail was puffy then he had ever seen it, she must have brushed it. The vixen managed to make a regular outfit look breathtaking "Krystal, you look stunning!" He blurted out before he could lock down his mouth.

'Thanks, you look better." She replied, smiling happily.

"So, where are we eating?" He inquired, moving away from the door so she could pass by.

"Well until the rest of the people on the planet learn of your people's existence, I am afraid the best we can do is eat at the mess here on the ship." The vixen sighed. She would have really liked to eat at one of the restaurants outside the ship. It had been a long time since she had the chance to go with anyone.

"It does not matter where we eat, as long as I have some great company I'll be fine." Liam gave her a grin, making her heart flutter.

"Y-yes well let's get going." She stammered a little, flustered.

"After you then Krystal." He stuck his arm out for her, letting the vixen wrap hers around it. "Lead the way. I have no idea where I am going." He chuckled, amused at his own naivety.

She laughed along with him as she began to guide the human to the mess at the very far end of the corridor and to the left at the intersection. They passed by Miyu's room, and after they disappeared, the lynx poked her head out of it and looked around. When she saw no one she exited her room and quickly made her way to Liam's. She opened his door and slipped inside, closing it behind her. "Now, if I was a device full of secrets, where would I be?" She meowed to herself. The feline's natural curiosity had gotten the best of her once again. Her golden eyes roamed the newly occupied room before coming to a stop centered on the rucksack placed on the ODST's bed and she hurried over to it. "Let's see, what do we have here?" She mumbled as she pried the zipper open with a claw and stuck her paw in, rummaging around.

Her paw closed around a handful of oddly shaped metallic objects. She slowly pulled the items out of the bag in her clenched paw and brought them up to her narrow muzzle, almost touching her whiskers and opened her paw to see the things in her padded pink palm. They were medals of some sort. One was circular with inward triangular protrusions around the circumference. The one on the left in her palm was a golden color and was circular just like the first. The last one was a golden heart with a purple inside. Also on the inside was a small golden portrait. Miyu saw only one with an inscription; the front had a bird of prey with its wings raised with a shield in front of it and a planet underneath. On the back was an engraving which she read, her feline eyes easily piercing the darkness of the unlit room.

"For honorable service while a prisoner of war." She read aloud, her blood chilling when the full meaning of what she had read entered her mind. The lynx dropped the medals back into the bag like they had branded her. The spotted lynx had just read something that should have remained a secret. If he had never mentioned it, it was safe to say that he did not want anyone to know. Still, she had gone this far already, might as well go all the way. Miyu reached back into the bag and felt the hard steel of the electronic pad. She pulled it out and looked it over. It took some time to find the on switch but when she found it she hastily pressed it. The device lit up and took a few moments to cycle all the way on.

Liam did not know that once he had put his codes in, it had saved them onto the device so that when it did power on all the way, the information was immediately displayed. Miyu read it over and her eyes widened in shock. They had turned Liam into an assassin! Not only that, but he had virtually no chance to survive, they were effectively tossing him to his death, Now she understood his condition onboard the pelican. The lynx was furious that they could do such a thing to someone like him. He was such a nice guy, funny, noble, fierce, and most importantly, he was a friend. The lynx's current dilemma was to decide on what to do with her newly stolen information. All she could think of was going to Fox, so for now she decided to hold onto it.

Miyu replaced the datapad and sealed the rucksack. Once she made sure that she left nothing in the room to incriminate her, she left and closed the door. With a tense exhale, she turned to head back to her room, glad that she had not been caught.

"What were you doing in Liam's room?" She heard someone call out curiously,

The lynx jolted and whipped around to see her best friend, Fay, giving her an inquisitive look as her tail wagged determinedly behind her. "I was just making sure it was clean yeah that's it, heh." Miyu replied weakly, her ears flopping nervously.

"Uh huh, yeah sure you were." Fay scoffed. "I think you were looking for something, so tell me Miyu, what did you find?"

Her friend knew her too well to fall for any trick, not that her excuse was at all believable. So the brown and black lynx sighed in defeat. "Fine I'll tell ya, but you can't tell anyone else!"

Fay quickly assured her friend she would do no such think. Satisfied, the lynx divulged what she had discovered in her snooping, leaving out the medals. "That's unbelievable! How do they expect one person to do all that, and come back alive? It's just not right, and they wouldn't let him tell anyone, not even us!" Fay fumed as she paced in the corridor, tail flicking in agitation. She easily made friends, and Liam was her friend. Needless to say, the snowy canine was not at all pleased with Liam's current crisis.

"Well what can we do?" Miyu muttered as she watched her friend try to wear a hole into the deck. "If we come clean, he will find out we invaded his privacy, and on the first day aboard too."

Fay frowned. "We just might have to come clean."

As the two females tried to find out what to do, Liam and Krystal were sitting in the small cafeteria aboard the ship. Liam was baffled by these cornerians technology; they had a machine that made the food for them and then it came out on a little tray. He had placed in the order for a burger and some fries and watched in fascination as the large rectangular machine beeped and compiled the meal. A few seconds later it had dinged and a tray with his requested meal came out of the panel to the side.

"That's pretty awesome." He gestured to the machine from his seat across from the vixen.

Krystal had ordered a simple salad with some strange blue dressing. "I suppose it is. Machines like that have been around for as long as I have been in Lylat, so I have not really put much thought into them." The azure vixen replied as she finished her first mouthful of leafy greens. It was odd to see her mouth move. She managed to make eating with a muzzle look easy. Liam wondered how it would be like to have such a long snout.

But then something she said registered in his head. "Lylat?"

"Yes Lylat, that is the name of this system." She explained, putting her fork down gracefully, predicting a wave of questions.

"So you are not from Lylat?" He inquired in surprise.

"No, not from the main planets, my people were native to a planet at the edge of the system." She answered slowly.

He caught the past-tense adjective. "Were?"

"Correct," Krystal replied softly. "My people and planet was destroyed by the previous ruler of Venom, a despicable and vile ape by the name of Andross. It is most likely that I am the only one to have escaped." Her emerald eyes were watery and her voice had become a little hoarse near the end.

Liam could not imagine being the only one left. He had no idea what he would do if he was suddenly the last human in existence. "Oh Krystal, I am so, so sorry." He whispered, leaning forward to hold her paws. "I cannot imagine what it would be like and I know that I can't do anything to make it better, but just know that you will always have a friend in me. If you need to talk about anything, my door is always open for you, day or night."

When she heard that she smiled warmly at him and squeezed his hands, enjoying the contact. "Thank you, it means more than I can express to hear you say that." She brought her snout up to his cheek and nuzzled it. He brought his other hand around and scratched behind her pointy ear, a spot he knew all canines, and vulpines enjoyed.

She reacted positively to it, purring quietly and closing her eyes, basking in the pleasant feeling. Krystal would have stayed like that for a long time if the door to the cafeteria had not opened and in walked Miyu and Fay. Blushing, the vixen reluctantly pulled away and turned her head back down to focus on her salad. Liam was a little disappointed that their time alone together had been cut short but truthfully, he did not mind the extra company. "Hello girls, what brings you here?" He asked.

"We just came in for a bite to eat, and it looks like others beat us to the punch." Miyu replied as she and Fay made their way over to the machine. She selected the same thing Liam did and Fay had selected a sandwich of interminable type. The two girls sat on the same side Krystal did and began to dig in to their meals without ceremony, Liam noticed that they were acting a little odd, but he did not attribute it to anything and dismissed his unfounded suspicion.

The rest of the meal was spent with an aura of casual friendliness. They discussed things that had no great import. Fay and Miyu gave a little of their background. Both women had attended the flight academy with Fox and Slippy. At the end they had remained friends and Fox asked them to join his group a few months afterwards. When they had finished with their story, Liam reciprocated with tales of his youth. Telling them what human life was like in a non-militant setting. As he spoke, his tone was melancholic, reliving days long past. Krystal told them all of her home and her family. They had asked if she was okay with that and she had said that it was. The tails from her planet were fascinating, the cerininas, her people, had mystical powers, which made sense considering the vixen's own mental abilities. By the time they had all said their piece an hour had gone by.

Liam and Krystal excused themselves and walked back to their rooms. "So, did you enjoy your first meal aboard The Great Fox?" The cerulean vixen inquired as she walked arm in arm with Liam.

"It was nice. In fact, spending time with you is always nice." He replied happily, leading the way back to their respective rooms. He was trying to get a feel for the layout of the ship, and the best way to do that was to try lead on his own.

She smiled warmly at his praise and leaned into him softly, wrapping her tail around his waist. "We are in agreement then." Krystal said, looking up at him. As she looked up into his grinning visage, she felt the overwhelming need to confess her feelings for him, but something held her back. It was a mix of reluctance and fear. Despite his obvious affection for her, she was not sure that he cared for her the same way she did for him. So she bit her tongue and waited for another time.

Liam stopped outside her door. "Well here we are Krystal, your room." He announced.

The vixen untangled herself from him with a degree of hesitancy. "Yeah, here we are." She replied, a little out of sorts.

"Is something wrong?" He asked worriedly regarding her closely and gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No I'm fine, just a little tired." She sighed, opening her door and walking inside. The door hissed closed and Liam stared at it in confusion, feeling that he had somehow screwed up. With a sigh of his own, he turned and walked away. Before he opened his own door, a thought manifested in his head and he turned away, heading toward the elevator. He wanted to talk to Fox.

The helljumper entered the machine and pressed the key labeled bridge. The elevator binged and closed. He spent that time wondering if he had done something wrong but could not see any mistake in his conversation with her. The doors opened and he stepped out, musings unanswered. Liam shifted his head to peer down both the branches of the corridors and saw a large open room to his right. He took a guess that the bridge was that way and walked over there.

He found the orange vulpine sitting in a large chair in the middle of the chamber. He was staring at a holographic screen, where a spectral blue glowing planet hung. Fox's ears twitched and his chair turned around with a mechanical whirl. His emerald eyes fell on Liam and he smiled. "What can I do for you Liam?"

The ODST walked closer and stopped a few feet away, crossing his large arms. "Actually I came here for the opposite."

"Really, is that so?" Fox chuckled in amusement as he leaned back.

"Yeah, I wanted to know when you wished to start the training classes." Liam explained, looking around the bridge as the vulpine thought it over. The bridge was wider than what he was used to and there were only a few consoles. It seemed that this ship was designed with only a handful of crew in mind.

He was brought out of his wandering thoughts when Fox decided on a course of action. "I think that a few days from now would be a good idea, it will give you some time to acclimatize and the others time to wind down."

He looked to Fox and nodded. "That sounds like a good plan to me. I myself could use a few days to settle in. But we cannot forget why I am here. Liam frowned internally as he remembered all of the reasons he was here.

Fox, oblivious to his internal discomfort, smiled and replied. "Yeah I thought you might appreciate that. But also, we are still a mercenary outfit, so we will be going on mission from time to time. So a loose schedule would be best."

Liam thought about that and had an idea. "You know, if you need some backup, I am here. I would hate for my skills to get rusty."

Fox considered it and began to nod enthusiastically. "We could sure use some help, but most missions are going to take place in arwings, our fighters. If you want to come along for those, you will need to be trained to fly them."

Liam had the beginnings of an idea formulating in his head. "That works out perfectly, I can train you, and you could teach me how to fly an arwing. Everybody wins."

Fox chuckled. "Excellent idea, we can start after you finish your first class."

The duo spent a few minutes formulating a loose schedule and talked for a while afterwards. When they finished, he said goodbye and took the elevator back down to the crew deck. Liam plodded back to his room and stopped outside Krystal's he was about to turn around when it opened and the vixen stuck her head out. She looked a little worse for wear and that alarmed and concerned Liam greatly. Her ears were drooping and her tail hung listlessly from her rear.

"Krystal. Are you okay?" He inquired.

"I'm fine," She replied quietly.

Liam was having none of that. "That is not going to work this time, you are my friend Krystal, and I care about you greatly. There is obviously something upsetting you and I am going to help." He declared sternly.

Krystal looked like she was about to object but she caved in and moved aside. "Come in." She mumbled. Slowly, he entered her room and looked around. Her room was only dimly lit and the bed was a jumbled mess. It looked like in the small amount of time she had been alone, she had tried to sleep with little success.

The depressed looking vixen plopped down on her bed and looked up at him. Liam gently moved to sit next to her. "Now," He began softly, "tell me what's wrong. Don't be afraid to tell me, no matter what it is, I won't judge you."

She stared at him with a deep intensity and did not say anything for a few minutes. But Liam was patient, and he waited until she was comfortable with speaking. Finally, it seemed that she would as the vixen sighed and opened her maw, preparing to talk. "I have something...important to tell someone, but I do not know how they would take what I had to say."

Liam mulled her worry over and considered it. "Is what you have to say important?"

Krystal chuckled without humor. "Yes."

He hummed. "Is the information bad?"

"That depends on how they feel about what I have to say." She replied, looking at him pointedly for some reason could not fathom.

"Well, how badly do you want to tell this person?"

"Very."

He considered all that she had told him so far. "It seems you have two choices. One, you can keep this bottled up, where it will eat away at you, believe me I know. Or two, you take the rest of the day to decide and approach this person tomorrow and tell them what you have to say."

Krystal reflected on his advice and smiled. 'Thank you Liam, I will think on what you have told me, I know what to do now."

"Good, I hope that whoever you ask is worthy of you, good day Krystal." He stood up and walked out of her room quickly and quietly, closing it behind him. It was only a few minutes later that she had puzzled out the meaning behind his words. He believed that she was interested in someone that was not him and he had helped her decide. She opened her mind and probed for his and only found a deep well of sadness. This distressed her. But it also answered her question, he liked her too. It tore at her to know what he was feeling, but she did not know if she should go after him right away or wait until tomorrow as he instructed. Krystal sat on her bed and struggled with herself.

Liam closed the door to his room and groaned desolately. He had begun to hope that she would eventually recognize that he cared for her as more than a friend. But it seemed that she had eyes on someone else. He could only assume that it was for Fox. He was charismatic, funny, smart, and brave. In other words, someone he could not hope to contend with. There was also the fact that he was not even the same species. He was human, and she was a vixen. For all he knew, she found him interesting but ultimately too different.

Liam dejectedly trudged over to his bed and sat down on the comfortable mattress. It felt like stone. He turned to the rucksack besides him and began to take everything out. He stopped when he reached the datapad. It was slightly out of place. With a growing sense of apprehension he pulled it out and looked at it carefully. At first he could see nothing wrong with it, but he spotted a small hair clinging to the screen. He carefully picked it up and examined it. Short, brown, soft, his brain swiftly went through the suspects on his short list and stopped. "Miyu." He mumbled to himself. "Fuck."

The Next Day...

Everyone woke up early, eager to get off the ship. That is at least, everyone but Liam. He could not leave the ship yet. The announcement for the discovery of the human race was still a day away. So while everyone got ready to leave, the human was pacing his room with his hands clasped behind his back, deep in thought.

This was not good, Miyu had tampered with the datapad, and it had not been locked due to his carelessness. He knew that it was most likely just idle curiosity compounded on the fact she was a cat, and cats were natural curious. But he could not take any chances. He needed to find her and talk. With his course plotted, he exited his room and searched for the feline fugitive. He passed Slippy and Peppy, the pair getting ready to leave early and talk with their family. He greeted them quickly and pressed on. He was so busy he did not see Fay as she walked around the corner. The two collided and fell to the floor.

Liam acted quickly and got back up, helping the dazed canine to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little woozy." She replied as he easily lifted her off the floor.

"That's good." He was about to leave when he had an idea. "Excuse me, Fay. Have you seen Miyu?"

The spaniel nodded. "Sure have, she was still in her room last I saw. Why?"

"Nothing important, just have a question for her." Liam assured, turning to head back from where he came.

Fay watched him leave and shrugged, continuing on her way. A few minutes later she ran into Krystal. "Hey Krystal, watcha doing?"

The energetic vixen turned to face Fay. "Hello Fay, I was just looking for Liam. Have you by chance seen him?"

"I just saw him a few minutes ago, he was looking for Miyu." Fay replied before walking away.

"Why was he looking for Miyu?" She mumbled to herself before she headed down to Miyu's room.

Liam stopped outside Miyu's room and nocked firmly. The lynx opened her door and looked up to his serious appearance. "What can I do for you?"

"We need to talk." He replied sternly and motioned for her to let him in.

Hesitantly, she let him in. "What do you want to talk about?" She inquired nervously, rubbing her paws. Miyu's tail was twitching and her ear with the golden loop was laid back.

"You went into my room and looked at the datapad, why?" He demanded, not walking around the issue.

"I-I was just curious is all." She replied backing up slightly.

Seeing her so frightened, he calmed himself and softly brought his arm onto her shoulder. "Is that really why?" The lynx calmed down and nodded. "How much did you read?"

"A-all of it." She answered.

Liam sighed, the damage was done and there was no use getting upset. "Who else knows about it?"

"Just Fay, she ran into me as I was leaving your room and I had to tell her." Miyu replied quickly.

He needed some time to think, He let go of her shoulder and backed up. Now two people on this ship knew what his mission was. He could not even dream of harming them. Can you keep this a secret?" He asked her.

"Keep what a secret?" Someone demanded from the doorway. The two turned to see Krystal staring at them with a mixture of confusion and distress.

"N-n-nothing!" Miyu mewled.

Liam saw that this was about to get out of hand so he acted quickly. "Miyu looked at my datapad."

"Oh that's it." The vixen deflated and sighed in....relief?

"That's it?" He asked in amusement.

Krystal tinted pink and changed the subject. "Is that a bad thing, her reading your datapad?"

"Depends, if she can keep it a secret, then no it's not." He looked to the Lynx purposely.

She got the message. "Yeah of course, no problem, its safe locked away in here." She said quickly, tapping her furred temple.

"Good, please keep it that way." He ordered softly but firmly, leaving her room. Krystal watched him leave, heading back to his room. With one last glance at the lynx she followed after him. Liam stopped at the entrance to his room and turned. "Yes Krystal?"

"I need to talk to you." She declared with as much confidence as she could muster.

Liam did not respond, he just opened the door and let her in. 'Here it comes.' He thought sadly. The ODST moved to his bed and sat down on it, absent mindedly, he thought that he would need a desk and a chair or two. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Remember the question I asked you about?" She asked as she sat down next to him, giving the helljumper the same look from the day before.

"I do." He replied with a feeling of foreboding.

"Well...I have come to my decision." She declared, playing with her tail nervously. She took a deep breath and looked to Liam as confidently as she could. "I...I like you Liam...a lot." After her proclamation she winced and waited for his response.

Liam drew a blank. She liked him? Not Fox? It took a long time for his brain to reboot. "You like...me?" He muttered in surprise. "You don't like Fox?"

She shook her head. "No. he is my friend, but I don't like him like I like you." She tilted her head as she waited to see how he would handle this new development.

"This is certainly a surprise. You aren't bothered by my looks?" He gestured to his self.

"No not at all, you look...nice." She blushed heavily; he thought it made her look adorable. "I thought you would be disgusted by me." She added with a throaty chuckle.

"I can tell you Krystal. That is certainly not the case, I happen to find you to be beautiful." Liam said without a trace of falsity. She was truly a gorgeous woman.

At his honest compliment she smiled and looked down. "Really?"

"Yes, I think you look cute." He kissed her on her little black button nose and scratched her behind the ear. The vixen melted under his affection and slid into his lap, a noise a lot like a purr rose from her chest. "So, what does this mean for us?" Liam shifted his gaze down to the vixen.

"I don't know yet, but for now, I want to enjoy this." She replied, snuggling into his burly chest.

"I can agree with that." Liam shifted so that he was lying down on the bed. Krystal moved to lie beside him. "You know, this is making me pretty tired."

"Then sleep, I plan to." Krystal suggested, snuggling back up to his chest and getting comfortable.

Liam found no problem with her suggestion so he wrapped his arms around her stomach and puller her in. He could tell she liked that because she wrapped her own furred arms around his power and pitch of her purr like noise increased.

And so the duo spent the rest of that day in bed, sleeping, delighted with each other's company.