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Shattered: Redux

Chapter III: Pain Never Fades

Time doesn't heal anything...it just teaches us to live with the pain...

-Anonymous

_ _

Alex sighed as he paced the small room he had been confined to. It had been a few days since he regained consciousness, and he had not left the small chamber. They had fed him, and well. And they had also mended his bodysuit, and given him adequate clothing, (although the pants and underwear had holes in them). But he had not been allowed to step foot outside the quarantine room. He knew that it wasn't because he was infectious or anything, but because they had no idea what to do with him. And while it angered him, he understood.

If roles were reversed there was no doubt in his mind that anyone of them would be facing the same treatment. They had yet to tell him how he arrived here and he was wary of what the answer may be. From what he had seen of the stars, he was not anywhere familiar. By rights, he should be somewhere at the edge of the Milky Way, as that was where the ark had been. But the fact that a huge planet seemed to just materialize outside the ship, inclined that it was no longer in the same area.

So that begged the question, how did it get here?

He had disabled the engines, and knocked out the guidance system, so that ruled out the ship moving on its own power. Ad these cornerians seemed genuinely surprised that the ship was here, so it was unlikely that they were responsible.

The human sighed.

There were just too many variables and not enough answers, and yet that wasn't even the biggest problem. That was awarded to the ark. What skittered and shuffled aboard its silent and dimly lit decks had to be dealt with...and soon. The longer the necromorphs lingered, the higher the chance that they would find a means of escape. Those creatures were far from senseless beasts, they had a shadowy intelligence to them. They knew to hide and lay traps, especially with that infernal monolith guiding them. That artifact was some sort of amplifier, but the specifics were unknown. They didn't have enough time to study it before they realized what its true intentions were.

But before the ship could be destroyed, he had to go back. He had left something behind, and he could not let it be destroyed with the ark.

Alex walked over to the mirror and rapped on it with his knuckles. A few moments later, and a feline in dark green armor poked his head in. "What do you need sir?" He inquired.

So far the people of this strange place were kind, or at the very least civil, when speaking with him. He didn't know if it was because they were under orders or that it was just how they worked. In fact besides what that vulpine had told him over the past few days was all he knew about their race. And it was far from an in depth explanation.

"Can I please speak to General Peppy?" He responded the feline guard's inquiry.

"I suppose I can get the General." The cat replied before ducking out.

The human nodded in satisfaction and began to wait.

Several minutes later, the doors to his room opened and the good General entered with three guards. Alex sat on the bed while the General stood next to it. "What is it that you need?" He wondered.

Alex cleared his throat before beginning. "I have a few questions for you General."

The Hare nodded and gestured for him to proceed.

"If it is not too presumptuous, I would like to know what you plan on doing with me. It has been a few days and I want an answer."

The General was silent for a long time before he responded. "If I may be candid, we have no idea what to do with you." It was true; they had spent several days trying to figure out what to do with the human. Many proposals had been fielded and rifled over. With the machine destroyed, there was no means of sending him back, if it could even work. And they were more than a little hesitant on firing it up again. Daala had suggested integrating him into their society, but that was on the fence at the moment. Too much remained unknown about the human to conclude if that was a viable option. For that they would have to get the answers from him that he refused to convey, like what exactly was on that ship, and what they should do with it.

The human nodded his head knowingly. "I assumed that might be the case. But I may have a solution to your dilemma and my own."

Peppy inclined his muzzle, curious to see what the human had to say.

"You have my word that I will answer your questions to the best of my ability, and therefore help your people come to a decision and in return you allow me access to my equipment and let me go back to the ship." Alex voiced his ultimatum.

The Hare looked confused. "If what we even begin to suspect is true, why would you want to go back?"

The human sighed forlornly. "There is something I left aboard that ship that I simply cannot leave behind."

Peppy thought it over. They would finally get there answers, but there was no guarantee that letting him go back would be a good idea. But seeing as he was adamant in not speaking otherwise, and they had no means of getting him to talk besides those deemed unsavory. It was there best shot at the moment. "Very well, but you better not hold anything back."

"When I give my word, I keep it." The man declared firmly.

The General sighed. "Follow me; this conversation should be conducted in a better location." The Hared turned and walked out of the room, the human following. As the General walked, he spoke to one of the guards and the soldier saluted before running off. To where, Alex did not know.

Although curious the human's attention was stolen by the hallway he walked along. The walls were a bright and cheery white, with blue stripes running horizontal across the middle. They were angular and formed an almost honeycomb like structure that seemed to be the norm for the orbital. It was a far cry from the grim industrial grating and monotonous rusty undertone of human construction.

The individuals that perused the corridors were something to be studied as well. The collection of orderly garbed animal-people that meandered through the thoroughfare filled him with a sense of wonder. It faintly reminded him of his younger days, watching old cartoon movies where the people looked a lot like they did. Perhaps that was why he was not so overwhelmed by this situation. Or rather more likely, his horrifying experiences on that derelict dulled his senses and rendered all of this exceedingly tame by comparison. He had dealt with devils and demons aboard that doomed vessel, so a few furry people wouldn't shake him up too bad.

It was also easy to notice that the furs, (he decided to call them for the sake of simplicity), examined him with as much if not more wonder then he did to them. Most tracked him with their eyes and muzzles, following his movements and whispering to each other quietly. It was a little unnerving. It was natural for a human to be cautious of animals, it was instinctive. And even though they were far from their feral brethren, the sensation of unease lingered nonetheless.

Since most of them were wearing lab coats and other scientific garb, he could guess that this was some sort of research station. And for a few moments he had an overwhelming sense that they wanted to dissect him, but he pushed it down. That was ridiculous....he hoped.

Thankfully, the General turned down a less populated corridor and the all-seeing eyes diminished until he felt that he could ignore them.

They passed through a series of doors and arrived at a different area of the station, and judging by the outline, it suited an alternate service. This place had many doors and a little higher security. The rooms had windows peering into them and by a quick glance he correctly assumed that this was more of an office setting. Each room had a large metallic table and a legion of chairs; most likely these were the rooms that the scientist conferred in. The lighting was also dimmer and had a more subdued feeling to it. The corrido was quiet and very few furs could be seen.

At the end of the hall, he spied a room that was ajar and there was light seeping from the crevice. Since Peppy and his detail were heading there, it was safe to assume that it was their destination.

After entering behind the Hare, he scrutinized the room. It looked much like the others, except for the fact that it was populated. Before they entered, there had been eight occupants, two amphibians, Fox Mccloud, a red and blue feathered bird, a blue vixen with odd white tribal markings, a female cheetah in a very official outfit, and a male canine in similar attire in that of the General.

All eight were seated around the table, the female cheetah, older toad, and canine on one side, and the rest on the other. Peppy moved to sit beside the female cheetah and his retinue chose to stand by the doors.

Alex took all of this in and stood at the end of the table uncertainly.

"Please sit." The elder toad offered, gesturing to a seat at the head of the table.

The human slowly walked over and took it, a little subdued at the large number of people. He had been alone for six months, so the past events were a little overwhelming for him. Seated, he looked at the assembled group, waiting for something to happen.

Picking up on this, the female cheetah spoke. "I feel that introductions are in order. I am Prime Minister Daala Hargreaves, and the gentlemen sitting beside me are Major General Darius Leers, Doctor Beltino Toad, and of course General Pepper. On the opposite side are Fox Mccloud, Slippy Toad, Falco Lombardi, and Krystal. They are members of the Starfox mercenary company." The feline pointed to owners of the names. At the vixen's name he studied her curiously. Her coloring was strange, and she just rung as different from the others in his head. But before he could give it more thought Leers entered the conversation.

"Now you can return the favor."

The man nodded. "Very well, my name is Alexander Jäger."

"Well than Jäger, tell us a bit more."

"I served as a Sargent in the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces as a special operations, commando."

"Spec-ops huh..." The canine muttered.

"Correct, I was deployed when our conventional means of warfare against the enemy proved to be ineffective."

"And who exactly was your enemy?" The toad in the lab coat inquired.

Alex paused. "....The enemy was not exactly an adversary, more like a virus."

"A virus you say?" Beltino inquired curiously.

"Yes, although we never really understood them. We were far too busy trying to stop them to go deeper than that."

"How do you wage war against a virus?" Peppy wondered.

"By fighting its physical manifestations...." Alex replied slowly.

"What were those?"

"People...." The man responded simply.

"People....?" The Hare repeated.

"Yes, the virus repurposed deceased humans and used them to propagate its expansion."

"Zombies, I knew it!" The avian blurted out triumphantly. "I freaking knew it!"

Alex turned to him. "These were not merely undead corpses brought to life. They were mutated abominations, twisted into deadly killing machines. By the time the process was completed, they looked far from human."

"What physical changes did the subjects exhibit?" The toad asked curiously, holding a pad in his webbed hands.

The human whipped around to face him with a snarl. "They were not subjects! They were friends, family...loved ones!" His anger silenced the room.

Beltino bowed his head. "Yes of course, my apologies. Sometimes my eagerness to learn can run ahead of my brain.

Alex sighed before continuing. "The changed induced radical bone restructuring and often instigated the propagation of extra limbs; each could perform a variety of functions, but most formed along the lines of weapons derived from the person's bones."

"Dear god...." Daala muttered, horrified.

"Prime Minister Daala, after fighting with these creatures I tend to believe there is no god." The man responded to her outburst and continued. "This allowed each corpse to become a literal weapon. There are also other variations, but you will forgive me if I opt to leave them out. I would rather not talk about them."

"Of course you don't have to." The female cheetah responded.

"What did you call them?" Leers inquired.

"Necromorphs, as I am sure the reason is apparent."

"How did you fight them?"

"We didn't really war with them; it was more like a prolonged fighting withdrawal. Over the course of the years, they pushed us out of every system until we were reduced to a single massive ship, called the ark. It was our hope that we could escape and perhaps find a way to live where they could not find us."

"How could these monsters chase you? No doubt they were not intelligent enough to use ships." Beltino theorized.

"Yes and no Doctor. They could not fly ships, but they did have a means of following us. But because of the rather outlandish means, I shall keep that out."

"I am sure that we will believe you, after all everything about your arrival has been outlandish." The toad replied.

Alex shrugged. "Alright then, the necromorphs had one purpose, to spread their plague. And in order to do that they needed a sufficient amount of biomass. And when they reached critical mass, they used something called a Marker."

"What is a Marker?"

"To understand you will need a very brief crash course in human history." The man replied. "Humanity had used most of its resources and needed to find new venues. Around this time we discovered the first Marker. We assumed that it was an advanced ancient alien power source due to its almost unlimited output of energy. But that was a ruse. It was in fact a machine that emitted a certain signal that upon activation, turned dead tissue animate. And so unknowingly...we had sowed the means of our own destruction."

"Your people placed them everywhere, didn't you?" Leers asked perceptively.

"Indeed, and when they activated the entirety of the colonies was thrown into a three year long blood bath that stained the stars. It was called the Marker war. I was only fifteen at the time, and I had barely begun my service as a colony security trainee. Needless to say I had to grow up very fast." Alex went quiet, clearly deep in memory.

Sensing his silence he looked up and cleared his throat. "My apologies, there are many...painful memories of that time. Anyways, the point of the matter was that Markers were the catalyst for something we called convergence."

"That sounds ominous." Fox muttered.

"It was, we don't know how and we never figured it out. But somehow, once it had gathered all of the collected 'materials', and fused them in low orbit. What would form was literally a moon sized amalgamation of bone and flesh covered in dirt and rock."

"That sounds crazy." Falco scoffed.

"It may sound crazy, but I assure you, it was terrifyingly real. These creations were vastly intelligent, capable of telepathy and could in fact drive people insane." We simply called them moons."

Beltino was hastily scrawling away on his pad as he responded. "Intelligent you said?"

"Yes, they could communicate with each other and certain people already affected by the Marker's influence."

"Influence, what do you mean?"

"The Marker signal had an adverse effect on certain people. It could play with someones mind. Most people affected by the artifacts developed schizophrenia and other psychoses, but one prevalent thing was hallucinations. People reported seeing dead loves ones again and even holding in depth conversations with them, and that they seemed to know things that the person didn't know."

"That's Incredible, terrible, but still incredible." The toad exclaimed.

"In any case, these organic things could move by themselves and that was how they continued to find us. And that's what happened. They found us and we couldn't escape that time."

"So when you said you were the last survivor..." Slippy began.

"The ark was the last bastion of humanity. And so when it fell, so did the human race. I am the last." Alex finished softly. "Everything I knew...everything I held dear...is gone...like ash in the wind."

The man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, wiping his eyes before looking to the old Hare. "And that's all she wrote. Now General, I gave you my explanation, told you my story; I hope you will keep your promise."

The others looked to the General, confused.

Peppy nodded softly. "I am also a man of my word. You will have your gear back, and I will arrange transport."

Alex nodded thankfully. "Thank you sir, I appreciate it."

"Where is he going?" Daala inquired.

"He is going back to the ship." Peppy announced.

"What in the hell are you talking about?!" Leers growled. "We should be blowing that damn thing up!"

The human slammed his fist onto the table. "Not until I get what I need from that ship!"

"What could possibly be worth heading back into that death trap?" Falco demanded.

"....I have my reasons." Alex retorted quietly.

"This is not up to debate. I will keep my promise." Peppy declared authoritatively.

"If I do not come back in ten hours, you can blow the ship up." The man assured the canine.

"But why, what could be so important as to face all that again?" The cerulean vixen spoke up.

"There are some things there that I cannot leave behind." He answered her softly. "I owe it to someone to retrieve them."

**********

Alex fitted his gauntlets onto his hands, tightening them and synching the locks. He finished donning his armor, having patched the holes, and was making his final arrangements. The man was inside a small cruiser that would dock with the ship long enough for him to disembark before it quickly flew away.

The area outside the docking tube had quite a few people present, more than was necessary he suspected. Most were guards, making sure that the drop went smoothly, but a descent portion also included a few spectators, watching as the human prepared to depart. Word had spread about the human, and what happened to his people. It seemed that some could not keep a secret, unless of course it wasn't supposed to be a secret. It didn't matter to him; he was too busy contemplating his return.

He really, really, really didn't want to go back onto that slaughter barge. But he had to retrieve what he left behind. After that, (assuming that he survived), he would gladly watch it get blasted into oblivion, but not a moment before.

The people close by were the Starfox team and the others he had gotten to know over the few days before he was ready to leave. He had waited until his wounds were completely healed, and whatever it was they did to help him, had reduced that time considerably.

After he finished his explanation, he was allowed free roam of the station, albeit with guides. But the members of Starfox were happy to take that job. He found them all to be rather nice, but different. It was hard to get used to their differences. Often he would stop mid-conversation and stare at their peculiarity before realizing it.

They were an alright bunch, he had the easiest time with Fox, The orange vulpine reminded him of an old friend. And Slippy ran close second. Both shared a love for fixing things and he in fact had helped the man with his armor. But the toad was shy and it was sometime hard to get a conversation out of him.

Falco was an annoying guy and all around seemed to be full of arrogance. But he had seen him when he wasn't being an asshole and he had potential.

Krystal on the other hand....

Something about that vixen rubbed him the wrong way. Not that he disliked her, but it seemed that she always seemed to know things. And that in itself was disconcerting. Other than that she was a well-spoken and thoughtful person. He also had to admit that her eyes were rather beautiful.

As he finished adjusting his armor he heard a voice from behind him.

"Are you sure that you won't let me go with you?"

He turned to see Fox, standing there with a concerned expression in his muzzle. Alex chuckled. "I appreciate the offer, honestly, it really means a lot to me. But I will not allow anyone to go with me. This is purely a selfish venture, and to endanger the lives of others just for that is absolutely unacceptable. Whatever it is that happens in the next ten hours, will befall me alone."

The vulpine frowned, and Alex placed a gauntlet on his shoulder. "It'll be fine. I wasn't meant to be here anyways. This isn't my world, my world is gone. If I die then that's how the cards play out. And if I live....well....I just suppose that we'll have to wait and see." The man turned to the airlock and walked over, pressing a button and opening it. The doors hissed open and he stepped inside. The other end of the seal was a large room of rusty brown, covered in what looked like blood. An earie wail emanated from the other ship and whispered into the one Fox stood in, sending a shiver down his tail. Alex turned to Fox and smiled as his helmet clattered out to cover his head. The voice that came out was slightly distorted. "It has been fun Fox, for the few days I knew you. It was nice to talk with another living being, even if they are alien."

The doors to the airlock sealed and Fox watched through the small window as the man proceeded deeper into the bowels of the terror ship.