Space Mercinaries ch. 4 A Shocking Surprise
Story by Balian on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
**Ch. 4
A Shocking Surprise**
“Josh." A gently voice called out to him. Josh swatted his arm as if whoever was calling him was a fly buzzing around his ear. “Josh wake up." The voice called out. Josh let out a cry full moan.
“Who is it?" he asked just barely on the edge of conciseness.
“It's Krystal; your alarm is going off." She said, then as if a punch in the face Josh threw his head up and opened his dry crusted eyes and heard the alarm beeping. Josh quickly rolled over and fell of the couch and hit his head.
“Ouch, damn it." He said placing a hand on the bump forming on his forehead.
“Are you okay?" Krystal asked. Josh stood and started rubbing his head.
“Yeah, I'm fine." He groaned and made his way to his room, he made his way over to his alarm clock and tuned it off. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the mirror in front of him. He was met with a rougher older looking version of himself. His hair was all messy and tangled, he had dried up drool on his chin, and he had deep purple bags under his blood shot eyes.
He groaned again and nearly cried he was so tired. He took a deep breath and looked back at himself, he rubbed his face and walked off to his dresser, he pulled out a short white sleeve shirt, a pair of boxer briefs, socks and shorts. Then carried them to the bathroom. He walked in and sat his clothes down next to the sink; he opened the shower and noticed Krystal's duffle bag, he yawned and bent over to pick up the duffle bag.
“Here Krystal." He called out and held the bag out for her to take it; she walked into the bathroom and grabbed it.
“Thank you." She said and walked out. Josh closed the door and took off all his clothes and tossed them in the dirty clothes bin. He turned the shower on and waited for it to warm up. He let out a long yawn and wanted to just crawl back into bed. When he noticed steam coming out of the shower he walked in. Krystal opened her duffle bag and started to go through it, she pulled out her Boskmen Blue blaster and holster, she wasnt worried that it got wet, if she had to use it, it would work perfectly, she placed them to the side and reached back into her duffle bag. She then pulled out a necklace made out of black leather with an emerald green gem attacked to it. Krystal smiled and tied it around her neck. The only thing she had left of her mother. The vixen placed her fingers on the gem carefully, as if it was fragile glass. She began thinking back to when her mother gave this to her, she was in her eairly teens at the time. She instantly fell in love with the necklace and always kept it close by.
Krystal then dug out a rectangle box with many buttons and knobs, she let out a sigh. She found the communicator, but the water had caused damage to it. Krystal sat it to the side and reached back into the bag trying to find her staff, however the bag was empty.
“Oh no." She quietly sad as she fanatically searched the empty bag. “Damn it all." She said and felt her chest heavy with sorrow; the staff once belonged to her father. The only thing she had left of him was now gone. She was curtain that she placed it in the duffle bag. However she knew there was a chance she forgot and it was now somewhere at the bottom of the lake. Part of her felt like crying, but she had too much to do to just sit there and waste time crying about something she couldn't fix. She grabbed the dead communicator and brought it over to a table in the kitchen area. At the same time Josh had exited the shower and made his way to the kitchen, he noticed Krystal's blaster and holster. His first instinct was to grab his own gun, but he thought against it. If she wanted him dead she would have done it earlier.
“Krystal?" He called out.
“In here." She called from the kitchen area. Josh grabbed the blaster and holster and made his way to the kitchen. He saw Krystal looking at some metal looking box, Josh sat her blaster on the table and she looked at it.
“Thank you, I forgot about it." She said and went back to the communicator. “So?" She asked and looked at him, “Good news or bad news?" She asked. Josh started to get a bad feeling about this.
“What's the bad news?" He asked.
“The communicator is broken beyond repair." She said.
“That's shitty news…What's the good news then?" He asked.
“Well, thanks to a certain green friend of mine, I know how to fix things that are broken beyond repair."
“How?"
“Easy way or the hard way?" She asked.
“What's the easy way?" He asked.
“Simple, I need you to pick up a hydro carbine with three phasing agents." She said, Josh nodded and looked at a fake watch on his wrist.
“Okay sure, in about a hundred years or so after we make one…What's the hard way?"
“Lot's, and lots of elbow grease...I'll need tools and supplies." She said.
“Okay here." He said and walked to the fridgerator and grabbed a piece of paper and pencil. “Write down everything you need, and I'll get it after work." He said and sat them next to Krystal. She nodded and started to write everything down. In The meantime Josh made his way back to his room and opened his closet. He pulled out his military uniform and started to put it on. Krystal walked in with the piece of paper.
“Here you go, here's what I'll need for now."
“For now?" He asked and took the paper.
“Well I won't know what I'll need until I get inside and start working on it." She said and noticed his uniform. “Are you Military?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah." He replied and buttoned up his outfit.
“What do you do?" She asked.
“I'm a Combat videographer for the Marines."
“What's a Combat videographer?" Josh sat down on his bed and started to put his boots on.
“Well, in times of war or conflict, I'm sent out to record everything that happens on camera. I then bring it back and show the world." He said tying his last boot.
“Have you ever been in a war?" She asked. Josh let go of his boot and stood up.
“Not in war no, but I have been in some battles." He said and looked at the clock; he turned back to Krystal and stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket. “I have to go now; I'll be back around 5:00, if someone knocks on the door, stay away from it." He said which causing Krystal to cross her arms.
“Duh, I'm not a little kid." She said, after hearing that he started to wonder how old she was, she didn't seem old to him. In fact she seemed quite young.
“How old are you?" He asked. Krystal gasped at his question.
“It's rude to ask a girl how old she is…No matter what species she is." She said and walked away with a loud "humph". When she came to the door she turned around and gave a teasing smile. “I'm twenty-eight, what about you?" She asked.
“Twenty-three." Krystal raised her eyebrows.
“You're a lot younger than you look." She said.
“Yeah…I get that a lot." He replied and started to walk off. Krystal moved out of the way to let him pass.
'Twenty-eight? She certainly doesn't seem it, she looks a lot younger than that.' He thought and walked out of the apartment. Krystal smiled at his thought and walked back to the kitchen.
Josh pulled into the base and got out of his car and made his way to the building he worked at. He quickly clocked in and was about to head to his office but then remembered Col. Ryan. He quickly made his way to the Col's office. As he made his way there he saw Major Thornton talking with the Col. Josh sat at a bench next to the door and waited for what seemed like an hour before the door opened. Josh quickly stood and was face to face with Thornton.
“What do you want Private Grant?" He asked.
“Sir, I'm here to speak to the Col. For a few moments." He said.
“For what reason?"
“About you not minding your own business that's what." Col. Ryan said as he made his way from his desk to the door. “Your dismissed Major." He said, suddenly Thornton was red in the face and turned his gaze to Josh and almost snarled at him. Thornton walked off grumbling something incoherent. Josh turned to Col. Ryan.
“Just ignore him, that's what I do. Save myself a lot of headaches doing it too, come on in." He said. Josh walked in and sat down at the chair he sat at list night. “I watched the video you sent, looks good. We will be using it starting in April." He said and walked over to the coffee maker.
“Care for some?" He asked.
“No thank you sir, I just came by to check on you." He said, he could hear the older man chuckle.
“There's no need son, I'm fine. I appreciate it though." He came back to his desk and drank some of the coffee, “I don't know why but, fresh hot coffee always cured hangovers for me." He said and took another sip, “Tell me Grant, did you see the meteor last night?" He asked. Josh swallowed hard and forced his eyes to look at Ryan.
“Yeah, did you?" He asked while not trying to sound suspicious
“Not the actual thing no, but I saw the trail burning through the sky, was told it landed in the lake. They said they were going to close up the lake soon so they can search for it." He said. Josh felt his hands shaking from underneath the table.
“What? Why?" He quickly said. Ryan shook his head.
“Can't tell you, top secret hushy hush stuff." He said, Josh nodded. “Well, I got some work to do, I'm sure you do as well." He said.
“Yes Sir that I do." Josh said and stood from the chair.
“Thanks for stopping by." Ryan said.
“You're welcome Sir." Josh said and walked out of the office, suddenly he felt like he was going to be sick. He quickly made his way to the bathroom and rushed into the nearest toilet and felt the vomit leave his mouth. His heart was racing, if they find the ship…
'So what?' He suddenly thought, 'it doesn't matter if they find the ship, there's no way of connecting it to you.' He suddenly felt much better and took a deep breath. He stood and flushed the toilet and walked to the sink. He turned the water on and got a mouth full of water and started to wash out his mouth. He spat it out and started to wash his hands.
Krystal had taken off the last bit of clothing she had and turned the shower on. It had been at least a week since she had showered; she rubbed her fingers through her hair that has become thick and greasy. She pulled her fingers away from her hair, a look of disgust formed on her face as she rubbed her index and middle fingers with her thumb, feeling them slick with grease, she then held them to her nose, she sniffed it and felt queasy, week old sweat and lake water mixed together was a killer to her nose.
“This shower is going to feel amazing." She said to herself and pulled the bands out of her pony tail, letting her long hair fall freely to her lower back, she took a few seconds to look at herself; she instinctively covered her breast with her hands. She gently moved her head to the left and right, feeling her long hair move across her back. She had been thinking of getting it cut. Although she did like how she looked with long hair, it was just such a pain to take care of, and is nothing but a burden in battles. Krystal noticed steam coming from the shower; she smiled at the thought of the hot water washing her fur clean.
She opened the shower door and walked in. As the hot water started to run down her body she sighed loudly in a relaxing tone, a smile appeared on her face as she started to rub the filth off of her fur.
Josh had started to work on another video when there came a knock at his office door; he looked up and saved all his work.
“Come in." He said, the door opened and a beautiful strawberry blond hair girl with deep blue eyes walked in. Josh gulped.
“Amanda…Hi come in." He said, almost forgetting that they were to go out for lunch.
“Hi." She said and closed the door behind her, Josh felt his palms get sweaty and he quickly rubbed them on his pants. “Are you ready?" She asked, he nodded and stood.
They went to a small café in town and sat at a table outside.
“It's good to see you." He said, he noticed a slight smile form on her face. She always did have a nice smile.
“It's good to see you too." She said, suddenly he felt his heart race at her words.
“So what did you want to talk about?" He asked, suddenly he saw the smile disappear from her face and a look of worry took its place.
“Well…It's shocking, but wonderful at the same time…I just don't really know how to tell you this."
“Tell me what?"
“I'm pregnant." She said, Josh felt his heart stop, he started to hold his breath until he was nearly blue and let it all out.
“You're pregnant?" He asked, she nodded and placed her hand on top of his.
“I'm fairly certain it's yours." She said. Everything instantly froze once she said that. Josh pulled his hand back.
“Fairly?" He repeated, Amanda placed her hands together and looked slightly down.
“We know that…I'm not faithful at most times Josh, you were the last man I had sex with, and so I'm fairly certain it's yours." Josh leaned back in his chair.
“And you're positive you're pregnant?" He asked, she nodded.
“Three pregnancy test say so." She replied, Josh didn't know what to say or think, here was a girl that he loved more than anything, the first girl he every loved, the first girl he had ever been with. She was the girl that could be carrying his child, yet there was a chance that it wasn't his, and that thought broke his heart.
“I want to be sure first, before I agree to help raise him or her…When he or she is born, I want a DNA test done." Amanda nodded.
“Of course…Would it be possible for me to come by later and get some of my things?" She asked. Suddenly Krystal came to mind.
“Sorry, but I promised my friend the house to herself today." He said, Amanda looked up with a ping of jealousy.
“Her?" She asked.
“A friend of mine from out of town, she's having some problems so I told her she could have the house to herself to day, I'll bring your stuff by after work okay?" He asked. She nodded, the look of jealousy never left her face.
“I didn't know you had any, female friends." She said, Josh nodded.
“Yeah, she's kind of a new friend." He said and watched as Amanda look a bit upset.
“You're fucking her aren't you?" She asked, a lump formed in his throat.
“What?"
“Your sticking your dick in her aren't you?" She said a little louder, Josh looked at the people around them who began to stare.
“Amanda calm down, I'm not sleeping with Krystal." He said.
“Oh so her names Krystal huh?" She said, “That hussy better stay away from you," She said.
“Why do you care?" He asked out of nowhere, “Hell you're the first girl I ever slept with, I wish you could say the same about me, but we both know that's not true, you try to fuck any guy that comes by." He said and quickly covered his mouth with his hands. Amanda stood up and pushed her chair in, anger was clearly written all over her face.
“Bring my stuff later." She said and walked off.
“Amanda wait…You're my ride back to work!" He called out, but she already got into her car and drove off. Josh sighed loudly and nearly slammed his face onto the table.
"Why did I say that?" He asked himself, although he did feel a tiny bit better for saying that to her. Sure it might have been mean, but it felt good too.
Josh managed to make his way back to work and finished up his day, he got into his car and remembered the things Krystal needed, and He reached into his pocket and looked at the list.
'Screwdrivers'
“That's it?" He said to himself as he started to car, he pulled out of the base and drove to a small headwear store and bought a packet of screwdrivers. He then made his way back to his apartment. He got out of his car and walked up to his door, he put his key into the key hole and unlocked the door. He walked in and closed the door back, he looked over and saw a brown hair girl with green eyes standing In front of him.
“Jesus Christ!" He shouted and in near lightning speed pulled out his handgun from its holster, the girl quickly raised her hands up in the air. “Who the hell are you!" He shouted.
“Josh it's me Krystal!" She shouted, Josh raised an eyebrow.
“What?" Suddenly the girl started to mess with a black band around her left wrist, she morphed from the girl back into the blue Vixen wearing her skin tight flight suit. Josh let all the breath he was holding in out.
“Jesus Christ you scared the shit out of me…How the hell did you do that?" He asked and holstered his gun, Krystal smiled and pointed to her left wrist, he noticed a black wrist com band with a few buttons on it.
“It's a disguise device; very expensive, I'm surprised it made it out of the crash.."
“How did you make it look human?"
“I scanned a woman who was jogging by." She said, Josh nodded and held out the pack of screw drivers to Krystal. “Yea." She said and took them and walked off. “Thank you." She said before disappearing in the kitchen.
Josh made his way into his room and sat down at the edge of the bed, his heart was still racing a little bit, the Human stood up a little bit later and then made his way to the closet and opened the door. Down on the ground was a box that had Amanda written on it. A few days after she left he began packing up her stuff that she didnt take with her, it was one of the most heart breaking things he had to do. He grabbed the box and began walking out of the room.
"Krystal, I'm going out for a little bit, I'll be back later." He said.
"Alright." Came her reply. The Human made his way to the front door and walked out of the apartment.
Deep in space a large Gorton war ship stands in the open, a small starship of the same rusty red color makes its way to the big ship. The Gorton had a bandage wrapped around his arm where a blue Vixen had shot him. He made his way to the command room of the ship. It was a wide open area with black marble floors. The Gorton started walking to the one controlling the ship, the large chair was turned so whoever it was could not be seen, however next to the chair was a tall Gorton who had his arms crossed.
“What happened cousin?" He asked, “Where Is Jaqar?" He asked. The wounded Gorton lowered his head.
“Forgive me…Uncle, my Great War king…Jaqar, your youngest son…Was murdered." He said and looked at the chair.
“What!?"The Gorton next to him said. “My brother? Murdered? By who? Tell me who and I will tear their face off with my bare hands!" He shouted.
“Calm yourself Jaqun." A deep voice called out from the chair, slowly the chair turned around and a great mammoth of a Gorton sat, he stood from his chair nearly ten feet tall. His bare chest was decorated with many scars. He approached the smaller Gorton.
“Who murdered my son Ashtark?" He asked, The Gorton called Ashtark knelt before the war king.
“It was a blue Vixen my lord, She came to us claiming to be a bounty hunter, we quickly made our escape, and I was shot in the back. The Vixen shot down your son…I damaged her ship to the point of destruction…But the coward escaped through Slip space." He said. The Gorton war king sat back down at his chair.
“Leave Ashtark…Go find out where this coward is, inform me when you do…Jaqun will take vengeance on his brothers murder." He said and turned his chair around and countiued to stare out into space.
“Yes my lord…My deepest condolences." And with that the Gorton left.