A/N: This is a story I did a few months ago, it was my first outing with a pairing other than Fox and Krystal. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The pairing is Miyu Panther, a bit unusual I suppose, but it makes things interesting. I hope you like it, and please leave a review, they really help me with my writing.

Chapter 1

To say that Miyu was brilliant was an understatement, there was virtually nothing that she couldn't do, no problem that she couldn't overcome, at least intellectually. However there was one thing in her life that she knew was missing, a man. Certainly she had had relationships with men, she had plenty of guy friends, Fox, Falco, Slippy, and the rest, but she had never been able to meet the man she would want to have a far more serious relationship with. It hadn't bothered her for most of her life, she had always been able to simply bury herself in work, or go on a long flight in her Arwing, in other words she had always been able to find a way to forget about the one thing in her life that she couldn't seem to achieve. Romance.

Lately however she had been feeling a bit different, the longing had become more acute of late, as well as far more distracting. She had decided that she needed to clear her head, and that she needed the company of friends. So she had gotten in her Arwing and flown straight for the Great Fox, fully intending to sign on with the team for awhile and forget about her ever increasing loneliness with a few missions and plenty of time with her closest friends.

As she approached the Great Fox her Arwing's comm. started beeping. She hit the open channel button and heard the metallic and emotionless voice of ROB come over the comm. line. "Incoming Arwing, identify yourself and state your intentions."
Miyu smiled and said "It's Miyu, ROB, and my intention is to spend some time on the Great Fox, am I clear to dock?"

"Opening hangar doors. Welcome Miyu."

"Thanks ROB."
Miyu angled for the hangar and landed. The hangar doors closed and the room repressurized, she popped the hatch and hopped out onto the hangar floor. She was met by Fox but none of the others. "Hey Fox, where's everybody else?"

Fox smiled and said "Krystal is meditating, and probably knows you're here, Falco is weight lifting, and Slippy is in the middle of some repairs in the engine room."

Miyu nodded and said "Well, I suppose you're wondering why I'm here."

"I am curious, you don't usually leave Corneria Flight Academy these days."

Miyu sighed and said "Well, that is true. I guess I was getting bored, and was wondering if you could use an extra pilot for awhile."

Fox nodded "Yeah, we can always use an extra hand. Welcome aboard."
Before the two could say anything more an alarm sounded and ROB's voice came over the ship speakers "Incoming fighters, Wolfen class."

Fox growled and said "Wolf, he always seems to come around when it looks we can just have a nice relaxing day."
Miyu smiled "He's always had good timing."
Fox nodded and went over to a comm. panel to access the ship wide intercom "Come on everyone, I know you heard ROB, to the Arwings, let's go!"

About five seconds later Krystal, Falco, and Slippy came careening through the doorway and into the hangar, Krystal smiled at Miyu as she ran past her to her Arwing. Miyu hopped back into her fighter and powered it up. Images of her new wing mates popped up on the comm. screen and Fox said "No preflight checks this time, let's just take these fools down again and return to having a good day."
With that the fighters lifted off in a synchrony born of having flown together for years, Miyu was happy to notice that she actually was able to maintain that same synchrony, even if she wasn't a permanent member of the team, it was at least a testament to her flying skills. The five Arwings rocketed out of the hangar.

Miyu quickly checked her weapons status, she was happy to note that she still had a few of the new and Miyu improved smart bombs in her weapons bay. She had improved their targeting and homing programs to the point where not even she could actually shake one loose, and she was one of the best pilots she knew, oddly enough only Krystal had ever actually beaten her, Miyu chalked that one up to her sixth sense without resentment. She spotted the three Wolfen fighters ahead and said over the comm. line "Hey, how about I give 'em a little surprise, I want to see if any of them can out fly me. Pretty please?"

She saw the team smile and Fox said "Have at them. Sooner we smoke 'em the better."
Miyu knew that when it came to battles with Star Wolf both teams shot only to disable, neither side had any interest in killing the other, all they wanted to do was show the other up. Accordingly Miyu set one of the homing bombs to an ion pulse that would fry its target's systems, but cause no permanent harm, at least none that she and Slippy couldn't repair.

Choosing a target at random she fired. The Wolfen's pilot immediately went for a standard dodge maneuver that would have worked on an unimproved bomb, however her special bomb simply adjusted its heading, she had programmed every move she knew into it, it was as close to a thinking and anticipating bomb as she had been able to make. Programming sentience was one of the few things beyond her skills. She watched as the targeted fighter continued evasive maneuvers. She heard Krystal say "You had to choose Panther?"

Miyu looked at her image and said "Random chance. Who's Panther?"

Krystal smiled "Newest member of that team, been after me for awhile."
Miyu smiled "Ever flirt?"

Krystal grinned and said "Only to make Foxy jealous."
Miyu noticed Fox roll his eyes. After that she continued to watch Panther trying to dodge her bomb. She heard Fox and Wolf start talking, but didn't pay all that much attention, she was more focused on what this Panther was doing. He had slowed considerably, and the bomb was gaining fast, she noticed his engines go dark, in fact everything went dark. And the bomb flew straight past, though close enough that the pilot could have reached out and touched it. Then a moment later the fighter powered back up and a volley of laser fire destroyed the bomb. Miyu shook her head, this Panther character certainly had balls. If he had misjudged his inertia or done one of a million things even slightly less than perfect the bomb would have hit.

Now that she had seen the result of her little test she focused on the conversation taking place between Fox and Wolf. "...Look I admit we got in a little over our heads..."

Miyu saw Fox shaking his head "A little over your heads? Taking on the Sector X Syndicate by yourselves is more than a little over your head."

Wolf frowned "Ok, fine, we're way over our heads. But this job could be a huge pay off, you know how much Zoness Shipping is offering?"

"How much?"

"Five million."

The comm. lines went silent. Miyu was shocked to say the least, five million credits was a massive amount of money for one job. Though she knew that even with that kind of reward there were only two mercenary teams in the system that were good enough and crazy enough to take the job. And she was currently with one and looking at the other.

Fox grunted and said "So then, you're here because...?"

Wolf sighed "Because we need help to finish this job, and to be honest you and your team are the best I know of, besides me and my team. I'm willing to split the fee fifty-fifty. Interested?"

"Give us a minute." Fox replied.

Miyu switched to a private channel with the rest of them and said "I say we do it. Five hundred grand each is pretty damn good."

Krystal agreed saying "We do need a job Fox, and this has the potential to pay off real well."
Falco shook his head "Still, the Sector X Syndicate, that's fucking dangerous, and we don't even have the details."

Slippy smiled and said "What's the matter Falco, afraid?"

Falco looked indignant and said "Fear is for the other guys. Besides, if you're in Slippy I can't say no without sacrificing more of my manliness than I care to. I'm in."

Fox nodded and said "Alright, I say we have job. Any last minute protests?"

No one said a word. Fox reopened a channel to Wolf and said "Alright, for a fifty-fifty we're in. But Wolf?"

"Yeah?"
"I want to know everything before I risk my team."
Wolf nodded "No problem. I'll give you all the details once we're aboard. Oh and Fox, don't try and kill Panther again."

Fox smiled and said "Tell it to Miyu, she's the one who tried."

Wolf raised an eyebrow and said "I was wondering who the fifth Arwing belonged to. Alright, we clear to head in?"

Fox nodded "Yeah, us first though."

With that the two teams docked on board the Great Fox one after the other. Miyu got the distinct feeling they were in deep, this was exactly what she needed. Exactly.