Great Fox II, in Lylat System Space.

Fox McCloud's eyes opened to a familiar sight: the ceiling. He rolled his head to the right and checked the time, 0751, before rolling his head to the left to find that Krystal must already be awake, as there was no-one on the other side of the bed. Sighing, he rose to a seated position and swing his legs out of bed. Moving across the room on bare pads, Fox quickly made his way to the chest of drawers and rummaged around, finding a pair of khaki combats and a white t-shirt, both of which he slipped on. Next he grabbed his pair of boots, and tucked the combats into them as he put them on too, and then headed for the door. He decided that his stomach would probably hate him later if he forgot to have breakfast, and turned to head to the aft of the Great Fox II's crew deck, towards the mess hall. It wasn't really that much of a hall: just one rectangular table, with eight seats, and a door that led back to the kitchen, through which Fox could smell something incredible. A familiar feline face poked it's way through the kitchen door, wearing what appeared to be a sports top and a pair of jeans and beaming a smile.

"Hello Fox," Miyu said, in an almost singsong tone, "Krystal and I were making pancakes for when everyone gets up. Want some?"

"Oh, yes please. That smells godly." he replied, sighing for effect, "Need some help?"

"No we're fine here, although you could go wake the others." she suggested, her head disappearing again.

"OK, I'll go do that. Back soon!" He called, stepping through the doors and heading back to the Crew Quarters. Fox would have just preferred regular bedrooms, but the II, having once been a military ship, did have six bunk rooms, which they simply remodelled into six bedrooms, five for the crew and a guest room. He passed his and Krystal's and Miyu's rooms, and opened the next door to find a familiar blue avian tangled in the sheets, talons splayed over the end of the bed. He went over to him and shook him a bit.

"Heya birdie, rise and shine."

"Fox, for the millionth time, I am not a morning person." The avian grumbled.

"Even when there's pancakes involved, Lombardi?" Fox asked, knowing what the response would be. Sure enough, Falco's eyes shot open, and he began trying to untangle himself from the mass of sheets. "Thought so."

"Screw you, McCloud." Falco replied, grumbling.

"Morning to you too, buddy." Fox retorted, stepping from the room and heading for the next.

There, he found an orange vulpine with blue-tipped ears already awake, sitting up in bed. He felt a familiar tingling sensation at the back of his head.

"Morning, boss." Joseph thought-said, "Would've been up sooner if I thought I wouldn't wake the other half." he added, gesturing to Fay, the white spaniel still sound asleep next to him.

Fox thought about pancakes as hard as he could.

"Wait, as in Krystal and Miyu's pancakes?" Joseph finally asked, hopefulness evident in his tone.

"Yup." he whispered.

"Great, she loves those pancakes. At least now she'll forgive me for waking her." Joseph replied, chuckling softly. "I'll wake Fay. You go handle everyone else."

Fox nodded and left, heading for the last occupied room. Inside was a grey vulpine, sitting awake on the floor, meditating, wearing only a pair of black denim jeans.

"Pup." Wolf said, opening his eye. Fox realised the cybernetic one must have picked up on his entry.

"Hey Wolf. Pancakes?" he asked.

"Sure, why not? Let me find a shirt. Be a little weird if a rocked up topless." the lupine replied, standing up.

"It's cool. Take your time, they aren't going anywhere. At least not until Falco gets there."

"Good point." Wolf replied, laughing briefly.

"See you there, then" Fox said, stepping out of the door and heading back down the hall. By the time he got there, there was a stack of twenty-odd pancakes on two plates in the middle if the table. Fox took his seat just as Krystal walked out of the kitchen, holding under one arm a folded white apron which declared, in purple lettering, 'CHEF, NOT THE WAITRESS'.

"Morning love." she said, putting the apron in a cupboard. She gave him a quick peck on the muzzle and pulled out the seat next to him.

"Morning, Krys. Sleep well?"

"Yep, definitely. I..." she trailed off, starting ahead of herself.

"You... what, Krys? Krystal?" Fox asked, standing and waving a paw in front of her face, to no avail. "Krystal? Hello?"

"Svoj eb." Krystal said, although she sounded like a thousand different voices speaking at once, "Svoj eb."

"Krystal?" Fox asked, "Are you alright?" At that moment, Joseph and Fay walked in.

"Hey boss, what's going..."

"Svoj eb. Svoj eb." Krystal kept repeating, her eyes now glowing like she was reading a memory.

"Wait, what?" Fay asked, "What's up with Krys?"

"Hang on," Joseph said, "that's Cerinian she's speaking. Why is she..."

Krystal suddenly stopped, and began to fall backwards. Fox bolted forward and caught her before she could hit the deck.

"She's out cold." Fox said, "What the heck happened there?"

"I don't know, but I remember a little Cerinian, and I know what svoj eb translates into. And it's big."

"What does it mean?" Fox asked. Joseph closed his eyes, and Fox thought he was about to cry. Instead, he said two words:

"Help us."