The next day, Fox noticed that he had a message on his answering machine. Must have been left when I was at that dinner, he thought. He pressed the button and listened to the message.

"Hello, Mr. McCloud," a female voice said. "This is Ameiva Schulz from the Lylat Species Relations Centre. We have received word that you have saved somebody from a hate attack last night. Because of this, we wish to see you and the rest of your team sometime today. We are located at 935 Selmer Street, Fichina City, Fichina. Our hours are 8:00 am to 10:00 pm. When you get there, tell them Ameiva sent you. We hope to see you soon. Thank you." The message ended.

"Guys! Come here!" Fox called. "I got a message from the species relations centre." Everyone else rushed over, eager to hear what Fox had to say.

"OK, so I just got a message from the Lylat Species Relations Centre. They appear to have gotten Eileen's message about us helping her. Now they want us to see them. They didn't exactly say what for, but I have a feeling it has something to do with Eileen."

"I smell a job opportunity," Falco said.

"Where exactly are they located?" Peppy asked.

"They're on 935 Selmer Street, in Fichina City," Fox answered. "We should get over there as soon as possible."

"ROB, chart a course for Fichina City," Peppy said to the tall, golden-plated robot that oversaw the Great Fox.

"Course set for Fichina City," ROB announced. "Approximate arrival time: 1 hour and 27 minutes."

Upon reaching Fichina City, the team caught a bus that would take them to Selmer Street. Then, they walked the rest of the way to a brick building with a sign in front of it that read "Lylat Species Relations Centre - Tracking Hate & Teaching Tolerance Since 53 BLW". They walked through the door and went directly to the front desk.

"Hello, and welcome to the Lylat Species Relations Centre," said a young female feline behind the reception desk. Her name was Madeline, according to the name tag she wore. "How may I help you today?"

"We were sent here by Ameiva," Fox told Madeline. "Do you know where she is?"

"I'll page her right now." Madeline pressed a button on the phone on her desk. "Sorry if she takes a while to come out. We've received word about a hate attack that happened in Corneria City last night."

"We were actually the ones who came out and stopped it from getting any worse," Falco spoke up. "Well, Fox and Krystal were, anyway."

"Fox and- Oh, so you're the Star Fox team, the space mercenary unit who served in the Lylat Wars! Pleasure to meet you. This is such an honour to have you with us. You should know that the Androssian Army was on our list of speciesist organizations during the Lylat Wars. Not many people knew that, but members of his troops had committed crimes against others simply because of their species."

"Hm… Never heard that before. But I guess it didn't get out there because most of us associate speciesism with canines," Slippy mused.

"You called?" A female lizard with purple skin and black hair came out from a nearby corridor. "I heard the Star Fox team has arrived."

"Here they are, Ameiva," Madeline said.

"Ah! Good day, Star Fox team," the lizard said. "My name is Ameiva Schulz. I'm one of the head directors at the Lylat Species Relations Centre. It's an honour to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Fox replied, shaking hands with Ameiva. "So why did you call us here?"

"Come with me," Ameiva said, leading the crew to another location. All over the walls, there were maps of all the planets in the Lylat System, marked with the locations of various speciesist organizations. A screen flashed various news headlines relating to species relations in the system. Fox could notice news about the attack in Corneria City that he and Krystal had managed to stop. Finally, the group stopped in front of a closed door that read the names of the board of directors: Ameiva Schulz, Irwin Donskoy, Mikkel Westergaard, and Carole Finch.

Ameiva opened the door to reveal a cat, a gray fox, and a finch standing in wait for the team to arrive. "They're here," she told them. "This is the Star Fox team that I told you about. Two of the members thwarted the attack in Corneria City last night."

"Welcome to the Lylat Species Relations Centre," the finch said, offering her hand. "My name is Carole Finch, and I'm one of the directors here. This is Irwin Donskoy and Mikkel Westergaard," she said, gesturing to the cat and fox nearby.

"Pleasure to meet you," Mikkel said, offering his hand.

"We've heard great things about you," Irwin added, also offering a hand.

"Thanks. Nice to meet you, too," Fox said as handshakes were made throughout the entire group. "Now what can we do for you?"

"As you may know, we received a call about an attack on a primate woman in Corneria City. When we received the call, we heard that you had broken it up," Irwin began. "That's when we realized that we could use your assistance in tracking and potentially shutting down some of the groups on our hate list."

"Us? Going in and shutting down entire organizations?"

"Yes," Ameiva said, activating a hologram display in the centre of the room. "Here at the Lylat Species Relations Centre, we track the activities of various speciesist hate groups around the system. Thanks to our efforts, 57 speciesist organizations have been successfully shut down since our inception." Red X's appeared on the holographic display of the planets of the Lylat System, signifying groups that had been shut down. "Yet there are still various groups that remain in operation." The red X's disappeared, and black dots appeared on the planets' surfaces. Many of these dots were on Corneria, but a large percentage were also on Katina. "It is our goal to not only shut these groups down, but also to educate the public and prevent any new groups from forming."

The hologram switched to a picture of a black flag depicting a white canine head with glowing, blood-red eyes. "Does this flag look familiar to any of you?" Ameiva asked.

"That's the picture that was on the back of the attackers' jackets," Krystal pointed out.

"This is the flag of Canis Major, one of the most prominent hate groups on Corneria. As of today, they've been responsible for 56 species-motivated attacks in the past ten years. What's especially surprising about this group is that other than their founder, their current head of operations, and their location on Corneria, next to nothing is known about them."

Ameiva switched the hologram display again. A mugshot of a Saarloos Wolfdog in an orange prison uniform could be seen. "This is Sirius Varg Rockwell, the founder of Canis Major. Twenty years ago, he was found guilty of bombing a reptilian community centre in Eladard, Corneria. He was sentenced to life in the Corneria Penitentiary, where he committed suicide within a month. His motivation behind the bombing was his delusional thinking that reptiles threatened 'canine' values and traditions, so the only way he thought he could preserve them was by taking out the opposition."

"That's horrible," Fox said, shocked at how someone could be so bigoted.

"Why would anyone do such a thing?" Krystal asked, equally horrified.

"Because they're a bunch of jerks with a twisted sense of logic," Falco said.

Ameiva switched displays again. Another Saarloos Wolfdog appeared. This one was covered in various tattoos, and the fur on the top of his head was shaved extremely close to the scalp. "This is Fenris Rockwell, Sirius's eldest son and current director of operations at Canis Major. He's been arrested 3 times: twice for vandalism, and once for inciting species hatred. Although he has never killed anyone before, he is said to have a violent temper, so if you encounter him, please be careful not to provoke him," she continued. "Before taking over Canis Major from his father, he's been involved in various 'shavefur' gangs."

"'Shavefur'? As in the fur at the top of his head?" Krystal asked.

"Yeah. 'Shavefur' is just a catch-all term for working-class punks who shave the top of their head really close to the scalp," Falco explained. "Most of them aren't speciesist, but the canine supremacist faction's the one that's gotten the most coverage. I've befriended some anti-speciesist shavefurs when I was out on the streets. I've also beaten up a few of the speciesist kind. Damn, it felt good to give 'em what was coming."

Ameiva switched off the hologram display. "So, your first directive is to locate Canis Major's base, and get some pictures and other information about the area. I also want you to try and have a conversation with some of the regulars about their organization. If you get the chance to communicate with Fenris, please engage him in conversation, but be careful about what you say to him. I hope to see what you uncover."

"And what about our fee?" Fox asked.

"Your fee depends on your output," Ameiva replied. "If you go above and beyond to accomplish the task… you could be getting something upward of S$7500 for your work."

"Whoa, that's sweet," Falco said.

"And when do you want this done by?" Fox continued.

"I'll give you as much time as you need," Ameiva answered. "But I will be requesting reports from time to time, so you must keep working to find new information."

"We'll do it," Fox said. "Thanks, Ameiva. We'll start our research as soon as we get back home."

"Good luck, Star Fox team," Ameiva said.

DEFINITIONS:

Shavefur or "shave" (n)(pl. Shavefurs, shaves): Subculture of working-class punks who shave the top of their head extremely close to the scalp. Not inherently associated with speciesism. Despite the name, not all shavefurs are mammalian. Basically the anthro equivalent to the real-world "skinhead" subculture.