Chapter 1

(July 9th 3206ad)

(8:00am GST)

Like it was every day Aryn woke at exactly 8am, his routine in life rather predictable. He headed for the bathroom, after brushing his teeth he found himself looking at his reflection in the mirror before him. He secretly loathed that creature that stared back at him, those empty eyes, accusing and spiteful. This caused him to look to the old rusted shackles on his wrists, small segments of chain still hanging from them, constant reminders of what happened when he tried to fit in...of what he'd lost and done. He finished his routine by walking back into his small, void-like room...nothing but a one man bed and a small closet built into the wall. He didn't even bother with a shirt, he didn't see a point as he slid into a pair of black jeans. The colorless halls of the ship were just as he'd left them the night before, barren and empty. With a ship so large most of the rooms and facilities went unused, he only ever went to the kitchen, bridge, training center, or his own room. His only hopes for the present moment were that he would find a job soon, then again it was usually slim pickings this time in the year, of all the times for criminals to choose to take a break this was it. Aryn sighed as he dropped himself into his seat on the bridge...his only means of staging off boredom was gone for god only knew how long, he was used to waking in the morning to a game. He didn't have anywhere to go, as far as he was aware he was home, he didn't have a family...not one that he could remember, and his only known friend was someone he'd never even met...

As the hours passed on Aryn found slight things to keep himself busy; replacing blown relays in the ship's electrical system, a few shorts, some blown light circuits, and whatever else needed to be fixed. His fighter was always taken care of so there was nothing to fix there, he tried everything to occupy his time. After nothing came to mind he found solace in the one other thing that could take up his time...his training. Fighting had always come as a sort of natural instinct to Aryn, he was especially proficient with the weapons of what he called a more 'Civilized Age'. He took a deep sense of pleasure in knowing that he could fight in ways that most modern animals forgot or simply didn't know existed anymore. It was funny he knew all of these things...he couldn't recall ever learning them but, he certainly knew them from somewhere and made sure to practice them often. By the time he was ready to call his training quits his dark fur glistened with sweat, his breathing was only slightly labored though...and after a cold shower to cool his heated head and remove the smell of sweat from his body, he headed back to the bridge, where he was pleasantly surprised. As he rubbed the side of his head with the towel that hung round his neck he noticed the small computer panel on his seat's armrest trying to warn him of an incoming transmission. As he pressed the flashing button to accept the transmission he was met by a small screen displaying nothing but a blank screen. Aryn pressed a small switch brining up a small screen housing the image of an unknown male collie, "Ah Mister Stromwell..." The collie said.

"Aryn..." The dark vulpine quickly corrected him.

"Very well then...Aryn. I am..."

"You're third chair on the Papetoon Senate High Council Jacob Tassar." The dark vulpine cut the collie off.

"Hmm...well informed I see."

Aryn sighed, "I make it my business to know these things. Is this your reason for calling? 'Cuz if it is...get the fuck off my line."

"Actually we have a very high paying mission for a bounty hunter with such a reputation. It pays 2.5million credits but, you'll have to work with another bounty hunter already on the job."

"Alright then...Fuck you..." Aryn replied reaching for the cut off to his com system.

"Wait..." The senator called out, "Aryn we really need your help on this...a lot of people stand at risk if this guy goes free..."

Aryn rapped his fingertips on the arm of his seat several times in thought, "Fine...but, since this is going against my rules...I'm doubling my fare. Seems only fair that if this other person gets I want my fee to be at least equal to the mission original full amount."

"FIVE!!" The senator began to scream before cutting himself off, "...fine. Five million, but if that's the case you bring him back alive. You can meet your new partner in Corneria City docking station D-015 port 83. A vehicle will be waiting for you to take you to the general where you'll be briefed on the mission."

"I know the routine...Aryn out."

As the screen cut out the collie found himself sitting alone in his home office sitting at a large black, wooden desk...just before the desk stood an ominous figure who's entire body was bocked off by a black cloak...it was a shorter person who's long, wavy red hair spilled out of the hood that covered it's head. It was clearly a female as, even through the black cloth that covered her body, her breasts were still quite proponent...

"That wasn't so hard now was it senator?" An almost angelic voice asked from under the dark hood.

"You've got what you wanted he's on the job...now please leave my family alone." The collie pleaded.

"Well of course I'll leave them be...but, you on the other hand know far too much." She said walking over to his side, "You can't breath." She whispered into hi s ear.

The senator instantly placed his paws on his throat as he began gagging and choking, fighting desperately for oxygen. He clawed about at his desk and chair as he fought his way to his feet, staggering across the floor. His nose began to turn a light blue color as his tongue hung from his mouth as he tried desperately to get any kind of air into his starving lungs, but soon he collapsed to the floor as he body slowly lost the will to move. As his vision faded into the darkness of death he could hear the woman's voice as she sauntered out of the room...

"Have a nice day senator."

She chuckled to herself as she left the room, blood ran from the end of the senator's nose as his head finally fell to the floor, that last moment of horror frozen on his face forever...his body would be discovered by his son the next morning...

(July 10th)

(11:08am GST)

(Cornerian Orbit)

Aryn was in no pleasant mood, he'd been rejected for docking after some moronic female and screwed up with his ship's registration and now he was forced to wait several hours before they could attempt to patch his ship's registration into the system. He did however find that this gave him some time to access his situation with whatever type of partner he was being forced into teaming up with. The hours had been long and bothersome however and he was a bit annoyed with the whole deal with his ship's registration numbers being inputed wrong. Luckily however it took less time than he'd figured for them to patch back into his ship for his registration numbers. He was quick to bring up the com system after he received another transmission; the woman on the other end was different this time, she was a light brown furred otter with long red hair that covered her right eye...

"Registration numbers please..." She said in a polite but seemingly annoyed tone.

Aryn sighed, "570-34821-176-06..."

The otter lady went to work for a moment, "Alright...Aryn Stromwell, ship name Dragoon...1000 series Trion class Cruiser. Your station is Dock-71 port 15." She didn't bother with pleasantries she simply cut the line.

"Her I like..." Aryn said to himself, "NAV...set everything up and dock us in the registered station."

"Yes captain...ETA on surface 10.326minutes."

"Good..."

The landing was dull and hapless. It'd been almost a year since the last time he'd made port in Corneria City, Aryn preferred not to stay on solid ground for too long. The space port was surprisingly full for this time of year, there were ships of all shapes and sized stationed in the massive hanger. Several mechanics rushed over to Aryn's ship as it landed, he was quick to tell them off. The ship never really gave him any problems at all, he paid no attention to their harsh comments, as he walked out of the hanger toward the idling limo hovering above the street several inches. The driver gave him an odd look as he boarded the small vehicle; it was understandable, how many black foxes did you happen to see in Lylat, much the less one carrying something as low-tech as a sword; a simple thin bladed thing with a rounded metal fitting at both ends of the handle, the curved blade hidden by a black lacquered scabbard. Aryn didn't bother saying a word, the driver knew where to go. Aryn looked out the windows of the limo as it glided effortlessly through the air; the massive buildings towered above the ground like ominous giants of steel and glass, random animals of all breeds and types wandered the streets and large masses of vehicles sped by. It was a bit of a drive before they parked in front of a large building that was surrounded by metal fencing. After exiting the vehicle the dark furred fox made his way through the door, his weapon of choice was never hung at his side like usual rather he carried it in his left hand, often resting it on his shoulder...

Aryn found the interior of the military facility to be a bit overdone; the tiles on the floor of the mainly lobby which turned out to be a massively round room, were color coded to match out the image of the seal of Corneria. There was a large fountain in the center of the room which he found to simply be a waste of space, and there were small plants and pictures hanging on the walls...This is no military installation, it's a fucking office building. He thought to himself as he approached the receptionist's desk at the far end of the lobby...

"General Peppy's office..." He murmured to the green feathered avian woman behind the desk.

The avian receptionist looked up at the black fox then back to her paperwork, "You must be Mister Stromwell...The General's office in on the 56th floor, 18th door to your left. Elevators are on your right."

Aryn made his way to the small glass cages that would take him to the upper floors and pressed the buttons that corresponded with the floor he required. As he rode toward the General's floor he leaned against the wall of the small glass coffin, thinking about what he could have possibly gotten himself into...but, he needed this job, without work he had nothing to do at all. Soon enough the elevator jolted to a stop and Aryn followed the avian's instructions down the hall until he stopped at the proper door where he could hear a female voice, he didn't want to interrupt anything so he leaned against the wall...

"That's not possible Peppy...you know he'd never do anything like that!" The female's voice shouted.

"Please calm down...I'm not saying that he did this for sure. It's just that we have eye witnesses and photos and video that say he did..."

"Well don't you find it a bit odd that he'd just up and leave like that!?" She shouted.

"Just wait until the other hunter gets here and we can sort this all out..."

That seemed about like Aryn's cue to enter the room, so he knocked...

"If that the other bounty hunter then come in..." Peppy's voice called from the room.

Upon entering the room Aryn looked around, the room was a bit large but, not too much so; there was a single book shelf against the left wall, a few filing cabinets against the right wall, and a large desk in the rooms center. An old gray furred hare sat at the desk wearing a red general's uniform, with golden buttons and shoulder brushes, he wore a rather serious expression. The one sitting across from him however kept facing the general, all Aryn could make out was a pair of blue pointy ears peaking up over the top of the chair. Aryn took his seat which was seated next to the other bounty hunter. He didn't look directly at her but, Aryn did glance over out of the corner of his eye; she was a lovely young fox, a bit different as she was covered in blue fur which covered all of her spare for the white patch that covered her muzzle, she was wearing a form fitting blue uniform that looked as though the fabric was sewn to resemble small diamond shapes, it was dark blue around the middle with black covering her ribs and sides, her hair was slightly more than shoulder length, and her body was something that would drive most any male out of his right mind, her eyes were a light blue like her fur...

"You must be Aryn..." The hare said Aryn sat down, "This is Kry...ahem...Kursed. She'll be working with you on this mission."

"What's the job? I was spared the details." Aryn asked, he noticed Krystal eying him suspiciously, as if he were the enemy.

"I'm not sure if you've heard...but, three days ago Slippy Toad and Falco Lombardi were both savagely beaten and placed in medical care. Slippy suffered a shattered spine, he'll never walk again, while Falco has been in stable condition with a large number of broken bones and massive internal damage..." Peppy pointed out.

"If you already know all of that then why am I here..."

"Falco himself fingered the suspect of their attack as being none other than Fox McCloud..."

"And I told you that's bull shit...we all know Fox better than that."

"Krystal I know what you mean but this is damning evidence that he did it and his disappearance only instigates the matter further." Peppy said, "True I can hardly believe this myself but as bad as they are in my old age, I believe what my eyes tell me. Even if I truly don't want to believe it, I haven't got much of an alternative but to have him brought in. That is why the two of you are here..."

A small smile spread across Aryn's face, "You want me...and her. To hunt down and bring in...alive I might add...The Fox McCloud?"He asked.

"Yes...that is exactly what we are asking." Peppy answered, "I understand if you refuse."

"Why would I refuse the opportunity to hunt down Lylat's finest soldier? I'm in..."

The mission briefing was call off and Aryn headed out of the room and was on the elevator before a blue paw stopped the door from closing, Kursed was quick to rush in allowing the doors to close. She sat there staring at him for the longest time before he spoke up...

"A photo would last a helluva lot longer you know?" Aryn said smugly.

"So you're in this for glory huh?"

"There's no glory in the hunt...especially not when it's an innocent man."

"You think he'd innocent then? Why?" The blue vixen asked folding her arms across her chest.

"I make it my business to know these things..." Aryn said walking out of the elevator as it stopped.