And here is another chapter. I'm still bewildered about how quick I wrote all this stuff down. I must have some kind of flow. Anyhow enjoy! The next one will have more acion it I promise, I simply had to put this all down so you may get a better understanding of Dexter's person.


The closer they got to the Cornerian Army base the more uncomfortable Dexter got. He still couldn't put his finger on what it was about that place that set his alarms off. Maybe it's because I blame them for Terry's death. But I closed that chapter of my life already. Or have I? I never could bury him, what if he never found any rest? He thought to himself. Hi didn't know. He was not the spiritual kind of guy so it was not something about his soul still wandering the galaxy. But the fact that he never could say goodbye to him angered him. Then he figured out, he truly blamed the Cornerian Army for the death of his brother. After all, someone in command gave the order for his brother's ship to assault on Andross al those years back. If they hadn't he might still be alive.

His blood began to boil and his gaze darkened with every moment they got closer to Pepper's office. He didn't speak during the whole ride, no one did. The only sounds you could hear were silent whispers of "Wow" from Krystal. She had obviously never been to a city like Corneria.

When they finally reached the base they all went silently towards the elevator. As they made their way some soldiers saluted Fox and looked at him with pure admiration on their faces. Yet when they noticed Dexter that admiration turned into contempt and hate. He knew that bounty hunters were not looked upon with kindness but the glares the soldiers shot him told him all he needed to know. They despised him. The fact that he was once one of them made it all worse. Anger rose within Dexter and just his mere will kept him from snapping some necks right then. He let out a small sigh of relief when they finally entered the elevator and the doors closed. His body was shaking with anger nonetheless.


Krystal sensed the hatred and anger that surrounded Dexter like a burning aura and she was a little frightened about how angry he could get. He was calm and reserved all the time she had seen him on the Great Fox, well apart from his encounter with Falco but that had been because he was defending himself. In addition to this, his raw fury built up a strong and almost impenetrable shield around his thoughts, so Krystal was unable to find out where that rage had its origin. But she figured it had to be something personal. Mere contempt for government forces didn't cause that amount of hatred. She moved up to Fox and held onto his arm, seeking shelter from Dexter. He looked like he would kill anyone that even thought about playing any kind of game with him therefor she wanted to be out of his reach.

Fox was a bit puzzled when Krystal held onto his arm but he didn't mind it. He was happy having her as close as possible. He smiled to himself, that lovely blue vixen had him completely under her spell. When they reached General Pepper's office at last his secretary, a white cat, spoke up to them. "Do you have an appointment, Mr..?" she asked. "McCloud" Fox answered "And yes, we do have an appointment, Miss" he politely answered. The cat looked on her screen and nodded. "Please go inside, General Pepper is waiting for you" she said in a monotone voice that gave away how long she has actually been a secretary.

Fox, Krystal and Dexter had just walked into Pepper's office when they were greeted by a hearty voice. "Ah it's so god to see you, Fox. And since we all know why you are here, I shall simply give you the documents that make you two official members of the Star Fox team. Oh, and before I forget, I need a last name for Ms. Krystal so we can finish the paperwork" the General pointed out. Krystal looked to the ground, slightly sad. "But...I don't have a last name. My name is just Krystal" she explained her voice almost a whisper. Fox put his hand on her shoulder, hoping he could offer her some comfort. "Hey, don't worry, it's alright. General? Would it be sufficient when we gave her my last name?" he asked while he faced the General again and therefor missed the smile that emerged on Krystal's face. "I guess that should work, if that is okay with you Krystal?" Krystal looked up to face the General "Yeah, I'd like that" she said and the expression on her face sent a warm feeling through Fox's entire body.

After Krystal and Dexter signed their documents, the General turned to Fox. "One last thing though Fox. Do you really want him on your team?" Pepper asked as he tilted his head towards Dexter. Before Fox could even think of an answer Dexter spoke. "I can hear you General. If you got a problem with me being here, name it. Otherwise, shut your flytrap." The raven growled. Krystal flinched at the hatred in his voice and Pepper's eyes widened in anger as well. "How dare you.." Dexter cut him off "How dare I what? Disrespect you? I'm just treating you the way you treated me. So before you waste your breath throwing accusations at me, you may want to overthink your attitude. We are the same, simple symbols on your uniform don't make me worth less or you worth more" Dexter said, still growling while he shot Pepper a glare that got even Fox a bit scared. He remembered that Dexter told him that he felt uncomfortable around Corneria but Fox had put it off as paranoia. Now he saw that he must have some sort of history with Corneria, a very bad history if it made him that angry.

"You were once part of this army, Dexter. What would your brother think of you, if he could see you now?" the General barked back at Dexter. "My brother is dead thanks to this very army. And if he really could see what happens here right now he would surely kick your sorry butt!" Dexter's growl turned into an angry yell. Right after saying that, he turned around and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. The room was silent for a few moments before General Pepper cleared his throat. "Well, after seeing this I presume you want to reconsider inviting that troublesome raven to your team." Pepper said, his voice was filled with contempt for Dexter. "He had a point, General" Krystal answered before Fox could begin to respond "You disrespected him right from the beginning and he simply threw that behavior back to you." She went on. Fox nodded in agreement. "He was a great help when I fought Andross and he proved himself to be very capable. We all have our personal issues, General. But my mind is set, I want him on the team." He spoke with determination in his voice. Pepper simply grunted "Fine, it's your decision. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business I must attend to." And with that Fox and Krystal left the room and found Dexter leaning against a wall, arms crossed. "Sorry" he simply said in his usual taciturn way. "Don't be, you had every reason to be upset. Now let's get out of here. I could use something to eat, what about you?" Fox responded while a sly grin spread across his face. The others nodded and they made their way out of the base.


After they finished eating Dexter mentioned he would go back to the Great Fox in order to repair his fighter, despite that Fox told him that Slippy had probably already finished it. "That raven is a complete mystery to me." Fox confessed as he and Krystal walked out of the restaurant they had eaten in. "Hmm. But you think of him as a friend, don't you?" Krystal said, smiling at him. "How do you..? Ah, I see, telepath. Yeah, I consider him a friend. He saved my life when we fought Andross. Had he not knocked me out of my thoughts I'd surely not be standing here" Fox honestly mentioned. "And what were you thinking about?" she asked giggling. She already knew the answer. She knew he had thought about her, about how beautiful she was, how angry he was that Andross used her. It had warmed her heart but she wanted him to say it himself, wanted it to be more honest.

"I, uh, well, uh, was thinking about.. you know, stuff" me muttered. He didn't want to confess had been thinking about her all the time. Well, at least he didn't want to confess it right now. But then he remembered that Krystal was a telepath so if she really wanted to know, she would simply read his mind without him even noticing. So he'd rather be honest with her. "And that 'stuff' I've been thinking about then was, well, it was.. you" he whispered, while his cheeks went crimson under his fur.

When Dexter arrived at the Great Fox's docking bay, he noticed that his fighter had slightly changed. Actually he realized that it had parts installed that he only knew from the Arwings. His jaw dropped in awe as it hit him that Slippy had already repaired and upgraded his ship. He hit the intercom on the docking bay "Slippy?" he simply asked. After a couple of moments a door opened and the green toad walked in, whistling. As he noticed Dexter his whistling immediately stopped and his facial expression turned from joy to fear. Dexter could imagine that he was afraid of him after he showed Falco his place. But he was grateful, that toad had saved him hours of work and not only repaired his fighter but even raised it to the Star Fox standard. "Ease up, Slippy. I'm not mad at you. In fact, it's quite the opposite. As I see you had some time with my ship."

"Yup, I figured since your part of the team and all, your fighter could use some improvements" Slippy replied, obviously relieved that Dexter didn't beat the crap out of him for working on his vessel without asking. "So I added some G-diffusers and an advanced shield to your ship. Apart from that she was already up to date; I hardly found anything to do on her." He went on. "You took good care of you ship." The toad concluded. "Well, I suppose my life depended on it being in good shape, so I figure I just had to. I owe you one, Slip." Dexter replied and Slippy was slightly surprised that there was this kind side to that strange bird. He started whistling again and walked away from the docking bay while Dexter made his way to the bridge in order to do some work there. He would not let these people; that were rapidly becoming his friends (he never thought that was actually possible) do all the work. He wanted to earn his place within the Star Fox team; he didn't take it for granted.


Meanwhile Fox had taken Krystal to the dogfight simulator to see how she handled herself in a fight. They had several one-on-one matches which he all lost. Her telepathy told her when he was about to fire, when he would pull off which maneuver, where he headed. All those things gave her the superior position. But it was not only her telepathy that made her win all the time. Fox noticed she was a natural at flying; she pulled off some very difficult moves (that took even Fox weeks of constant practice) with ease. When they got out from the simulator he could only stare and wonder. His face must have been quite ridiculous for she burst straight into laughter when she saw him. Her infectious hilarity had him soon chuckling as well and he couldn't care less if he was actually laughing at himself.

Their laughter was cut off when Fox's wrist communicator blinked and Peppy's face appeared before him. "Fox, you need to come to the Great Fox immediately. General Pepper just called in and said he had something for us. It sounded quite urgent." "We're on our way, Fox out!" he replied in his usual manner and gestured Krystal to follow him.

"Alright General, we're all gathered. So what is so urgent that we can't even have half a day off?" Fox asked the floating face in front of him. He normally wouldn't mind going from one job straight to another, but he fathomed that Slippy and Peppy could use some time off the Great Fox. "I won't lie to you Fox. The situation is dire. We have received a very disturbing report from one of our outposts in the outer rim of the Lylat System." The General said. "What's so disturbing about it? The outer rim isn't known for being peaceful. "Fox answered. "Well, before we lost contact with the outpost, a soldier claimed that venomian forces were marching towards them. Now that would normally not be unusual, the Venomians attack our outposts from time to time. But this time they were organized and well equipped. Moreover, said soldier claimed that they were carrying strange banners; banners with an ape's face on it." Pepper explained. The mention of that banner forced everyone apart from Krystal to pale immediately. Seeing Krystal's confused look, Dexter spoke up to her. "That banner the General mentioned was last used about 8 years ago, when Andross waged his senseless war on the Lylat System. Since his defeat back then no one has ever seen those flags again. That means.." Dexter left the sentence unfinished. "That Andross is still alive." General Pepper finished for him.

Krystal looked even more confused. "But Fox and Dexter killed him!" was all she could say. The painful memories of being trapped in that crystal without food or water came back to her mind. "How is that possible? I saw him ripped into shreds myself!" Fox just shook his head, unable to believe what he heard. "I don't know. But he seems to have something that keeps him alive. Though I don't have the slightest clue what that could be" the canine guessed. "What happened to the people on the station?" Krystal wanted to know. "It seems they were overrun by the Venomians. I doubt they left anyone alive, they never took prisoners as far as I remember." Krystal wondered how the General could be so calm when so many people died. She figured he must have seen many horrible things in his life. "We better get going then. Where to?" Dexter asked. "The outpost is located on Tereja. But I must warn you: we're not on best terms with the Terejans" General Pepper explained. "This means they're likely to support the Venomians. Great just great" Fox sighed. "Alright General, we're on our way. Fox out!" with that Fox turned to ROB. "ROB, plot a course to Tereja and when you search for a landing zone keep a 15-mile distance to any Terejan settlements but get us as close to the outpost as possible." "Affirmative, arrival in approximately 8 hours" ROB replied in his synthetic voice.

"Dexter, since bounty hunters get around a lot I wondered if you got any more intel on Tereja. Have you ever been there?" Fox wanted to know. With Andross in the picture he wanted to have as much information as he was able to gather. The raven shook his head, much to Fox's disappointment. "I've been in the outer rim a couple of times. Fugitives like to go there. But any sane bounty hunter would never willingly set foot there. The people there don't like outsiders. Especially when they happen to be connected to Corneria. That's what I heard anyway, don't know if it's true." Dexter answered, "Better safe than sorry then" Peppy mentioned. Without a word, Dexter walked over to the controls of the main gun and ran some scans, he wanted to get familiar with it, should he ever need to use it. "You can get some rest as well, you two. I'll handle things for now" Fox said as he looked over to Krystal who seemed to be a bit lost. She smiled and walked away while Dexter remained glued to the screen in front of him. He then turned his head towards Dexter "Hey, you don't need to be up here." He said to him. The raven looked up from his task "Got that, just returning the favor" he murmured and turned his head back to the screen.

"What favor?" Fox asked, that taciturn raven had him confused again. Dexter sighed "Inviting me to your team. You didn't have to do that." Fox shrugged "It felt like the right thing to do" he simply replied. "Sorry for what happened to you brother" the vulpine added. "Come to think of it, I don't really know anything about you except your name. What's your story?" Fox queried.

Dexter let out a heavy sigh before answering. "Well, I guess I owe you an explanation. So, my brother Terry and I were born on Ravi. Our parents were miners; I think that's where my mistrust to anyone strange comes from. You know, miners need to rely on their fellows to keep each other's back. On my travels as a bounty hunter I had to deal with a lot of different people, but there was one thing they all had in common; they all let me down at some point. I even trusted some of them with my life, so I faced death quite often. So I just figured that people in General were selfish douchebags." Fox was a bit surprised that Dexter could actually speak that much. "Anyhow, after my parents died, Terry and I joined the Cornerian army. We were in that last fight against Andross where you took him out in the end. But before you arrived someone ordered the ship my brother was on to start an assault on Andross. As you can imagine it didn't end well, the entire crew got killed. I was stationed aboard the Dignity when it happened. Not long after that I was discharged dishonorably because I constantly questioned my superior's orders. Even my friends who always claimed they'd be there for me in my time of need abandoned me. That's when I began to make my living as a bounty hunter." Dexter finished. He looked to the ground and Fox thought he could see water gathering in the raven's eyes. That guy went through hell and survived it. No wonder he acts the way he does. Things like that change you forever.

"Anyhow, thanks for listening. It feels good to have it off my chest." The raven spoke with clear relief in his voice. "That's what friends are for" Fox responded as he offered his hand to Dexter. "Friends it is then" the raven said and as he shook Fox's hand, a genuine smile spread across his face. The first time he truly smiled in years.


The rest of the trip Fox and Dexter barely spoke. Fox didn't know what he could possibly talk about after Dexter's revelation. However, Dexter was in no mood to say anything more, he had work to do, he could talk later. Fox noticed the determination the raven put in working on the main turret. He was totally focused and the vulpine could imagine that Dexter probably forgot where he was while getting familiar with the Great Fox's controls. When they reached Tereja's orbit, Fox summoned everyone onto the bridge. "So that's Tereja? Looks a lot like Titania if you ask me, all desert and stuff" Slippy said as he ran some scans on the planet's atmosphere. "Hmm that doesn't look to good. According to this there are constant sandstorms on Tereja. So I presume you take some appropriate clothing with you. And protect your eyes from the storm, sand at that speed is more than just dangerous" the toad went on.

"Well, that's a little of a setback but it doesn't make the whole operation impossible. Does the sand somehow afflict our Arwings?" Fox asked. "Apart from scratching off your paint there won't be much damage" Slippy answered in his high pitched voice. "Alright, let's better get going. The sooner we start the sooner we'll be done with it" Fox said. Just as he turned towards the door, Slippy's computer started to beep frantically. "What the heck? Why is the system reading a massive energy spike when there is nothing on this world that uses juice apart from occasional lightning storms!" Slippy yelled.

"I can tell you why" Dexter replied as he pointed towards Tereja. They all looked up and their faces froze immediately. "That is not possible!" Fox whispered while Peppy fell to the floor, obviously in shock. Slippy's mouth opened and closed unable to form any words on what he was seeing right now. Krystal looked around the people on the bridge, she didn't understand what they were so scared of but she could tell that it was bad. "What's wrong?" she asked innocently. Then she noticed the huge pillar of blue light on Tereja's surface. "What is that?" she queried further. Fox cleared his throat and shook his head several times, trying to somehow wake himself from a very bad dream. "That light you see is…" he was unable to finish. Then he gathered himself. "It's a core-fusion bomb. It merges atomic cores of the same chemical element to form a new one. But the one created has less mass than it should have normally. That deviation however is unleashed in pure energy, And by the looks of it, it seems that the deviation is huge in this case." He whispered his voice was lacking the strength to speak at its usual volume.

"But all the people down there! We need to help them!" the blue vixen exclaimed. Dexter and Fox nodded. "We better get down there. We may be able to salvage some information on the bomb. Whoever worked on that thing might have left some notes we could use" Dexter said while he followed Fox and Krystal to the docking bay.

Only moments later the three Arwings left the Great Fox and moved towards the barren planes of Tereja.