The last time Captain Gilraen Anilora had been to Corneria, it had been at General Pepper's invitation and only for the purpose of attending the public hearing of an especially prestigious Venomian lieutenant. Although he continued to travel with armed escort on hand he felt secure wandering about on his own, even stopping at a newsstand to purchase the latest edition of the K'yorin Columnist.
News that an outdated Venomian transport ship had crashed on Titania, yielding no one on board and failing to trace an owner, had swept throughout the system with an open note of panic. If those on board had died there would have been bodies - so where were the survivors? It was in light of this suspicious occurrance that Anilora supposed he had been summoned to the Cornerian Military Base, the headquarters of the General of all the Free Peoples of Lylat.
It was a beautiful day, typical of the Cornerian weather patterns for mid-October, and as Anilora strolled down the busy K'yorin avenue his violet eyes shimmered pleasantly. A fine mop of brown-blonde hair shot with unnatural streaks of silver had grown a bit longer, now passing in front of his brilliant eyes so that every so often he was forced to brush it away. Visibly he had changed; during the war stress had deprived him of sleep and good eating habits, but now he seemed healthier and happier, and truthfully he had gained back a well-needed ten pounds. His step was carefree, far more at ease than it had been in years, and at the turn of his twenty-fourth year things had at last returned to a state of blessed normalcy.
Often he thought of Celestra and of what she was doing, and although he knew where to find her he didn't dare go looking for her. In times of peace Celestra tended to be rather hermit-like, holing herself away in any one of several secret bases only a select few of her closest confidantes knew the locations of. Anilora didn't have the transmission frequencies to reach her at any of them, and he believed Bill was the only one who did. He supposed she was still away somewhere in space hunting those Separatists that remained in exile, but he suspected it wouldn't be long before she caught up with them.
Every single tabloid he passed had something to say about Sensenic Morray's supposed marriage, and although he wondered vaguely who the Fortunan's lover was he knew it to be a ridiculous theory and merely smiled.
Two military veterans were waiting for him just outside the military base gates, and upon reaching them Anilora waved off his unseen envoy; several dark figures turned and melted back into the shadows of nearby buildings and set off down the avenue. The first veteran took a step forward to shake Anilora's hand.
"Greetings, Captain," he began, and the second veteran bowed and came up in a salute. "If you'll follow me; the General is waiting."
Anilora allowed the veteran to lead him up the exterior staircase and into the base, eyeing the young man curiously. "I beg your pardon - I don't think I know you. What's your name?"
The soldier leading the way was a human, making him quite rare; most of the human race came from Katina, and during the first Lylat War nearly all of them had been wiped out. His hair was jet black, long and straight as it gently brushed his shoulders when he walked, and a pair of equally dark eyes settled on the captain in a friendly manner at the question. He was extraordinarily slight of build, barely topping five feet with a lithe torso and arms that spoke of little physical activity. "Merrick Di'mant at your service, Captain, and a pleasure to at last meet you in person."
Though he spoke in a likewise friendly fashion his voice was low and somehow monotonous; Anilora didn't like this man already, though he wasn't sure why. "Odd - the name doesn't ring a bell. Where did you serve?"
"I was born on Zoness, where I served from my sixteenth year to my nineteenth," Merrick replied conversationally. "After that I was transferred to Daxter on Fortuna, where I served under Commander-In-Chief Morray for another six years. After the war the general promoted me to a veteran status, and now I serve here in K'yorin as head of the general's elite security."
"An exceptionally faithful career to the republic," the Katinan captain observed, and Merrick beamed with pride. Just then they arrived at General Pepper's office, and the veteran bowed him inside.
An interesting and surprising conflagration awaited Anilora as he shut the door behind him. A grey figure rushed at him, knocking the wind from his chest, and when the captain had regained his bearings he was more than happy to hug Bill Grey just as enthusiastically. Bill had spent two months in pursuit of Separatist rogues, and while Anilora had been increasingly busy he had dearly missed his close friend. Releasing him Anilora shook hands with Star Fox mercenary leader Fox McCloud; seated at the windowsill he shared a wave with Falco Lombardi, also a mercenary and renowned as the team's ace pilot. General pepper rose from his seat and grasped Anilora's hand warmly.
"Did you have a safe journey?" asked Pepper, and Anilora smiled in reply.
"The guard you sent were more than enough for the trip," he assured. "And thank you."
Pepper re-seated himself, motioning for his four guests to gather around, and he cleared his throat to speak. "The government is becoming anxious; the wreck site on Titania is worrying all of my superiors, who have reason to believe that Star Wolf was on board that transport ship the day it crashed."
"What reason?" asked Bill with a frown. "It coulda been anybody; don't the govs know that?"
"I made it quite clear, but their main concern is that four powerful enemies of the Loyalist republic are still on the loose." Pepper seemed highly displeased. "Regardless, I have been ordered to take no chances. From this point forward we must assume that Star Wolf is at large and preparing to strike against us."
"And you want us to take care of them," Fox stated more than asked, and the general nodded his agreement.
"Infinitely more easy than the last thing you asked us to do, which was fight a war," Falco inserted, and he and his mercenary leader shared a snicker. "It's not like these guys can walk around wherever they want, whenever they want. What do we know so far? Any leads?"
"I think I've got one," Anilora piped in. "The day the crash occurred was the day the primary colonization party fell back from Titania. Only one cruiser was used to leave - the personal cruiser Ambassador, owned and operated by the man chosen to head the colonization efforts, Sensenic Morray. It's likely he was completely unaware of their presence; the envoy landed briefly here in K'yorin, then returned to Fortuna's capital city Titus, where it docked at Arspace Division Four."
The room was quiet for several moments as the theory was mulled over, and then Bill added, "They're smart enough to figure out that the envoy would go the extra day and a half to Titus; I'd just about bet that they snuck off there and dove into the first hold they could find."
"Hold up," Falco said with a defiant snap of his fingers. "Doesn't Celestra have a supply base somewhere in Titus?"
"An apartment, actually," Anilora corrected quietly, and a blush flooded his cheeks as they studied him curiously. "On the outskirts of Daxter, not so far from Arspace."
Fox leaned forward, catching on. "It's possible she's been in touch with Morray over the past few weeks, maybe even before she entered deep space to chase rogues." He turned to Pepper in conclusion. "They might have a new lead on these guys. They could help us bring Star Wolf in."
"Precisely," Pepper congratulated. "Celestra may even be on their trail already. Unraveling riddles is a specialty of hers."
"What if Star Wolf fell in with some old friends of theirs?" asked Bill. "Could make things a bit difficult in the long run."
"I don't know about that," Falco countered, glancing away frow the window for a moment. "Just how many guys did you catch in two months? Forty? Fifty?"
"Seventy, more like," Bill corrected stiffly.
"Now add that to however many Celestra caught in a month or so of space travel," Falco continued, and he screwed up his beak as he hypothesized a number. "That's a hundred Separatists at the least bagged between the two of you, if not more. If Wolf and his crew were hoping to score some allies they waited too long to look for them, because most of them are rotting in prison by now."
Anilora nodded his agreement. "Most of the well-known Separatists have been in prison for weeks; Falco could be right. Any assistance they may find shouldn't be anything the four of us can't handle."
"Speaking of which, I did specify that I wanted the entire Star Fox team," Pepper interrupted, and Fox winced. "Where are Peppy and Slippy?"
"Peppy retired from active flight duty a few weeks ago," admitted the vulpine. "He's returned to Arspace and is overseeing the tests of KWEST's new proposed obmion compound laser. And Slippy . . . well . . . he's been missing since the war ended."
That statement rewarded him with everyone's attention; Pepper, Anilora, and Bill stared incredulously at Fox as Falco snickered in mild amusement. "What do you mean, missing!" the general exclaimed.
"That's just it, sir," Fox offered obediently. "No one knows where he is. The last time Falco and I saw him was when he was packing to leave the Great Fox; since then he hasn't contacted us."
"Odd," Anilora commented. "Under a normal circumstance I would say that there are very few places a fifteen-year-old could go unnoticed in this galaxy, but we all know how intelligent Slippy is and he is far from ordinary."
"Then I suppose as long as there are no objections, you two could join Fox and Falco as mercenaries," Pepper said slowly, eyeing Bill and Anilora as he said this. "I'll leave someone trustworthy in your staid, Gilraen, and I'm certain that the governmental body will agree to one special circumstance, seeing as how Star Wolf is involved."
The assassin and the captain exchanged a glance, then nodded in assent.
"The disappearance of Slippy can't be helped at the moment, unfortunately," Pepper continued, expression more than a little confused. "Has Peppy been in touch? The executives at KWEST are pushing most insistently for authorization of the obmion laser compound, but I am waiting for one I trust to certify it before I pass the word to them."
"The obmions were tested at Arspace a few days ago," Falco inserted. "Everybody who watched the demonstration had nothing but good things to say, Peppy included."
"I'm curious," Bill put in delicately, and the room fell silent. "Does anybody actually know who owns and operates KWEST?"
Pepper and Anilora glanced at one another guiltily. "Actually, no," the Katinan captain admitted softly. "The information we have suggests that there are two owners, and although we are both acquainted with men who work there, it seems all of the technological enterprise operates under a strong vow of silence. They refuse to divulge the identities of the two executives, but I have been assured numerous times that they are both brilliant and honorable men, and very loyal to the republic. So far we have no reason to distrust them - the new line of Myst Arwing is the most advanced model to date - but we're as much in the dark as the rest of the city."
"Doesn't it bother ya that these guys are conductin' business behind yer backs?" Bill asked.
Anilora smiled to placate his friend. "They have been nothing but loyal and helpful since KWEST began operating; if they prefer to work under identity secrecy, that is their choice."
"In any event, we will be searching for Star Wolf without Peppy or Slippy," the general concluded, bringing the talk back to their primary objective. "We have assurances from KWEST that the first four Myst Alphas to pass through testing with the obmions installed will be set aside for your usage. When that occurs, the search can begin in full."
"What do we do until then?" asked Fox.
"I think our smartest course of action is to depart for Daxter as soon as we can," Anilora offered. "If Celestra is already on the trail of the Star Wolf mercenaries she will need our help eventually."
"As for Morray, we should drop in on him at Arspace to see if he knows anything we don't," added Fox. "Even if he doesn't, we can still get him up to speed, keep Division Four prepared, and enlist his help." As he said this the four mercenaries rose, taking it in turns to shake hands with the general.
"The KWEST executies estimate another week before the Myst Alphas are prepped and ready for combat," Pepper informed them. "Take the Great Fox, and when the new Arwings are ready I will contact you. Hopefully Celestra and even Sensenic will have joined you by that time."
Anilora led them out into the sunny streets, setting off for the distant Milano Air Base where the mercenaries' personal cruiser had been docked for the past half year. Behind the captain the mercenaries noticed a carefree and almost giddy spring to his step, and they looked curiously at Bill, who offered only a negligent shrug.
It was only a two day flight to Daxter, the primary neighbor to Fortunan capital Titus. Not so long a time to wait to see Celestra Marquette, the love of Anilora's life.
Merrick Di'mant snuck cautiously down the stone steps, making his way stealthily into the lower levels of the enemy base and glancing frequently over his shoulder to be certain he wasn't being followed. The basement was seldom used anymore, other than in times of crisis, and now that the war was over most things had been cleared out and moved back onto the ground floor. In the state of vacancy dust stirred with every step he took; cobwebs draped from the ceiling, and when he slipped quietly into a storage closet a familiar sneering voice accosted him.
"Did you hear it?"
"Every word." As Merrick closed the door Pigma and Andrew melted out of the shadows. "Pepper has assigned a new mercenary team to locate you and your teammates, led by Captain Anilora." At this revelation Pigma and Andrew hissed in loathing and hatred, and Merrick snickered at their childishness. "Bill, Fox, and Falco have already signed on to help him - the hare has finally retired and the kid has turned up missing."
"That's not really good news, you know," Pigma griped, running a hand down his face and scowling deeply to himself. "Anilora and Grey are a lot tougher than those other two ever were, and now they're all looking for us."
Andrew swallowed hard; Merrick burst into laughter and had to lean against the nearest dirty wall in his hysterics. "Oh no, they're not. The captain had a stroke of brilliance and gave Pepper a lead - on Wolf and Leon's location in Daxter."
Pigma snickered in victory. "Everything is working out perfectly, Merrick! Wolf and Leon have absolutely nowhere to run now that they're caught between them and us! No matter who finds them first they wind up dead!"
Merrick remembered the brief discussion concerning Celestra and Morray, and could see a possible wrench being thrown into their plans. It was very unlikely that the female assassin would believe the truth if Wolf and Leon even found the courage to confront her, but if by some unseen design she believed them, their alliance could ruin everything he had worked so hard for. He ran a hand through his long black hair and toyed with the idea of telling Pigma all he knew, but thought better of it and stayed silent. The more he kept from Pigma's knowledge, the better.
"Yes, so far everything is falling into place nicely," he said instead, pacing the room as they watched. "More rogues are filtering into top priority positions every day, and I'm in touch with every single one of them. We're ready to welcome you back into the fold since your betrayal of Wolf and Leon, but as the instigator of the uprising I can't let either of you get actively involved. You'll be staying quiet and laying low as long as I'm in charge, and let me take care of your other two old mercenary friends, understand?"
Neither of them seemed thrilled at having Merrick in complete control, but Pigma nodded in dismissal and asked, "Just how many guys of ours are inside the system so far?"
"At least fifty by now, but the number grows every week," said Merrick. "When Wolf and Leon have been impounded and executed and we've got a large enough group to make a difference, we'll take care of the Loyalists and bring Andross back to full power and glory."
That thought seemed to relax Pigma quite a bit; nodding he motioned for Merrick to leave, resigning himself to the long and lonely waiting brought on by exile.
Soon. Soon the Loyalists would be done celebrating.
Soon Andross would bring devastation back to Lylat.
Soon.
