"This is CDF Juggernaut Seleucia to General Hare. All five vessels are through the gate and awaiting the go ahead to start our mission."

"Solid copy, Seleucia. Hold all ships just outside the planet's radar, we can't afford to let these two slip out of our fingers." Peppy replied tapping the live feed he had with President Sampson. "We're ready to being our mission sir."

"Excellent!" Jeffrey smiled at Peppy. "I'm glad you kept your word General. It'll go a long way to making Cornerians feel safer, not to mention help mend some of the old wounds Pepper created."

"You know as well I do that everything Pepper did was to help Corneria." Peppy glanced over at his friend. "I surely wouldn't be General if he didn't act to save me from Beriul."

"Of course, and I'm thankful for his actions." Jeffrey smirked. "But not everyone sees it the way we do. Those people are still my constituents, and I'm not ignorant to how they feel about Pepper."

Peppy chuckled softly. "I can't say that I'm jealous of your job, sir. But you might be the most level headed person we've seen in office for some time."

Jeffrey bowed his head. "Thank you General, but for now, focus on Aquas. I have a few meetings to attend to before I make my way over to you. I'd like to see our military in action, not to mention see the Star Fox team in action as well."

"We're looking forward to your visit President Sampson. Peppy out." Peppy looked back over at Pepper who had been speaking with some of his own security. No doubt the old hound was briefing his team on the President's visit to the CDF HQ. Peppy gnawed the inside of his cheek, Pepper was walking a fine line between consult and competition. His private security team played a vital role in helping the CDF train and recruit. The cadets who didn't quite make the cut normally had a second chance under Pepper's guidance. Peppy knew that his old friend still had a mind of an active General, and couldn't deny that he had been interested in joining up before Pepper offered him his current job. Katt had found a bridge between the Hot Rodders and Star Fox through Pepper's team, and he couldn't ignore how much she'd improved under the hound's tutelage. Not that she wasn't already a fine pilot in her own right, she just seemed to have developed a better mindset.

"You've got that thousand yard stare," Peppy snapped out of his thoughts as Pepper had closed the gap between them. "Not worried about the President's visit are you?"

"No, no," Peppy sighed, turning away from his friend. "Just got a few things on my mind is all."

"I've been there," Pepper walked to the center console, looking over the teams of CDF officers working to keep everything running smoothly. He smiled, part of him still missed this job. Not so much the typical affairs of being a General, but the feeling of being the conductor of all the controlled chaos. "It doesn't get easier, but it is manageable after a while."

"It isn't about managing everything that has me worried." Peppy looked over his shoulder at Pepper. "What has me worried is what happens after all this." The hare began to pace back and forth in front of his console. "I can't ignore how this mission hits so close to home. As a leader I can compartmentalize it and move on, but I can't see this ending well for Star Fox. Fox lost his father because of Pigma's betrayal. With Slippy and Amanda's defection I'm worried about Fox's psyche."

"Ah yes, I remember you telling me about this plan you made with Krystal. It was when Beriul started trying to turn everyone on Fox, right?" Peppy nodded, but kept quiet. "Jackie made sure they got to Sauria. By rights, that plan came to fruition."

"In a sense. But you saw Fox when he came back, he looked as stressed as he did when he left!"

"Unfortunately, that is something Fox will have to deal with." Pepper chuckled lightly. "Besides, we both know that marriage is tough, but we have no idea how tough it would be to be married to a telepath."

Peppy smirked. "I suppose not." His mind was eased slightly knowing Krystal would always be looking out for Fox's best interest. "Thanks, Erwin."

"Anytime, Pep," Pepper patted his friend's shoulder. "Looks like you've got a green board. I'll check in with Bel before heading back to my place for a while. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything."

"Go get some sleep, old timer." Peppy grinned, he heard Pepper mutter something about not being that much older before the door shut behind him. "General Hare to Juggernaut Seleucia. You're cleared to begin your mission. Good hunting, and keep an eye out for an assist from Star Fox. They should be enroute as well."

"Solid copy General Hare. We'll try and keep the party going for them. Seleucia out."

Peppy smiled. "When did the CDF get so cocky?"

"Captain! We're within range to hail Aquas."

"Go ahead and open up communications, Ensign."

Everyone on the bridge was silent while waiting for Amanda to respond. The captain drummed his fingers on the arm of his command chair, each passing second put him more on edge. He'd seen this kind of behavior before, back when he had faced down Oikonny's rebellion before the Aparoid War.

The screen in front of him blinked green a few times before it expanded showing Amanda's face as well as a few of her guards behind her.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?"

"This is Captain Wes Robson of the CDF Juggernaut Seleucia. I'm offering you, Slippy, and anyone else loyal to your cause a chance to surrender Aquas and come back to Corneria peacefully. If you come with us now General Hare will redact his bounty and offer you the chance to explain your actions in court. It is highly recommended that you take this offer now, as it will never be available again."

Amanda giggled, falling into a fit of laughter. "I should have known the CDF wouldn't listen to reason." Her laughter grew louder and wicked. "But to your credit you haven't breached Aquas' surface yet so you must be someone with at least half a brain." Her laughter stopped as she beamed a smile at Wes. "So tell me Captain, how has Corneria been dealing with the news of our return."

Wes clenched his jaw. "You've certainly got the full attention of the CDF. But to me? You're just another mission." He smirked. "Not really living up to all the hype either."

"Oh I see," Amanda's face fell momentarily before her mouth twisted into a smile. "I guess I'll have to make this worth your while." She snapped her fingers and the two guards behind her immediately began walking to her right. "Curious as to where they're going?"

Wes shrugged. "Not really, I mainly want an answer to my question. Will you come peacefully or not?"

"I mean, if I were you I'd wonder where they went." Amanda continued as if she didn't hear Wes. She looked to here right as a commotion off screen could be heard. "Oh that sounds like someone who isn't cooperating." Taking a step to the side, Amanda indicated one of the scientists hostages, blood dripping from a fresh cut to their cheek. "Come now, don't be shy! You're talking with a CDF Captain! Tell him what happens to people who don't follow orders!"

The scientist, a female otter breathed heavily, the fear in their eyes almost painfully clear to Wes. "D-don't come down here! He'll get to you too. He's been getting to everyone…" The scientist began to visibly shake, and held her head.

"Calm down," Wes' voice caused the otter to snap her head towards the display. "What's your name? Is Doctor Antham still alive?"

"My, my name?" The otter closed her eyes in pain as he tried to remember her name. "It-Its…" Her eyes opened slowly. "I can't remember, I can't… I." The otter stopped talking, her eyes rolling in the back of her head. Amanda came back into focus, signalling for the guards to take the scientist back off screen.

"What the hell did you do to her Amanda?" Wes snarled.

"Me? Nothing, I'm just as impressed by it as you are." Amanda laughed heartily. "Now, if you don't want to meet the same fate as her I would advise against landing on Aquas. And tell Peppy that there will be no deal for him."

"You're a damned monster Amanda!" Wes scowled as Amanda blew him a kiss before cutting the link between them. "Get me General Hare! This situation just went FUBAR!"

Fox watched as most of his team finished prepping their ships, a rare smile on his face. They could finally end this year long quest, and he could finally relax again. The paranoia, mistrust, and bitterness could finally give way to forgiveness. He could become the leader this team needed again, or he could fully commit to Krystal's idea of a permanent hiatus. After all he'd been through the latter sounded better, especially going through the same betrayal his father had. "You sure you want me down there with you guys?" The vulpine looked over to Tyronos, who flicked away the remnants of his joint.

"Of course," Fox felt his smile fall. He hadn't seen Tyronos look as bad as he did in the entirety of this mission. The grey vulpine exhaled the smoke, leaving Fox slightly annoyed that he hadn't offered any. "I need everyone down there, especially now since we might have other bounty hunters trying to cash in on Slippy and Amanda."

"I'm sure Ghost could hold most of them at bay." Tyronos mused, he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Alright, the sooner we start this the better."

Fox balled his hand up into a fist and lifted it to Tyronos. The grey vulpine grinned and bumped his own fist with Fox's. "Once we finish this problem, I promise I'll help you deal with yours." Tyronos nodded before heading towards his ship, leaving Fox to finish prepping his Arwing. He ran his hand along the canopy before jumping into the cockpit. His Arwing began firing up, adjusting his seat automatically and shut the canopy before the screens lit up. "Comms line green, how we looking?"

"We've been good to go forever, but someone insisted on a quick smoke break." Falco chuckled as he looked over at Tyronos' Arwing. The vulpine promptly flipped him off before the windows in his cockpit tinted black. "C'mon, me and the Skyclaw have been waiting for a fight!"

"Please, I'll be doing most of the work while you pick up the scraps!" Katt teased, blowing a kiss to the avian.

"Oh, is that a fact?" Falco smirked, feeling his cockiness bubbling back to the surface. "We really going to prove whos the better pilot, again?"

"Again?" Katt laughed. "Well I guess prepared to get humbled, again bird brain!"

Krystal giggled and rolled her eyes. 'Hard to think of a time these two weren't competing against each other. I'm glad they finally decided to get married.' She looked over at Fox, his focus was purely on the mission. 'Where's that smile you had just a few minutes ago?'

Fox looked over at his wife, smirking. 'Let's just say I'm trying to hold out until we're back on Sauria.' The vixen winked at him before facing forward again. "I've got everyone green except for Jackie."

Katt shrugged. "Wasn't she right behind us when we left the bridge?"

"We can handle this until she's ready, maybe she had an emergency or whatever. You know how those pre-mission jitters get to everyone differently." Falco chuckled looking down to see Tyronos biting back laughter.

"Right, we've waited long enough. And since Peppy hasn't called us off yet, we can assume that the CDF haven't made a move against Amanda or Slippy yet." Fox took a calming breath, ready to end this mission. "We're ready to launch, Rob!"

Everyone gripped their controls, ready for the launcher to boost them towards Aquas. But nothing happened. Fox quickly checked the comms line again, the green board shined brighter as if to taunt him. "Comms lines aren't broken, shouldn't be any reason Rob isn't responding. Rob, launch all fighters!"

"What is he doing? Taking a day off?" Falco muttered drumming his fingers against the controls of the Skyclaw.

"Maybe he's malfunctioning?" Krystal asked.

Fox shook his head. "Beltino updated all of Rob's programming, and Rob has been controlling everything on the Great Fox fine until now. What the hell is going on?" Fox growled. "Rob! We're wasting time here! Launch all ships! That's an order!" The vulpine felt his anger rising and grit his teeth. "Ok then, I'll just launch us all manually!"

"Emergency lockdown in progress. Unable to launch ships." Rob's voice had pitched slightly lower as emergency lights began to flicker on and off. Everyone went quiet, there had only been one time in recent memory that this had happened.

"What. The. Fuck." Fox growled, his rage swelling in every word. He pushed open his canopy and jumped out, the rest of his team following suit. "Where the FUCK is Jackie?"

"If she's not down here then she must've stayed up in the bridge, but why?" Krystal looked over at Katt who shook her head. Tyronos held back slightly, sending a quick message to Ghost about a possible override before jogging to catch up to the rest of the team.

"Do you think Slippy or Amanda hacked him remotely?" Falco asked as they entered the lift to the bridge.

"I'll be sure to ask them when I see them next." Fox spat, the vulpine felt Krystal send him some soothing thoughts and took a deep breath. "But first, I need to ask Jackie what she knows about this."

Falco bit his tongue, he wanted to remind everyone he'd seen this before. But that was back when Pepper had overrided Rob so that Amanda, Slippy and himself couldn't leave the Great Fox. But somehow Slippy and Amanda got passed it. Part of him wondered if Pepper had overrided Rob again, maybe there was something Corneria knew about that they didn't.

Fox barely let the door open before scanning the bridge, spotting Jackie standing close to Rob. "What the fuck did you do to my AI?"

Jackie gulped and looked up at Fox hesitantly. She could see in his eyes how furious he was. "I borrowed a tactic from a mutual friend."

"Oh? Well doesn't that just explain everything!" Fox's voice dripped with sarcasm. "That AI is the only thing I have left from my father!" Fox yelled stepping closer to Jackie. "You'd better explain what the fuck you did before I lock your sorry ass in the brig for the rest of this mission!"

"Relax! It-" Jackie started before being cut off by Fox.

"Relax? Are you shitting me? How can I relax when you just forced my entire ship into lockdown?!" Fox grit his teeth fighting not to send the betrayal he felt through his mind link.

"You'll get one chance to explain yourself, Jackie." Krystal said sternly, glaring at the wolfess. Her own suspicions were being amplified by Fox through their link. "And keep in mind I will know if you're lying."

Jackie stood still, glancing from Krystal to Fox. "I used a temporary override code, in an hour your ship and AI will return to normal functions. That I can assure you."

"There shouldn't be anyone save for me or Beltino that can override Rob. How'd you do it?" Fox asked as Krystal confirmed she was indeed telling the truth.

"As I said, it's a mutual acquaintance. His code overrides any active CDF AI." Jackie scoffed as Krystal narrowed her eyes. "If you don't believe me ask Falco! He's seen this code in action before!"

Fox looked over his shoulder at the avian. "Hey don't look at me. Last time this happened Rob started working again when you came back from Fichina."

"So you're going to throw Pepper under the bus huh?" Tyronos mused, crossing his arms across his chest. "I don't think he'll be happy to know you're using a CDF last resort code without his knowledge."

"Did Pepper tell you that himself or did you just buy that information from Ghost?" Jackie burned a hole through Tyronos, wanting nothing more to expose this smug bounty hunter for what he was.

"Hey!" Katt yelled. "You're really making it hard to keep vouching for you Jackie! What the hell do you got against Ty?"

"I've got my reasons Katt!" Jackie growled, still staring at Tyronos, gritting her teeth as the grey vulpine flashed her a grin. "And he knows exactly why I don't trust him."

"And you've created a huge reason for me not to trust you." Fox said calmly catching Jackie off guard. He moved in front of Tyronos. "When this ship returns to normal I'm sending you back to Corneria. Pepper can decide what he wants to do with you then."

"Fine. But you guys will be thanking me by the end of this."

"I highly fucking doubt that." Fox snarled and turned to leave before the main comms screen opened showing Peppy standing beside Jeffrey.

"Attention all CDF forces near Aquas. Our mission today will be overseen by our new President Jeffrey Sampson. And he would like to say a few words before we begin."

Jeffrey thanked Peppy quietly before take a step forward. "Soldiers and Officers of the Cornerian Defense Force, I wish you the best of luck in your mission. It's my hope that there is a quick and complete end to this ordeal. Remember, this is first and foremost a rescue mission, Amanda and Slippy Toad have been known to flee at the first whisper of trouble. Make Corneria proud, and do everything in your power to come back safe." With a salute Jeffrey took a step back and allowed Peppy to take control of the mission."

"All ships breach Aquas' atmosphere! Juggernauts Seleucia and Terigon will land near the Research Center and the CDF buildings respectively. Juggernauts Genesis, Elysium and Infinitum will serve as anti-air deterrents. They will also act if Slippy and Amanda try to escape Aquas. We're doing everything we can to bring these two in alive, they've got a lot to answer to. I want this to run as smooth as possible, I don't need anyone trying to play a hero here. Good luck, Peppy out."

The team watched as the CDF ships started to break Aquas' atmosphere. They were so close to the action, to finally completing their mission but were unable to act. "Rob, report." The AI remained silent and motionless. The vulpine heard the door open behind him as the team left the bridge. He felt Krystal hug him from behind before leaving as well. Fox gently rested his hand on his AI, hoping that somehow it would reboot him and he'd be able to join the fight on Aquas. Rob kept still, his head tilted forward slightly. "Why would Pepper even tell Jackie about some code to lock down this ship? And wouldn't Pepper's codes be obsolete by now?" Fox felt doubt creep into his mind. Peppy and Pepper hadn't exactly been forthcoming about Jackie, who knows what she'd been doing for Pepper. He knew Pepper had his own security company, and he couldn't lie about not being interested about a potential job. With a long, drawn out sigh Fox focused on Aquas. There would be a time to ask Pepper about his associate, but for now he'd have to wait until this lockdown was over.

It was almost painfully quick for Beltino to get used to being back in a CDF building. The familiar comforts of cutting edge technology, the melody of the keystrokes created a harmony against the muddled conversations in the nearby hallway. A few of his former students had poked their head in to offer their support, but most of it was half-hearted. It was clear that the CDF had washed their hands of Slippy and now treated him like he was Andross. His typing slowed as he drifted into thought. Would he watch his son break to the point of becoming Lylat's greatest enemy? Andross suffered from a lack of discipline, but no one on Corneria doubted his brilliant as a scientist. As such no one kept him in check until he'd simply gone too far. His mind was opened to countless possibilities with bio-weapons, and when the Research Director put a cease and desist order on him Andross lost his mind.

Was Slippy headed in that same direction? Unfortunately there wasn't a one hundred percent chance that the answer was no. Not anymore. Whatever Amanda and Beriul had said to his son had pushed him to a dark place. He could only hope that his son could see the error in his ways before it cost him everything.

"How are you holding up Bel?"

Beltino turned to see Pepper standing at the door. The toad took off his glasses to clean them. "I've managed to more or less pinpoint the origin of the hack. No doubt it was harder for them to hack in than it was for me to track their steps."

"You always were the best Bel," Pepper walked up to the desk, looking over the three open screens. "Do you know if it was Slippy or Amanda yet?"

Beltino inspected his glasses for a moment, cleaning off a rogue smudge that he'd missed before spinning his chair back to the screens. He tapped the middle one, enlarging the highlighted code. "I wasn't sure until I saw this," Beltino tapped the code once more, replaying the hack in real time. The code changed colour from green to orange before flashing red twice. "Right there, that should've triggered an alarm. But the trigger gets rerouted back to the source of the hack. A loop that contains the alarm until whoever is hacking the network is done. How long was Amanda's message? A few minutes at most right?"

Pepper nodded. "More or less."

"To pull this off, someone would have to be an expert in the language. This loop would have to be self-sufficient, and it would have to be able to adapt to the constant shift in proxies and algorithms to avoid being detected by the firewalls. There are a number of people in Corneria alone that could do this. Thankfully they all work for the CDF, however there are people in Lylat capable of this kind of attack as well. But this," Beltino pointed at the code once more. "This is a trick that I didn't teach anyone."

"So was Slippy involved in this?" Pepper asked.

Beltino nodded. "There was a point where I wasn't so much teaching Slippy as just writing code with him shadowing me. I showed him this loop once, but back then it was strictly for a testing environment. We had to break the code ourselves so we knew how to fix it, right?"

Pepper smirked, patting Beltino on the shoulder. "You're the first person to confirm where Slippy is in over a year."

Beltino scoffed. "You'll forgive me if I hold out on celebrating until I see my son in person again."

"Of course," Pepper's face fell. "He isn't lost to us yet Bel. Once they're is back on Corneria we can get him and Amanda the help they need." Pepper turned and walked back to the office door. "You should let Peppy know what you've found."

"Yeah, I'll give him an update in a few, I just want to finalize a few hotfixes." Beltino stretched his hands over his head. "You headed back to your house?"

"I've got something I need to deal with, a minor problem I want to get a head of before it snowballs into a shitstorm." Pepper felt himself grin slightly. "Business as usual, you might say."

Beltino chuckled lightly and waved as Pepper left. Allowing himself a moment to refocus before minimizing the middle screen in front of him. "You always were my doppelganger when it came to coding, Slip. But right now, that's a bigger issue for you than for me."

"Command this is Robson, we have boots on the ground. Teams from all three juggernauts are enroute to the Research Center." Wes motioned for his team to move forward, he put a finger on his earpiece. "Looks pretty quiet out here right now, probably all holed up inside."

"They've locked us out of the main satellites surrounding the planet. It'll take some time to move the back ups so that we can scan the area." Peppy looked up at the last scan they managed to grab before Amanda took over the research center. "You'll have to use some heavy weapons to knock that door down."

"I think we've got just the thing to ring the doorbell." Wes chuckled watching four groups set up homing launchers to his right. "We can always use the landmasters to punch a hole in the wall if needed."

"Negative, not while we've got hostages inside." Peppy looked over the status of his ships, counting one short. "Captain, has anyone seen the Great Fox? It should've landed on Aquas by now."

"We saw it on our scans near Aquas, but it hasn't moved in some time. Maybe the Genesis has an update on their current location." Wes checked over his blaster and began to move towards the research center.

"We can't wait on the Star Fox team forever. This could be our best chance at capturing Amanda and Slippy!"

"Slippy Toad is confirmed to be here?" Wes put up his fist, halting the advancement of his team. "Did I hear you right General?"

"Yes, we just got confirmation a few minutes ago. This doesn't affect our priority Captain, we need to get those hostages secured first. Then we can focus on capturing the Toads."

"Solid copy General. We're commencing our attack now." Wes signalled the four rocket teams to prep their payload. "Alright, listen up. Our priority is to get the hostages out first, once we've got them we'll do a room by room search for both Amanda and Slippy Toad. We have teams from Genesis, Elysium and Infinitum blocking their escape if they try to flee the planet. We do not know exactly how much resistance we'll find once we're inside the research center. Stick with your fire teams! Watch out for those cannons and drones!"

A resounding 'Hooah' of acknowledgement filled his earpiece, a sound Wes never got tired of hearing.

"Alright, let's knock on the door!"

The first of many rockets sped towards the main door, scorching the heavy metal black. It felt weird attacking a CDF outpost, but Wes shook it off, knowing that it was mostly cosmetic damage that could be repaired. It would take some time to knock down the door, but that was something they had an abundance of.

The tremors of impact shook Pezal awake, he hadn't remembered falling asleep in the first place. The toad coughed a few times before sitting up. His head still throbbed from the rough treatment he'd received from Amanda's soldiers. But his heart hurt far more, still processing the betrayal of his protege. Looking around, he saw most of his staff huddled together in the farthest corner. Some of them looked worse than the others. No doubt they'd been tortured in his place. Scanning the room further Pezal noted that one of his research assistants stood near the door, looking for the source of the tremors.

With a grunt of exertion Pezal stood up and hobbled towards his assistant. "What's that noise?"

"Doctor Atham! You're awake, thank goodness!" Pezal offered a weak smile to the female panther. "We'd assumed the worst when they brought you back unconscious."

"I'm glad to see that you're alright Nat." The panther returned his smile, but the fear in her eyes betrayed her. "What happened since I've been out?"

Nat looked down at her feet, tears building up in her eyes. "They've been taking us out one at a time. I don't know what's going on but when they come back… they aren't the same." Nat indicated the group with her head. "No one can remember anything that happened to them. But the keep muttering about voices in their heads."

"Raji…" Pezal whispered and hung his head. "No doubt in my mind Raji has something to do with this. Amanda just isn't that far gone that she'd do something like this. I have to believe that."

Nat shrugged. "There aren't many us left with our memories Doctor Atham. Who knows if Corneria is even going to send us help."

"Amanda threatened to turn this place into Zoness before it was cleaned up." Pezal looked out the window, only seeing one guard at the door. "Maybe she was bluffing?"

"It won't matter soon anyway. Once we've all lost our memories we won't even know which side we're on." Nat felt tears stream down her face, and covered her mouth as she began to sob.

Pezal looked back over to the group of scientists in the corner. A few of them turned their heads to the sound of Nat's sobbing. They locked eyes with Pezal, their faces twisted by confusion, as if they knew this person but couldn't explain why. One of them stood and made their way over to the door.

"Do you remember me, Alex?" Pezal asked as the middle aged hare looked out the window.

"Yes, for now anyway." Alex grabbed his head. "It feels like I'm fading away, pretty soon I'll be just like them." Alex sighed, leaning against the door. "Any ideas as to what that noise is?"

Before they could answer, yelling could be heard outside followed by the high pitch whine of a microphone. "ATTENTION! The CDF has made a grave error and has begun attack this facility. All hands to the main entrance, defenses will be online momentarily."

Suddenly the group of scientists stood and faced towards the entrance of the research center as if responding to Amanda's orders. "What's happening to them?" Nat asked backing behind Alex and Pezal.

"Whatever it is, I can feel it. It's like my body isn't fully under my control anymore." Alex stood up, actively fighting to keep control of himself. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to resist the orders. But we need to get word to the CDF."

Pezal nodded. "They need to get off this planet before they succumb to whatever tactics Amanda and Raji are using." He looked from Alex to Nat. "We need to get to my office, and warn everyone we can."

Alex and Nat both nodded in agreement. "Any ideas on how to get passed their hack? No doubt they'll be watching for us to make contact."

Pezal thought for a moment, snapping his finger as he figured out a solution. "I've got it! We need to get to the my office!"

"Your office is just off the main hall. No way we're getting there unnoticed." Alex shrugged.

"We just have to get there and I can lock us in until the CDF can rescue us." Pezal smiled sadly. "That is if Amanda isn't bluffing."

"She might be crazy, but I doubt she's suicidal." Nat rested her hand on Pezal shoulder. "Besides, the CDF must've gotten in touch with Star Fox and they've never met an enemy they couldn't handle!"

"You're right, and it wouldn't take them that long to get back here!" Pezal smiled pressing his hand on the scanner to open the door. "We're only going to get one shot at this."

"I'll create a distraction once we're near your office." Alex started walking towards the main entry, looking over his shoulder at Pezal and Nat. "They can't really do much more to me, and I'd feel a hell of a lot better knowing I helped put an end to this madness before it got out of control." They began to move in silence, noting that none of the guards really paid them any attention. The entire base was eerily quiet, Amanda's soldiers appeared almost zombie like, their eyes glazed over as if lost in thought. Their movements were slightly robotic as they marched towards the main entrance.

The closer they got to Amanda, the quicker the guards moved. Most of them readying their weapons, a few others set down boxes of barriers. A small group stood near Amanda, no doubt her personal guards. Another round of rockets hit the front door, causing tremors bad enough to make the small group of scientists to lose their footing. Axel took point, his back against the wall as he peered around the corner. Amanda was clearly talking with someone but he couldn't quite make out who. The hare looked at the front door, it had taken a beating, but held its ground defiantly. "Figures." He looked back at Pezal and Nat. "They'll have to open the doors soon, when that happens you two need to make a break for Pezal's office."

"What are you going to do?" Nat asked.

"The way I see it, I'm either going to be like them or dead." Alex shrugged, all three of them looked over to see the main door opening slowly. Amanda began to bark orders to her soldiers, getting them into defensive positions. "I have an idea that should give you guys the time you need." Alex took a deep breath, giving himself a quick mental pep talk. "Alright, get ready to make a break for Pezal's office." The hare put up three fingers, scanning the area once more. Between them and the office there had to be more than 10 guards. He lowered one finger, feeling whatever controlled these guards grip his mind tighter. Chancing a glance back at Pezal and Nat he could see a mix of determination and fear. Again he lowered one finger, smirking at his colleagues before sneaking his way around the corner. He could hear the conversation Amanda was having a bit better now. She was clearly agitated, likely due to the CDF knocking at her door. He chanced sneaking up closer before waving at Pezal and Nat to move towards Pezal's office.

"Like I said, the CDF ignored my warning Raji. Just like you predicted." Amanda chewed the inside of her mouth, she hadn't thought the CDF would be this bold.

"The Cornerian warmachine is just as predictable as ever." Raji mused. The wolf grinned, no doubt Pepper had told Peppy that this was the best course of action. "My soldiers can hold them off for a while, but they can't fight at their fullest capacity. If needed, I'll get the scientists to become bullet fodder."

Amanda giggled. "Ah yes, my old colleagues. They put up quite the resistance for a few hours. Now they've all but succumbed to your influence, too bad we didn't get all of them."

"We got enough to start mass producing our bio-weapon. The first group should already be on the ship helping Slippy finish up the prototype." Raji closed his eyes, his face twisting into a grin. "Yes, it looks like they're settling in well."

"We're one step closer to taking down Corneria! Those fools don't know what's coming for them!" Amanda's laugh was cut short as the first death screams could be heard just outside. The distraction gave Alex enough time to run up behind Amanda and put her into a choke hold.

"Pezal, Nat! RUN!" Alex shouted, staring at Raji defiantly. "We won't let you fuck things up anymore than you already have! Call off your dogs and I'll let her go."

Raji raised an eyebrow at Alex. The telepath could feel his influence on the hare growing stronger, yet he resisted him."Interesting," The wolf focused on Alex intently. "Either you've got a friend that taught you to resist telepathic influences, or you're just an idiot with a death wish. Either way," Raji closed his eyes again, he could sense that Alex was close to the breaking point and decided to expedite the process. "This'll be a fun test." Mentally gripping Alex's mind Raji began tearing the hare's memories from his mind.

With a howl of pain Alex let go of Amanda and collapsed to the floor. He grabbed his head, feeling as if it was about to explode. Amanda took in gasps of air, rubbing her throat as she turned to see Alex writhing in pain. She hadn't been this close to someone as Raji attacked their mind. She couldn't help but watch in awe, how could anyone hope to stand up against a telepath this powerful? Suddenly Alex went quiet, as if the whole thing had been an act. The hare stood slowly, and started to walk back towards the room with the other scientists.

"What should we do about the other two?" Amanda asked, her voice still raspy. She looked over to Pezal and Nat, cursing under her breath as they entered his office.

Raji smirked. "Let them send their little message, the CDF won't be able to save them anymore. I've already sent their friend to collect the care package I left with you."

Amanda eyes widened, she knew exactly what that meant. "You sure you don't want me to come back to Fichina?"

"It's time to play your part Amanda." Raji nodded and closed his eyes. "And I'll make sure Slippy plays his." The link was cut and Amanda looked over at the open door, already her forces were getting pushed back by the CDF.

The toad began to laugh maniacally.

"Damn it!" Nat shouted as the door closed behind them, fresh tears running down her cheeks. "They got Alex!"

Pezal began starting up his computer. "We cannot let his sacrifice be in vain Nat! I need you to focus for me." Nat didn't moved, watching as Alex began to walk away from Amanda. "Nat!" The panther shook her head and whispered her thanks to the hare before sitting down beside Pezal.

"What do you need me to do?"

Pezal pointed at the main computer. "I need you to connect to the CDF servers on that computer."

"Wouldn't Amanda have set up some sort of block on that by now?" Nat asked, tapping the desk in front of her to bring up a keyboard.

"That's what I want," Pezal pulled out his laptop, plugging it directly into his server. "If we can make them think we're trying to contact the CDF directly they shouldn't be able to detect who I'm really trying to get a hold of."

"And who is that exactly?" Nat flicked her finger forward, opening up two screens. Half of her screen was solid red with broken links, or missing connections. Without much in the way of options, she opted to use the main hailing frequency.

"Before our systems were upgraded after the Anglar Blitz, Beltino Toad and I thought it would be best to have a backdoor. Just a way for us to keep in contact. When Star Fox discovered Andross' ghost on Titania with a mechanism designed to clean the oceans of Venom, we both agreed that we needed to work on the technology. However since Andross created it, the CDF wanted nothing to do with it regardless of how helpful it could've been." Pezal chuckled dryly. "We borrowed the device from Star Fox, and have been silently been trying to replicate it. Since we didn't want any prying eyes, especially with Jack Beriul as our President at the time, we created a backdoor."

"That sounds like the CDF I know." Nat typed in her credentials and started hailing the CDF. "Too far up their own ass to accept that Venom could turn into a peaceful planet, if given the chance."

"I'm sure they've got their reasons," Pezal finished connecting his laptop to the back channel, typing in his access code, and shuffling through a few firewalls before finally being able to record himself. "You're going to see a few hiccups in that connect Nat. They're unavoidable, but try and keep that signal up."

"This isn't exactly my forte, but I should be fine. I'll let you know if any of Amanda's soldiers start making their way to us." Nat offered Pezal a weak smile.

The toad cleared his throat and hit record. Immediately he paused, an immense feeling of dread washed over him, would this message really make any difference in the long term? What could the CDF do against a telepath? With a shaky breath he focused once more. They deserved a heads up, even if this did nothing, at least he would know he did all he could.

"Hey Bel, I know it's been a while since we've spoken, or even had to use this channel. But I know you'll get my message to the right people. As of right now almost everyone on Aquas is under Raji's control. Amanda might be the spokesperson of this invasion, but I know her better than anyone. No matter how twisted her mind has become I have to believe she's just a pawn in all this." Pezal glanced over at his old protege, she seemed to be looking towards the open door, he noticed one of her guards hand her something but couldn't quite make out what it was. "Bel, you need to let everyone know that Aquas is lost. Get every CDF force off this planet before Raji takes over their minds! I watched with my own eyes as he took over one of my colleagues Bel, we can't let this madness spread! In order to protect Lylat we need to take out Raji! I only hope that we aren't too late."

"What the hell is…" Nat gasped as Alex and two other scientist brought out a metal tote. The three began to open the tote, pulling out the head of a missle. Nat covered her mouth with her hand as she saw them begin to arm the missile. "Pezal!"

The toad looked up from his recording, dropping his laptop as he watched in horror. "The CDF walked into a trap." He looked to his right as he saw the CDF forces begin walking up towards Amanda, their numbers had made quick work of her guards and now they were poised to take Amanda into custody. Pezal raced out of his office towards Amanda. "NO!"

Amanda looked over at her former mentor, her thumb danced around what Pezal now knew was the trigger. Amanda glanced over at Wes as he raised his blaster up at her. "Gotcha." She whispered and pressed down on the trigger.

The explosion happened in waves. An electromagnetic pulse burst outward, slicing through the research center, barrelling towards the atmosphere. It hit all five ships outside, causing the three still in the air to begin falling towards the surface. The second wave sent out a fiery explosion of nuclear atoms, vapourising everything it came into contact with. Mixed within the mushroom cloud was a deadly combination of biological weaponry, leaving anyone that wasn't close enough to die immediately to begin choking on the fumes of the devastating attack.

Everyone watching the feed from the CDF HQ stood with their mouths agape. Never had they expected to see Amanda actually follow through with her threat. Peppy turned his head as Beltino ran into the main control room, his laptop in his hands. The hare then looked over at Jeffrey before looking down at his feet, feeling the guilt of his decision fall on his shoulders. "I didn't think…" He looked back up at the screen, the screams of those soldiers still alive chilled him to his core. All five of the juggernauts lit up bright red, three letters started to appear on the faces of all those that had served on those ships.

K.I.A.

"Any and all ships near Aquas, you are ordered to retreat! I repeat, retreat back to Corneria! Get me scans of Aquas! I need to know if anyone got off that planet before Amanda destroyed it!" He turned to face Beltino once again. "I'm so sorry Bel."

From their position, the Star Fox team had an uncomfortable view of what happened on Aquas. Fox watched in horror as the planet's once bright blue hue started to turn a sickly green as the bio-weapon continued to spread across the planet. He jumped as Rob suddenly came back to life beside him. "INCOMING EMP! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Fox barely had enough time to get himself seated before the emp hit the Great Fox, causing a ship wide power outage. The klaxon wailed as the emergency generator kicked in, as the ship began to restart, the rest of his team piled into the bridge. No one said a word as one by one they saw the damage on Aquas. Fox could sense Krystal's distress and turned to her. She clearly had felt all those soldier's thoughts end almost simultaneously, no doubt reminding her of her own planet's fate. Wordlessly the vulpine pulled his wife into a hug.

Falco walked closer to the window, shaking his head in disbelief. "We… We could've been on Aquas when that happened."

Tyronos glanced over at Jackie, expecting to see the wolfess gloating. But instead she looked just as devastated as the rest of the team. A notification appeared on his comms link, Ghost no doubt finally responding to him. There was just a short message. 'Stay off Aquas.' With a scoff he left the bridge, not able to focus anymore.

Katt shook her head and voiced what everyone was thinking. "Why?"

Slippy was thankful for the extra help he had. Moreso now that he'd managed to successfully run multiple trials on his code, each with overwhelming success. All he had to do now was wait for Raji to select a planet and every other part of the plan would fall into place.

Happy with his progress, Slippy made his way to the bridge, wanting to get Amanda up to speed. He felt that something was off as the bridge door opened, the normally quiet area was now up and running. Clearly the ship was enroute somewhere, but if it was moving, where was his wife? Curiosity got the better of him as he activated the nav systems on a nearby console. "We left Aquas twenty minutes ago?" He zoomed in on his home planet, eyes widen in shock as the hue of Aquas was now green, it looked like Zoness did during the Lylat war, which could only mean one thing. "What the hell?" Slippy looked around, as per usual none of the soldiers on board paid him any attention. "Where the HELL is Amanda?" He shouted, growling as his question fell on deaf ears. The toad grabbed the nearest guard forcing the dog to look down at him. "I said, WHERE THE HELL IS AMANDA?"

The dog stared blankly at Slippy. "She told us to leave," His voice was devoid of emotion, almost robotic in tone. "She said that you and the prototype had to be kept safe."

Slippy felt a mixture of rage and sorrow. There was no way his wife was on that planet, not after a bio-weapon had been used on it. She had to be alive, right? Slippy began punching the dog in the chest with as much force as he could muster, feeling tears fall down his cheeks with every hit. Amanda had shown him just how corrupt the CDF was, guided him through the entire ordeal with Star Fox and Beriul. Even introduced him to Raji, who helped them disappear long enough to get their vengeance against all of Lylat. She'd promised to see this through to the end with him, and now she was gone. Eventually he wore himself out and fell to his knees, mourning the loss of his wife. For just a brief moment, he questioned why Raji had sent them to Aquas before his mind was consumed with just one goal.

Revenge.

In a reply to:

Troy Groomes - Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter! As for Fox and Krystal, I'm sure they'll get settled eventually!