Construction Bay Alpha
Moore Industries Shipyard and Assembly Pant
Cornaria / Lylat System
1423 Hours
Fox leaned on the railing overlooking the Grand Fox in all its wonder. Currently, the carrier just sat in the bay lifelessly, like an empty shell. Without a crew, the Grand Fox would never ascend out of the shipyard it was crafted in. Like many other pilots and people who experienced such wonders, Fox believed that a ship was a cold and lifeless hunk of metal and wiring, only when a ship first take flight did it become "Alive" with a spirit of its own. Hence why many pilots and crewmen held such powerful personal bonds with their ships.
Soon, very soon, the Grand Fox would launch, and its spirit would be born. Fox couldn't help but smile at the thought. He wasn't superstitious but there was no denying that any good ship had character.
The roster for the crew was filling up nicely, some of the new hands had already arrived while some others were en route. There were still a few rolls that needed to be filled, though. Lucky for the team, when Cassie showed up and got settled in, she made a couple of calls and got two of her old friends onboard. So overall, progress was going smoothly.
Fox shifted his attention when his gauntlet beeped, someone had just sent him an email. What caught Fox's attention, however, was that instead of a name for the sender, he was greeted with a long code of numbers and letters, implying it came from a cheap prepaid comm unit.
To Fox's knowledge, there were only three kinds of people who used prepaid communicators, Kids who's parents bought them as a cheap gift, people who bought them in case of a situation, or the most likely choice criminals that wanted a cheap, portable, and disposable method of communicating.
Suspicions rising, Fox opened the email, expecting it to be either a threat or a prank call. The message turned out to be far from what he expected.
To Cpt. Fox McCloud STARFOX
From 112f535176955d846396453v
Subject _
I have data regarding the planet Cerinia and it's fate. Need to talk. Pursued by a common foe. Find me where I gave you some advice Pup, A lot of lives depend on it.
"Wolf." Fox uddered as soon as he recognized who had sent the message. No one else called him Pup like that. He had wondered if Starwolf managed to survive holding off the Aparoids back during the invasion. It seemed as if he just got his answer.
But why?
Commercial district
Cornaria City / Cornaria / Lylat System
1714 Hours
"Well, that intersection is where Wolf dropped me off, so this is the spot." Fox pointed out, gesturing to the busy crossroads. He and Krystal followed Wolf's instructions, fully expecting it to be a trap. But if not, and the outlaw did indeed have data regarding Krystal's homeworld she had every reason to come aside from backup.
"There is a lot of traffic, it wouldn't be too difficult for Star Wolf to blend in with rush hour," Krystal admitted, the surrounding city had been repaired since the Aperoid invasion, wiping out all of the evidence that the bugs had ever laid siege to the area. Now the place was full of skyscrapers and banks for Lylat's most wealthy. It was one of the most expensive districts of Cornaria City, meaning only the richest folks could afford the penthouses and five-star hotels on the street.
Unfortunately, those skyscrapers were also filled with offices, full of workers. Lots and lots of workers. When the workday ended at Five, the streets were so jammed full that even three war hardened criminals like Star Wolf could disappear without a trace. Searching for them in the sea of fur and faces would be next to impossible.
"Fox," Krystal nudged her teammate with her elbow before pointing out a sign across the street.
"The Rose Cafe," Fox read the gourmet restaurant's sign before giving Krystal a glance before the two of them spoke the same word at the same time.
"Panther."
Star Wolf wouldn't have a snowball's chance on Solar trying to blend in with the fine etiquette of the Cafe, but that didn't mean they weren't around. Sure enough, when Fox and Krystal entered the alley behind the restaurant, they found themselves face to face with blasters. Acting out of instinct, both foxes retaliated to the threat, Fox lunged forward pinning his assailant to the ground while Krystal revealed her staff and used it to disarm her opponent.
"Had no way of knowing if it was you or some of Andrew's thugs Pup, couldn't take chances." Fox's opponent growled in annoyance, causing Fox and Krystal to recognize there would be assailants: Wolf and Panther
"Where's Leon?" Fox demanded, refusing to let Wolf up just yet.
"Dead." Panther answered bluntly, "We were covering your attack on the queen, one of the Aparoids punched straight through his canopy, he suffocated without atmosphere."
Satisfied with the answer, Fox relented allowing Wolf to get back on his feet.
"After we managed to make our way back from the Aperoid homeworld, we needed to repair our Wolfens and get some supplies. The Cornarian military seized our station at Sargasso and confiscated our assets. We had to start from scratch." Wolf began to explain.
"I didn't like it, but eventually, we found ourselves employed by the remanent, by that wimp Oikonny. It was the only option other than to turn ourselves in. The pay was pathetic, but it was still pay and our assignment seemed easy." Wolf continued. "We were security on a hidden fortress on Titania in the sandstorm regions. I thought it was a general stronghold, A full garrison of ground units, hanger bay full of fighters, a few supply depots. A good staging ground for launching an attack." Wolf elaborated.
"It was sitting on top of an underground complex, completely inaccessible aside from the fortress itself." Panther continued, "It's a completely self-sufficient colony down there. Fueled by slave labor and home to an old laboratory."
"Why didn't you hand this over to the Cornarian Military?" Krystal asked.
"You think those dogs in ties would actually listen to us?" Wolf scoffed, "They'd just throw us in a cage and ignore everything we say, all while singing a song about how there's nothing wrong in the world. Besides the slaves aren't the usual hostages gathered from kidnapping, raiding colonies, or hijacking starships. The slaves are Cerinian."
Krystal gasped in disbelief, stunned to the point she almost fell over if Fox hadn't helped her maintain balance.
"You're sure?" Fox asked his suspicion skyrocketing at Wolf's outlandish claim.
"Exotic fur colors, telepathy, different language, I'm fairly certain." Wolf listed off counting on his fingers. "I never got word on how they winded up there, but I heard the word Cerinia a lot from the other guys in the remnant and the slaves themselves speaking that weird language of theirs."
"We tried to download a full system dump off of their mainframe but the terminal got blasted once the others realized what we were up to. We managed to get off planet in the Wolfens but they chased us. We ditched the Wolfens in an asteroid field to throw them off, but I don't think they bought it." Panther admitted as Wolf pulled out the portable drive.
"It's encrypted. Hope you can break it." Wolf warned as he handed the drive over to Fox who looked it over real quick for any damage.
"So what about you two?" Krystal asked.
"Hard to say," Wolf admitted, "I wouldn't even be an outlaw if Andross hadn't talked me into flying his new line of fighters during the war. I knew the deal was too good to be true. Maybe disappear and try to start anew on one of the outer colonies? Just as long as I remain free I really don't care. I'm not going to prison for a foolish mistake I've been trying to correct."
It was at that moment Fox had an idea, an idea he wasn't sure was sane or not. Would it really be that easy to put that much rivalry behind? What would the team think? Ah, to Solar with it!
"Why don't you join Starfox then?"
Yep, to me Wolf and Panther were always the kind of bad guys that would have been good guys if one or two details changed. Leon on the other hand, let's face it he's a psychopath threatening to cook and eat you.