❿ Delivery ❿

After clearing the storehouse hangar in Tigra's transport ship, Fox took a deep breath and shook his head. Leaning back in his seat, he turned his head to the right and locked eyes with Falco, who sat next to him in the co-pilot's seat. The avian's expression mirrored his, and his face seemed to say, "I can't believe we got ourselves into this."

Having only the coordinates to the drop-off area, Fox knew nothing about the PMC that his cargo was destined for. Several possibilities related to the operation's identity presented themselves, but due to his frustration, he brushed off his thoughts and stared at the city below the transport. In the meanwhile, Falco snatched up a magazine that had been lying in a plastic bin next to his seat. The cover showed a purple vixen with an angry scowl on her white-trimmed face. She wore a matching purple bodysuit with the zipper opened just enough to attract a man's attention, while the customized handgun she held hinted at the military nature of the publication. As a confirmation of this, Fox saw the magazine and took note of the concise and inelegant title "Merc Magazine" printed on the front in an aggressive, red, boldface font.

With a flat expression, he looked at Falco out of the corner of his eye and muttered, "Reading the cover story?"

In response, Falco whistled and nodded his head. "Damn, this girl is hot. Too bad we can't recruit people like her." With a brief rustling of paper, he turned the opened magazine towards Fox, allowing him to see the contents of the article, which amounted to the vixen on the cover exhibiting herself in several seductive poses that left virtually nothing to the imagination thanks to the skin-tight nature of her bodysuit.

"You weren't kidding when you said she was hot," said Fox, thanking his stars that Fara had decided not to accompany him and Falco on the delivery run. "Who is she, anyway?"

"Some bounty hunter. Calls herself Kursed," Falco replied. "It says here that she's considered one of the top three hunters in the Lylat System."

"I'm surprised that I haven't heard of her yet," said Fox.

"You have now."

While Falco placed the magazine back in his lap and continued reading it, Fox posed the question, "Didn't Sabre say that his sister was blue?"

Falco looked up from the magazine and glanced at Fox with his peripheral vision. "Yeah?"

"You don't think that could possibly be her, do you?"

Falco scratched his beak and replied, "Anything's possible, I guess. Personally, I think you're reading too far into it."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Oh, by the way, the navigation beacon says we're only three minutes out. I think we'd better get ready for the landing."

Falco closed the magazine and put it back in the bin where he had first found it. "So, any guesses as to who this PMC is? Do you think it'll be someone we know?"

Keeping his eyes focused on the cityscape ahead of and below him, Fox replied, "There's a lot around here that doesn't make it to the rest of the Lylat System. It could be anyone, really. I just want to get this over with and clear ourselves of our obligation to Tigra. After that, we'll have to figure out what we're going to do to get out of the Cornerian Army's crosshairs."

"Sorry, but I don't think I'm going to be of much help there," Falco mumbled.

"I didn't think so," Fox replied. "It's just crazy – how could Venom pull off such a flawless scheme to get us into such a mess? It's uncanny."

"Yeah, it's kind of like one of those conspiracy theories you hear about every now and then."

"Except this one actually happened," Fox muttered, shaking his head. "And to add to it, the last thing Sabre said to me before he left was that Fara is hiding something from me."

With a wary expression, Falco turned his head towards Fox. "I thought the same thing, actually. Think about it – why was she so pushy about wanting us to surrender and turn in our gear to the feds?"

"She also treated Krystal like she was a virus that needed to be killed off immediately. I don't understand it. She's never like that to guests, especially people who have real problems, like Krystal did."

"You didn't exactly treat her all that well either," Falco objected.

Fox shook his head. "I know. I really regret that. It was just that in the heat of the moment, with the Cornerian Army breathing down my neck and the future of the team on the line, I didn't want to deal with a half-crazed Venomian research project who thought she was my wife. I'm upset about how I treated her and Sabre, but I'm thrilled that they're finally gone."

"I can't say I disagree with you, Fox," said Falco. "But tell me, what could Fara be hiding from us?"

Clenching the transport's steering yoke, Fox growled, "This feels so wrong. We really shouldn't be having this conversation right now. It's almost like we're trying to stab her in the back, if you know what I mean."

"But we need to be talking about this. If she's hiding something important, we need to get to the bottom of it. Do you think she's…?"

When Falco trailed off, Fox glanced at him and asked, "What, Falco?"

"Do you think she's somehow working with General Graves to try to get us to disband?"

Fox's blood went cold. Looking at Falco out of the corner of his eye, he replied, "I sure hope not. It wouldn't make sense for her to do that, though. The Space Dynamics Corporation is on the verge of bankruptcy after all the infrastructure damage from the Aparoids and Anglars. If anything, she should want Star Fox to take on even more responsibilities while it's still an option. Otherwise, we might not have a retirement plan to fall back on."

Falco shot Fox a worried glance. "Is it really that bad? I knew Space Dynamics was having some problems, but I never knew it was that serious."

"It's pretty serious," Fox replied. "The Lylat System is going to be recovering from the wars for a while, but Fara's father's company really took a hit after the Aparoid attack. They tried to rebuild after we killed off the bugs, but when the Anglar Blitz started, Space Dynamics didn't have the resources to build the machinery the Cornerian Army needed at the time. Without a military contract and with their operation in shambles, the company's been struggling to hold on ever since."

Shaking his head, Falco muttered, "Dang. Sorry about that, Foxie."

"It's not really my problem. All I can do is support Fara while she helps her father deal with the company," Fox stated before his expression turned sour. "Oh great – there's our drop-off point."

Looking out the transport's front viewport, Falco noticed the orange holographic guide arrow hovering over a large, sprawling complex consisting mostly of concrete structures with one large hangar area flanking each side.

"That's a bit bigger than I thought it would be," Falco opined.

"Hopefully that won't slow down the delivery," Fox grumbled, pushing the control yoke forward and dropping altitude. Anticipating the arrival of the transport, the roof of the right hangar slowly opened, allowing Fox to hover the ship into the facility. While Fox focused on landing the ship, Falco took stock of the hangar around him and his leader. Dirty concrete walls flanked the area, which contained surplus stores of weapons that brought a rare tinge of jealousy to his face. Missiles, firearm crates, and space fighters rested on the hangar floor, which stretched for over two hundred meters lengthwise and one hundred in terms of width. However, three particular fighters attracted Falco's attention. At the same time, Fox noticed them as well and cursed.

"Wolfens. You've got to be kidding."

Right on cue, Fox looked to his right and noticed two figures standing on an observation platform at the top of a concrete staircase. The first was a lanky green chameleon, and the second identified as a black-furred panther. Both wore matching blue combat suits with stylized wolf's head emblems woven into their chest pockets.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Fox muttered, even though he knew no one would respond to him.

Every bit as shocked as Fox, Falco shook his head and replied, "Let's just try to get this over with as fast as possible."

"Falco, you and I both know that's not going to happen. Wolf's probably going to want to patronize me; and since the instructions said that I absolutely have to get his signature on the delivery, there's no way around it."

"Well…dammit, then."

Still furious, Fox unbuckled his seatbelt, grabbed his delivery confirmation clipboard, and stood up before walking to the back of the transport, navigating through the various crates in the cargo area, and throwing the lever to lower the rear cargo door. A mechanical whine filled the air as the door swung open from the top, eventually lowering itself to the hangar floor and creating a loading ramp. Looking over his shoulder to make sure Falco was following him, Fox stepped out of the ship and into Star Wolf's hangar. He moved in Panther and Leon's direction, refusing to make eye contact until the black feline at the top of the nearby set of stairs chuckled, "Well, this is quite a surprise. Fox McCloud, here? The boss is going to love this."

Leon cackled in agreement, prompting Fox to clench his fists and reply, "I don't want to talk to Wolf. I just need his signature on this delivery. Can't you just take this clipboard to him and have him sign it?"

Panther brought his hand to his chin and stroked it in a disingenuous manner that made no attempt to hide the fact that he already knew what he had in mind to do. "Hmm…Panther doesn't think that's such a good idea. We wouldn't want something to happen to it now, would we? You'd better take it to him in person."

It was all Fox could do to avoid reaching for his pistol and taking aim at the big cat, even though he knew that certain death awaited him if he made any such move. Fuming, he climbed the staircase leading to the observation deck above the hangar floor and stared at the duo at the top. Leon's face reflected an air of unrestrained glee at Fox's misfortune, while Panther's grin implied the same emotion.

"Alright, where's Wolf? I want to get this over with," Fox barked.

"I believe she'll show you to his office," Panther purred, tilting his head to the left.

Fox found himself shocked that he had failed to notice the third Star Wolf employee at the top of the stairs. As he looked in the direction that Panther had indicated, his eyes were greeted by a sleek wolfess with long, silver hair and a light gray uniform with a design similar to Leon and Panther's apparel. Apart from her voluptuous figure, the aspect of her that stood out the most to him was her abnormal height. Partially due to her boots, she stood more than three inches taller than him, putting her on par with Wolf himself in terms of stature.

Looking at Fox with a playful expression, she said, "Follow me."

A set of blast doors separated the edge of the hangar from the hallway leading into it, and as the she-wolf escorted Fox, Falco, Leon, and Panther through them, she looked over her shoulder and explained, "The boss's office is at the end of this hallway on the right. I think he'll be quite pleased to see you."

Fox scowled. "I'm sure."

From behind his back, Panther asked, "What's the matter? Panther doesn't understand why you'd want to miss out on a friendly meeting like this."

"Will you stop doing that?" Fox snapped, spinning around and baring his teeth at Panther.

"Doing what?"

"Talking about yourself in third person. It's stupid."

When Panther made no response, Fox glared at Leon and asked, "Don't you think there's something wrong with that?"

Leon smirked and vigorously shook his head. "No. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Realizing that his complaints would only make matters more frustrating for him, he turned around and fell in line behind the she-wolf, who brought him and the entourage to a set of steel doors with Wolf's emblem painted onto them in black. The wolfess reached for the two door handles, but she stopped when she heard Wolf's voice from inside the room.

- § -

Unaware of Star Fox's presence in his facility, Wolf O'Donnell leaned back in his red faux leather chair and stared at the blank computer monitor on top of his plain, black, particleboard desk. A large, bulletproof sheet of glass made up the wall behind him, allowing him to look out at the cityscape surrounding his base if he chose to do so. Although night had fallen over his district of Eledard, he kept all the lights inside his spacious office unlit, with the exception of a small reading lamp with a flexible stem that he had crudely clipped to the front of the desk.

Sighing, he closed his eyes and smiled. For once in his life, he felt satisfied with his situation as a mercenary. With his PMC now being ranked as one of the largest and most effective in the outer Lylat System, he finally felt like he had managed to outdo his eternal rivals and cement his reputation as a force to be reckoned with by anyone unfortunate enough to find him as an enemy.

However, his temporary bliss was soon interrupted by the chirping of his pocket-sized smartpanel, which lay on his desk. Opening his eyes and reading the extension number on the device's display, he growled and pressed the answer button. The voice on the other end of the line began to speak, but Wolf cut him off and snarled, "I thought I told you I was finished with your little plan, 'Colonel.'"

Unfazed, the voice on the other end of the line demanded, "Wolf, I've told you this before, but I need General Pepper again. If you don't hand him over, I'll be forced to…"

"Forced to do what? Order your cronies to attack me? I'd like to see you try," Wolf sneered. A thought entered his mind; and acting on it, he grinned and suggested, "Well, how about we make a deal? If I'm going to turn Pepper over to you, I'm going to need something in return."

"We paid you more than enough for kidnapping him in the first place. Your job was simply to keep him in a place where he couldn't do anything to undermine my operation. You owe me, O'Donnell."

"Well, unless my demands are met, you're not getting General Pepper back," Wolf stated.

Tense breathing emanated from the other end of the line before the colonel whispered, "What do you want, Wolf?"

"I want to know what you're keeping under wraps in that lab of yours."

"N…No. I can't do that for you," the colonel replied.

Feeling like he had struck a nerve with his contact, Wolf leaned forward in his chair and laughed, "I guess you're not getting what you want, then."

"Don't do this, Wolf! You made a deal with me!"

"Yeah, I did. I didn't count on you having an ulterior motive in this, though," Wolf spat back.

"Ulterior motive? Come on, O'Donnell! You know I would never lie to you about an operation like this."

Wolf narrowed his eyes and replied. "Listen, punk. I know your game. It seems the old hound dog knew more about you and your plan than you thought. He told me everything he knew about your scheme."

"Wolf, there is no ulterior motive. I cannot emphasize that enough. Pepper knows nothing."

Wolf snickered at the colonel's response. "Well then, why do you need him so badly if he knows nothing? Need to use him for another bargaining attempt?"

"That's not your business, Wolf," the colonel snapped.

"Prove that he knows nothing, then. Until then, I'm not going to change my mind; and until then, Pepper is going to stay here with me. Goodbye, 'Colonel!'"

"Don't hang up on me, Wolf," the colonel insisted, his voice becoming nervous as he spoke.

Wolf hung up.

"I wonder what would have happened if I had told him that Pepper is dead," he thought, placing his smartpanel back on the desk and once again leaning back in his seat. He lazily reached for his computer mouse, but before he could touch it, his office's double doors swung open to reveal the wolfess, followed by a very alert Fox McCloud, whose erect ears and inquisitive expression suggested that he had heard at least part of Wolf's conversation. Falco, Panther, and Leon followed him into the room.

Before Wolf could express his shock at seeing Fox in his office, the vulpine blurted out, "Who was that? Was that Taniguchi?"

Wolf's ears shot up. "McCloud? What the hell are you doing here? And why does it matter who I was talking to?"

"I'm here as part of a favor to your smuggling company. The owner asked me to fly your shipment in," Fox replied.

"Tigra asked you to do that? How did you get roped into that?" Wolf asked, tilting his head.

"I'd rather not say."

Sighing, Wolf stood up, revealing his stately dress suit replete with a long, black coat and a gray vest with a red tie. "Looks like we've got some things to talk about. Panther, Leon, Cassie – take Fox's friend out of the room and keep an eye on him until I'm finished with Fox here."

"Sure thing, Wolfie," the tall wolfess replied, turning towards the door and leading a frustrated Falco out of the room along with Leon and Panther.

With the room empty except for Wolf and Fox, the vulpine narrowed his eyes and asked, "Cassie?"

"She's my wife," Wolf explained. "I tell her this all the time, but she's the real mastermind around here. I just boss my men around. She runs the systems in this base. Actually, she's probably the reason my PMC is so much more successful than your dinky little enterprise. I'm sure you'll catch on eventually, though."

Fox frowned. "Don't patronize me, Wolf. I hope that's not the real reasonyou wanted to talk to me."

"It's not. I just wanted to give you a bit of friendly advice, that's all."

"Thanks a lot," Fox scoffed. "The last thing I'm going to do is turn Star Fox into a corrupt business like yours."

In response, Wolf cocked his head and replied, "You know, it's funny that you should say that. Isn't your wife one of the chairmen of the board in Space Dynamics – one of the most crooked, money-hungry companies in the Cornerian sector?"

"Even more of a reason for me to keep Star Fox the way it is," Fox retorted.

Wolf shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? You've always been stuck on that outdated concept of 'honor' and 'loyalty.' I might as well let you know right now that those two things will bite you in the ass eventually."

"It's what my father would have wanted. It's always been my goal to honor his vision," Fox replied.

"Listen, Fox. Your father is dead. You're stupid to base your life's mission on a dead man's agenda, especially when you're the only one who even gives a damn about it. I used to think the same way you do. I thought everything was black and white. Andross was a visionary fighting against Cornerian oppression. Corneria was a hive of greedy imperialists who wanted to bend the rest of the system to their will – or so I thought. After the Lylat War ended, I realized that it's all gray. And that's the reason why I decided to turn my operation into something bigger than a silly little three-man team of freelance pilots. Here, I'm free to choose whoever I want to work with without having to worry about stupid things like politics or regulations. You, on the other hand, have always been a slave to whatever Corneria wants from you at the time. Sooner or later, you're going to find yourself on the outs with the powers that be. And then, you'll have to come to grips with the fact that your ideals mean nothing. You know it's coming. The Cornerian Prime Minister has been pushing for disarmament ever since he took office. The general of the armies hates your guts, and I'm sure that both of them would be thrilled to see you bite the dust."

Although he felt his anger burning inside of him, all Fox could do was stare at the black carpet on the floor. "Actually, it's already happened," he mumbled.

"What happened?" asked Wolf.

Reluctantly, Fox looked his rival in the eyes and replied, "We were framed. Venom created the mother of all conspiracies to get both the Prime Minister and General Graves to sign an order demanding our resignation from all mercenary activities. Of course, we refused. That's why we're here on Eledard."

Fox expected Wolf to laugh with glee at his misfortune, but to his shock, the tall lupine's face changed to reflect a serious tone. "Fox, that wasn't Venom's idea. It was Corneria's."

"What?" Fox exclaimed.

"I'm assuming you've heard of Colonel Shinji Taniguchi," said Wolf, moving closer to his rival.

"Yes, I have. That bastard kidnapped General Pepper and used him as leverage to try to force us to disband."

Frowning, Wolf explained, "Things aren't what they seem here, Fox. You see, Taniguchi hired my unit to kidnap Pepper. I've been holding him here. In fact, the video that Taniguchi sent to Corneria was filmed in this building." Fox snarled in response, but Wolf held up his hands and continued, "Don't flip out on me. I may not like Corneria, but I had a lot of respect for General Pepper. I swear that he was treated well while he was here."

"Was? Where is he now?" Fox demanded.

"He's dead," Wolf succinctly replied.

Fox's eyes widened, and the anger he had been restraining began to come to the surface. "What? How could you?"

"Fox, he was an old man. He just died. I didn't have anything to do with it. But before he passed away, he told me some things that you need to know right now. I don't think Taniguchi knew how much dirt the old man had on him. Or maybe he did, and maybe that's why he asked me to kidnap Pepper when an active officer would have been a better target."

"Well, what did he tell you?"

Wolf turned to face the window behind his desk and motioned for Fox to stand next to him. "Pepper warned me that he didn't have anything solid on Taniguchi, but he had strong suspicions that he was not who he seemed to be."

Fox turned his head towards Wolf. "What do you mean by that?"

"To put it simply, Pepper wasn't convinced that Taniguchi was a defector. He knew him for a long time, and he knew that he and General Graves had identical agendas. When Corneria found out that Taniguchi had been working with Venom, Pepper didn't take the news at face value. In his mind, Taniguchi was acting as a deep cover operative for General Graves."

"Why, though? It doesn't make sense. From what I've seen, it looks like Venom is trying to bait Corneria into another war."

Shaking his head, Wolf replied. "Actually, it's the complete opposite. General Graves is trying to bait Venom into a war they can't possibly win, and Taniguchi is trying to convince them that they've got a shot. Framing you is just the icing on the cake."

Fox stared out the window, speechless and shocked at Wolf's declaration. "It all makes sense now. It was Graves's idea from beginning. What am I supposed to do about it, though?"

Wolf took a deep breath. "Expose Shinji Taniguchi. If the truth comes out, both he and General Graves will be removed from the picture. Then, you'll be cleared and this mess will be over. You might even keep a war from happening."

"How am I supposed to do that, though? I don't know where he is, and I don't have anything to prove that he's pretending to help Venom."

"The evidence is with General Graves, since it was all his idea," Wolf replied. "Even though I hate the spooks, I tipped off the Department of Internal Security to what I know. Right now, there are three DIS officers staying within twenty miles of this base in an unfinished apartment building that I plan to open soon."

"What? When did you get into real estate?"

"I thought you'd be thrilled that I finally found a 'noble' way to turn a profit," Wolf scoffed. "It was actually Cassie's idea. All I did was put my name on it and sign off on the construction order."

Continuing the conversation, Fox asked, "So, how long do you think it'll be before the DIS can arrest General Graves and allow me to get my life back?"

Wolf answered, "Unfortunately, they won't make a move on Graves until they're absolutely certain that he's behind this. The only evidence I or the DIS have right now is General Pepper's dying conspiracy theory. The other problem is that they won't try to get to Taniguchi as long as he's locked up in the Venomian base in this sector. Since Venom and Corneria are in a cold war, any action by the DIS against a Venomian installation would be considered open war."

An idea came to Fox. "If I and my team were to get into that base and abduct Taniguchi, would you be able to take it from there?"

"I think I could do that," Wolf replied. "I take it you'd like to avoid the spooks while you're still considered an enemy of the state. I've got all the information you'd need to get into the base, and I've got a few extra Venomian uniforms that you could use. If you agree to this, there's one thing I want from you, though."

Fox gave Wolf a wary glance. "What?"

"I want to know what they're keeping in their lab inside the base. They've got that place locked down like it's a nuclear weapons storehouse. This is going to sound stupid, but I just really want to know what they're hiding. No one will answer me when I ask them about it, so I want you to find out for me. You still owe me and my team for saving your sorry asses in the Aparoid Homeworld, so I figured this would make us even."

"Consider us even, then," Fox replied. "Their top secret weapon is a blue vixen named Krystal."

Wolf looked ready to burst out laughing, but when he realized Fox was being serious, he looked at his rival with a puzzled expression and asked, "That's what they're hiding? I was hoping it would at least be something useful. But you said she was blue? Did she dye her fur or something?"

"I don't know how it's possible, but that's actually her natural fur color," Fox replied.

"Sometimes I really don't understand those Venomians," Wolf muttered, shaking his head. "Anyway, let me know when you're ready to get into that base and get your life back."

"Sure thing, Wolf," Fox sighed. "By the way, thanks for helping me out."

Giving his rival a faint smile, Wolf clapped Fox on the shoulder and replied, "It makes me happy to see you struggle, but sometimes enough is enough. Hopefully when this is over, you'll see why I abandoned the idea of a small merc unit and created a PMC."

"Thanks, but that's not going to happen. Now, could you sign above this line on my clipboard?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE(S):

I'm sure you all probably expected an N3 update before this, but I got on a rare writing streak that allowed me to finish this entire chapter in three days. I guess that either means that it felt really good to me, or that the chapter is complete crap.

In response to the guest review from last chapter:

I can understand why this isn't your favorite story of mine. I really can. When I started writing Parallax, I considered the strong possibility that the general reaction from the readers would be lukewarm or negative at best, since it's an odd story that doesn't really fit in with anything else that I'm familiar with in this archive. While it is true that the heroes have been unnaturally cruel to Sabre and especially Mira, there is a reason for it. In fact, Fox mentioned his reasons for his lack of empathy in this chapter. That doesn't clear him of his guilt by any stretch, but at least it does partially explain why he acted the way he did. It should be mentioned that one of the underlying themes of this story is the idea of gray and gray morality; so in this case, I'm not necessarily writing the protagonists out to be heroes.