So first off, super sorry about how long it has taken me to finish this chapter. it's been a total pain in the but to write for me, and sadly, it's nothing more than a transitional chapter, so alot of time is covered with next to nothing happening. it's really just bridging the gap in the story, no more.

Also, i now have cover art! which is awesome!

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Blake!" Mira hollered that out as she opened the back door to Blake's auto shop. He merely waved to her, finishing storing tools he had been using that day. The blistering warm air of summer assaulted her as she stepped from the building, even the dying embers of the day not being enough to really cool the temperature.

I can't believe its already been two months… Mira slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she walked, well aware that she had a nearly forty-five minute walk ahead of her. but she didn't mind. In a way, it was calming for her. Plus, she was so used to working out everyday that now that she really wasn't, she needed some form of physical movement to help tire her out. Blake had offered to drive her between the shop and her apartment several times in the past, but she had always declined. His reasoning was the rising crime rates and poverty rates. On her route home, three separate 'tent cities' had formed in the past two months alone, filled with the homeless and destitute. Her response to him was the same every time, gesturing toward the blaster currently on her thigh and loudly proclaiming she could handle herself.

Suddenly, she felt a harsh tug on her holster just before she was shoved forward. She didn't even have to check to know her weapon had just been swiped, mentally cursing to herself.

"D-Don't move! All of your cash! Now!" the person's voice erupted behind her, not really loud, but still harsh and angry. Even so, the anger came off as forced bravado, a slight shake in the young male voice belying the fear of the speaker.

"Kid, you really don't want to do this." Mira softly said that as she raised her hands, having yet to hear the weapon whine to life, meaning the safety was still engaged.

"S-Shut uu-up! Cash! Now!" whoever the person was harshly jammed the weapon into her back, likely trying to intimidate Mira.

As soon as the weapon touched her back, she stepped back and spun, the startled canine behind her leaping back, but not fast enough, as she grabbed the upper frame of her pistol, easily jerking the weapon from his grasp. As soon as it was free, she gave it a light toss as she backed away herself, catching the weapon in a proper shooters grip and flicking the safety off. The weapon whined at her as she settled the simple iron sights on the canines chest, the combined motion of the pair back stepping putting several meters between them.

Now that she could see him, she realized that he really was just a kid, maybe fifteen or sixteen at the most. And though his clothes looked recently washed, they were filthy, with a distinct line across his midsection. One glance down the alley told her why. The one dumpster in the alleyway was open with half it's contents strewn about and small pile of electronics across from it, likely pulled from the trash by him.

"No! Don't shoot me, p-please!" he cowered before her, shielding his face with his arms.

Mira let out a small sigh, letting her weapon drop to a low ready, rather than being poised to fire. "I'm not going to shoot you. word of advice, don't try robbing people for a quick buck. Most don't even carry cash anymore, you can't use a card, and then there are people who will kill you just for trying."

"Wh-What?!" The canine peaked out from behind his arms, his ears and tail plaster to his body as he visibly shook.

"I said, I'm not going to shoot you, and don't go about trying to rob folk." She spoke firmly and calmly, not even shaken by the small event as she slipped her pistol back into its holster. Upon noticing the weapon being put away, the kid immediately turned and ran, almost colliding with Blake as he stepped from the back door of his shop. He gave the kid a worried glance before closing and locking the door.

"Mira? What was that?!" he quickly marched his way to her, his vision locked on where she was clasping her pistol into her holster, something she rarely did.

"Just a kid being stupid. Leave him be."

"Did he just try to rob you!? We gotta call the cops Mira!" he was almost shouting at her, gesturing back where the kid had run.

"No, leave him. I told you, he was just being stupid. Besides, no harm no fowl right?"

"Fine. I'm walking you home today though, got it!?" he pointed his finger at her, almost menacingly.

Mira though, found the gesture amusing more than anything, letting her hand rest on her weapon once more as she smirked at him. "I keep telling you I can handle myself just fine." Her words earned her a glare that she rolled her eyes at. "Well, I'm not going to stop you from walking with me."

"You are a pain in the ass, you know that?" She heard his mirthful response as he trotted up to follow her, the pair moving off into the city.

Wolf let out a small sigh as he watched the reds and blues of high speed travel dance in the Great Fox's forward viewport. The dark room caused the vivid colors to pop even more so than it normally would as the ship continued on it's journey to Katina.

I feel like this whole universe has gone inside out… Me, in command of the Great Fox? Would have never seen that comin'! he smirked at his idle thoughts, shifting in the incredibly comfortable leather command chair that was in the center of the bridge.

Damn I love this chair though! Makes me almost want to take away everything bad I've ever said about Fox! He sure as hell knows how to pick a command chair! He let his eyes close as a grin crossed his face, a small contented sigh slipping out of his muzzle as he let himself start to drift off to sleep in the comfort of the chair.

Before long though, a frown had begun to form on his muzzle as memories drifted through his mind, none of which were particularly sad though. If anything, most of them were what he would have considered happy moments in his life. Drunken brawls he and his team had gotten into, yelling at Panther for this or that, most of his memories of Fara as well. But with those memories came a small but intense pang of regret and despair in equal measures.

As much as it pained Wolf to admit it, he missed them, more than he felt he could describe in words. For all of their problems, they had been the closest thing he had known to a family. Even Leon, as cold and calculated as he always seemed, had always been there to pull Wolf's tail out of the fire, as seldom of a need for that as there had been. Every single one had their own quirks, problems, aspirations. And though he would have never admitted it aloud, he honestly wanted each of them to attain their goals, as twisted as some of them had been.

Panther had always talked about finding a woman he could barely 'handle', in his words. Though Wolf shuddered at the thought of what Panther had meant by that, given he had seen the cat hook up with several women at the same time, but he still hoped the man had found that at least once in his life.

Leon, as morbid as it sounded, had always wanted to assassinate a politician. And not just any politician, but the now Prime Minister Muzzin. Wolf had never questioned why Leon had such a strong desire, since even before Muzzin had taken the office of the Prime minister, his name had been popping up on the less clean side of the law. But he could understand if it was merely Leon relishing the challenge of getting away with such a feat. At the same time, even though he had changed the way he was living his life, he still would have gladly helped Leon pull off said plot. Having encountered Muzzin on one occasion since being pardoned, he had a strong feeling that the man was a vile snake simply begging to be killed. But without Leon, he no longer had the skill at his disposal or the motivation to go through with it.

Of everyone he had lost just a few short months ago though, he could not deny who he missed the most. Fara had been something he had never encountered in his life. Someone he had loved with what had felt like every fiber of his being. And yes, she wasn't what most would have considered the 'perfect woman'. She had been loud, arrogant, feisty to the core, and hated when she didn't get her way. But she had also changed Wolf's life completely. Before she saved him and his team, he had been debating trying to sell all he owned and smuggle himself to one of the other habited systems, so he could retire well away from where he was a widely known and wanted criminal, in hopes that he could try his hand at living a normal life. But she had convinced him to use his skills and knowledge to start doing good. She had supported him even when he felt he was a hopeless cause, had sincerely believed in him being able to stop being a criminal.

As the memories he had made with her slipped through his mind, tears began to well up in his one good eye, quickly falling into his fur to trace dark lines into his fur, likely un-noticeable in the dim lighting of the bridge.

"So this is where you have been hiding! And here I thought I'd find you playing with your red rocket in your room or something!" a bouncy and airy feminine voice erupted in the bridge, seeming to echo off the empty walls.

Wolf nearly jumped from his seat, his heart rate skyrocketing in an instant as he snapped his head around toward the entrance of the bridge. Sheila had just entered, striding in with her usual bouncy and over exaggerated gait.

"Oh, cool, I actually got the right room this time!" she continued her bouncy way toward him as she spoke again, her voice completely unchanged from the moment before.

"Hey Sheila… Wait… THIS TIME!? Don't tell me you have been walking into random rooms on the ship and shouting that!" Wolf's voice rose several octaves as what Sheila had said fully processed in his mind.

"N-nothing! Nothing at All Wolf!" her voice was also several octaves higher that it was a moment ago, but retained her naturally bouncy and airy nature. In sync with that nature, she bounced her way over to Wolf, intentionally swiping her tail into Wolf's muzzle before plopping her rear onto the arm of his chair.

"How many?" he very calmly responded, trying to not react to her very blatant and promiscuous maneuver.

"Okay, fine. Twelve." She tutted at him, looking up and away from him as she crossed her arms.

"And how many had people in them?" he cringed as he asked that, hoping the answer was none. Though they had been certainly more than friends or colleagues over the past few months since Fox's wedding, neither of them had really said what they were. Not privately or publicly.

"Only one. Freaked the ever living snot out of Slippy though!" she giggled maniacally, her tail wagging into Wolf's face as she did so.

Wolf let out a groan, clamping her tail down to his lap as he did so. "Stop it."

"Nooooo! It's no fun if I can't annoy you!" she flopped back as she spoke, trying to sit in Wolf's lap like a pup, her large frame making that a lost cause.

"Good. I don't want to be annoyed." He grumbled that out, shifting uncomfortably as her warmth started to spread through his lap and crotch.

"Hmm. That's a thought." She seemed to be speaking to no one in particular as she lounged on him, oblivious to the fact that she didn't fit. She was actively stroking the underside of her chin in the universal thinking pose.

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Eh, you shouldn't be." She suddenly rolled off his lap, landing on all fours before springing back to her feet.

How much energy does this canine have?! We spent most of today moving around high density armor parts and fighter components, yet she hasn't stopped moving since she stepped in here?!

"Soooo Wolf, you should take your pants off." Her voice was so plain and blunt that Wolf almost didn't understand what she said as she clasped her hands behind her back, teetering back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Wh-What!?"

"You heard me. Pant's. Off!" she let out a small giggle before suddenly pulling the t-shirt she had on completely off, revealing herself to have no bra on at the moment.

The sudden display of self exposure caused Wolf's brain to come grinding to a halt, barely aware that she had dropped the short jean shorts she was wearing to leave her in nothing but her cinnamon and cream colored fur. And though the lighting was dim in the room, the red's and blue's dancing through the viewport placed her in an utterly unique lighting that made her all the more alluring. That there being the main reason why Wolf's brain was completely locked down now.

"Well come on stupid! Don't leave a girl hanging! It's rather rude you know!" she had returned to the same teetering position she had been in a moment ago, sticking her tongue out at him in the process. Her tail was flicking madly back and forth behind her, showing her excitement in the moment.

Oh Boy!

Krystal glanced away from her computer's holographic screen as her wrist computer rang, scooping the device up to see Mira's face on the display. She let out a small smile upon seeing it, having not heard from Mira in nearly three months. After Will had left for the Cornerian Police academy on the mainland, Mira had stopped talking to them completely.

"Hey Mira! It's been forever since we heard from you!" Krystal could feel her tail wanting to wag a little in her chair as she answered the device, her computer open to job listings almost forgotten.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that Krystal. Just… been trying to work some things out." Mira sounded almost nervous over the device, but that was only Krystal's best guess. Without being in range of her telepathy, she was terrible at judging tones and inflictions.

"Don't worry Mira. We understand that. Have you been doing alright?"

"Yeah. Job has been covering my rent and living expenses. Not that I don't already have enough to live off of for a few years. Haven't really been getting out much though."

"Well, why don't you stop by later today? Fox is at the flight academy right now, discussing the coursework he's going to be teaching, so he won't be home for another hour or two, but you can come over anytime!" she unconsciously stood from the dining room chair she was in and started pacing back and forth, the device pressed against her ear as she waited for a response.

"Not today. Not feeling it. Listen I wanted to ask you something…" Mira's voice was once again filled with the same nervousness it had just moments ago.

"Of course, what is it?" Krystal couldn't help but feel a little down herself about Mira turning down her offer, knowing it probably showed in her voice despite her best efforts. A long silence filled the comm line, causing Krystal's disappointment start shifting into worry for her younger friend. "Mira?"

"Sorry… Just… Having some trouble figuring out how to frame this… What would you say if I started dating someone?"

Krystal let out a small sigh before walking around the living room sofa, plopping down into it as she thought of how to respond. "I… Would say that you and Will still have a lot of unfinished business, and that now may be too soon." What she really wanted to say to Mira was that it would be a horrible mistake for her, but she had no desire to anger Mira, merely wanting to support her through something she had no doubt was as difficult for Mira as it seemed.

"Maybe… My boss asked me out last night."

"And what did you say to him?"

Mira let out an audible sigh over the phone before she quietly responded. "I told him I'd think about it. I mean, he's a good person, and a great boss. He walks me home everyday after we close up the shop, I've watched his kid for him a few times, but… I just don't know."

"I would say to take your time Mira. Think things through, make sure you are doing this for the right reasons. And above all, take it slow. You just got out of a long and very close relationship."

"Okay." She let out a small sigh before she continued. "Well, thanks Krys. I'll try to keep in touch better. I'll talk to you later. You two take care, alright!?"

"Of course. You take care too Mira. Bye!" she waited long enough for Mira to say bye as well before hanging up, letting out a sigh as she set the device on her lap.

Well Will, things are going to get very complicated when you get back…