A/N: Okay since for some reason this system hates my MacBook. I get the chance to say a few things. First of all I apologize for the long wait...class has been a bit hectic and I've been filling extra days at work. That much said, I've also experienced a short sided term of writers block thanks to several other projects weighing down my brain...and patience LOL. But like always assure yourself that I...like the darkness I so drearily inhabit...may at times fade but am always around...

The footsteps in the darkness ~ SkullFox


Still a bit thrown but all that had happened, and how little she knew about it all; Skye found herself regrouping back at the Colletta without any real feeling of having accomplished anything. Sure, they were all alive, Art had picked up the transmission the creature had been trying to get off the planet, but, what did they accomplish in the long run? Whatever it was, it wasn't what she'd been expecting or hoping for, though what that was seemed kind of a blurred subject now. Sitting in her quarters back on the ship, she began to wonder if there was something wrong with her; it almost felt like she'd wanted conflict. Whatever the case, her wait for more action would be a lot less than she would have thought. As she lay there in her bed, staring out into space, her personal communicator chimed in causing her to quickly answer to the joy of Fox McCloud's voice…

"Skye," He said, "great work out there, your team's data on what happened is being gone over by Slippy and his dad right now. We'll know everything we need to know about this thing soon enough. Now…as for future projects are you alone?"

Skye looked about for a moment as if to expect someone there, "Yeah, my quarters…I should be alone."

"Fair enough," Fox sighed, "listen a suspicious character calling herself Terra Fray, has been snooping around the Stygian System looking for information on a…well a certain high profile subject. If this is nothing, then let it be, but, if the sources I'm having you go meet have anything to say about this I need that information, and I need this person hunted down, and brought in."

Skye sighed heavily, "That doesn't sound so bad."

"We need this person dead or alive," Fox replied sternly, "I know it's asking a lot at this point but…if this person fights you, you may have to kill her to bring her in. If that's the case, don't think about it…just do it. A friend will be there to meet you on Aetheria, you have special permission to land there. So, pick your two others and get there quick. Might wanna make one of them Art, he'd kill for the chance to study the land there."

Skye nodded even though he clearly couldn't see her, "Yeah, I'll get us underway asap. Is there anything else?"

"No," Fox replied, "just be careful. If this Terra person is looking for what we think she is, she won't be your average pushover. She'll be armed, heavily trained, and ready to kill. When and if it happens, don't second guess it."

Skye nodded as she considered the weight of the situation, "I understand, we'll do whatever it takes to get this person alive but, if not…I will bring you the body personally."

"Skye," Fox sighed, "I know this isn't something to say out of the blue but, your dad did a lot of stuff he felt he needed to atone for after you were born. If you feel like this is something you'd live to regret, even if it's at the last minute. Let the person you're going to meet deal with it…regret is something he's a little used to. Most of all though, be careful…like I said this Terra person has a reputation for cruelty, almost like she gets off on watching people suffer."

The rest of the conversation eventually became a blur, she remembered talking about Marcus for a short while; hearing that he'd had a run in during his mission in Lylat and was now headed to Stygian to stop some sort of strife from erupting into civil war. It amazed her that he'd become so much like the stories she'd heard about his father her entire life, especially considering how shy and withdrawn he was when she'd first met him. Unfortunately, what was on her mind most was a simple question about this Terra person. What could she be after that could make her such a threat as to seek her out dead or alive? A weapon most likely, something covered up by the government. Even a deep enough secret against the government as it stood was enough to be considered a weapon in the right hands. Whatever the case, she soon found herself in the most relaxed atmosphere she could be lost in thought in. Her personal washroom was equipped with a walk-in shower that rained down over its occupant from the ceiling. Multiple points of the closed in shower acted as seats for anyone there to relax, which was where she sat now. Everything she had ever dreamt was coming true at an alarming rate; even now she was on her way to a planet that most Lylatians had never seen the surface of. She'd heard stories about the Aetherians but still knew very little about them just like anyone else.

It was easy enough to get to sleep that night, however, her sleep was wrought with terrible images. Not quite nightmares, none of it was vastly disturbing, so much as it was horrible to even consider. She saw what she could only think of as visions; people she knew and cared for lay strewn in bloody piles around her, the creature she'd fought on Macbeth surrounding her in massive numbers. The lights she'd seen before glare from their oddly shaped heads, finally the blast, then awake and alert in an instant. If only for a few moments before allowing sleep to take her once again. The strange dream comes again and again, off and on throughout the night until finally the reprieve she long hoped for. The blare of her alarm called her to wake up, but there was little to nothing for her to do. It would be several more days' travel before they would reach Aetheria, and her mind was already racing with questions. Fox was right to question it; she didn't exactly know how to feel about her options. Sure, she'd been Caruso up, even hurt him pretty badly, but, killing someone on an order? Was that all there was to mercenary life? Following orders. If that was the case it was no different than the military. It was odd however, that the order came right from Fox McCloud, after all he was the person that started everything to do with the team she'd been placed captain of. If he thought it was such a hard thing for a new captain to do then why give her the task of doing it? Did she even have the gall to do it?

Sadly nothing seemed to soothe her mind; despite everything else she could have been thinking of at the time, very few things actually seemed to distract her. Food was one, however, she didn't find herself all that hungry. Training was one but, something about that felt simply wrong at the time. Realizing that she hadn't done so yet however, brought to light the fact that there was much of the ship she'd never seen before. In fact, there was so much she hadn't seen that she didn't quite know where to begin. Reaching for her communicator, there was one person she knew wouldn't be too busy to show her around.

"Dax," She said lightly to the device causing it to activate, "you there?"

A light yawn came back through, "You're up early," His snide response came back, "you need something captain?"

The word made her cringe a bit, "Would you stop calling me that? Look I need to clear my head and the only thing I can think of is looking around the ship. I was wondering…if you…"

Dax chuckled softly, "Gimme ten minutes and meet me at the galley. I need a cup of coffee anyhow…mattresses in here are wafer thin. You might wanna do something about that cap, comfortable accommodations go a long way."

Skye laughed a bit, "What? Hard mattress too much for your girly back?"

"Hah!" Dax laughed back, "well I needed that I'll be there in fifteen if that's the case though."

Skye never fully realized how early it actually was aboard the ship, the only people live on deck were all maintenance workers and the like. With a ship so huge, it all felt like walking the empty streets of a big city after dark. Walking through the empty corridors felt more like bleak alleyways, and even as she stood in front of the ship's galley she finally took note that it was more like an enormous food court. In sum she'd come to realize it was less a ship to her, and more a small floating colony. A ship the size of a small city was far more of a job than she was ever willing to take on, at this point she felt more like a mayor than the captain of a mercenary team, or even the simple captain of a ship for that matter. The sense of early morning was still heavy when Dax arrived, the lights of the ship still simulating the darkness of night time, even the cool air simulating a crisp autumn morning. He didn't look all that enthusiastic to be there, though he did come baring a steaming cup, clearly of coffee if her nose served her correctly. Oddly he didn't say a word standing there sipping at the contents of the cup; he seemed more interested in looking Skye over as she stood there. She wasn't sure why, there was nothing different about the way she was dressed. Short cut tops were normal for her, she always had her gloves on hand, the only thing different was the fact that she was wearing a pair of rather form fitting jeans. It wasn't until he held out his cup pointing to her forehead…

"Haven't seen that before."

Skye's hand instantly inspected the jewel dangling between her eyes, fingering the gold fitting, "Oh, Missus McCloud gave this to me the day Mister McCloud put me in charge of the ship. Said it would protect my mind, so far I just feel better having it around."

Dax nodded softly, "Yeah, must be pretty nice huh?" He scoffed, "so what were you having in mind?"

"I just realized that I haven't seen much of the ship…" She sighed, "…sort of stupid to be captain and not know where anything is."

Dax shrugged his shoulders before taking another sip of his drink, "You know what, come on I'll show you the most important part of this place. Always a good place to go when you have a lot on your mind."

It was odd that he had so little to say, especially with how outspoken he'd been before. He only really seemed to drift off once in a while either looking her over, or simply staring into the distance…like he was looking for an answer to something that was right in front of him but he couldn't see it. As confused as this made her however, it caught her attention that they were traveling a long distance. Up several decks in the elevators, as well as along a long rail system. During their ride in the rails, Dax explained to her that there was such a transport system on the ship because of its general size. Each cart only really housed roughly four individuals, but, they could be summoned from anywhere on each deck along a red marked rail along certain walls. This long walk eventually led to a strange place; it was as if the ships synthetic appearance gave way to what she could only describe as nature. The ground felt like soft soil and grass, tall trees loomed overhead, the smell of the beach rose up from the far end of the room, and even the dome of glass overhead seemed to simulate a night sky. Skye began to ask a question, only to find that Dax was continuing his walk. The enormous room most likely outdid all other rooms she'd seen, as from where she stood she could not see the far wall. Dax's long walk lead through the trees and bushes until Skye found herself at the base of a massive tree; it's trunk thicker around than any tree back home. Several times up its bending length it's S shaped body gave out into thick sprouts along it's berth. Without saying a word Dax began climbing the massive tree some great ways up until he came to a rest on a large, thick limb several shy of the top. It was as Skye followed him that she realized the trees were indeed synthetic themselves. It was perfectly replicated but, the titanic structure was just that, just another structure…

"So…" She huffed as she came to a rest on the huge limb with him, "this is…"

Dax chuckled, "The Atrium. Sort of a home away from home for people spending too much time on a ship. My favorite place on this floating clusterfuck."

Skye sat down and leaned against the trunk of the tree, it really was relaxing. Everything was simulated perfectly, animal sounds, the trees blowing in the wind, the smell of the salty sea air, the slight chill…everything was as relaxing as she'd hoped. Soon she felt her eyes grow heavy and simply allowed them to close while still staving off any notion to sleep again.

"You know," Dax chuckled, "I'm not one for giving credit where it's due or whatever…but, you were pretty amazing down there. I can see why the McClouds chose you to lead this ship. You really are a leader, after what I saw down there…one I'll gladly follow."

Skye cracked an eye toward the young wolf, "You know that kinda sounded like you were hitting on me." She smiled.

"Yeah," Dax chuckled turning and looking out over a false sky, "guess I could do a lot worse out there, right? I mean you're about as far from dead weight as someone can get, problem is when you do end up finding someone…you might find him to be a little intimidated."

The cream furred canine chuckled this time crossing her arms under her breasts as if to display them, "Do I intimidate you Dax?" She teased him, "do I make you uncomfortable?"

"I think you intimidate a lot of would be suitors," He replied, "you don't do much to scare 'em off either." He replied hinting toward her current outfit.

Skye nodded before looking up herself, "Yeah, I guess you'd say I don't have a whole lot of experience playing the everyday little girl. Dad…my adopted dad. He was pretty vocal about being someone that wouldn't depend on a male to keep me safe my whole life. Mom…she didn't care for that at all. Said if he pounded the male logic in too hard I wouldn't know how to act like a proper little lady," She sighed, "humph…maybe she was right."

"Hah!" Dax shouted, "speak for yourself. Sort of like that "no bullshit" logic myself. I don't really have any parents to speak of adopted or otherwise. You're lucky to have even those guys that care, and your real folks are fucking famous. I was unwanted from day one…"

Skye cocked her head with curiosity, "Unwanted?"

The wolf sighed heavily, "My dad…far as anyone knows was a drifter. Just some common no account lowlife. My mom was some sort of accountant I guess, something upscale. Out looking for a random night of being a stupid lower class nutjob with her friends. Just a couple of girls out looking for adventure, and ended up finding a mistake. Not sure why she even bothered going through with the pregnancy. I suppose I should thank her for at least wrapping her infant up and stuffing him in a duffle before abandoning him in the countryside. Lot of monks around that area, one just happened to be passing buy on his way to town where several of the monks volunteered at local charity things. He was going to just return the bag until it started moving…when he found me the monks decided to raise me but…let's just say monk life isn't for me. Mister McCloud found me when I was trying to enter the Western Academy on Zoness, I guess he saw something they didn't."

Skye chuckled, "Yeah, he's real good about that," She sighed standing and helping him to his feet, "come on. I think the galley should be open by now, after that I feel like tossing you around the training hall again."

"Oh joy…" Dax rolled his eyes before the went wide as the rather attractive little hybrid fell into a tucked flip turning several times before landing in a kneeling position to break her momentum, "…wow this chick's gonna kill me."

Dax climbed down a bit before feeling safe enough and simply jumping, unfortunately such things were not his grace and young wolf's feet gave way causing him to land on his back with a breathless thud. Skye quickly rushed to help him back to his feet…

"Like I said," He chuckled, "any guy would follow you."

Dax's eyes went wide after feeling her plant a quick kiss on the side of his muzzle, "You're a little too cute for your own good there Dax. Come on or I'll leave you here."

Lylat

Orbital Gate Station

0912hrs

It had been some time since Marcus and his team had arrived with the body of the creature that had attacked Macbeth. The two young males stood near a large black metal structure, inside a black furred vixen sat, completely submerged in a strange liquid a mask clearly supporting her breathing. Its low hum was almost mesmeric; whenever she emerged she would feel like a million dollars, unfortunately several hours more would be required for a broken bone. As they stood by, Maryk chuckled at the sight of Marcus suddenly shuddering as if from a chill of cold.

"What was that all about?" The black wolf asked.

The young Cerinian shook his head, "I…don't know. You ever wonder why those chills happen?"

Maryk shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know…" He laughed, "…maybe someone's cheating on ya."

Marcus laughed, "That's a laugh…I'm not even dating anyone," He peered into the window where Sierra still sat, "kinda hoped once but, I don't think she was interested. Maybe I should just give in and take Sierra up on her advances."

Maryk sighed while shaking his head, "Well that's your call pal. I sort of like that Skye chick, she's kinda cool…not my type but kinda cool."

Marcus rolled his eyes, "Can we talk about something else please."

"Exactly what I was thinking," A familiar voice turned Marcuses attention to a short toad in a white lab coat, "Uncle Slippy. So what's the news?"

The toad had taken on much his father's look in the years past; now cursed to wear glasses as his eyes had slowly degraded until he could no longer pilot a ship, just as well he now sported a small patch of hair under his chin. Looking over a small holopad computer he shook his head…

"Marcus," He sighed, "what you've all found here is absolutely amazing. It's purely synthetic, yet, somehow at one point it was living. It's a level of advanced bio-mechanical life that I've never seen or heard of…its leagues ahead of anything even dad has ever heard of. It's got solar induction generators, on board weapons powered by a type of miniature fusion core, and for some reason seems to be able to focus radiant energy into various beams. It's covered with inhibitors from head to toe, and worse of all; that signal you stopped it from relaying…"

"What about the signal?" Marcus asked.

Slippy shook his head, "Information transfer followed by a pass of directional coordinates. I'm afraid there may be more of these things out there…unfortunately they're made with tech that I just can't wrap my head around. If more of these things come around Lylat, I've learned a few things about their anatomy. Luckily enough, you all seemed to go for this thing's head, but, if you need to get them out of commission, the real weak spot is centered in their abdomen. It's kina armored but, it's their core processor, take it out and even their minor systems would go offline permanently."

Maryk shook his head, "Professor you have no idea what that thing was capable of. It blew a hole in a shopping mall bigger than a standard cruiser. If more of these things attacked we wouldn't stand a chance."

"Actually," Slippy replied looking over his records, "that was a last resort thing. It returned to that pod because it used up all of it's power reserves in that blast. I don't know what you did Marcus but, it sure didn't like it."

Marcus shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against the pod nearby, "That's the thing I wanted to talk to you about. When I reached out to it's mind with my telepathy. I found…well…a sort of consciousness, it wasn't normal like you or me. It was swimming with a million voices all at once…a collective consciousness."

"A Collective," Slippy shook his head, "that's unheard of. A single entity all governed by the same consciousness fortified by a single vision. Whatever these things are after, we need to see to it they don't get it. However, I need you all to keep this from anyone else. I'm going to take this all to your father first Marcus…I trust his thinking more than I trust Peppy's at this point. After I go over it with Fox, I'm sure we'll get everything together. You know what to wait for right?"

Marcus and Maryk both nodded, "Absolutely, you tell dad that I'm his soldier before I'm the military's lapdog. If he needs something I'll find a way to get it done without drawing too much attention to the unit."

"And Sierra and I'll be right behind him," Maryk added, "while you're doing your work here with that body. We'll try to get into any information we can. If there's anything else we'd be grateful for the information."

Slippy sighed rather heavily before stepping forward, "Actually, there is something I'd like you three to look into. It's not much just a rumor; yet, if it is more than a rumor it could turn out to be a problem. Rumors are circulating about someone occupying Sargasso Station…this all came up about the same time the Caruso family managed to disappear, as well as rumors of an unknown chameleon snooping around military installments on Titania and Fichina. Like I said these are just rumors but, they could pan out into something else entirely. Mix that with the uprising on Venom against Dash Bowman's regime; well let's just say that the military seems to think this all coincidental, when in fact I happen to believe these things are far too closely related to be a coincidence."

Marcus nodded as he reached into the internal pocket of his long black coat, "Maryk, you still have ties in Sargasso right?"

"Yeah," Maryk replied, "I get your point. Soon as Princess Sunshine here wakes up and we fill her in I'll contact Tanya and get my way into the station. I'll keep in contact after I get there."

Marcus nodded with a light smile, "Good, in the meantime Sierra and I will scope out those military installations, find out what we can. Once we're all done with that we'll meet up in orbit around Nemesis. That moon is just far enough from Venom's surface that any scanners will miss us, then we'll tie all this together and find out how all these things are connected. Hopefully none of it has any relevance to your mechanical friend in there." He finished nodding his head toward the examination room Slippy had just left.

Slippy chuckled a bit, smiling quite brightly toward Marcus, "You know, you're more like your father than you might think Marcus. He'd be proud to see the kind of leader you've become."

The blue fox blushed a bit while rubbing the back of his neck, not quite aware of his repeat of his father's old habits, "Knock it off Uncle Slippy…I'm just doing my job, it's nothing to praise me about."

"Whatever the case," Slippy replied, "I'll keep to my study of our little friend here. In the meantime, call your parents…I don't think you realize just how much they miss you. The pregnancy is driving your mother crazy with how much she worries about you."

"Don't worry Professor," Maryk half bellowed as he stood up lightly slapping the young fox on the back, "I'll see to it that contacts Missus Krystal before we go. If I have to call them myself and hold him there."

Like usual, the work of such a unit of trained agents was never done, but, for Marcus it all felt like something was coming to a head. Nothing about any of the matters they discussed seemed to go together, but, were all happening with far too much in common. He prayed that it was all just rumors as Slippy had said but, at the same time he only hoped that somehow, Skye wasn't involved. His team had already nearly been killed by what he was only sure was some sort of high tech war droid, the last thing he wanted or needed was any incident that could start a full scale war within the Accord as he was certain such an imbalance would cause strife on an epic scale. All he found he could do at this point was worry; soon enough the situation began to bear down on him until Marcus finally sighed and headed for the door…

"Maryk keep an eye on Sierra," He sighed, "I'm gonna go for a walk. I have a lot to think about before tomorrow…" He sighed as he left the room, "…and there's still a long day ahead." He finished to himelf.

Maryk simply shook his head; Marcus wasn't the kind to bottle things up, not unless they were really big issues that he was certain would bother his friends more than they bothered him. Whatever the problem was, it was…he knew that it was far bigger than just what Slippy had mentioned. Something bothered him on a much higher level, and sooner or later it would have to come out. For Maryk it was all a matter of waiting. For the time being however, his only concerns were for his young teammate still suspended in the strange contraption being used to mend her broken body. As he sat by Maryk simply shook his head at Slippy…

"Talk about problems," He chuckled, "this all feels like a clusterfuck colliding with a shitstorm. And we're all about to have a front row seat at ground zero."

The older Star Fox crewman removed his glasses for a moment while shaking his head, "Maryk, I hope for the sake of everyone in the Accord," He sighed as he began to head back toward his lab, "that you're wrong. I hope we're all wrong and this is just a very strange coincidence. Most of all though…" He looked back over his shoulder, "…I wish I still believed in the word…coincidence."