Chapter 2.

All I Want? Peace Of Mind.

"Blew himself up?"

It sounded almost like a statement. If the general felt any shock at the news, his face didn't show it.

"It was over before we even figured out what happened. We couldn't stop him." Fox watched the life-sized holographic likeness of General Pepper projected at the center of the Great Fox's bridge. It still felt strange seeing him with so few ribbons on his maroon service dress uniform, considering his position and history. Fox thought that at this point, Pepper could've retired by now to make a career through appearing in advertisements, making guest speeches, and writing self-help books. One way or another, though, Pepper opted out of an easy retirement and stayed with the fleet.

Pepper's image flickered as the old bloodhound rubbed his eyelids and let out a long sigh through his nose."You didn't scan his fighter for rigged explosives?"

"We never got the chance to," Fox replied, "he set it off before we could do a thorough scan."

"I understand." The old hound let out another sigh.

"General, I-"

"Fox, if you're going to apologize, then let me stop you right there." Pepper held up a paw. "Because if it were up to me, I'd give you the bounty and buy you a beer while I was at it."

Fox's eyebrows shot up.

Pepper continued, "The thing is, it's not up to me, and we really needed him alive."

Fox's shoulder's sagged slightly. He expected to hear something like that. Part of him knew better than to hope they could still claim the bounty, but a more persistent part of him hoped that anyways.

Pepper must've noticed his expression, because he sounded apologetic when he spoke, "I'm sorry, Fox. The reason the bounty was that big was because having him alive would've helped us a hell of a lot more than having him dead. Zard was part of the Venomian old guard, and that means any information he had could've helped us track down where the rest of Andross' closest advisors and lieutenants ran off to after the war."

Fox spoke, "You think that's why he did it? To keep us from learning anything?"

Pepper replied while staring, brow furrowed, at something in front of him, as though he saw a whole plan laid out on some unseen table surface. "Maybe. Zard's rap sheet was also long enough to wrap around Titania. He could've just panicked at the thought of actually going on trial. The least awful thing he's done that I remember was round up prisoners for bioweapons tests. We haven't held an execution for anybody for a few hundred years, but I wouldn't be surprised if the jury asked for one once they saw what he was responsible for. On top of that, if Zard thought he'd be betraying the cause by getting captured, and if he was especially zealous, then..."

Pepper shook his head and Fox found his moment to cut back in. "In that case, General, I'd like to have some reasonable compensation. Nothing in our briefing suggested that Zard would try something like this. If it did, we would've planned a completely different approach."

Pepper narrowed his eyes at Fox and managed a wry smile. "You're starting to sound like Peppy. Like I said, though, the decision on what to pay you is largely out of my paws, but."

Pepper sucked his teeth and hummed thoughtfully. "I can't promise more than what the bounty offers for having him dead. That's just ten percent of the original bounty for getting him alive, but I'll see if I can pull some strings to kick that number up to half."

Fox nodded, a little disappointed, but not surprised. "If there's anything else you need from us, General, let us know."

"Believe me, I will," Pepper spoke, "You've helped us a lot in the past, McCloud. If I get wind of more jobs, I'll send them your way. In the meantime, good luck out there. Pepper out."

The hologram shut off, with the image of Pepper dissolving into a cloud of pixels before disappearing altogether. Once it vanished, Fox walked to the nearest chair, slumped against it, and sighed through gritted teeth. He held a lot of his angrier comments back. There was a lot more he wanted to say to the general but he bit his tongue, half because he thought it was a bad idea to get on your only consistent employer's bad side, and half because he just felt too damned tired.

His gaze traced the recessed lights on the bridge's ceiling, going sideways until he reached the bridge window. Looking out, he saw the nearby orbital warp gate, and the rust-orange planet of Katina below. Watching it slowly turn, Fox remembered what its skies looked like when they were swarming with Venomian fighters. He felt his grip tighten as more memories of Venomian invasion fleets surfaced.

The memories of Corneria being invaded hit hardest, with memories of razed buildings, strafing runs on crowds by Venomian fighter wings, and of whole city blocks evaporating in seconds all flooding his mind. He imagined Zard's face behind every Venomian fighter canopy, and he quietly wonderd how many more like him still roamed the system. He tried putting a number to how many possible Zards could still be at large, and he felt the nausea of that implication sink into his stomach.

Fox pushed that thought out of his mind as the intercom crackled and a tinny voice echoed through the bridge. "F-Fox, Peppy's back from Katina, and he's got someone down here he says you should talk to."

He immediately reached for the intercom panel by his seat. He tried to shake off the feelings from before as he spoke, "I'll be right there."

Fox instinctively braced himself for more bad news. The wave of unease he already felt sank in a little deeper. At the same time, a part of him clung to hope. Who knew? Maybe Peppy brought good news to share this time.

Fox smelled coffee as he stepped off the ladder leading to the Great Fox's galley. He caught the tail end of a conversation as he got close.

"...well miss Byrd, I have to say, I'm sold on this idea. But my opinion's not the only one that matters." Peppy finished his statement right as Fox walked in.

A falcon sat across from Peppy and Slippy. She looked to be the same species as Falco, but with white feathers and a crest on her head that looked dusted with black. She sported a charcoal-grey business suit, crossing her legs as she sat across from Peppy.

The moment Fox stepped in, she stood and offered a wing. "Ah! I was hoping to meet the fox in person. I've heard a lot about you. But don't worry, though, what I've heard is almost exclusively good."

Fox almost missed the split-second appraising look she shot him as he stepped in. At the same time, he picked up her warm tone and how the edges of her mouth curled upwards to make the familiar near-smile that avian folks wore whenever they seemed genuinely pleased. Shaking her wing with his paw, Fox felt a little better, but kept his guard up. He didn't know what she wanted yet.

"I also understand there's one more I should meet-" The hiss of an automatic door interrupted her as Falco stepped in, wearing nothing but a sleeveless undershirt and sweat pants.

Falco made it about halfway through pulling a can opener and a can of soup out of the nearest cabinet before he noticed the guest. At that point, he froze in place. After an awkward pause, he spoke, "Should I, uh, come back later?"

"No, no, please. I came unannounced. You're one of the people I need to see, actually. Now I can actually ask you all at once." Byrd, to her credit, didn't seem fazed by Falco's appearance. Peppy shot Falco a withering look the moment Byrd turned away, and Falco responded with a shrug as he mouthed the words well, nobody warned me.

As Falco put down his soup can, the white falcon stepped to the front of the table and cleared her throat. "My name is Angela Byrd, and I'm here hoping that I can recruit you all for a job with the people I represent."

Fox caught a glint of something metallic on her lapel. It looked like the Lylat system's star: a shining circle haloed by a field of stars. He refocused on Byrd as she spoke, "I represent a group known as the Order of Lylat. We're an organization whose goal is to strengthen the bonds of fellowship between all the faiths in the Lylat system through mutual aid, interfaith dialogues, and cooperation throughout the system, all so we can better understand each other, our place in the universe, and how we can work together to make it a better place."

Fox noticed Falco's eyebrows fly up. His did the same. Before Fox could ask any of the half dozen questions crowding his mind, Falco beat him to the one Fox thought about the most. "You're not, uh, here to convert us or anything, right?"

Byrd smiled warmly. "No, I'm just here to ask for your services. You came highly recommended. My order is interested in building a retreat center somewhere remote near Venom, and we're looking for protection as we build it."

Okay, now it made sense why she came to them. Building anything near Venom carried risks, even with the new government in place there. The Cornerian Navy still patrolled the area, but the bulk of the planet's security came from its own government, and it still struggled with recurring pirate raids.

She continued, glancing at Fox's expression as she spoke, "Many of our members spent years searching for an appropriate location. Somewhere quiet, reasonably isolated, and uninhabited. A little while ago, our survey team found this."

Byrd placed a small holographic projector on the table, and an image of a rocky asteroid hovered above the surface, joined by the mammoth backdrop of Venom behind it.

She waved a wing over the asteroid. "It fits all of our criteria, and it's the only place we could get all our leaders to agree on. The biggest problem is safety. We have security personnel of our own, but it's not enough. We need additional security to stay with us long enough for us to build long-term defenses. Once those are done, your contract is complete."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't you have built those defenses first?"

Byrd shook her head. "That would be much riskier. Once we start building all the important things, we'll be a much more noticeable target. That's why we need protection, at least until we're settled in and well-defended."

Fox nodded, but furrowed his brow. Out of all the jobs he expected to hear, at no point did he think a church, or something like it, would go out of its way to hire him. Something bothered him about the job, though.

Byrd must've noticed because she looked directly at Fox before she spoke, "I can send you the brief and the contract. I just felt it was more appropriate to meet you all in person-oh!"

Byrd stopped mid-sentence as ROB stepped through the door, his metallic footsteps rattling the floor grating. He spoke in a synthesized monotone, "Do not mind me. I am performing ship maintenance. Please, continue."

Byrd's wing settled on her chest, feathers slightly ruffled. "Well, this is a surprise! I've never met a robot that knew it was interrupting. Is he...?"

Slippy answered right away, almost like he knew what her question would be. "Nah, he's not a real self-aware AI. M-Most of his responses look lifelike because my dad and I've personally crafted his response programming for years. H-He can be pretty convincing sometimes, though."

Byrd never took her eyes off ROB until he left the room with the doors shut behind him. Fox watched her smooth down her feathers, and another question surfaced in his mind. He pushed it aside for now, focusing instead on what to do.

Fox hummed thoughtfully. He turned to his crew. "So, gang, what do y'all think?"

Slippy spoke up almost immediately, "I think it's great! They're gonna need a lot of technical expertise for setting up a whole base, and I bet I could help with that."

"I think it's exactly what we need." Peppy waved a paw at the projection of the asteroid. "It's a break from bounty hunting, and I think we could use that, on top of the money."

Fox turned to Falco. The bird passed a wing over the crest on his head. "Doesn't sound like a mission with a lot of action but hey, job's a job. I'm in."

Fox rubbed his chin and looked up at Byrd. "Alright, then. Miss Byrd, I think you've found your crew. Just send me the brief and we can hammer out the details."

Byrd clapped her wings together. "Excellent! I'll send everything right away, and thank you. I have to admit, I was worried I'd have to scour the system for another team good enough to make the order happy."

"Well, we have to say." Peppy nodded upwards at the projection. "You caught us at the right time. We're looking for good work in a system that doesn't have much left, and we appreciate the offer."

Soon after, Byrd packed up her projector as Peppy walked her back to the hangar. As Fox watched her walk away, he felt the unease from before settle back into his system. Climbing back up the ladder towards the bridge, he wondered if he felt this way because he spent so long barely holding things together that he now reflexively treated good situations with the fear that they could always go south.

He shook his head. Thoughts like those bothered him for years, and he wanted to let them go. Getting a win for once would help get rid of them. With that, he climbed up further, and thought about finding a way to buy a bottle of that Fortuna liquor to repay Falco.

Miyu walked the halls of the carrier, knocking a crumpled soda can forward as she walked. She didn't even register that the can was there until it connected with her boot a second time. The sound of it crunching underfoot derailed her train of thought. For a second, she just stared at the can, its edges glowingly highlighted by the lights overhead.

She kicked it away, hissing a curse as it sailed down the hall. She meant it for the pilot that shot her down, and also, a little, at herself for letting it happen.

She almost died.

Miyu shook her head, pushing the thought away. She needed to move on. The mercenary team already got a new mission, and being ready for it took priority.

She kept walking, past the trash that lined the hallways, stepping over thick industrial cables bundled together with duct tape, and over gaps in the floor grating where rust ate holes through the metal.

She passed a group of pilots as she reached the briefing room. All of them wore faded black flight suits with Venomian insignia. They ignored her as she walked inside.

Looking over the assembled pilots in front of the podium, she scanned the crowd for familiar faces. She saw her flight lead, Jess, a tall leopardess in a black Venomian flight suit, and one of the only people on the ship whose name Miyu actually remembered. Instead of Venom's insignia, she sported the mercenary team's squadron patch: a fist holding a lightning bolt on a midnight-black background.

Miyu counted almost a dozen different colors of flight suit, all clustered in seemingly-random groups. The biggest exceptions were pilots wearing the black flight suits of the Venomian Navy. Most of those pilots stood near the end of the room, away from the others, save for one or two who'd managed to make their way into the Venomians' group.

One figure stood out, though: a tall ferret, sitting right next to the flight lead. His clean, black business suit seemed out of place in the sea of pilots. His gaze focused on nothing in particular. The new employer, Miyu guessed.

One pilot raised a paw to wave Miyu over to a seat beside her. Miyu recognized the arctic fox who pulled her wrecked fighter back into the carrier. She felt a small pang of guilt for not asking her name, yet. Even now, Miyu still felt new to the squadron. Most of that was her fault: she kept to herself for the most part and honestly, she liked it that way. Even then, she felt bad for not doing more to thank her.

Walking over towards the fox, she caught a few pilots looking at her and whispering as she passed. "Hey, take a look at Total over there."

Miyu's ears flattened as she glared at the pilot who nodded towards her. She caught him wearing the kind of look you usually saw on someone who got away with landing a spitball on the back of someone's head. He turned away instantly, but she could hear the laughs from the pilots around him.

Miyu put another notch on her mental tally of reasons why she kept to herself.

"Yeah, the first nickname's usually the worst." The arctic fox nodded towards a pilot sitting alone at the other side of the room. "Just be glad you didn't get a name like that poor guy over there."

"I haven't heard his, yet." Miyu sat down, still checking to see if the other pilots still laughed.

The arctic fox wore a pitying smile. "His fighter lost power a few seconds before landing, and he slid right into a wall after crashing down. He didn't get hurt, but he got stuck with the name STD. Starship Test Dummy."

Miyu snorted. "Really?"

The arctic fox opened her mouth to say more, but an ear-piercing whistle interrupted her. All eyes turned to the flight lead, who just took her fingers out of her mouth. The ferret stood behind her, arms behind his back as he stared at the wall behind the pilots.

"Take a seat, people." Jess scanned the crowd as they settled into their chairs. "As some of you guessed, we have a new job. Our new mission is pretty straightforward: someone stole something, and we're gonna take it back."

Jess hit a wall switch, and the lights dimmed. A shimmering, blue-tinted hologram appeared in front of the audience. An asteroid. Miyu didn't recognize it, but she vaguely recognized the planet behind it.

A voice in the crowd beat her to the punch. "Venom?"

Jess nodded once. "Our job is near Venom. As it turns out, this rock near it is someone's property and as of two days ago, someone else decided to land on it. They've since refused to leave, and our employers want us to persuade them that staying is not in their best interest. Our job is to be the sharp stick that gets the point across."

Miyu squinted at the asteroid. She wanted to ask why someone would bother sending a squadron to take back a space rock. She heard murmurs in the crowd that suggested the same idea.

Jess answered almost on cue, "This rock has substantial personal importance to our employers. They surveyed it years ago and set up a claim for mining purposes. The squatters there have since repeatedly refused to leave, and now they've hired some guards to defend it."

The murmuring died down. Miyu glanced up at the asteroid slowly turning in place. She also noticed the ferret standing in a spot almost directly beneath it, looking up with a staid, unreadable expression. As she focused on him, he slowly turned to look at her.

She stared back for a few seconds. Miyu suddenly felt the shiver of goosebumps as she heard something fly by her ear. She reflexively swatted at it, thinking that a beetle might've grazed her ear.

Her elbow accidentally jabbed the arctic fox beside her. The fox spoke, surprised, "Something wrong?"

Miyu looked around, thinking that the beetle might've landed somewhere, or hopefully got sucked into a vent. "I think a bug flew by my ear."

"Oh no." She covered her own ears and glanced around with a wary look. "I know how that feels. They graze your ears and feel exactly like how television static looks."

As soon as Miyu refocused on the ferret, she saw him walking away. She also saw Jess stepping back towards the podium. Jess spoke, glancing at the ferret as he left the room, "We'll be making a rendezvous with another ship that's on the same mission. Once we meet, we can put together a plan to retake the asteroid. With that, I'll let you all go. Dismissed."

The rumble of dozens of boots hitting the floor echoed through the room. As Miyu followed the arctic fox out of the room, she glanced one more time at the spot where the asteroid hologram used to hover.

She thought about her trashed fighter, and muttered, "Better be worth it."

Author's notes:

Honestly? I missed writing here. I also missed reading reviews like the ones y'all wrote here:

Nail Strafer: I'm glad to be back! I'll also admit that Star Fox running out of money isn't really original, but I'm hoping to make it work here. As for the bumblebee-striped fighter, that was just my way of describing construction tape colors on a vehicle. I did that to point out that it's a hauler, not a true combat fighter. Looking back, I should've been clearer. My bad.

Elarix: Still strange to think I was gone that long. That said, I'm back and I don't plan to disappear again without getting this done. I'm glad you thought the first chapter was solid! I thought a lot about your comments on Zard, and those thoughts made it into this chapter. I think I wrote a good enough explanation for why he did what he did, but that's up to y'all. As for my grammar, I'm just stunned I spent this long not knowing the rules for dialogue. I wrote this whole chapter keeping those rules in mind, and it works a lot better now.

Vexed: 3rd person limited is by far my favorite way to write. I'm glad you thought it worked here. As for Miyu, I want to write her character in a way that does her justice, so I'm gonna be including her perspective a lot. I'm wondering, though: how did I make her stand out? I'm glad you think she does but looking back, I didn't think she would in just the first chapter.

It's been a while since I wrote this much, and I appreciate y'all for reading. Anyways, I should have another chapter done soon. Until then, y'all stay safe out there.