Chapter 13.

Running On Empty

Preacher Ray,

I got your email, and I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I'm sorry about what happened with the Order. From what it sounds like, the intel folks on Venom and Corneria are gonna be thorough. They've already questioned me for the fifth time, and I think that's the last one. They probably have a file on me as big as a cinderblock by now. To answer you question: overall, I'm getting by. The Arwings can fly again, and we can still do missions, so we're not out of the game yet. Still, I appreciate you reaching out, and I'm glad to hear from you. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know.

Respectfully,

Fox McCloud

Miyu pressed her head up against the waiting room window, watching the rain trickle down the glass and merge with the pane. She looked around again, taking in the room. Paintings of aircraft in flight covered the walls at every few steps, including one that took up an entire wall across from her. It looked like a plane, too small to make out completely, breaking through the clouds and leaving a long wisp behind its tail. She couldn't take her eyes off it when she first walked in.

That was two hours ago. She looked up at the clock over the door, then at the receptionist behind a glass window built into the wall, with a space where the window met her desk.

Miyu already asked about her follow-up interview. Twice. The lime-feathered falcon gave her an exhausted shrug, confirmed her appointment was on the right day and time, and said that her interviewer was running hopelessly late.

The feline slouched in her chair to stare at the ceiling when she heard the door creak open again. She looked without turning her head. A snow-white cocker spaniel leaned in, looking around before she even took a step. She wore a dark blue blazer with a luxuriously soft-looking shirt underneath. Her jeans matched her blazer, and her shoes matched her fur.

Miyu flicked an ear and curled her lip wryly. She looked badly out of place here, holding a purse with monograms on every inch of it, in a waiting room that showed marks where moving the furniture scraped the wall, and where every other decoration featured combat aircraft with rough-looking pilots vaulting into or out of the cockpit.

She guessed that the dog was looking for her spouse. This was a high-end Space Dynamics research facility, after all. The owner of the place probably made a mint, and she looked like she could be married to the CEO.

Miyu didn't lose that impression of her as the spaniel strode, never even stopping as she passed a paw over her ear to flatten some fur, all the way up to the receptionist.

The impression shattered the moment she spoke, "Hello, I've been looking for my interviewer for over two hours, now. Could you tell me where he is?"

What? Miyu almost said it out loud. Was she here for the same interview? Did she show up before Miyu did?

The feline let her head thunk against the wall as she cursed inwardly. The interviewer said that their slots were competitive, and would be all the way up to the last round of selection. If there were still other competitors at this point, that meant she could still lose the job.

Miyu fumed, thinking about what she'd do if she lost the offer after spending eight weeks wading through Space Dynamics' selection process. They went through her history with a fine-toothed comb, and her participation in the Venom Asteroid Incident earned her a commendation and twenty-five red flags in her file. She spent twice as long and got subjected to even more questions, forms, and background checks, all while getting ruled out from more sensitive projects. Even then, she made it.

And now she could lose it.

As she thought this, the cocker spaniel looked around, settled her eyes on the only other person sitting in the room, and then walked over to sit next to her. Twenty other seats in an empty room, and this dog decided to sit right by her.

At first, the dog said nothing. She just went through her purse, checked her phone, and let it drop back in before putting it in the seat beside her. Miyu closed her eyes, leaning back and hoping she wouldn't try to start a conversation.

"Hi!"

Miyu stiffened, and immediately wondered if the dog noticed. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she was slowly reaching a point where she wouldn't care if she was anymore.

The dog spoke with a tone you'd use to wake up someone at an old folks home, an action that helped Miyu get a little closer to that point, "I'm really sorry to bother you, but are you also, applying for the positions?"

Miyu turned her head, slowly, to face the dog. She spoke flatly, "Yeah."

"Oh! Well in that case, I look forward to working with you!" The dog offered her paw. Miyu stared at it long enough for the dog to awkwardly pull it back.

The silence that followed stretched on for a few seconds as the dog awkwardly cleared her throat, and folded her paws in her lap. Without a word, Miyu stood up and walked to the other side of the room. The dog already pulled her phone out of her bag and started dialing a number when she sat down again.

Miyu leaned back in her new seat and closed her eyes. The moment she did, the door slammed open, and a fennec fox briskly walked through the door. She met Miyu's gaze, smiled apologetically as she fumbled with the door by the receptionist's window, and less than a second later, the lime-colored falcon leaned through the doorway.

"Miss Lynx, Miss Spaniel, we can start now."

She froze when she heard the second name, and watched as the dog stood and walked towards the receptionist without a word, and while avoiding all eye contact with Miyu.

Miyu narrowed her eyes at the dog, sighed, shook her head, and walked in right after her.

Watching the prissy spaniel's shoes as she followed, Miyu thought about what would happen if she lost the job. She bristled a little, then tried to relax as they walked into the fennec fox's office. It looked barren, save for the posters that covered almost every section of wall above the waist, and for one bookshelf, a desk, and three chairs. Diagrams of strike craft, panoramic vistas of fighters in formation, and an exploded view of a T-shaped Cornerian fighter crowded the walls. Two chairs sat in front of the desk, one made of cheap plastic with a missing arm rest, and the other a cushioned swivel chair. Miyu took the swivel chair and enjoyed the brief moment of satisfaction that came with making the well-dressed spaniel sit in a chair that looked stolen from an outdoor food court. The spaniel sat down without a word.

The fennec adjusted her glasses and buttoned down the collar of her white, button-down shirt. She smiled sheepishly, "I apologize for keeping you both waiting. The ah, elevated train broke down."

The spaniel kept her paws folded on her lap. Miyu crossed her legs. Neither made eye contact with each other. The fennec laughed awkwardly before the spaniel broke the silence again, "I was hoping we could get this done quickly."

Miyu agreed, but not out loud. The fennec probably sensed the awkwardness as a grimace flickered over her muzzle. She cleared her throat and pulled out a binder. "Well, I deeply apologize. I don't usually work in this office, and they changed the location at the last minute."

She let out a breath at the end, and Miyu's ears flicked. An uneasy feeling crept into her chest as she reflexively braced herself for bad news.

The fennec looked pained for a second before rushing through the words, "All of the positions have been filled, but-"

"What?" If the spaniel spoke any louder, the next floor would've heard it.

Miyu didn't respond for a second, then resigned herself to the disappointment as the fox raised a flat paw.

"But! But...there are two temporary positions for a mission we're flying. You wouldn't be test pilots, but you'd be," The fennec stared intently at her binder and spoke slowly, "Active defense teams in intermediate, practical applications for existing combat strike frames."

The words sank in as Miyu narrowed her eyes. She almost said the words that came to her mind before the dog said them first, "Security pilots? Are you serious?"

The phrase dripped with contempt. Miyu felt almost relieved. She got a job. Not the one she wanted exactly, and it would only be temporary, but she'd still get to fly. The dog, on the other paw, looked furious.

The white canine leaned forward in her chair, bouncing her leg. She folded her arms and started to let her canines show. "You know, you could've sent an email. You could've called-"

The fennec raised her paws, "I'm-I'm sorry, this is just as much a surprise for me as it is for you. I don't usually work here, and they pulled me out of my department to do this. I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted, but-"

The dog leaned back in her chair, exhaled sharply through her nose, and spoke quietly. "What's the deadline for giving my answer?"

Miyu glanced at the dog, jaw dropped at the audacity of the question. She went this far to get a job, and now she's decided to be picky about it. She suppressed a grin at the drama that unfolded between the white canine and the startled fennec fox. A soft snort escaped her muzzle as she covered it with a paw.

The dog turned an acid glare towards her, and Miyu decided to clear her throat as though nothing happened. Her answer sounded rehearsed, even though she meant it: "I...I didn't expect that. I...have to say I'm a little disappointed, but I think I'll take your offer. Thank you for this opportunity."

Miyu offered her paw, and imagined the spaniel fuming at her for politely accepting and shaking the fennec's paw. She didn't care. If it irritated the dog, that was a bonus.

As she left the office, she saw the dog pulling her phone out, and imagined her trying to talk the CEO into giving her the job. She smirked. Miyu got something, and that was good enough.

Fox blinked. Waking up and lifting his head from the pillow, he looked around his cabin. Dark, with only the dim silhouettes of his desk and open closet giving any shape to the room.

A black tarp covered half of it, forming a bruise on the walls even darker than the near-black around it. Its edges hugged the walls where his bathroom used to be, held in place with thick strips of hazard-striped duct tape.

With a deep sigh, he put his head back down. For a few seconds, he sincerely forgot that his ship ate a fistful of missiles a while back. Now he lived in a space half the size that the room was originally designed for: a space that roughly matched the area of an apartment bathroom.

Now he had to live in that space. He could stick out a leg without even leaving the bed and he'd reach the edge of the hole punched through his ship. He frowned, and felt something familiar: a dark thought at the edge of his mind wondering how he'd deal with this, and if this was finally the sign that Star Fox was on its way out the door.

He pressed his face into his palms. He still had Peppy. And Falco and Slippy, too. ROB survived, even if he just rolled around as a head on wheels no bigger than a roller skate's. But how long would that last?

The red fox felt the cold wall against his back and thought about how even with these friends, he still felt like he had to deal with these questions by himself.

Part of that was on purpose. The rest came from the knowledge that somehow, no matter what, Fox always felt something could go wrong at any minute, of any day. It was a normal part of his thoughts, now. Sometimes he'd share them with people on the team, and they'd help, but even then, the doubts returned. And the dread he felt towards the future, when everyone else on the ship seemed more relaxed and at ease than he did, only made it feel worse. He felt isolated. On his own.

He shivered. Fox knew plenty of people in his life. Out of everyone he met, though, he only called a few his friends. Even then, it took years for that to happen. Either out of habit or hunch, he just didn't like getting close to too many people. Maybe being the leader did that, or maybe he just preferred it. Fox rationalized it by thinking that you couldn't just trust anyone with your secrets, your dreams or your fears: given a month or two, or a really nasty fight, they might use those things against you. Make friends too quickly, or trust people too easily, and they could hurt you just as quick or easily.

This gave Fox a few friends he deeply trusted. It also gave him almost no one to trust. Either way, it gave him the same result:

A feeling like he was still alone even with friends nearby.

Sitting up, Fox yawned and rubbed his eyes. Swinging his legs off the bed, he took his time to get the rest of himself awake. The thoughts still haunted him, but he pushed them away as he put on some pants. He blinked through squinted eyes at the alarm clock again, and at the tarp across his room, and made a mental note to find a new place to sleep in the near future.

Fox McCloud yawned again as he walked down the hallways, scratching the base of his tail with a sharp claw. He groped his way through the darkness, cursing himself as his forehead hit one of the ladder rungs on the way down. Reaching the bridge, he peered out the window, the biggest source of light in the room.

The light sent a beam through the shadows that slowly moved up from the floor to the ceiling with the speed of a clock's smallest hand. As he sat down, he heard a chirp and the high-pitched whirr of electric motors.

"Good morning, Fox."

The red fox lifted a foot as he heard the voice. It was a reflex, now. He didn't want to step on ROB's head. He knew that if he did, the chassis that held it up would buckle and Slippy would have to spend another hour bolting ROB to a new one. Falco learned that the hard way.

"How long until we reach our target?" Half of it came out as a yawn.

"We will arrive at the Huang-Müller Air-and-Starport in 50 minutes."

The information made him scowl. His alarm would've woken him up in ten minutes anyways, but losing that much sleep still felt like a robbery.

"Alright, ROB. Thank you." Fox already slouched into a seat. "Let me know if we get any transmissions from Space Dynamics."

"Roger." ROB already wheeled towards his charging station. Fox reached under one of the consoles and pulled out a cooler. Pulling a single can of soda out of the melted water, he stared out the window again.

He watched as the rust-colored surface of Katina spun outside the ship's window, and quietly reflected how many more times he'd get to see it before shutting down the team for good.

"A real flying shitbox. Just look at it." A frog technician held up some binoculars to his brick-colored face. Miyu didn't pay any attention to him as she waited at the bus stop.

The feline pulled her jacket a little more tightly around herself as the wind blew harder, whistling in her ears. The technician and his friends stood nearby, pointing at ships flying in.

Two or three others sat at the same stop, but Miyu stuck to ignoring them. She put on some headphones to block out their chatter. As she bobbed her head, cycling between the slow and moody songs and the loud and angry ones, she felt something hitting her tail.

She turned back with a nasty look at some canine in a hoodie whose tail brushed her from the other side of the bench. He mumbled an apology without turning towards her. Miyu didn't answer, and instead moved a little more out of the way.

By the time the bus arrived, Miyu was already on her feet and ready to ride back to the hotel. When she stepped on board the bus the canine, a swift fox, finally looked up as the doors closed. He froze as his gaze settled on her features right before the bus drove away.

As it left, another technician muttered with one arm pointing at an incoming ship. "God. It's like someone took some bites out of a goose's neck and called it a day."

This chapter was the hardest one for me to make so far. I've rewritten the second half 3 or 4 times, mostly because I only have a vague outline in my head for what I want out of this second part. It's not the same kind of hard, detailed outline I used for the first, which is what contributed to the general problem of having a lot of scenes and events with little or no explanation: As I worked through the outline most parts made it into the story, but I left out some because I had no idea how to work them in. The kicker's that a lot of those things I left out were designed to explain stuff.

My new outline's a lot more flexible since it's just a handful of big events I want to link together. I'm betting it'll work better than my last one.

Anyways, after that break with the short story, it feels good to have a main one to work on. But first, I'll get to the reveiws:

Chapter 11:

eaglator: I'm glad you liked it! I look forward to writing more.

Nail Strafer: One of the things I kept running into when I wrote the story was the feeling that I wasn't giving enough reasons for why all those scenes happened. I had a bunch of ideas in my head, and the story was just me putting them together. I should've done more to explain the crystal, the elaborate setup, and the motivations because you're right. There's enough missing information to make it confusing in a lot of places. So that's what I'm going to work on. I still want to build that sense of mystery, but I think you're generally right.

That said, I did explain why Miyu and her mercenaries got hired. Miyu spelled it out at the start of chapter 9: she and her crew were there as cannon fodder who the Venomians wouldn't have to pay if they died. On top of that, I get what you mean when you mention Miyu's argument, and that in order for it to work, Fox needs to do something greyer. But that wasn't what I was trying to do. I wrote Miyu's argument to be deliberately petty, shallow, and mean, with only a grain of truth, because that grain would be the part of it that gets to Fox. Fox coming back and talking to Peppy about how much it bothered him means a lot to me, because I want Fox McCloud to be a decent man who takes what he does seriously. Maybe he will do something more grey in the future, but at that moment, he faced an unfair argument that bothered him, and Peppy was there to help him through it. All those things mean a lot to me.

All those things said, I'm grateful for your review. It was a wake-up call that I need to be better at making things clearer. I hope that next time, I improve.

Elarix: Your critiques kind of tie into Nail's good points. I should've explained more, and more clearly. Still, I'm really, really proud of the action and how I wrote about the character's feelings and emotions. As for Miyu, I do have a reason why Fox specifically got her so mad, and I'm planning to get into that more in this second part. I also want to put in more explanations for why everything in the first story happened the way it did. That's on me, though, and I'm glad that both you and Nail pointed it out.

NadaYNadie: Like I said with Elarix and Nail, I really should've explained more. But I am proud of that battle scene, and I appreciate the feedback. My new plan with the second part of the story should improve on the points you mentioned.

Chapter 12:

Elarix: One of the things I love to do is make my story feel grounded; just...adding details that make the world they live in seem familiar. Even if it's got stuff like blasters and talking animals, it needs dirty blaster maintenance and talking animals getting mad that the maintenance isn't working. It makes their feelings a little easier to understand, and it makes the suspension of disbelief much, much easier.

Looking back, though, you're probably right about the redundancy of those lines. The story would probably work more smoothly without me repeating them too much, and I'll probably go back to rewrite it. Believe it or not, though, when I wrote Peppy's line about some friends not being worth it, the idea that he was talking about Pigma didn't even cross my mind until I actually wrote the words down.

I meant for that short story to just give a glimpse into the characters themselves and who they are, and I wanted to write it so that if people wanted to skip the chapter, they wouldn't miss anything really important. Still, I really want to include them because they let me add hints and details about future stories. Maybe not completely describing the next arc, but at least giving people an idea for what might happen later.

NadaYNadie: I think what I did here was hint too much and too strongly with the "look after your people" line. After what happened with the first story, I foreshadowed too hard. As for Swift, I wrote him to be an obvious bad friend. I came up with this story with the question of what it would take to break your loyalty to a longtime friend, and the whole story revolves around that thought. I'm glad you thought it was nice, I worked on that idea for a while.

As always, I appreciate y'all's reviews. I'm looking forward to what y'all have to say about this chapter. See y'all next time.