Dark Angel (Part 2)
Chapter 6
Despite having rendered him unconscious Cameron had to admit Mama Bella's special
stew did exactly as it was advertised. Putting a spring in his step was some thing of an
under statement to say the least.
Every movement of his body seemed to require absolutely no effort at all as if he were in
zero gravity. And there was also the fact that his brain appeared to be processing all his
thoughts at triple the normal rate. In fact it seemed like his entire body was completely
super charged.
The second part of her sales pitch, the part about the girls being all over him, well it
appeared that that was also true. The beautiful wolf girl who had been there when he
regained consciousness on the cantina floor not more than ten minutes ago now sat with
him at a table over by the back wall of the cantina as they enjoyed drinks and pleasant
conversation.
She was about the same height as Cameron and maybe a year or two older than him
(given that he was only twenty five that was still pretty young) with soft greyish brown
fur and long dark brown hair about shoulder length tied back into a pony tail. She had a
black stripe running from her nose up head between her crystal clear blue eyes that ran up
under her hair.
As they had walked over to the table from the spot where Cameron had collapsed he had
noticed that the stripe ran right down her back to the end of her tail. She was wearing a
pair of tight fitting blue jeans that showed off the obviously excellent shape she was in, a
pair of calf length black leather boots that were the common style among traders and
freighter captains that were the cantina's main source of income. She was also wearing a
black crop top and a red jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow.
Strapped to her right fore arm was a small light blaster pistol about half the size of those used by the
Cornerian military. From these clues Cameron had deduced that she was definitely not local. That at
least they had in common.
"So tell me about your self, I mean it's probably not every day you try to save the life of
every fox that collapse's in a bar," he said in a somewhat lighter tone than normal.
Most of the time when he spoke Cameron used a somewhat cold, emotionless tone of
voice that combined with his cultured English accent was intended to intimidate the
listener. On this occasion how ever he wasn't trying to intimidate any one, quite the
opposite in fact. To the lovely lady across the table from him he spoke in a warmer,
friendlier tone but still retained his cultured English accent.
"Well It is some what unusual for me to some thing like that but then again given the way
you keeled over like that I was concerned that you'd had a stroke or some thing," she said
in her warm contralto voice.
To young Cameron Winter that voice was like listening to the vocal equivalent of the sun
coming out from behind a dark cloud. "As to the subject of my self, my name is Angela,
Angela O'donnel and I'm a freelance trader running between here and the surrounding
systems".
It was just as Cameron had figured. That explained the cloths and the blaster. "Really,
what cargo are you hauling at the moment," Cameron said in a genuinely interested tone.
"I'm currently making a delivery of stott spice from the Deneb system to Corneria, but
enough about me what about the handsome young man across from me?" she said with a
wicked smile on her lips.
"Well not much to tell really my name is Cameron Winter and I'm a mercenary by trade
or at least that's what my resume says I am officially, I'm not really sure what you could
call me. I guess I'm what you could call a T.S.W." he said matter of factly. "A T.S.W?
What's that?" she asked with a confused look on her face.
"Thief, spy, what ever, generally I get hired when some one wants some thing done
quietly but doesn't want to use their own forces to do it for one reason or another," he
explained.
"OH, does it pay well?" she asked. "Most of the time yeah, mostly big corporations who
want to engage in a little industrial espionage but don't want to get caught, this way I'm
the only one taking any risks and if I get busted they can claim deniability," He explained
again. "Hmm so what brings you to the Lylat system Mr.Spy to the stars," she said in a
slightly lighter tone again. "Well I'm here on personal business," he said retrieving a
small holographic projector from the voluminous folds of his long black coat.
"I'm looking for an old friend of my father's," he said as he activated it and it displayed
the image of three men sitting together with copious amounts of drink, celebrating some
thing or other.
The man on the left was a solidly built fox with black fur and deep brown eyes. He was
wearing a leather jacket and a red T-shirt that read "Don Choo Know I'm Loco," in big
white letters. He had the roguish look of a pirate gone strait. The only thing he had in
common with Cameron was his fur and the sword on his back that was identical to the
one Cameron had.
Next to him was a rabbit in his mid thirties, fairly well built and wearing a long grey coat
with a red flight suit under it. In contrast to the first man, this one had a look of good-
natured wisdom. Some one to depended on.
The third man in the picture was another fox in his late twenties, wearing a green flight
suit and a grey jacket similar to the rabbit's coat. He had dark reddish fur and a Wight
muzzle, but you couldn't see his eyes because of the dark shades he wore.
"I never really knew my father all that well. He died when I was quite young. So when I
heard that his friend's mercenary fighter wing was operating in this system I decided to
see if I could find any thing out about him," Cameron knew this was only a half-truth but
then a half-truth is better than a lie.
"Oh, oh I'm sorry if I brought up a sensitive subject," she apologised.
"That's okay, this has really been more of a history lesson for me than anything else has,"
He said reassuringly.
At that moment Mama Belle the cantina's owner came over with another round of
drinks. "Evryting being alright ova here me fine young vulpine friend," she said in her
happy Rastafarian accent.
Since it had been her cooking that had caused Cameron's collapse earlier she thought it
only fair for tonight's drinks to be on the house, particularly now he had company.
"Oh we are just fine here thanks," Cameron said appreciatively.
Most other bar owners in this sort of situation would have simply relieved him of all his
valuables and dumped him out back in an ally, but then Mama's was not your typical bar.
As Mama returned to the bar to serve some more customers Cameron turned back to
Angela and said "I think I've found my new favourite bar".
Chapter 7
The Star Fox team had reconvened in the briefing room as Great Fox approached
Fortuna's orbit. Each sat around a large table with a holographic display unit in the
centre. The only one not present was Fara who was still on the bridge keeping watch.
Fox was the first to speak "Okay guys our e.t.a at Fortuna is only eight hours, how are
we doing on those preparations?" he asked in a serious tone.
Slippy, who was sat on Fox's left spoke next in his usual girlish tone "All four Arwings
are prepped, primed and ready to kick some ass Fox," he said with more than a little
pride.
Falco was the next to speak " I just got off the comm to Katt and Bill, Katt says her e.t.a.
to hook up with us is in about twenty minutes. Bill how ever was held up and won't reach
us for at least an hour after we reach Fortuna," he said with an air of attempted efficiency.
Lastly it came to Peppy's turn to speak. Sat across from Fox he had the "I'm getting too
old for this shi*," look on his face. When he finally spoke his drawling southern accent
just seemed to accentuate this.
" I must be going senile in my old age, I should have figured this out as soon as I saw
those pictures the general sent us." He said shaking his head as he spoke.
" Cameron Winter is the son of Connor Winter a former member of this team from before
Pigma joined. Back when the team was first formed twenty years ago it was just him, me
and your father, Fox," he said as recalled the oldest memories of the team's history.
"Back then we were just a rookie merc outfit taking the jobs no one else wanted to do
because they were either too dangerous or just didn't pay well enough. We had no major
credentials, no financial backing and we didn't even had decent ships. But all the same
we flew like demons, we always got the job done and we always stuck together. And that
was how Connor Winter died," he said gravely as he thought of the death of a good
friend.
" We had been hired to support the local government in the Delta Serpentis system in
their campaign against a group of space pirates who had been raiding the system for
years. In the closing months of the campaign Connor and your father were asked to do a
scout run of a remote area of the system where it was suspected that the pirates had a
base. I was grounded due to broken arm I picked up on our last op. Two fighters left, only
one came back. When your father's ship came limping back, shot up and barely flying I
knew instantly some thing had gone very wrong. But he wouldn't tell me what had
happened when he hit the flight deck carrying Connor's sword, except that Connor had
given his life to save him. Your father refused to say what happened out there and we
couldn't check his flight recorder because he had ejected it some where on the flight back
to the carrier. Right up till your father's death he never said what had happened out there
that day or why he ejected his black box. All I know is the son has followed in the foot
steps of the father and he is waiting for us on that planet," said as he retold the tale of a
twenty-year-old mystery.
Chapter 8
It was well into the evening and Cameron and Angela had gone through a fair amount of
drinks and their topic of conversation had wandered to every thing from the virtues of
different makes of blaster to the artistic works of the great masters.
It seemed that this had been a perfect night out for Cameron so far. Not only had he
discovered his new favourite bar in the galaxy but he had also just found in that same bar
the girl of his dreams.
Well not literally, the girls in his dreams often seemed to have dark green hair in odd
styles and posses weird magical powers and generally tended to wear sailor out fits with
overly long transformation sequences.
But that said she did seem to be some thing he would have imagined the love of his life
would have been like. She was intelligent, independent, caring of those around her and
damn she was beautiful.
He was about to strike up another conversation when the cantina door burst open (or
rather was smashed open taking it half way off its hinges) and a massive burly figure
stepped in.
The huge figure was a bulldog with massive muscles and a winding tattoo on his neck.
He was dressed rather typically of the hunters who trapped this inhospitable planets
native predators with thick legging made of some course material, heavy looking hob nail
boots and a vest that barely covered his monolithic torso.
With a brace of assorted fangs crossing his barrel chest and a hunting knife that most
would be hard pressed to even lift at his belt it was clear that this was some one to avoid.
The slab like hunter's boulder like head seemed incapable of moving on his neck (if he
had a neck) so his whole body moved as he glared about the bar. He seemed to be looking
for some one.
Then somewhat to Cameron's surprise and discomfort he stopped and focused on their
table. He could almost feel the ground shake as the gigantic bulldog stomped towards him
and Angela.
"O'donnel ya low down, stinkin, trade rat, ah don't stand for bein cheated by any one,"
the great walking mountain bellowed in a low seismic voice that was more like an
earthquake than some one speaking. "Um hi Sly, how business," Angela said in
somewhat worried tone as her eyes widened at the approach of the hulking hunter.
"Don't gimme that crap trade rat, you owe me money," he continued to bellow.
"Look I already paid you sly, I told you I'd get you the best price for those vornskire
hides but I've got a ship to maintain and parts aren't cheap," she said trying in vain to
calm possibly the angriest man Cameron had ever seen.
"Well you ain't gonna need no ship, cause I'm gonna snap you up like a twig just like any
other little trade rat that cheats Sly Strazinscky," the huge trapper said with a slight grin
on his face.
Standing Cameron turned towards livid bull dog and spoke again with his intimidating,
emotionless tone of voice "Why don't you back off, go to the bar, get a drink and calm
down."
"An what if I don't, you gimme that purdy sword of yours and I might not squish ya like
a little bug," Sly chuckled with obvious amusement at the young fox whom he towered
over.
When Cameron replied he didn't even change his tone of voice "Well I have a better deal,
how about I give you the finger," he said raising his right hand in the universal symbol of
vulgarity "And you bugger off before I kick your arse from here to Katina," he said
calmly.
Still highly amused by young man in front of him but still getting very angry Sly glared
down at Cameron and said "Oh, I'm sooo scared, I'm quakin in ma boots," he said
sarcastically.
Thinking about this Cameron finally replied "Actually I was thinking about snapping
your right arm at the elbow, cracking at least three ribs and possibly knocking out a
couple of teeth."
For Sly that was it. His battering ram like right arm lashed out towards Cameron with a
speed that belayed its owner's immense size. Cameron how ever had seen this one
coming.
A deft dodge to the left and he caught the mighty appendage with his right hand and
swiftly brought down his left elbow onto the joint putting it at a very wrong angle with a
sickening crunch. Even as Sly howled in pain Cameron spun inwards putting his back
against Sly's huge torso slamming his right elbow into his ribs with another equally
sickening crunch.
Then he planted his fist into the bulldog's face in a backhand strike to the jaw sending
Sly's upper left fang flying out into some bodies drink on the other side of the bar.
Finally Cameron leapt up in a flying spin kick that brought his jack booted right leg in a
scything arc that connected with the burly hunters head like a sledgehammer.
The impact sent Sly spinning twice in mid air before landing on his face on the cantina
floor in a manor similar to how Cameron had earlier.
Striding over to the bar and depositing a hefty amount of cash he turned to Mama the
bar's owner and said "sorry about the door and the mess," nodding towards the broken,
unconscious bull dog.
Heading back over to the table where Angela was still sat admiring his skill he said
"Sorry, the urge to Wight knight was just to great to resist, beside I needed the exercise."
Smiling back at him she said "You want to go some where else?."
Cameron nodded.
Chapter 9
Back on Great Fox, Fox stood at the end of the holographic blaster range looking down
the sights of his pistol again deep in thought. Delta Serpentis was a remote system on the
edge of known space. Located inside a nebula it was barely inhabited.
The local government was little more than a consortium of mining corporations who had
joined forces to harvest the nebula for valuable types of gas like deuterium and radon that
were used as fuel for large star ships like Great Fox.
The system couldn't have had more than a few thousand inhabitants at any one time. No
pirates would have had a base there. There were systems far closer to the shipping lanes
and far more profitable than Delta Serpentis.
And so the big question came just at the same time as his target. He asked it to himself at
the same time as he pulled his trigger and killed an old stock footage image of Pigma
Dengar "What were Connor Winter and my father really sent out to find that day."
He had been shooting like this for almost an hour since the revelation of Cameron's
origins from Peppy in the briefing room. Checking the counter next to the ally showed he
had scored another perfect one hundred percent accuracy again.
Same as always when he used the Pigma target. As his father's betrayer Pigma was
possibly the one person in the galaxy whom fox truly hated. He hated Pigma with every
breath in his body.
Spinning his gun around his hand as he always did when he was on good form he turned
to leave just in time to see Peppy coming in.
"I guess I should have seen the family resemblance when the general sent us those
pictures. Call me a senile old idiot but I didn't even know Connor had a son. Hell I didn't
know he had any family period. Some pal of his I turned out to be," he said holding his
hand behind his back as he did when Fox came to him for advice.
But this time it was different. Now things were reversed. "You shouldn't blame your self
Peppy, you couldn't have known he had a son," Fox said trying to reassure the man who
had been his fathers best friend and had looked after him after James Mcloud's death at
the hands of Andross years before.
"Yeah, but there was always some thing that bothered me. After the Delta Serpentis
campaign your dad booked passage on a star liner to the Lacoda system alone. All he
took with him was Connor's sword. He said some thing about keeping a promise to a
friend. He met up with me six months later on Jaconda in the Tallson system with out the
sword but with your mother. You were born the year after here in Lylat. I always
wondered why he took the sword to Lacoda but now I think I know now. I didn't know
Connor had a son, but James did. Now I watched the battle footage from the asteroid
engagement near Corneria and I recognised the flying style. It's nearly identical to
Connor's. I don't know yet what it means but I when I do I think it should clear up at
least one mystery," he said, almost going glassy eyed as he thought back to another of his
oldest memories.
Moments passed until Katt came in with a long rifle in hand. "Hi, I hope you don't mind I
just have to calibrate the scope on my little old hand cannon here," she said in here
flirtatious Dixie accent. Nodding side ways and giving her a slight smile Fox stepped
aside and left with Peppy for the bridge.
As they strode together down the corridor Fox turned to Peppy and said "Theirs just one
more thing from that story I need to ask you Pep," Looking over to his second in
command. "What is it Fox," Peppy said slightly puzzled. "What was my mother like?" he
asked, a question he had almost forgotten since his father died.
"She was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. And your father loved her more than life
it's self. When she died you were the only thing that kept him alive".
The two of them both smiled and continued on to the bridge.
Chapter 10
It had been a long night for both Cameron and Angela. In the eight or nine hours that had
passed since leaving Sly on the floor at Mama's they had visited at least fifteen cantinas,
twelve bars, three gambling pits and a cage fight where Cameron had picked up about
three thousand credits and the admiration of a bunch of drunken old geezers.
Now the two of them strolled along one of Freeholm's upper walkways. The hardened
leather soles of Cameron's jackboots made an audible click on the concrete floor, even
over the noise of the street.
Out a near by window Cameron noticed the sun rising. The golden rays of the Lylats
systems star piercing the frozen mist around the towns dome was enough to make both of
them stand in open mouthed awe.
As the sun rose in the sky Angela turned to Cameron whose fur seemed to shimmer in the
light. "This is the perfect end to wonderful first date," she said sighed, sounding slightly
spaced out.
It took a moment or two for the last part of her sentence to sink into Cameron's rather
mutually spaced out brain.
"Date? You just found me on the floor at Mama's a few hours ago. How could this be a
date?" he asked in a very confused tone.
"Well we had such a great time. I mean the dinner, the dancing, the way you hurt that
guy," Angela replied as she explained to the handsome fox her definition of a date.
"And also when was the last time a man defended at girls honour and beat some body up
in a bar for a good reason?" she asked to further make her case.
"Well I have to admit that Sly was an idiot and that pummelling him into the floor was
fun," Cameron said doing a roundhouse kick to accentuate his point.
"Well there is one way to tell if this is a date or not," Angela said, the evil smile crossing
her features again.
"Oh yeah? How?" Cameron asked, one ear flicking up.
At the instant he asked that Angela grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, pushed him
against the wall and kissed him. Hard.
For a moment Cameron thought that this was going to be a repeat of the incident with the
stew earlier. As soon as she let him go Cameron summoned up all his will power and
fought to stay standing AND retain the power of speech. Looking up and thinking for a
moment Cameron finally looked back at the lovely wolf who still had her arms round his
neck and said "Yep. I'd say this was a date."
"So you feel like going some where more discrete and continuing?" She said, that wicked
grin of hers still hadn't left her beautiful face. Grinning insanely Cameron simply replied
"By all means, lets."
Leading him by the lapels of his coat Angela dragged the young fox adventurer down the
street as if in a trance. Looking around she was gratified to see more than a few jealous
faces.
Unfortunately before they could get more than thirty feet a bleeping sound began to emit
from some where inside Cameron's coat instantly breaking the spell Angela's kiss had
him under. Retrieving a small data pad from an internal pocket of his coat, he scanned the
digital read out at the top.
Then he balled up his fist and yanked it back in a display of victory as his ears pricked up
and his tail whipped from side to side as it did when he was excited (or pissed off).
"YES. He's taken the bait," He said in a tone that confirmed that he was definitely stoked
up by what he read on the screen.
"Who's taken what bait?" Angela asked confused and more than a little peeved.
"First rule of bounty hunting: If you're looking for some one, Don't bother, have them
come to you instead. This tells me that a particular ship just entered orbit. So that means
it's time for me to go introduce my self properly," he answered explaining his actions but
still not giving any thing away.
"Great. I meet a charming, handsome, polite and intelligent guy who can fight like a
Firedrake in the mating season and still understand classical music and he has to leave on
business as soon as I get his attention," Angela said annoyed.
"I don't know. I guess you could tag along. I'm sure these guys would love to meet Wolf
O'donnel's sister," Cameron replied in the slightly calmer tone.
Surprise and amazement now spread across Angela's face. "How did you know that? I
mean what are a telepath or some thing?" She stammered.
"No I just do my home work when I head for a new system. Particularly on subjects that
may affect my health like say the presence of the Star Wolf team in this system. I studied
each member and their background so I would know how to handle them if I had to," he
explained, demonstrating how seriously he took his job.
"Now although I didn't know for certain that Wolf had any living relatives, it was
rumoured that some members of his family were still alive. So given the strong
resemblance and the fact you share the same surname it seemed logical to me at least that
you were at some relative of his," He said in an analytical manor.
"Hmmm. So what else have you deduced Mr. Homes?" She chuckled, the sly and ever
slightly evil grin returning to her lips.
"Well not much actually. I was working on finding some other things in particular back at
your place when the bloody beeper went off," Cameron replied an equally evil smile
crossing his face.
"Well I never. Just for that I will be coming with you to meet this guy," Angela said in
mock offence.
"We just need to stop by my hotel room to pick up some stuff and then we can go,"
Cameron said calming down somewhat.
Angela just looked at him and said "Fine, but normally it would be my place."
With that she turned and walked off towards the hotel Cameron had been staying in. She
walked with a deliberately exaggerated stride that made her backside swing in a manor
that Marilyn Monroe would have been proud of.
Cameron just stared for a moment wide eyed and open mouthed for several seconds
before he finally headed off after her. "Yep! She is definitely Wolf O'donnel's sister," He
thought.
Looking out the window he stared out at the quickly fading stars and picked one out he
was sure was Great Fox. "See you real soon," He said in the cold, emotionless tone.
To be continued….
Chapter 6
Despite having rendered him unconscious Cameron had to admit Mama Bella's special
stew did exactly as it was advertised. Putting a spring in his step was some thing of an
under statement to say the least.
Every movement of his body seemed to require absolutely no effort at all as if he were in
zero gravity. And there was also the fact that his brain appeared to be processing all his
thoughts at triple the normal rate. In fact it seemed like his entire body was completely
super charged.
The second part of her sales pitch, the part about the girls being all over him, well it
appeared that that was also true. The beautiful wolf girl who had been there when he
regained consciousness on the cantina floor not more than ten minutes ago now sat with
him at a table over by the back wall of the cantina as they enjoyed drinks and pleasant
conversation.
She was about the same height as Cameron and maybe a year or two older than him
(given that he was only twenty five that was still pretty young) with soft greyish brown
fur and long dark brown hair about shoulder length tied back into a pony tail. She had a
black stripe running from her nose up head between her crystal clear blue eyes that ran up
under her hair.
As they had walked over to the table from the spot where Cameron had collapsed he had
noticed that the stripe ran right down her back to the end of her tail. She was wearing a
pair of tight fitting blue jeans that showed off the obviously excellent shape she was in, a
pair of calf length black leather boots that were the common style among traders and
freighter captains that were the cantina's main source of income. She was also wearing a
black crop top and a red jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow.
Strapped to her right fore arm was a small light blaster pistol about half the size of those used by the
Cornerian military. From these clues Cameron had deduced that she was definitely not local. That at
least they had in common.
"So tell me about your self, I mean it's probably not every day you try to save the life of
every fox that collapse's in a bar," he said in a somewhat lighter tone than normal.
Most of the time when he spoke Cameron used a somewhat cold, emotionless tone of
voice that combined with his cultured English accent was intended to intimidate the
listener. On this occasion how ever he wasn't trying to intimidate any one, quite the
opposite in fact. To the lovely lady across the table from him he spoke in a warmer,
friendlier tone but still retained his cultured English accent.
"Well It is some what unusual for me to some thing like that but then again given the way
you keeled over like that I was concerned that you'd had a stroke or some thing," she said
in her warm contralto voice.
To young Cameron Winter that voice was like listening to the vocal equivalent of the sun
coming out from behind a dark cloud. "As to the subject of my self, my name is Angela,
Angela O'donnel and I'm a freelance trader running between here and the surrounding
systems".
It was just as Cameron had figured. That explained the cloths and the blaster. "Really,
what cargo are you hauling at the moment," Cameron said in a genuinely interested tone.
"I'm currently making a delivery of stott spice from the Deneb system to Corneria, but
enough about me what about the handsome young man across from me?" she said with a
wicked smile on her lips.
"Well not much to tell really my name is Cameron Winter and I'm a mercenary by trade
or at least that's what my resume says I am officially, I'm not really sure what you could
call me. I guess I'm what you could call a T.S.W." he said matter of factly. "A T.S.W?
What's that?" she asked with a confused look on her face.
"Thief, spy, what ever, generally I get hired when some one wants some thing done
quietly but doesn't want to use their own forces to do it for one reason or another," he
explained.
"OH, does it pay well?" she asked. "Most of the time yeah, mostly big corporations who
want to engage in a little industrial espionage but don't want to get caught, this way I'm
the only one taking any risks and if I get busted they can claim deniability," He explained
again. "Hmm so what brings you to the Lylat system Mr.Spy to the stars," she said in a
slightly lighter tone again. "Well I'm here on personal business," he said retrieving a
small holographic projector from the voluminous folds of his long black coat.
"I'm looking for an old friend of my father's," he said as he activated it and it displayed
the image of three men sitting together with copious amounts of drink, celebrating some
thing or other.
The man on the left was a solidly built fox with black fur and deep brown eyes. He was
wearing a leather jacket and a red T-shirt that read "Don Choo Know I'm Loco," in big
white letters. He had the roguish look of a pirate gone strait. The only thing he had in
common with Cameron was his fur and the sword on his back that was identical to the
one Cameron had.
Next to him was a rabbit in his mid thirties, fairly well built and wearing a long grey coat
with a red flight suit under it. In contrast to the first man, this one had a look of good-
natured wisdom. Some one to depended on.
The third man in the picture was another fox in his late twenties, wearing a green flight
suit and a grey jacket similar to the rabbit's coat. He had dark reddish fur and a Wight
muzzle, but you couldn't see his eyes because of the dark shades he wore.
"I never really knew my father all that well. He died when I was quite young. So when I
heard that his friend's mercenary fighter wing was operating in this system I decided to
see if I could find any thing out about him," Cameron knew this was only a half-truth but
then a half-truth is better than a lie.
"Oh, oh I'm sorry if I brought up a sensitive subject," she apologised.
"That's okay, this has really been more of a history lesson for me than anything else has,"
He said reassuringly.
At that moment Mama Belle the cantina's owner came over with another round of
drinks. "Evryting being alright ova here me fine young vulpine friend," she said in her
happy Rastafarian accent.
Since it had been her cooking that had caused Cameron's collapse earlier she thought it
only fair for tonight's drinks to be on the house, particularly now he had company.
"Oh we are just fine here thanks," Cameron said appreciatively.
Most other bar owners in this sort of situation would have simply relieved him of all his
valuables and dumped him out back in an ally, but then Mama's was not your typical bar.
As Mama returned to the bar to serve some more customers Cameron turned back to
Angela and said "I think I've found my new favourite bar".
Chapter 7
The Star Fox team had reconvened in the briefing room as Great Fox approached
Fortuna's orbit. Each sat around a large table with a holographic display unit in the
centre. The only one not present was Fara who was still on the bridge keeping watch.
Fox was the first to speak "Okay guys our e.t.a at Fortuna is only eight hours, how are
we doing on those preparations?" he asked in a serious tone.
Slippy, who was sat on Fox's left spoke next in his usual girlish tone "All four Arwings
are prepped, primed and ready to kick some ass Fox," he said with more than a little
pride.
Falco was the next to speak " I just got off the comm to Katt and Bill, Katt says her e.t.a.
to hook up with us is in about twenty minutes. Bill how ever was held up and won't reach
us for at least an hour after we reach Fortuna," he said with an air of attempted efficiency.
Lastly it came to Peppy's turn to speak. Sat across from Fox he had the "I'm getting too
old for this shi*," look on his face. When he finally spoke his drawling southern accent
just seemed to accentuate this.
" I must be going senile in my old age, I should have figured this out as soon as I saw
those pictures the general sent us." He said shaking his head as he spoke.
" Cameron Winter is the son of Connor Winter a former member of this team from before
Pigma joined. Back when the team was first formed twenty years ago it was just him, me
and your father, Fox," he said as recalled the oldest memories of the team's history.
"Back then we were just a rookie merc outfit taking the jobs no one else wanted to do
because they were either too dangerous or just didn't pay well enough. We had no major
credentials, no financial backing and we didn't even had decent ships. But all the same
we flew like demons, we always got the job done and we always stuck together. And that
was how Connor Winter died," he said gravely as he thought of the death of a good
friend.
" We had been hired to support the local government in the Delta Serpentis system in
their campaign against a group of space pirates who had been raiding the system for
years. In the closing months of the campaign Connor and your father were asked to do a
scout run of a remote area of the system where it was suspected that the pirates had a
base. I was grounded due to broken arm I picked up on our last op. Two fighters left, only
one came back. When your father's ship came limping back, shot up and barely flying I
knew instantly some thing had gone very wrong. But he wouldn't tell me what had
happened when he hit the flight deck carrying Connor's sword, except that Connor had
given his life to save him. Your father refused to say what happened out there and we
couldn't check his flight recorder because he had ejected it some where on the flight back
to the carrier. Right up till your father's death he never said what had happened out there
that day or why he ejected his black box. All I know is the son has followed in the foot
steps of the father and he is waiting for us on that planet," said as he retold the tale of a
twenty-year-old mystery.
Chapter 8
It was well into the evening and Cameron and Angela had gone through a fair amount of
drinks and their topic of conversation had wandered to every thing from the virtues of
different makes of blaster to the artistic works of the great masters.
It seemed that this had been a perfect night out for Cameron so far. Not only had he
discovered his new favourite bar in the galaxy but he had also just found in that same bar
the girl of his dreams.
Well not literally, the girls in his dreams often seemed to have dark green hair in odd
styles and posses weird magical powers and generally tended to wear sailor out fits with
overly long transformation sequences.
But that said she did seem to be some thing he would have imagined the love of his life
would have been like. She was intelligent, independent, caring of those around her and
damn she was beautiful.
He was about to strike up another conversation when the cantina door burst open (or
rather was smashed open taking it half way off its hinges) and a massive burly figure
stepped in.
The huge figure was a bulldog with massive muscles and a winding tattoo on his neck.
He was dressed rather typically of the hunters who trapped this inhospitable planets
native predators with thick legging made of some course material, heavy looking hob nail
boots and a vest that barely covered his monolithic torso.
With a brace of assorted fangs crossing his barrel chest and a hunting knife that most
would be hard pressed to even lift at his belt it was clear that this was some one to avoid.
The slab like hunter's boulder like head seemed incapable of moving on his neck (if he
had a neck) so his whole body moved as he glared about the bar. He seemed to be looking
for some one.
Then somewhat to Cameron's surprise and discomfort he stopped and focused on their
table. He could almost feel the ground shake as the gigantic bulldog stomped towards him
and Angela.
"O'donnel ya low down, stinkin, trade rat, ah don't stand for bein cheated by any one,"
the great walking mountain bellowed in a low seismic voice that was more like an
earthquake than some one speaking. "Um hi Sly, how business," Angela said in
somewhat worried tone as her eyes widened at the approach of the hulking hunter.
"Don't gimme that crap trade rat, you owe me money," he continued to bellow.
"Look I already paid you sly, I told you I'd get you the best price for those vornskire
hides but I've got a ship to maintain and parts aren't cheap," she said trying in vain to
calm possibly the angriest man Cameron had ever seen.
"Well you ain't gonna need no ship, cause I'm gonna snap you up like a twig just like any
other little trade rat that cheats Sly Strazinscky," the huge trapper said with a slight grin
on his face.
Standing Cameron turned towards livid bull dog and spoke again with his intimidating,
emotionless tone of voice "Why don't you back off, go to the bar, get a drink and calm
down."
"An what if I don't, you gimme that purdy sword of yours and I might not squish ya like
a little bug," Sly chuckled with obvious amusement at the young fox whom he towered
over.
When Cameron replied he didn't even change his tone of voice "Well I have a better deal,
how about I give you the finger," he said raising his right hand in the universal symbol of
vulgarity "And you bugger off before I kick your arse from here to Katina," he said
calmly.
Still highly amused by young man in front of him but still getting very angry Sly glared
down at Cameron and said "Oh, I'm sooo scared, I'm quakin in ma boots," he said
sarcastically.
Thinking about this Cameron finally replied "Actually I was thinking about snapping
your right arm at the elbow, cracking at least three ribs and possibly knocking out a
couple of teeth."
For Sly that was it. His battering ram like right arm lashed out towards Cameron with a
speed that belayed its owner's immense size. Cameron how ever had seen this one
coming.
A deft dodge to the left and he caught the mighty appendage with his right hand and
swiftly brought down his left elbow onto the joint putting it at a very wrong angle with a
sickening crunch. Even as Sly howled in pain Cameron spun inwards putting his back
against Sly's huge torso slamming his right elbow into his ribs with another equally
sickening crunch.
Then he planted his fist into the bulldog's face in a backhand strike to the jaw sending
Sly's upper left fang flying out into some bodies drink on the other side of the bar.
Finally Cameron leapt up in a flying spin kick that brought his jack booted right leg in a
scything arc that connected with the burly hunters head like a sledgehammer.
The impact sent Sly spinning twice in mid air before landing on his face on the cantina
floor in a manor similar to how Cameron had earlier.
Striding over to the bar and depositing a hefty amount of cash he turned to Mama the
bar's owner and said "sorry about the door and the mess," nodding towards the broken,
unconscious bull dog.
Heading back over to the table where Angela was still sat admiring his skill he said
"Sorry, the urge to Wight knight was just to great to resist, beside I needed the exercise."
Smiling back at him she said "You want to go some where else?."
Cameron nodded.
Chapter 9
Back on Great Fox, Fox stood at the end of the holographic blaster range looking down
the sights of his pistol again deep in thought. Delta Serpentis was a remote system on the
edge of known space. Located inside a nebula it was barely inhabited.
The local government was little more than a consortium of mining corporations who had
joined forces to harvest the nebula for valuable types of gas like deuterium and radon that
were used as fuel for large star ships like Great Fox.
The system couldn't have had more than a few thousand inhabitants at any one time. No
pirates would have had a base there. There were systems far closer to the shipping lanes
and far more profitable than Delta Serpentis.
And so the big question came just at the same time as his target. He asked it to himself at
the same time as he pulled his trigger and killed an old stock footage image of Pigma
Dengar "What were Connor Winter and my father really sent out to find that day."
He had been shooting like this for almost an hour since the revelation of Cameron's
origins from Peppy in the briefing room. Checking the counter next to the ally showed he
had scored another perfect one hundred percent accuracy again.
Same as always when he used the Pigma target. As his father's betrayer Pigma was
possibly the one person in the galaxy whom fox truly hated. He hated Pigma with every
breath in his body.
Spinning his gun around his hand as he always did when he was on good form he turned
to leave just in time to see Peppy coming in.
"I guess I should have seen the family resemblance when the general sent us those
pictures. Call me a senile old idiot but I didn't even know Connor had a son. Hell I didn't
know he had any family period. Some pal of his I turned out to be," he said holding his
hand behind his back as he did when Fox came to him for advice.
But this time it was different. Now things were reversed. "You shouldn't blame your self
Peppy, you couldn't have known he had a son," Fox said trying to reassure the man who
had been his fathers best friend and had looked after him after James Mcloud's death at
the hands of Andross years before.
"Yeah, but there was always some thing that bothered me. After the Delta Serpentis
campaign your dad booked passage on a star liner to the Lacoda system alone. All he
took with him was Connor's sword. He said some thing about keeping a promise to a
friend. He met up with me six months later on Jaconda in the Tallson system with out the
sword but with your mother. You were born the year after here in Lylat. I always
wondered why he took the sword to Lacoda but now I think I know now. I didn't know
Connor had a son, but James did. Now I watched the battle footage from the asteroid
engagement near Corneria and I recognised the flying style. It's nearly identical to
Connor's. I don't know yet what it means but I when I do I think it should clear up at
least one mystery," he said, almost going glassy eyed as he thought back to another of his
oldest memories.
Moments passed until Katt came in with a long rifle in hand. "Hi, I hope you don't mind I
just have to calibrate the scope on my little old hand cannon here," she said in here
flirtatious Dixie accent. Nodding side ways and giving her a slight smile Fox stepped
aside and left with Peppy for the bridge.
As they strode together down the corridor Fox turned to Peppy and said "Theirs just one
more thing from that story I need to ask you Pep," Looking over to his second in
command. "What is it Fox," Peppy said slightly puzzled. "What was my mother like?" he
asked, a question he had almost forgotten since his father died.
"She was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. And your father loved her more than life
it's self. When she died you were the only thing that kept him alive".
The two of them both smiled and continued on to the bridge.
Chapter 10
It had been a long night for both Cameron and Angela. In the eight or nine hours that had
passed since leaving Sly on the floor at Mama's they had visited at least fifteen cantinas,
twelve bars, three gambling pits and a cage fight where Cameron had picked up about
three thousand credits and the admiration of a bunch of drunken old geezers.
Now the two of them strolled along one of Freeholm's upper walkways. The hardened
leather soles of Cameron's jackboots made an audible click on the concrete floor, even
over the noise of the street.
Out a near by window Cameron noticed the sun rising. The golden rays of the Lylats
systems star piercing the frozen mist around the towns dome was enough to make both of
them stand in open mouthed awe.
As the sun rose in the sky Angela turned to Cameron whose fur seemed to shimmer in the
light. "This is the perfect end to wonderful first date," she said sighed, sounding slightly
spaced out.
It took a moment or two for the last part of her sentence to sink into Cameron's rather
mutually spaced out brain.
"Date? You just found me on the floor at Mama's a few hours ago. How could this be a
date?" he asked in a very confused tone.
"Well we had such a great time. I mean the dinner, the dancing, the way you hurt that
guy," Angela replied as she explained to the handsome fox her definition of a date.
"And also when was the last time a man defended at girls honour and beat some body up
in a bar for a good reason?" she asked to further make her case.
"Well I have to admit that Sly was an idiot and that pummelling him into the floor was
fun," Cameron said doing a roundhouse kick to accentuate his point.
"Well there is one way to tell if this is a date or not," Angela said, the evil smile crossing
her features again.
"Oh yeah? How?" Cameron asked, one ear flicking up.
At the instant he asked that Angela grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, pushed him
against the wall and kissed him. Hard.
For a moment Cameron thought that this was going to be a repeat of the incident with the
stew earlier. As soon as she let him go Cameron summoned up all his will power and
fought to stay standing AND retain the power of speech. Looking up and thinking for a
moment Cameron finally looked back at the lovely wolf who still had her arms round his
neck and said "Yep. I'd say this was a date."
"So you feel like going some where more discrete and continuing?" She said, that wicked
grin of hers still hadn't left her beautiful face. Grinning insanely Cameron simply replied
"By all means, lets."
Leading him by the lapels of his coat Angela dragged the young fox adventurer down the
street as if in a trance. Looking around she was gratified to see more than a few jealous
faces.
Unfortunately before they could get more than thirty feet a bleeping sound began to emit
from some where inside Cameron's coat instantly breaking the spell Angela's kiss had
him under. Retrieving a small data pad from an internal pocket of his coat, he scanned the
digital read out at the top.
Then he balled up his fist and yanked it back in a display of victory as his ears pricked up
and his tail whipped from side to side as it did when he was excited (or pissed off).
"YES. He's taken the bait," He said in a tone that confirmed that he was definitely stoked
up by what he read on the screen.
"Who's taken what bait?" Angela asked confused and more than a little peeved.
"First rule of bounty hunting: If you're looking for some one, Don't bother, have them
come to you instead. This tells me that a particular ship just entered orbit. So that means
it's time for me to go introduce my self properly," he answered explaining his actions but
still not giving any thing away.
"Great. I meet a charming, handsome, polite and intelligent guy who can fight like a
Firedrake in the mating season and still understand classical music and he has to leave on
business as soon as I get his attention," Angela said annoyed.
"I don't know. I guess you could tag along. I'm sure these guys would love to meet Wolf
O'donnel's sister," Cameron replied in the slightly calmer tone.
Surprise and amazement now spread across Angela's face. "How did you know that? I
mean what are a telepath or some thing?" She stammered.
"No I just do my home work when I head for a new system. Particularly on subjects that
may affect my health like say the presence of the Star Wolf team in this system. I studied
each member and their background so I would know how to handle them if I had to," he
explained, demonstrating how seriously he took his job.
"Now although I didn't know for certain that Wolf had any living relatives, it was
rumoured that some members of his family were still alive. So given the strong
resemblance and the fact you share the same surname it seemed logical to me at least that
you were at some relative of his," He said in an analytical manor.
"Hmmm. So what else have you deduced Mr. Homes?" She chuckled, the sly and ever
slightly evil grin returning to her lips.
"Well not much actually. I was working on finding some other things in particular back at
your place when the bloody beeper went off," Cameron replied an equally evil smile
crossing his face.
"Well I never. Just for that I will be coming with you to meet this guy," Angela said in
mock offence.
"We just need to stop by my hotel room to pick up some stuff and then we can go,"
Cameron said calming down somewhat.
Angela just looked at him and said "Fine, but normally it would be my place."
With that she turned and walked off towards the hotel Cameron had been staying in. She
walked with a deliberately exaggerated stride that made her backside swing in a manor
that Marilyn Monroe would have been proud of.
Cameron just stared for a moment wide eyed and open mouthed for several seconds
before he finally headed off after her. "Yep! She is definitely Wolf O'donnel's sister," He
thought.
Looking out the window he stared out at the quickly fading stars and picked one out he
was sure was Great Fox. "See you real soon," He said in the cold, emotionless tone.
To be continued….