Kew

Fox alternated between checking his scanners and using the good old fashioned Mark I eyeballs to search for any sign of Star Wolf.

Neither had produced any results over the course of the last four hours, or had it been five?

Massaging his temple, the orange vulpine thought "One more hour, then I'll call off the search."

Suddenly, his communicator started beeping, bringing Fox out of his thoughts. Glancing at the console, he saw that the person calling was Aaron Vekman.

"Hmh." Fox mused as he answered the call.

"McCloud here."

"Oh, thank heavens." came the reply. "Star Wolf has raided my mining operation on Zalbar Island. I'm not sure how many are dead!"

"Slow down, sir." Fox said in an attempt to calm the jackrabbit. "Did you see where they went?"

"Yes, yes. I'll send you their flight paths."

Fox felt his suspicions about the leporine being reignited. If he was in such a panic, how did he have time to figure out their flight paths?

"Doesn't matter. A lead is a lead."

"Don't worry, Mr. Vekman. Star Wolf won't trouble you after today."

"Oh, thank you so much. I will be happy to compensate you for your trouble."

"Nothing to it, sir. McCloud out."

After ending the call, Fox glanced at the data packet that had been uploaded to his Arwing. It seemed that him, Falco, and Fara were in the best position to intercept.

Keying his comm, the vulpine said "Team, we've got a lead on Star Wolf. I'm sending you the data now."

After a brief pause, Falco replied "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get 'em."

"Easy there, hotshot. We don't know what we're getting into." said Fara.

"In any case, form up on my wing and keep your eyes peeled. Slippy, what's your status?"

"We're devoting extra power to our engines, but it's still going to take us a while to get to you."

"Understood. Okay guys, let's rock and roll."

With that, the three Arwings boosted onto an intercept course with their rivals.

Elsewhere

The flight from Zalbar Island had passed in silence so far. Everyone was too frightened of setting Wolf off.

For his part, the lupine was deep in thought about what he had learned in the mines.

A small part of him was in denial, believing that Marshal Koates had only done what he had done to get under his skin.

However, everything else Wolf knew about the armadillo put paid to that. Koates had been part of the Katinese Planetary Guard before joining Andross, more specifically, the Tank Corps.

As he thought back on the Marshal's actions towards him during the Lylat War, Wolf began to see them in a new light. He had ignored the sidelong glances Koates had occasionally given him when Star Wolf had first been assigned to the Fourth Army. After all, most Venomian commanders didn't think too highly of them.

Now however, Wolf knew for a fact that Koates was afraid that the boy he had orphaned all those years ago would recognize him. Could that also be why the armadillo had been surprised when Wolf had wanted to shake hands on Titania?

Not to mention their last encounter after Wolf and Leon had let the Bowmans escape. The lupine had little reason to think that Koates hadn't been biting back the two words that had haunted Wolf into the present, no matter how hard he tried to forget them.

All this served to make Wolf's already foul mood even worse. He tightened his grip on the control yokes, knuckles turning white under his fur. His thoughts were interrupted by a chiming from his radar. Glancing towards it, Wolf saw that there were three hostile signatures.

"Star Fox." he growled."

For the first time since the group had left the island, Carmen spoke up.

"Wolf, we don't need to fight them."

But her words fell on deaf ears, Wolf kept flying towards his team's rivals. Eventually, someone hailed him. The lupine answered and was greeted by the visage of Fox McCloud.

The vulpine seemed taken aback by the angered expression on his rival's face, but soon regained his composure.

"Alright Wolf, enough's enough. Give it up now, before anyone else gets hurt."

Glancing ahead, Wolf could just make out the shapes of the Arwings. Glaring back at the console, the lupine snarled.

"You picked the wrong day, pup."

"Wolf…" Fox began to warn, only for the lupine to cut the line. Pushing his anger to the back of his mind, Wolf contacted his teammates.

"Let's blast these weaklings."

"Don't have to tell me twice, Boss."

"Wolf, no!" Carmen protested, but once again, he ignored her and hit the boost.

Up ahead, the Arwings scrambled to meet up with their aggressors, each peeling off to meet a Wolfen.

As fate would have it, Leon ended up on Falco's six.

"I swear, Lombardi. You will feel me pluck every one of your feathers before I cook you."

He punctuated that with laser fire that Falco dodged by diving towards the sea. Leon followed suit, only to realize too late that the avian had hit his air brakes, causing the Wolfen to shoot right past.

"I'd like to see you try, Powalski."

Quickly recovering from his shock, Leon barrel-rolled to deflect Lombardi's shots. From there, the lizard spotted another Wolfen dueling an Arwing and quickly thought of a plan.

He boosted between the two ships, barrel-rolling to deflect the laser fire. Quickly checking his rearview camera, Leon saw that he had managed to shake off Falco. Grinning, the chameleon u-turned and set off after his prey.

Panther meanwhile, had ended up on Fara's tail.

"Ah, the daughter of Space Dynamics' CEO. You're a rare catch."

"In your dreams, lover boy." the fennec scoffed.

"That's too bad." Panther remarked as he banked to stay on her six. "We would have made a fine couple."

To the jungle cat's shock, the Arwing rolled out of the path of his laser fire and braked, dropping in behind him.

"I'm a lot more than just a pretty face, Caroso."

Panther winced as his ship shook from the Arwing's laser bolts.

While his teammates were seemingly doing fine, Fox was struggling against Wolf. No matter what he did, the vulpine couldn't shake his rival. After feeling his ship shake and the console beep after more lasers hit their mark, the vulpine decided to try contacting his enemy.

"Damn it, Wolf! I really thought you had changed!"

Wolf's scowling face appeared on the console.

"We're both still the same, pup. I still do as I fucking please, and you're still a fucking lapdog for the CDF! You and your whole damn team!"

Muzzle curling back into a snarl, Fox retorted "Shut up Wolf! Insulting my friends may be the last thing you ever do!"

The vulpine pulled a loop and finally got behind his rival. Even as Fox landed hits on Wolf, the lupine continued to taunt him.

"Oh really, pup, what are you hoping to accomplish? No matter how many times you knock me down, I always get back up. And nobody's gonna keep me down; Not you, the ex-Hot Rodder, the incompetent toad, the old man, the rich kid, the rest of those CDF rejects, or even your psychic girlfriend."

Within his cockpit, Wolf smiled wickedly.

"Yeah, I know about that. Good, more collateral."

He was rewarded with more lasers striking his ship.

"If you ever hurt Krystal, I will make you suffer, you Piece Of Shit!"

The lupine was about to respond when Panther hailed him.

"Uh, Wolf. I could use a hand here."

"Indeed you do." the lupine remarked as he checked his radar.

Banking his Wolfen towards Panther brought Wolf almost head on with the jungle cat.

"Get this runt off my back."

"Got it."

With that, Wolf pulled up and then angled down, setting his sights on Panther's pursuer. He thumbed the firing button, the laser bolts forcing the Arwing to break off its chase.

For his part, Panther flew under Wolf and Fox and then u-turned, opening fire on the vulpine.

"So McCloud, where is the Blue Rose? It's been so long since I've seen that lovely creature."

After barrel rolling to deflect Panther's shots, Fox retorted "Stay the fuck away from her! She's with me now!"

"Oh really?" Panther purred. "Just what the hell does she see in you?"

Fox went for a u-turn, causing Panther to follow. However, rather than complete the maneuver, the vulpine kept climbing vertically, something Panther didn't realize until it was too late.

The result was that Fox dropped in behind the jungle cat and pelted him with laser fire.

"A hell of a lot more than she would ever see in you, lover boy!"

In the meantime, Wolf continued to pursue Fara, noting that she seemed to be making use of standard Cornerian maneuvers.

"Not bad, Phoenix. It's unfortunate that you had to join the pup. You would do well in Star Wolf."

"Oh please." the fennec retorted with a roll of her green eyes. "I wouldn't be caught dead with any of you outlaw scum. You're all bullies and assholes!"

Feeling his rage start to return, Wolf fired an extended burst at Fara.

"Oh yeah?! Did the pup tell you about how he shot up my base looking for someone who wasn't even there?!"

"He told me, alright! Maybe if you and your goons had been upfront about Pigma, you wouldn't have this problem."

Wolf growled, no longer able to keep a lid on his anger.

"I'm gonna make you wish that you'd never left your mansion!" he screamed and continued to fire at her.

Bit by bit, Fara's shields were drained and her Arwing started to spew smoke.

"Guys, I really need some help here, or I'm done for!"

Hearing her desperate plea over the comms, Fox broke off from Panther and flew towards his rival and his ex. In a rare moment of synchronicity, both the vulpine and Carmen said the same thing.

"Wolf, stop this!"

In both cases, Wolf ignored them, his thumb hovering over the fire button. Thinking fast, Fox charged up a laser. Not even bothering to wait for a lock-on, the vulpine fired, watching as the green bolt slammed into the side of the Wolfen.

The intense shaking and the blaring alarms from his console caused Wolf to lose sight of Fara. But what really got his attention was the scream of pain from behind him.

"Shit!"

Throwing a glance over his shoulder, Wolf saw that a piece of shrapnel had embedded itself into Carmen's leg. Although the dingo had her hands clamped down above the wound, blood still oozed out.

It was enough to snap Wolf out of his rage. Turning back around, the lupine quietly cursed "Fuck me." as guilt overtook him.

"Boys, I've gotta bail. I can't take another hit like that."

"And Carmen's hurt." he hastily tacked on.

"Oh dear…"

"No time for that, Panther!" Leon interjected. "We need to protect the boss."

Similarly, Fox contacted his old girlfriend.

"Fara, get clear. We'll cover you."

"Yeah. Okay." the fennec stammered, clearly still rattled by her near death experience.

As both Fara and Wolf pulled away from the fight, the remaining four mercenaries continued to duel.

Torzan, Kew

Peering out from an alley, Krystal caught sight of the building that contained Aaron Vekman's penthouse. The glass and steel structure wouldn't have attracted much notice on Corneria or any other planet in Lylat.

But in a city like Torzan, it stood out in stark contrast. The cobalt vixen had absolutely no trouble finding it. Krystal took a moment to adjust the backpack she was carrying.

It was filled with all manner of surveillance equipment; Miniature spy cameras, comm taps, and listening devices that, if Slippy was to be believed, could penetrate through even the best of white noise generators.

From there, the cobalt vixen pressed a button on her belt, activating a stealth suit that she was wearing over her flight gear. This particular model was a new prototype designed by Slippy and his father Beltino that could supposedly disguise body heat, rendering thermal scanners useless.

"Well, we're about to find out if that's true." Krystal mused as she left the alleyway.

Walking around the building, Krystal soon came upon a line of Kewians in green jumpsuits and was reminded of an old Cerinian proverb.

"Every castle has a servant's entrance."

Falling into step with the janitors, the vixen scanned with her telepathy and discovered that the security guards were searching them before allowing them inside to begin the graveyard shift.

While that wasn't a problem for Krystal, she still had to sneak past the guards. Even though they couldn't see her, they might hear something.

Even so, the vixen followed the workers inside, eventually coming upon a security desk and a group of guards. As the guards searched the arriving janitors, Krystal began heading for a door that led to a stairwell, having decided that using the elevators would take too long and be too risky.

Suddenly, she heard one of her boots scuff on the floor and make a squeaking sound. A sound that got the attention of one of the guards, a baboon.

"You hear something?"

The other guard, a Rottweiler, shook his head.

"Nah, probably just your imagination."

"Yeah. I fuckin hate graveyard shift."

Smiling to herself, Krystal went up to the door, quietly opened it, and made sure it didn't slam behind her. From there, she began ascending the stairs, eventually leaving and going out onto a balcony.

Glancing upwards, the vixen spotted another balcony that led into the penthouse. Taking out and extending her staff, the vixen thrust it into the ground and activated the rocket booster power.

After flying up through the air and landing on the upper balcony, Krystal listened and scanned with her telepathy. While some of the guards had heard the noise, they simply assumed that it was a passing ship.

With that, the vixen went up to the door and used a small jamming device to disable the alarm. From there, she quietly slid the door open and then pulled down a lens with ultraviolet vision.

Seeing that there were laser beams crisscrossing the floor, Krystal pressed a button on her wristcom and watched as several spherical objects flew off her belt and into the paths of the lasers.

Another invention of Slippy's, they were designed to reflect the laser light back to its source and make the sensor think that the beam was still unbroken.

With a clear path, Krystal entered the penthouse and began planting her bugs in places that nobody would think to look. She had just finished setting up a spy cam on a wall when she noticed that there was a pair of seams.

Curious, Krystal reached out with her telepathy and discovered that not only were there two guards at the door, but also a grizzly bear patrolling the halls. The cobalt vixen knew this person to be Tolstan, Vekman's head of security.

"I wonder."

Reaching out with her powers, Krystal entered the ursine's mind and began searching for thoughts of Vekman. Naturally, there were a lot, as befitting a head of security. However, Krystal eventually found one that pertained to her situation.

Tolstan stood in the doorway, facing Vekman.

"Tell the board members I'll be along in a moment, I have a call to make."

"As you wish, sir."

As the grizzly bear was turning around, he caught sight of his boss walking over to a table lamp.

Breaking the link, Krystal turned her gaze towards the lamp. Walking up to it and pushing on it revealed that it was on a hinge. What really got the vixen's attention was the keypad hidden under it.

"Hmh."

Glancing over it with her lens, Krystal was able to see which buttons had the most amount of fingerprints on them. Smiling, she keyed in the passcode.

90125

Doing so resulted in a whirring sound behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, Krystal saw that there was now an opening in the wall which led into a small room with a small desk and swivel chair. A small communicator sat on the desk.

Stepping into the room, Krystal took note that it was soundproofed and began to feel even more suspicious.

"I wonder who he's been calling."

Walking up to the communicator, the vixen plugged in a data tap and frowned when she saw that the records being downloaded were encrypted.

"There's something very fishy about all this."

Letting out a breath, Krystal watched as the download finished. She hoped that Slippy and ROB would be able to decipher the data. If that turned out not to be the case, they would have to turn it over to Cornerian Intelligence and let their decryption teams work on it.

Unbeknownst to the cobalt vixen, there was a spy camera trained on the room. Down in the building's basement, the Tasmanian Devil known as Collins cracked a smile.

"Off to work." he commented before pressing a red button nearby.

Back in the penthouse, the sound of blaring klaxons nearly caused Krystal to jump out of her skin. Quickly retrieving the data tap, the fox left the room and waited by the door as Tolstan and the two guards burst in and swept the room with their weapons.

"Keep your eyes peeled, they can't have gotten far."

As the trio spread out, Krystal quietly slipped out the door and went into the hallway, finding a door that led to the stairs.

In the basement, Collins watched on his data pad as a door opened of its own accord. Curious, the marsupial switched to another camera that he had planted in the hall and turned on thermal vision.

Still seeing nothing, the Tasmanian Devil remarked "Must be a new prototype." while screwing a silencer onto the end of his blaster.

"Time to even the playing field." Collins said before pulling down a lever that served as a manual override to the building's sprinkler system.

Krystal had just left the stairwell when the sprinklers suddenly turned on. To make matters worse, a pair of guards came around the corner and saw the water splashing off of the vixen.

"Stealth suit!"one of them called out as they raised their weapons.

Krystal was quicker, drawing her blaster and putting them down with a pair of headshots. She then took out and extended her staff.

"Bullocks! I'm going to have to fight my way out." she thought as she deactivated her stealth suit.

Ignoring the water pouring onto her, Krystal pressed herself against the wall as she sensed a group of guards coming off an elevator around the corner. Holstering her blaster, Krystal took her staff in both hands and leapt around the turn.

Upon landing, the vixen slammed her staff into the ground, performing a Quake Slam. The subsequent shockwave sent the guards tumbling to the floor and cracked the laserproof windows.

Within the stairwell, Agent Collins stumbled as he felt the shockwaves. Putting a hand on the railing to steady himself, the marsupial commented "I swear, I'm gonna take that stick as a trophy."

Hearing the sounds of combat, the Tasmanian Devil eased open the door and then crept along the wall across from him. He barely noticed as one of the hired goons was thrown in front of him. All the Venomian agent cared about was completing his mission.

Peering around the corner, Collins caught sight of his target. Grinning, the marsupial braced himself against the wall and took aim.

As Krystal knocked one of Vekman's hired guns back, time seemed to slow down for her. The vixen could not detect any specific thoughts, but she could still sense base instincts.

A blaster's sights being set on a target's back. Her back.

A breath being drawn in and out to steady the aim.

A finger tightening around a trigger.

The second the blaster went off, Krystal ducked, the bolt zipping over her and striking down the guard. Quickly spinning around, the Cerinian brought up her staff and shot a fireball at her would-be assassin.

The projectile knocked Collins' blaster out of his hands. Seeing more headed his way, the Tasmanian Devil ducked back around the corner. As the fireballs slammed into where he'd been standing, Collins spotted a cabinet on the wall and went up to it. He smashed the glass and took out a fire axe.

As Krystal prepared to round the corner, she sensed a blade falling towards her head and brought up her staff to block the attack. Now that she was face to face with the assassin, Krystal attempted to pry into his mind, only to find herself confronted with a wall of seemingly random thoughts.

Quickly putting two and two together, the vixen broke the lock and took several swipes at the marsupial, all of which were expertly blocked.

"There aren't many people who know how to do that." Krystal hissed as they entered another lock.

"I'm going to assume that you were taught by Valen the Traitor, Venomian."

The Tasmanian Devil's muzzle curled back into a sneer.

"Nothing personal, Cerinian. It's just business."

"Oh really?!" Krystal retorted before taking a two handed swing at the Venomian, who ducked under it.

After evading a swipe that would have disemboweled her, Krystal continued her assault on the assassin.

"Oh really?!" she spat. "Was blowing up my planet just business as well?!"

"That's a fucking lie!" the Tasmanian Devil snarled. "Everybody knows that Cerinia was destroyed by an asteroid. Emperor Andross would never do something like that!"

Though she couldn't read his actual thoughts, Krystal could tell from the marsupial's facial expression that he bought into Venom's propaganda hook, line, and sinker. She had seen a hundred others just like him during her time with Star Fox.

That only served to make the vixen angrier. She began attacking much more aggressively, the Venomian struggling to block.

"Your emperor was a monster! He deserved it when Fox killed him!"

Collins responded by taking a swing at Krystal's head, hoping to decapitate her. The Cerinian simply ducked under the attack, charged up the jewelled end of her staff, and did a two handed swing to the marsupial's midsection, sending him flying backwards towards a window.

Already weakened from the quake slam, the glass broke when Collins slammed into it. Seconds after seeing him fall, Krystal heard the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass, quickly followed by the rapid blares of a hovercar alarm.

Walking up to the ledge, the vixen looked down and could just see the Tasmanian Devil lying on top of a now-wrecked hovercar. Miraculously, he had survived, though it wouldn't be for long.

"I have to find out about Koates. One way or the other." Krystal mused as she collapsed her staff and attached it to her belt.

From there, she drew her blaster and put a grappling hook attachment on it. After firing a pinton into the ceiling, Krystal descended to the ground and walked up to the Venomian, placing her hand on his temple.

Sorting through Collins' now disjointed memories was somewhat difficult, but nonetheless, Krystal soon found herself in a seedy hotel room, staring at a hologram of a man long thought to be dead.

Koates' orange eye and scars were exactly the same as they had been in Krystal's dream. The vixen had just barely taken this in when the armadillo began to speak.

"The Cerinian survivor has been spreading her lies for far too long. Agent Collins, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to silence her. Permanently."

"And so it will be done, Marshal. Long live the empire."

"Long live the empire."

The memory ended along with Collins' life. Krystal initially stared at the corpse in shock before reactivating her stealth suit and searching the body. The only useful thing she managed to turn up was the marsupial's comm link.

"You got off easy."

As she walked away from the building, Krystal thought on what she had learned.

"Koates and Vekman are obviously in cahoots. I need to warn the others."

With that in mind, Krystal brought up her wristcom and contacted the Great Fox II.

"Peppy, come in."

"Go ahead, Krystal."

"I think my mission's a bust, but I did find out something very important."

"What's that?"

"I can confirm for sure that Marshal Koates is alive."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Finally, the leporine asked "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. There was a Venomian agent waiting there to kill me. I saw Koates in his thoughts. Peppy…"

Suddenly, the stolen comm link crackled to life.

"Agent Collins, come in."

Surprised at first to hear the same smug voice from her childhood, Krystal whispered into her own comm "Peppy, do you hear that?"

"Yeah, I do. Patch it into the ship's comms and we'll run a trace."

Krystal quickly began working with Collins' comm link and patched it's transmissions into the Great Fox II's comms.

"Agent Collins, do you read me?"

Glaring down at the device, Krystal replied "Loud and Fucking Clear! You murdering son of a bitch!"

There was silence on the other end of the line, and Krystal was afraid that she had scared him off. That is, until he responded.

"Krystal. It's been so long."

Narrowing her turquoise eyes, Krystal snarled "You're going to fucking pay for what you've done."

Koates snorted indignantly.

"Please, I was devising strategies before you were even a thought. And unless I miss my guess, you're trying to trace me. Be that the case, hello Hare."

Aboard the Great Fox II, Peppy sat at a communications console while Fara sat close by and kept an eye on the trace's progress. The leporine stared in silent fury upon hearing the voice of the armadillo who had callously executed James and spilled the blood of thousands, possibly even tens of thousands of Macbethians after Star Fox had destroyed Venom's weapons factory.

Collecting himself, Peppy replied "Marshal, whatever you've got planned, it won't work."

"You underestimate me, Hare. Just as you did on Katina all those years ago."

Glancing over at Fara, Peppy saw the fennec mouth "Keep him talking."

"What's the point of all this anyways? The war's over."

"No, Hare. It has just begun."

Planetside, Krystal shook in rage.

"Know this, Koates. There is nowhere in the universe that you can hide from me! I will find you, and when I do, you're going to wish that you died in that air strike."

"Brave. Just like your parents."

Fighting to keep herself from crushing the comm link in her hand, Krystal retorted "Don't fuck with me! I'm not a little girl anymore! And you are an old man."

"Mark my words, Star Fox. Venom will rise again. Maybe not in my lifetime. Certainly not in any of yours."

"Koates…"

No reply.

"KOATES!"

Realizing that he had cut the line, Krystal brought up her wristcom.

"We need to find him as soon as possible."

"Sorry, Krys. He hung up before the trace was complete."

The vixen's rage finally boiled over and she hurled Collins' comm link to the ground, watching it smash into pieces. For a moment, Krystal stood there, breathing heavily. A few tears trickled from her eyes.

She had been so close; So close to finding the man responsible for her homeworld's destruction, so close to avenging her parents and fulfilling her father's final wish.

"Krystal, we can send the comm log to the CDF."

The Cerinian let out a sigh. She might not have been able to get her hands on Koates, but she would settle for ruining his plans.

"Good idea."

Back aboard the mothership, Peppy prepared a secure data packet for General Pepper.

"Alright ROB, send her away."

A few seconds passed, and then.

"Unable to transmit, heavy electronic interference."

Both Peppy and Fara came to the same conclusion.

"We're being jammed."

After Peppy told Krystal, the vixen replied "If we can't call for help, then we have only one option; We need to find Star Wolf. I've got a feeling they know what's going on here."

"You kidding? Those creeps nearly killed me!" Fara exclaimed.

"I'm afraid we don't have a choice." Peppy said in a somber tone.

"Peppy, what have you heard from the others?"

"Last I heard from Fox and Falco, they were in pursuit of Leon and Panther. As for everyone else, they're still on route."

"Alright. Send me Fox and Falco's last known location. Fara, you go find the others."

"Right." the fennec said as she stood up.

"ROB, prep me a spare Arwing."

"Make that two. I'm going with her."

"Affirmative."

With that, the two of them left the bridge and entered the lift. As they began their descent, Fara shot the leporine a confused look.

"Peppy, I have to ask."

The hare responded by removing his eyeglasses and massaging his forehead.

"Let's just say that I owe Marshal Koates a few licks."

Seeing the pained expression on his face, Fara changed the subject.

"What did he mean when he was talking about Katina?"

Replacing his glasses, Peppy explained "It was a long time ago, back when me and James were still in the CDF. Koates was the first Katinese commander to defeat us in the annual war games."

He let out a sigh.

"They didn't call him the Katinese Tank Ace for his health."

"I see."

Scratching at one of her long ears, Fara said "I hope we find them before it's too late. After what nearly happened to me, Fox probably won't be in a very reasonable mood."

"I'll second that."

Thinking to himself, Peppy knew that he would have to tell Fox the truth about James' death.

The whole truth.

Castillo Manor

Shortly after his shuttle landed, Marshal Koates began issuing orders to his men.

"Captain Capaldi, I want you and your team to oversee the defence of the manor. Get to it."

"Yes sir."

Valen, Wilkeson, Pyle, and Bandera began walking towards the manor. Algy and Rena, both still sopping wet from disabling the explosives on the island, went to follow, only for Koates to hold up a hand.

"Not you two. You're going to Thayern. Commander Vorokin will brief you when you arrive."

"As you wish, Marshal." Rena replied before they both sketched a salute.

After they both returned to the shuttle, Koates turned towards the ocean and brought up his wristcom.

"Aaron, tell your people to get ready. Kingmaker begins tonight."

"As you say, Kalman."

After ending the call, the armadillo switched over to a secure frequency.

"All agents, your directives have been changed. All members of the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams are to be eliminated on sight. Repeat: All members of Star Fox and Star Wolf are to be eliminated on sight."

With that done, Koates clasped his hands behind his back and watched Solar dip below the horizon.

"One more step in our journey of revenge."

Corneria City

Arthur Richter put the finishing touches on yet another report and then leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out.

When he had first joined the External Security Bureau as a naval analyst many years before, he had thought that the amount of paperwork was ludicrous and that there would be less as he advanced up the ladder.

As it turned out, the exact opposite was true.

The Labrador Retriever's ear twitched as he heard knocks on his office door. Two quick ones, followed by a single one a couple seconds later.

As if on instinct, Arthur reached under his desk and turned on a white noise generator.

"Come in."

A female kangaroo entered the office and closed the door behind her.

"Sir, Revenant hasn't checked in."

Feeling a knot forming in his stomach, Arthur asked "And the other operative?"

"Still no word from them since their team was reassigned to hunt for Star Wolf."

The canine put a hand on his chin and sat in deep thought.

"What about Star Fox?"

The kangaroo shook her head.

"They also haven't checked in. The General thinks it may be a comms issue."

Lowering his face into his hand, Arthur thought about what he needed to do.

As it happened there was only one thing he could do.

Looking up, he said "Rachel, cancel all my appointments. If anyone asks, I'm seeing to a family matter."

"Yes, Director."

After she left, Arthur shut down his computer and sent a message to Maggie on his data pad.

Don't wait up for me.

Love you.