Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox. I wish I did. All Nintendo characters belong to Nintendo, and the others belong to me.

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Fox had just finished explaining the current situation to Sierra and Peppy, and they were now lost in thought. Sierra was pacing the length of the cockpit.

"Two am," she murmured, looking to Fox. "Wasn't that the time you-"

"That doesn't matter," Fox cut her off.

Peppy shot Fox a look; Fox just scowled, noting his team's surprise at the change in the young leader's usually good-natured mood. Fox sighed. He wasn't allowed to have a bad day, but goodness knows he let the others get away with them.

"Just concentrate on the malfunction," Fox said.

"The linking of this dimension with the newly discovered one may be interfering with the satellite transmissions," Peppy said at length.

"Wouldn't it affect other satellites, too?" Sierra asked.

Peppy shrugged, and Sierra turned to Slippy for an answer.

"Lylat is large," Slippy said.

"Really?" Falco rolled his eyes. "Who knew?"

Slippy glared. "It would take time for the effects of something happening on Corneria to spread. But yes, it should have a ripple effect."

"Slip, find out everything you can about the world the scientists linked to," Fox said.

"Okay," Slippy said, typing furiously on his computer.

Fox leaned back in his chair. The money they would get from this was hardly enough to keep a team of five fed, let alone all the other expenses that went along with running a mercenary team. Fox didn't even want to think about the loan on Great Fox. They needed all the money they could get; currently coasting on the money from Dinosaur Planet, they were getting low on money again.

"Fox, are you okay?" Peppy's voice broke into Fox's thoughts.

"I'm fine," Fox spat through clenched teeth. "Just great."

Peppy sighed. "What was your dream about, and why is it bothering you?"

"My dream? Nothing at all happened," sarcasm soaked Fox's words. "Sierra and Falco were killed by living ooze, is all. Nothing to worry about. You and Slippy were knocked out, and the blob tried to kill me. Not to mention the freaky fox kit. Bothered by it? No, of course not."

Slipping a CD into his computer, Fox put his headphones on. Not bothering to clip them to his ears, he knew they would slide down, but didn't care. His computer told him he had a message from Krystal. He forwarded it to his quarters to view later. Pushing his computer away but keeping the music on, Fox closed his eyes and lost himself in heavy metal.

The ooze flowed into the room, but Fox was rooted to the spot. As It flowed over his feet, Fox felt his body relax, even as his mind was screaming at him to run. It slipped up his body, and Fox felt his mind go numb. Something inside him was still screaming, but it was distant an unimportant. The thing engulfed Fox completely, and Fox felt life slipping from him. He was suffocating. Fox's head began to throb, and he felt the unmistakable shuddering of his mind as it was read.

Suddenly, the blob began to recede, and Fox gulped down air, his mind coming back to life, unsure of why he had not been killed and very glad to be alive. The thing oozed around his feet, and Fox's knees buckled.

- You have quite the complex mind, Fox McCloud, - a voice in Fox's mind, seeming to come from the blob, said.

"Who..." Fox said weakly.

- Call me... - the blob paused. -Irae. Yes, Irae is fine. -

Irae forced Fox to his feet, gently pushing Fox back into the room where he had seen Sierra. Where the frog had once been, a white light remained. Fox stared at it, and it hovered silently.

- I knew you could see spirit remnants, - Irae commented.

Fox hardly heard him. Numbly, Fox held out a paw. The spirit flitted around Fox for an instant before, touched by Irae, it disappeared.

"Her spirit..." Fox said distantly. "Gone..."

- I have absorbed it to prepare for Sierra's resurrection. All who die here are resurrected in this way. - Irae explained.

"Then Falco..." Fox, exhausted, collapsed, falling on paws and knees.

- He has already been resurrected, - Irae said. - You will see your avian friend later. -

Fox was lifted to his feet once more, urged back down the endless hallway by Irae. Turning a corner he didn't know was there, the kit appeared, giggling at him.

She walked up to Fox, her eyes dead. Claws embedded themselves in Fox's arm. Fox gasped as the kit solemnly pulled her claws down Fox's arm. Shocked, Fox watched the blood flow. Irae swallowed Fox again.

- This will not hurt, - he said. - You will be fine. -

"Fox!" Falco was shaking his leader, seeming genuinely worried. "Fox, wake up!"

Fox blinked groggily. His headphones had slid down around his neck, the music still blaring. He turned it off.

"What's wrong?" Fox asked, rubbing his eyes.

"You were whimpering," Peppy said. "Shaking like crazy, too. Another dream?"

"Yeah," Fox said, numb.

Fox's head throbbed; he was getting a migraine. Standing up dizzily, he stumbled into his quarters. Turning off the light and locking the door, Fox collapsed on his bed, accepting the pain.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Peppy said, turning to Sierra. "Is he sick?"

"Physically, no, I don't think so," she said.

"Fox's current health status is normal," Rob said.

Sierra slumped down in her newly installed chair, placed close to Slippy's but nearer to the window. Peppy was lost in thought, and Falco had an unusually blank look on his face. Slippy looked up from his computer.

"Fortuna's satellite is malfunctioning," he said. "It's spreading. Katina shouldn't be too far behind."

"Fox has another dream, and another satellite malfunctions," Falco said, coming out of his trance.

"Coincidence," Slippy said dismissively.

"Not necessarily," Peppy said, his ears twitching as he thought. "I wonder what this dream was about?"

Sierra shrugged. Slippy threw his arms in the air.

"Sierra, you don't think those dreams have anything to do with this, do you?" he asked.

"If it's a coincidence, it's a strange one," Sierra said softly.

"Either way, we shouldn't ignore the possibility..." Peppy trailed off.

"You're not gonna get all weird, too, are you?" Slippy asked.

"No," Peppy's ears drooped. "I'm just worried about Fox."

There was a moment of silence.

"We all are," Falco said.

The young Star Fox leader was laying on his bed with the light off, the room given an eerie glow from two orbs of white and blue; Fox watched them, used to seeing such things.

"Do you have a reason to be here?" Fox whispered, his migraine still throbbing at even the slightest noise.

The white orb passed over Fox's head. Fox suddenly felt safe, and he relaxed. The blue orb joined the dance, and both began circling Fox. Fox closed his eyes contentedly, his migraine gone, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

But Irae was watching.