"I'm Chaykin. Jack Chaykin," the other human responded. He spoke with a mild French accent and carried in his voice a cocky attitude that had been recently humbled. Possibly several times.

"'Chaykin, Jack Chaykin?'" Eric echoed, cocking an eyebrow. "Don't you sound important. I'm McCloud, Eric McCloud."

Jack ignored him, or at least looked like it. "You're human?"

"You're very perceptive," Eric interjected.

"Odd…" Jack went in to a pose of thought, sitting down on the bench in his cell and putting his hand on his chin. "I thought I was the only human here. You're the first other one I've seen."

"Odd… including myself, you're the third I've seen actually working for those yahoos," Eric said.

"You mean the Enders?" Jack asked.

"Say what? That sounds like a bad group of villains from the fourteenth season of Power Rangers. Let me guess; they say they End things?"

Jack groaned. "No. So are you against the 'yahoos" as you call them, or are you working for them?"

"I think it's pretty obvious that I ain't," Eric retorted.

Jack's face contorted, as if he were remembering something painful. "I'm not normally untrustworthy, but waaaay too many things have been trying to kill me recently. How do I know you are on my side?" He asked.

"Um…" Eric was getting irked at this guy. "I'm in here too?"

"That doesn't necessitate that we're on the same side. You could have been an Ender that got captured."

Eric inhaled. Hope this works… "I swear on my father's grave with my mother's sword, I'll have nothing to do with whatever force you call Enders and whatever force decimated Dinosaur Planet."

At the same time: "Uh… okay then."

"Eric, your father's alive and the closest thing your mom has to a weapon is the vacuum cleaner," James reminded him.

"Hey, shut up…" Eric muttered.

"Say what? Uh… are you okay?" Jack asked, joking threatening to creep into an otherwise concerned tone.

"Huh? Yes, I'm fine!" Eric snapped.

"I have a question. How can you see through those things?" Jack asked.

"Through what? Oh," Eric said, feeling his face and seeing the sunglasses. "You know what? I've had them on for so long I don't realize my view's dimmed…"

"Can you see you're in a cell?" Jack jested.

"Yes, Jack ass. Are you done joking?" Eric demanded. Jack shrugged. Silence fell on the two humans until finally, Eric spoke again. "Hey… by any chance… there isn't anyone in this dimension who's looking for you, is there?"

Jack looked up to where he went to lie down during the moment of silence. "Yes. A pink tabby cat. Uh, not animal…" Eric interrupted what was sounding like an explanation of anthropomorphs with a series of sub-vocalized dismissions, followed by a gesture to proceed. "Er, okay. I met up with her briefly, but was separated shortly afterwards after a hideout in the nearby mountains. Odd, she seemed angry with me and disillusioned at the same time…"

Eric nodded. "I think I can inference something. Did she say something about how long you were gone?"

"Well, she was about to while she was angry with me…"

"Jack, I think I know who you're talking about. Three years ago, she told me a Jack Chaykin was eight years overdue for a visit," Eric said. Jack's eyes widened. "And, three years later… I don't know how long she expected you to be gone, Jack. But you took eleven sweet years to return."

"Here's the girl, General." Greg said, bringing Sarah into Pepper's makeshift office. Pepper was melancholically looking out the window, hands behind his back.

"The boy?"

"In the cell. He's still out cold from his run-in with Dom," Greg responded.

Pepper rolled his eyes. "Couldn't keep the cargo intact, could you? Nevermind, it was probably unavoidable," he added before Greg did anything. "Thank you, O'Donnell. The secretary has your paycheck for both, plus a bonus for such a timely manner."

O'Donnell?!

"Thank you, General." And with that Greg walked around the door.

"Take a seat." The general said. It didn't sound like an invitation, more like an order. Sarah sat in a chair by the door obediently. "I wish I could pretend that this is a pleasant visit. But, I can't." He said somberly. Sarah nodded acceptance. "When the first human arrived, I feared this would happen. I had one of my operatives to follow the first human, try and find out if there was a fleet ready for Lylat. Then, he left, despite my operative's best efforts. Then, eight years later, you and Eric show up. And now this." He waved out the window for emphasis. "Something I wonder, though. Both you and the first human exhibited extraordinary heroism before your departure. I have pondered for over two years why you would save a world you intend to destroy. What do you have to say on behalf of your race?"

"Only that each human is different, just as each anthro is different. The wolves of Corneria may be the same or different than the wolves of Venom, just as two humans are different from one another. Neither Eric nor myself had anything to do with these invaders, and I don't know about the other human. Belief or disbelief rests with you."

Pepper just grimaced as he hung his head. "You say you had an operative? Would I know him?"

Pepper looked up, his face blank. "Her. And while you have known her, she wasn't in our employ at the time. We discharged her after the first human left."

"So you can't reach her… not easily, at least. What was her name?"

"…So you got in bed with Katt Monroe?!" Eric gasped, tenderly cupping his groin. "Wouldn't that hurt?"

Eric and Jack, out of nothing else to do, were telling tales of their adventures, Eric out of boredom, and Jack out of wanting to know how Katt was doing.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "Well… she was showing an unusual amount of interest in me at that point in time. It was odd, because up until then, she seemed at best, indifferent."

"Yeah…" Eric said quietly. "And right before Sarah and I went home, Katt looked disappointed as all hell…"

"You stay away from her…" Jack warned.

"Pshh! She's all yours," Eric exclaimed. "And besides, it wasn't that way… it was more like she was worried… And you know who also had a similar expression? General Pepper."

"So now I'm going to give you two offers," Pepper said. "Someone who traveled with during your last visit here was sent back to her planet in order to discern any of these new threats. Do you remember Eclipse Passion?"

"Yes," Sarah replied simply.

"She was sent six months ago to her home planet Allahor to determine if the threat currently facing Lylat spread to Allahor's solar system, and we have not heard from her since. Your choices are to investigate what happened, or spend the remainder of your days in a cold cell."

Sarah measured her options. She came to check up on this world, only to find things had gone to hell. She could leave at any time, but something in her felt the urge of the hero. With no deliberation in her voice, she looked Pepper in the eye and said, "I'll do it."

Pepper paused before responding. "The only reason I'm offering this chance is because of your heroism last time you were here. I don't want to withdraw a chance to redeem yourself from what you claim to be a species error. Don't let me down, Sarah." The last sentence was in a tone of voice that almost passed itself off as pleading, but not quite.

He regained his composure. "You will set forth with Mr. Shroud and another you have not met, Mr. Chaykin tomorrow. O'Donnell has volunteered his ship. As per dealings, a Watchdog personal SecuriBot will be assigned to you. With a strong interest in your well being, I suggest you not stray the course. Until tomorrow, you will be forced to stay in one of the cells."

"But-" Sarah started.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. But this was all I could do. I couldn't offer any temporary comforts for the time being. Again, I apologize. That was all. I shall send O'Donnell to your cell tomorrow morning at five hundred hours." With that, he reached a hand under his desk and a minute and a half later, a small and thin armadillo and what appeared like an anthro dragon dressed in army fatigues appeared by the door. The general turned his chair around to look out the window again, as the dragon beckoned for Sarah to stand up and follow. She did, and was lead to a small jail block. Eric was in one cell, and another human was in another one.

"-And that's how I wound up here," Eric was saying. "Oh, hey Sarah," he added, noticing Sarah. "Jack Chaykin, Sarah Terminham," Eric introduced as the guards pushed Sarah into her cell and locked the door. "Have you noticed how often crap like this happens? It really pisses me off…"

Sarah left Eric and Jack to their bickering and rested, waiting the approaching dawn.

"When you get to Allahor, the ship has powerful communication hardware, so just report to the General the situation when you find out," Greg instructed. "Good luck."

The trio went inside and the door closed automatically, and a faint hum could be heard, followed by mild vibration.

"Wait a minute, who's flying?" Jack said, suddenly.

"Eh, watchbot," Eric said grumpily. "Sarah, tell me, just how many safety measures are they taking to ensure we don't slack off?"

"A lot. It's probably a watchbot flying, actually. Pepper said something about it," Sarah responded.

The door to the bridge opened, seemingly on its own. Jack jumped at the sudden noise, bringing Eric to giggles. "Jumpy?"

Before Jack could respond, an almost four-foot humanoid robot walked through. Instead of legs, though, it moved on treads, and above them, a torso that resembled muscled cuirass. It had a gray, flat robotic head that seemed familiar, and a long pincer arm and a shorter one that looked more like a regular arm, but it looked like various paraphernalia came out of the fingers.

"Why is it that they try to make every single robot nowadays look impressive? Muscled torso plating?" Eric said out loud.

"Welcome to the White Wolf. I am Bob128, watchbot of the Cornerian Army. Current mission is to ensure that the three humans complete mission code s1l8." It said.

Eric's eyes went wide. He recognized the voice, and could see why the head rang a bell.

"Holy hell… Rob?!"

"You know what this means, right?" Jack said.

"Oh yeah. Star Fox is fucked.