Krystal stepped through the door into their quarters after returning from her extensive debriefing to find Fox already typing away on the computer in the corner.

"How'd you get back here so fast?" She said.

"Your debriefing ran a good hour longer than mine Krys."

The vixen checked her chrono to discover that he was right.

"Wow. So what have you found out?"

"Well it took me most of this time to crack their security software, but I've been able to find a lot stuff about troop movements, rosters, officers, and the like. It looks like they're definitely from another star system, but it gets better, the Brotherhood that's what they call themselves, is divided into three major sections, the military, the scientists, and the politicians. Rigid, almost caste-like barriers exist between these three groups and they appear to be in constant distrust of each other. The Brotherhood controls three other star systems called the K'wailan system, the Tersitrion system, and the Dertrillion system. The exception to the caste rule is their leader; High Chancellor Grandeur. He's mostly politician but has a small military and scientific background." The red furred vulpine replied.

"Have you been able to find anything on what they want from us?" Krystal asked.

"Not much, just that Dinosaur Planet has some sort of significance to them. Anything else will be better encrypted and I don't have the hacking skills to get to them without alerting the enemy to our presence." Fox replied.

Fox shut off the computer and popped the outer casing open; he stuck one of the electronic bugs inside and connected the wires to it. The squad of Cornerian electronic specialists back at the base would be able to use the bug to hack into the Brotherhood's files. Their mission was complete, now all they had to do was stay a little while as not to look suspicious, then get out of here.

High Chancellor Grandeur looked up from the serious of papers on his desk.

"Are you telling me General that even though we have far superior numbers we have been unable to crush these insurgents who continue to harass us?" He said icily.

The general's skin began to shift its color, turning a feint red.

"No sir, I'm saying that they have proven formidable and all of our attempts to dislodge them have failed."

Grandeur stood up.

"THEN I SUGGEST YOU USE GREATER NUMBERS!" He bellowed.

"Drown them in blood, use as many troops as you need to and do whatever necessary to drive them away."

"But sir, why simply hurl troops at them and spend their lives like so many insects."

"Why, I'll tell you why because your idiotic schemes haven't produced results so we must restore our tarnished image of invincibility. We must make our next attack one that they will remember, so that the next time our forces are on the horizon they will fear another attack like it. Will you do this or do I detect a flaw in your faith."

"No… sir."

"Good, than get the hell out of my office and make things happen, the attack must come in three days from now at the latest."

General Osborn hurried out of Grandeur's office seething with rage. Grandeur smiled and allowed himself to lean back a little in his chair. That had gone well. Soon these filthy insurgents who dare defy him would be thrown off this planet and then his scientists would be free to do their work in peace. It sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine as he fantasized for a moment what they could create with the precious substance buried deep within the planet. Perhaps it could accomplish his ultimate goal, wiping out this pathetic system, a final settling of the scores for past wrongs. Grandeur lifted a glass of liquor to his mouth; truly these would be glorious times.

****

Fox awoke in pools of his own sweat. He looked at the bedside chrono, it was 2.15 AM. In the dream he had just had. He'd seen a vast field of charred corpses, among them Bill's and Falco's. Something had told him to walk into the field of horrors, but he had barely taken a step into field when a weak hand grabbed his boot. He had looked down to find a Cornerian marine with a large bloody mass where his chest should've been. He had knelt and gently propped the marines head up.

"What happened here?"

The soldier tried to speak, his voice no more than a feint, hoarse whisper.

"They…urrghh… came in thousands… aghh… we weren't prepared and we… never had a chance."

The soldier coughed more blood and all life faded from his eyes. Fox gently eased his head down and looked around, he recognized this place, the Cornerian field base on Dinosaur Planet. He caught a feint glimpse of movement and looked just in time to see a feint slightly shimmering vulpine outline vanish into the air. He had barely caught a glimpse of it but it had looked so familiar, someone from his past? A thunderous laughter sounded in Fox's ears as a black mist swirled in the distance, not quite taking shape but forming a feint outline, behind this figure a dozen horribly deformed figures materialized out of the jungle, Cornerian soldiers, Brotherhood soldiers, and a pair of sharpclaw all resembling what they might have looked like if you killed one, buried him, and dug him up two weeks later. 

"What's wrong Fox?"

Fox climbed out of his bunk and started to get dressed.

"We've got to get back to the Cornerian base."

Krystal climbed out of her bunk, how lovely she looked in her panties and bra as always.

"What's going on, what's wrong?"

"Everyone there is in danger, I had a dream were I saw them all dead, and it just felt so real I have to trust it."

"I understand."

"Can you check when the next reconnaissance team is scheduled to leave?"

Krystal sat down in the chair and hurriedly typed a command on the computer.

"The next team will leave in less than thirty minutes. Two soldiers will report to vehicle garage one seven to take a pair of LAV light vehicles."

"Good, if this is all true the Cornerian hackers might not have gotten all this information yet. I'll take the data module and hide it in one of the LAV's where its mission log recording module would normally be."

"Right, I'll see if I can get a tight beam transmission to the base ahead of time to give them more time to prepare."

"Good luck Krys."


"Thanks, you too."