Author Note: Cernia has been changed to Cerniria. I don't own StarFox, Nintendo does. I may not update for awhile since I have some stomach problems… Oww…

Chapter 8

"Sir, the plans for the assassination is going well," an anonymous voice echoed through a dark room. It was filled with weapons of high precision accuracy; all used solid shells which were considered outdated but were still lethal to even energy shields and regular armor. The voice had come from a Cornerian fox.

"Good," a lupine's voice responded. "Two birds, with one stone, or two foxes with one bullet. I'll be able to get rid of the blasted Queen of the UCE and have McCloud dead under my thumb."

"We also have the assassins ready, they'll be there in two or three days," the fox reported.

"Very well, brief them on our plans," he said. The lupine was hidden in darkness but his silhouette was visible.

The pair walked through lavish halls and large plazas. Fox awed at the sites but bumped into several walls and pillars doing so. Krystal led him to the throne room; the stair case to Krystal's room was right besides the throne room. In it was glorious fountain lined with gold and precious stones and two thrones. One seemed for the queen, the other for a king.

"Wait here Fox; I need to get something before we proceed on," Krystal said and she left Fox in the throne room by himself. He looked around, there were no security cameras watching him. His eyes slowly fell on the King's chair, he looked at it, and inched his way towards it. He was looking at it until he put his hand on the arm rest. At the head, was seemed to be the Synera Family insignia. As he looked at it, Fox was quickly knocked down.

"What were you doing," Krystal said, looking down on the surprised Fox. She stared directly into his eyes for a second. "Good, you weren't planning to sit in it or anything… And stop thinking about me."

"I say your ability to hear my thoughts is an invasion of privacy," he said blankly. But Krystal had already left him for her room.

The two vulpine walked up a long spiral stair case until they reached her room's door, Krystal pointed out Fox's room's door. It was something to behold, Fox had never been in this type of room in his life. The furniture was made up of either marble or fine wood. The bathroom was under a large canopy and the tub itself looked more of a swimming pool. Its balcony was large enough to hold a small party and had a gorgeous view of the capital. Krystal's bed was king-sized; the blankets were golden silk and had emeralds dangling at the corners.

Krystal walked off to her closet which was half the room's size to wear something else. Fox was running around to see every inch of the room. Krystal appeared again but in white baggy pants, a simple looking shirt, and a white silk scarf and around her body. "So, what do you want to learn about Cerniria?"

"Well, I want to now the status of my Arwing and know were my equipment is," Fox said.

"Fine, follow me," she said.

After walking from the palace, the two got a cart and headed towards a military base. The base was quite advance, even compared to Cornerian technology. Some amounts of spacecraft were flying in and out. It most of doubled as a spaceport. Krystal showed her I.D. to the guards and they opened up an entrance. Fox continued to follow her, passing some Cernirian scientist. He spotted some infantrymen using weapons similar to Krystal's staff.

"Here we are," she announced. He spotted his weapons and his totaled Arwing. "We've been doing some research on your technology. It's not like we find it lying around everywhere."

"I don't see the point of researching Cornerian tech if your is just as advance," Fox said. He examined his revolver for any problems. And continuously reloading it sees if it worked properly.

Krystal gave him a tour of the base. Showing new discoveries of what seems to be alien tech. She also showed him signals they received from out space. "We've been getting deep space transmissions. Not the ones that gamma rays or stars emit. Artificial signals. But what we deciphered it into was a advertisement for something called F-Zero and to hire someone called Samus Aran or whatever," she said disappointedly.

"That sucks, your first transmissions from aliens is advertisement," Fox chuckled. "When did you get the transmissions?"

"Oh, a scientist we hired received it from one of our deep space satellites," she said. "If you want we can meet her."

"Fine," he simply said.

Krystal led Fox through more hallways and outside to a building with a deep space dish on it. There were many research papers lying about and computers running diagnostics. The only person in there was a pink feline. "Hey you're that woman I bumped into day yesterday!" he said a loud. "Or is it the day before yester day…"

"Oh, its that one stalker," Aeris said, looking over her shoulder. "What are you doing here?" She put aside her work and faced him. Krystal was slightly confused but got back in touch with the situation.

"I forgot to mention she was Cornerian, and been here for about two years now," Krystal said. "And you two meet before?"

"Well, we bumped into each other," Fox said.

"So, why is he here, Krys?" Aeris said, pointing towards him.

"He has to stay here for awhile," Krystal answered. "We're just here to see the research you've done.

"Fine," Aeris said annoyingly. She pulled out a holo-projector and inserted a cable connecting to a nearby computer. She then typed in a few commands and took out a small pointer. The holo-projector turned on and produced a small layout of the Lylat System. "This Cerniria and this is the satellite that received the signal in the X Sector. Apparently, the signal is very young, only 2 years old. It also travels through what seems…"

Aeris continued to explain about the alien signals for about two hours. Fox found it quite funny, getting advertisement from aliens. Krystal was almost asleep since she already heard of this. She pulled Fox out of the building leaving Aeris alone with her work and left for the palace. As they left, Aeris took on other matters.

"That was so boring, Fox, I can't believe you found it interesting," Krystal said, dragging him along.

"Well, I found it amusing that you guys are getting junk from alien," he said, letting out muffled laughs.

It was getting late. Krystal headed for her room but Fox stayed behind, wondering about the palace. He walked around aimlessly, greeting the guards as he did. Apparently, they were getting used to him now. Most of them were men, trying to avoid being drafted, but there were some women. Fox strayed away from them, uncertain of what they'll do. It seemed that he was trying to be everyone's friend in order to shorten his sentence, but at a late hour.

"BOO," he said, startling one of the passing guards. The scared guard looked back on Fox panting, but looked relieved that it was only him.

"Hey, you're that one idiot Cornerian. Also, that really wasn't funny sneaking up on me," the young guard dog said. "I should have every right to hit you with my staff."

"You're supposed to act clam in these situations, and it seems you're new to the job," Fox said. He stepped around the guard; he was a German Shepard, but only a lighter blue and a Russian accent, a tad strange for a Cernirian. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Kolaskoh," he said. "And you're right, I am new, but I wanted to avoid drafting."

"Can't blame you, I avoided the army in my planet by being a mercenary, but I'm still forced to work sometimes," Fox said. The two chit-chatted more until it was Kolaskoh's shift. Fox soon went about to do his late night walking. He did so until he spotted some strange. Something was making the space around him disoriented and making him feel funny. "This is new… and weird.

"Don't remember this ever happening before," he said to himself.

Fox searched around lazily for the anomaly. His searched ended quicker than he expected. He saw a figure dressed in a white gown with a white aura but he couldn't make out who it was. He couldn't resist walking closer like a moth to a lamp. He followed the figure and it led him to a balcony. The figure turned around facing him. It was vixen, a dark cerulean blue, and long silky hair, and the vixen was Fiona. Fox didn't care who it was, he was staring blankly into her seductive eyes. But he snapped back to reality without even thinking and everything seemed normal again. Now Fiona was in a black cloak with a small grin on her face. She then left Fox.

He stood there, wondering about what just happened. "I think I shouldn't be up late so much." Fox returned to his quarters to sleep.

To be Continued… Oww…