And another chapter gets posted after too long of a delay. I'll see what I can do as far as getting these up faster. And as always, please read and review.

Thanks go out to a careful reader/reviewer by the name of RedBay for catching a slight name goof.
----------


Chapter 4: The Discussion
I've always hated seeing 'the look'. Fox may be a smart fellow, and one that doesn't make many snap judgments, but after seeing that look, it becomes anybody's guess what he'll do next. - Peppy

The crew noticed Fox's concerned look as they walked back to their rooms. Peppy was the first one to comment upon this. "Fox, I've seen that look much too often on your face in my years knowing you. What's wrong?"
Fox just shook his head and pointed up at a nearby security camera on the ceiling. "Has anybody seen one of these things in their rooms?"
Peppy thought for a moment as everyone else voiced their negatives. "I don't think so, as I haven't spent much time looking around at the general décor of the room. I would hope there isn't."
"Good. I have a few things to discuss then. My room good enough for all of you or should we choose a different one?" No one disagreed, so Fox continued. "We need to check the room out first though. I'll explain later."
They arrived at their quarters shortly afterward. Fox touched his paw to the scanner and waved everyone in through the opened door. A few minutes were all it took to scour the room thoroughly for any type of listening device. At that point that the meeting started, the team getting comfortable wherever it suited them.
The vulpine took command of the discussion from the beginning as expected, sitting on one of only two chairs in the room. "Okay, so we've finished our first day of training, for lack of a better word. I've gathered you all here to discuss what we think so far, and to go over anything else we might find interesting." He paused, looking over his team. "I bring up the first topic - who is our other pilot, or pilots, and are they spying on us. Round the table as usual everyone, starting with Falco."
"Isn't that two separate topics?" questioned the avian from where he was sprawled on the bed, looking like he didn't care at all. In truth however, he was very interested in the proceedings. "As for the answer, I have no idea."
Peppy shook his head. "I'm agreeing with what Fox is hinting upon - that they would be related."
Slippy spoke up, last on the team to answer as usual. "They've let it slip that there is definitely someone else joining with us."
Fox nodded. "Agreed. So, now we add in another question to that then - why hasn't the General introduced us?"
"Whoever it is might not be here yet," said Falco thoughtfully.
The hare leaned against the wall in comfort. "Could be," he said. "Or Pepper is worried about us four interacting with whoever our partners are."
Slippy slowed the rapid responses as he decided on his answer, leaning back in the other chair. "I would say that this is a competition, but considering that this planet is the Lylat system's last stand, I wouldn't make a game out of it."
Fox agreed. "Another good point. Could there be only four Arwings and more capable pilots?"
"No way. These Arwings are not your usual craft that anyone could pick up and fly easily. Way too nimble for your average fighter jock."
"Agreed. These are nothing like the in-system craft I used to fly back in my days."
Slippy laughed. "You aren't that old, yet. Wait another 20 years or so and then you can say that."
Fox grinned. "Look guys, Peppy is turning into an old geezer already." Everyone laughed at that remark, giving them a reprieve from the seriousness of the meeting. "Okay, so the General has access to more Arwings than the four we've seen. One wonders how many more. But that isn't my next topic. Instead, I feel like I'm being watched constantly. And before you say anything, I had a most interesting thing happen to me in the simulator."
Peppy looked concerned. "Really?"
"Yeah. Just before I was going to turn it off just a bit ago, a message appeared on the computer monitor saying, 'Impressive flying Fox McCloud', nothing more. What I want to know is that from our other pilots, or has Andross hacked into the computer systems here?"
"Andross, hack into the systems here? His cronies always did the dirty work on Papetoon, and I don't see any of them around here."
The hare agreed. "Security is too tight here in my opinion. That message couldn't have been from the General either, as we all know his preferred way of talking to you."
Slippy did his best to imitate the General's way of saying Junior, but failed miserably, bringing laughs from everyone in the room once more. As it quieted down, he said his thoughts. "Nor is it Gary's way. He is very informal as we've all seen."
"Right. So we have to assume it is from someone else. Question then - who keeps tabs on the cameras we've seen all over the place?"
"I would assume there is a security detail and a room somewhere from where they work from," said Peppy, voicing his answer out of turn, irritating the avian slightly.
"A place I'd like to see personally. I'll have to ask the General tonight about it if I remember." Fox paused, trying to think up other questions for the team. "I'm out of topics for the moment, anybody have one?" He pointed at Falco.
"Yeah, I do. Where can I acquire a blaster like I've seen the bosses carry around?"
"They were armed?" asked Slippy. "I didn't see that."
He thought back to his earlier years, a life on the streets filled with danger around every turn. "It's something you tend to notice after you've been on the wrong end of one a few too many times."
Fox shook his head. "No idea, but I have to assume there is some sort of a gunnery range on this base somewhere, and some way for the staff to defend themselves if need be. Something else to ask tonight. Anything else?" Falco kept quiet so he pointed at Peppy.
"Hmmm…" The hare stood in thought for a moment. "Here's an odd one for you Fox - where did you get that helmet from?"
"This thing?" He pulled the silver helmet off his head, flipping it over in his paws as he responded. "It was in my room when I first got in. I have to assume it came from the General. It seems familiar, almost as if it was my Dads, but… I don't really know." He shrugged. "I'll have to ask."
"How does it work?"
"No clue either. I'm assuming it will connect through either the Arwing communication systems, or through hand units we all should have on us." He groaned, realizing what he had just said. "Lovely, something else to ask. Having some easy way to talk to each other if needed would be useful as well."
Peppy stood in silence, thinking over anything else he had to ask, but couldn't come up with anything else. Fox pointed at Slippy.
"Well, I have more comments than questions. Falco, there is a gunnery range and quite a few other things scattered around here. Attached to the side of the computer, at least in my room, is a map of the base. Fox, if you want, I'll take a look at that helmet of yours. I'll find out how it works."
The vulpine tossed his helmet over to Slippy, who also indicated that he had nothing else to say. He completely trusted the toad, even though odds were that he was going to completely dissemble the object in question. "Thanks. I have another question - does anyone have a good idea when Andross is supposed to attack?"
"Evil shows up when it wants to do so, not on any kind of time schedule," said Peppy, knocking the group out of the normal flow again.
Falco laughed. "If I could predict something as complicated as war, I'd be rich by now."
Fox grinned. "Yeah, dumb question I guess. I have one final one for you all, and then I'll let you go. What do you think of the Arwing fighter? I'm interested in details for the most part."
Falco started as usual. "I'm impressed that the brains behind this project made a craft this good. It has all the features you need in a good fighter – great speed, maneuverability, and impressive firepower. I hope they get the bugs out of it before we fly in actual combat though. I also hope that it performs as well for real as it does in the simulator."
"I agree with Falco completely for once." The avian sneered but let Peppy continue. "It seems almost too agile for my tastes, but I'll get used to it in time. My only worry is the things we haven't tested yet – how good the shielding is on the Arwing, and how well the Nova Bomb system works. Something tells me though that we'll learn about that tomorrow."
Slippy seemed almost lost in thought for a moment before starting. "Like everyone else, I'm impressed with the combat capabilities of the Arwing. The G-Diffuser system is my big worry though – it seems impossible in theory, but they've actually done it. I don't think it will get much use out of myself though, as it makes me sick to even think about it."
Fox nodded, thinking about what everyone had said. "Good points everyone. I have to say, I'm impressed with the Arwing as well. This looks like the craft we need to take the fight back to Andross. My only concern is how much fuel the craft use during combat, and how that will affect our maximum traveling distances. Something else to bug the designers about I guess." He looked over to the clock next to the computer before continuing. "Well, we have roughly an hour until dinner. Let's meet back here a few minutes before six. Unless anyone else has any questions, you're free to go."
Everyone shook their heads as they got up and left the room. Fox leaned back on his chair and wondered what he could do to occupy his free time.

A few minutes later found the vulpine wandering the halls of the base, a rolled up map in his jacket pocket, looking for something to keep him occupied. Wanderlust quickly overcame him, as he walked down the hall to the western elevator, nodding in greeting to the occasional passerby. He reached the elevator quickly as the overall length of the base wasn't that great. Bored, he decided to go wander outside as he was interested in taking another look at the forest they had passed over earlier.
He never got quite that far though. After reaching the first floor he glanced down the main hall, his gaze coming to rest on what looked like an oversized garden from his point of view. Curious, he wandered that way, coming to a stop in front of the sliding glass doors at the entrance.
Looking at the sign on the wall next to the doors, and comparing it against the map he held, he found himself next to the base's botanical gardens, a greenhouse like enclosure that spanned six stories in height and half the width of the base.
He glanced in, looking at the large variety of plants and trees inside. His interest peaked, Fox looked around for the way in. A small pad, about the size of the one on his door, beckoned him, so with no other option available he touched his paw to it. The glass door opened with his touch, revealing a small room with a desk and computer monitor, and a second door. As he walked in, the first door closed behind him, sealing shut with a hiss.
Fox stood there a moment, not quite sure what to do. Fortunately for him, there was a preprogrammed sequence that was running in the smaller room. The monitor turned on a few seconds after he had entered the smaller room, showing the words, 'Scan complete. You may proceed inside.'
The inner door opened with a hiss, allowing Fox full access to the botanical gardens. He was overwhelmed by smells of the garden at first - it had been a long time since he had been around anything short of rock and sand. Closing his eyes and breathing deeply through his nose, he quickly accustomed himself to the aroma with a smile. While his sense of smell wasn't close to Peppy's hearing in strength, it was more than good enough to pick up things like the sweet scent from the flowers lining the walkway, and the grass and trees nearby.
Opening his eyes again, he took a good look around. He realized that calling this place a garden was somewhat of a wrong term - in addition to lots of flowers and plants, there were a dozen or so large trees towering over him. A small stream ran nearby, its babbling sound making him realize that there were other sounds in the garden as well. He could hear a breeze rustle the trees above him, and he could even hear the sounds of a few un-evolved birds chattering amongst themselves.
Fox walked up to a large tree in the center of the garden, and let his gaze wander. From here, he could hardly tell that he was in a greenhouse of sorts. Between the grass, plants, bushes, and trees, his visibility was reduced just enough to keep him from seeing the edge of the garden and the glass walls that surrounded it.
He leaned back against the tree, feeling the rough bark press against his paws and back. He closed his eyes again, attuning his senses to the sounds of nature all around him. His thoughts of the war quickly vanished as he did so, and he knew that he could easily spend quite a bit of time here relaxing.
The soothing sounds were all he heard for a few minutes until it was suddenly broken by the sound of the door swishing open and closed. He ignored what he heard, knowing that whoever it was, they had the same right to be here as he did. It wasn't until he heard the sounds of somebody approaching him did he begin to wonder who it was.
Fox listened to the footsteps come to a stop a few feet in front of him. Enjoying the silence too much to talk, he continued to ignore the newcomer. Suddenly a friendly sounding female voice asked, "Excuse me, are you Fox McCloud?"
His opened his eyes slowly, taking a good look at who was talking to him. He saw a white furred canine, dressed in blue and pink shorts and matching short-sleeved shirt, standing there with an inquisitive gaze. She looked like a civilian to Fox, and he wondered what she was doing here. "Yes, that's me. Can I help you?"
She tilted her head to one side and smiled, the pink ribbon tied in her headfur bobbing from her movements. "No, I don't need anything. I just thought you were him and I had to make sure."
Fox grinned, wondering how quickly his so called popularity had spread. His mood lightened from the sudden attention, and he realized that he might as well gather some information while he was on her good side. "So, I'm that popular around here already, eh? What's your name? What do you do here?"
"My name is Fay," she said, bowing slightly. "I'm basically into weapons development, but I design other things as well. As for your popularity, let's just say that the General's enthusiasm for you being here has spread to just about everyone."
He wondered if everyone on this base held the same opinion of him. "I just hope that he isn't putting too much confidence in my team."
Fay smiled. "Ah, don't worry. You're only here to save the entire system. Nothing much."
"Well, if you put it that way, it sounds so easy." They both laughed for a bit before Fox continued, deciding to switch topics. "You said you were in weapons development, correct? That sounds like an entertaining job. Design anything interesting?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. My team and I did quite a bit of development into the Arwing fighter."
Fox's eyes lit up. "Really? Let your team know that they've done a very good job based on what I've seen so far."
Fay looked very pleased with his remarks. "Thanks, I'll let them know. I know they'll appreciate the compliments."
Standing there, Fox wondered just how much she knew of the base around him. "I have a question for you if you don't mind. Two actually." She motioned for him to continue. "Is it just me or does this base seem a tad, well, empty?"
She frowned, her tone reflecting what she thought quite clearly. "Yes, empty it is. Even with Andross breathing down our necks the local government here doesn't believe in staffing us properly. Honestly, I'm surprised that we got the funding that we have right now. The General has tried his hardest to get more people in here, but this was the best he could do. He's hoping that the successful defense of Corneria, and the eventual counterattack against Andross, will be the turning point he needs to get us better staffed."
"You make it sound like that the local government doesn't want to fight back." He wondered why he asked that question as soon as he said it, as he already knew the answer, just not from another's point of view.
She nodded, agreeing with him. "Unfortunately that is the truth. They, and the population in general, believe that Andross will just go away if nothing is done against him. We here all know better though."
He shook his head, wishing that the general populace knew what he knew. "Interesting. I never knew that it had gotten that bad out here as far as the feelings towards the war went. It seems like the work we did on Papetoon was appreciated, but–"
"Papetoon? How long have you been on Papetoon?"
He looked confused. "My team of four has been there for the last year and a half or so, Papetoon time. Why?"
"So it was you," she said grinning. "Well, let's just say that the local government here has been going nuts trying to find out who has been doing all the deeds you guys did on Papetoon. However, thanks to you, that planet is basically the only one that is fully behind our war effort." Her look turned serious. "Then again it was hurt the most as far as Andross' raids went as well."
Fox shook his head. "Well, it's nice to see that we were appreciated, even if it was for all the wrong reasons." The vulpine quieted for a moment as he remembered he had something else to ask. "As for my other question though, if you don't mind me changing the subject - why would a military base like this have such a nice garden here inside it?"
"Personally I consider this a greenhouse of sorts instead of a garden, but as to your question, this greenhouse nicely supplements the air circulation systems in the base. You'd be surprised just how this place helps." She smiled. "And it looks so nice as well."
"That much is true. This place is wonderful. I feel so at home here somehow."
"It has the same effect on quite a few people. This place also has a little known secret - short of the sprinklers under your feet, and the lights lining the path, there is nothing electronic in this entire greenhouse. No clock, no speakers, no scanners, and no cameras."
Fox looked confused again. "Scanners?"
Fay rolled her eyes, amazed how little the vulpine knew. "They don't tell you anything around here, do they?" She pointed to the base's emblem on his flight jacket. "If I had to make a guess, you have a small computer chip in the jacket right about there. Either that or you'll get one when your team name is emblazoned on. What, did you think your paw got you in everywhere?"
"Lovely," groaned Fox, not liking what he was hearing. "I'm hoping that the General just hasn't had the time to explain these things instead of the alternative. That and we did just get in this morning."
"Possibly. He's had quite a few things on his mind as of late."
Fox stood there for a moment, debating on how much time had passed. Thinking that he'd spent far longer than he should of, he said, "Well, I need to go. I have a dinner to get ready for shortly. Thanks for all the insider info."
Fay turned to watch Fox leave, suddenly thinking of something she should tell him based on Pepper's known absentmindedness. "Anytime. One last thing though - may I recommend hitting the clothing shop on the second floor after your dinner. Just a hunch, nothing more."
He laughed, realizing that he hadn't thought to look for the necessities when he was in his room earlier. He turned and waved, saying, "I'll do that. Thanks again."
The canine stood there, watching both doors close behind Fox as he left the gardens. Once he was out of sight, she turned around and started to speak to the seemingly empty garden. "Sorry about taking so long. What's up?"
Her response drifted down from halfway up the tree Fox had been leaning against the entire time, startling the canine for a moment. "Don't worry about it. Fox is one talkative guy, isn't he?"
Fay tilted her head upwards, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. "That much is true. Also an uninformed one it seems when it comes to the basics." She smiled. "He's cute though."
"I blame that on the General. I think he is pushing those pilots of his too hard."
"And not you?" asked Fay.
"No. Remember that I've been here from the beginning. I'm worried that the General is turning the Arwing training into a crash course of sorts. I just hope it doesn't blow up in his face."
"Or yours. You are going to fly with them, are you not?" Fay paused for a moment, trying to find the hidden voice up in the trees. "Can't you come down? It's far easier to talk face to face."
"I fully intend to fly with them when the General finally lets me in. Him and his blasted secrecy and other plans." A few of the branches moved, the person hiding among them stretching after staying absolutely still for so long. "You also know that I prefer it up here."
Fay turned around and leaned against the tree the voice was coming from, looking upwards. "The General has his reasons for everything. At least that's my basic understanding of him anyway. He needs them combat trained as who knows when Andross will attack. Keep in mind that you are only a single pilot – you can't take on that ape's forces alone." She paused. "Also, my friend, I hear that they could use a few more forest rangers around the planet. You could try that as a profession."
The voice from above laughed. "I've been a test pilot far too long silly, and you know it. Anyway, as for why I called you here, I have a few experiments I'd like to run. Care to help?"
"Definitely. Let's go."

A few minutes later found a now grumpy Fox back in his quarters. A quick check of his closet confirmed what Fay said - there was no additional clothing short of what he was wearing and what little he brought with him. He didn't have the time now to go out before dinner, so he decided to take the team out shopping afterward as he assumed everyone was as poorly stocked as he was.
He unlocked his door, plopped down unceremoniously on his bed, and waited for everyone to arrive. His wait was not long, as Slippy wandered in shortly afterward, carrying Fox's helmet. "Hiya, Fox."
"Hey, Slip." He pointed at the helmet, pleased to see it again for some reason. "Find anything interesting?"
"I did. Here, catch." He tossed it over, the vulpine catching it effortlessly. "It's nothing too special - just a headset with five configurable channels you can choose from. Range seems to be pretty good as well." The door opened up behind Slippy with a swish. "I'll tell you about it later."
Peppy walked in, looking like he had something to say. "Evening, Fox, Slippy. Fox, I noticed a slight problem with our rooms a bit ago."
"No spare change of clothing?"
"There's..." The hare stopped mid-sentence, looking dumbfounded. "How did you know?"
"I have psychic powers my friend, how else?" He laughed, enjoying the look on his friend's face as he so rarely ever caught him off-guard. "Sorry. I had an interesting chat with one of the Arwing designers earlier. She knew quite a few things. I'll tell you about it later. Find anything else interesting?"
"Other than the fact that this base is running at minimal staffing, not much."
"Also known and noted," said Fox as he put his helmet on. "Now, where is—" His door swished open again, admitting Falco. "Hey, Falco, right on time. Find anything?"
The avian looked among the assembled group, ignoring as best he could the rumbling from his stomach. "Hey guys. Not much, Fox, but I'll tell you later. I'm starved."
"Thinking with your stomach again, Falco?" joked Peppy.
"You've lived off the same junk that I did this last year and a half. This is real food. I'm not missing out on this."
Fox laughed. "Agreed, let's go eat."