Coyote Star
"Err, hi," Fox replied dumbly. "…I'm Fox McCloud, and this is Krystal." Krystal seemed perplexed by something, but Coyote spoke up first.
"So, Pepper sent ya'll down here, did he?" his drawl allowed him to say. "And here I thought the General was crackin' a joke with me!"
"What… how do you know Pepper sent us?" Fox asked.
"The ol' dog sent me a message," Coyote replied, throwing his hands up in the air. "Said ya'd be droppin' by to ask our help. He asked if I'd do it, and I told him to his face, 'Pepper, you git nuttin' til I see these guys, kay?' He gave me a smile and said ya'd be right on down faster than a rabbit on coffee. Well, he didn't use those words, exactly, but…"
"Forgive me for interrupting," Krystal interjected. "I am a telepath, you see, and yet I have been unable to detect any thought patterns from you. Why is that?"
"Why, little missy," Coyote seemed proud to explain, "old war technique. Ya see, them Sectoids had several telee-paths like yerself, and I learned to keep them varmints out of my head. Guess it's a habit o' mine, now."
"I guess that explains it," Krystal agreed, though seemingly unnerved by the blocking of her power. Cid finally got up on his feed and began vigorously brushing himself off, for he was covered in dust from the ground. As he looked about, Coyote caught his eyes.
"Cid!" Coyote shouted militaristically.
"Yesssir," Cid said mechanically and stiffened his body straight up as if by reaction to a trigger.
"See these two around the base," Coyote ordered more casually. "Make sure you introduce them to the others," and looking at Fox, "and tell yer partners to git in here. They're drawin' the critters here."
"Sssir," Cid confirmed.
"Hold on a sec," Fox said. "I need to contact the others." Fox turned on his COM link. "Hey, guys."
"What's up?" Slippy asked over the intercom.
"Coyote kinda wants you two to come in for the tour," Fox said. "He doesn't want you 'drawin' the critters'."
"We'll be there in a sec," Falco agreed.
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They were now traversing the convoluted hallways of the alarmingly extensive base. The four members of Star Fox were lost, but Cid seemed to know his way perfectly. Falco whistled and said, "This place is pretty huge."
"I know what you mean, Falco," Fox mumbled. "I'm already lost."
"Ah," Cid stated cheerfully. "Here we are, amigosss." Cid entered a code, and the door slid up into the ceiling. Though Fox, Falco, and Krystal were awestruck, Slippy's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Wow!" Slippy gasped, recognizing the room's function immediately. "This docking bay is enormous!" Slippy began sprinting ahead of the group, laughing gaily. Cid's face showed a grimace as he made a sound of disgust.
"Do you despise his happiness so?" Krystal asked loathingly, reading his thoughts.
"I hate their obsssesion with mechanicsss," Cid hissed bitterly.
"Their?" Falco asked.
"Amphibiansss," the monitor grumbled as he stared coldly after Slippy. "They all ssseem to be ssso obsssesed with sssiensss."
"Do you know an amphibian personally?" Krystal asked politely.
"Our mechanic," Cid admitted with a pause, "iss a sssalamander." Without listening to another word, Cid entered and followed Slippy laxly. Fox, Krystal, and Falco followed him, not sure what to think. "Sssally!" Cid shouted. A startled yelp sounded from the crew's left, followed by a shouted warning and an explosion. The three Star Fox members got away in time, but Cid caught the full force of the smoky wave heading his way. The voice from the left was heard coughing until the smoke cleared. As it did, the form of Cid became visible, only he was covered in soot from the blast. A woman about Slippy's age quickly approached. She wore a blue jumpsuit with silver-and-black stripes on the shoulders. She was almost a fiery red, but her skin was smooth and shiny. Her eyes had a purple hue on their irises. She indeed was a salamander. She stopped right in front of Cid, stared at him for a moment, and began to giggle femininely.
"I'm so sorry, Cid," she managed to say after the laughter. A faint accent (what we would know as Irish) could be heard in her voice.
"Sssaright," Cid replied calmly after a small growl. He released a deep breath, and his posture became a deep slouch. With a nervous giggle, she handed him a rag, and he fiercely snatched it from her. He then commenced savagely rubbing his face while walking away from the group towards the door.
"I guess an introduction's in order," she said with an anxious smile. "I'm Sally Meloni, and I'm from the Kantina Oasis. I assume Coyote didn't give any full introductions." She nodded towards Cid as she said it.
"Not at all," Fox confirmed with interest.
"Obviously, the old man's from Corneria," she stated. "His full name, on the other hand, is Cid de Bandire. He comes from a culture where your last name is the place that you live."
"Where is Bandire?" Krystal asked. "I've never heard of it."
"Neither have I," Fox mumbled. Falco had been dragged off by Slippy to see some 'awesome artillary'.
"Cid tells me it was a nation on Zoness before the Andross incident," Sally told them half-heartedly. Krystal knew of how evil Andross was, but she was shocked by the sadness that had taken over Fox's face.
"Fox?" she asked uneasily, feeling his strong feelings towards this.
"Zoness used to be a beautiful world," Fox let escape from his trembling lips. "Like Corneria, only without the cities. Then Andross came along. He polluted the environment in his careless rape of the planet's resources." His voice tensed as he continued, but he let out a sigh, and muttered, "Cid must hate bringing it up."
"Not at all, to be honest," Sally mentioned. "He's actually quite cold about it. About everything, actually."
"But he calls everyone his friend, doesn't he?" Fox questioned.
"It's just show," she assured him. "He uses it as casually as 'dude' or 'hombre'."
"Aye!" Cid shouted. Everyone looked over at him. Black stripes unevenly crossed his face. They showed how the soot stuck despite the effort Cid had put into it. "You can talk to Sssally later, hombresss. You ssstill gotta meet Tecsss."
"I'll see you guys later," Sally agreed. "I gotta fix that vessel anyways."
The Star Fox crew (Falco had to literally drag Slippy out of there) followed Cid around the halls further into the base, which was beginning to look more like a fortress, despite only having four occupants. It took a while before they arrived at their destination. This was fingerprint-activated, and so Cid placed his hand on the door. The door opened into a command room, where a discussion was taking place.
"…And so I said to the cactus," the voice that was over the intercom said jokingly, "'Go and get your own cereal!' Funny thing, though. I was so tired, I thought the cactus was good old Cid!" At this, the unknown man and Coyote were laughing like two old friends at a private joke that never got old. Cid cringed at this as he did at Slippy's jubilance and cleared his throat.
"Speak o' the Devil!" Coyote greeted. "C'mon in, ya'll!" Fox got a good look at the man Coyote was listening to earlier. He was clearly of cattle origin, a bull. He had long horns to crown his head. His fur was white with brown blotches around his eyes and all over his visible body. His eyes had an unnaturally light brown to them, about the color of amber, and his eyes had those tell-tale wrinkle lines. His nose had a solid gold ring in it. His wardrobe consisted of a sterile white coat and pants, with black shoes; a traditional medical uniform. His gloves were, oddly enough, a black rubber.
"Hello, folks," the bull greeted. " I am Boulregard M. Brassheimer." The Star Fox team gave him dumb looks. With a sigh of disappointment, he said, "They call me 'Tex'."
Coyote gave a hearty laugh and said, "Tex is our medic, here. Also an old friend of mine."
"That's right," Boulregard agreed. "We go way back to the old wars. I actually got a few years on old Coyote here, but I didn't join up 'til a while after him. He taught me the ropes. In fact, weren't you my drill sergeant?"
"I… think so…" Coyote replied uncertainly, "but it was a long time ago. Always a chance we could be mistaken."
"And Peppy says he's got age problems," Falco smirked. Hearing this, Cid laughed openly.
Ignoring him, Coyote said, "Why don't ya land yer ship here? It could use some refueling, and I think that young'in Peppy should join us for discussing stratergy."
"Good point," Fox agreed. He relayed the message to the Great Fox, and it came in for a landing. After a long wait, Peppy arrived, and Sally short after. Peppy got brief introductions to everybody, and then Coyote summoned their attention.
"Well," he said in his usual drawl, "let's git started."