Author's Note: Okay, as we can all remember, StarFox kinda pops in, during the middle of a HUGE BATTLE at the beginning of StarFox Assault. The battle is between Corneria and Venom, but doesn't really seem to involve the other Lylat Planets (the aparoids do that, themselves!). Also, the fight is above Fortuna, so we know, in the game, Venom never made it as far as Corneria, but if you remember SF:64, Fortuna is pretty darn close. It's more than half way to Corneria from Venom. In fact the only thing between Fortuna and Corneria is the Meteo Asteroid belt. It's the ONLY planet in ASSAULT that Andrew Oikonni had a secret base and manufacturing plant on, every other planet you visit is void of venom presence (but overrun by aparoids, heh). Here, I detail how Krystal gets herself mixed up in the political fiasco of Venom and Corneria going back to war with one another. We begin to see Pepper's transition from his delightful peace-time self seen in SF: Adventures, to the serious natured hound in SF: Assault.

Fox has his team mates start training and there's no one better to train Krystal than Peppy Hare.

Also, we get a little look at Panther and his past. How good is he and how is his chemistry with StarWolf? What's the point behind the red rose? Finally, in this chapter, we see Fox's decision on pursuing a relationship with Krystal so early into their friendship.

In the following chapter, we'll learn more about the brand new 'instant transmission machine' that teleports tanks from the greatfox to a planet's surface. Also, we'll discover what plan 'B' is, and what happens to Panther, as well as Peppy and Krystal. So once you finish this chapter, be sure to leave feedback on what you thought, good or bad! Then stay tuned for Chapter 9, due up by Wednesday, if I can manage to keep my schedule smooth. I surely hope so. We're very near to the end of this story, which begins where SF:ASSAULT begins. Then, because I've been asked by as many as 7 fans, I'll start a short story about Krystal and Fox, that begins the day after SF: Assault comes to a conclusion.

I suppose this story turned out far differently than I intended. I wanted to show how Krystal was adapting to the loss of Cerinia, how she was coping, how she was coming to evolve and live amongst other non telepathes, how her adaption to the Lylat lifestyle would make her act... and it turned into a huge story about what happened to her and the team between SF:Adventures and SF:Assault, with her as the main character. (Fox won't even BE in chapter 9, most likely.)

The thing is, I got more into detail about her involvement between the two games, to placate the people who have come to me over this story, begging to know every detail leading up to the opening credits in ASSAULT. That's why this story evolved into something so complex, to appease you, the readers. You asked for it, so I wish to deliever. As of tonight, this story will reach ONE THOUSAND HIT/READS. I appreciate it, thank you! I know it's not entirely accurate, from people that open Chapter1, then jump up to the latest chapter. It causes two hit/reads and makes Chapter 1 get way more hits than it should, which throws off the true count, but it's still over 3 times more than my other stories. I'm glad yaw'll enjoy the tale I tell!

Oh, and I wanted to tell you all, my wife and I now know what our new baby is going to be! A boy! We're having another boy:) Yay!

Chapter 8: Political Tensions Make For a Repeat in History

Fox and Krystal worked diligently to use the Arwing shields, the Retro Reverse boosters and even the G-Diffusing equipment to dismount the Shuttle that lay upon Fox's new Arwing. If he didn't think fast, earlier, the Arwing would have been crushed and he might have been dead. The Arwing was lucky enough to sustain only very minor scratches, due to the power of its shields.

The problem now was getting the shuttle off the top of it. "What about punching your fighter's Afterburners?" She asked, rubbing the bottom of her chin with her paw.

"Good idea, definitely a good way to get it out from underneath the shuttle, but doing so might rip the top half of the fighter into shreds," Fox explained. If the shuttle caught the top of the fuselage the wrong way, it would be like a can opener, then they would be in real trouble.

"What about detonating a Nova Bomb. We can put the shields up on full power so the Arwing doesn't sustain any damage," She said, continuing, "then we both hold our breath and detonate the Nova bomb. It'll blow the shuttle right off the top, right?"

"Another great idea, but we both have to fit in the cockpit first. Once the shuttle is off the top, I can climb down into it and unbolt the seat," Fox told her. "Then I'll just put the pilot's chair into the cargo hold built into the belly. So we've gotta come up with a way to get the shuttle off the top of the fighter before we can cram down into the cockpit together."

"Oh," Krystal murmured, trying not to look dejected. She put her mind into thinking of a clever way to get out of this situation, doing her best to understand the technology enough to figure something out. Finally she shook her head and said, "Why not ask Slippy for options?"

"Now that's a pretty good idea," Fox admitted with an embarrassed chuckle. He wasn't quite sure what he didn't think of that first. Finally he lifted the gauntlet on his left wrist and pressed a few buttons, speaking into the speaker built into it.

"Heya Slippy. I need some help. I have what's left of Krystal's shuttle on top of the new Arwing. Don't worry, it's not damaged. Anyhow, I want to get the shuttle off of the Arwing so I can use it to come home. Got any ideas?" Fox asked.

"Yeah," Slippy replied, his holographic upper body floating above Fox's wrist. "There's a toolkit in the storage compartment built into the port side. It comes standard. What you'll have to do is disassemble the twin blaster guns, point them vertical and remount them into the wings, so that they fire straight up. Just blast the shuttle to bits. I'd love to salvage the technology to study it, but if you guys can get off of Meteo Land on your own, I suggest you do it, because we need you hear as soon as possible. Have Krystal bring her shuttle's hard drive and black box recorder if the thing even has one, then hurry home. If you c-c-can't make it, we have an appointment to get a ride out that way, tomorrow. But time is of the essence. So hurry up!"

The frog's holographic image faded into nothing and Fox turned to Krystal. They certainly had their work cut out for themselves. Fox knelt down onto one knee and held his paws out. She could sense his intentions and placed a foot into his palm. He stood up, boosting her upwards. She climbed up to the shuttle and in through the shattered windshield.

Once inside her shuttle's cockpit, she took a few minutes to figure out where the computer's main drive was, then she quickly pulled the box out of its mount, tossing it down to Fox, who put it away in his storage compartment.

Beltino Toad exchanged a handshake with General Pepper. "As the new Cornerian Research Director I have a few changes I would like to employ to cut spending costs and elevate efficiency in my team. I really appreciate this opportunity, General and I won't let you down!" Mister Toad was obviously excited.

"Remember, Beltino," Pepper said with a slight chuckle, "This is a lot of pay for a lot of secrecy. Things that we research aren't exactly things the Government cares about, such as enemy war machines. Corneria thinks this war can be avoided but I have plans to start running televised advertisements to join the flight academy and getting a good education in a military career. I can smell it brewing in the air, now that Andrew has gotten passed the Mercenary squadron. Your promotion is a need-to-know basis."

"Promotion? I had one of those? I never said anything about that, well didn't I?" Mister Toad joked.

"Exactly," Pepper said, patting him on the back. "I want to get information on Venom fighters so that we can make counter measures in our next defensive battle group. I don't want to be swept under the rug like we were 8 years ago," Pepper said, shaking his head slightly. "Even if we don't clobber them, we should be able to hold our own better than before."

"You really think we'll end up in war?" Toad asked.

Pepper frowned and replied, "Bad gut feeling. I hate war. It ruins the economy, Corneria ends up in dire needs for repair, we wind up handing out too much money to Mercenaries because they strike quick when we're unprepared, but yes ... I give it a year, two at the most."

"That's never good. I understand they still have the components to rebuild stealth fighters, maybe even mass produce them," Beltino mused.

"Let's hope not. As much as I love StarFox," Pepper said, "Try not to tell your boy about being the Research Director unless he becomes part of the need-to-know basis. I don't like having my directors become targets to assassins like Caruso."

"That guy with the affliction over roses?" Beltino asked, remembering something about it on the news from last year.

"That's the one. Even after trying to use the Media to run him off, we don't have enough on him to banish him, so these slick people who know and break the rules are quick and lethal assassins. I like to keep the status of people like yourself a secret for everyone's safety," Pepper explained, patting Beltino on the back once more.

The meeting lasted another several moments, before Beltino was dismissed. He had a visit set up with Slippy in just a few hours and wanted to get himself cleaned up before going out to have lunch with his son.

Fox and Krystal were busy setting up the Arwing wing-blaster cannons, so that they were now mounted vertical. They'd only had one set up so far, when something metallic sounding rattled loudly from nearby. Both of them lifted their eyes, scanning the area. Krystal couldn't sense any thought patterns and Fox, who had an itchy trigger finger, went for a backup blaster, but soon realized he wasn't armed.

There was no reason to bring a weapon to an Arwing test drive and she didn't keep Lylat weapons in her shuttle. They still had the Arwing nose cannon and wing blasters, as well as a Nova Bomb Canister. Only one, however. The noise happened again, and Fox decided to investigate.

"I'll be back, just start on the next blaster mount, the way I showed you with the first one," Fox said. She nodded and watched him slide down the side of the fighter and walk off to begin an investigation. She glanced back down, carefully balancing herself, crossing over the cockpit to the other wing. Kneeling down once more, she began unfastening the weapon housing bolts, one at a time.

Minutes went by and there was no sign of Fox. She glanced up on occasion, although she could sense that he was alive and unharmed, so she continued with her work. Another few minutes went by and something passed through her like a bee sting. Krystal glanced up, just in time to see Fox scurry around the corner of a warehouse used for rollercoaster cars. A shadow appeared, looming behind him, followed by scythe-like arms and finally the massive metal chassis of a grim looking robotic guard with the old Andross emblem bolted on the side.

Fox made a mad dash for the Arwing, trying his best to dodge the swift slashing motions of the scythe arms behind him. They threatened to eviscerate his backside with only inches between the sharp, rusted claws and his flesh. At one point, he had to jerk his hips to the left to pull his tail out of the way from getting clipped. Finally, he broke into a dive, skidding across the ground, sliding beneath the Arwing hull and using his gauntlet computer to immediately raise the shields for the craft.

The bubble quickly expanded to cover both himself and Krystal. The machine bounced off of the field, seeming confused. It attempted to take a swish at the invisible shield but was pushed back as if it was clawing at a cloaked wall. After a moment, it began to strafe in circles, simply waiting. Before long, more bots joined in, centurions of death belonging to a long toppled emperor. If there was only a way for Fox or Krystal to tell them the war was over, but they weren't programmed to listen.

"How long do we have, or will these shields keep us safe?" She asked, glancing down to where Fox was in the dirt.

"They'll adapt. It'll take'em a little time to try different frequencies until they can pass through my shields. When they find the right number, they'll tell all their robotic buddies and we'll be in real trouble, so we've got to figure out a way to fight them off, or hope they run out of juice before they figure out whatever my shields are tuned to. Let's hope for the latter. You keep working, I'll figure out what we can use for a weapon," Fox told her.

Krystal nodded, dutifully and continued the disassembly of the blaster mount, trying to work as quickly as possible. Fox climbed up the side of the fuselage and quickly pried open the canopy, hunting for something that he could use offensively. One of the robotic guards passed in front of the Arwing's forward mounted nose cannon. As soon as it was in the cone of fire, Fox mashed down on the charge beam then released the trigger, blowing it into scraps.

"Where did they come from?" Krystal called out, finishing with the last wing-blaster assembly.

"I think they were diggers," Fox noted. "Before Andross ruined this theme park, they tunneled into the dirt to repair the underground tunnel rides, the foundations of tall rides and generally to do maintenance. Corneria had to spend so much money on repairing the homeland cities, that it was far from being able to afford to worry about MeteoLand, much less what these stupid robots were now programmed to do."

"The wing blaster assembly is finished. I think it might be best if I climb under the Arwing, for cover," She said in reply. "I hope this works!" She quickly scampered under the Arwing, making sure to stay within the round overly expanded bubble of the Arwing's shielding system. Fox had programmed the force field to expand to its maximum diameter encasing the fighter in a round globe-like barrier. Once she was in place, Fox opened fire with the wing blaster main cannons, ripping into the shuttle that kept the Arwing trapped against the ground.

After shooting so many holes through the Shuttle, it began to shift its weight violently, sliding to the left and slamming into the ground with a thunderous cacophony of sound. It landed directly on top of one of the aggressive guard bots, flattening it into destruction. Four remained.

No sooner did that happen, the Arwing's battery systems began to run low, now unable to sustain the shields. There was only enough juice to start the engines now and only enough fuel to use the Arwing to get home. If they ran the engines just to run the shields, they would be wasting the fuel, although it seemed a far better option than getting hacked to bits.

The problem was, the main computer stalled out, due to a lack of energy from sustaining full shields in a maximized bubble, while firing the main weapon systems. The computer would take at least forty-five seconds to reboot and without shields, they were completely prone to robotic attack.

One of the sentries nabbed Krystal around her waist, dragging her out from underneath the fighter and lifting her directly up into the air. The claw-like arm attachments used for mining or tunneling through hard rock closed around either side of her hips, threatening to snip her in half. She struggled in its grasp, kicking her legs in an attempt to wiggle free but the machine had her completely trapped.

Fox quickly climbed out of the cockpit, leaping upon the top of the machine, trying to use the small cutting tool in his computerized gauntlet to make an incision on the back of the machine. He cut out a sloppy looking square, using his right paw to punch the metal section inward. He then thrust his paw into the fresh opening, which was still scalding hot, and grabbed a fistful of wires, yanking as hard as he could.

His muzzle parted to scream but his body was in sudden shock. Intense electrical current ran through his arm, into his torso, and into his other paw, which was holding the robotic monstrosity by a maintenance handle directly on the top. The current passed through his body, into his left paw, into the metal frame of the bot, shorting it out. It began to slump downwards, the voltage still passing through him as if he was nothing more than an extra copper wire.

As soon as his feet brushed the ground, the polarity changed and not in his favor. The current that passed through his body now touched the ground, causing every last strand of his fur to stand on end and his eyes to glow. The force of the electric passing through his body, into the ground, pushed air out of his lungs, suddenly, causing a gut-wrenching scream. The electrocution was complete, the short circuit causing Fox's body to be thrown clear from the backside of the overloaded robot, bouncing clean off the side of the Arwing.

Due to a special alloy that the claw arms were made from, to bore into rock more effectively, no electrical current touched Krystal. She watched in horror as Fox was flung from the back of the metallic monster, slamming into the Arwing and slumping to the ground. He didn't move. Two other droids moved in for the kill, nudging him first. Satisfied he wasn't going to get away, they both raised their scythe-like attachments, ready to impale him with a quick and grisly end.

Krystal's captor lurched forward, coming apart at the joints. One of the metal cutting arms ripped free at the assembly hinge, dropping Krystal to the ground. She quickly snatched up the hook-shaped arm and swung it with all her might. The pointed end sunk into one of the attack droids hovering above Fox's motionless body, tearing into the offender.

Due to diamond plating, it diced the metal body of the first robot, the momentum of her adrenaline-filled swing knocking the first robot into the second robot. She followed through with the swing, until the first hovering droid was cleaved completely into two halves. Cleft in twain, its circuitry exposed, the left half fell to the ground while the right half, now much lighter and off balance, began to rotate in mid air, its hovering booster now too powerful for it. The remaining half spun around in a rather amusing fashion, until it careened with the other metal enemy, sparks showering the area, until one exploded so close to the other, that both were rendered useless.

Only one remained. Fox was unconscious but alive, which she could sense. The remaining bot quickly snatched her up like the first one did, causing her to lose her grip on the scythe attachment. It clattered to the rock-solid ground, now useless beyond her reach. Krystal cursed in Cerinian tongue, being pounced by the remaining machine.

It shifted its pitch and axis, rolling about until she was pinned. Her back was flush against the ground, looking up into the optical sensory panel built into the front of the machine. She was looking directly into the eye of the soulless killer, her own eyes narrowed. The stare down lasted for another few seconds before the machine lurched forward. She could feel its weight growing upon her and gasped in fear that it might simply crush her instead of dicing her into ribbons.

It was then, that she noticed the dim illumination behind the optical panel growing completely dark. Fox's words of the robots only having a slight amount of charge, due to a very recent activation of the power, ran through her mind. If she didn't think quickly, the machine would finish powering down and crush her. It had to weigh at least three quarters of a ton, if not more.

System by system lost power inside the machine until the hover booster sputtered and died out. Krystal took a deep breath, clinching her eyelids shut, willing herself to concentrate. She attempted to make use of the technique that she had showed Fox back in the Hotel gym, on the sparring mat.

Chi-like energy passed through her, much like the electrical current had passed through Fox only a moment earlier. It absorbed the weight of the machine that pinned her to the ground, then reverberated through her body, outwards. The redirected force of energy was enough to cause the machine's weight to shift hard to the right, so that it landed directly besides her, instead of squishing her beneath itself.

The technique took her breath away, leaving her gasping for air like a fish out of water. She attempted to suck the air in, having the very breath knocked from her lungs. In an attempt to breathe once more, she rolled over onto her paws and knees, her head dropping to the ground, muzzle open, trying to suck in. It took another moment before the pain in her chest subsided and her torso relaxed. She drew in breath quickly, then coughed, gasping again. The moment passed and she flopped over to her back once more, panting.

She'd never had something knock the breath out of her lungs before and decided that such a miserable moment, although short, would be something she wouldn't soon forget. Her head lulled to the side, gazing over at Fox, who was also collapsed, just a few feet away. Her aching body, exhausted from the adrenaline surge she'd experienced earlier, screamed to react but it hurt to move. She used her telepathic abilities to determine that Fox was still alive and simply lay there, watching the rise and fall of his chest. She was glad there wasn't any more attack droids and thanked the fates for small favors.

Krystal decided that she would need just a few minutes to let the disorientation pass, then it would be up to her to get Fox stuffed into the gear cubby behind the seat and fly them back to Corneria. Now this was proving herself. Shame Fox was unconscious; she would rather that he could see it. No matter; when he wakes up on Corneria that would be proof enough.

Pepper paced the Hospital floor, in front of Fox's bed. He was fine, but he sustained a few first degree burns and minor lacerations on his left leg, both his palms and right arm. The Doctor mentioned light exercise therapy for his right arm, where he had previously dislocated his shoulder and there were a few bumps and bruises. All in all, Fox was alive and the Arwing was undamaged, although it took a lot of explaining as to why the wing blaster assemblies were facing vertical. It also voided the buyer's warranty. Fox's stay would be only one night but it still had the hound in a bind.

Another half an hour passed and Fox's eyes fluttered open, the world sliding into focus. Pepper sat down besides the boy, shaking his head. "You've really done it this time, Fox. You took the Arwing on a test flight with your wing mate's shuttle, nearly trashed both and had a crash landing?"

Fox groaned softly, reaching for the remote to angle the bed up. Mashing his thumb down on the button, the bed began angling at 45 degrees, so that he was sitting up. The two exchanged gazes and finally McCloud began his explanation.

"We came across Wolfens and one of them attacked Krystal's ship. She was going down over MeteoLand and I put the Arwing beneath her shuttle, diverting all power to the G-Diffuser, so that I could cushion our landing. We turned on the power and that caused us to get jumped by reprogrammed sentry droids. It wasn't my idea of a theme-park ride, pardon the pun."

Pepper shook his head, patting McCloud on the leg. "You know your team member did a damn fine job of saving your life, two times. Then she managed to fly the Arwing back to Corneria, by herself. She got instructions on how to land it and did a great job setting it down on the runway; she deserves quite a bit of praise. You pick good squadron members, Fox."

"She did, huh? Where is she now?" Fox asked, wincing lightly, where Pepper patted. The hound pulled his paw away, horrified that he hurt the boy, then shook his head. "Sorry, Sir," Fox muttered. "I'm sore all over. I feel like I let her down by not being on top of my game, out there."

The General shook his head. "Fox, we all have off days. Just be glad that she was on point, this time. Your wing mate is with the team, out in the waiting room. You'll be fine, just be careful until your paws heal up. It looks like you have a pretty sizable gash in your palm, what's that from?" Pepper asked.

"I cut myself on this metal droid, while trying to pull wires out of it. I was trying to save her, ironic that she was the one in trouble and yet she turned around and saved me, instead, huh?" Fox chuckled, shaking his head slightly. He had bandages over his paws and over various parts of his arms and legs where he'd been burned or cut.

"Pulling wires out, eh?" Pepper chided, patting Fox on the side of his muzzle. The hound stood up, offering a shake of his head. "You nearly electrocuted yourself. Actually, scratch that," The war-dog mused, "You did electrocute yourself, but the doctor thinks it was only bad enough to receive those burns, not bad enough to stop your heart, obviously, or do anything worse. Anyway, take it easy, they'll let you go tomorrow."

"What about the people who rescued Andrew Oikonni?" Fox muttered, contempt becoming obvious in his breathy tones.

"That's a political fiasco. He's got full immunity on Venom. They won't turn him over," Pepper complained. "It's going to get like before," He added, referring to GreatFox. "The Prime Minister and defense Director believes that peace is possible and having massive ships like GreatFox, with huge cannons on the front… they don't really look all that good on our behalf. As soon as the refit is finished, Corneria wants you to take it elsewhere."

"And what's YOUR next move?" Fox asked.

"Pay incentives for military recruiters," Pepper chuckled knowingly. "I want to have a fully staffed military by the time Oikonni decides to get brave. Our intelligence suggests that he's going to try and claim rightful heir to the financially ruined empire left by Andross. If Andrew can somehow manage to restore the economy on Venom, we're in trouble because they'll back him one hundred percent."

"Are you kidding?" Fox snarled. "All it takes is making ten war factories and Venom's people will feel like they're on the road to recovery. Bomb factories, along with fighter construction plants and ordinance manufacturing centers will restore Venom's dying economy in 6 months. He won't even have to try. Not that Oikonni would be able to strategically position a base on something close to Corneria like Andross, but making a fleet that could man-handle Corneria's Armada, that wouldn't be good, to say the least."

"He'd have to be a massive idiot not to get Venom to stand behind him. Half of those idiots still look at Andross as a god-send," Pepper sighed, shaking his head. He gave Fox another tender pat on the leg then left the room, pausing in the doorway to add, "Feel better, son. By the end of the week, you're going to have to relocate GreatFox. It's a flying fortress and moving it will help the population to breathe a little easier. They're trying to reason with Oikonni by showing that we're non combative.

"Make him think Corneria will be a cake walk? That will just inspire him," Fox said with a groan of frustration. "Let me go and rip him apart," Fox asked.

"Just move the ship, Fox. If you want to help out Corneria's military, you can always sign up for it."

Fox gawked at Pepper then shook his head. "Call my team if, for any reason, you can't handle Oikonni's forces in a battle. I'll have my team there, within several minutes, and we'll handle it from that point on. For now, I'll get my ship out of your orbit, as soon as the refit in finished. I'm a little disappointed, though."

"Just worry about getting your team trained and ready to go," Pepper suggested. "You said something about getting Slippy back into the cockpit? Start training your pilots and, by all means, start running drills. It could be over a year before tensions between Corneria and The Oikonni Empire escalates to the point where we'll need you again. Go get your team some practice, Fox." With that, that General stepped out of the room, leaving Fox in silence.

Things were far more serious than Fox had realized. Just days ago, General Pepper was joking around, patting him on the back over Sauria, and everything was fine. Now Pepper wanted Fox to get his ship away from Corneria as quickly as possible and everything was starting over again, just like it did 8 years ago. Fox wasn't even allowed to join in the Lylat War, except under the Privateer - Self Defense clause, until Corneria was already losing. It made Fox's life difficult.

Back in the Lylat War, Fox had to make addendum charges to his bill to Corneria, adding a "times two" credit clause to each killed fighter, because Pepper wouldn't let StarFox fight until asked to join the fray, which put Fox's team at greater risk because they were fighting Venom who was allowed to amass full power. Had Pepper asked for Fox's help earlier in the war, it would have been a cakewalk. History had a way of repeating itself and now their most seasoned, experienced pilot, Peppy Hare, was retired. Fox cursed under his breath.

A few minutes later, Krystal and the team stepped into the room. Falco, Slippy and Peppy were behind her, circling his bed. Fox tried not to look embarrassed. It was rare that they were fine and he was the one injured. Krystal sat down on his bed, besides him, leaning to kiss his forehead.

He gave a light smile, placing a paw on her wrist and looking up at her for a moment. There was a wordless exchange, a simple conversation that consisted of an expression filled gaze, reciprocated by the other. Fox didn't need to be telepathic to understand the way she looked at him, and she didn't need to read his mind to understand the way he looked back at her. They both smiled softly, and the moment passed. In that short two minute period, the entire world worth of words was said in silence.

There was chemistry between the two of them, but it was too early for something more than friendship. Anything beyond a knowing nod and smile would be inappropriate. She saved his life, she gave him mouth to mouth, resuscitating him. He saved her from slamming into the surface of a meteor and snatched her from a freefall back on Sauria. She rescued the unconscious McCloud and brought him to a Cornerian Hospital without help. They were 'two for two', and both were beginning to trust the other implicitly.

Fox posed a question in his mind that he knew Krystal could hear using her ability of Telepathy. 'Are you in love with me? Can you love me unconditionally? Can you promise me that you'll never die on me? Can this work, between us?' There was silence. Krystal simply nodded. Fox thought about his question, wondering if her nod was because she was able to hear his thoughts or if it was a fateful sign of coincidence. He simply smiled in reply. There was no time for a relationship with Oikonni's escape to Venom, but perhaps in the future, if the StarFox squadron lived through it.

Breaking the silence, finally, Falco approached the bed, patting Fox on the shoulder. He'd glanced at the medical chart before doing so and made sure he was patting Fox on his uninjured, left shoulder. Fox reached his left paw up and took Falco's right hand, the two shaking their secret handshake, from the academy years.

They shook, then balled their hands to fists, following through with the intricate display of brotherly affection. "So, you remember it, huh?" Fox asked softly.

"Of course," Falco said. Inside, he too was impressed that they both were able to remember the handshake. Neither had used it for a decade and the fact they did it now was strange and yet it helped Fox believe that Falco was going to stick around this time.

Peppy had some books under his arm and placed them on the bed, opposite of where Falco was standing and Krystal had been sitting, now facing them. "I brought your two favorites and one you've not read yet," Hare mused, tucking the old-style paperback tomes besides Fox's pillow. Fox gave a grin and closed his eyes, anticipating Peppy's next paternal action.

Peppy, who had no children of his own, leaned forward and kissed Fox upon his forehead. Fox smiled softly, stealing a glance at Krystal again. She was moved by the fatherly display of affection and returned the smile. Fox reached to pat Peppy's arm with a light chuckle.

Next was Slippy who had brought a fresh change of clothes and sat them on the night stand. "So, Fox," said the frog, returning to his spot at the end of the mattress, folding his arms. "Looks like we finished securing the Arwing deal. I think we're going to have the refit finished in two days, instead of a weak. Pepper found a better crew and offered to pay the difference. Sounds like he wants to get us back in action as soon as possible. Maybe he'll send us to f-f-fix Andrew's political plans, huh?" Slippy then grinned, adding in a poor pun, "You know, throw a 'monkey' wrench in Andrew's well oiled political machine?"

"Very funny," Fox said, shaking his head. "No, that monkey will be his own wrench. But no, Pepper isn't trying to help us. He's trying to help the Prime Minister. Just pretend this is over 8 years ago. Do you follow me?"

Peppy frowned. "Are you saying…?" The hare asked.

Falco finished the sentence, "… that we're getting the cold shoulder because of the GreatFox is too militaristic for Corneria, again?"

"You're damned right," Fox snapped, tightening both of his paws into fists. "We're not going to join the war until Lylat is smoldering. I'm pissed off," He added, his gaze panning over each of his team members, counter clockwise. Once his eyes landed on Krystal, he closed them and sighed. "You think we can find Oikonni again with your abilities?"

All eyes turned to Krystal, waiting to see her reply. "No. I was never close enough to him, personally, to recognize his thought patterns from afar. But I suggest we start running patrols to practice flying and gather Intel. That way when things go down, we'll be in the 'know'," she told them.

"Good idea, but I want to do it in teams of two," Fox ordered. "Peppy is the most experienced but he can only fly in short spurts, so I'll have go with him on a few exercises. He can take you through the rings, then maybe put you through a field test. I'll have Slippy and Falco pair up, so that Slippy can get back into the field of fighter flying. Go get started."

"Now?" Krystal asked.

"Why not? Peppy, you up for training her until I'm back on my hind paws?" Fox inquired, turning to his long-time father-figure.

"I can handle it. But I'd like to field test her before I put her through the rings," Peppy replied.

"Any reason?" McCloud asked, raising his eyebrows.

Peppy shrugged and continued his explanation. "Timing. I want to find out more how Venom's resistance was crushed. Krystal can help with that. Don't worry, I can handle myself for my age. We're not going to be running and gunning, just doing a little role playing."

"If you say so. Be careful," Fox bade, reaching for one of the books. Krystal offered a smile then turned to Peppy. The two of them exchanged nods then left the Hospital room together. Fox glanced back to Slippy and Falco, half-shrugging, due to his sore shoulder.

"I'm curious about what they're up to?" Slippy wondered aloud.

McCloud gave the question some thought before answering. "Peppy has an idea that I wouldn't agree with. He'll wind up putting Krystal in a fair amount of danger, while I'd be too afraid to put a new member in the line of fire, because I'd want to go, so I can make sure she makes it back safe. I need to have faith in her abilities," Fox explained. "He was always a firm believer in letting a cadet get their feet wet on real combat. He'll make it easy for her, because he knows he won't be able to keep up if they get into things too deeply. I'll just have to trust him, he's never steered me wrong in the past, right?"

"You want her, don't you?" Falco blurted out.

"Dude," Fox snapped. "Give it a rest. I've already decided not to allow anything to happen until after this war settles down. If I let myself get too attached and she died in the line of fire, I wouldn't be emotionally fit to finish the mission. You guys would wind up hurt or worse, and I'd hate myself for it."

"All right, all right!" Falco said, putting his winged hands up, defensively. "Just a question. I'll make sure, if her and I fly together, that I'll keep her alive. I'm not quite so sure about frog-boy here. I know he likes to rush into things with afterburners and nothing changes."

"Hey!" Slippy scolded, putting his hands on his hips.

"I'm joking, Slip-ster, relax. C'mon. I'm dying to try out the two birds. Let's go fly. Fox needs a few minutes to himself, so he can take a cold shower and get Krystal off his mind, heh heh." Falco's teasing words caused the Wing Commander to smirk, opening one of the books that Peppy bought, pretending to ignore the avian leaving.

Wolf O'Donnell turned to Panther, brows furrowed, his singular gaze narrowed. "Are you freaking joking?" He reached his right paw out, snatching Panther by the utility handle on the front of his flight suit, putting the felines back against the wall, several inches above the ground. Panther had to be impressed; after all, Wolf was lifting him up to the wall with one hand.

"Why boss, this is the first time you've ever physically assaulted me. I'm astonished," Caruso noted, his gaze lowering to stare into Wolf's face. After a moment, O'Donnell opened his paw, causing Panther to drop to his feet, landing gracefully as cats often did.

"I told you, if you're going to fly for me, no more assassin jobs. Choose your employer. I'm tired of this," the lupine growled in anger.

Panther's own growl was present in his words, but it was far more subtle. The guttural sound only surfaced when he pronounced hard consonant words, telling his friend and mercenary manager, "This one is very big. The other assassin didn't make it. This job is for triple the normal salary, which is a paycheck for all three of us. My last job as a killer, I assure you." His genuine tones and tender-sounding promises may have gone over well with women but it only pissed off O'Donnell even more.

"What the heck!" Wolf snapped, punching a hole into the bulkhead just inches away from Panther's head. The fist grazed so close to Panther's shoulder and cheek, that it made him flinch. The ovular slanted slits of his pupils narrowed even before he could squint his gaze to look menacing. Wolf grinned at his wing mate's attempt to look fierce.

"Fine, Panther. We'll knock off this buffoon and leave a stupid rose on the body. But after this, you move off of Corneria and live with us at Sargaso. I'm tired of not having a full team when I need to fly, simply because you're off making money on the side. It makes you unreliable. If you get a job I am interested in, we all go. Together. We split the pay. Deal?"

Another voice joined into the conversation, "Deal." Panther looked over Wolf's shoulder, seeing Leon Powalski approaching from behind.

"Deal," Panther repeated. He couldn't help but smirk. "Who runs Sargasso when we're out doing jobs and assassinations?"

"Ruffian. If there are problems, he knows to call me and I'll come back. I trust Ruffian. Now, who's your target this time, you idiot?" Wolf groaned, wondering why the moron was questioning his methods. If Panther wasn't such a good pilot, unlike Pigma and Andrew, Wolf would have never agreed to let him join StarWolf in the first place.

"Lionel Geoffrey, Prime Minister of Corneria. Think you're up for it?" Panther asked with a hint of challenge in his voice.

"You idiot!" Wolf groused. "If you kill the Leader of Corneria, General Pepper takes his place for the remainder of the term. Pepper will be leading Corneria into the war against Venom, do you really want that?"

Panther cleared his throat then answered. "Venom seems to think that the whole Planet will beg to back down from confrontation against Venom in ANY sort of political struggle. I seem to think that I would rather see Corneria have a better chance of defeating Venom, because of this. I'll take Venom's money in gold and weapons as payment only, since their money won't be worth anything after the war. Then we'll sit back and watch the planet turn to dust."

"Hm," Leon's voice caused Wolf to look over his shoulder. The bionic eye whirred and snapped into focus almost instantly. Leon grinned and added, "Panther does have a point for once, Wolf. Corneria leaves us alone, out here in Sargaso. Venom, if they came to power, would want to tax and tariff our work, they would want to own it, because Oikonni is trying to be as power hungry as his uncle once was. Maybe putting Pepper in power is a good idea."

"How do ya figure?" Wolf asked, turning away from Panther. The studs upon his shoulder plates passed only centimeters from the dark-furred feline's nose, causing him to flinch.

"Let's see, we get paid," Leon said, holding his hand up, counting off the pros and cons with his fingertips. "We give Corneria the leader it needs to ensure that the planet will have some sort of military for once, we stay in business without giving up a part of our profits, while making Oikonni think we're on his side, which keeps him from bothering us during the course of the war."

"I like the way you put it, Powalski," Wolf said, the consideration in his voice and the paw that came to his chin, putting a smile on Panther's muzzle.

"So you're in, boss?" Caruso finally spoke up, once more.

"Yeah. I'm freaking in, on this. Get to your ships. We have work to do. Let's go," he demanded.

Krystal looked down at the café table for a moment, then raised her gaze once more to Peppy. "What are we doing here, again? How is this part of a training exercise?"

"It's very complicated," Peppy explained, adding, "But I want to test your tracking abilities. I want to test your anticipation to danger and I want to test your concentration and ability to focus during widespread panic. That's a lot of voices screaming in fear for you to hear. If you can tune your telepathy to focus on the one over the screaming masses, we'll know just what your abilities and limitations are."

"What's the mission?" She asked, looking somewhat surprised. It sounded as though Peppy knew something huge was about to happen and while she couldn't sense that he was trying to take advantage of something catastrophic for the benefit of her training, she could sense that something was in the air. Something huge was about to happen, but she couldn't pin a fingernail on it. Peppy was doing his best to keep his mind clear, so she couldn't read him, also part of the training.

"What happens after that?" She asked.

Peppy tilted his head, reaching to push his glasses up his nose. "We take the Arwings out and test your tracking abilities. It'll be up to you to make this mission a success. Every experiment has a control, but you're the control, here. If we lose the target, we lose our chance. I have no way to reset the board and point out your mistakes, if you lose your queen."

"My…queen?" Krystal asked, confused. Again, Peppy kept his mind clear and relaxed. There was no way for her to read into the definition of his statement.

"It's a chess piece, Peppy explained. "The most powerful piece on the board is the queen. She's your best bet for offensive and defensive strategies but if you lose her, the game is simply harder, not over. The game doesn't end until the king is captured but without your queen, it's difficult to protect him and it's difficult to capture the other player's king. Not impossible, just difficult."

"Maybe you can teach me this game some day?" Krystal asked. She suddenly heard Peppy's thoughts in her head. 'I'm a vocal thinker, when I try to figure out my strategies. There's no way I could win if you knew what I was planning. Hopefully you'll make a good queen chess piece with that ability, on your own merit. We'll see, right?' He simply smiled in silence. She nodded twice and he nodded in reply, glad she could hear the thought. She was definitely the real thing. The team's new telepath.

"What's going to happen, today?" She asked. Her eyes cut around the area, from their table at the Café, trying to figure it out without her natural abilities. She wanted to be able to figure things out with her brain the way perceptive people, who weren't telepathic, could anticipate things so well.

Peppy took a deep breath before beginning his lengthy explanation. "Intelligence has intercepted a transmission from Venom. They're sending some assassin to take out the Prime Minister of Corneria, Lionel Geoffrey. The assassin will arrive and try to do his job, but Corneria is ready for him. The military has been ordered to let them escape, so they can trace the pawn back to Venom. Don't worry," Peppy said gently, "There's no way an assassin can march in and kill the Prime Minister. We're ready for it. When the assassin realizes that his mission is a bust, he'll run for his life and the Government will track him back to Venom."

"Okay so we'll also follow the assassin and that'll be your test for me, but how can you be so sure they won't succeed? Also," She added, "How does letting the assassin go help Corneria?"

"A few ways," Peppy answered. "First of all, they know it's happening so everyone will be ready. Second of all, the military is going to be role playing to guarantee the assassin narrowly escapes, without dying. That way we can pin the blame on Venom. It will give the government a legitimate reason to build a war-time effort allegiance with the other Lylat planets, before Venom can say a word in the matter. Oikonni isn't waging war against the rest of Lylat, just Corneria. It's a personal thing. The public has no idea, so the chaos and panic from an attempt on the Prime Minister will be genuine enough to be convincing."

"Why is all of this happening," Krystal asked Peppy, shocked and surprised. She was almost offended that any Government would allow things to happen a certain way to manipulate a situation to gain sympathy from allies, instead of diplomacy.

"It's complicated. We've been through this, Pepper knows it won't work. We're only letting the assassin get away, to ensure the information: that Venom is trying to strike out this early into the future war. It's complicated. You're not from Lylat," Peppy admitted apologetically, "So I can understand that you're a bit confused by all of this, but I've been through a 20 year military career. I've been through a mercenary career and trust me, I've seen it all," The rabbit told her. "Our system's first extra terrestrial being comes through and your first impression of us must be an awful one. But capturing the assassins will gain nothing. Letting them go will do much more and I have faith that Pepper's guards will keep Lionel Geoffrey alive and well. Nothing can go wrong; the guards are under strict orders to miss when returning fire and allow the assassins to escape."

Krystal just gawked at the hare. He really was going to be training her under the line of fire. She was surprised and yet she was excited. This was StarFox intelligence gathering and she was going to be earning her bread today. Fox may have been the meal ticket in the past but she wanted to earn her worth as more than just another pilot.

Next:

Chapter -9-: Plan B