Looneyman: The action will be picking up around chapters 7-8, if everything goes as planned. After that, it will be basically an action novel. Hope you like it!

Foxhound: I try to keep the swearing limited to places where it makes sense in context - military guy being scared half to death, criminal getting shot, hyperactive guy losing to a computer. I will take note, however, not to go overboard on it - I fully agree that it is often not necessary.

Hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!

III

Captain's Log, Stardate 2762.08.16 - We have just arrived at Katina. Krys can't wait to meet Bill, Slippy can't wait to go talk to the ground crew, and Peppy can't wait to check into a nice hotel. Falco just wants to go find a bar and restock the ship's supply of liquor. Some things never change...While Krys seems rather relaxed, I can tell she's still worried about that map - Peppy hasn't been able to find any information at all regarding it, even in the Cornerian Library. And they say, if it isn't in there, it doesn't exist...On a side note, today would be my parents' 27th Anniversary, were they still alive...

As the cargo ramp lowered to the ground, Fox and crew took in the impressive view. They were in the middle of a large spaceport, crawling with people. Over the buildings, they could see a giant pyramid - the main building for this immense military facility. Overhead, squadrons of fighters on patrol tore by, and along the horizon they could just make out the form of some terraforming machinery - apart from the base, the planet was mostly inhospitable desert.

As they walked down, they were greeted by the ground crew, whom Slippy eagerly followed for an inspection of the ship. Fox heard someone call his name, and turned around to see a large, grey Canine walking towards him.

"Bill! Great to see you! Krys, I'd like you to meet Commander William H. Grey. He's been a good friend of mine since I was a kit, and we trained together at the academy."

"...Until he got his sorry tail expelled, that is. Everybody calls me Bill, by the way." He shook Krystal's hand heartily. She gave Fox a wry look, and he returned one with a hushed, "I'll explain it later". She shrugged, and turned her attention back to the tall Canine in front of her.

"Alright then, Bill." She smiled. "Fox has told me quite a bit about you, but he never mentioned getting expelled from anywhere." As she said this, Fox could be heard audibly coughing in the back of the group.

"He tends to be that way - it's sort of a touchy subject, but I can't resist razzing him now and then. Still, there are better topics for conversation - is anybody hungry? I know this awesome restaurant, and I could eat half the mess hall."

"You'd be wasting your leave in the infirmary if you did," Falco mumbled as the group walked off.

"I still don't see why we couldn't have just asked."

"I told you! Academy students aren't allowed off-world! We had to do this!"

"That's all fine and dandy, but what if Pepper finds out?"

"Trust me, he won't care. What're a few stowaways in the grand scheme of things? You saw how pleased he was when we told him we found the missing ship on Fortuna; We have orders to retrieve it, he just didn't specify how."

"I have a feeling he ruled out hiring mercenaries and stowing away on a military freighter."

"Nonsense! When he hears what - hang on, I think we've landed."

There was a crash as one of the crates inside the cargo hold of the iEsperanto /ibroke open, revealing a bit of unwanted cargo - a six-foot Avian. The freighter door opened, revealing Katina's harsh, sandy landscape. In the distance lay the Katina Defense Outpost, courtesy of Corneria. Off to the side, along the horizon and barely visible, was a team of terraforming machinery, hard at work. A warm breeze ruffled Sparrow's feathers as he stepped into the light to stretch. Behind him, Isis and the Professor crawled out of their crate. Last to get out was Whiskers, the thief they had been charged with.

"So, where are we?" Whiskers asked, eagerly.

"Katina, of course. But why not at the base?" Sparrow scanned the horizon, looking for something that might serve as a clue or landmark. What he found, however, was a team of Katina military personnel - four Canines, a Toad, and a Ferret - flying their way. "Back inside, quick!" He shouted, as he ushered everyone back into the cargo hold.

The group hadn't been spotted, thankfully. Isis was the first to ask the question that was on everyone's minds. "How the heck are we gonna get to the base? We'll die of heatstroke before we get anywhere near it!"

Sparrow tried to grab hold of Whiskers, who was busily opening a crate. The small Vulpine just slipped away, and started working on another one. "I don't know. Perhaps we can get into the cockpit somehow, and fly this thing in."

"That wouldn't work. The minute we took off, they'd have every defensive turret in the complex pointed at us. We'd be better off just waiting for them to come here, and see what they want." The Professor always wanted to avoid conflict whenever possible.

"There is no WAY I'm gonna sit around, waiting to be captured! We'll have to figure out something. Maybe we can use one or two of these crates as cover from the sun, and walk there?"

"We'd fry our feathers off from the heat reflected off the sand." Isis answered.

"Hey guys, look what I found!" Whiskers cried from the back of the hold. Everyone shuffled over to the crate he had pried apart, gawking at what was inside.

A hoverbike.

"Looks like we got ourselves a one-way ticket to the base!" whiskers proudly boasted. He toted the machine over to the front of the cargo bay, as the others each opened a crate and got one of their own. When they were all set, they fired off towards the base. They had forgotten one minor detail, however - there were six officers heading straight for them, on similar hoverbikes.

As the four approached the guards, they heard something along the lines of, "Stop or we'll shoot". They weren't about to stop, and rocketed past the officers. Said officers turned right around and picked up the chase.

As the officers turned, the four companions headed for some high sand dunes. At the last second before impact, they broke and flew around. One of the Canines was too slow on the reflexes, and plowed straight into the dune. The rest resumed chasing, each picking an individual target. Two Canines took off after Sparrow and one after Whiskers, the Toad picked The Professor, and the Ferret went for Isis.

Sparrow turned and flew back to the freighter, and up the cargo ramp. The two Canines were completely baffled, and tried to pull away - too late. They ran alongside the freighter's hull, spun out of control, and crash-landed several meters away. Immediately afterwards, Whiskers rounded the bridge section of the ship, and the Canine following him hit one of the wrecked bikes. He careened into the side of the freighter, and was thrown twenty feet away, where he landed with a soft thud, and lay unconscious. Sparrow had hit his brakes at the precise moment before hitting the far door, and had come to a stop on top of the very crate his bike was previously stored in. He kicked it into high gear, and sped off toward the base alongside Whiskers, giving him a mid-air "high five".

The Professor, being of sound judgement but slow reflexes, flew just slow enough to be only a few feet in front of his adversary. As he topped a dune, he kicked the brakes. This caused the illusion, if only for a split second, that he had high-tailed it, and the Toad chasing him floored the accelerator. His bike shot clear of the dune, sailed majestically through the air at an altitude of over 40 feet, and landed nose-first in the sand. The Toad tumbled off, quite dazed.

Isis knew she was better than this silly Ferret - after all, he was just some grunt stuck with cargo duty, and she was Corneria's top flight student. She floored it, speeding well over the 50mph mark. The Ferret matched her velocity, coming up alongside. She turned, he followed. Wherever she went, this guy mirrored her every move - maybe he was a better pilot than she originally gave him credit for. Suddenly, an inspiration hit her - she pulled out her academy-issue blaster, and double-tapped his fuel cell. While the metal scored and melted, a hole was not punched through the bike's armor, however light. She then hit the brakes and wheeled around, prompting him to do the same. Unfortunately, he had been the victim of one of Isis' favorite tactics in the simulators - as he hit the brakes, the excessive strain tore the weakened fuel cell storage unit clear of the rest of the bike. His partially spent fuel cell hit the sand at almost 60 miles per hour and disintegrated, and he rolled to the ground with a thump.

The four comrades rode off toward the base, triumphant.