Chapter 8: Results
X President Tabby's office, Corneria Government Plaza X
President Tabby watched the latest rerun of the human named Jacob's combat test taken earlier that day and heard Admiral Pepper once again sigh in resignation "He beat all of our records so badly it's damn near embarrassing" the canine said in a resigned voice. The day after Russel had undergone the Aviation Combat Assessment Test the other human representative Jacob Hunt had undergone the Land Warfare Assessment Test
Nearby General Sloan a male bear with a usually rigid demeanor fitting for his position as head of Corneria's ground forces also sighed "That demonstration was everything we hoped it wouldn't be. Suffice to say he received the only perfect score we've ever given a student for the land warfare assessment. Hell, technically he would have scored higher, but the results of our tests are only programmed to give a maximum score of one thousand based on what at the time was considered possible for a student to do. He broke every test we ran him though so hard the computer had no real way to judge it based on its parameters and so just gave him the max score it could give." The General explained with a rueful shake of his head.
President Tabby and High Admiral Pepper had called a private meeting between two experts in their fields of Land Warfare and Space Warfare to help them judge the human representatives combat assessments. General Sloan was an easy pick as the head of all Cornerian Ground Armies and a former trainer of Corneria's elite commando units.
President Tabby nodded "We've managed to keep the results from leaking to the media for now but when the scores are released to the students, they will see the perfect score and the media will find out shortly from there. What do you think Admiral? Can you be expected to keep an eye on this one?" Tabby asked the fourth individual in the room where she sat regally in a chair in the corner of the office watching the test results with a disinterested stare.
Admiral Halsey watched the human known as Jacob once again shoot ten student trainees in the chest in less than five seconds before shaking her head at the numerous stairs of her superiors and colleges "While I admit this demonstration is demoralizing and not a good outlook for ground conflict with the ESA it's by no means unexpected. From the short clash with humanity's ground forces, we knew that they frankly outclassed our ground military and defied our conventional tactics. As far as keeping an eye on him the faculty can do their best and I doubt he would be stupid enough to attack our students unless they attacked first."
President Tabby huffed at the female cheetah's rather apathetic answer "I would think, as someone in the position of sitting principal of the Lylat Academy, you would be much more concerned than you are that a single student has the physical capability to kill nearly the entire student and faculty of your academy if he so wished" Tabby snarled with anxiety and a little anger.
Admiral Halsey regarded the tabby cat for a second demurely before giving a slight shake of her head as she tutted "If the man was trusted to be a representative of his species I doubt he would risk something like that unless war broke out and even if it did without quick access to weaponry there would only be so much damage he could do before we started to bring out the laser weaponry to bear against him in mass. Even then what damage and deaths he would cause pales in comparison to the casualties we would be taking upon the breakout of war with the ESA." Halsey explained before shifting his gaze to a readout showing Jacob's future class schedule. "Frankly my only real concern, for now, is getting his schedule situated which is relatively easy considering he is unfamiliar with our command structure and so still can learn our military traditions and customs. The rest of his classes are basic physical conditioning which he will likely see as exercise and any actual training he'll likely do on his own time, much like most of our career soldiers do. Isn't that right General?" The alluring cheetah asked with a smirk to General Sloan who gave a nod.
"Admiral Halsey is correct observations inside the Human Embassy have already noted the man exercising in the courtyard with fair regularity" the bear affirmed.
Halsey gave an alluring smirk that showed off her gleaming white canines "Thank you, General, so yes Madam President I'm fairly sure the ground pounder will behave. Truthfully I'm much more interested in the human taking the piloting course." Admiral Halsey stated before pausing as High Admiral Pepper brought up the human named Russ's information and scores along with a video of the test.
Tabby watched the test for a bit and though she admitted the human's performance was very good she failed to see the significance of his results when compared to that of the other humans. "Yes, the one named Russel Leonard did score exceedingly well during the test managing to beat the class president Collen Collie by a slim margin. I however don't see his scores as anything near as worrying as the other one though. Unless of course, I'm missing something that you see Admiral." Tabby questioned with narrowed eyes not liking the way the admittedly captivating Admiral seemed to be able to wrap any male in the room around her well-manicured and clawed fingers.
Admiral Halsey met er narrowed glare with a superior smirk and haughty glance that told Tabby that the female knew she was the most attractive feline in the room before casually sliding her attention to Russel's information display, dismissing Tabby like not worth her time. The entire standoff between the two females' feline pride flew completely under the radar of the two males in the room who were scrutinizing the information of Russ and leveraging it with their own opinions.
General Sloan was the first to speak up "Frankly I don't see a whole lot here that we hadn't already expected. It states that the kid hasn't attended any actual flight school or graduated the ESA's equivalent of college. Though it is mentioned he was largely self-taught and received combat experience outside the ESA's military apparatus. All told nothing too outside the norm for a talented pilot to achieve even with his lack of an actual military background" Sloan explained with a shrug.
High Admiral Pepper watched the video for a bit before muttering lowly to himself almost quietly enough that the other didn't hear him "He's too near damn flawless."
Both Tabby and Sloan looked at him confused while Admiral Halsey smiled knowingly "Oh, good you see it too High Admiral. Care to fill our two coworkers in?" she asked superciliously.
Pepper ignored the cheetah's tone of address now used to her personality by now and too focused on the way Russ flew the Arwing in the sim to reprimand the talented feline. "The way the human immediately exits the hanger and spins… he's getting a physical view of the battlespace whilst his radar and sensors are still booting up. It's an experienced move and the way he pulls away only a couple of seconds later… he managed to get a good read of the battle area and form a plan of attack in such a short amount of time. That does not come from someone with marginal self-instruction and battles against criminal elements, that's something only veteran pilots that are used to engaging hostile ambushing forces that are led by competent commanders can do." Pepper explained before summarizing at the blank look he saw Tabby giving him "I'm saying the boy is highly experienced in military vs military actions. Based on the scores and way he is piloting the Arwing, which he likely only has been training in for a short time mind you, he likely has lengthy experience in high-intensity conflicts" Pepper explained seeing Tabby slowly nod her head in understanding.
General Sloan growled in frustration "So the humans lied about his background and in the likely very doctored history overview they sent us?" he asked.
Halsey shook her head "No, I don't think they lied in terms of his lack of recent military affiliation or about their history. The lie I think is elsewhere in Russel's information." Halsey explained as her eyes darted over to the Human's picture again and gained the look of a predator staring down a particularly challenging prey item.
President Tabby growled at the Admiral's evasive explanation "Well is it something that could harm the students or the people of Corneria?" she asked in a tone that demanded the Admiral answer quickly.
Halsey hearing the tone sighed and closed her eyes reminding herself that the feline still technically overruled her as President. Halsey leaned back in her chair and peeked an eye open not wanting to miss their reactions to the first bombshell she was about to drop in this meeting. "The lie is regarding his age, Russel Leonard isn't twenty-one but in actuality is between eighty to one hundred years old," Halsey revealed causing the other three to gasp and look toward the picture of the young-looking human man who staired back with board eyes in the picture.
Silence descended on the room for a moment as the three other people in the room tried to wrap their heads around the fact that the young man looking back at them in the photo was twice the age if not more than any of them. The silence was broken by High Admiral Pepper who growled simply "Explain."
Rachel Halsey straightened in her chair losing the haughty demeanor at the hound's tone of command "After the simulator test one of our embedded intelligence officers with the janitorial staff managed to collect hair and skin samples from the simulator he was in. We ran it through a couple of tests and forensically dated his age to around that timeframe. In addition, his DNA showed signs of genetic tampering that must have occurred at or near birth, the exact purpose and way how they managed to do so is unknown but well beyond our capabilities. However, it is believed that these augmentations to the DNA are to help combat efficiency and/or health. My bet is it's to increase his combat efficiency and the same has likely been done to Jacob as well, essentially our 'diplomats' are likely both highly experienced war veterans raised specifically for combat roles." Halsey relayed in an analytical tone.
The others stared at the pair of human's photos for a bit before looking at the combat footage and background information. Sloan spoke up after a minute "So by extensive combat experience you mean…"
"Wars, likely more than one of the three mentioned in the Human's history document if they included them all. Not to mention any smaller-scale conflicts that sprung up during their mercenary careers. It doesn't help us get a better understanding of them since the names and exact details of those wars are not mentioned in the document." Halsey explained before sighing and relaxing back in her chair.
Sloan glanced over all the information before shaking his head "Sorry High Admiral, Madam President, but I don't think our students are going to be able to measure up to these two individuals as we planned. If the Admiral is correct then the pair are simply too experienced and too well trained for our talented but all together green students to overcome." General Sloan admitted with a sigh. "Looks like the Human's Emperor had the same idea we did and sent some of his hopefully best pilots. We got too distracted by the mention of no recent military service in the last ten years and the no previous academy equivalent graduation. We didn't think to ask if there was any military service before that period and in all likelihood, they technically probably didn't graduate from an academy if the wars were particularly bad."
Tabby looked over appalled at what the General was insinuating "You think they would send young teenagers to fight in their wars?" she asked aghast.
The General just shrugged "While Lylat hasn't experienced a war in a long time, as a military historian I know that back in the day it wasn't too unheard of for militaries to send pups as young as fifteen into service if the need for replacements was great enough, especially if the kid had previous training in combat already" he explained.
Tabby looked horrified at the thought, while Pepper nodded being a military historian himself while Halsey tilted her head in curiosity not having the extensive knowledge in military history as the two males.
A quiet silence descended on the room before Halsey spoke out one more time "There is one more hunch I have about Russel. This one however is just a feeling I got from watching his simulator footage" she announced with a noticeable hint of hesitance.
Pepper, Tabby, and Sloan gave her their undivided attention before Pepper gestured for her to continue "Go ahead Admiral, no need to feel concerned about speaking your mind now" the hound assured.
Halsey bit her lip hesitating not at being uncomfortable speaking up about her instinctual idea since her instincts were usually right, and she had become extremely comfortable expressing her opinions. No, what made her hesitate was the weight of what her instincts told her might be true a conclusion she reached while watching Russel's combat footage and being stuck with a sense of familiarity meant for all those in the room. Eventually, however, she brought herself to come out and just say it.
"Russel Leonard is Fenrir."
The silence that settled over the room wasn't only not heard but felt, the weight of what such a declaration meant for the people in the room and the rest of Lylat. Rachel sat there in the chair as three sets of eyes stared at her but saw through her as the minds of their respective hosts disregarded any visual stimuli and focused entirely on the words they had received from the auditory systems, even forgetting to breathe. Eventually however as their brains finished processing and remembered to breathe all three gasped for breath before the shouting started.
"WHAT!" Pepper shouted his hackles raised and teeth barred in a very rare display of rage not seen in more than a decade.
"NO!" General Sloan shouted angrily, his rage not to be outdone by the High Admiral's.
Tabby this time was simply staring at Halsey in silent terror while slowly shaking her head in denial.
Halsey of course understood why her coworkers had such an extreme reaction to the news she delivered just then. The name Fenrir had become synonymous with the boogieman ever since CAN's live broadcast of his eradication of the War Dog squadron and the dismantling of the former Star Fox team on a live broadcast. The cold detached tone and the haunting words along with the pained and terrified cries of his victims had been heard by all as they watched some of Lylat's best and brightest be executed by a single man. It was fair to say that the name Fenrir had been burned into the collective consciousness of Lylat's people ever since that day. People that may have shared names even sounding like Fenrir had changed their legal names. Pilots running long patrols or transportation routes would take any disappearance as the work of Fenrir who they said still hunted for lost or lone ships in the fringes of Lylat space unwilling to let his war on Lylat's people end. These were just a few of the myths and customs spawned by the Lylatian people based on their perceptions of Fenrir.
Halsey didn't take too much stalk into the reactions of the civilians, what she did take seriously however was when a year and a half after the First Contact War a group of civilian programmers had created a combat simulation based around what fighting Fenrir would be like if he was in an Arwing and put it in a sim game as a final bonus boss. In an interview before the games release the lead programmer had been asked how they got the capabilities of the human pilot. The developer had gone on to explain how they had taken the combat footage of CNA and privately donated cockpit footage from pilots that were there and even some from the Star Fox team. They had then spliced the footage together and measured the reaction time and found that Fenrir and his craft was reacting to things in five-thousandths of a second and quickly determined that Fenrir's craft had to have been reacting to his commands near instantaneously for him to have pulled some of the maneuvers and evasions he did. In that regard, Fenrir would have been limited if he were behind the controls of an Arwing that could only react to inputs of its pilot in a tenth of a second. The programmer had stated that this made it easier to program the reaction time of the Fenrir boss as the time it took for an Arwing to respond to an input from the pilot or as a tenth of a second. The programmer then went on to say that they had a harder time finding an AI with a fast enough processing time and smart enough decision making when calculating all the factors such as terrain, physics, the players actions and weaponry, its weaponry, and possible actions, and what data they could code in about fighter tactics and maneuvers from military Pilot veterans and captured footage of Fenrir.
The result had been put into the game series called "Victory Wing" as the game's fifth installment and people everywhere who could afford it bought the game. Halsey had watched multiple gameplay videos online and applauded the game's attention to detail and realistic fighter combat. The particular AI the game used for the enemies was challenging but not hardcore unless an enemy ace appeared, which when it did was difficult enough on realistic mode to make the most hardcore of gamers rage. Still, the plot was good the characters were believable and had good voice actors. All in all, everyone agreed 10/10 would play repeatedly. Halsey had even heard several of the Mytuber's take an interest in their respective planets Naval Forces, a thought shared by many of their live chats as they watched their favorite Mytuber's play through the game until the end then replay it to access the coveted Fenrir bonus boss. Many video posters were playing the game all at once all trying to race and see who could get to the Fenrir boss and triumph first and many people were excited as the especially good ones neared the fated encounter, with even people like Halsey anticipating the coming fight eager to see if the hype matched the fight.
Then they had made it to the Fenrir encounter.
All in all, Halsey and everyone else should have expected what would happen but maybe some blame should fall to the developers for introducing Fenrir the way they did. Haley and the rest of the gaming world watched as their main protagonist Kit Sky the young and dashing ace pilot took his teammates Angel the attractive poodle that was Kits love interest, Maverick the roguish Hawk and self-proclaimed rival of Kit, and Sebastian the Bear with a dark past that had redeemed himself after fighting together with Kit into the encounter with the final boss Androosi the Mad. They watched as they defeated Androosi the Mad and made their way back to their home of Cornal to celebrate the end of the war and settle down with Kit marrying Angel and Maverick and Sebastian being high members in the military. Only for their flight of four to detect a single incoming bogie approaching from the rear while just outside of Cornal's blue moon. The world watched as the contact fired three missiles that impacted Angel, Maverick, and Sebastian's Arwings. They had listened to all there give their tearful goodbyes to Kit with Angel's being even more heartbreaking finding out she was pregnant with Kit's child before her pretty face along with his other two friends was replaced with white and their deafening fear-filled scream of Kit's name before their Arwings exploded in front of a distraught Kit.
Then another Arwing pained all black, streaked through the debris and the player was audience to a quick close-up of an advanced Arwing design labeled Arwing-X before two familiar voices broke over the comms that many in Lylat had become familiar with.
"Fenrir… what's your status?" said an unknown voice Halsey knew to be the recorded voice of a human comms officer aboard one of the two surviving corvettes during the First Contact War with a couple of words cut out.
"Almost done here" the recorded voice of Fenrir replied the rest of the sentence cut out by the game team to fit the moment.
"He's a demon" stated the quivering and terrified voice of Kit's little sister Sarah turned comms officer back on Cornal stated in a fearful voice that even Halsey had believed.
"You'll pay monster!" Kit had shouted in anger.
"This is war, there is no place for weakness hesitation, or compassion. In war, there are two types of people those that are dead and those that kill to survive." Fenrir spoke as the bottom of the screen displayed the Boss: "Fenrir". "Let's see which of the two you are!"
What followed was one of the biggest controversies in video game history. Everyone that played the game tried to do it, the most dedicated of gamers discussed strategy and shared tactics and theorized, the stubborn and perfectionists repeated it again and again.
Nobody ever legally beat him though. Nobody in the two years since the game's release had ever beaten Fenrir in solo combat no matter how hard they tried or what strategy they used. All of them were inevitably shot down some within the first ten seconds. After the first couple months went by eventually people accused the development studio of intentionally making the boss unkillable or saying the company's assessment of Fenrir's abilities was flawed and going on to show their incorrect science or math that 'proved' their theory. Halsey had to shake her head at some of the 'proof' people would come up with to salvage their damaged egos. Eventually, various military vets tried it out and even they couldn't beat it with their 'real-life experience'. It got to a point that the developer had made a special mode that allowed a gaming team of the ten best players to take down Fenrir as a squadron and they still failed. The outrage eventually reached a peak a year and a half after its release and with most people and media outlets along with the aid of social justice warriors denouncing the game as 'Pro Human' propaganda causing the gaming company to pull the product off store shelves. Still, only a month after the game company pulled the game a group of twenty dedicated gamers using the squadron mode banded together and managed to finally kill Fenrir using rehearsed military tactics, optimized loadouts, and many hours of practiced teamwork and communication. The group was celebrated for managing to kill the unkillable boss but many still believed the boss was made to be unkillable in a one versus one battle.
Halsey however knew different; she wanted to applaud the developers and shower them in praise for she knew they had made a perfect encounter. She knew this because she had felt it, the tingle down her spine, her fur standing on end, the feeling of being hunted by a dangerous force, the creeping feelings of anxiety, fear, and despair. They all matched what she felt that day witnessing him fight not through a camera lens but with her own eyes. Having felt the pressure of being in the same system as someone that dangerous, of constantly glancing at the radar to see his position and making sure she and her ship were damn far away. She had felt those same feelings while watching people experience the game. To think that was him limited to flying an Arwing.
That was her reason to fear her premonition being right, to seriously think that the individual who had imprinted himself on the Lylatian psyche was walking around on Corneria. That they had allowed him into a school of young military trainees. Of course, the three people currently shouting at her had their reason to shout their continued denial at her. Tabby like her was thinking about the utter bedlam it would cause if the media found out and told the public. General Sloan was terrified of what the military members would do their most feared enemy was sitting on Corneria with close to diplomatic immunity. While Pepper's anger stemmed from the memory of what the man did to his best friend James McCloud and his team as well as its long-term consequences.
Halsey shook herself from her memories of the past few years in time to see the other three's shouting was finally dying down and decided to try and explain while she had a window of opportunity. Halsey raised her head in a placating gesture allowing the two males to curb back their anger while Tabby collected herself with a shudder. Seeing them calm down Rachel decided to explain "Now again this is only a gut feeling and I have no proof of this other than my instincts, but the thought occurred to me when I was watching Russel's sim footage that it looked familiar." Rachel looked around and saw all three were giving her their undivided attention "As High Admiral Pepper can attest to I like to go over every bit of combat footage I can to critique myself and the enemy so I can improve my strategies and tactics while dismantling the enemies. Russel while limited to an Arwing, his decision-making and reaction times almost mirror that the human fighter Fenrir made. Near flawless battlefield awareness, observed reaction time, controlling the time, and how the enemy reacts to your actions to lead them into traps and ambushes, all of it is a near-perfect match to Fenrir's actions and strategies during the First Contact War."
Hearing her explanation Pepper took a deep sigh and watched the sim footage again before giving a shaky nod "I believe you are correct, Admiral" Tabby and Sloan looked at him in shock as the hound straightened "My apologies for shouting at you Rachel, I was overwhelmed at your theory given my… personal history with said individuals' actions." Pepper apologized with a slight bow.
Halsey shook her head "No problem Pepper, I expected it."
Tabby looked between the two a few times before announcing "This information does not leave this room" to which everyone quickly agreed.
As the other three began to brainstorm about why the Emperor had sent this individual, Halsey looked back at the image of Russel and narrowed her eyes while thinking "Despite all we currently know there is still a lot about you we don't know Russel Leonard, and I look forward to finding out!" she thought with an excited pure at the coming challenge.
X Human Embassy, Break Room X
"This is bullshit" Russ growled while leaning back in the cheap plastic chair he sat in. Across from him, Jacob shrugged before finishing off the C-ration he had chosen as his dinner. The two were inside a small dining area of the newly constructed Human Embassy shown to them by President Tabby and High Admiral Pepper three days ago after Russ's combat assessment test. From the outside, the embassy was reminiscent of the famous palace of Versailles back on earth through Russ and Jacob had only seen the building in pictures not ever being afforded the luxury and privilege of seeing the more famous location on earth other than their short trip to the Imperial Palace. Russ would have preferred something more defensible but the Emperor had chosen so he could not say anything against it even if he wanted to.
While the Lylatians had abided by the Emperor's specifications regarding the exterior they had skipped out significantly on the interior of the building. The 'dining room' Russ and Jacob currently sat in for instance resembled more of a breakroom than a dining room with cheap plastic chairs rounded tables and a few vending machines with a few Lylatian snack items that Russ hoped were compatible with his biology. This twisting of Interior design specifications was a theme throughout the entire building with offices turned into small cubicles, garages turned into warehouses of empty shelves, and bedrooms looking more like a single bed motel suit. The Lylatian's had cheeped them at every turn they could where specific instructions had not been given, at the very least the kitchen, entrance hall, and library was elaborately decorated and to the standards supplied by the Emperor. Russ did not mind it too much however simply due to his familiarity with military accommodations though he wished the emergency bunker had not just been a basement with a metal door and plaster walls. Thankfully, the exterior defenses did include a high perimeter wall and landing pad for their drop ship to land and even came with a second underground entrance by which they could enter the embassy freely without braving the unruly mob protesting outside their front gate.
Russ sighed once again at the memory of the mob of a hundred Lylatians protesting outside the embassy gates waving banners and chanting their message. The Lylatian mob had made it obvious that their agenda was the removal of humanity from the Lylat system by variously different means. In practice, the group had sometimes radically different goals and doctrine but were united in their common aim to force Russ and the other humans out of Lylat space. Russ glanced over at the small TV hanging from the corner that displayed the Lylat 12 news channel giving a bio of the various protesting groups while a cameraman filmed the protesters chanting. Based on the news report there were a few major groups that made up the crowd that captured the media's attention.
The primary and most numerous group were the Lylat Rights Movement (LRM), they were dedicated to the arrest and removal of Russ and the other Humans from Lylat space along with forcing concessions to be paid by the ESA to the Lylat people for the loss of personnel and material and finally the seceding of some ESA technology to help bolster Lylat's Defensive military apparatus. Russ knew that these measures were unlikely to go through simply because the ESA would not pay anything in terms of reparations and would flat out refuse any up-to-date military technology being handed over to what many in the ESA still saw as an enemy military. As unlikely as the LRM's demands were they were at least more realistic than those of the Lylat Sovereignty Society (LSS).
The Lylat Sovereignty Society was made up of many hardliners and ex-military member that was by far the loudest and most obnoxious of the dissenting masses. The LSS petitioned the arrest of the Human representative group like the others but also championed the demand for the ESA and the Emperor to formally apologize for the First Contact War in addition to seceding a large portion of human space to Lylat so that both share equal territory. The LSS also demanded the ESA surrender its military assets to Lylat to bolster its military and share all technology that it possessed with Lylat. Russ believed the group to be laughable in their demands by how ridiculous they were and fully believed the group's members were made up of delusional leaders throwing a tantrum over having another power threaten their 'superiority' and people consumed by their anger and grief over the events of the First Contact War and subsequent betrayal of Andross.
The last group was known as the Free People of Lylat or FPL, they were smaller than the two previous groups and propositioned the peaceful removal of the Human representatives, The creation of a buffer zone between human and Lylat territory, and finally the lifting of the travel and trade ban between humanity and Lylat. Russ found this group to be much more levelheaded than the other two groups and they were at least wanting Russ and the others to peacefully leave Lylat, however again he doubted they would gain much traction with the ESA. Firstly, the creation of a large buffer zone would mean that the ESA would have to force outlining colonies to abandon their systems along with numerous companies to give up their holdings which Russ knew would likely never happen. Secondly, the lifting of the travel and trade ban was unlikely due to the threat of Lylat spies and saboteurs gathering intelligence and technology from human holdings.
It had been three days since Russ had taken the simulator test and the crowd of protesters hadn't abated since with its members taking their turns in shifts to keep a protesting mob outside the embassy twenty-four seven. Russ and the others had managed to keep themselves occupied in that time by renovating the embassy interior to suit their needs while also sweeping for bugs and other surveillance devices the Lylatians put in the building. Thankfully they had been supplied with local currency thanks to the ESA paying the Lylatian government solid gold bars and the group was able to purchase necessary furniture and office equipment from local vendors that sold quality items if paid well enough.
After the three days, Emmanuel had assured them that the sweep for bugs was complete and all devices had either been disposed of or sabotaged to relay false information. Emmanuel was currently away taking a trip back to ESA space in their corvette class ship to pick up more supplies from earth to further the construction project. Russ and Jacob were currently enjoying a break from their third teammate and the renovative work by eating lunch in the break room and watching Lylatian news along with the team's other member.
Speaking of their last team member Russ saw a black chitin-like tail hang down from the ceiling near his right shoulder bringing a small smirk to his face before lifting a bag of chips which the tail quickly snagged before recoiling back upward to the ceiling. Glancing upward Russ saw their fourth teammate clinging to the ceiling upside down chewing a chip from the freshly opened bag and gazing at the tv with his solid black eyes.
Their fourth teammate was called Bravo 190 and was classified as an Altered human. Most Altered Russ had met had undergone genetic therapy and surgery to alter their physical appearance to something they desired or that benefited them in some way but Bravo 190's case was different. From what Russ was able to piece together Bravo was born a pure human sometime late in the Founding War, likely originally from one of the core worlds. At some point in his early life, however, Bravo was put into a program of genetic augmentation run by a shady and highly illegal organization that decided to take the whole augmentation idea to the extreme. Bravo's DNA was likely only sixty or so percent human with the rest being a mix of various animals from different worlds all spliced together to make the former human a genetic chimera of a being whose appearance was as frightening as his combat capability. Bravo eventually managed to escape the group and was taken in by Lady Cinder as a sort of personal project of hers to help him with various personality and social disorders his treatment had created in him.
Russ was at first a little perplexed at what to make of their teammate given his quiet nature and aversion to any social interaction, but he had appreciated the man's abilities at stealth and infiltration and highly respected his membership in the Emperors elite special forces units called Black Watch. While Bravo had kept his distance at first thanks to Cinder's prodding and Russ and Jacob's lack of revulsion at his appearance the man had warmed up to them to the point that he could eat meals in their company without his guard up. Russ was happy with the good work relations between the three of them since Bravo was the one that was responsible for any duties that revolved around infiltration or smuggling, hell he even had managed to bring his ship into the Lylat system without the Lylatians being any of the wiser.
Bravo 190 as a member of Black Watch had his ship the Archangel a three hundred- and seventy-five-meter corvette class ship outfitted for stealth and infiltration missions behind enemy lines. The ship had come with an Electronic Warfare and Surveillance Suit that could send and receive long-range encrypted transmissions from ESA space while also monitoring local system communications and computer systems, Wraith class stealth plating that made the ship nearly impossible to detect via instruments unless you were practically on top of the damn thing and used hundreds of thousands of cameras to project the image of surrounding space making the entire vessel invisible to the naked eye, and twelve Guardian class defense turrets that while not having the best range could still out dakka a Lylatian cruiser. For this mission, the ship had also been retrofitted with a Titan launch bay that currently stored Jacob's Vanguard-class Titan 'Cerberus', a Specter Deployment and Maintenance bay housing twenty-five infantry class Specter attack robots if the team needed to press the panic button, and a single hanger where Russ's aircraft waited in case, they needed it. While the Lylatians believed that Emmanuel's corvette 'Daedalus' was the human ship and thoroughly watched it the Archangel was their real ace in the hole for when things went pear-shaped.
Russ was broken from his thoughts by a chime from his holopad, pulling it out he saw he had a message from Lylat Academy and opened it up to see it was his test results. "What's that about?" Jacob spoke up from across the table with a raised brow. Russ looked down and quickly read through the message with a detached candor not surprised with the results he had been given in the test and seeing the results firsthand.
"I passed obviously. Managed to score the highest in the academy, though not by much" Russ replied candidly.
Jacob now focused fully on him with interest before asking "Oh, someone managed to get close to your score?"
Russ nodded before explaining "Yes I received a combat efficiency rating of nine hundred and twelve in the test while second place received a solid nine hundred. Someone called Collen C., do not think they were in the same test I was since I would have noticed them at the time. Other than that, a few students managed to get in the high eight hundred and another breakaway group in the seven hundred areas but most of the students seemed to have averaged out in the five hundred to low six hundred range."
Jacob smirked "Looks like you have some competition then eh."
Russ shook his head "It was to be expected really, I spent all of the battle mostly herding enemies rather than racking up kills until the end. That amount of time should have let a few of the talented students rack up a lot of early kills."
Jacob scoffed before focusing back on the tv "Anyone we should keep an eye on?"
Russ looked back at the scores a few names managed to catch his attention based on their high scores "Maybe, we'll see once classes start. Do I need to even ask what your test was like?"
Jacob scoffed "Ran a few simulated drills in marksmanship, ran an obstacle course, did some war game strategy thing, and ended with some ten vs ten simulated firefights."
Russ looked over at the man in silence waiting for him to continue for a bit before sighing "And…?" he egged on wanting to know the results.
Jacob sighed in resignation "Perfect score in marksmanship, beat every record they had in the obstacle course by a landslide, wargame strategy was an easy pass but didn't pull anything flashy, and the 10 vs 10 was a joke, to begin with. Must have wiped the enemy team nearly five times by myself before the testers pulled me out and told me I passed before replacing my position with another student and continuing so they could grade the other participants."
Russ nodded "So no pulled punches from you then?" he asked.
Jacob shook his head "Nope, was instructed not to. ESA and the Militia want the Lylatians to think that a ground war would go obscenely badly and keep any potential conflict in space where our aerospace assets can run roughshod with them with our technology advantage" Jacob explained.
Russ nodded and the pair lapsed into a comfortable silence broken only by the tv's broadcast and the occasional munching of chips above them.
X Run Down Apartment, Loona's Bedroom X
Loona sat down on her bed staring at her holopad at the Aerial Combat Assessment Test results she had received an hour ago. Despite most of the test being a blur of rapidly dodging asteroids and engaging targets of opportunity, she knew she had done fairly well but the results of the test blew her expectations out of the water. "Seventh?" she asked aloud again in disbelief for what had to be the fifth time in the last hour. While Loona knew she was a fairly good pilot she usually came in around the high thirties in terms of ranking on the A-CAT, so to see her placement jump to the seventh most overall was a shocker.
Loona glanced up at the other names displayed on the test and noticed the number one position taken by the human Russel Leonard who just managed to beat out the class president and running A-CAT leader of three years Collien Collie. Loona smiled in glee knowing that the little miss perfect would likely be irritated to no end about being beaten by a human newbie even if it was only by a measly ten points. Third place had gone to Fox McCloud this year which she knew would annoy Wolf to no end but altogether not very surprising considering Fox had his whole pack usually coordinating together unlike Wolf who likes to fly solo.
Speaking of her adopted little brother he had managed to place third right behind Fox which was fitting for Fox's main rival. The fourth-place had been yet another brilliant demonstration of combat prowess from Ashley Vulama of the famed military family. Loona was happy to see the serious but talented girl return to the academy this year since rumor had it she was under pressure from her Grandfather to marry someone since the death of her previous fiancé. Loona had thought the loss of a talent like Ashley would have been a waste and respected the female wolf who made it very publicly aware she had no intention of being shackled down any time soon.
Fifth Place had gone to the arrogant but admittedly talented Falco, Fox's friend and usual wingman though the bird often tried to tell everyone that he was the greatest gift to the Academy since James McCloud. The arrogant avian was often sought after by many a female who went for the loud and proud show boater type… which meant girls with no taste at all in Loona's opinion. Deciding to think about other things Loona looked down at the sixth-place name and was genuinely surprised to see Lylat's newest royalty. The announcement that Krystal Cerinia, the heir to the throne of the Cerinia noble family would be attending their academy this year had caused quite a stir in the media who were eagerly looking forward to catching a glimpse of the royal beauty. Loona was hoping the girl wouldn't be another spoiled brat and judging by her frankly amazing score for someone who had been from a race just branching into space four years ago, she had nothing to worry about.
Loona glanced down the rest of the list and saw his friend Twila had also jumped in rank from the fifties to twenty-second in the rankings. While many people would likely wonder how the usual music-obsessed bat had accomplished this feat, Loona knew that her friend was a very good pilot but lacked the drive to push herself more in the simulators. Loona supposed that making her friend follow her and that human's lead had forced her friend to fly to the best of her abilities for once. Other than that Loona shook her head as she saw a couple of Wolf's friends like Panther had fallen to the high thirties while Fox's friends had managed to keep themselves in relatively the same low twenty to high teens range they had in previous tests.
Putting the holopad down Loona fell back onto her mattress and stared up blankly at the ceiling before grabbing a pillow and screaming frustrated into it. This sudden mood swing was not atypical of her but for the last three days, the reason for this sudden frustration had been the same thing, namely her conversation with the Human known as Russel. To be fair Loona had known that the way she had spoken to Russel would come off as bitchy but usually, her approach would make the other person either acknowledge her as someone not to be messed with or they would try and challenge her to which she was always able to come out on top. At the time she was rather grateful to the human for bringing her and Twyla along on his plan but wanted to make sure he understood that she was not some tagalong he could order around. Once he would have realized her position, she would have seemingly grudgingly thanked him and hinted that she would not be so opposed to teaming up a second time, after all, it would always be beneficial for her to have an ally as skilled as Russel was even if he was human.
However, her plan had blown up spectacularly in her face when the human took her words at face value and then promptly dismissed her as a non-entity, practically nuking any chance for her to make him consider her an ally. Loona had been thinking about the encounter and why it had gone the way it did for the last three days before realizing a possible oversight in her plan. Loona's whole strategy revolved around the normally deeply ingrained social standing and customs of Lylat where people acknowledge the other with a pack mentality that was a carryover from their old ancestors. Even thousands of years later people had not stopped subconsciously categorizing people as either a packmate or rival and as either lower or higher in the pack hierarchy than they were. This was done through a lot of very subtle body, vocal, and pheromone cues in the past and in the modern-day also included things like financial wealth, social standing, and societal influence.
Loona knew that her social standing was abysmal as a Macbeth refugee and with her peculiar eyes, a fact that was only impounded by her lack of wealth or any societal influence to speak of. Loona had instead learned to craft her other physical attributes to fashion an aura of aggression and independence that helped her rise to the top of her neighborhood's gang and solidified others' view of her position over them despite her social shortcomings. However, this had utterly failed in her encounter with Russel who likely wouldn't pick up on the physical cues a Lylatian would or would not know their significance. Russel may not even be aware of the social customs like pack mentality and hierarchy to even consider himself a part of them which unfortunately for him he very much was.
Despite the human's recent arrival to the Lylat system, the simple truth was that all Lylatians had been using this system since time immortal and so Russel and Jacob had to fit somewhere in the social hierarchy thanks to their deeply ingrained instincts. Loona knew this to be true from simply scrolling through news feeds and Snoutbook pages. Lylatians everywhere were trying to put the humans somewhere in the social hierarchy with what little information they knew of them. Given they did not come out and say that was what was happening but Loona and the more social engineering aware could see it in how the various individuals were treated with some demanding things from them if they viewed them as lower in the hierarchy or concerned if they viewed them as higher. Loona honestly thought it was impressive how widely varied many people's opinions were regarding this but the one thing Loona saw was that pretty much all Lylat considered them as hostile, understandably given humanities history with Lylat.
Loona shook her head and huffed disdainfully "Dumb-asses" while Loona was not the most politically savvy canine she did know that if Lylat could not beat humanity while unified they would not beat them with some of their worlds attacking their own populace like Macbeth. All this talk of reigniting war with the ESA was lunacy made up by people who did not fully understand what war was like and who were still under the mentality of those too used to having their superiority unchallenged.
Loona thankfully had a cooler head than most people thanks to her history and despite the blunder, she had made of her first meeting with a human she was determined to try again. The human was frankly too good a potentially useful ally to ignore, especially for someone like her who eventually wanted to be a freelance merchant. The potential of leveraging her friendship with the human representative to get access to human space across the DMZ would guarantee her a fortune.
So, with a new resolve, Loona decided that as soon as she had the opportunity she would approach the human again and attempt to salvage a potential friendship, after all her future was on the line.
X Lylat Academy, Student Council Room X
The student council room at Corneria Academy was as famous as it was infamous. The room was renowned for being an important office of some of the most politically motivated students in Corneria, many of which would likely become influential figures in Lylat that would shape the future of the whole system. All who held a position in this group were idolized by all and heaped with the expectations of many people both in and outside the academy. So it was that those individuals summoned to the room who did not hold office were often filled with trepidation either going to be praised and rewarded for something by the individuals who called this room their own or potentially reprimanded by those very people. Suffice to say either option had significant repercussions simply via the influence the people addressing will one day carry. If one had been reprimanded then their future may be in jeopardy as they would be seen in a negative light by very influential people. On the same paw however if one was there to be praised or rewarded for the accomplishment it would mean being in the good graces of some politically, militarily, and financially important individuals meaning if someone was smart they could position themselves in a very lucrative position or job. Both outcomes had been played out for decades in this very room and would likely continue for many more.
The room itself had white floors with a lush green rug that gave the impression of grass that served as a background to the image of the Corneria academy which dominated the center of the room. The far wall was host to a large wall that looked down from its fourth story perch to showcase almost the entirety of the academy grounds and beyond that Corneria city and the hills beyond as if to provide the occupants of the room a view of their future kingdom. As far as furnishing the room was dominated by the student president's desk neat the far wall flanked by the flags of Corneria and the Lylat System on either side. The desk was made of dark wood and gave the impression of imposing superiority by its design and the weight of authority the individual that sat behind it carried. On both sides of the room were two long tables with five chairs each that played host to the various other officers of the student council and were arranged in such as way as to give the impression that they could look at all of their fellow officers without turning their head but a few degrees except the president. The walls were decorated heavily with pictures of famous Lylat Academy Alumni and various places from throughout the Lylat system.
Currently, the room itself was host to a nearly full meeting of the Student Council. Gazing out at the grounds of the school like a regal queen looking over her lands stood what would many describe as the personification of canine beauty.
She stood silhouetted against the evening Corneria sky highlighting her slim hourglass figure which managed to be a perfect blend of toned and curvy that was only seen primarily in the supermodel catalog and even then rarely. Her D-cup breasts and firm posterior was only highlighted with the Lylat academy girls uniform she wore but kept her modesty enough for others to fantasize about what lay beneath. Her caramel brown fur seemed to reflect and catch the amber hues of the sunset showing it to be clean with a hint of gloss. Her face was framed by a patch of cream-colored fur that ran down her front and dominated the ends of her paws and lower legs. The cream color only managed to highlight her sky-blue eyes and sharp brown brows, along with her black nose. Her luscious brown hair traveled backward to her lower back before ending in cream-colored highlights that matched the fur on her front perfectly. Many would call this breath halting image as a perfect beauty personified, but this was someone more. This was Colleen Collie, Student President of Lylat Academy, Valedictorian of the next graduating class from the said academy, daughter of former Cornerian President Jacob Collie, and current record holder for the Ariel Combat Assessment Test.
Well, former record holder before a certain human had beaten her best score this year by a meager ten points. Sitting around the room were the other members of the student council who all looked forward to her waiting for her reaction to the news that had just been handed down to them by Principal Halsey. Colleen sighed "Well, I admit I'm a bit disappointed my score was beaten, however, I admit that performance and strategy this Russel employed were truly inspired, so I can't be too disheartened" Colleen mused as her eyes gazed once more across the Corneria City skyline almost wistfully.
"Don't say that Colleen, it's obvious this human somehow got the data for the test beforehand" replied the giggling voice of her Student Body Reporter that many of the students found cute or cheerful but Colleen simply found grating especially so with the notes of conceited belief and disdain it held. Colleen's eyes sharpened as she turned her head and zeroed in on the speaker in question who was sitting in the middle of the right side table.
"Oh… you have proof of Russel's wrongdoing Monique? Or is this another incident of a 'miscommunication'?" Colleen asked with a dangerous growl that reverberated across the room causing the person in question to freeze up.
Monique Parrot was a female parrot with colorful rainbow plumage that sparkled with seeming radiance that Colleen knew was just a result of a subtle amount of glitter. The attractive girl with g-cup breasts highlighted by her Lylat Academy blouse under her jacket having a subtle cut allowing for more cleavage to show. She had a few feathers sticking out around her head that were arranged in such a way as to seem like she had windswept hair. Her light pink eyes usually portrayed an innocence and warmth that did an exceedingly good job at hiding the conceited and vindictive mind behind them. Monique was the daughter of a famous news reporter from Zoness who gained massive popularity for her anti-ESA rhetoric and thus had accumulated substantial wealth because of it. Well, that and maybe the alleged cases of blackmail that never seemed to last long before the plaintiff backed out for unspecified reasons. Colleen did not like it but Monique's connections and good grades along with her familiarity with PR strategy assured her place in the student council despite Colleen's opposition.
"My, my, is our illustrious so-called 'perfect' president doubting her fellow council members?" Speaking of connections, Colleen's gaze swept over the room as she fully turned around to regard the owner of the haughty voice of the biggest pain in her tail for the last three years. Said induvial sat in the second furthest seat from her on the left side table where she ideally brushed her golden hair back almost absentmindedly. The female in question was Gwen Gold, a female golden retriever that took the stereotypical uppity high school cheerleader and brought it to the academy by mixing it with abundant wealth, a manipulative and vindictive mind, and willingness to teardown everyone who got in her way or annoyed her. It also didn't help that she, like the stereotype, was a blond beauty that many males would sell their souls for, which is exactly what she wanted.
Gwen Goldie had a figure that nearly matched Colleen's own but with less muscle tone but a slimmer stomach and hazel eyes with flecks of purple that could masterfully keep one mesmerized and thus ignorant of the sinister nature of its owner as she used her words to make you do whatever she wanted. Her most prominent feature was her long golden hair that was very well styled and cascaded down just above her butt. The next most prominent feature were e-cup breasts that nearly wanted to break out of the uniform she wore. These features combined with her long legs, cute clothing that drew boys and girls in like moths to a flame, her flirtatious tone, and her manipulative but sharp mind had been the downfall of many good students of the academy over the last three years. Colleen had seen the results firsthand, a random nonviolent student suddenly attacks someone who annoyed or slighted Gwen recently, or another friendly girl suddenly ostracized by her friends or boyfriend when Gwen got jealous or bored. Now given Colleen had no concrete proof that Gwen did this other than a few comments from students that had seen the canine talking to people involved in private. However, all those involved insisted she had never said or done anything to them other than friendly greetings, so under the retriever's thumb were they and most of the student body.
Gwen's father owned a major manufacturing facility that made the Cornerian's B-3 Bulldog main battle tank along with a slew of other parts from rifle stocks to binocular lenses. This made her family easily one of the ten most rich families on Corneria, combined with the girl's manipulative tendencies meant she had landed the role as Student Council Chairperson after the previous one suddenly quit and named her his replacement. The girl had wasted no time in appointing her friend and lackey Monique to the Student Council followed by a few other influential people. A few of which Colleen was tankful weren't wrapped around the girl's finger and wouldn't try to oust her from office like the 'golden girl' despite the bitch's continued attempts.
"Than pray tell Chairwoman, what evidence does she have for her accusations?" Colleen challenged whilst giving the girl a cold glare. The retriever just scoffed but remained silent as she ignored Colleen's question.
"W-well, I don't have any prof per-say. But come on he had to have been cheating somehow to get that kind of high score on his first try!" Monique attempted to argue her point, not fairing as well as her leader under the stare of Colleen who had shifted her glare back to her.
"The school charter and law clearly states innocent until proven guilty, Parrot. The human falls under those same protections regardless of his species and your lack of any evidence to justify your claims leaves your case as hollow as your morals" another voice growled in irritation from just left of the president's desk.
The speaker was Ashley Vulama, a black-furred wolf that was as beautiful as she was intimidating which considering her family history of military service was substantial, her dark blue eyes, and gleaming white snarl was VERY. Ashley's entire body is covered in black fur that brought attention to her dark blue eyes that seemed to have a luminescent glow. She had an hourglass figure and d-cup breasts that were covered conservatively by the button-up shirt and jacket combo that was the standard Lylat Academy girls' uniform without any modifications, something which was a rarity amongst the female populace of the academy. The girl's skirt however despite being the same standard uniform as Colleen's own left her long toned legs exposed mush to the enjoyment of all who viewed her, before they ended in a pair of black steel-pawed combat boots. Ashley would almost be considered a tomboy if her figure and natural beauty hadn't been glaringly obvious even to the blind.
Ashley had been a member of the student council for the last three years with Colleen and was one of her most staunch allies in opposing Gwen's machinations. Outside of that though the two were nearly the exact opposite of each other with Colleen being the flawless beauty with the perfect grades, bearing, winning smile, and intellect while Ashley had the raw instinctual skill, fierce beauty, abrasive personality, and dangerous aura that gave her the unofficial role as disciplinarian of the council. The two never really considered the other friends but both would acknowledge the other as an ally in the fight against the as Ashley put it 'Gold Menace'.
Colleen nodded at her Vice-President's words "Exactly, now unless you have actual proof of cheating occurring you will drop this nonsense." Colleen waited and after not hearing Monique say anything but a huff of indignation but acceptance, she continued by turning to the person sitting across from Ashley. "Ara, is there anything else left on today's agenda?"
The girl she addressed was Ara Red, a female red panda, with crimson red fur along her back and upper face and white around her snout and down along her chest and underside of her tail. Separating the red and white fur was a black border area, that matched her eye shadow, the black streak that went down her back to the tip of her long tail, the ends of her paws along with her hands, and her long straight hair that fell to the small of her back except for a few bangs that framed her face and a third that almost hid her nose. Her bright blue eyes portrayed an earnestly that reflected her hardworking and helpful personality. Colleen felt a little bad for the girl being put into a room full of Alpha personalities that were constantly pushing and pulling against each other, but she had been recruited as the council's secretary as one of the terms for accepting her friend Ayn as the classes' historian. Despite the atmosphere, Ara had shown he was highly organized and did not seem to let the pressure of the other council members get to her. Her straightforward and helpful nature was honestly a godsend to Colleen who doubted she would be able to get anything done if Ara weren't as proficient at her job as she was.
Ara stood up and looked over some of her notes with a small smile before looking up and replying, "Negative that's it, Colleen."
Colleen nodded before looking around at the other members "Anything else last minute from any of you?" she asked hoping against hope they would stay silent so she could go home and destress.
"Yeah, what are we going to do about the Human" one of the only two males in the room suddenly asked from the farthest back chair on the right. His name was Leo Pride, a male lion from Katina and son of the current standing president Nathan Pride. He was a standing member of the student council and star player of the Lylat Academies Charge Ball team. He was also unfortunately one of the members that Gwen recruited that sided with her on almost every issue. The two were like peas in a pod with Leo's sandy blond hair looked windswept and as majestic as his father's, or so he insisted. His shirt was button-up shirt was undone at the top showing his upper chest while his tie was loosened and blazer hanging on his side in a way he likely thought looked roguish but came off as sloppy and unkempt. Colleen thought it looked like he walked into a wind tunnel or didn't figure out how to work a fur dryer. Either way, he had a sturdy and powerful build like all male lions and sharp amber eyes that portrayed his cocky arrogance that drove Colleen up a wall but seemed to make girls swoon at least before the female student body wizened up to his womanizing ways and his utter thrashing at the hands of Wolf McDonald when he tried to make a move on his sister figure Loona. Colleen almost hated the idea of likening anything to do with the rough hoodlum Wolf but even she had to give him props for managing to both embarrass Leo in the school cafeteria by hanging him by his tail from a light fixture and simultaneously demonstrating to the whole student body that the lion's boasts were all talk and extraordinarily little bite.
"Geeze, could you put a rest in it Pride, you've been whining about this for the last two weeks" replied the other male voice in the room with a groan. The next male was a bulky black bear named Justin Cole son of General Sloan and captain of the academy's Combat Sim team. He was a tall boy standing at seven feet tall and a mix of bulk and muscle that would scare off most people including girls which combined with his grey eyes, and no-nonsense personality gave him the vibe of someone ready for the military two years ago. He heavily took after his father and was one of the few individuals Colleen managed to recruit into the student council that Gwen was not able to reject considering his family connections nearly matched her own in terms of prominence. He was her closest confidant on the student council and though he tried to keep his distance between herself and Gwen's power struggle he often came in and stopped any argument that got out of hand before it became a dogfight.
"I agree we already heard your conspiracy theories Leo so save them for another time" the voice of Fara Phoenix spoke up where she sat next to Ashley. Fara was a beautiful female fennec fox that was that perfect blend of cuteness and sexiness that gave her that girl next door vibe. Though her green eyes, smart intellect, and inquisitive persona also added to people's attraction along with her status as heir to the Phoenix Arms research and development company who despite falling substantially in grace financially had managed to rebound slightly with the creation of Lylat's first tracking missile system for fighter craft, and something intended as an attempt to even the playing field against the ESA's strike craft's missiles. Fara had been a member of the council for two years now as their treasurer and was also one of the few voices of reason against Gwen's agenda, the two sharing a hatred for each other that was not nearly as intense as Colleen and Gwen's own but no less vicious.
"Ma, ma, can't we drop it for the day? It's getting late and I want to get home" a lazy voice spoke up from next to Ara. The voice was the council's laid-back historian Ayn Kevlar, a female coyote from Papetoon with bold crimson red hair that fell to her shoulders and flared out behind her held back by an ornate gold headband. Her blue eyes that were half closed in detachment held a sort of teasing mirth that told Colleen she found the repetitive and ridiculous ideas of Leo's both a waste of time if a little funny in their stupidity. Ayn had dark brown fur along the back and shoulders as well as down her tail, which contrasted well with her tan colored fur that went up her legs and sides before lightening up to a cream-colored fur along her chest and stomach area and at the ends of her arms and legs before ending suddenly with dark fur one her fingers and paws. She stood at a tall six foot and one inch while carrying on the theme of females present with a seductive hourglass figure and perky f-cup breasts. Concealed by the uniform she had on. She was widely considered by many to be the most hands-down sexiest member of the student body and maybe even Lylat at large. With her thin waist, toned long legs, perky breasts, liquid blue eyes, vibrant red hair, and seductive and laidback personality it was no wonder almost the entire male population and many of the females considered her the avatar of sexiness. Though that also was likely a result of her family's history of selective breeding, amazing genes, and maybe even a bit of divine intervention if Papetoon's religious sect was correct in naming her a prophet and avatar of their love goddess was correct. She was another member recruited by Gwen but stayed firmly away from Colleen and Gwen's power struggle content to watch them bicker with amusement. Out of everyone currently in the room she was the one with the most family connections being essentially royalty and second in line for the throne of Papetoon, along with the nonsense of being a religious figure to people of Papetoon and the Cornerian male populace but for not nearly as pious reasons. The girl seemed to amuse herself with the antics she could invoke in others at least when she was not trying her darndest to appear half-asleep to avoid work. She was barely passing several of her classes while mysteriously doing very well in others that were taught by the few remaining male teachers. While Colleen did not believe and severely hoped the girl was not sleeping with her teachers, she also wouldn't be surprised if the girl was flirting with them a bit to give her extra credit. Though how to prove it was a matter that Colleen left alone since she honestly did not mind the laid-back coyote.
"Ayn's right Leo, you're lucky the two new girls aren't here right now for political business, or they would be tearing your 'theories' apart for the next hour and a half… again," Fara said with a vindictive smirk having struck up a quick friendship with the two latest additions to their group after that little stunt.
Colleen shook her head before signing "Enough, it's getting late and I do agree with Ayn this time about wanting to get home. We will next convene on the first day of school and I expect all of you to be good examples for our fellow graduates and our younger years. It will also be the first day for our two newest members. Fara, can I trust you to show them around?" Colleen asked the fennec fox who had made the quickest friends with them.
Fara smiled "You bet President! it would be my pleasure."
Colleen smiled "Good" her smile dropped before leaning forward slightly with a pointed stare "Also Fara, whatever happens, do your best to keep those two and their friend away from the humans. Got it?" she asked pointedly Fara shakily nodded not used to the absolute firm stance Colleen had given her order. Colleen sighed again "Excellent" before staring out at the darkening skyline. "The last thing we need is the humans and Cerinian's meeting once again."
Aaaannnndddd Done! Woah boy, sorry for the wait but here is a whopping chapter with a lot of world-building and character introductions. I wanted to show that while the ESA and humanity have a huge technological edge and wealth of experience the Lylatians are not stupid and have brilliant minds and thinkers too. I also dropped quite a bit of info on how Lylat society and social hierarchy works and differ from what Russ and the humans are used to. Also, yeah Russ is getting roped into having a bi-weekly homestay to better integrate him into Cornerian society. Who believes that bs explanation because he certainly doesn't?