"Is this planet smoggy or what?" said Krystal, face pressed against the main view port, trying to look past her reflection in the thick, cool glass, "I wonder how they even breath down there."
Falco glanced up from a control port across the deck. "It is one of the most industrialized planets in the galaxy." Inputting some information into the port he then scanned it onto a screen suspended from the ceiling.
"Yeah, most of the parts for the Great Fox came from here. High quality stuff," Slippy added, fine tuning some machinery on the card table. A few sparks leapt up into his face and he muttered under his breath, "Dangit!"
Peppy stirred in his age-induced sleep.
"Of course it's also a gathering place for some of the lowliest insects in the universe…" Fox said. He leaned into the back of his swivel chair and spun around. "BAH! Why did we have to rendezvous with your…friend…here of all places? If he knew there was such a huge bounty on 'im-"
"It's appropriate. And besides, it's better to hide in plain sight, right? He didn't want to attract attention to our meeting. Stuff like this happens twenty-four seven on Nusella, it all kinda blurs together." Falco gave a triumphant cry and punched a button on the control panel. "There!"
A satellite image popped up on all of the data screens. Fox stopped spinning and sat forward, chin on furry fist. "And what are we looking at exactly..?"
Falco grunted. "Ur-Jax. It's a big, fat collection of rocky formations northeast of the main city, one heck of a maze. UGH! It's really going to be a pain there; you can get easily turned around…"
Krystal turned away from the brown and violet-hued vista of Nusella's passing stratosphere, "So you've been there before?"
"Yep," Falco nodded. "A few operations of our own went down there, that's why he chose it this time."
Fox interrupted Krystal before she could inquire further. "What do you think happened to Jacabo, Falco? Any idea as to who could be on his tail?"
Falco sighed, a sound he rarely made, and leaned against the port. "I don't know. He was in a bit of a rush though, if that says anything, and not much puts him out like that, so-"
"We're entering the upper troposphere, stop with the talk! Am I the only one paying attention?" Peppy, wide awake, was working with the controls at a console on the upper deck, bringing up the normal statistics, "Dag-nabbit! Where's ROB? This is his job, you know…SLIPPY!"
Slippy jumped in surprise, scattering supplies like beads on a broken necklace, "What! What is it?"
Peppy placed both paws on the polished railing and leaned towards the disoriented frog. "You're supposed to be looking for ROB! Find out what's wrong!" Slippy leapt to his feet, scattering more parts, then scuttled off to the lift. "And FOX!"
Fox Mcloud jumped out of his chair and to the floor with a clang, "SIR!"
"You're supposed to be the one giving orders around here!"
"SIR YES SIR!"
The Great Fox slowly descended through the clouds and haze of Nusella to her scarred surface like a giant metal bumble-bee, heralding the destruction of the planet. Naturally, the Team didn't have this in mind, not at the moment anyway. All they sought was solid earth and a place to stretch their limbs. Finding Falco's nervous little friend took the back burner position.
Red dust kicked up as the ship set down in a bowl just big enough for it to set-down in. In every direction stretching as far as the eye could see were towering formations of red and purple rock of various hue, shaped by wind and time and the hand of God. It was an awesome sight accentuated by the eerie howling of the wind through crevasses and hollows. Nusella's star continued its steady descent, slowly deepening the coming purple gloom.
Fox ran down the landing ramp and leapt onto the ground, like a child recently told they were pardoned for raiding the cookie jar, falling on his knees and kissing the red dirt.
Krystal came next, unsteadily walking to Fox's side and giving him a look. "Freak." Falco also sprinted down and started making sand angels. "Sweet, sweet GROUND!"
"Freaks."
"I'm going to stay with Peppy and watch the ship, alright?" shouted Slippy from the top of the boarding ramp.
Falco answered from the ground, "Sure sure, you're a pain on ground missions anyhow." He stood up and dusted the fine powder of red from his leathers and feathers. Fox did the same, rubbing the dirt off his muzzle and realizing the wisdom in Krystal's words. "And be sure to look for ROB!"
Krystal stretched and noisily cracked her neck and back, "Can we get going? I want to get this over with."
Fox nodded his shaggy head, "Yeah yeah…I'm just happy to be down here. Lead the way, Falco." Falco nodded and, blaster in hand, led the way down a narrow, color banded passage.
"Hey," Fox said, turning to Krystal, "I thought you were anxious to be out in open air."
"Well, I am, but I want as little to do with Falco's shady friend as possible…"
Fox nodded again, slightly, in understanding. That last thing that needed to happen to the Star Fox Mercenary Unit was for it to get caught up in affairs of a criminal nature.
Samus looked up into the sky, partially hidden in the shadows of a dilapidated building. Even through her green-tinted visor she could tell that the firmament was orange, yellow, and a pale violet, like a gauzy baby's blanket comforting a scaly beast. The view would have been better from the top of the rotting edifice at her back, but hovering patrols made jumping from roof to roof dangerous, even if it made observation, movement, and tracking easier. She may be considered a bounty hunter, but she wasn't of the unscrupulous kind, and Nusella wasn't welcoming to her sort. There was a particular gang of "pirates" she was sure would dance with joy if she were destroyed. She could probably find a small cell of theirs here if she looked hard enough. Grinning under her helmet, Samus rethought her "blanket" analogy. It was obvious that this planet was no playground. The wisps of smoke wafting from a ruined cantina a few blocks away attested to the fact.
Across the street a young man dressed in server's garb urgently spoke into a telecommunicator. He…(or could "he" be an "it"?)…shone with a sheen of nervous sweat, his eyes darting around like that of an unwilling gladiator thrown into the lion's pit. A third hand held the edge of the console in a white-knuckled grip.
The lioness in question smiled slightly. He hadn't been an easy find. The waiter's getup had fooled her, embarrassingly enough, but after the explosion he had caught her eye. Not to mention the nervousness helped pull everything together.
Her target stood right in front of her.
She had originally decided to attack straight away, but now that he had made this call, she decided to follow him instead.
"…sorry…trouble…different…usual…" The last words Samus missed.
It seemed her bounty was involved in something interesting. Something a small agency in the Galactic Federation, hadn't told her about.
She had encountered a lot of things on this mission that they hadn't told her about, which made her doubt their intentions. Things like the fact that the alien she was hunting could retract his third arm and subtly shape-shift. Information detailing his purpose for being on Nusella.
She had stumbled onto something here, something that made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck, but she didn't know why or what it was. Now she had to follow him, and find what was at the end of string. Perhaps he was connected to a crime ring of valuable, dangerous outlaws…or maybe something more sinister.
Or maybe he was ordering take-out.
Either way, she wanted to find out. When faced with the situation as a whole, her nose curled.
Although it seemed her present position was a stroke of luck. "Thank you, Captain Falcon…" Samus said under her breath. It seemed his bad tact had helped things turn out for the better. Her bounty switched off the comm and leaned on the console.
The creature across the street abruptly looked in Samus's direction, directly at her face and locking eyes. Her breath stopped. She couldn't even move. His face was so human, the dark, glazed eyes filled with terror and pain other emotions that she couldn't even begin to interpret. Then its gaze slowly shifted to the left and continued so, wandering. He hadn't seen her.
Samus willed her lungs to do their work again, a pang of pity nearly shattering her resolve.
She shook her head and stepped back further into the shadows. This was her bounty, she had claimed it as her maze, and she would get it. The Galactic Federation had said she was hunting a hardened criminal, a perpetrator whose crimes reached out across eight systems, so terrible that he must be stopped before he caused any more problems. However, now that he stood across the street from her, she found that he couldn't be any older than eighteen or twenty, and he looked afraid. Remorseful even. How could a boy like this conduct such high scale crimes? Especially when his eyes betrayed so much fear? She relaxed her clenched jaw, wondering if the bounty was even worth collecting. What had she heard once? …Gold, worse poison to men's souls…
Why hadn't the Federation given her more details? Why weren't they out here themselves?
A soft beeping snapped her back into reality as she realized that the young man was making another call. His eyes narrowed as he spoke and his grip on the console became tighter, prompting Samus to wonder whether either the hand or the console would snap under the strain.
"…me…them…be there…Ur-Jax…yes…yes…very funny…out." Ur-Jax. She had never heard of the place before. Another bar? Or the back room of a shady store? What was happening now?
Once again the console was switched off.
She watched, shocked and confused, as the man slumped onto his knees and began to weep, curling up into a ball. Odd looking passer-bys didn't bat an eye, they'd seen misery enough on the streets before, and it to no longer moved them. A few minutes later he wiped his nose messily onto his coat sleeve and began making his way up the street.
Appearances…what was the true nature of her quarry? A hardened criminal or an unfortunate boy?
Samus followed, intrigued, smoothly keeping to the shadows and moving along with a swift flash of metal and whir of hushed servomotors.
Did curiosity really kill the cat?
A second shadow kept close behind.
...To be continued...
Next... Ch. 4: Ur-Jax
A/N: How many old wives' sayings and allusions can one safely cram into the last few paragraphs of a chapter! YOU BE THE JUDGE.