AN: Thank you all for the continued interest in the story. As always, feel free to comment, review and pm me if there's anything you'd like to see in later chapters.
A New Enemy
0710 Hours, Early Fall 9th, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, Outskirts
Logan flipped the eggs in the pan, watching the sizzle of butter cook the yolk. He cracked some pepper over the mix and eased a spatula underneath to flip it neatly for a few seconds before easing the omelet out of the pan onto another waiting plate. Beside him, Kyle Lynx was humming along as he fried some of those not-bacon meat strips he'd seen before, a food Jones later learned was from one of the non-sentient cattle in Lylat.
It was a quiet morning, and if Miyu chose to share what happened at the McCloud's residence he didn't know. The explosive ordinance disposal team with the police handled the car bomb, and the teenagers left early so forensics could work in peace.
It was a sobering reminder that conflict among their different galaxies was still very much universal. Insurrectionists had often favored hidden explosives, and if the bad guys in Lylat were anything to go by their Milky Way equivalent, then targeting a war hero and his family would be expected.
'No,' Logan mused to himself, 'Not bad guys...innies thought they were in the right too...'
It was no great secret that before the Human Covenant war, rebels wanted independence from the UNSC, and many in the inner colonies never saw the point in keeping them if it meant so many terrorist attacks. The awkward details of supplying a galaxy with food and raw materials, however, escaped most of the populace that didn't bother to think about why the UNSC had to crack down. In a way, perhaps the Venomians with this Andross character were fighting for their own reasons.
Logan placed the omelets on the table and arranged the cutlery while Kyle finished up.
Regardless of what the enemy's rationale might have been, they were targeting those close to him, and now they'd have to brush aside all feelings of sympathy and defend their homes. That was the sorry nature of war.
"You alright kit?"
The human looked up to see Miyu's father looking at him with concern, and so he wiped away the serious look on his brow and smiled thinly.
"Just thinking about the McClouds, wonder how they're taking it."
"Hmm..." The older feline's face hardened, "I heard about that. Going to be tough for them, but James is a wily one. They should be alright."
He pat the human teen on his shoulder reassuringly, "Don't worry about these things too much, just be a good friend to Fox and that'll do him a lot of good."
Logan nodded, and moved to pour some milk as Kyle called down the rest of the family. If there was one thing cats loved, it was their milk to drink. Some things never change.
As fetching as Miss Cunningham's tail end was, Logan's mind drifted to the attempted car bomb at the McCloud household.
James looked every bit the capable veteran, but the human teenager caught the shaken look in the older vulpine's eyes. He'd seen marines go through the same when things went FUBAR unexpectedly. Knowing you're going up against long odds was one thing, but having your family at risk would shake just about anybody.
Fox wasn't taking it so well either.
The normally collected young leader of their impromptu group was more intense than usual, and the casual banter with Lombardi was absent during class.
In a selfish moment of jealousy, he felt desertion that the Cornerian was so moody when he still had his family intact. See him walk out of a glassing with only memories and how would he like some real tragedy then?
The teenager shook his head and banished the thought, the Lylatians had nothing to do with his losses, no point in being angry about it.
As the bell rang, he fell into step next to Fay, who had been silent for an unusual amount of time.
"What's wrong?" Logan prompted the white canine.
She looked at him guiltily, fluffy ears limp. While Fay was a cheerful soul, the welfare of her friends was very important to her, and the current circumstances were a bit more serious than interpersonal drama like Fox and Fara's spat.
"I guess you know, looks like it's on your mind too Lo," Spaniel mumbled quietly.
"They're still alive, that's what matters."
"But they would have been dead if you didn't look. Fox's whole family could be in the ground now and it's only because you were around and have that weird habit that they're still here!" There was a tinge of hysteria in the girl's tone.
Logan stopped where they were in the hall and put his hands firmly on her shoulders. The white canine stared at him with wide eyes.
"They're still with us." He said solemnly, "We're going to face this threat together, do your best and have faith in your friends. Whatever happens, happens."
Fay looked down and nodded, comforted somewhat by the reassuring gesture. At a cough from a passing dog, the pair separated from their suggestively intimate pose.
"I'll see you at the range later, alright?" Logan waved, and a smile crossed the collie's muzzle at last.
"You bet!"
The basic fundamentals of marksmanship were more important than any gear ever could be. A soldier's ability to effectively engage the enemy at a distance stemmed almost entirely from the simple basics that any farmboy could hone with a rodent rifle.
When taking exponentially longer ranges into account, such as those at the business end of an S2 sniper rifle, even the smallest deviations would magnify where the round landed. A missed shot at over a thousand yards because of improper breathing or a minute flinch were inexcusable when the stakes were high.
Currently, Logan was stretched out on a mat staring through a spotting scope as Lombardi tried his wing at the UNSC's version of long range small arm.
A deafening crack echoed in the school's range, and a vapor trail lanced out to the holographic targets set up 600 meters distant. While not the usual capability of the S2 AM rifle, Logan didn't really expect Falco to be matching UNSC sharpshooters just yet, and even he had difficulty at the 1000m mark even in benchrest with his brother coaching him. It took a lot of practice to hone that skill.
"Dang, this thing's got a heck of a punch."
The avian's grimace betrayed the harsh recoil of the anti-materiel rifle. Originally designed to punch through even vehicles, the high caliber weapon had been employed to excellent effect against shielded targets like Elites.
"You should see the other guy," Logan replied drolly while looking at a figure target marked by the round. He doubted there would be much of a torso left after 14mm Sabot went through it.
"I'm still drifting though man, didn't have this problem with lasers..."
The human frowned through the scope as he considered Falco's complaint, remembering he wouldn't be as familiar with bullet drop.
Kinetic rounds are effected by aerodynamics and gravity, don't forget.
"Yeah yeah, just compensate for it, right?"
"Doing it by instinct won't be nearly enough, while your lasers are line of sight, they deteriorate in effective strength at certain distances. Think of ballistics the same way, but sloping downwards as the bullet loses it's inertia. Humidity, wind and air density all change how the round is affected by drag, and you dial the windage and elevation knobs on your optic to compensate and pinpoint where the bullet will land with your crosshairs. Long term you'd be using a data book tailored to your weapon and ammo and/or a ballistic computer with a weather gauge for wind and humidity."
"Gives me a head ache just thinking about that mess."
"That's long range marksmanship for you, half math half surgical muscle memory."
The blue avian ran a hand through his headfeathers, "Ya think it'd be easier to point and click."
Logan looked at the expression on Falco's face that reminded him of Fay, and he shut off the holo targets in their lane and collapsed the tripod on his spotting scope.
"What's on your mind?"
"That obvious, huh?"
"Fay was in the dumps earlier too."
"Yeesh..."
The human stayed silent as he gave the feathered Cornerian time to think. A moment later, Falco looked at him with a scowl marring his beak.
"It aint right. Those Venom lowlifes almost took out my best friend and his family and nobody's doing anything. Don't it seem weird that someone cozy with Venom could get all the way here and hide a bomb on the McCloud's ride?"
Logan arched an eyebrow, "What are you saying Lombardi?"
He leaned in closer and muttered only loud enough for the two of them to hear, "I'm sayin somebody who knows Fox's old man must have put that bomb there."
Logan didn't way anything right away, but looked across the range to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped.
"Look, I'm new here and don't know how things run in Lylat, but what makes you so sure it's someone who knows James? Why couldn't some Venomian have followed him and done it?"
Lombardi's blue wing finger stabbed towards the mat as he growled out his explanation, "There's neighborhood security that has the streets on cam, no signs and no tampering. Only way some guy coulda put a bomb there is if they could have done it in the garage after they came over."
"Wait, you mean like a friend? Wouldn't James know?"
"He still thinks it was slipped on somewhere else and just hadn't gone off yet, but maybe he doesn't want to know who really did it?"
"Why the hell not?"
In a moment of startling clarity, Lombardi hardly looked like the brash street thug he seemed, a knowing glint in his sharp eyes.
"Cause if it's someone Fox's old man knows personally, maybe he doesn't want to consider they'd double cross him. Coulda been a buddy from the air force, or who knows. Cash makes some guys do stupid things..."
He turned to the human teen with a fire in his eyes.
"So lets find the wiseguy dumb enough to go after one of ours."
One of ours.
Logan nodded, and the pair of them started to pack up before the end of weapons class.
"Oh, and buddy?"
"Yeah?"
"Just between you, me, and who I got to help us out, alright? Fox don't need to know, he wouldn't want us risking our necks on his account. Guy's funny that way."
"You got it."
Their clandestine investigation started after school. Logan waved off Miyu saying he was going to hang back with Falco for the day, and the two of them hung back in the parking lot where Lombardi's hoverbike was parked. Jones was still longingly starstruck by the advanced motorcycles. They could be adjusted for hover and traction, so rather than a floaty coast across the ground would hug the streets and turn on a dime. He forced himself not to think about the spill you'd take at the higher sensitivities where only a few millimeters kept the bottom from carving the pavement.
"Hey guys!"
With a start, Logan watched as Falco waved over none other than Fay Spaniel, who'd been moping earlier that day.
"You're the third in our little hunt?" Jones asked haltingly.
"What's the matter? Y'think girls can't hack it on the tech side?" The collie asked playfully with a hand on her hip.
"I would have pegged Slippy for the tech support on this one..."
"But Slip can't keep his mouth shut," Falco groused as he started his engine.
'Flies' mouthed Fay, making Logan snort with a suppressed laugh.
The human rode shotgun on the back of Falco's bike, while Fay took her own scooter with a bright pink color scheme. Winding through the downtown of Corneria City, Logan took in the sites of the alien culture that was populated by the unusual sight of almost-human animal people. Hair stylists that advertised claw trimmings flashed by, restaurants that featured a few cultural dishes similar to human's were seen, a red vixen cop with a mane of blue hair and impressive bust stalked a sidewalk, and when both human and bird noticed the other staring they shared a chuckle.
They arrived at Falco's pad. He lived alone in student housing normally meant for orphans. If there was some family dispute in the picture, Logan chose not to ask about it.
Going inside, they were greeted by the typical lair of a teenage bachelor. Pop cans everywhere, a pile of dirty laundry, racing magazines scattered on the couch and some posters of scantily clad bird girls posing on the wall. Apparently these no longer phased Fay since she made no comment other than pointedly ignoring them.
Snatching a cold can of soda that Falco tossed him, Logan took a seat next to the white collie on the couch as she booted her laptop terminal. Like the human counterparts, they were a compact computer used for daily needs and net access. Fay's came in pink...surprisingly.
"So what's the plan?" Jones took a swig of the cola.
"We're gonna double check the security footage around the McCloud's house, if the police have already canvassed the area there might be something they missed that we'd see out of the ordinary since we come over so often," Fay replied.
"Hard to believe we'll find something the cops didn't," the human muttered, "You think it's something hidden in plain sight?"
Fay cracked a grin, "That, or Vixy was really sick of James leaving the seat up."
"Alright," she said slowly, "let's look up the street's vid logs for the past week."
How she'd got an in to the city's security cams in that neighborhood Jones didn't know, but they quickly came up with a list of marked times that denoted movement at the McCloud residence. Browsing through the still-frames of each one, they tallied up a handful of people other than Fox's family.
"We've got Grey's dad, the academy flight instructor Cooper, Peppy Hare, Pigma Dengar, and James' cousin Fred Wilde."
"So if we cross reference their visiting times with whether the car was in the garage or not we can narrow it down," Logan mused.
"Right."
Scrolling through the footage revealed the only ones at the house while the car was out of sight were Peppy and Pigma.
"Sheesh, no wonder McCloud won't bother..." Falco muttered as the laptop's screen painted their faces in fluorescent blue.
"Why, who are those two?" Logan asked.
Fay shook her head, ears flopping slightly, "They're his teammates, James McCloud leads the Star Fox mercenary team. He'd never dream of suspecting his team of this kind of thing."
"So are we barking up the wrong tree?" The saying might have been unfamiliar to the Cornerians, but the got the gist of it.
The white collie laid back into the plushy couch, sighing.
"Maybe we should let the police handle it, how are we supposed to find something they won't? They've probably already covered of all this."
"Maybe look where they won't bother lookin, like those two?" Lombardi snapped angrily.
"They were in the Academy together Falco, neither would betray James!"
Logan ignored the back-and-forth between the frustrated pair, staring at the two names on Fay's screen.
"Hey, if there's any chance it was one of these two, they must know that the bomb didn't work, right?"
Fay raised a brow and looked at Jones quizzically, "Yes?"
"And if they haven't been detained, do you think they'd try again?"
Falco scowled, not liking where this was going, "What's your point, man?"
Logan turned to the collie and the avian, "What could motivate either of these two longtime friends of McCloud's to betray him? Is it a hell of a lot of money, or coercion like holding a family member hostage?"
"Well," Fay mumbled, "Pigma doesn't have any family, and Peppy lost his wife some years back. He's got a daughter, but she's in college."
"Either of them have problems with money?"
Falco's scowl only deepened, "I know Pigma hangs around some of the betting joints outta town, heard word some time back he owes the bookies for losing big on the races again."
"So he's in debt. That's a possible motive, and how much do you think Venom might pay to have McCloud out of the picture?" Jones asked rhetorically.
Fay's eyes widened.
"Oh gods... they're supposed to be visiting tonight to see if he's ok!"
Falco's hackles rose, feathers awry as he pushed off the couch to his feet, "Damn it! If Pigma's really the guy he might try and ice 'em before he leaves!"
Spaniel lept to her feet, snarling at the two boys.
"Don't just stand there! We're going to Fox's place and step on it!"
Racing past the laundry and the soda cans, the three teenagers hurried to the parking lot, hoping they weren't too late.
"You're being ridiculous!"
The normally collected James McCloud had a visible grimace over his shades. Clearly the threat to his family had hit him where it matters, and the normally unshakeable pilot was visibly perturbed. The fact three teenagers had burst in accusing one of his friends of trying to kill him must not have helped.
"He owes the bookies and Venom woulda payed all the cash in the world to see you gone!" Falco was incensed.
"Fer...I'm right here kid!" Pigma Dengar was visibly angry over the gambling coming to light, but stayed out of the argument.
"All we're saying is that the bomb could have been easily placed there when Pigma was over, and he had a reason to do it," Logan stated more calmly, though James looked even more upset at that than Falco's outburst.
"I think all of you need to calm down," Peppy Hare finally spoke, a more gentle voice of reason in the heated room, "None of this shouting is going to get us anywhere."
The hare looked over his reading glasses at the white collie between the two boys, "Now what's got you so sure Pigma is to blame? Hmm?"
Spaniel gulped, and averted her eyes as she explained their accusations, "Y'see Mr Hare... We wanted to check the street cam footage for anyone that might have been over when the hovercar was out of sight. Then we figured out Pigma also owed a lot of money to some bookies, and it seemed like a good reason he might take the money if Venom offered it."
Peppy sighed, and downing the last of the sherry he'd been drinking stared over his glasses at Pigma.
"Well Dengar? What's the gambling about?"
The chubby pilot averted his eyes, and let out an exasperated breath.
"Dang it Peppy old buddy, you know I'm not like you guys. I don't got no family, an women don't like me neither, so I eat n' drink myself stupid an hit the races."
He threw out a thick arm angrily, "So I lost all my last pay an now the bookies got me in debt. Am I gonna come blabbing here bout it? Hell no. It's my problm an I aint draggin you guys into it."
Peppy nodded slowly through out the diatribe, and then looked over at the teens.
"You know, adults often have their own problems, and just because one of us is doing something foolish doesn't mean they're a villain for it. Just because Mr. Dengar lost a lot of cash doesn't mean he's likely to take Venom's blood money."
Chastised, the teenagers felt a bit stupid having come full of anger to the household. They looked at each other awkwardly before mumbling apologies. Falco blew a frustrated breath through his clenched beak, and Logan had the shame to feel like an interloper once more.
"I'm sorry Mr. Dengar, and Mr. McCloud," The human teen spoke for the group, "We were worried about Fox, but we shouldn't have jumped the gun like this."
James sighed, crossing his arms.
"It's alright kit, I'm not going to grill you for looking out for my son."
They got ready to leave the house, and Fay approached Pigma herself to apologize.
"I'm really sorry about this Mr. Dengar. It was wrong of us to come in accusing you."
The porcine pilot grinned widely and waved her off.
"Ehh, don't mention it kid. I don't look like no hero anyways, heh heh heh."
Fay smiled at the pig's self depreciating joke.
"Are you going to be alright with the bookies? Falco said those gambling dens can be pretty rough."
"No worries kid, I already paid em off, so those thugs won't be botherin me anymore."
"Oh, did you?"
Suddenly, the clue eyes of the cheerful collie were chips of ice, her voice sharp and accusatory, "Where did you get the money to pay them off Pigma?"
The room was quiet, frozen as the group was caught off guard by Spaniel's demand. Pigma's beady eyes widened, and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
"You said you gambled away all of your last mission pay," the canine girl hissed, "You'd owe them a lot more than you could earn even flying a sortie with Star Fox, so where'd that cash come from?"
There was a bead of sweat on Pigma's forehead, and his hands rubbed together as he fidgeted.
"You know what I think?" Fay asked with a deceptively sweet lilt, "I think if we checked your personal accounts you'd be pretty rich right about now. You mind showing us? Unless you've got something to hide that is..."
"I...look, I ain't... I didn't..." Pigma Dengar tried to blubber an excuse, but he just couldn't find the words to explain himself.
"Pigma..." James didn't raise his voice, but there was something else underneath his tone that didn't sound like the dashing pilot they knew.
Dengar had evidently seen that too, as he flinched and with a shaky hand whipped out his sidearm from the holster on his thigh.
"It ain't like that James!" He warbled as the sights lined up with the icy-faced vulpine, "I ain't a traitor, it ain't like that!"
"Then maybe you better explain yourself pig." McCloud's voice was steel, and it seemed he might very well ignore that pistol in front of his face.
"It was too good..." Dengar wheezed out, sweating even as he held the room at gunpoint, "Money was too good. I needed it, I ain't never going back to the streets. I just wanted the money, I didn't do it cause I hated you buddy..."
"What's going on?!"
The gun swiveled to Fox, standing at the living room door. He'd just come back from Bill's place, not expecting to find a stand off in his own house.
"You're comin with me kid." Dengar bit out with wild eyes.
"The hell he is!" James had his canines visible, only held back by Peppy.
"You think i'm gonna chance it gettin off planet now? Hah!" Dengar edged across the room while carefully keeping the gun in their direction, "Your kid's gonna make sure you don' shoot my tail off fore I'm good and gone, heh heh."
"No."
The eyes in the room turned to Logan as he spoke out then.
"Take me instead."
"Dude what are you doing?" Falco demanded. Fay stared at him with worry.
"I'm more valuable as a hostage, you know that. UNSC would make it an incident if anything happened, no one would shoot at you." The words evidently convinced the cornered pig, who nodded, and gestured for him to stand by the doorway.
"Yeah...yeah, that's good. Alright kid, you then."
Logan ignored the protests from the Cornerians in the room. He looked across Fox's desperate face demanding to be taken instead, James and Peppy furiously looking on as they couldn't stop him, Fay's quivering lip, and Falco almost vibrating with rage he couldn't get his wings on the pig.
"Let me give you my comm unit so you know I can't call anyone," Logan offered quietly.
"That's right kid give it here..."
Pigma had the pistol pointed at James chiefly, still struggling with Peppy. To the side, Logan put his hand to the small of his back, face blank, and smoothly withdrew the M6 pistol to press it under Pigma's chin.
The gunshot was deafening. Kinetic weapons were so much louder than the sound of a laser discharging, and the effect of the round blasting through Pigma's skull painted the McCloud household's wall with a grisly mess.
The body keeled over, the hand holding the pistol limply splayed across the carpet. Logan stared down at the dead Cornerian, removing his finger from inside the trigger of the pistol.
"Death always to traitors."
Falco was one of the first to snap out of it, whistling.
"Stone cold, man."
It was in hindsight then, as everything passed as a bit of a blur, that Logan realized while they knew Pigma had been paid by Venom to kill McCloud, they didn't know who he was working with here on Corneria.
So who had paid him? And would they try again?