Smoke and Mirrors

Corneria


The massive yet ageing freight ship decelerated as it approached Corneria.

Apart from the usual assortment of parts and machinery manufactured on Macbeth, the freighter also carried a handful of ships in its cargo hold. To the untrained eye, it didn't seem too unusual, if it wasn't for the fact that the ships weren't tied down. One of them vaguely resembled a Venomian Invader III fighter, and was covered in a striking crimson paintwork. There was a faint glow coming out of the cockpit, and the face of a pink feline was illuminated by the screens.

Katt Monroe kept a close eye on the navigation systems, while she went through the mission in her head over and over again. The old freighter belonged to a minor transport company, which had a hard time competing with the bigger players with newer fleets, and ran on a very lean profit margin. Bribing the right people to let them hitch a ride had been relatively easy, and it allowed Katt's team to get close to Corneria without detection.

As the floating ball of blue and green came into view through an open cargo port, the awaited coordinates finally appeared on her screen. Since they were keeping complete radio silence, she signalled with a thumbs up through her starboard window towards a blue feline in a similar ship to hers. He returned the gesture, and repeated it to another fighter on his starboard side. Katt repeated the process out her port side window, getting a similar response from a little rodent man and a large crocodile in a small bomber craft.

They all powered up their engines, Katt taking the lead as they eased out of the cargo hold and through the plasma gate into open space. They hit full throttle towards Corneria, neither of them noticing that they were followed by a white and blue fighter with a very distinct wing profile, which had been lurking underneath the freight ship.

It didn't take long for Cornerian radar to pick them up. Katt scanned the CDF's radio frequencies, and noticed the immediate increase in scrambled communication. Within a minute, a private message appeared on another screen. She knew it was a decryption key, and she fed it into the comms system, wondering who their benefactor was. There were so many secrets in this mission, but she couldn't argue with Krystal's logic. If they all were just pawns on the chessboard, it would be harder for the Cerinians to figure out their game plan.

Katt was being hailed, but ignored it. At least the decryption key worked, and the conversations came through loud and clear.

"...unknown ships emerged from behind a freighter, identified as potential threats. Their transponders are turned off, and they are not responding to calls from air traffic control."

"Corneria Air and Space Control, this is Leon Powalski of Star Wolf. I'm getting ready to launch and will set an intercept course as soon as I get coordinates."

"We also have radar contact with another group of unknown ships on course towards the Orbital Gate."

"Wolf and Panther will provide support. They'll be airborne in ten minutes."

"They'd better hurry. The bogies are approaching fast. There are twenty ships and appear to be fighters, including Venomian Intruders and what seems to be an Arwing."

Katt smirked, knowing that it was Falco in his Sky Claw.

"What about the ships approaching Corneria?" Leon asked.

"They are heading for the mountains approximately six hundred kilometres northwest of Corneria City. There's a Cerinian mining site there. It's a small group. Five ships."

"Roger..."

The traffic broke up temporarily because of the heat and turbulence as they entered the planet's atmosphere. Five ships? Katt was puzzled. There were only four of them. She looked in the rearview monitors, but could only see the other three ships in her squadron, the bomber behind her blocking out the view. She had to wait a minute until the worst of the reentry was over, until she could call her wingman.

"Hey Kool! Is there anyone following us?"

The blue feline to her right performed a barrel roll in his ship to get a better view.

"Yeah! I've seen it before. It's what's-her-face ... Krystal's ship."

Krystal had told Katt that she'd get some secret support, but she hadn't expected the vixen to show up in person. Equally strange was the order not to make any radio contact unless hailed, but she'd just have to roll with it.

They levelled out just over the waves of the ocean and stayed under radar altitude while approaching the coastline. Katt could see a volcano spewing out ash clouds some distance inland. At close to the speed of sound, they entered a valley leading into the mountains, staying as low as they could while looking out for the hazardous turns and rock bridges, something that Fox had warned them about.

High up in the mountains, the ash clouds lowered and nearly touched the ground. They had to fly through them, even though they interfered with their radar and infrared cameras. Katt hoped the ash and pumice wouldn't scratch up her windscreen, and thus reduce visibility even further. A call came through and Krystal's image appeared on screen.

"I can't sense any fighters in the air, but watch out for anti-aircraft guns."

"Roger that, Krystal," Katt answered.

They came over the last mountain pass, and the mining site appeared in front of them. Rivers of lava illuminated the ash clouds from underneath, making them appear on fire. Anti-aircraft lasers immediately tested their shields, but they were skilled pilots and avoided the worst of the fire.

"Take out any ships on the ground first, before they can get airborne," said Krystal.

They set to work, the heavier weapons of the bomber doing most of the damage.

"The building off to the left is the main generator," the vixen continued. "That's what we need to knock out."

The three fighters got stuck into the anti-aircraft guns, while the bomber went for the generator building. Oddly enough, the Cloud Runner was just doing circles above the valley, not getting involved in the skirmish. Suddenly Leon's Wolfen came over the pass.

"I have entered the area of operation, beginning to engage the targets now," he called.

The Cornerian airspace control responded promptly. "A squadron of ten Cerinian ships are coming for assistance as well, ETA twenty minutes. Damn, they're fast."

Shit, this is the hairy bit, Katt thought to herself. Leon was chasing them around and out of the valley, but was not his usual accurate self; the chameleon was missing every shot. That was all part of the plan of course, and Leon was in on it. But it was a different story with the approaching Cerinians. Katt couldn't leave yet, because the Cerinians could fly much faster in open space, and easily intercept her team in no time. Ironically, they had to wait for the Cerinians to get closer. She hoped they wouldn't be clever and leave a couple of ships above the atmosphere.

"Six of the Cerinian ships have entered the atmosphere. Four are staying in space to cut off the attackers' retreat."

Damn, that was not what Katt wanted. Krystal appeared on screen again.

"It's time to bail out. I'll distract the Cerinians." Then the vixen cut the communication and set off, staying in the ash clouds for a dangerously long time. Finally they emerged into clear air, the Cloud Runner taking the lead, while Katt and her companions pushed their craft hard to keep up. Climbing hard, flames of overheated air licking the ships' hulls, the occasional burst of laser from Leon's Wolfen shooting past, Katt could see the six more ships on her radar. The Cerinians were closing in on them from behind, and she knew there were four more up above.

The Cloud Runner pulled ahead-it was an Arwing after all-even though Katt was on full throttle. It was the first to break into the blackness of space, heading straight for the intercepting quartet of Cerinian vessels.

"Code blue, NOW!" Krystal shouted over the comms, and Katt relayed it immediately to her team. She slammed the button to direct all power to her shields, and watched in disbelief as the Cloud Runner launched a smart bomb into the cluster of Cerinian ships. It didn't go off in the usual fiery explosion, but emitted a bright blue bubble of light. Sparks and lightning bolts danced over the Cerinian spacecraft, as the growing orb washed over them. A second later it hit Katt's ship, the comms crackled and screens flickered for a moment, before everything came back online. The Cerinian ships broke formation, seemingly out of control after having tasted their own EMP medicine.

Either Slippy has outdone himself, or the Cerinian defences can't handle their own weapons, Katt thought to herself. I wonder how long they'll be out for though. The Cloud Runner hit maximum power, leaving a blue streamer as it flew straight past the Cerinians, immediately followed by Katt and her team.


Falco the kamikaze pilot was gunning his custom Arwing towards the Orbital Gate and the Cornerian ships surrounding it. At least it felt like a suicide mission, taking on a sizeable portion of the Cornerian fleet like this, completely unprovoked. In fact, Falco wanted it to feel like a suicide mission. He enjoyed the rush of the endorphins, doing something impossible that he could prove was possible.

"Well, I sure enjoy flying with the legendary Falco Lombardi." A mandrill appeared on Falco's comm screen.

"You just watch me ruffle some feathers, Drake," Falco replied.

"Or are you just going to strut around like a peacock?" The mandrill's head turned sideways on the screen, and Falco did the same. To the right of him, he could see his wingman for the day in a Venomian Intruder. He was grinning back at Falco, who felt an urge to punch in the Ruffian's colourful nose.

"You just watch, pretty face!" Falco retorted.

"I'm watching my radar. We've got incoming!"

Falco checked and sure enough, a swarm of fighters were emerging from the Cornerian fleet. The avian got on the comms to his squadron of twenty assorted rebel and pirate ships.

"All right, this is it! Keep 'em busy but stay alive. We're just a distraction, so there is no glory to die for."

Soon enough, the Cornerian bottlenose fighters were upon them, and Falco slipped into the zone as easily as he slipped into a pair of swimming trunks on a summer day on Aquas. With feather-light movements of the controls, he swerved the exceptionally manoeuvrable Sky Claw this way and that, while occasionally firing his lasers at Cornerian fighters. The battle was a flurry of spacecraft, lasers and plasma bolts-each side testing the other's shields without inflicting any major damage.

All the while, Falco kept half an eye on one of the monitors, waiting for a message to appear. Slippy had been all excited about that newfangled nano-burst communication. Apparently it was a way of sending a short message in a way virtually impossible to detect. Falco didn't get it. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned banter over voice comms?

"Watch your six!"

Drake's in-your-face head appeared on screen, next to the radar showing a fast approaching vessel. Instinctively Falco executed a perfect barrel roll, but instead of it deflecting the enemy fire, an EMP blast slammed into his ship. Electricity arced across the fuselage, and the screens flickered like a nightclub dance floor, but all systems stayed online. Slippy must have done a good job with the new shields. I wonder what secret Krystal has to draw Kamuy to the Great Fox with. But why was he thinking about that anyway? Thinking was for after battles, and preferably in minimal doses.

A Cerinian fighter flew past him, and he was just about to take off in pursuit when the nano-burst came through. He'd been waiting for the coordinates for his secret mission, but what he received still surprised him. The message read 'target located' and contained a simple outline of the Orbital Gate, with the target indicated by a red triangle. Seriously, was he going to blow up the gate now? Well, time to kick the hornet's nest I suppose. He turned his ship and headed straight for the Cornerian battle cruisers and the Orbital Gate behind them, just in time for Star Wolf to arrive.

"Cornerian Command, this is Star Wolf. Caroso and myself are engaging Falco. Stay clear!" Wolf's voice came through on a common CDF channel, easy for the Arwings computers to decipher, which was all part of the plan of course.

The Sky Claw and the two Wolfen fighters started a merry yet seemingly deadly dance, step by step closer to the Orbital Gate. At one stage Falco got a clear shot on Panther's slightly sluggish Black Rose, a feathered finger itching to pull the trigger on the smug cat. Falco had to contain himself to stick to the plan, and held the shot just a fraction of a second, so that the blast just missed his old foe.

Finally the gate came into view, and after another barrel roll and loop to avoid Star Wolf, Falco lined up with his target, hit the button to fire Slippy's secret missile, watched it trace for and hit the Orbital Gate and ...

...do one half of absolutely nothing. That's an anti-climax if anything, thought Falco. Worse than Katt nodding off mid-act.

"Fall back, squad!" He called out to his ships, knowing that from here on, their mission was just to keep the Cornerians busy as best as they could. He sure hoped Fox and Krystal knew what they were doing.


The metal doors slid open with a muted whoosh, and Peppy stepped through into the Orbital Gate's control centre. Monitors lined the grey walls, and workstations filled most of the dimly lit and cramped space, with a holographic display taking centre stage. A cold breeze from the air conditioners fought against the heat generated from a large array of computers.

"General O'Hare!" A stocky Rottweiler with slightly greying muzzle saluted the old hare.

"Major Gruber." Peppy returned the greeting as the door closed behind him. "Please brief me on the situation."

"A rogue PMC is attacking a krazonium mine. The Cerinians have sent a squadron to intercept, but Powalski of Star Wolf is first on the scene." The Major first pointed to the holographic three-dimensional display of Corneria, which was tracking the ongoing surface battle, and then to another group of ships approaching from deep space. "Minutes after our radars picked up this group of twenty craft, which seem to be heading straight for us. We're scrambling our ships, and Star Wolf are already in the air to assist."

"Do we know who they are?"

"Negative. They seem to be a complete hotchpotch of ships including Venomian ones and old Cornerian designs."

We've been complacent, preoccupied with the Cerinians and caught with our pants down, thought Peppy. But he had no idea who would want to attack them with such a small force and why.

"General! Major!" One of the radar operators waived frantically at them. The border collie pointed at a screen. "Its transponder is turned off, but that ship kinda looks like an Arwing."

Peppy recognised the fighter with the forwards-swept wings, the Sky Claw. He immediately thought of Fox. Was Falco helping Fox with some treacherous scheme? Instinctively his paw reached up of the metallic disc on his temple, although there was no need to touch the device to operate it, as he attempted to contact the Cerinians.

Kamuy, may I have a word?

He had to wait a moment before the reply came through.

My dear Peppy, what warrants the honour of your presence? Her voice was calming in his mind.

We are under attack by a force led by Falco Lombardi, a friend of the traitor Fox McCloud. I thought you might like to know. Again there was a slight delay, as if she was preoccupied with something.

That is interesting news, thank you.

Falco is a rather formidable pilot. May I kindly request some assistance?

Cornerian belligerents are Cornerian business, I'm afraid. There was a hint of annoyance in her mind voice, but Peppy quickly brushed it aside.

Of course, First, he replied, and Kamuy ended the connection.

The old hare turned his attention back to the ongoing battle. Cornerian fighters had started pouring out of their carriers, but the aggressors were just flitting around, avoiding being hit while taking the odd potshot here and there. O'Donnell and Caroso had joined the party as well, locked in a deadly dance with Falco, while gradually getting closer to the Orbital Gate. Peppy got dizzy watching the fighters disappear from one monitor only to appear on another the next second.

"We've got incoming," shouted the radar operator. "It's heading straight for us."

To his disbelief, Peppy could see a missile launching from Falco's Arwing. Smart bomb was his first thought. "Shoot it down!"

Lasers from the Orbital Gate's point defences strafed the projectile's path, without hitting the target. There was a muted thud as it hit the space station's hull, but that was it.

"Strange," said Major Gruber. "It must have been a dud, Gen-"

In that instant an ear piercing shriek assaulted Peppy, a high-pitched mechanical noise unlike anything he's ever heard. He covered his ears, but it did nothing, as he was struck down with a terrible migraine. Next to him, the Rottweiler had collapsed onto the floor as well, and he was vaguely aware of the border collie rushing up to them, the dog's muzzle moving without Peppy being able to make out any words. Can't he hear it? It was like the sound was within Peppy's head, and there was a throbbing pain in his right temple. He moved a paw from his right ear to his temple, and touched metal, the tele-neuronic implant.

He looked around. The major had an implant too, the radar operator fussing over them did not. His fingers fumbled and clawed, but finally he got a hold and simply ripped it out. Immediately there was silence. It took a while for his vision to focus and for his thoughts to gather. He looked at the metallic disc with the wriggling wires in the palm of his paw. Is this another trick by that traitor Fox, who has ... done what exactly?

Another wave of dizziness hit, as suppressed thoughts and memories came crashing back. One memory was particularly odd.


Enjoying some downtime on the Great Fox after the Saurian crisis, Peppy sat down in his favourite chair in the common room. He had a sip from a nice cup of Fortunan afternoon tea with a touch of milk and two sugars, and opened a half-finished crossword on his tablet. Concentrating on the next word-the ability to move objects using thought, eleven letters-he had another sip, and did an immediate spit-take, spraying the unsettlingly salty beverage all over the table. That blasted Falco, he put salt in the sugar container again, he thought, but then did a double-take, since the first sip had not been salty. He heard a giggle and caught a glimpse of a fluffy blue tail vanishing from the doorway.


It had turned out that Krystal not only could read thoughts, but occasionally plant them as well, making him taste something that wasn't there. She'd copied one of Falco's pranks in her own way, just thinking it was a way to fit into the team of course, but how he had scolded her. She'd never done anything like it again-not to him anyway-and generally kept quiet about her abilities. But if Krystal could plant thoughts, what could Kamuy and a starship full of Cerinians with advanced technology achieve? Had they controlled the minds of Corneria's leaders? Had Falco's missile disabled the implants?

Peppy heard a commotion behind him and, still on his knees, turned around. The doors to the control room slid open as the border collie was about to step out to get help. Two Cerinians came running through the corridor. The old hare reacted on instinct.

"Close the blast doors, NOW!"

The collie punched the emergency button next to the doorway, and the doors slammed shut, but a Cerinian staff got caught in it. An energy blast from the other Cerinian's staff came through the narrow gap. Peppy pulled the unconscious Major's blaster out of its holster and started firing back. The staff was pulled out, and as soon as the door closed, Peppy realised that the Cerinians might do anything to wrestle back their mental control. He didn't want Kamuy to know yet, if it could be helped, so called out to the collie and anyone else in the room.

"Close all blast doors in the corridor. We can't let those Cerinians leave!"


Kayuq was watching the ongoing battle from the serenity and darkness of open space. She was standing on the translucent glass floor in the starship's bridge, completely surrounded by the spherical monitors showing the cosmos and chaos of fighting ships around them. Kamuy was standing at the very centre, with two more vixens manning glass screens floating in front of them.

Kamuy reached out with an arm towards Corneria's horizon, grasped her paw around thin air, and pulled it in towards her. Sensors detected her movements, and a portion of the spherical screen zoomed in until a white and blue ship with an unusual wing profile came into view.

"That is the ship belonging to the young vixen named Krystal," said one of the operators.

Kamuy put her fingers to her temples, closed her eyes and growled. "I cannot sense her. Surely she cannot be strong enough to block me? The distance must be a little too great this time."

"We have decoded communications from the ship." The second operator worked her screen with impressive speed. "It matches Cornerian recordings of her voice."

"Now, where is she going?" Kamuy stared intently at the Cloud Runner. With another fluid hand motion, she made the image of another blue vixen appear, overlaying the star scape on the dome above. Kayuq immediately recognised the face of Eldey-Kamuy's second in command-in the cockpit of her ship. The younger woman had shoulder length hair dyed a deep blue, geometrical warrior tattoos on her cheeks, and her hazel eyes burned with a fire matched by the amber gemstone set into the tiara on her forehead.

"What is your command, First?"

"Prepare your squadron to intercept Krystal's ship."

Kamuy was interrupted by one of the operators. "We have a new contact!"

A red circle appeared on the dome, far off to the side. With another grasp of her paw, Kamuy zoomed in on the ship in the distance, revealing a Cornerian carrier.

"That is the ship of Fox McCloud," she mused. "But why is he not approaching?"

"Krystal's vessel is heading straight for the carrier," said the operator.

"They are far away from the battle." A flame of hope burned in Kayuq's mind as she spoke. "We should go there and reason with the girl, make her join us."

"You fool!" said Kamuy. "One of our pilots has read the mercenaries' minds. That blue bird's mind is so shallow and easy to read. I know their plan. They want me to go there, thinking they can ambush me. I shall stay here. Second, lead two squadrons and take the ships down."

"I shall bring my best pilots," answered Eldey.

"Make it so. Bring as many as you need. Kill the girl and McCloud!"

"But she can be a powerful ally." There was desperation in Kayuq's voice. Why was Kamuy so set on killing Krystal? "I saw her talk to the Krazoa spirits. With their help, there is no need to destroy this planet any further."

"You saw her, yet didn't capture her."

"Her partner, McCloud, came to her rescue in the stolen craft. I cannot fight one of our own ships by myself."

"Priestess you are, warrior you are not." Kamuy's voice was a low growl. "You failed me!"

She turned to Kayuq, stared straight through her, right through her mind. Suddenly an agonising pain hit Kayuq, a sensation of every nerve being on fire, her blood boiling, and her lungs unable to draw breath. She tried to receive her punishment with dignity, but slowly she first dropped on her knees, then down onto the floor.

The pain vanished as quickly as it had set in, but she was spent. Down on all four she was panting, trying to recover, and trying to stop her mind racing.

There were thoughts she did not want to reveal, not yet.


Slippy's gaze darted from screen to screen in the flight simulator. The long fingers of one of his hands were working the controls, while the other had a firm grip on the flight stick. ROB's face appeared on a monitor.

"Wolf has confirmed that General O'Hare is on the Orbital Gate rather than his flagship, most likely in the control centre. I have sent the coordinates in a nano-burst to Falco."

"Excellent, ROB! Fingers crossed this will work." He glanced over at a radar image, showing five ships in tight formation, with ten others closing in from behind. "This is going to be tight. I hope the Cloud Runner will make it here before the Cerinians catch up. Are there any more fighters coming over from the starship?"

"My scans confirm two full squadrons," replied ROB, "ETA twelve minutes."

"OK, then I'm done here. I'll enable the Cloud Runner's homing mode now." He quickly typed in a few more commands and hit the send button, then he scrambled out of the simulator. As he was running the short distance to the Great Fox's flight deck, he was feeling good about how well his modifications to the simulator had worked. But, he wondered how soon the Cerinians would catch on to the fact that it was he who had been remote controlling the Cloud Runner. Even Katt didn't know that what she'd received were messages Krystal had prerecorded.

He started scrambling up the ladder to his Bullfrog Arwing. Due to the lag in the radio signal, and that he didn't want it to be too easy to pick up the signal and jam it, the Cloud Runner had been running semi-autonomously using its auto-pilot. Slippy had mostly just monitored and sent commands, so he hadn't been able to get involved in direct combat. It had been a bit hairy launching that EMP at the exactly the right moment, not knowing exactly how well it would work, but fortunately his modifications to the Nova bomb had worked a treat. Still, that was nothing compared to heading out into actual battle with thirty or so Cerinian fighters. His hands were shaking as he closed the canopy and finished the startup sequence.

All part of the plan.


Kayuq was still down on her knees on the floor. While she had recovered from the painful attack, she allowed herself an extra minute just to empty her mind and focus on the emotions around her. Kamuy wouldn't notice the difference, just dismiss the tardiness as weakness due to age. The First was consumed by the unfolding events, and while still keeping her thoughts in check, she had let her guard down a bit. There was a hatred bubbling under the surface, and it puzzled Kayuq.

The old red vixen opened her eyes and stood up gingerly. The dome above had zoomed in on the Great Fox as much as was possible. There were also live feeds from Eldey's fighter, one showing the cockpit and one a forward view. She had nearly caught up to both Krystal's ship and the carrier.

"The ship is being defended," said Eldey with clenched jaws. Kayuq couldn't sense her emotions over such a great distance, but there was no need to. There was both fire and fright in those hazel eyes, and a bead of sweat on her forehead. The Second bared her teeth and jerked her stick sideways, to avoid a crimson ship that was heading straight for her.

Flight had turned to fight, as the mercenaries had turned on the Cerinians, fighting back like cornered animals. Eldey finally got a line on the Cloud Runner and fired her EMP cannon. Sparks and bolts bounced all over the Arwing's shields, but it kept flying. Then the blue vixen growled and made another evasive manoeuvre, as another blue and white ship shot past. Kayuq recognised the forward swept wings of Falco Lombardi's fighter, 'The Bluebird,' as Kamuy called him. The mercenaries were outnumbered, but their craft had superior manoeuvrability, and they were daredevil pilots.

"Excuse me, First," said one of the operators with a slightly nervous tone.

"It'd better be important." Kamuy was not amused.

"There is an incoming transmission from the Cornerian General."

Why is he not using the implant? Kamuy slipped up, leaving a thought open, then again, Kayuq wondered the same.

"Put him through," said Kamuy and with seconds the hare appeared on screen, standing erect in his crimson uniform. "General Peppy, what can I do for you? I am somewhat otherwise occupied at this very moment, I'm afraid."

"Oh, I can see that," replied Peppy. "You are, however, conducting what could be interpreted as a military operation in Cornerian space. Please, stand down immediately. You can rest assured that the CDF will take care of the mercenaries."

Kamuy turned to face the nearest operator, who with swift hand movements put another image up on the dome, showing a squadron of Cornerian ships heading towards the Great Fox and the ongoing tussle between mercenaries and Cerinians.

"Of course, General, but please do let us defend ourselves until your much appreciated relief arrives." Kamuy was facing the general again, but her thoughts were directed towards the operators. Find out what's wrong with his implant and reestablish the connection immediately.

"Certainly, but you may only use non-lethal force. Peppy out."

Kayuq also wondered why they seemed to have lost control over the general. His cap had been pushed down low over his forehead, but Kayuq thought she'd seen a dark spot in the fur on his temple, like a drop of blood just below where the implant should be. Then she looked out into the space around her, where some of the remaining mercenaries had moved closer to the starship, and some Cornerian fighters with them including the team called Star Wolf. The few Cerinian fighters remaining near the starship flew towards the mercenaries, getting ready to defend if needed.

"One of our own craft is approaching from behind," said an operator.

"Where has that been?" Kamuy was puzzled.

"I do not know. It has no transponder signal."

"There's no one in it!" Eldey's baffled voice, coming from the direction of her image up on the dome, caused some confusion on the bridge. The operator rewound the live feed from the Cerinians fighter's forward facing camera, which had just captured a close flyby of the Cloud Runner.

The cockpit was empty.

Kamuy spun around, facing the aft of the starship. With furious hand movements she enlarged the picture of the approaching fighter. Kayuq recognised it as a two-seat Tsuin-class, just like the one Fox McCloud had stolen.

"It is them!" Kamuy's voice was a roar. "The ship is within control range. Blow it up!"

"But First..." The operators had fear in their eyes. A cold shiver ran down Kayuq's spine. She knew that many of their craft had a self-destruction mechanism, to prevent their technology from falling in the wrong hands, but she thought it needed to be activated by the pilot.

"Are you disobeying orders?" The First stared down the operators, blasts from the battle outside reflecting in her eyes. The operator's trembling hands ran over the controls, finishing by touching a red symbol. Then ... nothing happened.

"What?" Kamuy was in disbelief. "Shoot them down!"

Two missiles appeared on screen, flying towards the fighter at lightning speed, but a spray of laser detonated them, the fighter bursting through the flames unscathed. A camera feed was overlaid on the dome above, showing a twin barrel gun turret emerging from the hull of the starship. The turret swivelled and opened fire, but the Tsuin-fighter swerved and swooped in. Then the camera feed flashed bright white before going pitch black, as a powerful EMP hit it. Kamuy turned towards Kayuq.

"Third! Gather as many Protectors as you can find and defend the flight deck. They may try to board us."

"Yes, First!" The old, red vixen turned on her heel and started running towards the exit.

"Do not fail me again, or it would be the last time."

From the waves of hatred radiating from Kamuy, Kayuq didn't doubt that the death threat was serious. She ran through the liquid like force field, which served as the bridge's entry and exit, happy to be out of sight of her leader. The destruction of this innocent planet was so unnecessary. Kamuy's obsession with technology was such a fallacy, when compared to the true power of the Krazoa.

But she knew she was more powerful than Kamuy suspected. How else had she been able to keep secrets from her leader? Her hand had been forced, but The First didn't know which cards Kayuq had. She jumped on a hovercraft and let it carry her towards the flight deck. She had followers, true to the Cerinian way of life, not greedy and vengeful like Kamuy. She had gathered them under utmost secrecy, most of them not even knowing who their leader was. She pulled a necklace from under robes, a simple yet beautiful symbol of faith, and squeezed the pendant between thumb and forefinger. Concealed within was a simple device with a technology so old-fashioned, that she doubted anyone would be scanning for such a signal, but her faithful followers would receive it. With Krystal's help, they might just be able to turn the tide.

Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a glowing blue gemstone, the one that Krystal had dropped on Sauria. She put it into her staff, replacing the synthetic stone that had been powering it, and felt the natural power radiate from the staff. It surged into her hands, travelling like shockwaves along her nerves, and coursing throughout her body.

She hadn't felt such power in a very, very long time.


Author's Note: Credit to SpaceCat010 for beta-reading and edits, and to Nail Strafer for letting me bounce ideas. Again, I found myself with a long chapter, so I've split it, with the conclusion to come. It's not easy to battle mind-readers, and I've changed it up a lot from my early drafts, which I hope makes the story more credible.