Well well well, we find ourselves here again don't we? I have to say, that while I'm happy with the chapter, its another one that I'm not sure about it. Is that odd? I like it, but at the same time...eh...I think its because Dead Planet is almost scary to work on.

Scary in a good way, I enjoy working on it, but I'm always scared that what I write is not going to be entertaining to you readers.

-Sigh- That's the life of a writer though I suppose.

Other news, Nintendos E3 Boradcast is here in a few hours! -Crosses fingers- Come on Star Fox game.

Anyway, I'll leave you to it, enjoy the chapter!

Star Fox: The Dead Planet Saga Act 2: The Dead Past Chapter 16: Runaway Memories

"So, what was that about a meeting?"

Fox and Krystal blinked together. "Wait..." Fox held up a hand as he stared at Falco. "Just like that, back to business?"

Falco glanced at Katt who shrugged. He turned back to Fox and nodded. "Yeah, we'll go out and celebrate later. Right now though-"

Katt broke in. "Right now, Star Fox has a job, and we need to hear more about it, right?"

Krystal glanced at Fox out of the corner of her eye as he rubbed the back of his head. After a moment he sighed. "Alright then, lets go."

He turned and left the room and Krystal shook her head before following him out of the door, Katt and Falco trailing behind a moment later, their hands locked together.

As the four of them retreated back into the lounge area and took seats around the table. Krystal sitting down where she had left her bottle. Fox paused for a moment before he grabbed his can and moved down so that when Falco and Katt sat down next to Krystal, he could look at all three of them from his seat.

As soon as Falco and Katt sat down, Fox reached underneath the table and pulled out a small tablet, calling up a file and sliding the tablet over to Falco. As Falco picked up the tablet and started swiping through the files, Fox started talking.

"While you guys look through the files Peppy gave us, I'll go over what I know so far." Fox leaned back in his seat as he continued. "Tillen is usually a peaceful sea side city, it has just under eight thousand inhabitants here, most of the buildings here are residential, although there is a small scattering of business dotted out here and there." Fox tapped on the table, calling up a holographic control panel, he tapped on a few of the buttons before a map jumped into life in the middle of the table. "I know you guys all looked at the map a bit before we came down here, but I want to make sure we know our way around here since we'll be based here for a while."

Falco finished looking through the tablet and passed it on to Katt before he spoke up. "So, why are we here again?"

Fox tapped another button and a chart appeared next to the map. "As we all know, Corneria is usually a peaceful planet, not a lot of crime happens here. Yet right about the time we had reached Cerinia, Peppy noticed a significant uptick if various small crimes here in Tillen. By the time we had gotten back from Cerinia, other small cities were also starting to report upticks in crime."

Katt glanced up at the chart before continuing to go through the files. "I don't see why that's a big deal, crime always gets a little worse from time to time, then what ever is going on ends and everybody calms down again."

Fox nodded. "That's true, but look at this." Fox tapped on some more controls, and the chart vanished, only for another map to appear, this one was a satellite shot of the area around Corneria City. The fifteen cities that surrounded Cornerias capital in a thousand mile radius were all highlighted with their names. Six of them were black, while nine of them were red. "All the cities marked in red are places with a uptick of small crimes that increased after Tillen." Fox paused to glance at the moment. "Every single one of these cities have a minimal military deployment in them to serve the law."

Katt passed on the table to Krystal as she frowned. "So, you're thinking these cities were targeted?"

Falco nodded before Fox could answer. "I could believe it, think about it, there have been a bunch of small skirmishes with the Rogue Venom army and other mercenaries for the past year. Hell, you two had a mixup of our own on the way to Cerinia. I could see some group or something still sore over the Lylat Wars taking the chance to raise a little chaos. Maybe a street gang or something that was just sick of Corneria, just some punks rebelling against the government."

Katt held up a finger. "I think Falco is on to something with that, I remember seeing a news report stating that Cornerias military force is just as stretched out now as it was during the Lylat Wars. Too many little things going on, and not enough ships and people to man them."

Fox nodded. "For the most part, Peppy would agree with you. That's why he hired us for this. He want's us to explore Tillen, try and calm down the area by finding out what caused the increase in crimes here, and see if it is actually linked with the other cities." Fox closed the larger map and left the city map up. "Peppy told me that he hopes it's just a crime wave in the smaller cities, people noticing that he was pulling people out to help cover the off planet conflicts. But he also can't dismiss the possibility that Venom is up to something."

Falco glanced at the map before he spoke up. "I thought things were peaceful between us and Venom right now, aside from that rogue section of the army still hiding out in Sector Z"

Fox nodded. "We are are peace now, but Peppy has to consider that its all a ploy. Not to mention that somebody has to be backing all the Mercenaries that have been attacking Cornerian ships."

Katt tapped lightly on the table. "Don't you guys know somebody on Venom, that Bowman kid, related to Andross? Can't we ask him what's up?"

Fox and Falco shook their heads at the same time as Fox answered. "Dash joined up with the government almost five years ago. Since then, we haven't been able to get in touch with him, something about needing to be on the planet itself with an appointment. I know he's been doing good things though, like working on purifying Venoms Ecosystem for example. I heard that he managed to purify the oceans already and was working on clearing the atmosphere of all its pollutants. He seems like he want to erase the bad things that his grandfather did."

Katt frowned. "That can't make him very popular with those who were loyal to Andross."

Falco nodded. "Which is why there's the Rogue element of Venoms military. Nobody knows where in Sector Z they're based in, Andross and his high commanders were the only ones who had the equipment needed to navigate the radiation cloud safely." he snorted. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with this conversation. 'Hey Dash, long time no see, how you been? Oh, by the way, we journeyed to a planet that everybody thought died years ago, and we found your crazy grandfather and killed him again'.

Fox glanced at Krystal and noticed that she was frowning at the tablet. "Something wrong Krystal?"

Krystal made a humming sound in her throat before she answered. "Maybe." She waited a moment more before she continued, scrolling through some report on the screen. "Hey, this gang, the Iron Wolfs. Does anybody know anything about them aside from the police reports that we have?"

Fox glanced at Falco and Katt. "The name ring any bells with you two?"

Falco shook his head but Katt nodded. "I know it." When Falco looked at her she shrugged. "I've kept in touch with some of the Hot-Rodder's." She turned her attention back to Fox. "The gang wasn't around when we were younger, but if I remember correctly, I first heard about them about four years ago. Mainly teenage punks, the only really odd thing about them was that you need to be a lupine to join. Most gangs only care about what you can bring to the table, but the Iron Wolf's don't care if you can build a space ship out of junk parts, if you're not a wolf of some sort, you're not getting in." Katt tapped her chin. "They were always small time from what I've heard, never really a threat to anybody who knew how to defend themselves. They just kinda slink by in the outskirts of Corneria City."

Fox nodded before he turned back to Krystal who was still reading through the reports. "Why do you care about this gang?"

Krystal scrolled through another report. "Because, in every report I read about crimes on the rise in the other cities, there is always a mention of a wolf being near by." She frowned. "I dismissed it at first, but somebody in Peppy's circle mentioned the sightings as a possible connection to the gang, and now that I've heard they only let lupines in, I'm starting to wonder if they might actually be connected." She glanced up at Katt. "Do you think you could get in touch with the Hot-Rodders and see if they know if the Iron Wolf's have moved into any other cities recently?"

Katt nodded as Fox frowned. "It feels like we're grasping at straws with it, but we have nothing else to go on, so might as well see what comes of it. I'll ask Davin about the gang as well, he's in charge of the force here, if his guys have had any contact with the group, he should know about it." he glanced at Katt. "When can you get in contact with the Hot-Rodders?"

Katt shrugged. "It's not like I can just reach out and call them, they just stopped by my shop in Corneria city once and while for repairs to their bikes." She snapped her fingers. "I heard about a gathering that was supposed to be going on about this time before I left my shop to join you guys. I can head out in my fighter and if I'm right, I should be able to make it back by nightfall."

Falco spoke up. "I'll go with you, I want to see if anybody I ran with is still kicking."

Katt grinned at him. "Not to mention we can celebrate a little while we're out as well."

Falco grinned in response as Fox rolled his eyes "Okay, that takes care of that." He glanced at Krystal who slid him the tablet. "Anything else jump out at you?"

Krystal shook her head. "No, that's it. I'll be surprised if this amounts to anything."

Fox shut off the map as he answered. "At least it's something to go on." Katt and Falco stood up, nodding at Fox before they left the room, heading for the stairs that would lead down to the tunnel to the hanger.

As Fox stood up, Krystal spoke up. "Is there anything I should be doing?"

Fox grabbed his can as Krystal stood up. "I suppose that you can go catch up with Falco and Katt, wait here, or you could go look around the city."

Krystal nodded. "I might go explore the city then. It was one of the places I wanted to check out when I was here before, but never got around to doing."

Fox glanced over his shoulder as he left the room. "Alright."

Krystal followed Fox out the door, watching as he descended the stairs quickly. She frowned as she watched him go, she had felt his mood change again during the briefing. She wanted to say something to get him to talk some more, but instead she just went to her room to grab her staff.

After she grabbed her staff, she reached into her bag and pulled out a gauntlet that Fox had given her before they left the Great Fox. She put the slimmed down device on her wrist and moved her arm around before she stopped and stared at the gauntlet for a moment. "It's been so long since I used one of these things." She rotated her wrist one more time before she reached out with her other hand and called up a map of Tillen.

The military base had been built here first to protect against navel invasions long ago when Corneria still had civil wars. At first, all there had been was a few small houses for officers and soldiers, after things had settled down though, people started to move to Tillen for the sea side view and peaceful area. As more people moved, the town around the military base grew until the base was the center of a fairly large sized city. Most of the city had since been converted to high priced condos and houses, with a few apartment buildings and hotels dotted here and there. Most of those sat to the left of the base, next to the water, and stretched up over the top of the base with a few parks thrown in. Along the bottom was an old warehouse district that had been mainly used for supplies storage for the base, but now laid mostly unused. And to the right, was the rest of the residential areas.

Krystal closed the map and left her room, heading out of the building and across the base to the exit towards the sea. Walking through the upper class areas, she noticed the condos and what people considered houses here, and what she considered more as miniature mansions. She was going to just to focus on walking through to the other side when she noticed the first sign of the crime that Fox had been talking about.

She stopped outside a large three story house and stared at the front door, which was currently section off by holographic crime scene tape. She could see that a few of the windows in the building had been broken and she had a feeling the most of the stuff inside the house has either been damaged or taken. After she stared at it for a moment, she also realized that the house didn't look lived in, and figured that it was most likely a summer home of sorts for somebody from Corneria City. As she moved on, she paid closer attention to the houses as she passed, and it didn't take her long to get up to double digits when counting the houses that had been broken into.

In a place like this, that was a lot, and it only got worse as she headed towards the rest of the houses on the other side of the base. There was a point where she counted three houses right next to each other that had all been broken into, and some of these houses even had graffiti painted across them.

By the time she reached the warehouse district, which was surprisingly well kept, her mood had sufficiently darkened. The entire time she had been with Fox, she had heard so many great things about Tillen, and now seeing what had happened to it and in just a few short months. She growled softly as she turned her back towards the base, the sun setting in the sky. "She vowed to get to the bottom of this before she scoffed and shook her head as she focused on returning to the base.

By the time she had made it back, night had fallen and the air had cooled significantly. Krystal stopped outside the door to their quarters and reached out with her mind, mildly surprised to find it empty. Figuring the Katt and Falco hadn't returned yet, and Fox was working on some task, Krystal entered and made some food for herself before retreating to her room and laying down on the bed and drifting off to sleep.

She had only been asleep for a few hours, tossing and turning before she sat up with a gasp, her heart pounding from the nightmares that had been plaguing her dreams. She swung her legs off the bed, rubbing her face with her hand as her heart rate settled.

"Trouble?"

Krystal sighed and spoke without removing her hand. "You have got to be kidding me. What are you doing here now?" She opened one eye and glared at the specter of Marcus that was sitting crossed legged on her desk.

"You're not happy to see me? That's a shame. Anyway, I'm here because you're still troubled about something."

Krystal shook her head. "I don't mean that, I meant why are you here. You said that Cerinia's power had surged and allowed you to reach out to me, but that was a few months ago, the power still can't be surging that strong."

'Marcus' held up a hand. "But that's where you would be wrong, the power is still that strong." He got a sad look on his face as he glanced out her window. "But you are right in a sense, at least for the surges anyway. I have a feeling that this might be the last time I can reach you out here. Already I can feel a waning of energy from just sitting here." He turned his gaze back to Krystal. "So, what's troubling you?"

Krystal sighed again as she moved back on the bed, leaning up against the wall as she pulled one of her knees up. "I'm tempted to just wait until you leave."

'Marcus' grinned. "You know that's not going to happen."

Krystal frowned before she tapped on the wall behind her. "Right, because this is all in my head, happening in an instant. I'm trapped in some type of meditative half sleep until you release me."

'Marcus' frowned and shook his head. "You sound like I'm holding you prisoner." he held up a finger again "Think of me as a wise sage that you can confess your troubles to, one who won't you leave until you do because I know it will help you."

Krystal rolled her eyes before she leaned her head back against the wall again, giving up with arguing against him. "Nightmares."

"About?"

"My past." Krystal closed her eyes as her thoughts drifted back to when she had first run away. "The things I did to survive, the way I changed over the years, and the people I killed. As a Cerinian, I was taught that all life was unique, that I shouldn't cause unnecessary suffering on others." She shook her head slowly. "Yet..."

"You caused much of it while you were corrupted by your feelings."

Krystal nodded slowly. "Yeah."

'Marcus' sighed. "I'm not sure what I can tell you to help with your trouble." He tilted his head to the side as he looked at her. "Well, there might be something you can do."

Krystal opened one eye again and stared at 'Marcus'. "Let's hear it then."

'Marcus' stood up and walked towards the window, staring out at the bright moon. "Maybe if you shared your memories with someone, talking about and accepting what you did as Kursed, then perhaps your nightmares would leave you be." He glanced at her over his shoulder. "This isn't the first night that your sleep has been disturbed." It wasn't a question, and Krystal didn't need to answer it. 'Marcus' nodded. "Your memories of that time are bottled up, trapped within your soul even now. After everything you went through recently though, the pressure is too much and they are escaping into your dreams. Go, talk to someone that you trust, share your memories, release them." He turned back to the window again. "Time's up for me. I won't be seeing you again unless you come back home. Farewell Princess."

Krystal blinked and sat up in her bed, looking around for a moment before she rested her gaze on the small sliver of moon she could see from her window. She sighed and closed her eyes, frowning when she reached out with her mind and only felt one presence in the building. She slid out from under her covers, taking a moment to make sure her nightshirt didn't leave anything exposed before exiting her room and heading for the living room.

When she entered the room, she found Katt, still dressed in her jeans and white t-shirt from earlier, sitting in one of the chairs, with her legs stretched out and her head leaning back with her eyes closed.

Krystal watched her for a moment before she turned to leave. "Krystal?"

Krystal stopped and glanced behind her at Katt, who slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes as she stared. Krystal waited a moment before she turned around and moved over to the chair across from Katt, sitting down and pulled her legs up beneath her. "Where is everybody?"

Katt shrugged. "I don't know, I just got back about ten minutes ago, it took a lot longer then I thought to track down the Hot-Rodders, and after that even longer to get in touch with the leader. While I was off doing that, Falco bumped into one of his old running buddies and went off with him. I had just gotten finished talking with the leader when Falco came back as well and grabbed me, telling me that we had to leave now. He looked really serious about something but refused to tell me what, he just kept telling me that we had to get back here as soon as we could." Katt sighed. "When we landed, Falco ran in looking for Fox, but when all he saw was you asleep-"

Krystal held up her hand. "Wait, Falco looked in my room? Why?" Katt raised an eyebrow at Krystal who sighed when she realized why Falco would look in her room. "We're not together again Katt, I'm just a team member."

Katt nodded while rolling her eyes. "Uh-huh, like you don't want more. Anyway, Falco burst out of here to find Fox, and I've just been waiting for them to come back. Do you know where he went?"

Krystal shook her head. "No, he didn't say anything when we parted ways today, I just assumed that he found a lead after talking with Davin."

Katt leaned back in her chair again. "Great, so we play the waiting game. Unless you want to go out and look for them?"

Krystal frowned. "Not really. You?"

Katt chuckled softly. "I've been running around all day, my legs feel like jelly, I don't think I can even get to my bedroom." Katt lifted her head up again. "So, what had you up? I didn't think I made that much noise, although Falco might have."

Krystal glanced away for a moment. "It wasn't that, I just had a nightmare that woke me."

Katt frowned. "That bad?" Krystal nodded "What was it about?"

Krystal looked back at Katt. "My past, when I had first run off." Krystal shook her head. "It's stupid. I actually haven't been sleeping that well the past week. These nightmares just keep happening, and I have no idea why they won't go away."

Katt was silent for a moment. "Back during the Lylat Wars...I saw a lot of...bad things..." Katt sighed. "Whenever I couldn't sleep, I talked it over with someone, anyone really."

Krystal fell silent for a moment. "Feel like lending an ear?" Katt nodded and Krystal sighed for a moment before she started talking. "It was back on Zoness. I told you that when I first got into Bounty Hunting, all the big jobs were from mob bosses who refused to tell me anything about them. The thing is, those were the Mob Bosses in Lylat, I ended up falling in with a group from outside Lylat, and they didn't care who I had been, only what I could do."

- Five months after leaving the Great Fox II - Zoness, Industrial District -

Krystal held her stomach as it rumbled loudly, her eyes closed against the slight pain that was building. She opened her eyes and glanced around the filthy alleyway that she had come to call her home over the past week. The first few months after she had left Fox, she had enough money to get her a some what decent apartment, and a few jobs, but those had dried up before she could build up enough money to hop to a new planet.

She had been stuck on Zoness for the past month, and she had ran out of money for rent two weeks ago. She had taken on a few tracking jobs to scrape up the money she needed to get into a hotel for a week. But those jobs had dried up as well, she was sure that if she had been on Papetoon or Eladard or even Macbeth, there would be more jobs that she didn't mind doing. But most of the jobs that were posted for public view on Zoness consisted of not only tracking, but bringing in the target dead. Bringing in somebody alive got you half the credits, sometimes, not even that, she had even heard a few stories of people who ended up dead instead.

She had sold off most of her belongings that she had brought with her, and was just left with a dirty blue t-shirt, some jeans with holes now in them, and a ragged cloak that she had traded her small coat for. The cloak smelled strongly, but kept her warmer during the nights huddled in the alleyway better then her coat had. She would have slept in her ship, but she had left it on a random island off the main land to avoid it being confiscated when her money ran out. The only things she had were the leather bracers that she used to cover the tattoos on her exposed arms, and her gear stored in a small bag tucked against her back. A laser pistol with half a charge in its battery, which was sitting in a holster tucked beneath the bag, and her staff, which had run out of charge, she still had her old charging plate tucked into the bag, but she lacked a place to plug it in for the time it needed to have a charge.

Sighing as her stomach rumbled again, Krystal pushed off the wall she had been leaning on and pulled the hood up over her head. Recently she had seen news reports of her missing on the vid-screens around Zoness, and she didn't want somebody to try and take her back to Corneria in the hopes for a reward or something. She had stopped going to the Mob Bosses in the slums because of this reason, since one of them had tried to capture her and hold her ransom. She waited until there was a slight lull in the crowd of workers swapping in for the morning shifts before she stepped out into the street, after a few steps, she blended in with the rest of those dejected citizens of Zoness, stuck in the slums for one reason or another.

After ten minutes of walking, Krystal broke from the crowd as she reached her destination. The small building that housed the jail for the slums was a small squat building that only held a dozen cells. But until Krystal had started accepting contracts, most of them hadn't been needed anyway.

She waited outside the door for a moment, reaching out with her mind to feel for anybody inside. She could feel the thoughts of the last four marks she had brought in, and the guard who maned the bounty board and the cells was in the back checking on them. Glad that the entrance was empty, she pushed on the door and slid into the building, closing the door quietly and turning to the right to look at the bounty boards. She stopped when her eyes found the boards. There were two, one was for those who wanted targets brought in alive, and the other, for those who just wanted them dead with some proof.

Both of the boards were empty.

For the first time since she ran away, Krystal didn't know what to do. Even as she had sold off her possessions, and drifted from place to place, she always knew what her next goal was. But as her stomach rumbled yet again, she wasn't sure what to do. She knew of some things she could do out on the streets, but none of them were things she was willing to do.

"I was wondering when you were going to stop in."

Krystal flinched slightly at the voice behind her, but she didn't spin around, instead, she just tilted her head enough so that she could see the panda guardsman out of the corner of her eye. When she didn't say anything, the guard continued.

"I knew you would be in today, since this is when I update the bounties for the week." The guard paused and reached up to his head, pulling off his small cap and scratching his head. "Sorry to tell you, but you just missed them. Some guy came in and took all the contracts that were posted." The panda replaced his cap as he walked over to his desk and sat down.

Krystal deepened her voice before she spoke. "You just let him?"

The panda shrugged. "It's not like I was going to stop him, although I asked him if he was sure that he wanted them all. He told me that he was here for a few days while his ship was unloaded, and he needed something to do."

Krystal was silent for a moment while she pulled an image of what the guy looked like from the guards head. When she realized that the guard even knew what dock he was at, she nodded. "Thanks for the info." She moved towards the door and the guard blinked before he spoke up.

"You're not going to go try and find the guy to talk him are you?" He shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it, he didn't look like someone you mess with."

Krystal paused with her hand on the door. "Am I really going to go confront this guy over the jobs? What if they aren't even my kind of jobs?" Her stomach rumbled softly again and Krystal gulped. "Whatever it takes to survive." She glanced over her shoulder at the guard. "If he's smart, he won't mess with me either." Then she pushed through the door and out into the street.

Once outside, she turned left and melted into the crowd on the street again. A few blocks later she climbed a set of a stairs that led to a public transfer station. She spent a few minutes waiting for the next hover car to arrive before she jammed herself into the cramped quarters with everybody else.

Thirty minutes later found her stepping out into the industrial districts star port. Where as more star ports had small to medium hangers built everywhere for ships to land. With the rest of the space filled up with various booths advising directions and for registering arrival. The star port here was big and empty, filled with large hangers designed to hold everything from a small cargo ship to a few extremely large dry docks where dreadnaughts could set down in for repairs and unloading.

She remembered docking here once with the Great Fox, thinking back on the time she spent exploring the port while they refilled their ammo. Krystal turned left and headed down a set of stairs that led to the boarding areas for the smaller ships. It didn't take her too long to find the dock that she was after.

She glanced at the wall where somebody had etched in the letters J-04 into the wall. She turned her head to eye the simple looking cargo ship that was docked there. She ran her eyes over the hull, looking for any identification, but she found none, which had her frowning.

Then she blinked and spun around, blocking the arm that came swinging at her from behind. She gave a deft twist of the canines wrist, causing him to drop the small the dagger, and kicking it away as she let go of his hand and stepped back.

The doberman who stared at her with dark eyes frowned as he rubbed his sore wrist. "I'm surprised you heard me coming."

Krystal didn't say anything, just watching the doberman with weary eyes. He was dressed in long cargo pants, a holster strapped across his right leg holding a odd looking blaster, which was secured with a leather strap. Most of his upper form was covered by a large brown leather coat, but she could see enough of his shirt to know that it was dark blue. A strange looking eye piece poked out of one of the pockets on his coat, his dark green eyes stared at her for another moment before he spoke up again.

"I was going to do this quietly, but since you showed some skill, I'll give you ten seconds to tell me what you're looking for before I kill you." His hand drifted to his blaster and he flicked off the strap holding his gun in.

Krystal narrowed her eyes at him, reaching behind her slowly for her own blaster, her movements hidden by her cloak. "You're the one who took all the jobs from the bounty board."

The doberman blinked. "That's what this is about?" He pulled his weapon out. "That's a dumb thing to die for." Krystal tightened her grip on her own blaster, not drawing it yet.

"I want them."

The doberman frowned before he lowered his weapon a fraction. "Why should I give them to you? I got them first."

Krystal snorted. "That ship you got there is heavily modified, so I know you don't need the money, and I also know for a fact that you only took the jobs because you need something to do to pass the time while your ship gets emptied of cargo."

The doberman raised an eyebrow at her. "You figured all that out just from a glance at my ship?" He went silent for a moment before he tucked his weapon back into its holster. "I'll make a deal with you then. I give you one of these jobs, and when its done, you come back here and not the jail, I'll pay you double."

Krystal narrowed her eyes. "What's the catch?"

The doberman gave a small grin. "You have to be back before midnight." Krystal took a moment to try and figure out why the doberman would want to put a time limit on her. Before she could figure it out though, the doberman lost his grin. "Decide now, or I'll shoot you and go take care of him myself." Krystal blinked and nodded.

The doberman reached into his coat and pulled out a small holo-projector. He dropped it to the ground in between them and a picture of a bounty target sprang to life. Krystal glanced over it quickly, frowning when she saw that it was a elimination bounty.

"Seen enough?"

Krystal nodded and the doberman shut off the projector. She spoke up quietly. "One last thing, I bring him in alive."

The doberman gave a small snort of surprise. "If you pull that off, I'll triple the bounty." The two of them stared at each other for a moment. "Anytime now, unless you're wasting time to make it harder on yourself." he paused. "Or are you still thinking of trying to kill me with that blaster behind your back?"

Krystal twitched in surprise as she released her grip on her blaster, she had almost forgotten that she had grabbed it. She waited a moment more to see if the doberman was going to make a move before she turned and sprinted towards the exit.

Common sense would have most people thinking it was just an act to get her to leave, but Krystal had felt the truth behind the offer. Something about her interested the doberman, and she realized as she climbed the stairs that this was a test of some sort. She turned towards the exit of the star port and ran through the open doors and for the transfer station.

She grinned for the first time in weeks as she slipped into the hover car right as the doors were closing. She knew exactly where she needed to go, because something the doberman didn't know, was she had tracked down this particular feline before, twice in fact. Some part of her was sad to see that his contract had been upgraded to a kill order, but she also knew that she would be able to bring him back alive, having done it twice before. The feline had a hideout of sorts in an old factory that he was sure nobody knew about. Krystal was positive that he would be there, even though she had bagged him both times near there.

Fifteen minutes later and Krystal was jogging down an empty alleyway along the side of the abandoned factory that her target was staying in. She had already searched the area with her mind, and had thanked the gods when she had felt the felines thoughts inside the building. It didn't take her long to reach the only working door that led into the factory, and she slipped inside quietly. Keeping all of her senses on alert, she proceeded deeper into the gutted warehouse.

It wasn't long before Krystal laid her eyes on her target, after watching him for a moment she frowned and reached out with her mind. There was something different about him tonight, something about the way he looked set her on edge. As she touched his mind, she almost recoiled from the rapid fire thoughts of hatred and malice that were burning around his mind. She frowned and kept at it, listening to his thoughts a little longer. She was able to figure out that he was angry at his significant other, having left him while he was in jail this last time. He was currently plotting ways to get revenge, and none of them were very pleasant.

Krystal ducked behind her corner and took a deep breath before she reached behind her and pulled her blaster loose and called out. "Ten!"

Alaric 'Ten' Jensen flinched as her voice bounced around the room. He glanced around trying to pinpoint where she had called out from. "Who are you?!"

Krystal peeked around the corner. "You know who I am Ten."

Alaric frowned. "You, your that bounty hunter that brought me in before. What, the last two times weren't enough for you? You need to ruin my life some more?"

Krystal watched as Alaric spun in a circle, she waited until his back was to her before she moved forward into another piece of cover. "I'm not here to ruin your life Ten, I'm saving it, there's a kill bounty out for you now, but I made a deal to bring you in alive."

Alaric shook his head. "It's not ten, its eleven now, don't you pay attention to the news?"

Krystal scoffed lightly. "Right, Ten was your nickname last time for how many times you escaped a lockup." she paused before she continued. "What did you do to get upgraded to a kill bounty?"

Alaric was still slowly rotating in a circle, his eyes darting to all the shadows she could hide in. She saw a small blaster clutched in his hands as he turned again. "I hurt him, a guard, I think he died. Not sure though."

Krystal moved forward again, she was now hiding behind a strut that was a short jog away from Alaric's position. "Why did you do that Alaric? I thought you never hurt people."

Alaric spun around towards her and she pushed herself hard against the beam as he stared into the shadows. "He didn't give me a choice, he was going to shoot me." he paused for a minute before he repeated himself. "I had no other choice." He watched for another minute before he turned around and started looking around again.

Krystal stepped out and aimed her blaster at his back. "Drop the weapon Alaric. It's over."

Alaric froze, glancing over his shoulder at her, he stared at her for a moment before he spoke up. "How do I know you're not going to kill me anyway?" His voice was quiet.

Krystal reached up with one hand and pulled the hood back. Alaric had seen her face before, and she wanted him to be able to see her eyes. "You know me Alaric, I never kill people for these jobs, why should I start now?"

Alaric watched her for another minute before he seemed to shrink and he sighed before he let his blaster fall to the ground. "Okay...Okay..."

Krystal nodded at the gun. "Kick it away Alaric." The feline kicked his blaster away into the shadows and Krystal stepped forwards. "Good, now lets go." She took another step forwards and reached out for his shoulders.

"Bitch!"

Krystal wasn't sure why she didn't feel his hate at her, or why she didn't realize just how much he had changed. But his shout at her had her startled enough that she took a step backwards, barely avoiding the slice from the combat knife that was aimed for her chest and neck. Instead, the knife cut along the left side of her face, catching her upper lip and carving a line up to the base of her eye. Time slowed down for Krystal as she fell backwards, her blaster flying out of her hand. watching as the knife just barely passed over her eye.

Then time returned to normal and the pain set in.

She screamed as she landed on her back, Alaric jumping forward to straddle her chest with his knife on her throat. "This is your fault you bitch! You're the reason he left me, why should I help you get more money?!"

Krystal panicked as one hand struggled to hold Alaric's knife back, and the other stretched around for a weapon. Alaric leaned down farther and Krystal felt a pressure at her back. Her staff was partially exposed from the bag and gasping she brought one of her hands back and grasped at it, pulling it out.

Alaric reached out, pinning her arm against the floor before she could swing the baton sized weapon at him. His distraction let Krystal buy a little more room between her neck and the knife, but Alaric had weight and position on his side, and her arm was already starting to tire. She twisted her hand as she stared into Alaric's angry eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Before Alaric could respond, Krystal thumbed the part of the staff that caused it to extend. Alaric grunted softly as the staff hit him in the chest, and he stared at Krystal for another minute before he shuddered softly and opened his mouth, blood dripping out onto her cloak. Krystal looked away from his shocked eyes and realized that the pointed end of her staff was the one that had been facing Alaric when she had extended it. The force of the staff extending had punched straight into Alarics gut and out his back.

Alaric fell to the side as Krystal scooted backwards across the ground, her eyes once again drawn to Alaric's

The feline was struggling to breath, his life force fading fast. "W...why..." he gurgled out as more blood leaked out of his mouth. "y...o...pro...missss...ed..." he gave one final gurgle as the lights faded from his eyes. Krystal watching as she held her hand over the left side of her face.

After a moment Krystal leaned to the side and gasped as her stomach cramped and she started dry heaving. She was no stranger to killing, she had lost count of the people she had shot down while flying with Star Fox, and she had even hunted in the jungle. But this was the first time she had been staring into somebodies eyes as they died. Never once in her life with Star Fox, or even on Cerinia had something like that happened. She kept going for a full minute before she managed to bring her body back under control.

She flinched softly as something wet touched her paw and she stood up quickly when she saw the expanding pool of red. As she stared at Alaric's still body she felt something inside of her, something that changed.

"Whatever it takes to survive."

Krystal blinked as her own voice echoed through her head.

"Whatever it takes."

Krystal gulped hard as she moved towards Alaric's body and grabbed the edge of her staff, pulling it out with a sick sound. She almost slipped in the red puddle around him, but she caught herself and backed away quickly. She collapsed her staff and tucked the blood stained weapon back into her bag with her right hand as her left kept the pressure on her face as she ran from the warehouse.

She ended up spending the entire afternoon inside a clinic, her face stitched up and covered in gauze. She had stayed quiet the entire time the doctor had tried to get her name, eventually he wrote her name down as Jane and he left her to rest from the blood loss.

She stared blankly at the wall, watching as the shadows started creeping across the wall. She blinked at one point and realized that night was starting to fall. She blinked again and swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, swaying for a moment as the blood rushed out of her head. She moved to the window and glanced out as the sun was just starting to touch the horizon. She grabbed her cloak from a nearby chair, swinging it over her form. She glanced over her shoulder at the clock before she lifted up the window and slipped out onto the street. She moved quickly, her mind still in some sort of haze as she returned to the warehouse and found an old tarp to wrap Alaric's body in, then she searched around for a trolly and loaded the tarp onto that before she set out for the space port.

The clock read 2314 when she pushed her trolly through the cargo entrance into bay J-04. As the door closed behind her, the doberman stood up from where he was sitting on a crate and walked towards her. "I was just starting to wonder." His eyes drifted to the tarp. "I don't think he's alive in there."

Krystal shook her head. "He surprised me. I thought I could bring him alive, but he caught me with my guard down." She glanced down at the tarp. "It won't be happening again." The doberman nodded before he turned back towards his ship. She let him get a few feet away before she called out, "I want my money."

The doberman turned back to face her. "I got a better deal now. How about a job, and ride off of this crappy planet." Krystal blinked underneath her hood, she had known that the doberman had been testing her, but a job? When Krystal didn't say anything, he continued. "Or, I can pay you double like I promised, and you can go back to whatever alleyway it looks like you've been sleeping in."

Krystal waited for another moment before she made up her mind and answered. "I'll need a week to finish up some things here."

The doberman nodded. "Fair enough, My ship will be unloaded tomorrow, but I'm paid up through the week anyway." he reached behind him and tossed a small bag at her. She caught it and took a quick glance inside, her eyes scanning over the credits that were there. "Double like I promised. Consdiering it an advancement on your first paycheck.

Krystal looked up and nodded. "See you in a week then."

The doberman called out as she turned around. "What's your name?"

Krystal paused and stared at the ground as she thought. Krystal didn't fit her anymore, that was the name of the princess of Cerinia and the telepathic pilot of Star Fox. She glanced over her shoulder one more time at the doberman. As their eyes met, a name came to mind, and it felt right. "Kursed."

The doberman nodded. "Igan."

Kursed nodded as well and left the space port. She had heard of a doctor on the planet that could change your looks, and she knew that she would need his services.

Katt blinked as Krystal leaned back in her chair. "Wow, so that was how you became Kursed huh?"

Krystal nodded. "I can still see his eyes, even now, as the light faded from them. It's odd really, I can't see any of the others that I killed, but for some reason, his eyes still haunt me."

Katt looked down at the floor. "It was the first time you had killed like that right? It's bound to have an impact on everyone. I know Fox has memories like that as well." She looked back up. "Speaking of, how come you're not waiting to tell this story to him?"

Krystal sighed. "I'm not sure where I stand with Fox right now. At points we can get along alright, but then something happens and his mood changes and he becomes distant. I wish I knew what was bugging him." Krystal closed her eyes only to open them a moment later. "They're back."

Katt stood up as the door downstairs opened and two pairs of boots quickly ascended the steps. Krystal stood up as well as Falco and Fox came in.

Fox glanced at Krystal before he focused on Katt. "Is it true?"

Katt blinked in surprise. "Is what true?" she glanced at Falco. "What's going on?"

Falco put a hand on Fox's shoulder. "She doesn't know anything man, I was the one who saw her."

Krystal exchanged a look with Katt before she spoke up. "Saw who?"

Falco sighed before he answered quietly. "Sarah O'Donnell."

Plot! Twist!

I won't say anything more then that of course, but I do hope you all enjoyed the chapter. While I may not be entirely sure about it, I did enjoy writing the flashback part.

No guest reviews to respond to, so instead, I'll just take a moment o remind any guests that stumble across this story are free to leave a review, I respond to all of them, I only ask you make some name for yourself so I know who to respond to aside from guest1 and so on.

That said, 12 reviews! Holy crap, you guys are awesome, that was a great thing to see. I know I didn't have anything for you guys last chapter as a thank you for breaking ten, but I do have something for you guys this chapter. It's below as usual, and with that, I plan on making some time to catch up to the stories that I've been meaning to read.

Enjoy the little bonus.

Ten soldiers manned all the various stations, seven up on the upper path, monitoring ship position and status, weapons systems, and scanned for threats. One each were in the pilots pit, the two working as one to guide their ship through the blackness of space. The last solider had been standing on the overhang looking down, but as the ship vanished from sight he walked over to a console and pressed a button, a quiet ping sound echoed throughout the bridge and the solider started to speak.

His voice was disrupted slightly as it echoed out from the speakers underneath his helmet. "This is Acting Captain Argust Coral of the Scientific Scouting ship Elison. As per the command of the Rulers, we have returned to System 44764, after a period of five years, to check on development, and to see if they are worthy of inclusion into the empire. Accessing and translating local records now from near by planet." Argust fell silent as a holographic display jumped to life in front of him, displaying information from the Venom Observatory computers, translated into his native language. His visor slid up into his helmet with a whisper of sound and his coal black eyes ran over the data as he read. After a moment, his visor slid down and he continued talking.

"Locals still refer to the system as Lylat, and the planet we our floating near is called Venom, from studying the records, they appear to be harboring plans to attack Corneria, which by all records seems to the be the most developed of all the planets. However, overall their technological abilities appear to be sub-par, with some signs of promise, we'll return in five years to see if they hav-"

Argust cut off as the display in front of him suddenly flashed red and a blinking warning leapt into life in front of him. He turned to the right and pointed up at another solider sitting at a computer. "What's going on?!" he demanded as he moved to the small staircase that would grant him access to the higher levels.

The sensor operator called out as Argust drew closer. "Sir, scanners are picking up a signal, I'm trying to lock it down right now. First scans reveal it to be one of ours, confirming now." Argust walked up and leaned down over the seat, scanning the screen as the operator continued. "Signal confirmed as one of ours, triangulating and identifying now."

Argust watched quietly as the operator worked, his computer quickly collecting data and displaying it. "The signal appears to be coming from a badly damaged Vengeance Prototype."

Argust growled low in his throat. "Great, this is just what I need." he stood up and glanced down at one and shook his head. "Now, I'll have to wake Captain Rae." Argust has just turned and started down the steps when a door at the back opened and another armored figure walked onto the bridge.

Her armor was slimmer then those around her, and decorated with more symbols, each one depicting a different detail of her rank and awards. Yet at the same time, the smaller armor seemed tougher then the bulky sets that the rest of the soldiers wore. Dangling from her left hip was a small baton, and a holster held a large combat knife on her right. Her helmet seemed to be made of interlocking pieces that could all fold away at a moments notice. She walked out onto a small overhang and stood with her feet together and her arms tucked into the small of her back.

Next up is an update for ReArmed Conflict, with a few Destiny updates thrown in I'm sure. I might also be changing the name of ReArmed Conflict, not sure yet though. Oh well, until then!

Peace,

- Emile