'Wait' you're probably thinking, 'wasn't chapter 19 what he uploaded before he vanished three years ago while making a joke about it not being three years before he updates?'

You're not wrong. But here is the quick break down. I forced myself to put out that sordid chapter, and it shows. At the time, I thought it was good, but after rereading it when I was coming back.

Oof.

That did not line up with Dead Planets flow at all. There is a decent amount to explain, but I'll save it for the end. Until then, enjoy a Redux of Chapter 19, one that I enjoy a lot more, and one that fits the flow of the story better. I present to you, after way to damn long:

Star Fox: The Dead Planet-Chapter 19: The Plans of the Architect

"Who is the Solemn Architect?"

"Who is the Solemn Architect?"

She heard the question in both her voice and another; the words echoed through her mind as she drifted through the blackness of unconsciousness. As the voices bounced around in her mind, a memory rose from the depths, summoned by the question.

As Kursed ducked out from the cargo ship that Igan had been flying on Zoness, she took a moment to look around her surroundings, trying to place where they were at. The dock was bare bones, and appeared to mainly be run by an AI program. As she studied the walls which were rough stone, she caught a glimpse of a computer. She took a few steps further onto the surprisingly sturdy catwalk; studying the computer screen which had a set of coordinates displayed, with an orbital path displayed in a dotted line. The coordinates placed the small dock they were in somewhere in the Meteos belt; she had patrolled the area many times with Star Fox and couldn't recall ever coming across something like this.

She glanced behind her at the cargo ship as Igan shut down the engine; nodding at her from the cockpit window. The ship they had come in on was rough, hard edges and worn down paint; the metal panels that had once been white, were now a dingy gray color that screamed out for a new coat, or replacement. As Igan dropped out from the access hatch and ducked underneath the ship he came up next to her and gave her a shove to keep going down the cat walk. Kursed took a moment to shoot him a growl before she turned her attention to the ship that was waiting at the other landing pad.

This ship was nothing like the cargo ship that brought them from Zoness. Like the Cargo ship, this one was also unmarked; that was where the similarities ended. Instead of being slightly dingy looking, this small cruiser made it obvious that wealth had been spent on every bit of its construction. The black panels had all been polished to a reflective shine, and even through they were hidden, she spotted the doors that covered numerous weapon tubes. She could vaguely make out where the cockpit was against the gloom, but the windows also looked to be covered in a reflective material. She couldn't confirm the fact, but she was willing to bet that this ship also had some sort of scrambler for scanners; unless you ran into this ship, you wouldn't even know if you were flying next to it.

As they approached the ship, Igan tapped on a small remote and a boarding ramp slid down to greet them. As she ascended the ramp, she raised an eyebrow at the thick armor that coated the ship, usually ships like this had much less armor to make more room for the inside and the creature comforts. This thickness of the plates suggested this thing could shrug off at least a glancing round from a Cornerian Frigate. When they were both on board, the ramp raised up behind them and sealed the cabin. Kursed glanced around at the extremely fancy inside, two sets of high end seats sat next to each other one one side, controls built into the arm rests of each one. A single row sat on the other side of a small aisle that led to the cockpit, just as comfy looking as the rest of them. On the wall in front of each set of seats was a monitor that displayed system settings. Igan pointed to the double seats on the left and Kursed sat down in the single one on the right.

Igan didn't say anything about her act of defiance as he walked past her to the cockpit and started the ship. Kursed watched on a the monitor in front of her seat on the ship systems booted. When they started up, she saw a scan perform around the area to make sure it was clear. She barely felt the small jolt as the ship lifted off the pad and slowly moved out of the hidden dock. A map of the Lylat system appeared on the screen and she watched as a destination point appeared on the edge of the system just past sector Z. Kursed blinked as she realized that it was a jump point, and that she was actually going to be leaving the Lylat System. Kursed leaned back in her seat and took a moment to center herself, this still seemed drastic, but, at the moment, all she wanted to do was be as far from Fox as possible. A whole other system seemed like a perfectly good start. In only a few days, the sleek ship showed off its power by reaching the jump point at a speed that would have pushed an Arwing.

Curiosity got the better of her, and Kursed got up and went to the small cockpit to stand behind the single seat there as Igan maneuvered the ship into position.

"How do you guys hide the warp gate when it opens on this end? The radiation from Sector Z? Surely somebody would have come and looked around." Igan didn't respond at first as he punched in some commands on his console. "Warp Gate?" he adjusted his grip on the controls before he reached a hand out and grabbed a large slick lever built into the side of his seat. "That's when you need to move a large ship, surely you've warped in a small fighter before?"

Kursed frowned. "Of course, but most of those ships struggle to bounce around Lylat, it takes weeks to cross the system. This ship is fast, but that seems a little slow to travel."

Kursed felt Igan's smugness as he responded. "This ship is a little bit more advanced then your fighter then. I would tell you to take a seat, but you won't need to."

Kursed tightened her grip on the back of the seat as Igan shifted his grip and pushed the lever he had grabbed forward. She felt her ears perk as she heard something in the back of the craft wind up with a low thrum that echoed throughout her very being and caused her hair to stand slightly on end. She focused on the view out into space as her vision seemed to split, what looked like a hole big enough for the ship becoming visible via a white ring that was around it. She felt a slight tug on her body as the ship accelerated and the view of stars vanished to be replaced by darkness.

She blinked and waited for a moment but backed up when Igan stood up and moved around the ship. "This is a Slip jump ship." he gestured back into the main cabin and Kursed retreated back to her seat. "Wildly costly to build, the drive on this ship can punch through holes in light and jump from light point to point. Think of it as skipping rocks across water, only this time, were jumping from light to light." Igan sat down in the seat across the aisle, reaching below the seat to pull out a bag and fish out a pad.

Kursed blinked as his simple explanation of what no doubt was a complicated process. She glanced at the screen against the wall again and saw an ETA was counting down on the bottom of the screen. It showed three weeks, two days, ten hours. She turned back to Igan. "Where are we going anyway?"

Igan glanced up from his data pad before he dismissed her question. "Hardly matters right now, its not like you can turn back."

Kursed frowned before she leaned back in the luxury seat and looked around the cabin again, estimating in her head just how much wealth was needed to build the craft. "Hey Igan?"

Igan snorted softly. "Yes?"

Kursed focused on him. "Who do you work for?" She gestured around the cabin, "This thing screams money; yet you were unloading on Zoness, which is one of Lylats highly illegal ports."

Igan tapped on his pad as he thought for a moment before answering. "I won't tell you his name, he prefers to do that himself. But I will let you know what he's known by." He paused and Kursed raised an eyebrow. "The Solemn Architect." Kursed waited for more, but Igan went back to full focus on his tablet and Kursed snorted.

"That's all you're going to tell me?" Igan didn't answer and Kursed grumbled as she sat back in her seat. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, with nothing better to do, she shortly fell asleep, her body reminding her that she hadn't slept in something this comfortable in quite a while.

Two weeks later found Kursed stretching in her seat and sighing heavily, catching Igans attention. "Something wrong?" Kursed glanced over at Igan as he looked at her, the small data pad he had been playing with all this time loose in his hand.

Kursed pretended to think about it. "Boredom?" she sighed and stretched again in her seat. "We've been in transit for two weeks now. Don't get me wrong, this trip on the luxury cruiser has been nice; but I still don't even know where we're going, you just said it would take some time." She glanced around at the cabin she had been sleeping in for the past few weeks. "Hey, who is the Solemn Architect again?"

Igan looked over from his seat, frowning at Kursed with disapproval. "You ask that as if I've told you the answer already. I haven't answered that question the last four times you've asked, what makes you think this time will be different?"

Kursed shrugged. "I dunno, you being bored of me asking the same question? We still got a week left you know."

Igan sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You know I could just knock you out right?"

Kursed grinned savagely. "I would love to see you try."

Igan focused on her and they stared at each other for a while before he sighed. "Alright, how about a deal? You answer some of my questions, and I'll give you some more details on the Solemn Architect. Like I said before, I won't tell you his name, but perhaps it'll keep you sated until we arrive and you can push your luck with him yourself."

Kursed thought about it for a moment. "Might as well, at least its something to do."

Igan took a moment to put down his tablet before he started his questions "Why are you trying to get away from Lylat?"

Kursed thought about it for a moment. "I need a new place to be."

Igan narrowed his eyes at her before he continued. "You vanished for a week after I paid you, and you came back with different colored eyes, and different voice. Who are you trying to hide from?"

Kursed laughed. "Nobody, I just wanted to change up my look."

Igan frowned. "You're not being truthful."

Kursed shrugged. "You can think that all you want, but I am answering your questions, so I'll let you have two more before I expect you to hold up your end of the deal."

Igan sighed as he thought. "Fine, what's your real name?"

Kursed raised an eyebrow "Kursed. I told you that, if you wanted a last name, sorry to disappoint, but my species doesn't use those."

Igan nodded. "Fair enough, what are you?"

Kursed looked down at her paw with her new finger-less gloves on. "Me? I'm the last of my kind, my planet was destroyed years ago. All I can tell you is that it was somewhere on the fringe of space just past Lylat."

Igan looked away from her for a moment. "Hmm, that was less informative then I would have liked. Still, a deal is a deal." Igan turned back to her. "The Solemn Architect, is just that, an Architect; except instead of designing buildings, he plans out and controls an entire system. Yet the only people who know, are those who are in his direct control. If you ask the commander of the military of a planet; He'll tell you that he works for the 'people' or even the 'government'. But his orders come down from Solemn himself. Same to those who run the finance system, the goods, the production. Solemn has them in his hands, and with them, the control of everything in the system."

Kursed snorted. "I find that extremely hard to believe, unless your system only has like three planets, and even then, that's stretching it."

Igan leaned back in his seat. "Where we are going is just as big as Lylat, but what you just said is also the whole point. Nobody believes that one man is in control, most see it as a scary story, or a conspiracy that the desperate latch onto to provide worth to their lives; he uses that to stay out of the public eye. Now, don't get me wrong, its not like he has everybody enslaved or anything, he can't control the random pickpocket or thug who crossed the line into full blown criminal. But if there is something major in play, hes orchestrated it, and if anybody attempts to climb the chain of power; be it political, military, social, or underground, he's got his wires laced through them before they even know it."

Kursed kicked back in her seat, her hands behind her head. "Surely somebody would have stood up to him by now?"

Igan chuckled softly. "Of course, with how long and how much power he has though? He has his links set so far, and so deep; that people they trust convince them to see the right path and listen to his orders, or they are dealt with. I've taken care of a few myself, I know how to make people either disappear, or make it look like it was a choice they made." Igan paused for a moment. "Maybe if I tell you how I became aware of him, you'll understand just how grand his control is, and his capacity for planning."

Igan took a moment to find the right starting point before he started talking. "Twenty years ago give or take, the system used to be full of strife; gang wars filled with drug dealers, makers, and even slavers; corrupt political powers constantly trying to undermine each other; civil and planetary wars breaking out every other year. Then there was me, I won't tell you my back story, but safe to stay, I was never on the side of law and order. There used to be eight different crime lords who pretty much ran each planets underground, with a few crafty few who even exerted control over some part of the planets power structure. I did odd jobs for four different crime lords, they had formed a sort of alliance, although each was ready to betray the other at a moments notice." He paused "I was 'offered' to join one particular side many times at the cost of the lives of the ruler of the other. I turned them, and those that 'offered' down, sometimes violently. I noticed something was odd when I was doing a job for one of the crime lords that required me to go to a planet that was under control of a rival crime lord. Normally, when somebody of my caliber went into a rivals territory; it was either via stealth, or through an illegal port with lots of power flexing from those in control."

"One moment." Igan rubbed his throat as he paused and stood up to go to the back half of the cabin. He put his palm against the wall, and a panel slid up and he grabbed two water bottles. He tossed one to Kursed as he sat back down in his seat before he took a sip of his. "Anyway, I didn't feel up to sneaking around since there was a civil war of sorts brewing. I opted for the illegal port and the flexing; only, when I landed, none of that happened. No enforcers telling me to watch my step, no goons begging for a hit. The port was running smoother then I had ever seen, and not only that, they knew that I was going to be there, there was even a dossier with my targets favorite haunts and a weapon ready for me. When I tried to find out who had left them, everybody just said that they had been delivered that morning with my name on it." Igan paused and watched the screen showing their progress. "That was the easiest time I have ever had on that planet, and that's what made me sit up and pay attention. I took a little extra time before I headed home, sniffing around for clues, nothing seemed out of place at first."

Kursed felt herself drawn into this long out tale. "At first?"

Igan nodded. "Remember, I mentioned that I went for the port route because there was a Civil war brewing on the planet." Kursed nodded. "It never happened; all the big players in the conflict, either found themselves in compromised positions that shattered their power base; or they suddenly seemed to come to terms and were able to negotiate with people they had once sworn to spill their blood." Igan took a moment to drink from his bottle again. "The end result was the civil war that threatened to tear the planet apart was negotiated into a permanent cease fire. To top that off, was I was heading back through the port to my flight; I overheard that nobody had heard from the crime lord who ran that planet in a while. His drug trade and political influence had been one of the main causes of the civil war. Nobody that powerful just vanishes with out a trace."

Kursed nodded "Unless they crossed the Solemn Architect."

Igan returned the nod. "When I got back home, it became even more obvious. A man I had never met greeted me on my return with my payment; even though it had always been deposited in my account automatically before. I took the payment and made myself scarce, going as remote as I could while I did research. In total, I was off planet for a month, give or take a week. In that time, the economy on the planet stabilized, the political parties started getting along and actually doing what they said they would. But what troubled me, was the fact that nobody had seen Ti'ear, the crime lord that I accepted the mission from in weeks. As I dug deeper, nobody had seen any of the eight crime lords, and they had all seemed to drop off the grid around the same time."

Kursed raised a hand in disbelief "Hold up, earlier you said that nobody rose to far up with out being controlled by Solemn. How did you find all this out without appearing on his radar?"

Igan smiled grimly. "When did I say I wasn't on his radar?" Igan chuckled at the memory before he continued. "My isolation was an abandoned building in the middle of a large forest. The old thing had belonged to somebody in my family line generations back; and had just fallen through the cracks of history through time. I had only found it by accident, I had honestly believed that nobody knew about it. Then I woke up one night and found a gun held to my face."

Kursed raised an eyebrow. "You just took that?"

Igan shook his head. "I disabled that one, what stopped me where the three other thugs with weapons, all trained on me. As I came to a stop, I realized there was a forth person, sitting in a chair like he had always belonged in the house. He stood up and introduced himself, saying that he would like to hire me full time, he introduced himself as the Solemn Architect, and told me that he had been behind the elimination of the crime lords."

Kursed blinked. "You believed him?"

Igan nodded. "I did, first off, he tracked me down when I thought nobody could find me. It wasn't like that old building was a hide out I visited regularly. The last time I had been out there before had been years ago. Plus, as you'll soon understand, there is just something about his presence. He's one of those people who could tell you he could blow up a star with the press of a button, and you would just believe that he was capable of it." Igan shrugged. "Anyway, he gave me a week to decide if I would work for him, told me that if I refused and keep digging, I would end up finding the crime lords. I took him at his word and packed up my stuff, I was going to just leave, but after I gave it some thought, I realized what an opportunity this was. Fast forward to now and I'm one of his trusted officers, possibly the only one who gets to work directly with him."

Kursed nodded. "Hell of a story, I believe almost none of it, but I think that's kinda the point?" she waved her hand through the air. "Make him seem like a monster among monsters, yeah?"

Igan shook his head. "Believe what you will, you'll find out soon enough."

Krystal gasped as she snapped awake, then immediately groaned in pain as her body made it well know that it had been abused.

"Krystal?" She groaned at the voice that called out to her. "You'll need to open your eyes, I need you to help me figure out where we are."

Krystal sighed and slowly worked her way up off the hard slab of metal sticking out of the wall, swinging her legs off the side to brace herself against the nausea that dominated her since Igan-

With a gasp Krystal surged to her feet, ignoring the pain and her wobbly stance as she took in her surroundings. As the adrenaline faded and her heart rate calmed down, she took a moment to take stock of her surroundings, realizing a few things as she did so. The first was that across the hall from past the two sets of bars, Fox was staring at her from the center of his own cell. The next thing was that while she could at least sense Fox, everything else about the ship was muted out by a dull sense of malice; it was pervasive enough that she couldn't locate either Falco or Katt nearby. The last thing she realized with a sinking feeling, was that this was the prison section of the Singsore. While she had never actually been on the other side of the bars before, she had seen the inside of them enough times to know where she was at.

She focused on Fox, who was holding his side and staring at her with worry. "What did Igan do to you?"

Fox gestured to the side of his face, which was slightly swollen and starting to sport a bruise dark enough to show through his fur. "Beat me unconsciousness and left me with a hell of a concussion." Fox blinked at it registered that she knew who had beat him up. "Wait, you know him?"

Krystal nodded. "Yeah, he was one of the reasons I was back in Lylat as Kursed when Peppy found me." Krystal sighed. "I had hoped to keep the team safe by going by Kursed still, but I should have figured Igan would track me down regardless." she gestured around them as she remember the question Fox was asking as she woke up. "As for where we are? This is the ship of the Solemn Architect, the Singsore."

Fox grimaced. "I've gotten a good idea of who he is, but before we get into that, you should know, Igan wasn't looking for Kursed. He was looking for Krystal."

Krystal nodded. "He greeted me with my name when I was fighting him. I must have struck a nerve when I was leaving this ship last time. It takes a long time for this ship to get to Lylat from Aldane. Igan must have been doing his homework this entire time." she shudder slightly. "Fox, he was somehow able to hide from my abilities. If he hadn't slipped up and lost his focus at the end, I…" She shook her head. "The only advantage I had over Igan before was my telepathy, and if I don't have that with him; I don't know if I could win."

Fox grimaced. "I know the feeling, I could have tried harder for sure, but he put me down with just a few blows. It was a little unnerving how he saw my blows coming."

Krystal shook her head. "Don't feel to bad, you have a lot of talent in that field. If Igan was wearing an eyepiece, you wouldn't have stood a chance at all." Fox looked at her quizzically. "That eye piece watches muscle movements and predicts CQC moves to almost a certainty"

Fox frowned. "That seems cheap." He paused for a moment. "He used some sorta of needles on Falco and Katt that knocked them out extremely quickly." Fox hesitated again before continued. "Are...are they de-"

Krystal shook her head. "No, if it was needles, they're in the medbay two decks up." Krystal frowned. "Igan has those things coated with some sorta of a living nerotoxin from the Aldane system that reacts to the hosts body. It overpowers and puts them to sleep; it then goes dormant unless the targets try to wake up or its removed." Krystal ran a hand over her arm. "It's scary how effective it is."

Krystal moved close to the bar, triggering a field to form in between the bars, forming a solid wall of steel and energy. "Fox...We...we need to talk."

Fox raised an eyearch. "Now? Seems like a bad time."

Krystal shook her head. "We're on the Singsore, if we don't clear whats going on between us, this is just the start of the bad time we'll have. Once Solemn starts in on us, we won't be able to get away, I managed it once, and even then, it was by the barest margins."

Fox was silent for a few moments. "Alright." He glanced down "Where do we begin?"

Krystal tapped the side of her head. "It would probably be helpful if we could fix the bond. I get flashes from you occasionally. I'm sure you've gotten little bits from me."

Fox looked up. "Little bits? I wouldn't consider whole memories a little."

Krystal looked up shocked. "Whole memories? Mine?" Krystal grabbed her chin as she thought. "That...I've never heard...that shouldn't happen without me being aware of it." She moved away from the bars and sat down on the slab of metal again. "Do you mind if I try to reach out to you?"

Fox shook his head and sat down on his own bench. "We've got nothing else better to do until one of us comes up with a plan."

Krystal nodded and closed her eyes, unconsciously lifting her legs up and crossing them. She took a deep breath and focused her mind on the little spot that Fox had lived in from shortly after they originally met. As she did, she became aware of a blockage, something deep inside of her the recoiled away from Fox. As soon as she understood what it was, she felt something snap deep inside her as overlapping voices thundered through her brain.

"HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED!"

"LEFT YOU TO DIE!"

"SHE'S NOT YOURS ANYMORE!"

"HOUSEWIFE!"

"HE'S GOTTEN SOFT!"

"YOU'VE CHANGED!"

"YOU'RE NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"

"HE HATES YOU!"

Krystal opened her eyes with a sharp gasp, causing Fox to look over at her from his cell. "Is everything okay?"

Krystal nodded, panting slightly from the rush of emotions that just overwhelmed her. "I think...I think our bond is being blocked by both of us. I just thought for sure if you were seeing my memories still..." she closed her eyes again and rubbed her forehead. "It felt like...there was a lot of stuff that I've been holding on to, but it felt like some of what you're feeling was in there too. It's almost like the emotions, the fears, the doubts…" She looked over at Fox. "Almost like a blockage in a pipe. I know you're there, but I can't get through to you."

Fox nodded. "Makes as much sense as anything else with this. How do we fix it?"

Krystal leaned forward, thinking. "Talk? I'm not sure." She hesitated. "Fox...Why...why didn't you talk to me about your fears, and what you wanted for me?"

Foxs breath caught slightly. "You mean before you ran away?" He sighed. "I could ask you the same thing." He paused as he thought about his answer, before he could respond thought, Krystal spoke up. "I didn't want to lose the adventure." Fox jerked his head over to look at Krystal. "What?"

Krystal stared at him, tears slightly forming in her eyes. "I didn't want to lose the adventure, I was selfish. You showed me so much of Lylat, and of what I could do. You accepted me for me, and when I saw that 'dream' of you going on missions and leaving me behind? I was scared of that conversation, I was scared that you would force me to leave; or worse, abandon me on some planet. I let my fear get the best of me, in that moment, I wasn't on the Great Fox, I was back on Cerinina, listening to my dad slashing my freedoms, and trying to force me to be something I wasn't." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I said before that I don't regret my choice of being Kursed, but I do regret leaving; that is still true, but that's also the me that's been Kursed talking, if things had gone differently, I would think I would regret it all."

Fox was silent for a moment. "I...I need to apologize as well…" Krystal tilted her head slightly. "I...You...You were right. I've been acting differently, I think...I think that I was afraid that if we were too much like before...you...you would leave again." Fox sighed. "I was hoping that if I could change how we ran the team, it would stop something bad from happening again."

Krystal was silent for a moment. "We are a special type of stupid at this point aren't we? So afraid of the past that we couldn't let it stay dead, we had to bring it forward into the present."

Fox laughed sourly. "We almost did the same thing in a different way." he sighed. "So...what now?"

Krystal closed her eyes and reached out to Fox again. This time, the voices were much quieter; to the point that it felt like whispers that she had to struggle to listen for. However, she still couldn't touch Fox's mind. "It feels better, but I still can't touch you."

Fox sighed and put his head in his hands, after a moment, he looked up. "Can I try?"

Krystal looked over and shrugged. "If you know how, I won't stop you." Krystal pointed at her head. "It's not something we used a lot before. Do you know how?"

Fox shook his head. "No, but...I want to try." He feel silent for a moment. "Since you're memories seem to be the trigger; I'm going to try and pick up with one of the last memories I saw. I've never tried to force them through before, so I'm not sure what will happen."

Fox took his own breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the where he felt Krystal; nothing seemed to happen and he felt slightly discouraged. He turned his thoughts to the memory he had while Krystal was passed out in the cell, about the Solemn Architect. As he did so, he felt something open in his consciousness and suddenly he found himself experiencing another memory. However, this one was different, instead of living in Krystals body while seeing everything, it was almost like he was outside watching playback of a video on fast forward while blinking his eyes.

It was when she was Kursed, she seemed to be standing in an elevator on the Singsore fuming about something related to leaving.

Blink.

She was standing in a corridor, looking over her shoulder with an ill look on her face; the scent of old blood rankling her nose.

Blink.

Standing outside Solemns work room, peaking around the corner. A room covered in blood splattered violently all over the walls. An extremely mutilated body sitting strapped to a table, the source of the crimson ichor spread across the room.

Blink.

Kursed approaching the body on the table and investigating it while her stomach churned slightly at the sigh before her.

Blink.

Realization, fear, adrenaline, all fighting for control of her body as Solemn charged out of the shadows and lifted her high above his head before he swept the body off the table and slammed her down hard enough to crack several ribs. Words drifting through his mind: Traitor, never, liar; all repeating themselves for several seconds.

Blink.

Solemn holding the body from the table over Kursed, anger written in every bit of his face as he talked softly. Kursed staring in defiance as Solemn talked.

Blink.

More words floated through his head as he watched Kursed laugh: Scared, betrayal, slaughter.

Blink.

The table being surrounded by images of dead bodies, Kursed feeling sorrow as she realized she knew all of them from Aldane.

Blink.

Igan walking up to the table, a needle held in his hand as he approached.

Blink.

Kursed struggling against the bonds as Igan got closer, her nails gripping onto the grooves in the table.

Blink.

Kursed focused on Igan, the needle almost to her skin as they stared while Solemn started moving forward.

Blink.

An obviously confused Igan looking at Kursed as he hit the release button on the restraints.

Blink.

Kursed reaching up and grabbing Igans arm, twisting the needle away from her neck and into his body, jamming it in and smashing the plunger at the same time.

Blink.

Kursed feeling her claws snap into jagged points as she pushed Igan back into the charging Solemn.

Blink.

Igan being thrown like a rag doll into the wall by Solemn with one hand while reaching out for Kursed with the other.

Blink.

Kursed dodging out of the way of Solemns hand while slashing up with her broken claws.

Blink.

Wrathful joy surging through her system as Kursed dug in with her claws just below Solemns left eye, digging the jagged claws as deep into his face as she could be wrenching them up.

Blink.

Solemn roaring in pain and staggering back a step as Kursed jumped for the exit; Igans body twitching in the corner of the room.

Blink.

Dodging a wild blaster shot from Solemn as she ran down the hallway, her hair streaming out behind her.

Blink.

Kursed struggling to open the elevator doors with blood slicked hands with Solemn rounding the corner with his blaster primed.

Blink.

The elevator doors dented in by a missed shot from the blaster giving Kursed enough space to wiggle through the hole, her tail flashing as Solemn roared in anger, red lights starting to flash through the ship.

Blink.

Fox gasped as he managed to separate himself from Krystals memories, falling off his seat with a grunt. Krystal stood up and walked toward the bars, stopping just short of the field. "Fox? Are you okay? What happened?" there was a tinge of panic in her voice as Fox sat on the floor of his cell panting.

After a moment he responded. "I...I'm fine that was just a lot more intense then usual. Usually it happens between one breath and the next; but that one…" He trailed off. "I'm not sure if its because we're trying to fix our bond, or because I tried to force it, but the memory was-" He paused again, looking for the right way to describe it. "Deep, and strange. I wasn't living the memory through your body like I used to, it's like I was outside your body watching everything from a birds eye view. I had to struggle to pull myself out of it."

Krystal raised an eyearch at Fox. "Are you okay? What did you see?"

Fox looked at her as he stood up, his legs still slightly shaky, his side reminding him that he had bruised if not broken ribs as he sat down. "I saw when you left Solemn, it looked like you barely escaped." he took a deep breath. "Seeing you claw Solemns eye out, it kinda makes sense why he would put so much effort into catching you."

Krystal nodded as she moved away and sat back down, leaning back against the wall. "It was a close call getting out of this ship the first time." She gestured to the bars. "That was without being locked in the prison cells either." She sighed. "We also have to get up to the medbay and hope the Falco and Katt have had the toxin removed by now. I'm really not sure how we'll get out of this one."

"You. Don't." Krystal stood up as a female voice echoed down the hallway. "Awh…Did I interrupt couple therapy session? You both are pathetic bitches, you have so much more to worry about right now." The wolfess that walked into Krystal view had a sneer plastered across her muzzle; she was covered with red fur that darkened into a deep crimson right before it vanished into a black body suit. Her suit was armored across her chest and lower body, with pads over her kneecaps and elbows. A gas mask sat hanging off a belt on her hip, swinging with every step she took. Finger-less gloves revealed that her claws were kept purposefully sharp, with at least one finger having been broken and healed crooked. A long pony tail of white hair draped down her back to stop just above her tail, which looked like it had been burned off long ago into a stub. Krystal found her gaze pulled to the eye of the wolfess, which in the dim light of the prison area seemed to glow a dull red. Her face had several scars on it, with lots of little scars around her eyes.

Krystal leaned back against the wall of the cell. "You must be Sarah O'Donnell. Were you aware that some doctor fucked up your eye surgery? You shouldn't have that many scars if they did it right."

Sarah blinked with a small whirling noise as her cybernetic eyes refocused. "I'm sorry...Did you just insult me?" She tapped her chin with one of her sharpened claws. "You, the one who is locked up on the ship of one of the most fearsome crime lords in history? What is this, kiddo school?" she shook her head. "Fuck, I was expecting some big bad ass when Wolf told me that we were going after Kursed. But if childish insults are all you got; its no wonder Igan captured you so easily." She glanced over her shoulder at Fox. "Then there is you, the sorry fuck who quit his mercenary life to what? Race? Gods." She jerked a thumb at Krystal. "No wonder she ran away so far she had to change her name."

She focused back on Krystal. "You know, when Igan told us that you were really Krystal, I almost didn't believe him; but this kinda proved that. What the hell happened to you? You used to be a bounty hunter that was known just as much as Igan and Solemn are in the underground circles. How did the badass Bitch of Aldane come from this sorry sack of shit?"

Fox raised an eye arch as he spoke up. "Bitch of Aldane?"

Krystal shrugged, "When you bring people in for a living. You get called a lot of stuff, I've heard worst honestly."

Sarah snorted, "Your wife used to be quite the hated person." she glanced at Fox "Is she still your wife? Or did the whole faking death thing break that?" she paused. "Actually ya know what? I don't care. I just came down to tell you that the Singsore is going to be leaving Lylat soon." she pointed at Krystal. "You will still be on it" she turned towards Fox "You and your friends will be coming with us down to the mudball that we're in orbit over."

Krystal shook her head. "What are you going to do to Fox?"

Sarah reached up and rubbed one of her shoulders. "I don't rightly know. If Wolf has any brains it'll be to kill him and stop Star Fox from becoming famous again." She turned to Fox. "Last thing we need is you to become a big thing again. Our contracts go off with out a hitch, and what ever else tries to show up is not a threat. I've worked myself hard for most of my life to get to where I am, and now that things are easy, I would rather keep them that way."

Krystal laughed as she walked up to the bars. "Easy? Sarah, I've got real bad news for you. Nothing is easy once Solemn gets involved, and now that hes in the Lylat system, hes going to want to exploit whatever he can out of the system." She pointed at Sarah through the bars. "That means that anybody who could be considered a threat to his expansion will have to be eliminated. Last I checked, that includes you and you're little group of people." Krystal laughed hollowly again. "Tell me, has he offered you a contract to help him in the system yet?"

Sarah blinked as she turned back to Krystal. "Like it matters to you, in the next hour, the Singsore will be on its way, and you'll be on your way to a very painful death."

Krystal scoffed. "Yeah, I doubt that."

Sarah scowled in return as she walked up to the bars of Krystals cell. "Oh yeah, and why is that?"

Krystal smiled viciously at Sarah. "Because cybernetic implants aren't allowed in the prison deck."

Before Sarah could respond, Krystal reached out through the bars and grabbed Sarah by the shoulders, pulling her forward and slamming her head into the bars letting go as Sarah's face made contact, triggering an emergency electrical shock device built into the bars. The charge built into the bars passed through Sarah's face and through her eyes, directly into her brain. Sarah screeched as the electricity ran its way through her entire nervous system, and after a few seconds, her brain decided it had enough and shut down, sending the wolfess into unconsciousness.

Before her body could fall back, Krystal reached back out through the bars, making sure she didn't touch them and held Sarah's body up with her hands. "What ar-?" "Shh." Krystal cut off Fox's question as she slowly shuffled the limp body across the small section of bars, making sure she pulled her hands in before she made contact with the bars. When she got to the edge, Krystal adjusted her grip and reached further out into the hallway, relying on her memory to locate the control pad for the cell. She smiled as she felt the panel and located the one button that was smaller then the rest that opened the cell door. As the bars slid down into the ground Krystal let Sarah drop to the floor, her body hitting the plates with a metallic sounding thud. Krystal raised an eyebrow at the wolfess. "Yeah, they really should have not let her in down here."

She walked over to Fox's cell and hit the button to release his bars, as he stepped out, he paused next to Sarah and felt her neck for a pulse. He sighed softly when he felt the pulse beating steadily. "What the hell just happened? How did you get your hands out through the bars?"

Krystal reached down and grabbed the gas mask off of Sarah's belt, testing to see if it would fit her before tossing it away. "It's like I said, cybernetics aren't allowed on the prison deck. The electric field that deploys works on heat sensors, since most cybernetics derive their energy from body heat; it freaks them out. Renders them unable to see when something is getting close to deploy the energy field." Krystal looked at Fox and tapped the side of her eye. "I figure Sarah's eyes would trip the system, when she got close and no field appeared, I took my shot." She glanced down the hallway where Sarah had come from. "Thankfully Igan let that one slip by accident when he told me to lock up a target because he had his eye piece on him." She looked back at Fox. "What's important, is it worked, and we're now free of the cells."

Fox crossed his arms. "With no weapons, no idea what we're up against, no idea where Katt and Falco are aside from med bay, and no idea where to go to get off this ship."

Krystal shook her head. "Wrong, one, I doubt it will be our gear, but there is a lock up at the start of this deck, we should be able to find and use something there. Two, I have a pretty good idea of what were up against, and I'm willing to bet I'm overestimating. Solemn is paranoid, he showed me how many people he killed from his outfit when he captured me the first time. I'm willing to bet he culled quite a few people after I escaped, either as punishment, or to make sure he cut out anybody I 'corrupted' against him. Three, I know where we are, and more importantly, I know where the med deck is, finding Katt and Falco won't be easy once we're there. But if Igan used his needles on them, that's where they have to be. Solemn's work room doesn't have enough space to hold the antitoxin. Four, I used to have almost free run of this ship, and there is no way to make the type of changes to a ship of this size; in how little its been since I've been here to render my memory useless. I doubt we could make it to the main hanger, but there are several side and private hangers we could get to; and even if none of them have ships, there are escape pods." Krystal paused. "The only hard part of this is doing this without being spotted by any of the security systems." She gestured around the hallway. "I never knew why, but they never put any cameras in the prison hallway, they always relied on the sensors to let them know when one of the doors was deactivated."

Fox faced the same way as Krystal, stepping over Sarah. "So, they know we're out of our cells then, should we expect trouble at any moment?"

Krystal shook her head. "If no alarms are going off by now, there is nobody coming. Kinda proves my point about the culling." she glanced down at Sarah, before she started walking down the hall. "I'm betting that Igan put her in charge of security, told her to watch the sensors and not come down."

Fox nodded along before adding in, "Igan probably didn't explain why, and so Sarah ignored his orders to come and taunt us." the two of them started walking down the hallway. "Still, if what she said is true, we don't have a lot of time to get off of this ship before it gets out of range of Lylat."

Krystal nodded as they walked, scanning the cells they passed to see if anybody was currently in any of them. "Agreed, but lets focus on getting some weapons before we worry about trying to get out of here. That and the Singsore is an impressive ship, but it will still take it some time to get to a point where it can jump out of Lylat."

The pair walked in silence for the minute or so it took to reach the large bulkhead that sealed off the prison area from its processing center. Krystal reached out and laid a hand over the control panel, her finger on the open button. She closed her eyes and tried again to sense anybody around, but the sense of malice that dominated the ship was still to strong for her to pickup on anybody.

She sighed and opened her eyes, looking over her shoulder at Fox, who was no longer holding his side. "I just thought of something." She raised an eyearch at his statement, inviting him to continue. "Why would somebody who is known for his elaborate control and plans, set the one person on Wolf's team that could interfere with the security system in charge or watching us?"

Krystal looked back at the door. "Yeah," she paused and sighed. "I didn't want to say anything, but that thought did cross my mind." she paused again. "There's something else I should let you know. I didn't find Falco and Katt with my mind, there's some sort of...heaviness that's blocking me from feeling anybody except people physically close to me."

Fox moved over to the other side of the door. "That's not good, I was hoping we would have that to stay undetected." he paused and nodded at her. "We've handled things before without it though, despite everything, I trust you. Whatever is waiting for us, we'll handle it. You go through first, and distract whatever is waiting for us. I follow up and try to disarm them or get a handle of things."

Krystal nodded. "If there is anything waiting for us, try and make a break for the guard lockup, it should be on the left side and have at least something to stun people with. We can worry about getting through the turnstile that blocks off the rest of the ship once we know the area is safe."

Fox focused on the door and readied himself to move. "Alright, hit it."

Krystal pushed the button and as the doors opened, she slid through the gap, taking a moment to take in her surroundings. The intake area hadn't changed much, the were still a wall of bars that ran through the room, with a turnstile in the middle to allow entrances to the prison. On the other side of the wall, there was a reinforced box that served as the guard room to watch as bounties and targets we're brought in. Against the wall next to the elevator that served as access to the rest of the ship was set of lock boxes that held confiscated gear, there was also a table that had several nero-input needles with the ability to shut down most cybernetics to prevent them from being used against the security systems.

Krystal noticed all of this as she scanned the room in between her first steps. Then she noticed a new addition of a bunch of crates with a chair behind them; however it was who was sitting in the chair that caused her to plant her feet and come to a stop.

Wolf O'Donnell hadn't changed much in the years, he had kept his outfit more or less intact, his dark jacket with studs on the shoulders, black combat boots that were propped up on the crates. His visor had gotten several upgrades and covered most of the right side of his face now. He looked a little older, but was mostly still in good shape, his pants and jacket hugging his body and showing off his body. His face had a scowl on it, and in his hands, he held his custom blaster which was pointed at Krystal, who stopped when she saw him raise it slightly and shake his head.

After a brief pause he spoke. "I'm going to hope you had the sense to not kill my wife back there."

Krystal blinked and straightened up from her stance. "Shocked out, but not dead, Fox checked."

Wolf shook his head. "Lucky you." He lowered his blaster slightly. "Come on out Pup, or I'll shoot your girl here."

Fox walked out from the door corner with his hands up. "I'm here Wolf, don't do anything rash."

Wolf rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like piss off the Solemn Architect." Wolf paused and swung his feet off the crates, leaning forward. "So, lets talk Pups, I've got some questions, and depending on your answers, I'll decide if I'm going to shoot you right here and now."

Krystal crossed her arms. "Or?"

Wolfs smile was tinted with malice as he answered. "Or if I turn you over to Igan instead."

Personally, I love this way more then the old chapter. The old one was forced, and was advancing the story to fast, I wrote them into a bad situation, and then wrote them out of it before it could be bad. It was like whiplash in word form.

As to why I forced it? Well, if you read my semi alright Christmas story, you know most of it. When I first started writing, I battled with Depression and loneliness. I had no right to have to struggle with them, my life wasn't and isn't bad by any means. I just felt very separated from the world, and it led to some bad thoughts. Then I found writing, and suddenly, those bad thoughts had a purpose. They were the coals I shoveled into my furnace, that Depression that I wrapped myself in? I used it to write, I got my feelings out with words, with scenes, ideas, conversations, all with people I was controlling and creating. It freed me, honestly, from a lot of what I was dealing with.

So, what happened?

Simple. I got happy. I got a job where I felt respected, found a girlfriend who loved me, who married me, bought a house with me, adopted dogs with me. I wasn't alone, and for once, my mind accepted that fact. I wasn't depressed all the time anymore, I wasn't lonely all the time anymore. This had a profound effect on my writing drive. little things like Star Fox Destines didn't require much from me, and so those were easier to work on. But big chapters like this guy, or anything that required delicate dancing of words? Man. Those suffered. This was all made worse by a complete HDD and backup HDD crash that wiped all of my work. The last chapter 19 was written completely off the cuff with none of my notes or usual planning. When I lost over a decade of writing, it really destroyed my drive to try and do things. Then, out of a sense of guilt, I forced myself to write chapter 19, thinking that it would fix all the problems.

It did not.

You know what did?

My Wife.

As a quick background, my wife illustrates with colored pencils, if you want an idea of her work, you can check out the new Dead Planet cover that should be up. My Christmas gift this year from her, is a comic form version of Chapter 1 of Dead Planet. Y'all, I was floored. But, in the reveal of this, we got to talking, and she asked me why I stopped writing after we got together, and I hate to say it, It took SIX years for my brain to connect all the dots and my eureka moment to hit.

So, I started looking for a new reason to write, and I'm pretty sure I found it.

To. That. Note.

Chapter 20 is about 20% done. I have the rough outline of what I want to happen laid out, and I'm ready to actually start putting words to document. I Vow to you all, here and now, I will FINISH Dead Planet this year. But not rushed; properly, with what I set out to complete all those years ago.

If you've stuck with me this long. Hang on a little longer, We're approaching the finish line, and it'll be one hell of a trip.

As always,

Peace,

-Emile

PS-If you've already reviewed Chapter 19, You'll need to either PM or Review a different chapter. I can't delete reviews without flagging them as spam.