Chapter 2

Fox stood in a void. Nothing surrounded him but darkness and emptiness. Then a light came up illuminating what appeared to be a door inside of a ship. Looking closer at it, it was the main door to the entrance of the Great Fox. Fox stepped closer to it until it opened. Out walked a blue furred fox wearing a loincloth covering only her bear essentials. "...and that's to say thank you." she said looking directly at him. He watched as she took a step forward only to see it fly away like her foot was made of dust. Soon the rest of her and the scene around her vanished. Fox stood quietly and bewildered by what he had just seen. His mind had no time to think more on it as the light came back.

This time he saw Krystal leaning over a railing trying to get a look at all of Corneria city. She wore a grey sweatshirt and a pair of loose fitting jeans that both belonged to Fox. "It's gigantic Fox. How can anyone find their way around?" She looked at Fox. "Fox?" She started to disappear like last time. Only now it was just her body and the background. Krystal's face still stayed in place as her clothes and the background around her changed.

This time she was in her black and purple flight suit inside the Great Fox's master bedroom. Krystal held a wine glass of amber liquid to her lips. She was a little tipsy but not drunk. "I can't believe we did it Fox. The aparoid are gone thanks to us. That was maybe the toughest battle you or I will ever have to deal with." She wrapped her arms around Fox slowly making sure not to spill her glass. "Now it's just us together. Nothing can get between us. Not after all the things we've been through together." Her embrace felt warmer than anything Fox could ever remember. She leaned in and closed her eyes with Fox doing the same. Her warm arms seemed to let way in an instant without him able to look. He no longer felt her embrace or even own his arms around her.

He opened his eyes to see what he could only describe as the fire and fury of Krystal. "...and what am I supposed to do?! Sit here like I'm some trophy you feel like you need to protect! I'm not going to sit here while you die up there like your father!" She raised a hand and slapped his muzzle. This sent him backwards in a hundred eighty degree turn.

Looking up, he saw Krystal was already there sitting down on a bed with her back to him. "Fox…" She said in a low saddening voice. "...if you leave tomorrow. Don't expect me to be here when you get back." Fox quickly ran to her. Just before he got there, a force pulled him back. He tried to run back to her and the harder he tried to run forward, the stronger the pulling force got. He fought and fought to try to get back to Krystal. A bright light came behind him where the force was pulling him into. The light became brighter every second and soon it was all he could see. Once nothing else was in sight he gave up. The force dragged him harder than he anticipated it could. Fox looked back to see a black spec. The spec got bigger until Fox could clearly see what it was. A tombstone that read 'Fox McCloud, Hero to Lylat, Saviour of Sauria, Alone to the bitter end.' Fox tried to close his eyes but couldn't. He could only watch the tombstone get larger until eventually…

Dauntless' master bedroom

Fox woke up in a cold sweat. He quickly felt himself up to make sure he wasn't dead. Falling back onto the bed letting a sigh of relief leaving his body. He wiped his face away from the sweat that had accumulated. "Fuck I hate that dream." He said nearly out of breath. Dreams like this came to him regularly with varying intensity. This was one of the more Intense ones that he would have.

The door to his bathroom was open and illuminated by a small in floor light. Standing up and walking toward his bathroom he noticed that most of him was still covered in sweat. "I think I need a shower." He said allowed to no one.

"Right away sir." A feminine voice said behind him. Fox nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden appearance and voice of Nova. He heard the shower start up in the other room. "Sir, my scanners show that your heart rate has elevated. Are you feeling alright?" Getting a grip on his breath, he became able to answer.

"Yes Nova. Sorry but you startled me." She stood holding her holographic clipboard. The holographic feline watched Fox in his every movement.

"If this is the case then I should apologize for startling you. Your shower has been preheated to ninety eight degrees fahrenheit. Call out my name if you would like the temperature raised or lowered."

"I think that is all I need from you. Thank you Nova." Fox said to her.

"You're welcome captain." She said. Within a the next few seconds she began to flatten into nothingness. Fox walked to his shower trying to figure out what he was going to do today. 'Probably just scour the internet for news clippings and segments about pirates until I get bored and go to the gym like always.' After only a few minutes he got out of the shower and left his room.

Fox sat in the briefing room going over news reports of piracy and colony raids. Fox used the past two weeks to gather information aboard his ship. A holographic projection of the Kew system lay on the table as he used it to mark areas with reported sightings of the pirates. From what he could tell the majority of groups had similar patterns of operation suggesting that there's a boss above the gangs. Though he could only get so much of news reports and internet searches. His real meat and bones would come from reconesses he would have to do himself.

Knowing that the best place to start was gain a few friends, or guns for hire, in the Kewain capital of Icarus. He was going to make his first move very soon as a scare tactic to make his presence in this system known. He had a plan to eliminate a group of pirates that had already destroyed two cargo vessels. These pirates were getting a bit cocky as they failed to make any maneuvers when flying back to their base. Fox had a nearly zeroed in location of where the pirates flew out of but it was surrounded by mountains and other obstacles that would give him away in a heartbeat. He needed a team of trained professionals to carry out his missions alongside as professional as he could get his hands on.

His notes were placed in front of him in a spreadsheet displayed by the hologram. Scrolling through them to make sure he missed nothing about the enemy. A familiar blue hue came from behind. "Captain, we are approaching the Kew system. In forty minutes we will be on Kewain orbit. We will begin deceleration momentarily."

"Thank you Nova." Fox said. The ship began to visibly slow down as could be seen by the stars slowing until they didn't move at all. It didn't mean he wasn't moving at all just meant the stars were far enough away where he could no longer see them move with his ship. Fox kept his eyes on the holo screen trying to find more information about the base he decided to invade. Problem was the number of personal anyone thought was inside. The base was built outside Icarus inside a nearby mountain range and if any initial reports were to be believed, there were anywhere from ten to fifty soldiers and sailors. Once he got in orbit, Fox would see if he could launch a recon satellite to remap the area where the base stand. Hopefully he would get the entire base in his system to make a plan of attack.

Now he still needed a team to back him up in his upcoming mission. Fox walked back to his hangar to get inside his arwing. He knew of an underground system where you could get nearly anything. The Sion Market was based in Icarus and let almost anyone in so long as they contributed to the well-being of the market. All expect for pirates. The piracy and raiding of passing ships left the market dry sometimes. All of the lost cargo and resources made the leaders of Sion grow weary and distasteful of the pirates. This was prevalent to Fox who sought to make friends with the leaders of Sion. Fox hoped that his reputation would be big enough in this part of the galaxy to get some kind of trust and respect with Sion. Maybe even enough to become allies with the influential market.

Within around ten minutes of being in the Kewain planet's orbit, Fox set out in his arwing to find Sion and people who could help him on his mission. Only rumors ever came to him of where the market could be but from what Fox speculated it was more than one. All he had to do is find one if them and Fox would be set. One place said to be a marketplace was the spaceport itself. Fox landed his arwing and looked around at the city surrounding the port. Kew had an estimated thirty million people and a little under half of them lived here. It definitely showed too as this was the only place in Kew big enough to support ships that could travel from system to system. Ships of all sizes lay in the spaceport in various stages of loading and unloading. Most of them were transport ships sent with cargo to deliver from larger ships. Soon a fuel truck drove up to Fox's arwing. Out stepped a weasel and a husky wearing jumpsuits. The weasel walked to the back of the truck where the hose usually was while the husky walked to Fox.

"How much do you need?" The husky asked.

"I'm not going to need any right now but I would like a hangar space for tonight." Fox said. The weasel walked back to the truck and brought out a tablet. He handed it to Fox who saw it was a rental slip.

"Sign here and state how long it will be." The weasel said. Fox did so but thought of a question that might give him a clue to where ever the market might be.

"Hey, do you guys know about any place I could make a quick profit?" Both looked at Fox. Then the husky spoke up.

"If you're referring to what I think you are, stop. It doesn't exist." The husky said in an almost rehearsed voice. "Just sign here and we'll put your arwing in a private hangar." Knowing he wouldn't get anymore out of these two he complied and sign his name. "Thank you Mr.," he looked at the name and stopped, "Mr. McCloud." Both fuel truck workers stared at Fox.

"Can we put my ship in its hangar now?" Fox said. The two workers nodded along with a few 'yes sirs.' They ran back to the truck and extended a long metal boom that attached to the arwings front gear. Fox sat inside the cockpit as the craft got towed away into its own hangar. The hangar was much bigger than his arwing probably able to fit at least two more in front of his. The two workers drove out of the hangar leaving Fox alone with the massive building. Some offices looked to be in the far corner with blacked out windows. Fox looked a bit closer at the windows trying to see what maybe behind them. One of the windows looked to be propped open a small bit and that was the one Fox paid attention too. It would make no difference in the end however. A popping noise came from the open window and Fox felt something hit his shoulder. Fox felt his head become heavy and fell down on the ground. His last sight was a large set bulldog walking towards him and kneeling down next to him.

"I almost didn't believe them. So who do you work for." Fox heard him say before slipping out of consciousness.

A/N: Sorry this took so long especially for how short it was. Originally it was longer but I figured if I stretched it out I could make 1 maybe even 2 chapters of what I had originally written. Anyways like I said in the last chapter of Hero's updates are going to come out slower. Sorry :(

Until next time LONEW0LF signing out