Foxmerc. You would have been able to guess the model before but I deviated too much as I hammered out her personailty to be more unique. Maybe you still can, but I doubt it. Five gold stars to you if you do.

EDIT: Last third of the chapter has been edited drastically. You'll want to read it again. Chapter 4 is on the way.

Chapter Three: Marie and Aryn

"Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own." ~Carl Jung

=-=-=-=

Friday, April 20th, 38 PLW

Cornerian University of Aerospace Science

Lecture Room 203

1522 Hours

=-=-=-=

It had been two months since Marc was carted off to Katina for his super soldier training, and my second year of University was in it's final throes. Despite the final rush for exams, nothing could make Prof. Greyson's lectures less boring. I was often told that most of the will to listen to the boring stuff came from knowing its significance to your area of study... and if that was true, I either didn't think astrophysics was my area of study, or I simply didn't care about science in general.

All I cared about when I was picking out programs was impressing my parents. I didn't realize just how big of a commitment I was making when I decided to delve into the biggest geek fest possible... and now I was paying for it.

There was no summer-holiday excitement despite the fact our final exams were only a weekend away. I was as sleepy and laid back as I was through every lecture. I don't even know how I would have got even this far if Aryn hadn't been around to let me copy his notes. I was really lucky to have him around; I'd known him since we were in diapers and yet he ends up being the son of the teacher of my hardest courses.

Lecture room 203 was the most drab room imaginable for an equally drab subject; Advanced Astronomy II. At first it was the easiest course I had, because we were going through basics like planet identification and labeling; but as soon as we got into how specific conditions on a planet affect certain features, like tectonic activity and the presence of water, the sleeping cap went on. The room was a stereotypical, beige walled lecture chamber with a podium at the front where Professor Greyson stood in front of a large chalkboard coated in all kinds of random crap I wasn't paying attention to. I was in the back row, elevated above his peering gaze, my chin resting on an empty note page with my eyes fluttering open with every exclamation in his speech, only to flutter closed again. Sleep was so close...

"... leading to a catastrophic...."

"... only in perfect conditions can a ...."

"... is an effective solution to this problem, although..."

"... end of the day, but can we make an effort to pay attention, Miss McCloud?"

Mention of my name snapped me awake like an alarm clock. All of the dozens of eyes in the classroom were on me. Great.

"Err, yes, professor. I'm sorry."

"You've been sorry each of the two hundred twenty six times I've caught you. Can I not have your attention for at least the last one?"

"You counted?"

"I only need count the amount of lectures I've given you, because you have fallen asleep for every single one." Boom. Mass laughter. I couldn't offer him a rebuke, and I certainly wasn't up for defending myself when I was surrounded by eager, waiting eyes just demanding that I do something funnier. The professor simply shook his head, and continued. The attention of the room quickly slided back to him and the laughing quieted... except for one pair of eyes. Aryn's. My eyes met his, but all he could offer me was a shrug. After granting him a smile, I shifted my focus back to Mr. Greyson.

"Now, before I let you all go, allow me to remind you that your final exams will be in this room, Monday morning at ten o'clock. Bring ink pens only, as all other equipment and essentials shall be provided. You are dismissed."

The relative quiet of the classroom was shatttered by the sudden shifting of desks, budding conversations and the shuffling of coats and book bags. Being very quick to toss my notebook in my backpack, I was in front of the wave squeezing through the door at the bottom platform of the room.

I started down the hallway in the opposite direction of the parking lot and residence buildings that everyone else was heading for... I was heading to the "Community wing" to clock in some time at the flight simulators. Well, they weren't true flight simulators persay, more of an arcade game, but they were still plenty of fun. As I walked, apparently alone, I heard another set of footsteps rapidly approaching me from behind. Realizing there was only one person who would bother following me around, I didn't bother turning to see who it was.

"Uhh, Marie?" the snow leopard Aryn Greyson was hot on my tail, quickly catching up and matching my pace. "Are you going to the flight sims again?"

I gave him a confident smile. "Of course! What better a way to burn time on a friday night?"

He didn't buy my ruse, his expression was one of genuine worry. "Marie, I know you aren't ready for the exams next week. I... I can help you study, if you let me-" I reserved a giggle in my head. He absolutely refused to let me down.

I interupted him. "I appreciate it, Aryn, but I just wanna shoot off some steam. I'll study with you tomorrow, okay?"

He sighed with vexation. "Well, I might as well waste a few credits in the arcade with you, then, considering I'm actually ready for the exams." Since we first started taking classes together, the only times he would every speak upfront with me was when he knew he had the upper hand in some important matter or another. He was a sweetheart, sure, but he was always naturally compelled to condenscend on people he knew were dumber than him.

Meaning, pretty much everyone. He could probably program an auto pilot to land a cargo freighter on a rotating asteroid before a breathing pilot in a space superiority fighter could make the same landing.

The community center wasn't far away from room 203, a large archway in the brick wall pulled us in. It was probably my favourite place in the whole school. Being the junkier of the two food courts, there were several big chain fast food restaurants with their booths set into the wall all along the right side, with rows of circular tables and their attached seats convenienly placed near them. The other side was the "recreation corner", or for those of us younger than fifty, the Arcade. There were a few people in the wing, some doing homework at the food court tables or actually eating, and a couple people at the arcade... but it was pretty quiet. The dull rumble of limited chatter in the big room wasn't any louder than a whisper to an observer. No suprise, considering everyone would be immediately heading home for the weekend.

There were some really old machines in there, but a few of them were freshly installed; like the flight sim games. Some of them were actually pretty realistic and challenging. Being the freak-behind-the-yoke that I am, I only went for the most skullbustingly hard ones. Aryn did too, but I wasn't sure if that was a coincidence or not. I tried to respark our conversation. "So, which games have you been into lately?"

Aryn stopped by one of the open pods; like eggs with hinged doors on them with a pretty decent replica of a fighter cockpit inside. "Um... Raging Skies Two is pretty good, good challenge. Er, good fun, I mean."

I scoffed. "Oh, comon Aryn, I know you can do better than that. Lets break into some Gauntlet Run Three!"

"Are you serious? I thought that game got a whole bunch of crappy reviews because they made it too hard."

"Too hard for people that suck, anyway. Are you gonna try it with me, or not?" It was a rhetorical question, of course. It was hard feeling guilty for taking advantage of his dogged crush on me; it was too much fun to mess with him. I moved to one of the appropriately labeled pods and hopped in. I saw him roll his eyes, but he grabbed the pod opposite of me. As the lid descended, I was thrown into darkness only lit by the screens simulating the cockpit windows. Screw astronomy. The cockpit was where my mind was... as much as Mom would always tell me to avoid the life of a pilot the best I could... it just felt right with me. Maybe because I knew there was a life of excitement in it, or maybe because I felt I could make a difference behind the yoke. I didn't care at the time really. Those were just simulators. Video games. The only thing I was shooting at was a hunk of data in the pod's hard drive... a comforting realization every time I snapped my head back into reality.

I grabbed the cheap plastic headset from a hook on the roof and put it on, then jammed a couple of credit chips into the slot on the console in front of me. The cockpit screens, once randomly cycling through gameplay footage, all stopped moving and showed me a menu. The game's AI voice spoke.

"Welcome to Gauntlet Run III! Please select a-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know all this already." Thankfully, although the AI in these machines were simple and cheap, the could at least understand commands to skip useless or redundant information. "Load profile Star Fox Three, password I hate quantum mechanics."

"Profile loaded. Welcome back, Marie McCloud. Please select a difficulty and stage."

"Turn the difficulty up to level ten, and... oh..." Picking a stage was the hard part. What did I feel like doing? There was a stage for each planet in the Lylat system, each with a different type of mission. "Go to Katina. I'm up for a turkey shoot."

A turkey shoot is exactly what that was; it was a replica stage of the battle for Katina forty years ago... the impossible battle that my own dad intervened in when he was even younger than me, and ultimately allowed the Cornerians to win. It was characterized by a featureless landscape, and a veritable ton of low quality fighters bearing down on you to the point where it was difficult to manuever without accidentally crashing into another fighter, friend or foe alike.

A prime candidate for someone like me, just looking for an excuse to lay on the trigger finger to relieve some stress. Maybe that desire in combination with maximum level difficulty was kind of dumb, but my day wouldn't be complete without showing up Mr. Genius in the player two pod, would it?

The moment the AI was finished processing my request, I was plunged into a virtual battlefield as realistic looking as the actual thing. This game always put you into the cockpit of an old Comet class snub fighter, the standard shieldless, bomb-less, lock-less, single laser tin can that pilots were forced to bludgeon into combat with when Andross caught them all with their pants down. Every time the stats of the vessel went through my mind I would feel a twang of remorse for every man that lost their lives in one of those tin cans... but at least the flying skeets that were the Invader-II fighters that swarmed that planet were even worse. I had a maneuverability advantage on them, which was plenty enough.

My fighter was auto-piloted out of the big pyramid building in the center of the battlefield, and as soon as I was up in the air, I was given control of my fighter. The word "GO!" was flashed across my screen. Also, smaller, less conspicuous text on the LCD display in front of me offered me an alert. "AGxTHExSCIENCExGUY has joined the game." A green downwards arrow coloured green with a big A in the center was flashing on my canopy window signifying Aryn's location.

I grinned. "Last to one-fifty kills buys dinner!"

My headset crackled to life, Aryn being equally enthusiastic. "You're on!"

.... He was close, but I was really hungry, and didn't want to wait until I got back to the dorms to eat.

=-=-=-=

1703 Hours

=-=-=-=

An hour and a half later, after Aryn treated me to his promised fast food dinner and we said our goodbyes, I found myself wandering the halls alone. They were pretty muched emptied out save janitorial staff here and there carrying out their final daily rounds. I was heading to the library that I know was always open until at least seven every night. I promised myself to take two hours of studying without any chance of social interuption, then I would go all out with some of my girlfriends the next day.

Rather than thinking about how I was going to manage gaining a thorough knowledge of a subject I had previously paid no attention to in three days, my mind was dwelling on Aryn. He was such a dork but... I was starting to like him back. We were always childhood friends, so at first I didn't think to react to his crush as any more than a phase he was going through, and that he would eventually gain some sense and back off.

But he didn't... and I was starting to think maybe he actually loved me. It was an uncomfortable thought at the time. Not a scary one, a gross out or an out right rejection... I just didn't think I was ready. Did I like him? Kinda. He was cute, dedicated, smart, and didn't have a bad body either but...

I have to admit, I dwelled on that fleeting thought for a moment. Ohh... I could just see him on top of me, pinning my arms to the headrest and sending his paw snaking up my thigh to my.....

That's enough of that.

They say Mr. Opportunity knocks at least once in someones life. As I continued down the hall, I could have swore I heard him when I noticed a door I had always ignored. It was completely lacking in labels or other features other than two: A black plate sign with bold white text. "STUDENT EXAMINATION RECORDS. STAFF ONLY.", and a small window that offered no light from the inside. No one was there.

Was I a mischevious person? Some times... but even then I couldn't believe I was considering what I was about to do. My drive to avoid the painful efforts of studying begged me to go inside. It would be as easy as picking the door with my hairpin and I could just waltz in and nab one of the marked tests from the previous year's class... there was no one else in the hall, and I couldn't see any cameras nearby.

Checking my surroundings again, I decided to test my luck, quickly pulling my hairpin out and bending it into an appropriate shape. Another trick that Aryn taught me, ironically. He was such a golden boy but couldn't resist the call of invention and tinkering; one time when we were younger we wanted access to my dad's old hangar shed just out of curiosity... I had to see the Arwing with my own eyes. Aryn looked up on the extranet how to make a lockpick out of a hairpin and that was that.... I got in trouble when my dad heard the accidentally started Arwing's engines, but it was all worth it in the end.

Was my exhibitionism going to be worth it this time, though? Only one way to find out.

My efforts were shortly rewarded with the musical tumbling of the locks into the open position, and my heartbeat picked up as the door swung open for me. I closed it behind me quietly, pulling out my persacom and turning on the screen to offer a makeshift flashlight.

The room was pretty big, lined with filing cabinet after filing cabinet all labeled with a course code and a teacher name. Not spending a second of trespassing more than I had to, I quickly scanned one after the other before discovering they were in alphabetical order by the Prof.'s last name. I scimmed down a couple of aisles towards where I thought I would find G.

Sure enough, the GREYSON, SKYE cabinet was in my grasp moments later. I was gratified to find it wasn't locked. I pulled the drawers open, flipping through courses that were organized by folder until I found my mark. Bingo... last years Astronomy II exam papers.

"Marie McCloud... What am I going to do with you?"

My heart froze, slowly turning around to find the last person in the world I wanted to. Professor Greyson. How I didnt hear him walk in or open the door, I would never know. But then I remember the stories of what he used to be before a teacher... and before a Star Fox pilot... a special forces officer.

The snow leopard was standing there, in his lab coat with his paws to his hips, shaking his head. I imagine if I saw the look on my own face I would have laughed; but at the time I was shaken with pure terror, and my facial expression reflected that in kind. I didn't know what to say, so I stood there like a deer in the headlights.

"I would have let you go in any other circumstance, but the thermal cameras in this room already caught you. I think we had better go to my office and have a little talk."

I obeyed. What choice did I have? He started for the door and I was on his tail; the question of how he had tracked me so easily springing to mind. My horrified expression melted to one of pure shame, but Skye didn't turn around to face me. "Your parents are going to be furious. I know I would be, if Aryn was in your position."

I croaked. "You're going to call my parents?"

"Well, would you rather be the one to tell them you've been expelled?"

I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "Ex...Expelled?!"

"I doubt you read the registration information package to know, but there's no second chance for something like this. I'll soften the blow as much as I can, but the fact remains that your career here is officially over."

I bowed my head. That was it then. I threw two years down the drain just like that. A thin trail of tears were left in my wake on the hallway floor.

"You know, I wouldn't be too devastated if I were you. For one, your parents can very easily afford your attendance here, so financially, this isn't a problem. Your educational record will be botched completely, but I have a feeling that you have a different calling altogether. It wouldn't have come to any suprise to either myself if you had failed out regardless whether you successfully cheated or not... your passion obviously lies elsewhere."

I would have argued, but I was definitely not in the place to anger the man who was going to be telling the story of my failure to Mom and Dad... but I did have a question. "What do you mean?"

"Aryn often speaks of your scorings in the flight simulators in the community wing. Have you never considered taking up your fathers love for flying? It appears to have passed down nicely through your lineage."

"Those... they're just video games, professor. I doubt I would be any good in an actual fighter."

"That is for your father to decide, I think." He pulled a key out of his white lab coat and stopped at the door I knew lead to his office. He cracked it open, and tossed the coat aside onto the floor messily before turning the light on, revealing a very simple white T-shirt and blue jeans underneath. It was kind of hard looking at him in a non-professional light after him being my teacher for two years, but I supposed I could get used to it again. "Regardless, I think now is the time for you to stop calling me professor. I always hated that title. If I were a mere professor I wouldn't be actively creating new weapons for the military. President Toad, Lt. Commander Spaniel, Dr. Trace, and heres me, the one who invented the G-Diffuser, the lowly professor. I would like to think I earned my three doctorates, considering I had to take them all again upon regaining my Cornerian citizenship."

He shook his head with a sigh, taking a seat behind his desk. For the first time, I noticed his significant collection of awards and diplomas all framed neatly on the walls. "Before I call your parents, we need to discuss a couple of things." He beckoned to the chair in front of him, and I took it, my paws still clenched together in nervousness. My crying had stopped, but the tears I had shed left their marks in the matted down fur on my cheeks.

"Like?" I said weakly. I quickly tried to clear my throat.

"For one, do you actually have an interest in learning to fly? It requires a dedication far beyond one of a student, and if you show the same enthusiasm for it as you do in my lectures I am afraid your doom is sealed."

I nodded. "I've always wanted to fly, but every time me or Marcus ever mentioned wanting to take up a military life I could always see that twinkle in their eyes... the one where I knew they were worried they would out live us... Mom cried for a week when Marcus ran off to military school." I paused, wiping away some of the tear droplets gathering on my fur. "I just wanted them to be happy with me, you know? I didn't want to put the pressure on them that I might never come home... I guess I was scared."

"Well, that's rather odd." He looked at me, apparently puzzled. "It was your own father that told me that he was distraught at the fact neither of you wanted to learn to fly. Have you never seen the way he looked at his old Arwing before he sold the machine? I think you very well may have improperly psychoanalyzed him. Your mother I cannot be positive about... but I am willing to bet your father would not be so ashamed if we were to tell him you dropped out to have him teach you to fly."

"You mean it?" I smiled for the first time since I left Aryn in the cafeteria. "You won't tell my parents what happened?"

He shook his head again, with a mild smile on. "I do however, need you to promise me something in return."

"Anything."

"You must, in turn, teach Aryn everything you learn... for when you inevitably start your own unit, you will need a certified Arwing mechanic. I do not want my son flying with you without him being aptly prepared for combat."

The request caught me completely off guard. Not only was he going so far to predict that I was going to be taking up my father's legacy completely, but he also predicted that Aryn would want to go with me. Who said I was even going to take up the life of a mercenary? Or even try for one of the military's few R64 model Arwing squadrons? Better yet, who said I wanted to bring Aryn with me?!

I guessed that wasn't such a stretch, though, after I thought about it for a bit. What the hell else was I going to do? And who the hell else was I going to bring?

"I should probably warn you though, it's going to be difficult swaying your mother, not to mention hiding the fact you were expelled, considering her abilities."

It was my turn to shake my head. "Actually, she can't read family members, only talk to us. So, not a problem..."

"And as for the fact you're going to be following your brother onto the warpath?"

I sighed. It wasn't all going to be flowery meadows after all. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, I guess."

He reached for his phone. "Without further ado, then, let's get your parents on speakerphone. I think you had better let me do the talking, though."

"You'll get no agrument from me, professor."

"Can you at least call me Doctor?" With one paw, he rapidly typed out my house comm number on his communicator, before pressing the "speaker-phone" button. We stayed silence as the tell-tale pending-response beeping filled the room.

Click. "McCloud residence." it was my dad.

"Fox?"

"Skye! What's up?"

"Unfortunately I am calling as a teacher rather than a friend, today, Fox. I'm here with Marie."

"Huh? Is everything okay?"

"Not entirely. You are probably already aware of her dwindling performance?"

An uncomfortable silence."...Yes, go on."

"Well, we had a chat today, and it appears she wishes to drop out from the program entirely."

"What? ..You're not serious, right? I mean, I thought teaching physics was what she wanted to do so I..." A pause. "What the hell do you mean, Skye? She's just dropping out, just like that? It's been two years. I thought she was happy there."

"It's best she catch herself before involving herself in a career she has no interest, in. Her attention has been waning for months, I don't think this should really be coming as a suprise."

"No, I suppose not. Still, I hope she has an idea about what she wants to do now... and be damn sure she wants to go through with this. I just... a hundred grand down the toilet. I ain't that rich anymore."

"She admitted to me today that she wishes to take up flying when she submitted her resignation papers."

I was kinda perturbed that he said that, since he more or less shoved the suggestion on me as a last resort option, but I wasn't about to complain. I would much rather be in the cockpit than having to face my dad's wrath for being expelled. There was a long pause. "... she did this without even talking to me first?"

"Yes. Our conversation on the matter was only minutes ago. I suppose she wanted to wait before breaking the news."

"... well... I'm suprised, to say the least. I have to admit... I didn't want to put that kind of pressure on my kid's shoulders. Taking up Star Fox was my choice, but now that it's my time to pass the torch on... you know? That's a lot of responsibility. Arwings are the most dangerous weapon ever created." Another pause. "You're sure she wants to go through with this?"

"Ask her yourself, she's right here."

"Fuck. Are you on speakerphone?"

"No no, don't worry." He lied like a master of the art.

"Okay."

Skye nodded to me, and I just had to smile. I was delighted at how well Dad was taking it, even more delighted that Mr. Greyson would be willing to lie to my dad for me. I wiped off the remainder of the tears off my cheeks. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, sweetheart. Hows it going?"

I didn't really know where to start, so I just started babbling. "I'm so sorry about dropping out so suddenly like this... I..."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'd probably do the same thing in your position... well, kinda. You know what you're getting yourself into, right?"

"Yeah. A life as a scientist is appealing and all but..." I tried to avoid saying anything bad about being a scientist in front of one. "I needed to get out before I dedicated myself to something I didn't wanna do, you know?"

"I know how you feel. But... you know that I'm not gonna go easy on you, right? If you're going to learn to fly from me, I'm going to put you through the ropes like any of my students at the Academy. It's going to be hard, and it's going to be fast. You're going to have to work your ass off if you want to become an ace Arwing pilot. We're going to be in the air at least five hours a day if you're going to be up to my standard within the next year or two... that's a big commitment. I'm gonna drill you even harder than old Hare drilled me, because he had ten years to do it."

"I understand... and I'm ready."

"Alright. Since me and your mother sold the Arwings I'm going to talk to Slippy about requisitioning two for us to use... I should be able to get them off him cheap. I'm going to come pick you up in an hour, okay? Start packing up your stuff and I'll meet you at the dorms entrance to help you."

"Okay. I'll see you in an hour."

"I love you, Marie."

"I love you too, Dad."

Click.

Skye gave me the most hardened, sincere stare I had probably ever seen before I could stand up for the door. "Never forget what I asked of you, alright? It may seem odd now that I ask you to train Aryn, but you and I both know that he is going to follow you... no matter what ridiculous situation you end up finding yourself in."

It appears I wasn't the only one aware of his crush on me. "I understand."

"I can only hope that I haven't misplaced my trust... and that Aryn hasn't misplaced his." His face melted into one more business-like. "Now... I have to fill out your expulsion forms, if you'll excuse me."

"Yes, of course." I stood up hastily. "And, pro-... err, Doctor Skye?"

"Hmm?"

"...Thank you." I said it so sincerely that had I posed it as a question it would have sounded desperate... well, I was, so I guess it was appropriate.

"Think nothing of it... just try to avoid stealing and trespassing for now on."

=-=-=-=

A Year and a Half Later, 40 PLW

Monday, September 8th

During CSF Detachment Sierra's mission on Kew

Cornerian Mountains

1310 Hours

=-=-=-=

I finished my Astrophysics program last year, so I had all the time in the world to dedicate to learning to fly from Marie, and learning to maintain these spectacular fighters from my Dad. The idea seemed like a pipe dream at first; starting a new Star Fox squadron? Marie? Me? It became more believeable as we flew. Every time we took the Arwings out for a spin our goal seemed closer to the cusp of reality.

It was just like we did every week. I would drive over to the McCloud place, and Marie would take me up in the Arwing II's to show me everything she learned. Although, over time as we both got better there was less to learn and more to simply practice. Corneria had some good, challenging mountain terrain that we could mess around in and I could put this wondrous machine to the test... but I always knew I never brought it anywhere near it's limit. The G-Diffuser was an amazing thing, and it only boggled me more every time I was reminded my own father was the inventor. Lylatian kind's greatest invention, if you ask me. Now that I knew how they worked it only seemed more novel. A complex problem with a simple solution not so different from sustaining a stable subspace field in a bigger ship's warp drive. Brilliance.

Me and Marie were just off the ground and flying along the coast over the forests in all of their beautiful autumn colours. It was a good day for a flight; sun wasn't too bright, no clouds, no rain. Gorgeous. I hated flying in bad weather; one time there was a thunderstorm on one of our scheduled class days. It was so bad that tornado warnings were being issued across our eighth of the planet. Did Marie care? Nope. Up we went anyway, and what do you know? Tornado touches down and she plays around with it. Good creator, that was nerve wracking.

I was in proper wingmate position, behind her and slightly to her starboard... chasing her like I always was. It took three years, but I finally worked up the balls to ask her out a couple of months ago.

Well, I kinda asked her out... and she kinda turned me down, too. It was stupid, really. I just wanted to go with her in the Arwings up to the northern hemisphere to see the aurora borealis but nope. She was watching that stupid soap opera of hers. "I'll go with you some other time, okay?" she said. We still haven't gone.

Fingers crossed for a relationship with the beautiful vixen or not, learning to fly was really cool. So was the idea of becoming a pilot for the new Star Fox, and that would be enough for me. The Arwing II blew my mind... and a while ago, the famous President of Arspace Dynamics, Slippy Toad promised that he would have a new model for us if Marie's dad approved of our flying abilities. Can you believe that? THE fucking Slippy Toad. God amongst scientists and inventors, I swear. I would kill just to shake his hand.

Marie was starting to pick up speed, so I brought up my G-Diffuser power supply management display, a holographic panel that appeared in front of me as I hit a button on the dashboard, and transferred some power from the weapons to the engines. It wasn't like I was going to be blowing anything up, anyway. We never really got much shooting practice in, now that I think about it. Mr. McCloud took us up to the Meteo asteroid belt a couple times to shoot some rocks, but that was about it. All of our combat experience came from simulations run off of the Arwing II's operating system, safely parked on the ground.

My communication headset crackled to life as I took up position with her again, pulling back my throttle a bit to match speed. "So, where do you wanna go today?"

I wracked my brains. What did I feel like doing? "Its a clear day, maybe we can just fly the mountain course again."

"Nah... I think we've done enough terrain-following flying. We need something more challenging."

Great. I knew right there that we were about to do something stupid, knowing her idea of challenging usually invovled certain death... the last time she wanted a "challenge" was when she flew through that damn tornado two months ago. My mouth spoke before my mind did. "Alright, what did you have in mind?"

"Check your radar, you see that?"

I took a look, and 'lo and behold there were five green blips at the extreme southern edge of my range heading outside of Corneria City. I checked their IFF tags....

Five model R64 Arwings.

"No. No way, Marie. Remember how much trouble we got into last time we interupted one of your dad's classes looking for a dogfight?"

"Yeah, but we lost last time. I think it might be the same unit... I think we can take 'em this time."

"My point still stands."

"Oh comon, Aryn. Quit being a wuss. If it makes you feel better, we'll ask first."

"Ugh..." Marie was turning around and heading for the five Arwings. I submitted. "Fine... if it means that much to you."

"Oh don't be such a spoil sport, how are you going to be prepared for dogfighting if you never try it?"

"That's what sims are for."

"That ain't the same, and you know it."

I sighed. I did know that. In interceptor mode we were in pursuit of Mr. McCloud's unit within seconds. We were over open plains, one of the most dangerous places to be outnumbered. Fantastic... not.

"Star Fox One to Arwing training unit... how's it going, boys?"

Her dad answered first. "Marie, what did I say about interupting my classes?"

Good Creator, I was yelling at Marie in my mind not to argue with him. What did she do? "I thought you were the one that said your men needed more dogfighting practice."

A new voice. Sounded like a cocky bastard. "If you really want to get schooled again that badly..."

Fox again, "Shut your damn hole, Ramirez."

"Sorry, captain."

"Now, Marie. There's a reason we have simulators. You don't just go running around picking fights with military training units."

"Why, are they scared?"

Oh shit.... "Marie, if you want to get grounded for another week I'll do it in a-"

"Fuck this. Sir, we're gonna shut her up. Jackhammers, break to engage. Switch to simulator weapons."

Fox sighed. "Fine, but were adding on extra time after this. You aren't getting out of your navigation rounds... Marie, if you lose, you're out of the air for a month."

"I guess Aryn 'n' I will just have to kick some tail, then."

One of the Arwing pilots. "We'll see about that!"

The four R64 Arwings switched to all-range mode almost at the same time and started pulling sharp U-turns to face us. Rather than react, Marie decided to agg them on even more. "You can try, boys... but this time, you're gonna owe me and my friend here a nice long round." We both switched to all-range mode to match them.

Not waiting for the order, I switched up to simulator weapons. We were about to do the first head to head. In open plains, there wasn't many other choices. The head-to-head was always the first maneuver in any engagement other than an ambush, where both forces charged eachother firing like crazy looking for the first kills. In a two versus four fight, these sucked even more than they sounded.

I chose an Arwing pilot's only reasonable option; I hit the boost and barrel rolled like crazy while laying on the trigger finger. While the G-Diffuser nullified any sickness I would have got from the motion, I still got a bit dizzy from spinning around so quickly. It passed shortly, though.

My fingers danced around my control panel on the dashboard and I brought up the simulated shield ratings for myself, Marie and the four Arwings of Jackhammer unit. I sent the data to her. "Enemy shields analyzed. Bringing it up on the monitor."

"Got it. Thanks, hon."

Wow. She called me hon. Before snapping out of my temporary trance I pulled into a steep immelman turn to try to get the drop on them, as they would be doing the same. Thanking the stars for the Arwing II's superior maneuverability, I caught number two and four as their dorsal sides were facing me. I unloaded, taking a nice chunk out of number two's sim shields.

"Nice shooting, Aryn." I knew she said it just to mock me, because she got in her turn faster and completely pulverised Arwing number three.

"Aww, fuck! I'm out already!"

Fox didn't sound too pleased at this. "For flying like that you not only owe my daughter a round, but you owe me ten laps as soon as we get back. Pull out and watch from the sidelines."

"...Yes sir."

Marie sounded absolutely ecstatic. "You guys got a lot of nerve bragging that you beat us last time. What, you think I didn't know? I have friends in your class, you know. I'm gonna have to teach you boys a few lessons..."

Three Arwings left, one heavily damaged. Not a bad start. As I passed their line again, the two I shot at decided that U-turning was a bad option. I expected them to pull into a U-Turn, but instead they hit their retros and do a flip, letting me pass over them... a sloppy mistake that put the both of them hot on my tail. Checking my radar, I discovered that Marie had an admirer too. I had to keep up with my barrel rolls, and I juked and jinked as much as I could, but my shields were getting pinged.

I was at about 72% when I noticed number two, one of the ones chasing me, take a dramaticaly hard pelting down to 40%. He barrel rolled off me and broke for "cover". "Shit! She's on me!"

I had to return the favour. I pulled a hard U-turn and barrel rolled coming out of it. I still got hit down to 65%, but now I had an extra few seconds... and Marie's pursuer, Jackhammer one, was in my sights. I started a lock on.

"Lesson one: Mind your surroundings."

As though she mock warned him, Jackhammer One tried to break off Marie to get away from my lock. No such luck. I got the full shot in, and the green ball of death smashed into the back of his fighter. He was brought down all the way to 24%. Marie, who was U-turning at the time, started firing on the two pursuers that picked up the slack on me during their leader's peril. Two was suddenly knocked down to nothing.

"Agh! She got me! I'm out!"

I was about to finish off One when my shields took a sudden plunge to 50%. To my frustration, I had to break off to start evasive maneuvers again.

"Lesson two: Numbers mean nothing if you don't use them properly." She was reciting the very same lessons that Fox had told her... if I could have seen Fox in his cockpit a half a click out, he probably would have been solemnly nodding.

There were only two Arwings left, one on my tail and the other was probably going to try to loop around behind Marie. It was a circle fight; the stupidest thing you do in open plains. I had to break the chain. Chances were that Marie was going to do the same.

She spoke to me on team frequency. "Aryn, break away from my pursuer and fly straight towards me."

"Okay." I let her playmate go and concentrated harder on keeping my shields up. I took another hit, and they dropped to 42%. Marie was still at 80%. I had to turn around slowly, because a turn too sharp would give him my dorsal side and let him wipe me out for free. Not today.

Before I knew it, I was looking down the barrels of Marie's lasers. We were heading at eachother straight on. My shields cried in protest and dropped to 30%.

"Lesson three..."

Boom. She broke to her right and I broke to mine, and we had shots on eachothers pursuers. I unloaded on number One on her tail, and she unloaded on number Four.

"Never... EVER... fuck with a McCloud!"

She totally made that one up.

I checked the shield monitors, I was hovering at a dangerous 22%, Marie at 60%, but all four Arwings of the Jackhammer training unit were down to zero.

"Good game, Jackhammer. You want fries with your ownage?"

"Peh, you got lucky. Don't think we'll go so easy on you next time."

Mr. McCloud finally chimed in. "Quit your belly aching, you four got your asses handed to you."

I swelled with pride. I didn't think we'd actually win that one. I caught up to Marie and flew cockpit-facing-cockpit with her, and she looked up to me with a warm smile. "Nice flying, Aryn."

"No, you were the hero here."

Fox put his angry tone on. "And while I'm proud of you two, I TOLD you to stop interupting my damn classes! Now, get out of here before I show you how a REAL Arwing pilot does business... and I won't be using sim guns."

Marie had no argument. "You got it, boss. See you tonight."

"I want you to run the Sector Z escort mission again, get that score down to zero friendly casualties before I get home."

"Okay. Bye, dad."

She broke away from the group of Arwings and headed back north, switching to interceptor mode. "We going back to the mountain ranges?"

"Nah... I think we can tuck it in for the day. I'm gonna go radio silent until we get home to bask in the rays of victory."

"Heh, alright." Her picture winked off of my comm board, and out of curiosity, I listened in on the Jackhammer team frequency again.

"Captain McCloud sir... is she always like that?"

"Yeah. I was the same way too before... well... she just needs that snap into reality to put her cockiness in check. Everyone does. You're no exception, Ramirez."

"Yes, sir."

"And Patrenko, you still owe me those ten laps. You fly so bad that I'm tempted to have you checked for alcohol on your breath when we get back."

"Damnit!... just kidding, sir."

=-=-=-=

Meanwhile...

Skies above Kew

Special Forces Issue Dropship 28

=-=-=-=-=

The hum of the engine was little more than a gentle purr, the noise of the ship cutting through the Kewian wind currents completely non-existant through the thick armored walls. The only people inside the bay normally fitted for twenty was myself, Dennis, Zer, Captain Ley and Karen. Considering our limited brief going in, Ley was about to tell us why the heck we were out there to bag Karen.

"Alright, now, you're all aware of what happened on Titania?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Good, because there was a lot of effort to keep that quiet. Anyway, one week ago, a research and containment base on Titania that was supposed to be tightly guarded and kept completely secret was raided. Several extemely sensitive samples and blueprints were stolen, none of which I'm allowed to mention. The base was so completely destroyed afterwards that very little evidence as to who did this was left behind... except for the unit patch of one killed attacker." She held up a small, leather patch the size of a paw. It was a picture of the red outline of a Wolfen, set inside a black outline of a Wolf's head calling to the moon.

Karen looked like she suddenly had double expresso injected straight into her blood stream. "That's the unit patch of my dad's old personal guard."

"We know. Other than this, we had no leads; so we had to track whoever we could that may have known anything about the murder of Wolf O'Donnell. When we noticed your home extranet address being the home base of tons of database searches involving the fate of Star Wolf, we were sent to go get you. Although, it shouldn't have been a suprise that it was his daughter."

"Heh. So you want me to give you the name of his murderer than take all the glory of taking him down?"

The leopardess raised a brow. "Well, that's putting it in the most cynical way possible, but more or less. If you still haven't found him after six years, I say you've more than expended your chance anyway."

Karen showed off her fangs and growled at the Captain. "I am going to be the one that pulls the trigger, whether I tell you anything or not."

"No. You're either going to tell us everything you know, or we're going to have you incarcerated."

"You wish. I don't have a Cornerian criminal record."

"But you will, once we get Lombardi to cough up your service record."

"He wouldn't dare."

"He would. He owes my boss a few favours... and Lombardi knows better than anyone not to piss Colonel Birse off."

"And Falco also knows a hell of a lot better than to piss me off... and whoever this Birse joker is, he's gonna be learning that too."

At this point, I was suprised Karen didn't just get up and blow Ley's face off with that monstrous handgun of hers... but it appeared she was either actually considering telling us the truth or she had a lot more self control than I originally thought. They must have stared eachother down for a good twenty seconds; Ley in professional confidence, and Karen in pure, unrestrained rage.

Knowing Karen, though, it was definitely the former. Self control is not in her vocabulary.

Spoke too soon. Something within Karen snapped, because she stood up and her paw was to the Demon... but the Captain had other plans. I didn't bother interfering. Ley must have crossed the bay in less than a tenth of a second, because before the pistol was even out of it's holster, Karen was slammed against the wall with Ley's knife at her throat, the Captain's other paw holding the pistol in place.

"Now you listen to me, you brat. The tech stolen from that base is so incredibly dangerous, and so many people could die, that I won't even think for a second before bleeding you out. Do you understand? You're going to answer my questions, or I am damn sure that we're going to get authorization to have someone make you answer. Am I understood, O'Donnell?"

Karen, despite her predicament, was still seething in rage... but even she knew her limits. "Fine. Now get the fuck off of me." Ley did exactly that, and the monstrous weapon stayed in it's holster. Karen took her seat.

"His name is Vincent Xavier, an old colleague of my dad's that went missing right after Andross was killed. Black bat, a bit taller than six feet, former member of the Scarlet Hand."

A long pause. "Happy?"

Ley looked generally worried. "If a Hand member is behind this, we are in a lot more trouble than I think you realize."

It was my turn to ask a question; this time to Ley. "Captain, what was the stolen tech? How could it possibly be that dangerous?"

"I could get discharged if I told you, so I'm not going to."

"Something tells us we're about to be told anyway, considering that worried look on your face... besides, you forget that I'm telepathic, so I'm just going to tell them everything I learned from you just now to them anyway."

Ley looked to the ground for a few moments, then shook her head. She appeared to submit to my arguement. "Do you know what an Aparoid is?"

That chance to rewrite chapter three allowed me to get a bit of extra plot-helping info in. Chapter 4 is well on it's way. See you then!