So I was looking at CoV, which I had recently "revived" thinking, yay! I liked this idea! Maybe now I can let it grow into something more than my bastard child.

Negliglence is a habit not easily broken.

I'm letting it die again, because now I remember why. It has nowhere to go. The ending is obvious. The romance possibilities are obvious; and it refuses to develop into a story worth reading... at least in my incapable hands. It would be come a re-run of that shitstorm SF: Revolution.

So, here I am again with the sixth installment of Before the Dawn. Enjoy. Sorry for the long hiatus, anyone who says writers block does not exist, go die. It's just a term for a temporary lack of inspiration.

Thank god it was indeed temporary, even though I'm atheist. Never hurts to be sure, right?

"Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than the ability to decide."

Chapter VI: Setting the Stage

=-=-=-=

Cornerian Navy University, Corneria City

Dormitory Building C, Floor 3, Room 36.

September 13th, 40 PLW

2:13 PM

=-=-=-=

I saw the news. We all did. Marcus, who was on leave, watched it with me when our one on one euchure game was rudely interupted by our holoscreen switching channels from the comedy network to a breaking news report. The military couldn't even come close to covering up what happened; a whole bunch of media reporters were on the scene and every interplanetary news channel had front row seats to the chaos. Pirates, armed with Aparoid weaponry, wiped out the diplomatic mission to Kew. The only ship that came back was the Angel, which was under the leadership of my best friend Amy. When the reporter mentioned that she was unavailable for comment, a pit of worry exploded in my stomach. I borrowed Dad's car and went straight to the University.

I was there in the blink of an eye. I knocked on her door once curtly, but recieved no reply. I pressed my ear against the door, again greeted with nothing but silence. I tried the door; it was unlocked.

I wasn't greeted by the same silence that answered my knock. Instead, I found a ruffled, crying Amy in jeans and a pink T-shirt rather than the uniform she usually wore like a second skin. She was completely oblivious to my entrance. My worries were answered. Her bags were packed.

I stood at the doorway to her little bedroom from the kitchenette. "Amy..."

Startled from her misery, she looked up. Tears matted down the fur on her face. "Marie?"

She looked in tatters. The feathers on her wings were ruffled, the belongings she couldn't stuff in her bags were tossed about... she took the failure hard. "Saw the news, huh?" she croaked through her tear-clogged throat, bowing her head in shame.

I took a seat beside her, and decided to try my hand at comforting her. "Bill was on the news. He said he looked over the action records from your ship and he's gonna give you a medal."

"Just what I need..." she didn't look up at me. "A reminder of what happened that I'm obliged to carry around and show off."

"Amy... you were up against impossible odds. You have nothing to be ashamed about. Henry would have been pr-"

"Well he can't be proud, 'cause he's DEAD!" she shrieked at me. Fresh tears started pouring down again, and she just stared at me with rage filled eyes, like she was blaming every tear on me. All I could give her back was the sweetest, most sympathy filled look I could muster. Her rage melted back into sorrow and self-blame. "I'm sorry... you didn't deserve that."

"Amy, it's okay... do you wanna come stay over at my place in the mean time? Do you know what you're gonna do now?"

She stayed silent for a few moments, shifting her gaze to the floor again. "... I haven't thought about it yet. I might go home, back to the family business..." She paused before answering my other question. "Would your parents be okay with me staying over for a bit?"

I smiled. "Sure, we already have company, why not a bit more?"

Appreciative of the change in subject, a smile was finally coaxed out of my friend. "Who's the other visitor?"

"Karen O'Donnell. Remember her? Apparently Marcus' squad was supposed to pull her in for questioning and she's staying at our place in "his custody" until she can get transport back home again."

Her eyes lit up like a furnace. looked like the two knew eachother... and not in a friendly way. "... Yeah, I remember her just fine. Can you help me with my bags?"

"Of course!"

The ride was less depressing than I expected; the beautiful, warm autumn weather helped. I knew she always had a lot of fun whenever she was over, and I was glad to be able to provide a good distraction from all of the stress she was under. We chatted it up, she managed to tell me more about the Angel without breaking into a fit of tears... although she did space out every time she mentioned the name. She explained why, and I didn't blame her. Maybe if Aryn did something that crazy and romantic for me I might have stopped leading him on so shamelessly. I never told him I said that, though. Our little secret.

It wasn't long until we were home, greeted by the neat wood paneling of the McCloud Manor that seemed to shine under the sun. It was your typical beachfront property; roadside half contrasted against the evergreen forests, and the far half dominating the top of a hill that rolled down to the smooth sandy beaches below. Marcus and Karen were waiting for us on the front porch, but they appeared to be in a heated arguement and didn't really notice me pull in. When I saw Marcus holding that monster handgun of hers and doing what appeared to be scolding her, I saw why. Amy seemed to darken a bit when she spotted the wolf.

"You two have a history?" I asked as I turned the engine off.

"Yeah... she worked for my dad a lot. I wouldn't call us enemies but she..."

I understood what she meant. "Creeps you out."

"Yeah... She's a monster. Enjoys killing way too much." She opened the door, tossed out the bag that was on her lap, then reached around into the back seat to get her second. I grabbed the third and opened my own door. Marcus and Karen continued their heated argument, completely oblivious to our arrival.

"It doesn't matter if you think you can handle this thing; which you can't any better than a real gun. There just isn't any reason to be carrying this thing around. It all rounds down to figuring out a purpose for such a monstrous sidearm; this is the kind of thing you need a sidearm to back up!"

Karen grinned. "Fine, you wanna know why? Because fear is a tool in battle just like any other weapon. This weapon is a factory of fear." she snatched it away from him. "...because when they see the open end of this barrel..." She tapped it with a sharp claw, her expression smoothing into some obscene mixture of seduction and bloodlust. "... they're left with nothing but pure, unadulterated horror. Who best to use such a weapon than someone an entire planet's worth of an underground crime network has learned to fear?"

Marcus stopped. He appeared to submit. "...I still think it's overkill."

"Suit yourself." she scoffed. Both finally realized we were approaching. Both turning to face us, Marcus greeted us with a warm smile. Karen noticed the winged cat with me and pulled into a toothy grin. "Hello there, kitten."

"Fuck off, Karen." she snapped.

The wolf rolled her eyes as we boarded the porch. "Relax, I was kidding. It's been a while. How's the navy thing going for 'ya?" Marcus got the door for me.

Amy dropped her bags and surged towards her. "Why you little...!"

"WAIT!" Marcus jumped in her way. "She didn't mean that. She hasn't seen the news."

Amy froze, seeing Karen's genuinely surprised look. She shrugged it off and picked up her bags again. I let her go first and followed her in.

"Fuck I hate her..." she hissed under her breath the moment we were inside and safely out of earshot. "I bet she has heard what happened. She's such a bitch like that."

I took the lead and started up the stairs. "Marcus can see through a lie as though the person's eyes are squeaky clean windows into their soul. Besides, she actually smiled when I told her who I was going off to pick up."

I led her into my room. "I'm sure she was fucking delighted." She was more than familiar with the cute pink that coated the walls, and tossed her bags wherever on the floor as was standard when she came around. She knew we had an air mattress she could use. She took a deep breath. "Okay. Now what?"

I was about to answer her question, when my cell rang. I gave Amy the index-finger telling her to hold on a moment, and I flipped it out and hit the answer button out of reflex, butting out of my room and leaning over the balcony that looked down into the family room.

"Hello?"

"Marie?" It was Aryn.

"Hey, Aryn! What's goin' on?"

"My parents are missing." His voice was riddled with dark alarm. After a pause, he continued. "Dad... he left a note for me saying he was going to be spending some time in the custody of something called CASOC regarding his research, and I don't even know where Mom is."

"Have you seen the news?"

"Yeah. And do you know what Dad is famous for in the world of military research?"

"Uh, the G-Diffuser?"

"Although that's his crowning achievement, he has his hands in everything involving gravitic maneuvering and weapons technology."

A long pause. "...Do you think that's linked to the attack somehow?"

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling it is. He also left me a phone number he said to call in case something happened."

"What is it?"

"5-25-216-2412. Ever heard it before?"

I never used that number, but it rang a bell for some reason. The five stood for Aquas... who did I know that was on Aquas? Then, looking down at the home phone hanging on the wall at the far end of the family room, it hit me. "That's Slippy Toad's number, I think."

"This gets more mysterious by the minute..."

"Hey, we have Amy and Karen over already, would it make you feel better if you stayed here tonight? Maybe we can make sense of everything that's going on, or something." Not that I thought we could do anything about it, I didn't add.

"I...appreciate it, Marie. I'll be over in ten or twenty."

"Bring a sleeping bag, you're on the couch. Amy has dibs on the air mattress."

"Check. See ya.." He hung up. I could understand his situation, but his voice still made me uncomfortable. It was like he knew something that he didn't want to admit because it was incriminating, or something. I don't know.

I pocketed my cell and rushed downstairs, looking for Mom or Dad to tell them that we were having yet another guest for the night. I surged past Karen and Marcus who were now in the living room arguing about something else, most likely guns or something. The kitchen was devoid of life, so I walked through it to the dining room and hung a left to the study, where I found Dad fiddling with something in his lap. He was turned away from me in his office chair so I couldn't see what it was.

"Dad?"

Whatever he was holding, he put it down and spun to face me. "Hey, honey. You need something?"

"Uhm, I invited Aryn over. Apparently his parents are missing so... I thought maybe he didn't want to be alone."

Aryn was around so often that permission was never really a problem anymore. His interest was somewhere else. "Missing?"

"Yeah, apparently his dad left a note saying he was taken into custody by some group called "kasock" or something. Something to do with his research. I don't know about his mom, though."

He seemed to plunge deep into thought. Did he know something I didn't? "Huh. Anyway, rather than make dinner for all of these people lets just have pizza delivered. Can you call Joe's or something and order a couple large's?"

I was only half disgruntled by the change of subject. My growling stomach was that other half. "Alright." Before wondering away, I noticed what he was fiddling with on his desk.

A small model Arwing.

=-=-=-=

Meanwhile.... Katina Orbit

CNJ Indignation, Chief Officers Barracks

Chief Engineer's Quarters

=-=-=-=

Lt. Commander Fay Spaniel is the name; chief engineer of the biggest, scariest thing in space. A fun job with good money, even for someone as old as me. The duty came without any hitches at all until yesterday, when myself and Admiral Drake Tuttle were cut off duty and temporarly replaced pending an investigation regarding the only thing that linked us. We were both former members of the Scarlet Hand.

Drake saw it as a reason to panic. I saw it as time to relax. I lounged about in my awesomely large and lavish quarters (three cheers for arrogant Venomian design!) with nothing on my mind other than how long it was going to take to get the shit sorted out. One thing did bug me though; why would Vince appear out of nowhere after having vanished for twenty years? I figured he would have like, got a life or something after we took down the Doc once and for all. Nope, he was out and about and apparently up to no good.

I saw them taking me off the roster, because I've only been in the military for a couple of years as an engineer; but cutting Drake was a huge surprise. He was an Admiral in command of the Indignation and the General council still confined him to quarters in a snap. He was swearing up a storm, a whole bunch of lines like "you ungrateful bastards!" and "what the hell does it take to earn your trust?!". Can't say I blame him, I guess. When a security team came down to the main reactor engineering bay to collect me, I just yawned and told them to keep their paws off. One didn't. He's now laying in sick bay with a broken arm.

My boredom was interupted by a beeping from my comms console. I lazily got out of bed and sat at my desk, bringing up the communique on the monitor.

INCOMING CALL: Mina Sipher.

Well, that was a surprise. Mina Sipher was the undercover name that Janice Greyson used for a long time before hooking back up with Skye. It might have been documented with CASOC intelligence, but most likely not. Only about five or six people not in on the secret ever knew that first name, let alone the last, and none of them were intel spooks. Janice was giving me a call. I picked it up without hesitating.

"How's it going, babe?"

"No time for small talk, Fay. Is your console secure?"

"Not yet." I scrambled into one of the password protected folders on my desktop and pulled up a program I whipped up a while ago to keep my private transmissions private. "Okay, line's secure. What's the scoop, Jenny?"

"I don't have long until I'm traced, so I have to be quick. A couple of weeks ago, a secure research facility on Titania was raided by old members of Starwolf. We know now that Vince was the one who killed Wolf and is now using his ships to fuck things up. Apparently he got his hands on an unhealthy dose of red matter during the raid, you probably know what it can do."

"Boom. In the right hands, anyway. I've never been able to figure out how it works. Wasn't Skye working on that?"

"Yeah. Him and Toad are the only ones who know how to make a bomb with the stuff, so CASOC grabbed him because they think he might be in league with Vince. I know he isn't, but we can't prove it. In the meantime, I'm trying to track Vince... but..."

"Can't find him?"

"Its not that. I just don't think I can find him before something bad happens. For all we know, he already has the specs. There was one other person who knew how to make a Gravity Bomb... and god knows Vince probably has the means to access his old archives."

"You think he might have uncovered Andross' research, or something?"

"Its a possibility. Until we know for sure, a hell of a lot of people are in danger. I don't know Vince's motives, and I don't know what kind of resources he has... but I do know he has to be stopped. I can't do it alone, though. We need someone who knows how G-bomb's work and how we can counter them. We need pilots. We need our team."

"Janice, I know you want to get into the action,,, but shit, girl. We're too old for this. Let's let the new kids play ball this time."

"It ain't that simple... besides, I have access to just the gear we need to erase that age problem altogether. Skye has secure access to the new TECANIS-II suits from Toad's station. If we can break him out, we can get ourselves a set and maybe stop Vince in time before he does something drastic."

It was crazy. Stupid, even; but it sounded like a hell of a lot of fun. Necessary too, of course! I would be lying if I said I didn't want to get out on the field again. I missed the angry roaring of an assault rifle in my paws, the adrenaline rushes... and I saw those suits before. Skye showed me a demo video of them in use. I was giddy with excitement. "You got me signed on, Jenny, but I don't know about Drake. Besides, were confined to quarters here... and even if we weren't, we don't have a way to get off the Indignation.

"Your and Drake's Wolfens are still at Lupinhold. I'll program their autopilot and link an ETA time frame to your console. How soon can you be ready to leave?"

"How long will it take for our fighters to get here? We're in orbit over Zoness."

"Two hours, tops. Can you be ready?"

"You got it, sugar."

I closed the communication and dialed in Drake's persa-comm immediately. He was in his quarters too, so it didn't take him long to answer.

"Admiral Tuttle, here."

"Drake, it's me."

"Look, for the last time, I don't want to play chess..."

"No, it's not that. This is serious. Janice just gave me a call, she's going to bust us out. It's a long story, but we have two hours until our Wolfen's are going to be here and-"

"Woah woah woah. I'm trying to earn the brass; trust, how the hell is this going to help?"

"We don't have time to earn their trust, anymore. Janice wants to bring the team together and bust out Skye so we can hunt down Vince and stop him from using the red matter he has."

"This is crazy, Fay. Yes, I know about the TECANIS-II armor but this can't be the best way to approach this. If we can prove Skye innocent..."

"No. As long as Vince has the red matter they won't let him go, and you know it. We both know that he wouldn't betray a secret that dangerous to anyone, and Vince knows that. He probably only stole the matter because he already has the blueprints. Did you hear about what happened at Kew?"

"Who didn't?"

"Why would he do that? I can'r think of one good reason."

"Cutting diplomatic relations between the two worlds must have been an attempt to sever contact. The diplomats were sent there to...."

"Huh?"

"Fuck. I just brought up the file, the mission was to discuss the terms of the joint defence agreement. It was brought up as a bargaining chip that would have our ships defending the planet like it was any member of the LDC. He was trying to keep our ships away..."

"So that he would have a clear shot."

"We need to bring this up to the General Council. Look, Fay, I know you want to do this... and you go right on ahead. I need to do my part. I need to get to Corneria and make sure they send ships to Kew to defend it, treaty or not."

We paused. "I understand. Good luck, old man."

"Hey, you're older than me!"

I giggled. "By a month, and I still look thirty, thank you very much."

"Look, just be careful, alright? Just ask Victoria to help you get access to the Hangar bay. At least she still trusts us."

Victoria was probably our best friend on that ship. Skye helped her get her body back after Andross died as he promised, but the long time her body spent in stasis without a conciousness was too damaging. She "died" only three years after, but Slippy Toad, who she was working for at the time, was able to transfer her consciousness in her old AI form into the hardwires of his station. From there, him and Skye built a new body for her as likelife as they could. Now, she was serving on the Indignation again, constantly swapping between dancing around the hardwires of the Juggernaught and walking around with her artifical body. The geeks did a good job on it; it looks real even to my trained eye. It even simulates breathing and body heat. She keeps telling me she hates it, but not only is she immortal, she permanently looks like a sexy twenty-five year old. She's sixty five and has the charm of a cover girl! What's not to like?

"Alright, I'll do that. In case I don't see you for a while... Good luck."

"You too," his image winked off.

Girly observations aside, Victoria was a huge help and a great friend. I knew I could count on her to make the job of escaping my quarters nice and easy.

"Victoria."

Poof, the holographic pink tigress was standing beside the door to my room. "You called?"

I swung around. "Feel like a little rebellion?"

"I knew you wouldn't be able to sit around for more than a few hours. What did you have in mind?"she yawned at me. For her, it was only an expression. She obviously didn't have to yawn for real.

"Don't bullshit me, babe. I know you heard my conversation with Drake just now."

"No, actually, I was enjoying dinner in the holodeck." She doesn't eat for real, but as another perk of Skye and Slippy's programming, she was able to percieve other holographic objects as if she and it were both real. This counted for things like food, and a warm bath. Again, she didn't need them, but at least she could sitll experience them.

"Well, long story short, my Wolfen is going to be here in a couple of hours and I'm going to go hook up with Janice to bust out Skye and go save the world."

"Okay." she yawned again. "So I'll need to put a loophole in the door guard shifts, make sure the hangar in question has its guard swapped out or otherwise subdued, then secure passage there probably with holographic disguise emission, all without alerting the geeks on the bridge?" Straight to business, as always. Such a sweetheart.

"Sounds about right...?"

"And here I thought you were going to ask me to do something hard."

"Thanks, Vicky."

"No problem. I saw the news; make sure you give Vince a good kick in the sack for me when you find him, okay?"

"Will do."

=-=-=-=

CASOC Headquarters, Corneria City

3:32 PM, Skye Greyson's Cell

=-=-=-=

The cell they were keeping me in as decent enough, considering they weren't actually holding me for any real crime and I was probably their only insurance against an apocalyptic disaster should Vincent find other means to obtain the G-Bomb specs. It was carpeted, I had a sleepable bed that was made properly, a holovision screen and a toilet that was actually in a stall. I could almost call it a two star hotel room.

I had only been in there for a day. No one had come to ask me questions, just to bring me thankfully decent food three times a day and once that morning to give me a newspaper. When I read about the assault on Kew, it became far too obvious that my time was being wasted there. Vince wouldn't have waited twenty years to put his plans into motion until he was quite ready.

With the Executor, he had Star Wolf's old command codes for Andross' computers. We never did destroy that asteroid base where the sour ape had developed the telekenetic amplifier. There were probably a set of gravity bomb specs there. If all of my suspcions were correct, I knew I would have to get out of that cell immediately to prevent a catastrophe.

It was plenty likely that Kew was already doomed.

While I had been quite cooperative with the ladies and gentlemen of CASOC, I did, of course, lie about my wife. Janice was not out looking for Vince, she was out collecting our teammates for a surprise assault on the very base I was captive in to accomplish two things: One, equip ourselves with a set of TE-CANIS II armor, and two, to get me out of that damned cage. While I did have access to a set of the armor suits at Toad's research station over Aquas, those were reserved for someone special. Besides, if we were to get the ones stored at CASOC, Dagger team would be completely useless and safely out of our way while we hunted down Vince and his allies.

The timing was the most important part. If the Hand got there and went for the suits and Dagger beat them there, we would be quite screwed. My team would very, very likely be killed on the spot. I had faith in them, though. Let's be serious now: would they actually suspect a raid on the heart of CASOC? Perhaps, because I am here and they may expect a breakout attempt. For all I knew, they might have already been prepared for us.

One thing was certain though, they were certainly not prepared for me, who the whole time was wearing a self-only cloaked set of the armor under my clothes. They had no idea that I was completely ready to tear through that base without a care in the world. Should worse come to worst and Dagger DID beat the Hand to the suits, I would be ready to surprise assault them and facilitate our escape. Toad should have an extra set around, anyway. The Cornerians were always far too trusting... other than Gage, who smartly suggested that I be searched when I arrived. General Grey should have listened to him, who simply shook his head and allowed me through without such formality.

What, did you really think I would just let them lock me up without a plan ready when they suspect me of conspiracy to commit genocide? If so, please direct yourself off the nearest cliff.

My musing was interupted by an arrival. I listened hard to the footsteps; in even time, naturally quieted steps, yet with the quick tempo of a purpose. I would have guessed one of Mr Birse's teammates, but they appeared to be more relaxed and would have been slower. No, I was being visted by the boss man.

When I looked to confirm my guess, I was delighted to see that it was spot on. He seemed a bit off-put by my uncharacteristic smile. "Something funny?" he said.

"Just musing about how easily identifiable you are through your footsteps." I said.

He looked down to his feet, bewildered, and then back up to me. "You're saying you could tell who I was just based on my footsteps?"

"You can tell a lot about a person from their footsteps. Much of it is situational awareness, obvious things like tempo gaging purpose and level of alert. More complex is timing between steps and the softness, marking things such as strict training, or perhaps a slight limp in the left leg from a bullet wound recieved to the knee several years ago..." The fox looked over to one of the guards stationed in the jail block. The one I was referring to was leaning on one leg with his paw resting on his belt as though to try to hide the injury as a simply relaxed pose.

"You seem to be pretty knowledgeable for someone who lost all of their memories of their time as a Venomian agent." he probed me. Understandable, I suppose.

"I make it a point to restudy. It's not like I didn't have access to an appropriate teacher." I was of course referring to Janice. "Now, there must be some reason you came down here. Like I said, your footsteps gave you away." He obviously wasn't convinced. I didn't really give a damn, to tell the truth. It was probably only going to be a couple of days before I was going to have to fight him.

"Yeah. You have a visitor. Fox McCloud is here, he wants to talk to you."

Not a surprise. I knew he would be around yesterday to sort out what's what, especially because the first thing Aryn would do would be to call his place, or Marie particularly. I stood. "Very well."

Gage beckoned over the limping cell guard who rushed over immediately pulling a set of old fashioned metal keys out of his pocket. In moments, my cell was open and the fox was leading me out of the jail block and through a series of cooridors throughout the basement of the facility. I doubted he would bring me to surface level, they probably had Fox waiting in a visitation room.

I was right, again. Gage opened a door, beckoning me inside. The only people there were myself, the half-greyed Fox McCloud with his paws folded into eachother sitting at the opposite side of a simple card table, and the security watching from the other side of the one-way mirror. I wasn't going to be able to say much. I took a seat. Both of us waited for the door to close behind us, even though we knew we were being watched through the mirror.

He started. "I thought it was kind of odd that CASOC would randomly throw you behind bars. I only know what's what based on what I heard in the news. I figured I wouldn't get a better side of the story from anyone but you so..."

I waited for him to finish.

"Just what the hell is going on, Skye?"

I got right down to business. "You remember Vince, hmm?"

"Crazy bat dude from the old Scarlet Hand. No one heard anything of him since the end of the Venomian insurgence twenty years ago. He's involved?"

"Indeed. It appears that, behind everyone's backs, he slaughtered the Star Wolf empire, including Wolf, and stole all of his ships. He left no evidence of his involvement behind other than the memories of Wolf's daughter Karen who has searched for him relentlessly."

"Why do you think he did it?"

"No one knows why, all we can speculate is what he's going to do. Recently he raided a Cornerian research base and got his hand on some very... interesting equipment. I believe he plans on completely destroying the planet Kew."

A few moments of silence. "... And you know this how?"

"The diplomatic convoy that young Lombardi was escorting was going to to the Tygrid Station a short jump away from Kew to discuss the joint defence agreement that would keep Cornerian ships in Kewian orbit to defend it as though it were any other member of the LDC. With that meeting interupted, he now has clear reign to do whatever he likes to the planet. Their military is completely pathetic. His options include assimilating the entire population, or obliterating the planet entirely."

"This seems a little far fetched. It just looks to me like he's trying to keep the military out of the skies so he can develop a criminal empire."

"Tell me, do you know what red matter is?"

"Do I ever. For the longest time I thought a red matter bomb was the culprit behind my dad's death."

"Vince has stolen enough of it to swallow the entire Lylat System. That is why I am being held, CASOC believes I may be planning to give him the specs for the bomb."

An annoying loudspeaker interupted us. "That's enough classified information for one session, you two."

I ignored the voice. "He already has them."

"What? How do you know?"

"Because he didn't even ask me for them. Don't you think that's rather odd how he wouldn't think to simply ask his former teammate, a fellow Venomian agent? Would I have said no?"

"Would you have said no?"

"Of course, but that's not stopping him from killing me and taking them off of my laptop."

Wide eyes and silence told me he was stunned by the simplicity of the idea. Two guards came bursting through the door behind me. I stood, submitting to their will. "Without Cornerian protection, Kew doesn't stand a chance." I said calmly as the guards gripped my arms. I was sure he understood what I meant. He just watched, bewildered, as I was dragged out of the room.

=-=-=-=

Route to the McCloud Residence

Five Minuites Later

=-=-=-=

Skye's explaination was getting my blood pumping like nothing had for a long time. If I understood him correct, he wanted Starfox to go to Kew to protect it from Vince in the Cornerian Military's place. Counting our options, that looked like the only real choice if reinforcements weren't going to be sent. Normally, when I got called for some job or another by die-hard fans (calls which stopped completely about five years ago) I would just tell them we were too old for work. We were done. I could make an exception for this.

I wasn't about to go alone, though. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the insanely long distance number of Falco Lombardi. Putting my attention forward again, I waited through the dial tones for the giveaway click.

"Lombardi PMC, what problem can I solve for you today?"

"Falco, its Fox."

"Hey Foxy, what's going on? Is Amy alright?"

"She didn't call you? Huh. Well, she's at our place in the mean time, I think she's resigning."

"Heh. I didn't think she would sit still with the Navy for long, although it better not be because she's going all bat shit about what happened at the Tygrid station.... I didn't raise her to be a quitter. Tell her to give me a call, alright?"

"Will do, but that's not why I called."

"Huh?"

"I just had a chat with Skye who's locked up at CASOC headquarters. Apparently we can pretty much expect a full on attack by the guys who crashed the political meet."

"Just who IS this joker?"

"They were old Star Wolf ships, apparently Vince Xavier is commanding them. Recognize the name?"

"So THAT'S who Karen was going after.." he muttered. "Okay. Yeah,he was part of the Hand. He was with us when we put the hammer down on Venom. You saying he's the one stirring up the shit?"

"It seems that way. He has access to Aparoid weapons, and apparently has a fully functioning gravity bomb. If he plans to use that thing on Kew..."

"God damnit! A G-Bomb?! He better not! That's the last thing anyone needs. What the hell could he possibly hope to accomplish with-"

"Shut up for a second."

Silence.

"If the Cornerian politicians aren't going to send reinforcements to hold Kew, which I think was Vince's purpose in stopping that diplo meet, someone's going to have to keep an eye on the planet and stop the attack. I think you know who I mean."

"Man, you have me. Those old pirate buckets don't stand a chance against us. Am I the first ya' called?"

"Yeah. Not sure if I can talk Krystal into it, but we can probably count her in. Can Katt go?"

"She wouldn't let me out of her sight for five minutes when I'm even trying to cook something, let alone flying a mission."

I chuckled. "Good to hear. Four is good, but... anyone else we can count in?"

"Well, there's Slippy..."

"No."

"Huh? Usually this situation is flipped around... aren't I supposed to be the one saying 'no'?"

"If we screw this up, he's the one that's going to be supplying Marie with the next generation of Arwings."

A long, cold silence.

"You're kidding right? Don't talk like that, this'll be a cake walk."

"We're gettin' old, Falco. There's always a chance, and we have to take precautions. If Vince sets off a gravity bomb before we can stop it..."

"If he uses too high a dosage not even the G-Diffusers will keep our tails outta the fire."

"I'm starting to worry he may be counting on that. What if it's all a trap? This could all just be bait to lure us there."

"I think you're lookin' into it too hard. Maybe he only waited this long to make sure we were out of the way. You think he expects a bunch of old fossils like us to go charging into the shit after this long?"

I sighed. "Whatever. I'll try not to worry."

"Good man. So, fifth, maybe sixth pilot. Anyone in mind?"

"No idea where Janice is, Skye obviously can't. Fay is bottled up on the Indignation last I heard. Bill is the god damn general...." I sighed. "Oh, how times have changed..."

"So it's us four, then."

"Yeah."

"A'ight, I'm going to send Jordan over to Corneria to your place to keep an eye on Amy and I'll close up shop for the week. I don't want him here for this... He's gotten good, fast, but I don't want to risk it."

"Chip off the ol' block, huh?"

"More than that. He's going to be better than me."

"I know you wouldn't say that unless you really meant it."

"I don't know what it is, or who he got it from, but he analyzes every move so damn fast I still can't believe it when I watch him do it. Every time he walks into a bad situation he flows into this insanely creative and flawless countermeasure. He walks into a trap and gets out without a scratch. Starting to scare me a bit, to be honest. If Beltino was still alive, I'd ask him just what the hell he put in Jord's DNA."

"Slippy probably has records of all that stuff locked away somewhere."

"Meh, now's not the time to worry about it. Whenever you're ready, just come straight to my place, I have a shop here so we can get our guns tuned and everything."

"Falco? Prepared? What is this?"

"Shuddup, you. I'll see you then."

"Yeah, I should be around... tomorrow, maybe."

"Just make sure you don't miss the party."

"Not on your life." I said, just breaking out of the furthest edges of Corneria City into the thick, evergreen forests that would flank me all the way back to my place out by the waterfront. It was mere seconds before my cell phone was ringing. I brought it back to my ear.

"Fox! Damn, there you are." It was one of my best friends, Gage Birse.

"Heya, Gage. What's happenin'?"

"Fox, you know exactly what's happening. You're not seriously going to Kew, are you?" Looked like he got the gist of what Skye said, too.

"You know, you didn't have to eavesdrop. You could have just asked afterwards..."

"It's not like that. Its not you I don't trust, it's Skye. I had to be there to make sure he didn't tell you anything we don't know yet."

"Well I do trust him, and I'm taking his word for it. If Corneria isn't going to move to save Kew, who will?"

"Don't get me wrong, Fox. If there's anyone in Lylat fit for the job its you, but you know me. I smell a trap." Usually that would be enough to scare me out of just about anyhing. Gage's intuition was eerily accurate. He would always tell me its what kept him alive."Think about it. They're bringing the one weapon that not even you can dodge, with the knowledge no one else is there to protect the planet. It's bait, Fox, and you're biting."

"And what do you suggest? Just sit there and wait for billions to be slaughtered? It's not just bait. I'm not biting for an apetite, I'm biting because I have a responsibility to the innocent. You should know that better than anyone."

"Fox, if this is a trap for you, which I'm damn sure it is, they won't even shoot until you get there. Think about it; he stole the red matter and the aparoid tech from us. Why would he go through all of that trouble to blow away that planet? If he can do it with the gravity bomb alone, why steal the aparoid cell and infect his ships? Why even bother keeping the Cornerians out of the way when he could just deploy and forget? It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Gage."

"Fox, don't do it. Just wait for General Grey to convince the senate to allow him to deploy a fleet. He's called an emergency senate meeting, it can be as quick as a few days-"

"I'm going. That's final."

A long silence, then a sigh from the other end. "This might sound ironic coming from me, McCloud, but be careful. You watch your ass, got it?"

"I always do."

"I wish I believed that."

Click.

The moment he hung up, I was rolling down my driveway. The patio was barren, everyone would have been inside having pizza. I killed the engine and went straight inside. Everyone was at the dining table chowing down; Krystal, Marie, Marcus, Amy, Karen and Aryn. I didn't bother taking off my jacket.

"Hey, dad! Where'd you go?"

"Just had to go talk to someone. Krystal..."

She looked up to me. "Yes, dear?"

"Can we talk a moment in private?"

I couldn't blame her when her cheer immediately faded into worry. She set down her slice without a moments hesitation and simply nodded, abandoning her place at the table and following me into the study. I locked the door behind us.

"Scramble our psyche waves, I don't want Marcus eavesdropping."

I could feel that giveaway, quiet static noise in the back of my head that told me she obeyed. "What's going on?" she asked as the bolt slid into place.

"... I just spoke to Skye, who's been locked up at CASOC headquarters because they think he's involved in the mess with Kew."

A long pause. I continued. "He seems to think that the attack was an attempt to make sure Cornerian forces would be out of the way so he could destroy the entire planet with a gravity bomb."

She honestly gasped. Maybe we were too old for this. "That'ts terrible!"

"It gets worse. There has to be some reason he did this now. Gage seems to think it's bait for me to come out, but... if Skye is right, and there is nothing in between Vince and over a billion casualties... Starfox has to go. I already talked to Falco. With him and Katt, we have three pilots."

"Fox, you can't be serious... we left that life behind decades ago. You promised me you were done fighting."

I finally turned away from the door to face her. She was afraid of what I suggested. Our quiet lives out on the beachfront felt like immortality after being in the war... and accepting this was like giving it all up. "When so many lives are at stake, some promises have to be broken. We might be the only ones who can guarentee the safety of those people... and this is all just speculation. This might just be all one big wild goose chase and we could be flying out there for a week without so much as a peep. I just want to be there to be sure. Can I count on you to be with us?"

A pause. "You said that Gage thought it was bait for you."

"That's entirely possible... but this won't be the first trap we've sprung kicking. I still think it's an acceptable risk."

She sighed. "Fox... If you really, deeply think this is necessary, I'll go... because I have to. If only to know I can be up there watching your back."

"Thank you." I closed in and kissed her. Not the family pecks we were used to, but the full on embrace of two lovers like we used to share all of the time back in the days where we glided about Lylat aboard the Great Fox, righting the galaxy's wrongs.

I broke the kiss. "We leave tomorrow morning. Want to get some practice in on the sims?"

She nodded.

=-=-=-=

4:00 PM Lylat Standard Time

CNJ Indignation, Hangar Twelve

=-=-=-=

"Right on time." I whispered to myself. The moment I walked through the doors of one of the Indignation's many immense hangar bays, I watched my personal Wolfen II glide through the magcon field, erupting the drab melancholy of the chamber. Mechanics and guards suddenly scattered out of the fighter's way as it approached me like a loyal steed answering the tune of my whistle.

One of the marines ran into my way. "Lieutenant Spaniel! By order of the Supreme General you are supposed to be locked up in your quarters; I can't let you leave." He lifted his assault rifle and pointed it at me.

"If you're going to point a rifle at me, soldier, you better be ready to pull the trigger." The Venomian professional in me took over as I continued striding towards him. I saw it in his eyes; he was cowering. This was a greenhorn. He probably never killed someone in his life. The millisecond I came in arms reach, my paw snapped out and ripped the rifle out of his own. Sliding my claws into a sturdy position on the grip, I swung it. The weapon collided with his temple and the helmeted guard dropped like a sack of potatoes, leaving me to my prize. The Wolfen hovered low over the ground, it's canopy opening to greet me.

I hopped into the pilot's couch without a hitch, and the canopy sealed as I took autopilot offline, secured my harness, and glided the ship back out into vaccuum. As I flew out into the cold of space, my communication's panel erupted in alarm. Forced hail from the Indignation. The face of the Supreme General William Grey himself appeared on my control panel.

"Lieutenant, turn that fighter around this instant. We won't hesitate to shoot you down if you-" I cut it off. The guns didn't come online. I silently thanked Victoria.

However, not even she could stop the spectacular cloud of fighters that scrambled to pursue me. I brought up my navigational panel only to recieve an error; there was an artificial gravity well emitting from the Indignation preventing me from jumping to warp.

I had completely forgotten about the new G-Gun that was recently added into the Indignation's defence. Looked like I wasn't getting out of that one without a fight.

I opened a wide band communication channel. "This is Lieutenant Commander Fay Spaniel of the Scarlet Hand. The cat is out of the bag. If that G-Gun doesn't come down in the next ten seconds, I'm going to blow it, the bridge, every hangar bay I see fit, and every single one of your fighters. Don't fuck with me. You know what I'm capable of."

A bluff, of course. I'm no McCloud. I could definitely kill the G-Gun, though.

They didn't take the bait. I didn't recieve a reply. Instead, a stream of lasers from the first wave of fighters chased me away from the juggernaught. I slipped into a U-Turn and faced them head on. Their shots passed me harmlessly. I opened up with guns, not aiming to kill them as much as just scatter them. One fighter was vapourized, the rest of it's wing scattered in fear of the Wolfen II's multi-lock, which I hadn't bothered bringing online. Yet.

It kind of hurt shooting down Cornerians, but not really. It wasn't exactly a new concept, rather one I had simply put away on the top shelf for the last couple of decades. If they were going to shoot at me, then I could certainly reach up and dust that old habit off. They had better be ready for the consequences.

My multi-lock began to sing as I flew towars the oncoming cloud of fighters. Dozens of them broke off in terror, each believing that I was targeting them specifically. The confusion only left so many to fire on me. It was an easy set of maneuvers to dodge the oncoming fire. As soon as I broke their line, I released the lock. I was through them all right, but now I had one pissed off mob on my table. Thank you, Skye, for the amazingly powerful engines on the Wolfen II's. None of the fighters behind me could keep up with me at maximum thrust, not even their interceptors.

The Indignation's guns opened up on me at last as I approached. I knew where the G-Gun was mounted; at the top of the upper spire, above the bridge. The AA guns along the spire roared as I shot up the massive super structure of the vessel. A couple shots grazed me, but my shields took them gracefully. By the time the G-Gun was in my sights I was still at 72% shield power.

A quick burst of lasers turned that very, very expensive piece of equipment to scrap. The moment the gravity field dropped, I whooped on an open channel. "See ya later, suckers!" I could just see Drake face palming from the view from his quarters.

I set a course for Sauria and hit the warp drive throttle full blast. It was time to go meet up with Janice at old Lupinhold...