It was tight quarters, I knew, but at least I was finally where I wanted to be. For the most part. The only downside to this was that the Great Fox was simply too small for me to share a cabin with Fox.

If not for the other issue of the circumstances of our happy reunion, I might call this a win all the way around. Nevertheless, a partial victory was better than a total loss.

"I'm not getting anything from the planet below," Slippy said, then turned to Peppy. We needed his input as well for energies that our instruments couldn't detect-and my power, of course, wasn't quite as developed. Hell, I'd just discovered I had it.

The hare shook his head. "Only the usual background psionic energies that exist in all living things..." he answered to the toad's unspoken request.

"No buildups?" Fox asked. "I don't want to be caught by whatever it was that got the Liberator. I don't think we'd survive that sort of run-in."

"None." Peppy replied.

Falco checked his displays and blinked. "Well, whatever it is down there...they just put out the welcome mat. Some sort of tracking beacon just came on."

"Welcome mat?" Fox replied, bewildered. "Why would they want to welcome us?"

I stared out the window, shaking my head. "I somehow don't think that it's you guys they're trying to welcome."

"What do you mean, Fara?"

"Who's here with you now that wasn't when you were here last time?" I asked, fully expecting Fox to have enough sense to make the obvious connection.

He did, nodding. "Of course. You."

We can sense our own..., I remembered Peppy telling me. It just made too much sense. Are you here, waiting for me? I thought.

"Whoever it is, I'd like to know why they saw fit to destroy one of our ships-and whatever the hell they might want with you, Fara. No one is getting you...not without going through me and the rest of Star Fox." Fox added.

"I don't know either," I answered.

"But they aren't shooting at us. We're probably not going to get a better opportunity. Whoever it is, for whatever reason, has something they wish us-or more importantly, Fara, to know or see. I say that we be gracious and not turn down the invitation." Peppy said. "We may not get another chance to end this problem with minimal force."

"Agreed. What's the area around the beacon like?"

Slippy replied, "Not surprisingly, it's in the area of Venom least affected in the final battle and subsequent destruction of Andross' facilities."

"Can we land the Great Fox there? I'd like a minimal show of force, if possible. Keeping the Arwings docked may accomplish that. If we have to make a run for it, furthermore, not having to wait to dock them will buy us precious time."

"Should be able to. Bringing up aerial imaging now...shows a nice, wide open spot next to a bunker. I think that's the welcome mat, all right." Falco replied with a nod.

Fox nodded his approval. "Then take us in. TIme to find out who's behind all this."

I watched as the ship began its descent into the atmosphere of Venom. I felt a chill run down my spine, and I shuddered. Fox saw it and asked me, "You okay, Fara?"

I sighed and shrugged. "Just...I have a bad feeling about this, Fox."

"You think it's him?" he asked. Of course...he knew I had just found out I had a brother not much longer than I found out because I was the one that told him.

"Maybe. It's just way too coincidental," I said, pacing the bridge in thought. "Think about it, Fox. A weapon capable of utterly destroying a ship ten times and more the strength of the Great Fox leaves you and your team unscathed. As in, totally doesn't even glance in your direction. I mean, yeah, Star Fox is a merc team, but you'd have to be blind the past few years to not know the victories that the team won and how they singlehandedly turned the tide of the war for the CDF. They may as well have been a CDF unit themselves. If they were truly Venom troops or allies, they'd have known that destroying Star Fox in a single blow would have done more to crush the spirit of the Cornerian people than blowing up one cruiser. So, whoever we're dealing with certainly isn't them."

"Yeah, we kind of concluded that much," Fox replied. "I'm still not convinced why we should worry-and that your brother is the one we should have to worry about."

"We're dealing with forces that we hardly understand." I added. "We have libraries on conventional weaponry of all shapes, sizes, and power. But psionic weapons...we were caught with our pants down when Andross unleashed his, so to speak."

Peppy nodded, listening to our conversation-how could he miss it, with those ears? "He did an excellent job of keeping it secret from even the best in Cornerian Intelligence..."

"And?"

It was Peppy that added some of his input to try and make my case for me. "Andross Oikonny was one of the most powerful psionics in the past century, Fox. Most others didn't have a quarter his power."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me." Fox said with a snort.

Peppy just shrugged. "I was his teacher, Fox. Had I known that he would turn his talents to malevolence and evil, for no other reason than lovers' jealousy, I might have intervened. By the time I could...it was far too late..."

Fox stared at Peppy, and it was clear by the look on his face that the revelation was news to him. "Peppy...why didn't you tell me?"

"You had your own reasons to hate him, Fox. I felt it unnecessary to add to those. I...was saddened by his descent into madness. In the end...I felt pity for the waste of such a mind..."

For a moment longer, Fox looked at his old comrade. Shaking his head, he turned back to me. "So whatever you think is pulling the trigger, you think your brother has something to do with this all, and he's here. I get that."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, for your sake, I hope that he's not actually the one pulling the trigger...or this will get complicated fast..." Fox said, his eyes momentarily dropping to the holster where his sidearm rested, and before I could say anything else, he bounded down the hall.

Fox, dammit...don't tell me you're thinking about having to...no, please, just no. Let me be wrong.

I bounded after the rest of the team, my sense of duty overriding my emotions and guiding my actions now. Following them down tunnels and through caverns-however did this escape the self-destruct mechanisms that Andross had in place all over the planet-we eventually came to a large, central room.

I got that chill down my back again. Something told me that we were about to find the cause of all this. And, to any deity that may have existed, I prayed that my instincts were wrong.

With a gasp, I realized to my dismay that I was not wrong.

He looked like I would have imagined him to, mostly. That was part of what made it hurt so much. It was like staring into a mirror, except that he was male, and a bit heavier and taller, he had a few more black streaks in his fur than I did, and his eyes were completely black. No white to them at all, no sense of compassion or emotion...pure obsidian.

I felt sick. One look at him and I had no question as to who was responsible for the incident that brought us here.

There was no machinery around, just a vast expanse of...I couldn't tell.

Peppy cleared things up for me rapidly. "Psychonite. The rarest substance in all Lylat." he gasped. "This chamber...it wasn't housing a psionic amplifier. It was...is...the amplifier."

"Hello, sister..." the form before me hissed. I wanted to cry...it sounded nothing like my own. It was as though the form before me wore my brother's appearance as a cloak...that its true nature was far, far more malevolent.

"Who are you?" I shot back, just as he raised his paw towards me. My own paw went reflexively for my blaster, thought and action nearly one movement. I mean, I was a damn quick shot-only Fox was better than me. Before I could draw it, it shot out of my holster and into the paw of this...thing.

"Is that any way to greet family?" he said.

"You are no family to me..." I spat.

"Fara...do you deny your own brother?"

"My brother would never have taken innocent lives!" I retorted.

"I watched as you were raised in a sheltered life, given everything you could have asked for, while I scraped out an existence on the back alleys of Corneria City..." this thing growled back at me.

"That...that can't be true. We were kept separate..."

"Ahh yes...pity that the one who raised me came back to Corneria and died suddenly. I was left with no one."

"If I had only known..."

"And what would you have done? NOTHING!" he growled, and I was taken aback by the sudden force in his voice. "You would have continued to live in your sheltered society and insulated from the hardships of the real world." This can't be my brother. I refuse to accept that.

I wasn't going to allow him to run roughshod over me, though. He had to know that I didn't choose to live the life he had pictured that I had lived. "I chose to live my life apart from that which our father wished for me. Don't you damned dare talk to me about insulated! You have no clue how many times I have shed blood. My paws are as dirty as anyone's. I fought for our planet, our world, against the tyranny of Andross! " Our father. So much for not accepting.

"With the end result still the same. You got what you wanted. Everyone cheered you and forgot me."

"Did I?"

He laughed, evilly. "No matter. I have all that I need. With this-he gestured around him-no one will have the power to stop me..."

"And just what do you plan to do with it?" I asked.

"You will find out soon enough. When I have finished making the necessary adjustments and changes, I will be able to strike anywhere in the Lylat system that I wish. That ship...was just a small demonstration of my power."

"Are you insane?!" I asked, screeching. Mentally, I noted the position of the rest of the team. I saw Fox coming around his blind side, paw on his blaster.

Now I know what he meant by 'this could get complicated'. Maybe...he'd be doing him a favor.

NO, I chided myself. No matter what my brother has become, I have to get through to him.

"Insane?" He laughed, coldly, "No, my dear sister, I am the one that holds all the cards. I will bring the peace and order that the psionics never could to Lylat-my order. No one will dare threaten the Lylat system, ever again. Not Andross, not anyone. Finally, Corneria will see what they deigned to cast aside in the streets like a mere urchin!"

"Damn you! You're no better than Andross! You're deranged out of your mind..." I replied.

His eyes narrowed. "I suppose you need a demonstration of my power, then..." he said, and I watched those eyes flash.

I braced myself for whatever he was going to throw at me, and felt the impact of a cudgel on my mind. But, nothing more than the impact. No pain, nothing else.

Another attempt, with the same effect. "Is that the extent of your power?" I retorted.

"You are strong..." he said, eyes appraising me in a different manner. "I should have known not to underestimate you, my sister...after all, you are my blood."

"So, are you convinced-"

"But, you are not without your...vulnerabilities!" he added and spun to face Fox, who was approaching him. He had my blaster in his paw.

"Fox, NOOO!" I screamed. Good as I was, I wasn't faster than light. And my power, it seemed, was still largely, and unfortunately, reflexive in nature.

A bolt shot forth, catching Fox in the chest, and he fell to the ground. He didn't move.

I growled, screaming my anguish, and turned to face my brother. I didn't care at this point if we were fated to meet in mortal combat, he was going to answer for this.

"You bastard!" I shot back at him, then went for my weapon-and belatedly realized that he had it. He raised his paw up towards me, and I mirrored the motion. I didn't know what else to do.

I haven't a clue how I did what came next. A sphere of pure psionic energy shot from my paw and hit him full in the chest. He flew backwards across the room and made no immediate attempt to rise again.

However, my ears told me he was still breathing. I'd bought us a few minutes, at best, to get out of here.

Or at least, the rest of the team. I wanted to stay here, with Fox. Please, don't let him die...I pleaded silently, running over to his side.

"Fara, we need to get out of here and report what we've discovered to Command..." Falco said, tugging my arm.

"I will NOT leave Fox here..." I shot back.

"And what good would it do if you died here with him?" he said, then sighed and picked up Fox, resting his currently unconscious form on his shoulder. "He's heavy, you know that, don't you..."

I nodded and supported his other side. "Let's get out of here..."

Together, we brought Fox back the way we came, Falco grousing all the way-and taking more than a few shots at some automated turrets, which I swear I hadn't noticed on the way here.

I brought him in and let him lay on the ground as the hatch slammed behind us. I turned to the forward navigation station. "ROB, get us out of here NOW!" I growled, command instinct taking over.

"Affirmative," came the reply, and I felt the engines rumble to life as the Great Fox began its ascent towards space.

Peppy's ears shot up again. "I'm feeling a massive buildup of psionic energy. I think your brother got up from his nap..."

"Duly noted." I shot back. My emotions could wait. Falco might be Fox's right paw, but I was in charge if Fox was down. Everyone knew and expected that. "Can we get out of here before he can get a shot?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to try..." Falco said, and ran over to the navigator's chair. "ROB, give me manual control!"

"Affirmative."

A lance of energy shot towards us and missed by quite some distance. "I think he's figured out how to use that amplifier in atmosphere..." Slippy said, panicked.

"Thirty seconds to space," Falco said as he yanked the stick hard to port to avoid another shot from my brother-and his aim was definitely getting better. Falco, with his pilot's instincts, could better avoid what ROB could not, else we would be a fireball falling from the sky. "Why can he fire so fast?" I asked.

"He doesn't need as much power to take us out." Peppy quipped, hanging onto his chair for dear life.

"We're going to need to prepare for a lightspeed jump as soon as we're clear."

"Then we're going to need a lot of luck," Falco shot back, as this time we were grazed by a beam that impinged upon our shields-and Slippy winced as more than a few telltales lit up. "Jumping to lightspeed isn't easy this close to a planet...and we've already seen the range of this thing."

I nodded.

"Ten seconds until we're clear of the gravity well of Venom..." Slippy said-just as the entire ship was rocked by a blast. Shields failed, and I could hear the outermost hull plates buckle. The next shot would be dead on target, I instinctively knew.

This was it. Either we jumped to lightspeed now, or it wouldn't matter because we'd all be dead. "NOW, FALCO!" I shouted.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" he shouted back and hit the necessary controls.

Another beam lanced out...but, well, even psionic energy wasn't faster than light. Fortunately for us, we were.

Only then, with the Great Fox safely in hyperspace, did I allow myself the luxury of walking over to where Fox lay. He was-miraculously, with all the heavy and rapid maneuvering we had done to escape-exactly where he lay.

But he still wasn't conscious. I knelt beside him and felt frantically for a pulse, only now, with the rigors of shepherding my team through danger safely behind me for the time being, allowing a tear to fall down my cheek.

"Fox...don't die on me...please, don't be..."

There. A faint pulse. It was there, but so weak, so fragile...

"Falco..." I said.

I could hear him all but screaming into the communications headset. "No, you, don't get it. I'm going to land the Great Fox right on top of the base hospital if I must, and someone had better be on standby when I do! We put our asses on the line for Corneria. It'd be really nice if someone on that end would cut the red tape for us! So the authorization better be there when we get there! You got ten minutes." he said, and terminated the connection. Then, he turned to me. "Idiots. Anyway, we're clear to land at the base hospital, and they better have a team ready at the pad when we land. All travel lanes have been cleared for us..." he said, kneeling beside me. "Fara...you all right?"

"I should have been better prepared." I said.

"For what?"

"To do what needed to be done..."

"Fara, second guessing yourself? This...isn't like you, girlie..." he said to me, gently.

"He told me that things might get complicated. I hesitated, thought I could get through to him...and he exploited that. Fox paid that price."

"It just shows you have a heart, though," Falco responded. "It's what makes us different from people like him."

"If he dies, though...I'll never be able to forgive myself..."

"He won't die, Fara. He's too much of a pain in the ass..." Falco said. As I looked up at him, the bird closed his eyes and added, "And I won't let him. I swear. I'd take a blaster bolt for him, any day, there isn't even a question of that...and everyone on this team knows it."

Falco gazed out the canopy of stars in front of the Great Fox as she made her way through space at incredible speeds. "I owe him my life more times than I can count. I know, I've saved his furry butt many times, too...but if not for him...if not for Star Fox, I'd be rotting away in some forgotten sewer on Papetoon a long time ago..."

I nodded.

"He's going to be okay, Fara," he said, and gave me a gentle-and friendly-hug. I knew that Falco liked me in a way, too, but he had enough respect for Fox to not try and steal his girl.

And I was his, make no mistake. Besides, Falco was all crazy about Katt Monroe...some hotshot pilot girl who'd helped us during the war, and then vanished as quickly as she came.

At this point, though, I held onto that belief. That he was going to be okay and come through this.

Because I didn't want to live with the alternative.