Chapter 9! Don't worry, there isn't any french this time round! Enjoy!

Slippy Toad was used to being at Peppy's beck and call. Being the current Research Director for the Cornerian Defense Force had him in near constant meetings with the General as well as other distinguished figures. But never - in all their meetings - had Peppy insisted such urgency. Had he the time to spare to think it over he was sure he could figure it out.

The toad pressed his hand to the scanner, a system he had helped his father build; before Beltino was given the Commissioner position by Pepper just after the Apariod War. The system instantly recognized Slippy and opened the door. "General."

Peppy looked up at the toad with a warm smile. "Ah, Slippy, come in my old friend."

Slippy returned the smile and took a seat across from the hare.

"Although I know how busy you are with the workload the President has given you, I assure you. This will take precedence over anything you are currently working on."

Slippy raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Peppy, you'll forgive me for not believing you right away."

Peppy chuckled.

"I've got thirty plus projects on the go, with five that I am personally overseeing. The current refit and upgrades for the army taking the top priority."

Peppy handed Slippy a holo-screen. "On that screen you will see why I've pulled you away from your work."

Slippy tapped the screen. Instantly the pictures Anner had given him loaded. He took a deep breath as he saw the Great Fox in it's decommissioned state. "Didn't take long for someone to loot the Great Fox I see." He tapped the screen, moving to the second picture. "The fucking nerve of these bandits."

"Bounty Hunters." Peppy corrected him. "Take a look at the last photo."

Once more Slippy tapped the screen, nearly dropping the holo-screen. "It that? Rob?!"

Peppy nodded. "I'd recognize that bucket of bolts anywhere." The hare moved to the front of his desk, resting against it. "This is why I called you Slippy. I believe a bounty hunter named Kursed has stolen Rob from the Great Fox, along with another hunter."

Slippy shook his head. "That's impossible. Rob wasn't on the Great Fox. Fox had him..." Slippy paused for a moment, unable to think.

Peppy's ears drooped. "Slippy."

The toad looked up at Peppy, clearly fighting back tears. "Fox had him taken off the ship years ago, just before he died."

Peppy's demeanour quickly changed. "Fox's death has not been confirmed Slippy." The hare turned around. "For all we know he fled the system, just like Krystal did."

"Peppy, we all saw his apartment. How could he not be dead?"

"That's enough Slippy." Peppy snapped. He sighed heavily before continuing. "Look, you know Rob inside and out. If you think you can hack into him and gain control of Kursed's ship that I am giving you permission to do so."

Slippy thought about it for a moment. "In theory it's possible, but it activate his fail safe and wipe him completely. If he's controlling the ship, which he more than likely is, it could cause a complete system failure."

"We'd have to act quickly. I've ordered Star Wolf to bring Kursed in. I've got some questions for her." Peppy sat back down in his chair. "So, will you do it?"

"I'll do it. For Fox. We have to protect his legacy." Slippy stood up and made his way to the door. "I'll get set up a few rooms down. If you'll excuse me Peppy."

"General?" Peppy looked up to see Anner standing near his door. "Star Wolf will reach be reaching Sector X soon. Comm link is green on line five should you need to give any further instructions." Anner saluted and disappeared behind the closing door.

Peppy rested his head in his hands. "I know Fox is still alive." He raised his head, looking at the photo of Rob. "And she had better know where I can find him."

Kursed tossed the holo-screen onto her cot, having finally finished reading the translated information. She tried to think of all possible plans of action. A job like this (as Shattered had put it) was easily a shit show. Normally, she'd have no problem with that. But normally she didn't have a letter from her old lover haunting her every thought. A constant distraction like that wouldn't bode too well for her. One hesitation in this business meant death.

"All finished?"

Kursed turned to Shattered. "Yeah."

"Well, let's talk strategy in the briefing room."

They were silent until they entered the room.

"Computer, launch file Zoness." Shattered ordered. The hologram split all the information into three screens. "Looks like this guy has hired assassins before." He pointed to a few photos. "It's been effective to say the least."

"But what is he doing to warrant killing off these people?" Kursed stepped closer to the screens. "Jay normally gives more info than this."

Shattered turned his head towards the vixen. "You must know about the job shortage right? I'm surprised Jay gets as much info as he does - and somehow has enough cash to pay us."

Kursed glanced at Shattered before looking back at the screens. "Star Wolf has certainly kept Lylat clean." She studied the photos, spotting one thing that seemed off in a few of them. "Look. These photos here, I see the same cat in each of these photos.

Shattered looked at the photos as well. "Computer enlarge photos six, ten, thirteen and twenty."

Quickly all other photos shrank allowing the other four to enlarge and enhance. In each photo there was a partial body just off to the left or right of the body. And while it wasn't something conclusive, it was at least something to start with. Kursed grinned.

"Looks like we've got a lead."

"Based on his proximity to theses bodies, we can assume he's been at a lot more than just four hits." Shattered thought out loud. "Computer, scan the feline in these photos. Let's see if we can't ID this guy."

"Affirmative." The computer quickly began rendering the feline. "Accessing Cornerian Military files."

As thousands of faces appeared, Kursed looked over at Shattered once more. "How do you get this and not at least send up a red flag in Corneria?"

Shattered grinned. "Rob is Cornerian technology, and he's got Star Fox's old clearance codes."

Kursed laughed. "And they don't think that someone has stolen him? Star Fox isn't something the military simply overlooks? There has to be some sort of proxy he operates through."

The vulpine's grin widened. "Actually, if someone was to detect Rob operating outside of Star Fox they would see one Falco Lombardi's credentials appear. And who is going to question an ex-member of the Star Fox team?"

"Identification confirmed. Results now on screen." The two hunters turned their attention to the screen. "Partial corruption to files has been detected."

Shattered narrowed his eyes. "Looks like someone has paid to put a few black lines in his file."

Kursed growled. "He goes by Zero. I took a job from him once and it nearly cost me my life." Shattered folded his arms across his chest. "He used to run a local gang outside of Lylat. He did some shit and wanted some protection. He had insisted that it would take a bounty hunter to kill a bounty hunter. Little did I know it was one of Jay's hunters."

"You mean this 'Zero' guy caused Hunters to start killing each other?" Shattered shook his head. "I can only imagine what Jay sent after you."

"Actually he offered me a job." Kursed flashed a smile at the vulpine. "I guess you could say it was my interview."

"Well since you've got the experience with this feline. You call the plan. I've got a limited armoury but I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Let's take a look at that armoury first. This guy is likely to be as paranoid as Beast." Kursed looked at the image once more. "I can't wait to put a bolt through his head."

"O'Donnell. We've just received word from Slippy that Kursed's ship used Rob to locate another hit. It'll take us a moment to see what info they took." Anner tapped a few keys on his wrist comm. "Are you in sight of the Great Fox yet?"

"Confirmed." Wolf replied. "We're in range."

"And I thought those engineers did a number to it." Leon scoffed. Despite there professional rivalry, the lizard always had respect for the Star Fox team. Minus that annoy bird - Falco.

"Looks like they stripped everything they wanted." Panther growled. "These damn bounty hunters have no respect."

"Scan is complete. Looks like it's just exterior damage."Anner looked at the hologram in front of him. They were in there for almost two hours. The Great Fox was stripped almost bare as per General Peppy's orders. It's not likely they found anything of value."

"Unless they somehow managed to pry open the personal quarters. I remember the General saying something about those being undisturbed." Wolf looked down at the holographic image of Anner. "Are we done here?"

"Command is requesting a visual confirmation on the exterior damage."

"I'll do a quick fly by." Panther said, blasting his Wolfen around to the other side of the Great Fox. "Nearly identical blaster marks on both sides. We're dealing with a damn good marksman."

"That's A.I. Marksmanship." Peppy's face appeared in front of them. "Anner, report to Slippy. I'll take over from here."

"Right away General."

"McCloud's flagship has certainly seen better days Peppy." Wolf said after Anner's face disappeared. "And how does a Bounty Hunter afford an AI?"

Peppy's face darkened. "When it's stolen."

"Stolen?" Leon was somewhat impressed by this bounty hunter already. "Not an easy feat to steal someone else's AI."

"It's Rob. Star Fox's old AI unit. And before you say it's impossible, Slippy and I have already confirmed it is indeed Rob."

Wolf smirked. "Damn, I gotta hand it to Kursed, that was a ballsy move."

"She's on her way to Zoness, on what I can only assume is to be another hit. You are to head there and arrest her. Once you bring her back here I will transfer your payment to you. Peppy out."

Wolf sighed. "He'd better be adding more to that payment. Let's roll Star Wolf."

Within seconds the three Wolfen blasted towards Zoness, leaving the once renowned Great Fox in it's final resting place.

"Peppy!" Slippy cried as he entered Peppy's office. "Peppy! You aren't going to believe this!" Peppy stood silent, motioning for the toad to continue. "It's Kursed, somehow she's got Rob to use Falco's access codes! That's why we haven't been able to pick up on this theft sooner!"

"But we've changed Falco's codes. Hell, everyone's codes get changed every two years. How did that get through unnoticed until now?"

Slippy shrugged and handed Peppy a holo-screen. "We've got something else. You said that... Beast was it? Anyway, he said that she wasn't working alone. I think he's right. I've got the ship scanned into my computer now and I'll be able to see what exactly it's made out of within a few hours. But when I looked at the photo once more I noticed someone else in the cockpit besides Rob. And judging off of Rob's height and the info we have on Kursed there is no way it's her."

Peppy shook his head. "I knew I was right to call you Slippy. Good work!" He patted Slippy on the shoulder. "I'll come over for an update when I can. But if you discover who that other hunter is notify me at once."

"No prob, Peppy. I'll have it figured out in no time!" Slippy smiled and quickly left Peppy's office once more.

The hare tapped his wrist comm. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have another pilot on this job. But I know he wont like it." With a chuckled he pressed a final key and waited. His comm was silent for nearly an entire minute before it was finally answered. "You always did sleep in late."

"Oh, this had better be fucking good."

"Hello to you too, Falco."

You know, I had a hard time with parts of this chapter. I will try not to settle back into my one chapter a month routine.

Peace,

H-T