Loden tapped his helmet, wishing something other than pending was blinking in front of his left eye. "If we don't get something soon, Wolf is going to kill us!" The vulpine paced back and forth behind two of his soldiers who were furiously typing while trying to find their lost ship. "We don't have all night guys; I know you're doing all you can but someone has to give me something here."

"They've used some sort of proxy sir. While its not the most sophisticated we've encountered it still takes a while to break down the firewall." After a few more moments there was finally a glimmer of hope. "Sir! We've got confirmation on our run away ship!"

Loden uttered a quick prayer before leaning over to look at the screen. "Looks like they're on manual control sir, heading towards a planet just outside of the Lylat system." The soldier moved the image onto a bigger screen, giving his commander a better view of the planet.

"Kew?" Loden shook his head. "Ain't nothing there but disappointment, and a decent chance of losing your life." He stopped his pacing and sighed. "Commander Erato to Wolf, we've got confirmation on were our bounty hunters are heading next. Looks like a planet called Kew, just outside of the Lylat system, And although we've technically got no jurisdiction there. I doubt anyone is going to miss these two when you take them into custody."

"Copy that Erato. Good work, we'll take it from here." Wolf grinned as he set his auto pilot's course to Kew. "I'll make sure you and your boys get a nice bonus from General Hare for helping us out."

"Just doing our job. Although that does sound quite intriguing. Good hunting Star Wolf. Erato, out."

"Kew is just about the worst place for any Cornerian official, trained or not, to head to." Falco took his place behind Wolf. "You sure you want to go in there with just us four?"

"We are Lylat's best trained fighting force Lombardi." Leon hissed, his face twisting into a grin. "And I'm not sure if this is the first time you've gone into a battle outnumbered. Pretty sure we bailed you out during the Aparoid war."

"Yeah, and Fox basically handed your team the title of hero during the Anglar Blitz." Falco shot back. "And if you don't want to join him in the afterlife I suggest you give him the respect he deserves."

"He's right you know." Panther looked over at the Skyclaw, it's colours reminding him of Krystal's old Cloudrunner. "If Krystal hadn't played Fox's heart we might not have become heroes."

Wolf sighed, causing the impending argument to stop before it started. "Leon, Panther... I will not tell you again to leave that shit in the past where it belongs." He took a breath before looking at Falco. "We might not have seen eye to eye; but I am grateful for the role Fox played in the Anglar Blitz. I mean that Falco, if I had the power to bring back my greatest rival then I would. But like I said, let's leave the past where it belongs and concentrate on catching Kursed."

Falco was silent, but nodded at Wolf. He set the Skyclaw to automatic pilot as well and leaned back into his chair. 'The only reason I'm even doing this is for Fox's legacy. This Kursed better give me a decent fight or come peacefully.' He watched as both Panther's and Leon's communications went from green to orange, signalling that they were trying to sleep.

"Not sleeping?" Wolf asked after noticing Falco had yet to switch his comm line. "Although I'm not much for conversation, if you've got something on your mind spill it."

"It's been on my mind for years Wolf, and I doubt talking to you will solve anything." Falco muttered, he closed his eyes and tried to relax.

"It's about his death, isn't it?" The question made Falco shift uncomfortably in his seat. Wolf frowned, hoping that Falco would shed some light on Fox's death. "It's been four years, and there still isn't any new information on what happened in his apartment. There would have been a time I would have celebrated McCloud's death, but I guess that time passed me by a long ago. He was my greatest rival, as I'm sure you know, and I always assumed I would be the one to take him down. What I didn't take into effect was his heart." He chuckled lightly. "I would have never of thought McCloud wanted to settle down, but when he had that stolen from him I guess that planted an idea in his mind. I don't really know why I'm telling you this; maybe it's because I'm selfish enough to had wanted Fox's acknowledgement as his only rival. Maybe it's because you represent the team I thought no one would be able to take down."

Falco looked away from Wolf. "We, Star Fox I mean, we always knew you three were not only our rivals, but our best way to improve ourselves. There wasn't a briefing that passed where we didn't assume that somehow you guys were right behind us in both skills and technology." Falco glanced back at Wolf's hologram for a moment before looking back out towards space. "I wont lie to you Wolf, when I saw Fox's apartment I immediately blamed your team. It took me years to come to terms with my best friend's death, and understand that what happened was simply beyond what our two teams were capable of. And while I still can't bring myself to see you as a friend, I know you and your team had nothing to do with what happened to him." With that Falco closed his comm link and closed his eyes once more.

Wolf waited a moment before setting his own ship to autopilot. The impromptu bonding moment gave him no solace. He pushed the conversation and the thoughts that came with it to the back of his head. Answers or not, he had a team to lead; and a bounty hunter to catch.

Kursed walked into the cockpit; expecting to see Rob flying the ship once more. However, she found Shattered sitting in the pilot seat, with a white knuckle grip on the controls. He was listening to a report, undoubtedly from Zoness.

"- records show it stayed for maximum three hours before it took off. No further incidents. We have a mid-sized cargo ship make and model D-" The transmission faded as Shattered turned his head toward the vixen.

"Was that us?" She sat down across from him, crossing her legs at the knee. "The report I mean."

Shattered shook his head. "Some other ship. This one wouldn't be registered on their systems." He nearly jumped as he felt her hand on his forearm. He looked from it and up to the face of its owner. Her toothy grin, and the way her bangs fell in front of her eyes sent a shiver up his spine. For a split second it was if she transformed into Krystal; he couldn't stop himself from relaxing finally realizing how hard he had gripped the handles.

Kursed took back her hand turning the chair to look out into the edges of the lylat system. "I have to admit, this old girl certainly does have it were it counts."

Shattered's grin faded slightly. "Yeah, but at this speed we'll be lucky to get off Kew. That's if Star Wolf get's called off once we leave Lylat." He tapped his screen and swiped it to the left, sending a diagnostics chart in front of Kursed. "As you can see, if we don't get fuel somewhere in Kew we'll be staying there for a while. Provided we don't get arrested first."

"Our main threat is Star Wolf, and Lombardi. But there are a few big name hunters that call Kew home. They might make an attempt at my bounty. Certainly wish I could call in a few favours."

Shattered glanced at the vixen. "And why couldn't you? Is Kew a deal breaker for most favours?" Kursed frowned, giving the vulpine his answer. "I've only been to Kew a few times, but I think I might know someone willing to help us out."

Kursed scoffed. "You'll need more than credits to keep me safe on this planet. Unfortunately it's still the safest place for us to go." She swiped the screen in front of her diagonally, causing it to clear. She then tapped her wrist comm then the screen. "Jay, this is Kursed come in."

The cockpit was quiet as the two bounty hunters waited for their employer to respond. The minutes felt like hours before Jay finally came on-screen. The tip of his muzzle sported a friendly smile before it disappeared into the familiar dark background. "Seems like you two have become Lylat's most wanted."

"We're heading to Kew to lie low for a bit." Shattered said, switching his ship to auto pilot so he could focus on Jay.

"Kew isn't very safe for you Kursed." Jay stated, he paused a moment. "But you really are out of options. General Hare has seen fit to call for your arrest as well. He somehow managed to capture an image of Shattered's ship with an A.I. piloting it."

"They must have had a semi functioning satellite around there." Kursed grumbled.

"From what I could gather Star Wolf left Zoness about twenty minutes after you. Their wolfen's will, without a doubt, catch up to your ship Shattered. I hope you've got some sort of plan of ditching it should you need to." The vulpine looked away from the screen, unable to give a direct answer.

"Any chance you could give us some extra time Jay?"

"Sorry Kursed. I shouldn't have even took this call, let alone still be talking with you. If the government got a hold of your wrist comm..." Jay leaned forward in his chair, leaving the end of his muzzle exposed again. "I've transferred the payment to your accounts plus a little extra. If you survive I'll contact you again." There had been a hint of worry in his tone before Jay closed the link, deleting his contact info from Kursed's wrist comm as well.

"So on a scale of one to fucked, how far up shit's creek without a paddle are we?"

Kursed ran a hand through her hair. "Fucked. It'd almost be safer for you to drop me off and land somewhere else." She stood up and walked to the door. "I'll start getting my things together."

"We're doing this as a team." Shattered got to his feet as well. "The government doesn't know who you're working with, and we can use that to our advantage!"

"And do what?" Kursed snarled. "Take on not only Star Wolf, but Falco Lombardi ourselves? With your tiny and hopelessly out-geared armoury?" She stormed out of the cockpit, swearing as she went.

Shattered was just a step behind her. "I'm not going to simply let you walk to your death."

"You don't bloody well have to 'let' me do anything. I've had more than my fair share of males claiming to help me and I don't need another." The vixen started packing her bag again, but was stopped as the vulpine's strong hand grabbed her wrist. "Let me go."

"I once knew someone like you." He whispered. "She told me to let her go as well. I made the mistake of listening to her and I have never seen her since. I will not make that mistake again, I'm not offering my protection or any such crap like that. I'm offering my help, and I'm not letting you off my ship until you accept it."

Kursed pulled her wrist away from his grasp. Where it not for the sincerity in his voice she would had knocked his ass to the floor. Then she felt it again, that same damn feeling she felt on Zoness.

But this time she could sense it was mutual.

She glared at the vulpine. "You do something stupid and get yourself killed, I'm not going to feel sorry about it."

"Please, I expect you to rejoice once your rid of the damn nuisance that is me." His grin was just as infuriating as it was contagious. "I'll see if I can't get a hold of my contact on Kew.

"Slippy, any luck? Peppy asked as he walked into Slippy's temporary work station. The toad poked his head up from behind a mountain of computers. "I didn't think these archaic things still worked."

Slippy laughed. "Well when my first scans our networks found Falco's codes in use I dug a bit deeper. They've been in use for quite some time, so I decided to break out the old system to see if it has something we've over looked on it."

"Didn't we back up those old files already?"

Slippy shrugged. "I had assumed we did, but that doesn't factor in if anything was modified since then. With a hard copy I can stream the same sets of file and pick out any discrepancies."

"So, with regards to my earlier question..." Slippy pointed to the screen behind him as he continued running the two streams. "So, the other hunter goes by Shattered eh?"

"Yeah, where do they even come up with these names?" Slippy laughed. "We've still only got that partial but I should have an actual image soon. It's been a while since I've used the program, so it took longer than I remembered. But I'll have it sent to you when it's done."

"I'll take a closer look at this bounty hunter's file in my office. I assume it'll be up by the time I get there." Slippy waved without looking as Peppy left the toad to work. Peppy didn't get two steps before his name was called.

"General Hare sir!" Anner saluted Peppy before continuing. "Based on the track Commander Erato ordered we've been able to pinpoint the ship." He handed Peppy a holo-screen that showed the ships projected destination. "As you can see we believe Kursed's headed for Kew. If she makes it there before Star Wolf catches up we might not see her again for a while."

"Kew is technically outside of Lylat." Peppy rubbed his chin with his free hand. "And my predecessor warned me about planet."

"Should we call off Star Wolf?" Anner had his hand next to his visor, ready to relay the order at a moment's notice.

"No, Star Wolf can handle themselves. If the question should arise, tell them to use whatever force necessary to bring in Kursed and Shattered alive. Have them tow back their ship as well, Rob means to much to me to leave him on that dreadful planet." Peppy continued to his office, barely hearing Anner as he sent his orders to Wolf's team.

With a grunt he sat down on his chair. The file Slippy sent him loading instantly. "Let's see who you are then."

'Bounty Hunter: Shattered. Sex: Male. Species: Vulpine. Age: 34. Height:5'8" Last known location: Zoness.'

Peppy whistled at all the blank lines that covered the majority of the page. He figured Shattered must have an endless supply of credits to have achieved such secrecy. He felt a tick in the back of his mind, like he knew more about this particular vulpine that he did. Something about him was familiar, almost annoyingly so. With a shrug he closed the file; he had other things to deal with.

"I'll take another look when Slippy get's that photo finished."

"Sir?" Peppy looked over at the officer, expecting it to be Anner. "I've got all the info we could find on this Jay character. Sorry to say it isn't much." Peppy noted the rank on the officer's sleeve before taking the hologram.

"Thank you corporal." He returned the young officer's salute before opening the file. The sight caused him to scoff. "And here I thought Shattered had a short profile. It looks like this guy just appeared one day with an armful of information to sell." He switched tabs to the possible crimes Jay had committed. "Empty? How the hell is that possible?" He opened the last tab expecting it to be empty as well, and for a moment he thought he was right.

That was until it began loading with hundreds upon hundreds of articles from various planets around Lylat and surrounding systems. He placed his fingers on the screen and simultaneously flicked them all forward, sending everything from the hologram to his screens. His eye's widened as he began to read. Each and every title spoke of this 'Jay' guy as some sort of technological super being. "Computer narrow down these images to articles coming from Kew." Within the blink of an eye nearly everything had vanished, save for one. It looked like simple hastily written note, but it's message was more than clear.

"It's been a long time Peppy Hare. When this is all over we should catch up. Until then please accept my thanks for opening the doors to your entire comm's room server. You should hurry and keep what's left of your secrets safe.

-Jay"

Peppy blinked, slowly turning around to overlook what was decades of sensitive information in the hands of those sworn to protect it. It didn't take him long to factor in the wide-spread panic that they had so cautiously kept at bay sweeping over every inhabitant of each and every planet under Corneria's protection. The blind trust every general prayed their government would give to them, gone. The soldiers he had out in the field stood very little chance of survival if a full-scale revolt was triggered. And with the information they kept to themselves, that was most certainly to happen.

He ran out of his office, his hands gripping the railing as he braced for the controlled chaos he was about to unleash. "Security breach! Get this system off-line now! GO GO GO!"

Like ants repairing an ant hill, his tech savvy soldier and officers alike began furiously typing, saving precious work while wiping data simultaneously. Above the chaos Peppy watched, trying to spot anyone who might have been loyal to Jay or any other group attempting to rally against Corneria.

"I want anyone and everyone who has level one clearance in our war room, NOW!" Peppy yelled over the crowd. He pressed some keys on his wrist comm and cleared his throat. "This is General Peppy Hare, we have a security breach! All hands, lock-down is now in effect. I repeat lock-down is in effect. Everyone who has level one clearance is to report to the war room!"

While security breaches weren't uncommon in the history of the Cornerian Military, this was the first one Peppy had to handle. The hare slowly made his was to the war room, determined to put this behind him, and quickly.

"Anner? Anner!" Wolf growled as he took control of his wolfen. "Leon, Panther. You seeing what I'm seeing?" Their screens flashed yellow, indicating a semi urgent problem. Communication between Corneria and their ships was broken. "We must have slipped out of range, looks like short wave is the only comm link working. Tighten formation, this could be a trap."

"There's no way we're out of Corneria's range." Falco silenced his alarm. "Both Papetown and Sauria are out this far, if not more. And that's based on technology back during the Aparoid war. I think something happened to the comm system back home."

"Anner had just green flagged us to use any force necessary to capture theses two hunters, plus Kursed's ship." Leon's face twisted into a smile. "Even if this is a trap, it isn't anything we haven't handled before."

Panther quickly scanned the area around his ship, looking for any sign of the potential ambush. "We should keep our guard up. This area isn't known for being Corneria friendly." A deep chuckle came from the jungle cat before he continued. "But we aren't exactly friendly ourselves."

"We're going to land within the hour. We'll break into two teams, Falco you're with me. Even if we've got these guys outgunned they'll pick us off if we scout around solo. Panther and Leon, you'll head directly to their ship. Falco and I will start searching the town closest to wherever they land." Wolf heard all three of them acknowledge him. He kept his eyes forward, looking at the planet even he had learned to fear.

Kew was a harsh desert wasteland. Everyday was not outwitting the hundreds of bounty hunters that called this place home. It was a fight for your survival, and nothing was on your side. The hunters weren't even the worst of the problems the inhabitants faced. Sandstorms ripped through towns, wiping out any unlucky enough to be in its path. Feral animals, known locally as Wilds, ran the streets at night. They stole what they could for food, including children not old enough to defend themselves.

The smartest of people on Kew knew selling information was the only thing that would eventually get them off this forsaken rock. But even doing that was a risk on your life. And people learned from a very young age how to take a life.

However, this planet proved to be a haven for anyone willing to get their hands dirty. Bounty Hunters fled to here from all over the galaxy, each of them confirmed killers. It was almost a way of earning your merit badges. The more bounties you collected the more respect you had amongst the planet. But that was before Zero had unleashed a civil war between hunters. Before you took even the slightest hesitation as a sign of weakness; A weakness that had to be culled.

It was here that Shattered's contact made their home. They entered a near empty bar, one of many along the single road going through the town. The vulpine pulled his bandana down from his mouth, happy to be breathing sand-free air once more. Kursed took off the helmet Shattered had lent her, resting it on her hip as she followed the vulpine to a corner table off to the left of the bar.

Without ordered, the bartender placed two glasses of a local beer in front of them. "She'll be down to see you shortly."

"Thanks." Shattered replied, greedily drinking down his glass. Kursed simply sipped at hers, taking a glance around her every few seconds. "You know, by doing that, you're only drawing more attention to yourself."

Kursed didn't reply, but focused on her drink. She took a gulp before hearing another person enter the bar. Immediately she placed her hand on her blaster, ready to get the first shot on whoever this person might be. She tightened her grip as the hollow echo of boots walking towards them got louder. The vixen glanced up at Shattered who motioned for her to stand down as he got up to greet his contact.

"You look no worse for wear, all things considered." The vulpine laughed, extending his hand.

"Oh all the people I thought would be contacting me again, you barely cracked the top fifty."

Kursed looked up to see a snow-white vixen smiling as she shook hands with Shattered. For a moment a pang of jealous shot through her. Before she could even stop herself from growling the other vixen looked at her.

"Ah, and you are mostly certainly Kursed. I've heard some great and horrifying things about you my dear. But don't you worry, no one comes collecting hits off of other hunters here. You're about as safe as you can be here."

"We'll see about that." Kursed muttered, starring daggers at the white vixen as she sat down.

"I should introduce myself, as you clearly don't know who I am. My name is Ghost and you are in my town. Well, our town, but that asshole hasn't been around in years."

"Shit." Kursed was stunned to say the least. "How the hell did you befriend a living legend such as Ghost?"

"Believe it or not, this green as grass rookie helped me out quite a bit." Ghost laughed as she recalled the memory. "In a more populated city on Kew, I went out of my way to put a hit on the then biggest scam artist this side of Corneria. It was easily an entry level hit so I didn't get much of a bite. But when I upped the bounty. This crazy fucker comes in and takes the job without so much as a question!"

Shattered smiled. "As I recall, it was one hell of a price for an easy job. All I had to do was shut up some nobody."

Ghost playfully punched his shoulder. "You make it sound so boring when you tell it like that!" She looked over a Kursed. "This guy I wanted taken out worked for the old boss of Kew. And I mean, this guy made us look like saints. Child labour, trafficking, prostitution, to name a few. And that doesn't even cover his choke hold on information. I'd tell you his name if he had earned the right to have it live on." Ghost's smile faded. "The only thing that should be remembered from his legacy is his victims."

Shattered quickly continued the story, giving Ghost time to reflect. "After that job, Ghost hired him on to help her and another hunter punch wholes in the bosses networks. It was a long job, but the result was worth it."

"Yes, it was." Ghost looked over at Kursed, her smile returned. "So tell me Kursed, what sort of trouble have you gotten Shattered into?" She thanked the bartender as he handed her a beer.

"Our employer had us kill Zero, as well as Beast. But someone on Corneria wants us captured."

Ghost spat out the beer had just taken a drink of. "Wha, wha what? That was you two? Ho-man, you guys really got in over your heads." Once she stopped coughing she finally took a drink of her beer. "Do you even know who Zero was? I mean, not as the damn shithead who started that civil war. I mean who he really, truly was?"

Kursed shook her head and shrugged. "We're only doing what our employer asked us."

"Zero was a god damn Cornerian informant!" Ghost whispered, she looked over at the bartender and motioned for him to close the bar. "What I'm about to say never leaves this table. And believe me, I'll know if it does."

While her tone didn't suggest it, both Shattered and Kursed knew how legitimate a threat that was coming from Ghost. She waited until the doors had be locked before continuing.

"The previous General, Pepper I believe his name is. Sent spies here well before the Aparoid War. During that time only one of them managed to blend in enough to not get killed. That was Zero. Pepper saw a possible threat here, not just with bounty hunters but mercs as well. It was Zero's mission to assimilate himself into our society, work his way up our ranks then destroy us from within." Ghost pointed at Kursed. "It was the mission you took from him that started the war we're still fighting here. Now no one blames you Kursed, but it is the reason your bounty is so high. While I can offer you protection for the time being, I am not willing to step up against Corneria for you."

"But we were told, Zero was..." Shattered looked over at Kursed. "He lied to us!"

"There was only one dumb ass brave enough to go up against Zero and his Cornerian protection. I know him as..." Ghost stopped, it was almost if she wanted to say a name. "Your employer, his name is Jay right?"

"Yeah, that's what we know him by." Shattered replied, eyeing Ghost suspiciously. "Do you have another name for him?" Ghost shook her head.

"If he sent you after Zero than that means he's ready to risk everything. I believe he's going after Corneria's secrets." The white vixen placed her hand over Shattered's. "This is not something you want to get involved with, but I fear it's already too late."

Shattered went to speak when he was cut off.

"Attention, Attention! Unauthorized entry! Emergency measures active!"

"ROB!" The vulpine stood up quickly, looking from Kursed to Ghost. "I'm sorry, but we have to go."

"Go where?" The voice was familiar, but only to his past life. It was almost as if he'd been sucker punched as he felt a blaster pressed against his head. Shattered knew who it was, he looked over at Ghost once more.

"Why?" He saw Kursed being to raise her hands, dropping her blaster beside her feet. "I trusted you Ghost."

"I owed him one last favour Shattered." Ghost replied softly. "His old gang lives here, and help me keep this place as clean as it can get. I'm sorry."

"General Hare has quite a number of questions for you and Kursed over there." Falco chuckled. "Come on in Wolf, we've caught ourselves some bounty hunters."

"Don't resist you two." Ghost watched as Wolf and Falco cuffed the two vulpine. "Remember, what happens in this bar stays in this bar."

With a heavy heart she led the group to the door, she could hear the wolfens just outside along with what she assumed to be Shattered's ship. She looked over at Wolf and nodded, but stopped Falco for a moment as he passed her.

"This makes us even Lombardi, all of us."

Falco grinned. "So be it."

"Panther, set my ship to follow this hunk of metal. I'll be riding with our two special guest to make sure they behave." Wolf took the blaster from Falco and motioned for the hunters to get into the cargo ship. "Falco, once we've got comms up send a message to Peppy. He'll love to hear good news from you for once."

"Fuck you." Falco growled, turning towards his ship.

After the remaining members of Star Wolf entered their respective Wolfens they blasted off towards Corneria.

Ghost watched them until they faded from sight. She truly felt bad for betraying Shattered, but in the long run she knew what she did was right.

"When they know the truth about Jay... They'll thank me for this." She headed back into the bar, and pulled out her anti-shit show drug. "Still not as good as his, but it'll have to do."

Three hours, the longest three hours of Peppy's life had passed since the security breach had been sounded. He along with everyone else who had top-level clearance had determined the point of entry of the hack. It would still be a few hours before they knew what all had been leaked, but Peppy could rest easy knowing they had at least had a secure system again. The hare reached for his cup of coffee before finally leaving the war room.

"Sir, I have this file for you to look at!" Anner ran towards the exhausted general, a hologram in his hand.

"Not now Anner. I've got a damn mountain of paperwork to fill out." Peppy took a drink of his coffee, wishing it's effects were instant.

"It's from Slippy Toad sir, it's that image of Shattered." Peppy nodded and took the hologram from Anner and opened the image.

"Oh my god." Peppy dropped his cup of coffee which burst into pieces as it crash into the floor. The sound caused a group of nearby officers to stop and look at their general. "There's just no way..."

"Sir?" Anner called after Peppy as the hare raced to his office. He pushed and shoved his way until he finally closed the door, locking it behind him. He thanked whoever decided to make his office's windows tinted as he brought out an old picture. As he looked from one to another he knew without a doubt who Shattered truly was.

"Fox."

How about dem apples?

Ghost is owned by Kazila and used with permission. Loden is owned by Kazila's other half and used with permission.

H-T