Chapter Eight

Rocks, Oaths, and Anonymous Calls

"Meteo? What is it doing there?" James eyed Pepper across the desk, not sure what to make of this news. "Come to think of it, how do we know it's there?"

Standing just behind Pepper, looking out at the evening sunset over the Corneria City bay, Argus Phoenix twitched his tail and said, "There's a transponder on it. Or, more accurately, a radiolytic isotope that is baked into the molecular structure of the Arwing prototype. It is completely unique and easily traced. I designed the method myself."

Argus's looked proud of himself in his window reflection. Next to James Vixy fidgeted and looked uneasy. "Radiolytic?" she finally asked.

Smiling, Argus adjusted his glasses and said, "Don't worry, it's completely harmless. It won't impact fertility in males or females, and it won't make you glow in the dark. Trust me, it's just a very secure tracking method, nothing more."

James glanced at Vixy, worrying not for the first time since they'd been called in here that she might do or say something stupid and cost them the opportunity of a lifetime. She didn't though, returning to her stoically silent attitude, her eyes shooting death glares at Argus's back. "Alright. Do we have an exact location?"

Leaning forward Pepper tapped a series of buttons on his keyboard. A moment later a hologram shimmered into existence of a vaguely potato shaped asteroid, with what looked like several small cities on it. "This is BR-558, a mining colony owned by Crespo Mining Industries." Pepper manipulated the controls again, and the hologram zoomed into one of the smaller settlements. "This is Beta Colony, on the surface. Small, out of the way, and poor, it just barely meets its mineral quota each month. Because of this it receives only the bare minimum of basic services from Crespo, and has become a hotbed for black market activity."

"If it's such a hot bed why doesn't anyone go in and clean it up?" Archer asked, looking confused.

James grimaced and answered, "Probably because someone at Crespo is profiting off of it."

"I don't follow." Archer regarded James.

Looking his Cornerian friend in the eye, James resisted the urge to use the epithet most colonials like him used to refer to native born Cornerians: "saint", a play on the fact that Cornerians, with their paradiscal existence, tended to have a childlike naivete about the rest of the galaxy. It wasn't fair though. How could he blame Archer for not understanding? The lynx hadn't been off Corneria much before he hooked up with Star Fox, and even before that he'd had only the remotest of interest in politics and private business. James thanked Peppy for forcing him to listen to long, serious lectures on the workings of the world outside of piloting and looking for a bedmate. "Because if someone high up enough in Crespo is making money off of illegal activity, and it benefits the company, which it probably does in terms of off the books profits for the executives, then I can guarantee they have an army of lobbyists telling important Council members and the President it isn't worth the trouble of cleaning up."

Pepper frowned and said, "Actually, Crespo's Security Division has been working on several plans to move in and clean up the area for us. It is technically a corporate asset, and so we don't have jurisdiction over it. Though..." Pepper trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"Lemme guess," Peppy chimed in, his short muzzle curling sardonically, "They've been dragging their heels."

The hound dog glanced away, and all James could think was: Saint. "If it's at Beta Colony it won't be there long," James said. "We should move now."

Argus grunted and his tail wagged a bit. Turning away from the window he said, "I'll forward you all of the information regarding both the Arwing, and the isotope. Needless to say I'd like you to avoid sharing the nature of the transponder with anyone. It's a company secret."

Before anyone could shake hands and end the meeting, James added, "Of course. But first, the fee."

Pepper sighed, but Argus didn't even blink. "I'll be handling that. Name your price."

James and Peppy shared a glance, and the hare discreetly made an upward motion with his fingers. James looked back at Argus and named what he thought would be an absolutely outrageous figure. Once again the fennec didn't so much as blink as he said, "Done. As soon as you get the Arwing back to me it'll be in your account."

"That uh..." James sat there in shock, trying to remember how to breathe.

Picking up on James' incapacity, Peppy took over in a heartbeat. "That'll be just fine. We won't let you down sir."

The meeting wrapped up, with information being sent to Star Fox's PDA's. Hands were shaken, and then James walked out the door, his eyes a little glassy. The door clicked shut behind them, and a soft voice cleared its throat. James looked over in the direction of Pepper's secretary and smiled as she made a discreet little "call me" gesture where only he would be able to see it. That broke him out of his funk. James was about to strike up a conversation when he felt Peppy tap him on the shoulder. "Huh?"

Peppy handed him his PDA and stylus and said, "Sign it."

"Sure." James scrolled down to the area marked with an "X" and scrawled his name. "What is it?"

"Thumbprint." Peppy pointed to a square next to the keyboard.

"Oh. Right." James pressed his thumb and the PDA hummed then beeped. "So, what am I signing here?"

Taking the PDA and locking in the signature and thumbprint, Peppy looked at James, a smile making his mustache curl upward. "Oath of celibacy."

"What?!" James looked rapidly between Peppy and Pepper's secretary. "What did you say?" The secretary, a female rabbit, put her hands up to her muzzle, trying not to giggle.

Scrolling to the top of the document, Peppy told him, "By signing this and submitting to a thumbscan you have agreed to forgo all sexual relations with people of any gender and species for the duration of this mission. It is legally binding, so break it and I will sue your ass in court."

James whined and looked pleadingly at Peppy. "Why?"

"Because I found the form online and I couldn't resist." Peppy chuckled. "Consider this my way of teaching you to look at everything you sign from now on."

"Huuuuh." James just looked on the verge of panicking. Archer patted him on the shoulder, trying to be reassuring while also hiding the fact that his sides were shaking.

"Hey Pep," Vixy piped up, speaking for the first time since the meeting.

"Yeah?" Peppy looked at her, curious.

"Where do I sign?"

"What do you mean?" Peppy looked confused.

"The oath of a celibacy. Where do I sign?" Vixy clarified.

"Why would you need to sign?" Peppy asked, surprise in his voice.

Vixy's temper flared and she spat out, "What? Because I'm a woman? I sleep around at least as much as fuckstick over there." Vixy made a vague gesture in James's direction.

Peppy rolled his eyes and handed her the PDA and stylus. "Append your signature."

"Yay!" Vixy's tail wagged, her anger evaporating in an instant. She signed, making a show of it, then scanned her thumb before handing it back to him. "Alright. Masturbation is okay, right?" Everyone in the room stared at her. Peppy looked pained, Archer looked amused, and James, bless him, looked like he was having fun imagining what that probably looked like. "What? Girl's gotta have some outlet." Vixy noticed the secretary nod emphatically even as she typed away on her computer, and Vixy threw her a wink.

Peppy just sighed and ran a hand down his face. James laughed and motioned for everyone to follow him, "Come on Star Fox, let's go get that Arwing so we can get paid. And, you know, laid."

Following James out of the anteroom Peppy muttered, "Had to be clever Pep, had to be clever." James was never going to let him live this down, was he?

The train rushed down a subterranean tunnel in BR-558's Alpha Colony. Alpha Colony, established by Crespo Mining Industries fourteen years ago, was the largest and most prosperous of the mining colonies on this asteroid. Located in the northern hemisphere, Alpha Colony was home to about fifty-thousand miners and their families. It had everything from a nightlife to shopping malls, there was even a movie theater that actually managed to stay current with the latest hits from Corneria and the rest of Lylat.

Sitting in the fast moving car, Shea Etcher glanced around at the locals. They were better dressed than the people from Beta Colony, and they also looked better fed and healthier. Beta's cuisine was limited to a few low end restaurants and the corporate cafeterias. The difference was striking since she didn't make it out to Alpha Colony all that much. Part of her agreement with the local VP of Crespo was that she keep her activities confined to Beta Colony, a lost cause mining area that Crespo kept open only because it was lining a few executive pockets. Ordinarily Shea, a snow leopard native to Fichina, would have kept to her end of the bargain, but this job she'd been working on was valuable enough that she felt willing to take the risk.

The train car came to a stop and the doors opened. Shea muscled her way out, elbowing aside a woman angling for the same exit she was. The woman gave her a dirty look, and Shea, noting that she was a busty looking thirty something, through back a leer. The woman blushed and Shea smirked, moving on through the crowd.

Holo-signs on the walls of the train station advertised everything from locally sourced jewelry to cave spas. Why anyone would want to go to a spa in an asteroid cave baffled Shea, but then most of the people here, even if they were living in profitable, well looked after Alpha Colony, couldn't afford to leave. It was the same story every time Crespo or another mining firm set up shop on one of the larger asteroids in Meteo. The commercials and corporate spokespeople went around the slums on Fortuna, the small towns on Papetoon, and anywhere else people weren't living a Cornerian life, and sold the locals on the opportunity to start a new life out in the beyond. Free housing, business opportunities, and good paying jobs. Oh, and the job was in outer space! Did we mention that? Out there, on the frontier, independant, away from government regulation and taxes. Yes, that's right, no taxes on any of your income. Isn't that something? Worked every time.

As Shea walked up the stairs and out onto the street, she tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket. What the good people at Crespo and Other Tail Holes Incorporated didn't tell the would be colonists was that their contracts mandated they stay and work on the asteroid for ten years at a minimum, and that all that tax free income? Well, you'll be using it for your miner's insurance, your life insurance, your health insurance, and your housing insurance, provided to you by Crespo Mining Industries Insurance Division or, if you were on some other rock, Boning You Until You Can't Work Anymore Partnership. And, whatever you had left over after that, you'd be spending at your local businesses, supporting the rest of your community here on the good ol' space rock. Of course, all those businesses were owned by Crespo or Whoever Else Wants to be a Con Man Organization, and all that money you spent there went right back to the corporation. Shea shook her head.

It may have been a dismal state of affairs for the people who lived and worked here, but when it came down to it Shea really couldn't complain. Crespo had given her a place to base her pirating operations, given her access to warehouses to stash her stolen goods while they waited for sale, and even let her use the repair and refueling depots for her ships, and the med wards for her crew. Helped that most of her crew were locals these days. Beta Colony residents with nothing to lose, and who had eagerly signed on for the grunt work with Shea's organization. Not many pilots to be had, but then she had other sources for those.

Alpha Colony glittered and pulsed around her as she took a side street off the main drag. Towers climbed into the air with the corporate logo blazing on them in holographic form. They reached towards the transparent atmospheric shield, a combination of transparent aluminum, and nanite infused polymers. It was similar to the technology used on Macbeth for their radiation domes.

Things got darker as she went off the side street and into an alleyway. Shea lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, spotting the security camera at the other end of the alley. The only pesky thing about being on a corporate colony rather than a Federation world was that the privacy laws out here were non-existent. To that end, Crespo employed the very latest in facial recognition technology for its surveillance devices, something that the ever democratic Federation, and those saintly Cornerians would never have allowed. To them it smacked of a dystopian police state, to the Crespo Security Forces, it was just the most efficient way to identify anyone associated with local unionization efforts.

Stopping at a door with a neon sign over it that read, simply, "Bar", she walked inside. The door shut behind her, and she breathed in deep. The scent of cheap booze, cheap cigarettes, and even cheaper people filled the air. She liked that smell. Simple. Honest. Who cared if it was rank and unpleasant? So was most of the universe. At least in this place they weren't putting a veneer over anything. No, here people didn't ask questions, and they weren't coy about what they wanted. To get drunk and forget about their problems in an alcohol induced state of oblivion. Shea could empathize.

Striding confidently through the haze Shea sat down at one of the far booths, deep in the shadows. A waiter came up to her but she waved him away. He shrugged and then dodged the groping hand of a miner who looked about forty years older than him. Men. Always wanting something younger, she thought ruefully to herself.

She sat there for a few minutes, watching the crowd. She didn't recognize anyone, and she counted that as a good thing. She wanted anonymity here tonight. She also didn't spot anyone who looked like Crespo Security. And certainly no one high ranking enough in the company to know about her, and the terms of her deal. Confident that she had adequately policed the room, Shea moved her right hand to the center of the table, then moved it another three inches to the right. Once there, she tapped seven times, and then three times more, with six seconds between each tap. The same waiter who she had waved away came back, his tray carrying a large tumbler of ale. He set it down, and then slid something else in underneath it before walking away. Shea watched as the waiter, a rabbit, was once more accosted by the older man. This time the rabbit slapped the hand away and gave the man, a wolf, a sassy little wink. I guess here on an asteroid you don't have all that many choices.

Shea moved the ale and picked up the other item that had been dropped off. A small communications device. She placed her index finger on it and it flared to life. A pulsating blue holographic sphere blossomed into existence. A distorted, but probably masculine voice spoke. "Do you have it?"

"Not much for small talk, are you?" Shea replied to the disembodied voice.

"I was not under the impression you expected any. How is the weather?"

Shea almost smiled. Whoever this guy was, he was good. Even if his voice was distorted so she couldn't read his tone, and even if he chose to display a simple blue sphere that pulsed with each syllable he spoke so she couldn't read his expression, she knew he was stone cold calm on the other end. "Starry. As usual."

"Most excellent. I here it can be quite agreeable in an artificially maintained colony. I assume the constellations are quite a sight?"

"Yeah. Though most people are too busy to look up and appreciate them," Shea answered, playing along and making small talk.

"Perhaps they would feel differently if they had a means to travel among them, which brings me back to the point of this call. Do you have it?"

"I do." Shea reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She tabbed into a surveillance app that one of her crew had invented for them and pointed the screen towards the holoprojector's cam.

"Most excellent. However I am less than willing to fully trust such an impersonal means of verification. One of my agents will arrive on the asteroid within the next forty-eight hours to confirm you have it, and then make arrangements to bring it to my location. In the meantime, I trust I can count on you to keep it safe and secure. And that you have done nothing to block the tracking signal."

"Yes on both counts," Shea responded. "That's part of our agreement. Though I don't understand why you want the signal on."

"That is not information necessary for you to know."

Figured. She shrugged, not sure whether her employer on the other end could see her or not, and not particularly caring. "Send your man, but don't be late. Contrary to what you might think, I do have other jobs I'd like to get to."

"I can certainly appreciate having a busy schedule. I myself rarely have time to do so much as sleep. My agent will transmit his identity upon his arrival. Please direct him to the appropriate coordinates upon making contact. Once we have verified that you have the item in question, my agent will hand over the payment of fifty million credits in Macbethan diamonds as agreed."

"Sounds perfect. Pleasure doing business with you," Shea said.

"The same to you."

With that the hologram winked out, and the projector fried itself. Shea leaned back in the booth and picked up her beer. She held it under her nose for a moment, then took a sip. She nursed it for another few moments, not wanting to look too eager to leave. Once she was certain no one was paying attention she stood and made her way out. Now it was back to Beta Colony, and the countdown to payday.