Back for more? Awesome. Let's go.

11 ALW, 4:30 PM, Great Fox, somewhere in the Lylat system

"Incoming transmission from Zoness" ROB, the onboard maintenance bot announced, seconds after Fox hung up on General Pepper.

"Open it." Fox said, ears perked.

A fuzzy stream of a Cerinian fox appeared. "Hello?" the panicked fox inquired.

"Hello, sir, this is the Star Fox team. Is everything okay?" Fox asked, a bit concerned by the panic on the Cerinian's face.

"No! Don't come here! They'll rip you to shreds. I saw them do it to the Cornerian army!" The Cerinian yelled. "Stop where you are! Turn back! Get far away from here!"

Fox was silent for a moment. After a moment, he looked up at the Cerinian and nodded. "Okay. Thank you." and the call was closed.

Needless to say, everybody looked at Fox questioningly. Fox smiled. "We keep going. ROB,"

The robot chirped inquisitively.

"How long until we pass by Katina?" Fox asked, keeping his focus ahead.

After a quick pause, ROB replied, "The Great Fox will fly by Katina in 2 hours."

"Schedule to land on the surface. Contact the outpost, request a backup ship be ready when we arrive."

ROB chirped once more, and after a brief pause, said, "Done. A ship will be ready when we arrive in 2 hours."

"Thank you." Fox said and turned to me. "When this is all said and done, Wolf, we'll head back to Corneria, where you'll find your own Arwing waiting for you."

I turned to face Fox, then nodded. "Thank you." then I turned back.

My gaze swept over Falco, who was on the opposite side of the room from me. He looked particularly distraught. I wasn't going to question him in front of the team, so I turned and stood. "Falco, can I talk to you?"

Falco blinked and looked over at me, then stood and followed me to the elevator. I let him in first, then pressed the button to take us to the sleeping chambers. We rode down in silence, then walked out. "Everything okay, Wolf?" he said as we walked out and into the hall.

"I actually brought you down to ask you the same question. You looked a little... disgruntled after the call from Zoness."

"Oh, uh... yeah." Falco rubbed the back of his neck with his feathers. "I have a bit of a connection with Zoness. It's actually where I'm from. See, my parents lived on Corneria, but they went on a little vacation to Zoness, and then I was born."

I nodded. "That explains a lot."

Falco nodded in response. "Yeah, by the way, thanks for not bringing it up in front of everybody."

"No problem. I didn't know if maybe you had a lady bird you knew from Zoness or what." I smiled and gently pushed his shoulder. He smiled and we returned to the elevator. The air in the elevator was a lot lighter than on the ride down. He had clearly needed to say that to someone.

When we returned to the main hall, Falco stepped off, but I was stopped by Krystal, who motioned for me to stay on the elevator while she stepped on. We rode down to the medical ward, and stepped off.

"I was directed to preform a quick check up on you. Make sure you're okay, you know." She said as she led me to a hospital bed. I sat and nodded. "Every three years, we preform one of these, but one was issued last minute to make sure there's no physical or psychological damage from your mini-spacewalk." I smiled. I don't know why I found it comical.

She was done with the physical checks in 10 minutes and sat down on a chair in front of me. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"I feel fine. Accomplished by this last dogfight, actually."

"Even though now your friends are dead?"

I laughed, "hah! They lost my friendship when they betrayed me in Star Wolf."

She nodded. "So you wanted them dead?"

I stopped for a moment. She had a point, whether she knew it or not. I really wasn't all that different from the old Wolf O'Donnell. I thought for a moment, and looked up at her, speechless.

She simply smiled, stood and put her hand on my shoulder. "I'll come back when we arrive at Katina. Until then, get some rest." then she left.

Hah, another cliffhanger. Well, not really. See you next time.