Chapter 27

Wolf laid back in his beach chair, sunglasses over his face, as he took a sip from a nearby bottle of champagne. He wore little besides a straw hat, tight black swim trunks, and a purple floral-patterned shirt he left unbuttoned and draped down his sides. Before him, the ocean churned and tossed, crashing against the sand.

Not twenty four hours after getting his paycheck from Sable, he'd rented out this entire island in the middle of nowhere on Aquas, and filled it with any pleasure he could think of, no matter how ludicrous or extravagant. Several casks of the most expensive Cornerian champagne, over a century old? Oh yeah, he'd brought that stuff along. He wanted to blow off some steam? There was an entire shooting range set up at a nearby cove, half the place already pockmarked with holes and craters. He was hungry? He'd spent over a hundred thousand credits on rare Thorecian steaks from Thaljista and had them space-frozen and shipped over, preserved and ready to cook at any moment. Maybe some hot action instead? Some women had been paid to accompany him here as well, and service him as needed: a husky lady, a she-wolf, and a petite coyote…

But for now though, he'd simply chosen to relax on the beach after a strenuous night of love making with all three of them. Felt damn good to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor at last, after over a year of hard work and preparation. In spite of his plans looking like they were going to go up in smoke multiple times, he'd overcome all odds, and gotten his damn payday at last. That made it feel all the sweeter. The CDF, Neil and Gaichi or whatever their names were (he didn't care anymore), even goddamn Fox McCloud himself… None of them had stopped him, and it was glorious to be sitting at the top again.

He needed this win after losing Sargasso. He needed it badly.

Only drips were coming out of his bottle now. Shrugging, he pitched the bottle away, hearing it land in the sand nearby, and reached over into a bucket for another one...but found his hand flopping around in the cold ice. None left. Grumbling, Wolf snapped his finger, and soon the petite coyote was at his side, wearing nothing but a bikini. She swapped out the bucket for a fresh one full of many more bottles. He fished another one out, popped out the cork, and drank up. Wolf knew he was getting tipsy, but so what if he'd be drunk off his ass by noon? Who gave a crap right now? He'd earned this, and no one was gonna tell him otherwise. For the next two weeks, he was the king of this island.

Meanwhile Leon laid nearby on a beach towel, not wearing anything except red trunks as he laid on his backside, soaking up the rays. Though he did not seem to care for the women or the booze, the humidity and the heat pleased the reptile. He'd even changed the color of his skin bright blue to match the blue of the beach towel he laid upon. Color changing was something Wolf hardly ever saw Leon doing, even though they'd fought by each other for over a decade now. What a bizarre sight.

One of Wolf's favorite rock songs came out of his phone on the side table, the device buzzing as it vibrated. He growled, snatching it off the table and putting it to his ear. "Who are you and what th' hell do you want?!"

A sigh on the other end. "Nice to speak to you again as well, Wolf…" The voice was female.

"Whuh?! Sable?!" Wolf almost jumped out of his chair. Meanwhile, Leon glanced over from his sunbathing, eyes upturned from where he lay in the sand.

"That it is, Wolf."

"Why are you callin' me now? I'm busy!"

"I was wondering if you might be interested in another job. I can—"

Wolf broke out into loud laughter, his long muzzle carrying the laughs so they echoed around the cove "Oh, this is good! This is good! Another job, for you?"

"I need you to steal another case from the CDF's base. I'll pay you another—"

"Woman…" Wolf pointed at the phone's speaker, as if she could see him doing it. "I'm on vacation right now. And now you want me to break into that base again?! Are you crazy?! Number one, you took Gucci or whatever his name is away from me. We never would've gotten in there without his hacking skills. Number two, he's obviously not going to want to work for me anymore, after what we did to that damned ninja he calls a bodyguard. Number three, have you seen what they CDF has done with its base security over at Corneria City? You'd have to be crazy tryin' to break in there now! No way are we going to be able to get in there again, not after what we did! I might as well go to the nearest Cornerian military prison and ask if I can check in. Oh, and number four, I also bet there will be more spies hiding inside Star Wolf if I take this job, right?"

Sable growled on the other end of the line. Wolf didn't give a shit. Him showing his manners around her ended after he'd gotten his paycheck. In fact, it was therapeutic to at last show her what he truly thought of her, after all this time of keeping it bottled up.

"So whatever you're offerin'...take it and shove it up your ass! Find someone stupider to take on your next crazy job, whatever it is!" He had a huge grin on his face, laughing all the while.

"Wolf…" Sable hissed. "When Thaal-Ja rises, I promise you… I will return to Lylat, and I will not forget what you said to me."

"Thaal-Ja?" Wolf chuckled. "What the hell is a Thaal-Ja? It rises? What, did you give Panther's little friend a nickname while you were in bed together or somethin'?"

Nothing returned but deathly silence from the other end of the line, other than faint breath from Sable's mouth. The smile slowly faded from Wolf's face, the longer he listened to her breathing. She sounded as if she were ready to scream his ear off, yet she did not.

"When Thaal-Ja rises…" Sable repeated, almost whispering. "His shadow will stretch to Lylat, and it will swallow you whole. I will make sure of that." Click.

Wolf gave an odd glance to his phone, listening to the dial tone. Everyone else stared at him now. Leon looked up from his beach towel, and the three lady canines stood around, not knowing what to do or say now… It was a bit awkward. Wolf eased the mood back by putting on a little chuckle, pushing a button on his phone to silence the dial tone. Slowly at first, the ladies chuckled with him, catching the hint they were supposed to laugh as well, but Leon's face remained cold and neutral. Nonetheless, the chameleon returned to his sunbathing not soon after.

Wolf soon forgot about the call and laid back in his chair. He adjusted his sunglasses, getting settled into a good position to drink a little bit more… Mmm… he too loved the sun on his face like this. It was like a nice warm blanket covering him on a cold winter's night. Glorious after being stuck up in space for who knew how long plotting scores, overseeing his ruffians, dealing with the endless problems that came with being a pirate overlord—

Something blocked out the sun. Something had blocked his damn sun. Couldn't be the clouds; there were none in the sky. Groaning, Wolf opened his eye, flipping up the tinted lenses. Someone stood in front of him, although Wolf couldn't see who it was, the sun letting him see nothing but a dark silhouette. Whoever it was though… they were huge. He blinked, his one good eye needing a little time to readjust as the figure's features came into focus.

A familiar scowling bear looked down upon him, coming into focus as Ooveh. Though the ursine said nothing, his face reeked of disgust.

"What do you want?" Wolf grumbled. And you're lucky I respect you enough to not have you shot for blocking my sun.

"I am here to give you my kündigung."

Groaning, Wolf took off the sunglasses. "Your koondi-whatsit?"

"My… uh…" Ooveh struggled to recall the word, snapping his fingers. "R..r...resignation. Ja, that's it. Resignation!"

"Huh?" Wolf's eye widened, as he sat up in his chair. "But I thought you loved workin' for me."

"Well, now that I have the million credits, I would like some time to uh…" He smacked his lips. "Stretch my legs, as they say it. Explore, a little…"

"And you felt the need to come out to my private island to tell me all this? You coulda taken off without telling me if you wanted, Ooveh. You've earned it after what you did on Fortuna."

"True, true…" Ooveh closed his eyes, nodding. "But my Beschäftigung with you has spanned over eight years now, and I thought it would be unbecoming if I were to simply leave without a word. I wanted to let you know in person, given I am grateful for all you have done for me these past eight years. Regardless, I think it is time for us to say Auf Wiedersehen, at least for a time."

The gesture confused Wolf. When most people left his employ, it would either be because they were killed or they deserted. Not many would bother saying goodbye like this. For a moment, Wolf couldn't help but be sad. This must mean a lot to Ooveh. I should return his gesture.

Grunting, Wolf dragged himself out of his chair, his bare feet touching the hot sand. Internally he hissed a bit, but kept his face straight. Couldn't show weakness before his men, after all. Ooveh extended a hand; Wolf accepted and they shook on it. Goodness this bear's grip was strong, Wolf doing his best to hide his discomfort.

"Well Ooveh, I guess Off Weinersein or however you say, and good luck out there."

Wolf knew he'd screwed up the pronunciation, but Ooveh was kind enough to smirk and not comment on it. They soon parted, the bear walking across the sand and out of sight. Wolf watched him disappear behind a bunch of palm trees. Shaking his head, the lupine settled back into his chair, back to enjoying the sun and the rays again.

~X~

Ooveh strolled away from the decadence he saw before him. The women, the guns, the booze, the fine food… He had to admit he was sorely tempted to reach over and grab one of those steaks from a tray as he was leaving, owing to the caloric needs of his own species. Yet he did not. Ooveh was a professional, and it would be unseemly of him to do that, even though his ancestors would've been happy to messily devour such a thing.

In truth, he'd been thinking of leaving Star Wolf for a little while now. Ever since they'd lost Sargasso to the CDF about a year ago, Wolf had become more unhinged and desperate over time. Wolf and desperation were not a good combination, and brought out a lot of his worst qualities. Like what he'd done to break into the CDF's base to get that case, or how he had tortured those two men back on Fortuna… Not a pretty sight.

The bear himself had killed before too, but at least he was kind enough to do it quickly. He did not like to see people suffer longer than necessary. The cries of Nail and Shuro being tortured still rang in his ears, and they would be with him for a long time. Wolf had lost some of Ooveh's respect there, despite the handsome reward for capturing Giichi. Add that to Wolf leaving Tadao behind once he wasn't useful anymore, and it all left a sour taste in the bear's mouth.

Passing around a rocky outcropping, he spotted the shuttle craft he'd used to reach this place, waiting on the sand. An orange frilled dragon sat on the boarding ramp steps, looking at an old photograph. The large frill draped around his neck and upper chest, covering a large part of his brown and black Star Wolf-issued uniform. Leaning against the side of the ship next to the steps, a massive crocodile stood there, also looking at the picture behind the frilled lizard. The croc's height rivaled even Ooveh's, huge amounts of teeth on prominent display along his monstrous, leathery snout.

"Keenan, Momo," Ooveh glanced at the frilled lizard and crocodile respectively. "Are you ready to leave?"

Both of them looked up from the picture.

"Done already?" Keenan had a sour look on his face.

"Ja, we can go." Ooveh sighed, walking across the sand to them. "What's that photo you have there?"

Keenan sprung up from his seat, his long tail swishing around behind him as he approached. The little guy always did carry a little bounce in his step, but it seemed more subdued today. The lizard held out the photo.

Ooveh took it, turning it over. The picture depicted a large group of Venomian soldiers, all of them dressed in Androssian uniforms dating back to the Lylat Wars. The planet appeared to be Venom too, with its distinctive red sand and toxic green, cloudy skies. It did not take long for Ooveh to spot a younger-looking Momo and Keenan amongst the crowd of mostly lizards and primates. Looking a little longer, Ooveh also found Tadao, his jungle uniform in perfect condition unlike when the bear had seen him last on Fortuna. Everyone was grinning as they were about to board a troop transport shuttle.

"That was taken ten years ago, before our commando unit was deployed to Fortuna." Keenan sniffed. "We all trained hard together for weeks, and for a lot of us it was our first mission. But most of the people in that photo are dead, missing, or in Cornerian prisons now. So far as I know, it's just me and Momo who are left. Quint used to be in Star Wolf too with us…" Keenan indicated towards a tall chimp in the back row with a stern look. "...but he took off to do his own thing, right after we moved into Sargasso. I don't know where he went."

"Ach so…" Ooveh frowned. "No wonder you were hoping to reunite with Tadao." He looked at Keenan. "It's a shame we didn't get to speak until after we brought the case back to the Retribution. If only I'd known Tadao was an old friend of yours at the time."

Keenan's eyes welled up, tears in his eyes. It didn't suit him, with how keen and chipper he was most of the time, especially when he was firing the Retribution's cannons. Ooveh had become friends with him over discussing various types of explosives, given Keenan was something of an expert on them despite his odd nature.

"I can't believe we missed Tadao again," Keenan cried.

Momo, who normally had a fearsome look on his face by default, reached up to his yellow slit eyes, brushing away tears.

"Again?" Ooveh looked between them. "What do you mean?"

The sour look returned to Keenan's face. "Did you know that if it wasn't for Tadao, Wolf would be in a Cornerian prison right now? Momo and myself would be there with him, too."

The bear blinked in surprise. "This is news to me. Why?"

"Ten years ago, right after the Lylat Wars ended, Wolf was on the run from Cornerian authorities, and he happened to pass through Fortuna, in the same part of the planet our unit was operating in. He got caught by Cornerian soldiers and taken to their prison camp at this town called the Boneyard. There was this monkey named George traveling with Wolf who managed to get away before the Cornerians caught him too. He told us about what happened, and we put together a rescue mission…"

~X~

Under the cover of darkness, the group of Venomians made their way back to the Boneyard, skirting the jungle at the edge of the muddy field that passed for the town's spaceport. Keenan eyed the familiar dark silhouettes of the wrecked spacecraft again, which the residents used in place of actual buildings. The broken wings and tail fins reached up to the sky. They looked like jagged bones and teeth left behind by the corpses of huge monsters, something Keenan found pretty cool to look at. However, it also signaled they were near the Cornerians' base of operations again, though he wasn't too afraid.

He was most looking forward to what he was about to do, glancing at his backpack with a grin. A series of metallic clanking noises sounded as they moved, coming from the explosives packed back there. While they made a lot of noise, he was sure they were stable. They wouldn't prematurely detonate like the last batch...or the batch before that...or the batch before that one. George kept stealing glances at his backpack, the monkey flinching every time he heard one of those clinks. Nonetheless, Keenan had faith in his workmanship.

Corneria's field HQ sat on the northwest edge of the landing field, glowing like the sun in the midst of the Boneyard's darkness. Fences and barbed wire surrounded the prefabricated buildings and tents, while cameras and searchlights scanned the perimeter for intruders. Dog soldiers walked about, the pointed shapes showing the laser rifles in their hands. Keenan couldn't wait to rip it all apart with what he carried on his back, giggling as he thought about it.

"Gather round everyone." Tadao signaled for the group to huddle. Once they were settled, he held up the digital watch on his wrist. "Synchronize your watches...now."

Keenan pushed a button on his, as the timer counted downwards from thirty minutes.

"You know what I said about the time." Tadao's yellow eyes glowed in the dark, gazing at each of them in turn.

Back at the bunker, Tadao explained that once he cut the outpost's hard line to their main HQ, the Cornerians would look for the reason their main comms line was down. It would only be a matter of time before they figured out it was sabotage. Tadao did have a jammer to shut off all communications including wireless, but he was only going to trigger it once they were about to leave or someone got caught. If all communication was lost with this outpost, the Cornerian main HQ would know something was wrong and dispatch fighters. Tadao said their average response time was nineteen minutes.

"If you're not on the shuttle once time is up, you get left behind." Tadao pointed towards himself. "That includes me too. If the alarm goes off, change the countdown to ten minutes and get the hell out ASAP. Clear?"

There were nods all around. While Tadao had sounded dead serious when he said those words, Keenan didn't think that would actually happen. The iguana was far too good at slipping past the Cornerians to get caught after all. Surely everything would be fine, and they would all make a clean getaway with Tadao manning this operation.

"Keenan, Momotarou…" Tadao looked at them. "Ganbatte."

Keenan put on a huge grin as he stood up. All right, finally time to set up my fireworks show! I can't wait for the main event! Nodding to Momo, the two of them soon left behind the group, going back into the treeline to creep around to the other side of the base where the dogs kept their ships.

~X~

"That was the last time we saw Tadao face to face…" Keenan sniffled, rubbing his eyes. He looked on the verge of full out bawling. "We got Wolf out of there and stole a shuttle to escape, but Tadao had to stay behind to distract the Cornerians. A couple weeks later, we went back to our old bunker to look for him. Those dogs...they'd bombed the place! Nothing was left!"

Momo gave Keenan a reassuring pat on the shoulder, his touch gentle in spite of his monstrously clawed hands. Ooveh's features softened. He understood now, feeling more ashamed than ever he'd been responsible for these two missing their best chance to meet their old friend.

"So after you told us you'd been working with Tadao but he got left behind, we hurried back to Andrew's base to look for him, but we just missed him!" Full on tears streamed down his face now. "We saw Star Fox picking him up! They were escorting him into a ship! We wouldn't have been able to take him back by force. We just had a shuttle, and they had Arwings!"

Momo gave another silent, reassuring pat on Keenan's shoulder. Though the croc didn't show his emotions as much as Keenan, this clearly hurt him too. The bear didn't know what to say as he watched the two lizards cry with each other. What could he tell them that would make them feel better?

"So Star Fox has him now." Ooveh cast his head down. Who knew what they were going to do with him? He could have been shipped off to a Cornerian prison by now. "Again, I am so sorry. If only I'd known sooner…"

"It's all right…" A digitized, scratchy voice came from Momo's mouth. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Ooveh glanced up, surprised the croc had spoken. That voice sounded different from what he thought the big lizard would sound like. It was only now that Ooveh noticed a strange metal collar around a part of the croc's neck, with some electronics attached to it.

"Momo got shot in the throat back during the Lylat Wars…" Keenan explained. "That collar is what allows him to speak now. Most people don't like it, so I do most of the talking for him."

"Ach so." Ooveh nodded. Even though Momo meant what he said, those words didn't do much to soothe the bear's guilty conscience. The three of them stood there, the waves still crashing into the beach nearby at a steady beat, the sea wind whistling over scales and fur. They stood there for a few minutes in silence.

At long last, Ooveh spoke up again. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped anymore. Shall we leave now? We have a long way to go."

Keenan had run out of tears by this point, so he nodded in reply. "Of course."

"Just asking one more time… Are you sure you two want to come with me? It's going to be a long way to Thaljista, especially since we can't use the Beltino Gate to get there. Expensive too."

Because it was such a long distance, Ooveh had rented space on a large illicit smuggling ship on its way to the Diaspora system. That had cost a pretty credit, but for what he might find on the other end of the voyage, Ooveh considered it a good thing to spend some of his reward money on.

Keenan glanced up at Momo, who nodded. "I'm not sure, but both of us have a feeling that Tadao is still with Star Fox. And they must be on their way to Thaljista too, if they're after the people who bought the case. Star Fox is our only lead right now if we're going to find Tadao again. That's why we want to go with you. We're getting tired of being in Star Wolf too, anyway."

"If you say so." Ooveh crossed his arms. "But I see this as more of a personal quest for me than anything else."

"Oh, that's right." Keenan perked up. "You're looking for one of those weird, gooey gloves that Nail had?"

Oooveh nodded in reply, his face turning serious. "I can't stop thinking about it. Never got a chance to ask Giichi or Nail about it. Now Nail's dead, and Giichi is gone with those strange cats from Thaljista. That planet is the only lead I've got now."

I have to get one of my own somehow! It's so much more advanced than anything I've ever seen in Lylat! I cannot think of any currently known scientific principles that explain such a device. They must have more of them on Thaljista. Sable's bodyguards had those gloves too, when we sold the case to her. And what sorts of other weapons and technology have they created, if they could make something out of shapeshifting metal? The possibilities are endless if they've mastered such engineering techniques. Now is the best time to find out this information, while I've got plentiful free time and cash in supply.

"You look excited." Keenan remarked, almost managing a smile. A little bit of his usual perkiness seemed to be coming back, like he was collecting Ooveh's excitement.

"Of course I am." Ooveh gazed to the sky, as if he were trying to see all the way there. "Anyway, we must hurry and rendezvous with the pirates, if we're going to make it there. They're departing soon from Sector Y."

"What are we waiting for?" A grin crept onto the frilled lizard's face. "Let's get going! We've got to get after Tadao again!"

"You sure do seem happy now," Ooveh said, as they walked into the shuttle.

"This is the closest lead we've come to finding Tadao in years! Besides, this sounds like a fun adventure we're about to go on! A far off mysterious planet full of cats!"

"I don't know if I'd call this fun though." The three of them settled into the cockpit, Momo taking the pilot's seat while Ooveh took the co-pilot's. "Thaljista's in the middle of a civil war. It could be dangerous."

"Ooooh!" A gleam came to Keenan's face as he sat behind them. "That means there might be explosions there! Even better!" His frill opened up, almost extending over Ooveh's shoulder in the process. Some of the old Keenan was coming back.

"Then I suppose it's time we got going." Ooveh smirked, pushing aside the frill. "Momo? Onto Thaljista!"

The shuttle lifted off from the beach, kicking up clouds of sand before they rocketed off into the blue sky above.