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CHAPTER 40

Recon

"Hey, did any of you happen to run into Fox this morning?" Falco asked as he munched on his breakfast in the Great Fox II's galley. "I haven't seen him yet."

Around the rest of the galley, he got a collection of shaking heads and no's.

Fara raised the comms device on her wrist. "Hey Fox, you there?" She waited for a minute. "Huh…no answer." Switching the channel on her device, she said, "ROB, do you know where he is?"

"Automated tracking records show Fox's Arwing departing last night shortly before midnight," ROB replied over the ship's intercom system. "It has not returned."

"It wasn't stolen or anything, was it?" she asked towards the nearest camera.

"Negative. Fox was piloting the ship."

Quiet filled the room, everybody exchanging concerned looks.

A tension built up within Katt. This was supposed to be her first full day as the squadron leader, and now Fox was missing?

"He left without telling us?" Slippy frowned. "That's not like him. What's going on?"

"Is it that hard to figure out?" Falco put down the spoon into his bowl, looking at the others. "Who has Fox been missing for the last several months? Krystal. Where do we know she went last? This planet." He tapped his finger on the table. "You guys remember yesterday when he was talking to General Strafer and showing him her photo? Now we know why."

"We need to bring him back, before something happens to him." Slippy jumped up from his chair, silverware clattering as he did so. "Stan told us the Thaljistani desert cats don't like other species. He could get himself into big trouble fast out there."

"But we're under contract to protect Kinnor and the Separatists," Fara said to the others. "How do you think it'll look to them if we all suddenly go AWOL? Also, that creepy Quint guy is watching us. If we left town, it wouldn't be long before he found out. Then we'd be in trouble with Stan and the rest of the OIC. You don't want to get on their bad side, trust me."

"But you just want to leave Fox on his own out there?" Slippy asked. "Fara, we're a long way from home right now. Anything could happen to him."

"He's an experienced mercenary," she said. "He can look after himself. Didn't he mostly fix the Saurian crisis alone?"

"He did…but—" Slippy shook his head. "Krystal arrived here seven months ago, right? She might not even be here anymore, for all we know. Even if she was, Thaljista is a huge planet to track down one person. Fox could spend the rest of his life here and never find her. And the rest of his life may be shorter than you think in a place like this."

Fara grimaced. She didn't seem to have a good reply for that one.

"Aren't the two of you still close, even though you broke up?" Katt asked Fara. "I figure you'd be the first person to want to go after him."

"Look…let's give Fox a little alone time." The fennec smiled back to her across the room. "I know how headstrong he is once he sets his mind on something. How about we let him work this out of his system? Once he realizes he can't search the whole planet by himself, he'll come back."

"Fox isn't one to give up. That goes double if it's Krystal on the line." Slippy hurried to put his dishes in the sink, before he grabbed his jacket from a hook on the wall. "We need to go after him now." He tapped the button on his communicator. "Hey, ROB. Do you have the current location of Fox's Arwing?"

"Fox has switched off his transmitter and communications. I have no current location data."

"What?!" Slippy's eyes widened. "Do you at least know which way he went?"

"He departed along a northwesterly flight path away from the city." ROB sent a holographic image of the flight path to Slippy's communicator.

"Great, thanks ROB." Slippy grinned as he eyed the image. "I'm going after him."

Slippy rushed for the door, but Falco stepped in the way before he could leave.

"Hold it, Slip." He looked at Katt. "Katt, Fox did leave you in charge, right? To go along with this whole Nine Lives stuff? Maybe you should decide."

Everyone turned to her. She was isolated at her table, with everybody looking across the room at her. Her first big decision in the hot seat, huh? She didn't think it would come so soon. What to do about Fox? Go after him or not?

Maybe split the difference and have one person look for Fox while the rest of them stayed here to protect the city? Slippy obviously wanted to go, but she remembered all the stories Fox told about how he had to keep rescuing Slippy during the Lylat Wars. No way she'd want him running around on his own. And Fara seemed against the idea of looking for Fox for whatever reason, so she wasn't the best choice either. That left her with one choice.

"Falco…how about you go flying along Fox's flight path, and see if you spot anything?" Katt looked at him. "If you go at full thrust you might be able to catch up to him before long. Just stay in radio contact, would you?"

"Sure Katt, I can do that," Falco smiled. "Just call me if anything happens, and I'll run back as fast as I can. You can count on it." He gave her a little sarcastic salute before running out the door.

Slippy didn't look happy about her decision, but respected it enough to not say anything. Fara wasn't pleased either, but for the opposite reason. With the discussion over, the two of them wandered off to do their own things.

Katt winced. It was unfortunate it had to be this way, but it was just part of being team leader, she supposed. She wouldn't be able to make everybody happy with every decision. But at the same time, she didn't know how she was going to get used to this. Everything was just so much simpler when you ran on your own.

A few minutes later, Katt stood on the hot tarmac at the bottom of the Great Fox II's boarding ramp. Falco's Arwing hovered out of the hangar. As he turned the ship around to fly off, Katt gave him a wave, and he returned it back to her from the cockpit.

"Good luck out there, little man." She smiled.

The Arwing blasted off into the sunny blue sky, following Fox's last known heading.

Katt watched the fighter until it was out of sight, the airstrip around her falling into silence, leaving her with little but her own thoughts. Why did Fox go in that particular direction? Did Krystal go that way before him? If she did, why had she chosen to go that way? What was over there that she had decided to investigate? So many questions, but little information. It was so frustrating being left to wait for answers that might not even come, but it was all she could do for now.

Maybe I can go look at a map of Thaljista, and see what's in the direction of Fox's last heading. It's not much, but it's something.

This blazing heat from the morning sun was starting to get to her anyway, and the endless expanse of hot pavement around her made it worse. Sure, cats generally liked heat more than other mammalian species, but only up to a certain point.

As she turned to go back inside, she heard a vehicle approaching. A jeep approached and pulled up next to her, somebody in a green flight suit in the driver's seat. From the white plumage on his head, plus his stark, sharp yellow beak and his brown tail feathers, she deduced he was a bald eagle. Birds were kind of rare even back in Lylat, so she didn't expect to see another one here in Thaljista.

Eagles always did have such striking, intense eyes, and this gentleman was no exception as he appraised her. "Katt Monroe?" he asked with a stern voice. "Flight lead of Nine Lives?"

Katt hesitated. It still sounded strange to be called that. "That's me. Who are you?"

He extended a hand, giving her a stiff shake. "Filmore McLean, captain of the Separatist air force, and flight lead of the Flying Scarabs. Weren't you told yesterday that your team was going on a recon flight today?"

Katt needed a moment, but then she recollected Razir had in fact said that yesterday. "Oh, right."

"Don't tell me you forgot. You only get one chance to set a good first impression, after all." He looked in the direction Falco had gone. "How come one of your fighters just took off? I saw him leaving on the way over here."

Katt wasn't prepared for a question like that, so she hemmed and hawed for a bit until she came up with an excuse. "I apologize, but Falco's ship was having some mechanical trouble and he won't be able to join us for the recon. He did a fix last night, and today he's doing a little test run right to make sure everything is OK." She paused for a moment, then remembered Fox. She'd need an excuse for him too. "Umm…Fox's ship is the same way. He left earlier."

"You're telling me you had an entire month to get here, and you didn't bother making sure your fighters would be ready before now?"

Katt's ears lowered, a deflated expression on her face.

The eagle tut-tutted, before looking at his watch. "Fine, I suppose we'll just have to make do with only part of your team. Hurry up and get ready. We're already behind schedule."

"Got it, sorry!" Katt sprinted up the boarding ramp back into the Great Fox II to collect Slippy and Fara.

One pilot AWOL and possibly dead, another pilot AWOL to recover the first pilot, lying to your clients, plus you're late for your first mission. Looking real professional on your first day as flight lead, Katt.

~X~

After getting Slippy and Fara whipped into shape in record time, the three members of Nine Lives were up in the air, following Filmore and his fighter.

Filmore's team name 'Flying Scarabs' didn't seem to be just for show, considering his fighter did resemble a scarab. The craft was of an oval shape, with two large flaps sprouting out of the back, like a scarab's outer shell opened up to reveal its wings. And like beetle wings, two active aero wings sprouted out from under the flaps, retracting back under the flaps as they built up speed. Shiny dark blue paint completed the look, with gold highlights along the creases in the craft's armor.

"Your first day, and you don't have two of your fighters ready. Ridiculous." Filmore said. "What if the Royalists decided to attack today? And I was told you're supposed to be the best from Lylat. Why are we even working with the Cornerians? Ah well, it ain't my call on any of this. Let's head north. I'd like to show you some landmarks in that direction, plus the nearest border we have with the Royalists. If the proverbial poop hits the fan, that's the direction it'll be showering us from."

With that colorful visual in Katt's head, she followed the bug-shaped aircraft across Kinnor.

Compared to the neon light show at night, the city looked very different in the daytime. Most of the buildings gleamed white, covered with reflective glass windows to turn away sunlight and heat. The problem was the sunlight had to be reflected somewhere else, and it went straight into Katt's eyes. She flicked a nearby switch, and the Catspaw's windows dimmed the brightness down to a reasonable level.

"Good thing I installed all of those optional extras," she said.

They headed northwards, flying along a river that fed into the Bahr Sea. Numerous farming fields huddled up to the river's shores, squares and rectangles colored various shades of green. Barges drifted up and down through the water, carrying crops back and forth along the waterway. Combined with the water, the farms formed a beautiful blue and green ribbon stretching through the sandy yellow desert.

"That's the Nivev River down below, one of a few waterways that feeds into the Bahr Sea," Fillmore said. "It's critical we protect this river. No way we could survive without the water and the crops. That's why we have a large defense force down there."

Taking a second look down, Katt spotted patrol boats milling amongst the river traffic, along with static defense turrets situated at intervals along the water. Suddenly, the idyllic scene below didn't look so peaceful.

"We can't let our guard down at any point, considering the Royalists may try to poison or contaminate the river in advance of an attack," Filmore continued. "With Sable whispering in the queen's ear, anything is possible."

"Razir mentioned someone named Sable the other night too," Katt said. "Who is she?"

"Officially the queen's personal adviser, but de facto the true leader of the Royalists, considering she's got the queen wrapped around her little finger. It wouldn't surprise me if she gave Queen Kula the idea to banish non-cats from Thaljista in the first place."

Katt raised an eyebrow. That was curious information.

"Anyway, if you're ever in the northern Separatist territories and you get lost, just look for the river and follow it back to base. Works every time. Let's move on."

As Filmore's Scarab fighter banked right, Katt switched her comms over to only speaking with Slippy and Fara. "This is a bit weird, isn't it? I don't think Stan ever mentioned Sable to us. He only ever mentioned Queen Kula and her feud with Razir."

"Yeah?" Through her video link, Fara shrugged. "So what of it? We're still at war either way."

"You're right, but..." Katt stroked her chin in thought. "Stan made it sound like this whole thing started over a sibling rivalry, but with this Sable person mixed in it doesn't sound that simple anymore. Even Razir seems to blame Sable for his sister's behavior."

"Razir can feel any way he wants about his family, but it doesn't change anything for us Katt. Remember why we're here." She didn't say it out loud, but Katt knew what she meant. They were here for Corneria, and no one else.

Though Katt didn't like that, she let it slide. "Yeah…" Katt sighed. "Maybe it's not important. To us, anyway. Changing comms back again."

She flipped over their comms back to allow them to speak to Filmore again. Fortunately, he was quiet and didn't seem to have noticed they'd cut him out of their conversation in the meantime. They flew over the deserts for a time. There wasn't a lot to see though, outside of endless seas of sand and the occasional rocky hill or mountain. Once in a while they passed over a small village, fertile valley, or oasis, but little else. As they got further, the terrain became rockier, hills and mountains stretching up higher and higher.

"Here we are…the Royalist/Separatist border," Filmore declared. "The Baekdo mountain range."

Any other previous mountains they had seen before were nothing compared to this. The Baekdo range reached up far into the sky above the desert, so tall that clouds concealed parts of the peaks. Katt could even see snow around the tops of the mountains, from where there were gaps in the clouds. No wonder this had been chosen as a border between the two factions. Formed from the melting snow, streams and waterfalls dotted the crevices and valleys between the peaks, all of them consolidating and feeding into the Nivev River to the west.

"Only a few passes through the Baekdo by land, and we've got them all heavily guarded. Of course, this isn't the time of the lion kings, so we doubt the Royalists would invade by land anyway." Filmore smirked over his comms image. "But if anyone tries flying over them, they've got another thing coming. You can't see it right now, but there's something hidden behind almost every boulder and rock around here. A cannon. A SAM launcher. A flak gun. Whatever you can think of. The Royalists have the same set up on the other side though, so I do not recommend flying past that mountain range unless you're tired of living. They'd be happy to give you an instant, painless death if you are interested, though."

"I think I'll pass," Katt replied.

"Suppose that's the important stuff. Next we will head to the east and check out a few more landmarks. Just follow me—" Filmore frowned, looking at his instrument panel off camera.

At the same time, Katt's radar beeped, indicating the presence of two unknown craft to the north of the mountains. They were headed straight for the border. Fast.

"Filmore, do you see this?" Katt asked. "Two bogeys inbound?"

"I do." Filmore's smile faded. "That's…not normal. At that rate of speed, they'll pass the border within a couple minutes."

"You think they'll try to cross?" Slippy asked.

"Who knows. All kinds of crazy shit's happened since the civil war went down. But I would think the ground AA would take care of them before they got too far. Let's get out of their way." Filmore turned his Scarab fighter around, pulling them back away from the mountain range, the others following him.

While they repositioned, Katt watched her radar. The bogeys weren't slowing down or changing course. And with that current trajectory, they're headed straight for us. She glanced towards the mountain range, waiting for something to appear from out of the clouds over the peaks.

"Here, let me patch you into the border control so you can hear what's going on." Filmore pushed some buttons offscreen.

A few scratchy sounds came over their radio as they tuned into the frequency of the ground forces below.

"Attention, unidentified aircraft!" A commander on the ground said. "Turn around or we will open fire! This is your last warning! You will be shot down if you cross into Separatist territory!"

The two dots on the radar didn't alter their course. They were now thirty seconds away from crossing the line. More dots popped up on Katt's radar on the Separatist side of the border. Like Filmore said, hatches and doors opened all around them throughout the mountains, revealing numerous point defenses.

"They're still not responding! Air defenses, ready to fire! Don't let them through!"

Behind the cloud cover, Katt heard explosions on the Royalist side of the border. Rail gun shots flew into the sky, distorting the air as they flew up into space. Black smoke drifted up above the white clouds.

"Stop shooting!" The ground commander shrieked. "Don't fire over the border!"

"That's not us, boss!" Another soldier replied. "The Royals are firing on their own guys!"

"What the—?! Why? Are the bogeys defectors?"

"They chose a really dumb spot to try defecting, if that was their plan," the soldier replied. "Uh…they still aren't replying to any hails though. No idea what their intentions are. Do we open fire?"

"…Yes," the commander said. "Could be a ploy to get us to drop our guard."

"Roger. They'll be over the line in three…two…one…"

A sharp crack sounded over the Baekdo mountains, the cloud cover swirling out of the way as if pushed aside by giant turbines. In the center of the distortion, Katt only caught a quick glimpse of something. Two crimson-colored blurs, moving too fast to make out any details.

Dizzying numbers of SAMs launched the surrounding mountains, forming a curtain of white smoke as they ascended to intercept the incoming ships. Surely at least one of these would hit, right? Yet as the first wave of missiles from below was about to make contact, the crimson aircraft put on another burst of speed, leaving the swarm of missiles to explode harmlessly in their wake. A trail of explosions followed behind the ships, none of them close enough to do damage.

And just like that, the two ships were past the defensive line and flying straight for Nine Lives and Filmore at terrifying speed. Katt jerked her stick, everyone scattering as the two crimsons flashed straight through the middle of them.

While the two red ships passed, Katt finally got a good look at them. She did her best to remember as many details as she could, suspecting this would be her only chance to get a close look.

Instead of a central fuselage with wings, the red fighters had a flat U-shape to them, with the tips of the U slightly curled inwards and making up the front part of the ship. She didn't see any mounted weapons, but for all she knew these ships had hidden weapon bays. There was a pod-like structure mounted to the middle of the U's curve on both ships. The pod had a window in front, giving her a glimpse of a figure sitting inside, but he wore a black flight suit and black helmet, covering his entire body.

The ships' armor didn't look normal. It was too shiny, too flawless, too streamlined. She couldn't see any creases or panel gaps or rivets or anything, as if the entire body were made of one piece. The metal looked…liquidy? Almost as if instead of being hammered and welded together in a factory like an ordinary fighter, this was some unknown technology forcing a blob of red liquid metal to hold the shape of a fighter. Kind of like the liquid glove that Stan mentioned Nail had? Anyway, she didn't like the look of that red metal. With that crimson color, the strange material reminded her of blood.

The ships continued onwards, not bothering to engage as they rocketed further south. Katt couldn't even see how they were being propelled forward at such speed. The rear of the ships didn't have thrusters or anything. What the hell were those things?

"Hey Nine Lives!" Filmore said. "Time to earn your keep! These red guys look like they're headed for the capital! We have to chase them down!"

Katt had no idea how they were going to do that, but regardless she shouted, "Okay guys! You heard him, let's go!"

She spun her ship around, but by this point the two red fighters were nothing but red specks far off in the distance and only getting smaller. Even when she put her ship at maximum thrust, the crimson fighters kept getting even further away. Nobody else was having any better luck.

"I'll get on the horn with city defense." Filmore tapped some buttons off camera.

Katt privately patched in back to Falco's Arwing. "Hey, Falco! You need to get back here! We're under attack!"

"What?!" Falco snapped to attention on his camera. "Already? Damn! Royalists aren't screwing around, are they? What's going on?"

"Two red fighters crossed the northern Royalist/Separatist border, and they look like they're headed for Kinnor. Call off the search for Fox and get back to the city pronto!"

"On my way!" Through Falco's camera, she could see the sunlight changing position on his face as he whipped his fighter around.

Katt, Slippy, Fara, and Filmore flew back along the Nivev River as fast as they could. Off in the distance, the river's defense force fired off potshots at the crimson fighters, but none of them came anywhere close to scoring a hit. Why hadn't those red ships fired back at anything, though? Maybe they were saving their arsenal for targets in the city? She hoped not. There was no way they'd catch up in time to stop them.

"Air raid sirens are going off in Kinnor now. Authorities are moving civilians to shelters," Filmore said. "City defenses are active too. They'll be waiting for those two red guys."

"But if they got past the border defenses, will the city's defenses do any better?" Katt asked.

"I guess we're about to find out. Look up ahead."

By this point, Kinnor was back in sight. With all of its gleaming white buildings in the middle of the sandy desert, it was hard to miss.

Smoke trails swirled out from SAM launchers around the city, more missiles tracking towards the two crimson fighters, but as before all of them missed.

"They've even called the Brigadier into action!" Filmore said. "See all that rail gun fire from the beach?"

Katt saw what he was talking about when she looked towards the centuries' old Cornerian battleship. While it couldn't move yet considering it was still covered with scaffolding and construction equipment, it put out impressive firepower. Rail gun shells flashed past the red fighters, distorting the air as they passed by. Looked like the Brigadier's targeting systems weren't good enough to track such small targets, though. Katt suspected those weapons were originally designed to target other capital ships.

The red fighters didn't seem to care they were under such intense firepower, doing laps around the city and pulling elaborate maneuvers to dodge, as if they were just putting on a show. They still hadn't fired any weapons yet.

"I don't get it," Fara said. "Why would you bother penetrating this far into enemy territory if you aren't even going to shoot back?"

"I don't know," Filmore said. "But we can't let them just come into our house and screw around with us." He changed comms again. "City defense, this is Captain McLean of the Flying Scarabs. Hold your fire. Nine Lives and I are moving to intercept. Scramble the rest of Scarab Squadron. We'll take these bozos out ourselves."

"Copy Captain McLean," the ground commander replied. "Good luck."

"So…Katt. How do you propose we do this?" Filmore asked. "You're the master from Lylat after all."

Katt gave a sideways glance to him. He was right…that was the role she was supposed to play. "Probably the simplest way would be to have someone stay on their tail to keep them busy, to get the other one to line up a shot. Of course, this assumes they're nice enough to not zoom off again."

"Hope that's enough," Filmore replied. "I get the feeling these guys won't fall for such a simple trick, but let's give it a shot."

"Slippy," Katt said. "You get behind one of the crimsons and pursue. Fara, you try to line up a shot while Slippy keeps him busy. I'll pair up with Filmore for the other crimson. Let's break!"

The four fighters broke off into pairs.

She settled in behind her chosen crimson fighter, gradually growing larger in her viewport as she approached. It wasn't moving as fast as it was before, like he was letting her catch up just to toy with her. The nerve of this guy.

Without warning, the red fighter dived towards the city, screaming towards the skyscrapers. At first Katt thought he was about to do a strafing run on the buildings, but fortunately he was still deciding to not use his weapons. Unfortunately, he also decided he was going to be a showoff by flying down a main boulevard between dozens of tall skyscrapers, the concrete and glass canyon just barely wide enough for his ship to pass through.

Katt grit her teeth. "Filmore, I'll keep on him! You stay up high and give me overwatch!"

"Roger!"

She dived down after the red fighter. As the buildings flashed past, the bogey drifted left and right, as if trying to see how close he could get to the walls without touching them. He was so close that windows shattered from his thrust as he flew by. Katt even caught glimpses of people inside the buildings getting sprayed by the broken glass.

What was this guy thinking?! Sure, he wasn't firing any weapons, but he was treating this like it was a game. Oh, she would've just loved to blast him since she had a clear shot, but then his fighter would crash into the street below and cause hundreds of civilian casualties. She could see the mass of people beneath running for cover or cowering inside their vehicles.

A T intersection marked the end of the street, a tall skyscraper looming tall over it. Both she and the red fighter would have to pull up soon to avoid crashing, yet the crimson fighter screamed straight ahead. Katt wanted to keep chasing him, but couldn't take it anymore. She pulled back on the stick, the building disappearing from her sight as she flew up into the blue sky. As she rolled over to the left to look down, she saw the red fighter was still going straight for the building. He didn't have any more time to pull up. Did he have a deathwish?!

Katt held her breath, wondering if it might have been better to take the kill shot when she had a chance…until she saw the fighter hit his brakes. He slowed in an astonishingly short distance, only needing about a city block or so, before he rolled the fighter to the left. The fighter drifted 90 degrees left above the T intersection, moving more like it was some kind of G-Zero racer instead of a fighter, before it shot off down the next concrete canyon. What the hell kind of move was that?! There was no way any standard Lylatian fighter could do the same thing. Was it some kind of crazy gravity manipulation technology? Even beyond ship capabilities, the G-diffuser on all modern Lylatian fighters was good, but even she wasn't sure if it would've been good enough for the maneuver that crimson pilot did. Pretty good chance he would've become meat paste on his cockpit glass if his system wasn't up to snuff.

Katt moved to get behind the crimson fighter again…and now he was slowing down again to let her catch up. She growled. What an asshole.

At least now the red pilot was leading her out of the city and into the desert. If he fell from the sky now, there wouldn't be any collateral damage. Perfect time to fire. She pushed down on the trigger. But despite having what looked like a perfect shot, the crimson pilot seemed to anticipate the exact moment she fired, barely banking out of the way to avoid being hit by her laser blasts. The lasers passed so close the light briefly reflected off the surface of the ship.

"Lucky bastard…"

She fired another salvo, but again the red pilot appeared to know the precise moment she would fire, making another slight turn to barely avoid being hit. And it was the same way again, and again, and again. Every shot was a near miss by only a few centimeters at most. He had to be doing this on purpose, but how? She'd never met any other pilots that were as much of a daredevil as this guy, not even Falco. Was that guy reading her mind or something? Almost like a Cerinian? She didn't want to admit it, but maybe Krystal had been right to believe they were here.

"Katt! I'm here!" Filmore shouted over the radio. "Keep that up! Keep the pressure on him! I'm lining up a shot right now!"

A sick smile crossed her face as she kept her eyes on the red fighter. Okay Maestro Rossi, you might be able to slip away from me, but I bet it's only because you're one hundred percent focused on me. Let's see how you do with a blindside.

But yet again, the enemy fighter seemed to know it was coming. At the same time Filmore's laser blasts were about to hit, the enemy fighter pulled up and slammed on his brakes. Like back in the city, the crimson fighter stopped in an astonishingly short distance. Once behind Katt, he accelerated again, resuming his previous speed as if he hadn't bothered to brake at all. The entire maneuver took long enough for Katt to blink, almost making her believe for a second it hadn't happened.

Bet Slippy would want to rip apart whatever that guy's anti-G system is. It's got to be way better than any G-diffuser.

She didn't know why she was focused on that, considering the red fighter was on her tail now. She rolled to the side to stay out of its line of fire, but the crimson fighter matched her move without any effort, staying right behind her.

"Hang on Katt! I'll get after him!" Filmore said.

It was little comfort though. Katt twisted and turned her Catspaw in every direction she could think of to get away from her pursuer, but it was no good. She wasn't surprised though. If that red fighter could slow down from speed, make a 90 degree turn inside a street intersection, then get back up to speed in seconds, what chance did she have of outmaneuvering it?

Every time she glanced in her mirrors, the red fighter had a kill shot on her…and yet he still refused to fire any weapons. She didn't get it. What was this guy thinking? What was he even trying to accomplish? Was he just doing all of this as some kind of big joke?

Further back, Filmore blasted away, trying to score a hit on the bogey, but all of his shots just barely missed. It was starting to feel like the crimson fighter had some kind of force field around him that just bent the trajectory of the laser shots ever so slightly to miss him.

"Katt, I'm here too!" Falco suddenly called out, Katt spotting his Arwing coming up alongside Filmore's fighter. "Opening fire!"

Two fighters on the red pilot's tail didn't seem to shake his cool though. He hardly changed his flying style, and still kept on Katt's tail.

"Ugh! Hold still!" Falco muttered. He lost patience as he tried to get the red pilot off of Katt, his firing becoming more frequent and erratic. One of his shots passed right over Katt's cockpit, even.

"Whoa, careful Falco! You almost tagged me there!"

"Sorry Katt! I've never seen anything like this guy, though!" He lined up another shot, Katt noticing his nose cannons were flagging over her own fighter. She winced as she watched, but then the red fighter got between Falco and her, taking the shot for her. A small explosion of sparks blasted off the fighter, leaving behind a battle scar.

"What?!" Katt said. "Did you see that? He protected me from getting hit!"

"What kind of pilot is this guy?!" Falco said. "He's really good but I've got no idea what he's thinking! Uh…also, his fighter is healing itself."

"Huh?!"

"Yeah, the place where I shot… The metal is liquefying and filling the hole back in again!"

"I heard rumors the Royalists were working on fighters like that," Filmore said. "First time I've seen one in person!"

All the while, Katt did everything she could to shake off the red menace, but nothing was working. The pilot simply refused to let her escape.

What kind of crazy stalemate is this? He doesn't want to kill me, yet he doesn't want to let me go either, but Falco and Filmore can't shoot him down either. We are all just stuck in an endless ballet up here.

She was tempted to just fly in a straight line to see how the enemy pilot would react, although considering the cost of that experiment could be her life, she wasn't too keen on trying it.

"We've been like this for almost the past five minutes or so!" Falco said. "Guy just won't fire his weapons for some reason, but he also won't go down!"

Katt was getting exhausted, fearing that at any moment, this guy might change his mind about not killing her. He certainly had multiple opportunities to do it already. But then why put his own fighter in the line of fire to protect her?

She made another hard turn, expecting the red fighter to be behind her…but for the first time in the past ten minutes he was gone. "Huh?!"

"Katt, he stopped following you!" Falco shouted.

She glanced off to the side, seeing Filmore and Falco pursuing. The red fighter was just flying in a straight line, as if the pilot inside had suddenly gone unconscious or something.

Falco and Filmore didn't waste any time, unleashing their weapons on the aircraft. Katt turned around and joined in too. But even with all of them firing together, the liquid metal of the fighter absorbed most of their hits, rippling and pulsing to plug holes in its armor. However, even it couldn't stand up under the combined firepower of three fighters. Their focused laser blasts appeared to push away the liquid over the fighter's structure, exposing something underneath. There was a strange pulsing orange light underneath the strange rippling metallic flesh. Katt didn't know what it was, but it looked important. She and the others concentrated their fire on the glowing spot.

An explosion ripped through the red fighter, sending the debris tumbling down to the desert below. Katt watched as the cockpit slammed down into the sandy desert dunes below, the debris scattering across the endless yellow. The pilot never bothered to bail out.

Katt didn't smile. Despite their victory, she wasn't relieved, happy, or anything as she watched the burning wreckage below.

The red pilot was holding back. If he had wanted to kill, she would've been dead dozens of times over by now. He could've easily killed the others too. Falco, Filmore, Slippy, Fara…

Wait! "Slippy! Fara!" she screamed into her radio. "Are you two okay?!"

"Yes!" Fara said. "We couldn't take down our crimson fighter, but it was like he suddenly gave up or something! We shot him down just now."

"Just now?"

"Uh yeah…why do you ask?"

Katt stared at the wreckage down below. She already knew there was something weird about those red fighters just by fighting against one of them. Both of them gave up and allowed themselves to be killed? At the same time? What the hell was going on?

~X~

A/N: Long time no update, yes? Unfortunately, work has kept me very busy this year, and by the time it's over I'm too mentally tired to feel like doing anything creative. It's not looking like this will change, sadly. Also I think this story's got too many characters and plotlines, and it's hard to decide which ones to focus on. I wrote text for three different plotlines before I settled on this one. Well, at least I have a head start when I decide to pick up the other two plotlines I didn't choose for this chapter :P