Well here is chapter 27 of the fic. A character who had had few appearances in previous chapters, will have some relevance in this chapter.

Chapter 27

A Turning Point for Rival Teams

"So you guys got jobs in the mailroom?" Peppy asked Wolf, Leon, and Panther while they were eating their food.

"Yup," Wolf said before he bit into his sandwich and chewed the piece in his mouth. As he swallowed, he continued. "It's not an exciting job, but it's the best start we were able to get so far."

"That sounds kinda nice," said Slippy with a nervous smile. "It must beat having to do so many repairs to spaceships everytime they get blasted or crashed by an asteroid."

"Pfft! Pu-lease!" Leon said to express how he feels about the job. "That's not very fun at all. I'd rather be flying out in space and shooting stuff instead of having to work in a military boxhouse where people get stuff for themselves while being under surveillance 24/7!"

Falco almost squirted water out of his nose when giggling at the statement that the chameleon said. Before he could say a word, he calmed himself down a little and swallowed the water that was left in his beak so he wouldn't get it on everyone's food.(Though he probably wanted to get it on Leon's food for fun.)

"Wow," the pheasant began to laugh, making Leon go into his bad mood that he gets when he has to deal with the blue bird. "Must be…hmhmhm…nice…to…hmhmhm…"

Before Leon could get the urge to grab the pheasant's throat, Panther intervened by talking about his opinion about their new job. "I find the job to be a bit of a better change of pace for us as we won't have to worry about getting our heads on a bounty."

"Really?" Krystal asked, trying not to get too close to him.

"Of course!" he replied with small glee. His smile slowly faded and his head lowered a bit however, as he acknowledged a part of Leon's opinion. "Though I've got to agree with Leon, I do miss flying around in space. I've never got the chance to take a moment to stargaze when we weren't doing any mercenary work for scraps."

"Well, now you've got plenty of time to stargaze," Fox assured him. "Considering the fact that we're not chasing you around anymore and you're gonna become good guys now."

"Y'know." Falco said with a smirk. "Stargazing is the best thing to do when someone has a special person they're interested in~."

This remark made Krystal a little uneasy. When Falco brought up the fact that stargazing is a romantic activity, it brought up the thought of Panther wanting her to go stargazing with him. It may be a nice thing to do, but she doesn't feel comfortable with Panther's insistence for wanting her to be his girlfriend.

Sabre looks at her and knows what she's feeling. 'There's no need to worry Krystal,' he said to her with his telepathy. 'I'm sure that he'll learn not to be rushful and understand how you feel for him. If not, I'll be sure to teach him a little lesson of how to give respect.'

'Thanks brother,' Krystal replied back with thought.

"So, how've things been since the end of the Aparoid invasion?" asked Dash.

"You mean the last time the three of us were inclined with the Star Fox team?" Wolf rhetorically said to the monkey. "Well, it's been a little rough. Sargasso began to go into quarantine due to a certain SOMEONE," turning his head towards Leon while having a menacing look of irritation on his face." accidentally causing a toxic chemical gas to spread all over the area, all because they wanted to get creative and make a spray that could kill someone instantly!"

Everyone gave a mix of dumbfounded and unsatisfied looks towards the chameleon's direction, making the latter feel irritated and outnumbered.

"I never intended to," he complained in defense. "Besides, I told everyone to put on their chemical masks so they don't breathe the stuff!"

"And you're still alive?!" Falco asked in shock. Leon just gave him a tongue raspberry and turned his head back in spite, getting on the nerve of the pheasant.

"What about you guys?" Wolf asked. "Must've been nice to help rebuild the system."

"It is, but it's really stressing me out," said Fox with a groan. "Not to mention we've been cooped up in our spaceship for almost how-much-long. So I asked Pepper if we could take a vacation from our hard and stressful work, hopefully so we could clear our heads."

"Jeez, that's enough to ruin about a quarter of people's day," Wolf replied, sharing his concern.

As they kept eating, Bill Grey was watching them from the entryway of the cafeteria analyzing how well some of them started to converse with each other and getting to know each other better. He felt good to see that the Star Wolf team are doing well so far on their first day of work, and how Fox and his teammates are doing well at giving them a chance and not trying to kill each other. He noticed that Krystal is still peeved at Panther being insistent with his flirtatious comments, though she seems to know what she's doing. Plus, Sabre is there to help her out if she needs him to.

He looked around the room and saw that many of the other soldiers were glaring at the group of rival teams actually hanging out with each other and getting along surprisingly well. This disturbed him that every one of his soldiers were disturbing the personal boundaries of these guys, especially when a few of the guys were his childhood best friends. That made his blood boil, as his father made it clear that they shouldn't say or do anything to make Star Wolf's redemption any harder on them.

"ATTEN-TION!"

Bill cried out as loud as he could for everyone to hear him. Everyone turned their heads towards the bulldog in surprise.

"Lunchtime is almost over! Finish up what you have left, toss out your trays, then get back to work! Pronto!"

"SIR, YES SIR!" they all shouted.

Bill sighed in relief, hoping that it'll give his friends and new employees a little break from the dirty looks that everyone was giving them. With that taken care of, he's going to his father's office to give Pepper the report on Sabre's morning practices.

...

Bill was almost to his father's office as soon as he exited the cafeteria.

He was a bit excited to give him the report on how well Sabre was doing on his first day here, and on the way over there, he saw some of the other soldiers of the army heading to their workstations after they finished lunch. It was surprising to see how some of them couldn't comply with the simple order of not hindering Star Wolf's stay at their new jobs. Yes, they had committed crimes, but that's why they're here; to start a new life from scratch. The next time something happened, he would have to inform General Pepper immediately so that he would take action on it.

Once he was in front of the office door, he knocked on the door gently.

"Come in," said a voice from inside.

Once Bill opened the door, he walked in and closed it from behind. He then realized that Pepper wasn't alone, as Mr. Phillipe Phoenix, Fara Phoenix's father and the rich spaceship magnate, was there standing in front of the desk of his father.

"Mr. Phoenix, it's nice to see you," said the bulldog.

"The pleasure is all mine, Commander Grey," the fennec fox replied with a bow.

"What are you doing here?" Bill asked.

"I'm here because my daughter had told me about a new soldier who has joined the army today, and I wanted to see this pilot's skills right before my own eyes," Phillipe explained with a strict tone in his voice. "I must remind you that my company is in charge of building part of the ships that are used here."

"Oh, of course," Bill said before bowing. "I understand sir."

"So, Commander Grey," the General said to his adopted son. "Do you have something to report to me?"

"Things with Sabre went pretty well as expected," he explained to his adopted father. "His morning training, both physical and flight training, were quite impressive. He was even able to follow up on the members of Star Fox on par. In my opinion…" His face lit up with a huge smile. "...he's one of the best soldiers the army has had in recent years!"

"Good to hear," said Pepper with a smile. His smile dropped slowly as he was ready to ask the next question to his secret son. "So, how are things going for Star Wolf on their first day so far?"

Hearing the name of Star Wolf in his presence made Phillipe make a small and quiet snarl in disgust.

"Well, so far so good," Bill replied. "They've done pretty well with their first round in the mailrooms. One of them is not entirely convinced of the idea of them working there, as expected if the person in question was Leon, but none of them have done anything suspicious."

Bill lowered his head before he continued. "But what worries me right now are the other soldiers, since they don't seem to like having Star Wolf working near them. Many of them were staring at them during lunch hours when Fox offered them to sit with him and his team, and I had to tell everyone to finish up and get back to work before something bad happened."

"Fox offered those three scoundrels to sit with him?!" Phillipe asked in disbelief. "Has he gone mad?!" Pepper cleared his throat angrily at the fennec fox to get his attention, giving him a dark glare to indicate him to behave himself around others, which made him a little intimidated and cleared his throat before calming down.

Turning back to his son, he asked, "But, there hasn't been any harassment or bullying so far, right?"

"Thankfully, nothing at the moment," Bill replied. "But I'll keep my eyes open, in case something does happen."

"Thank you, Commander Grey," General Pepper said with a soft smile as he received the papers containing the report on Sabre's training analysis.

"Well, I better get back to work."

"Okay, you can go," Pepper said.

Bill saluted and left the office, leaving Pepper and Mr. Phoenix alone after closing the door. While Pepper was going through the papers that Bill handed him, Phillipe was still ticked and disgusted with him hearing that Fox actually invited Star Wolf to join them for lunch. Though he tried not to bring up his complaints as he would end up upsetting General Pepper if he did. He was a thoughtful man though, so he waited a few minutes till General Pepper was done going through the papers.

"It's fascinating," he said, getting the old dog's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Pepper asked.

"I'm referring to the fact that there are a good number of good guys here who could be future suitors for my daughter Fara," he replied with a small, wicked grin.

"Oh? Is she interested in someone here?" he asked.

"No. She hasn't dated anyone else since Fox McCloud broke up with her 11 years ago," he replied, dropping his grin as he sat down in the chair in front of the general. "He was a worthy suitor for my daughter back then, but…" he sighed a bit. "...things can't go back to how they were. Too far to turn back now." He put his fingertips on both his hands together and his grin came back. "So now, I'm deciding to get down to business and give her a little hand to move on."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Pepper was feeling a bit disturbed with his guest due to how he's behaving right now. He can feel as though he was being negotiated with a devil.

"Nonsense!" he said with a laugh. "Who would know more about what my own daughter wants than me? Furthermore, I have two possible candidates that I have seen that could be a good husband for Fara and ensure a good offspring for the Phoenix family." The fennec fox got up from the chair and placed his hands on the desk, directly in front of the uncomfortable dog. "And here's the best part: As far as I know, they're both single!"

The general was afraid to ask the next question, but he had to ask it. For he knew Phillipe very well, and he knew that whatever he set out to do, he would get what he wanted one way or another. "So…who do you have in mind?"

"Well, one of them would be Sabre, the new soldier. We both can see that he is a disciplined and respectful person. He may not have been born into the upper class, but with my help, he can become a full-fledged gentleman."

"And…the second one?" Pepper asked nervously.

"The other one," saying as he removed his hands from the desk. "Would be Commander Grey."

That suggestion really chewed a big piece of the old dog's nerves up, big time for sure.

"He is a person with a great military career and a good record of exploits. A good union between the Grey family and the Phoenix family, although I strangely have no knowledge of his parents. Do you think you could contact them for me?"

If the general got really nervous upon hearing those suggestions, he'd probably be even more nervous when he heard that last question. He would never dream of forcing his own son to be married to a person he didn't love. And although he knew that Fara and Bill were friends, there was never any indication that they were in love or anything similar to that.

"I'm afraid I can't be much help to you there," he lied, trying to keep his secret. "I do know them, but they're on vacation on another planet far from here, and their voicemail has been turned off."

"Oh, such a pity," Mr. Phoenix disappointingly said. "Well, put me in touch with them when they get back. I have to go now, but we'll be seeing each other again some other time." Phillipe turned to the door and opened it before turning his head back and said, "Goodbye."

After the fennec fox closed the door behind him, General Pepper put his head down in fear over what he heard. 'Oh god…what have I gotten myself into?'

Here ends the twenty seven chapter. I hope you liked it.