Sargasso Station
Cad Bane sat within his quarters aboard the outlaw hideaway, the light from a holographic map of the Lylat system reflecting off of his blue skin.
The Duros quickly ran through everything Star Wolf had told him about the major happenings in this unknown part of the galaxy.
Over a decade ago, war had broken out between the planets Corneria and Venom, with just about every other world getting caught in the middle. Corneria had prevailed, much to the chagrin of Star Wolf, who had served as hired guns for the Venomians.
Then three years ago, on Sauria, the first planet Bane had come across after arriving in Lylat, there had been a crisis of some sort. Star Wolf's knowledge of the situation was extremely limited, but according to them, the planet had quite literally been nearly torn apart.
And last, but not least, two years ago, Lylat had been invaded by a race of bio-mechanical insects known as the Aparoids. Though the bugs had done a fair amount of damage, they had been pushed back to their homeworld and wiped out.
And the one common thread that tied all these things together was the fact that the Star Fox team had played a major role in solving each crisis.
Bane switched off the hologram and brought up an image of the Star Fox team standing in front of a massive starship.
The caption below read, 'Star Fox team christens their new mothership.'
Bane glanced at each member of the team. First and foremost was the leader, Fox McCloud. He was vulpine in appearance with orange and white fur. Clothing wise, he was dressed in a green jumpsuit, a white vest and gloves, black and red boots, and red shoulder pads.
To his right was a blue and white furred woman who was also vulpine in appearance and was dressed in a blue and black jumpsuit and knee high boots. She was identified as Krystal Burrell, a refugee from Cerinia, a planet destroyed by the Venomian military on orders from their self proclaimed Emperor, Andross Oikonny.
"So there's tech that can kill planets in this system. The Empire would pay handsomely for that," Bane said to Todo in Durese.
"More money for us," the droid replied, also in Durese.
Bane resumed scanning the image, turning his gaze on a pair of amphibians. The male was green skinned and roughly the height of Algy. He wore an orange jumpsuit and a red cap. The female was taller and pink skinned. Her clothing consisted of a lime green jumpsuit and a yellow bow on her head.
They were identified as Slippy Toad and Amanda Durante. A corner of Bane's mouth turned up in a grin as he saw that the amphibians were holding hands. The same could also be said of McCloud and Burrell.
"Good. A weakness I can exploit," the Duros mused.
Continuing his study of the image, Bane took note of a blue and red feathered avian in a red and grey jumpsuit to McCloud's left who was identified as Falco Lombardi.
Last, but certainly not least, was a middle aged man who was leporine in appearance and dressed in a red jumpsuit and a grey jacket. He was identified as Peppy Hare, a member of the original team under McCloud's father.
"Another weakness," Bane thought as he filed that information away in his mind.
Shutting the holoprojector down, Bane stood up and left his quarters, Todo not far behind. As he walked through the corridors of Star Wolf's hideout, the Duros spotted the hired help of the outlaws, ex Venomian soldiers collectively referred to as Ruffians.
"Morning, Mr. Bane,"
"Anything I can do for ya, Mr. Bane?"
Bane simply waved them off and kept moving, eventually arriving in the station's mess hall, where the four members of Star Wolf were seated. The Duros filled a plate full of food and joined them.
Bane doubted that this was the finest cuisine Lylat had to offer, but it was parsecs ahead of the rations he had survived on during his hyperspace journey.
Taking a sip of caf, the bounty hunter met Wolf's gaze.
"So, what can you all tell me about Star Fox?"
Wolf narrowed his violet eye.
"What do you wanna know?"
Bane finished off his caf and set the mug down.
"Everything. The more I know, the more help I can be whenever they show up,"
"Fair enough," Wolf grunted.
The lupine leaned back in his chair and began to explain.
"Well, first off, the pup is dating the blue girl. And Toad also has a woman. Works out perfectly for us. More collateral, if you know what I mean,"
"I do," Bane replied.
"I don't know how sharp your flying skills are, blue boy," Leon put in. "But you better bring your A game. Besides Toad and possibly his girl, Star Fox are crack pilots, especially Lombardi."
Picking up on the disdain in the lizard's voice at the mention of Lombardi, Bane inquired, "You don't like the bird very much, do you, Powalski?"
Leon balled his hand into fists and snarled, "If I ever get my hands on that arrogant avian, I'll pluck his feathers one by one,"
"As dangerous as Lombardi is, at least in the sky, the one I'd really watch out for is that Krystal girl. She can read people's minds," Algy spoke up, which piqued Bane's interest.
Turning his gaze on the lemur, the Duros asked, "Can she do anything else out of the ordinary, like control people or lift rocks with her mind?"
That question resulted in all four members of Star Wolf shaking their heads.
"No," Panther stated, "To the best of my knowledge, the Blue Rose doesn't have those abilities. Why do you ask?"
Meeting the jungle cat's gaze, Bane answered, "Where I come from, we have people known as Force sensitives. They've got all sorts of abilities; telepathy, lifting things with their minds, shooting lightning from their hands, among other things. The Jedi usually took them in at a young age to indoctrinate them."
"These Jedi sound like a cult," Wolf mused.
"They were," Bane stated, "The Empire nicely did away with them."
"Well, as Panther said, Krystal can't do any of that stuff," Algy remarked, "But she does have a staff that can shoot fireballs, freeze people into blocks of ice, make small earthquakes, and rocket her up into the air."
"Interesting," Bane said before thinking to himself, "Aurra would kill to get her hands on that weapon,"
A rapid series of chimes from Wolf's wristcom brought the Duros out of his thoughts. The lupine glanced down and saw the name of the caller.
"Burton Corey. Wonder what he wants?" Wolf mumbled before answering the call and being greeted with a hologram of a tan furred bull.
"Mr. Corey, what can we do for you?" Wolf curtsied.
"I'll cut right to the chase, O'Donnell," answered the bovine, "Reggie Bartlett is on Kew, in the city of Torzan. I want you to find him and bring him to me. Dead or alive."
"Can do, Mr. Corey," Wolf replied.
For his part, Bane couldn't help but notice that the client's accent and speech patterns were very similar to those of the late Separatist leader, Count Dooku.
The Duros mentally shrugged, writing the whole thing off as a coincidence. He had a job to prepare for.
And another planet to map for the Empire.
Torzan, Kew
It was a quiet night in the coastal city of Torzan. Out front of an office building owned by crime boss Reggie Bartlett, hired thugs stood guard or patrolled a given area.
The silence of the night was broken by the sound of an approaching hovercar engine. The guards became alert and opened fire as the vehicle plowed into the plaza.
Their efforts proved to be in vain as the vehicle slammed into a fountain and exploded, killing some of the guards and maiming several others.
Before Bartlett's men could recover, Wolf, Leon, and Panther charged into the plaza and opened fire with VAR-77C carbines, the compact version of the standard Venomian service rifle.
Bartlett's men proved to be little match for the three outlaws, slowly being cut down. As fate would have it, this attack was merely a distraction.
Higher up, on a balcony, Algy and Bane flew up and landed, the former with the aid of a jetpack and the latter with his rocket boots.
"How many gizmos does this guy have?" Algy mused as he readied his machine pistols.
Bane meanwhile, gestured towards the shielded door with his blaster.
"Todo, get us in," he ordered.
"Right away, sir," the techno-service droid replied as he floated towards the door.
Just as he had done at the Jedi Temple, Todo made a hole in the shield, enabling Algy to hotwire the lock. Both outlaws stood with their weapons raised as the door slid open.
The hallway was empty as the trio advanced into the building, but that soon changed as footsteps and voices were heard around the corner.
A canine and a badger ran into view, but Algy didn't give them a chance to be surprised, quickly mowing them down with his Spyders.
"Plenty more where those came from," the lemur remarked.
He was proven right when an elevator dinged ahead and more footsteps sounded. Bane did a quick glance around the corner and spotted half a dozen guards.
After signalling the group's size to Algy, Bane and him leaned out and opened fire. The Duros methodically put down three of the guards with precise headshots while Algy cut down the others with his machine pistols.
Bringing up a hologram of the tower's layout on his wristcom, Algy noted that they were getting close to Bartlett's suite.
"Almost there," the lemur stated.
"That's usually when things go south," Bane put in.
The two outlaws and the droid continued to advance through the building, eventually coming to a T junction. Bane and Algy both sensed that something wasn't right.
"Todo, scope ahead," the Duros ordered.
"I'm not a scout droid, I'm…"
"You are what I say you are, now hop to it," Bane growled.
Shaking his head in defeat, Todo hovered ahead of the outlaws. Algy, in the meantime, figured that this wasn't the first time Bane and his robot had this argument.
No sooner had Todo floated into where the hallways intersected, then he was greeted with laser fire from a group of guards behind metal crates. Hastily beating a retreat back to Bane and Algy, the techno-service droid ran a hand over his metal cranium.
"I count at least a dozen targets in cover," he droned.
Assessing the situation, Algy quickly formed a strategy.
"I'll run to the other side of the junction and pin em down. You see if you can get a grenade behind their cover," he said to Bane.
"Sounds like a plan," the Duros bounty hunter replied as he holstered one of his LL-30s and took a thermal detonator out of his duster pocket.
Taking a breath, Algy sprinted and dove forward, doing a combat roll across the T junction and ending it on the other side. Lasers pockmarked the wall where his short frame had been just seconds before.
Undeterred, the sportive lemur leaned out from cover and sprayed the area with his machine pistols, forcing the guards to keep their heads down. For his part, Bane primed the thermal detonator in his hand and chucked it around the corner.
The Duros' throw proved strong enough to land the explosive behind the crates. After a deafening explosion, Bane and Algy leaned out and put down a couple of dazed guards. They then left cover and advanced, delivering the coup de grace to the wounded.
Coming upon a set of wooden doors, Bane noted that the blast from the detonator had knocked them partially ajar. Algy also noticed this and took a puck shaped object off of his belt.
"Flashbang. I'd look away and cover my ears if I were you."
Ignoring the fact that Algy had absolutely no idea about Duros biology, Bane took up a position facing away from the door and pulled his hat down over his eyes while Algy rolled the so-called flashbang into the suite.
There was a deafening explosion and a flash of light that was visible even through Bane's closed eyelids. Nonetheless, him and Algy turned around and kicked the doors open, catching sight of several stunned guards.
They swiftly put them down, with a couple of Bane's lasers punching through a coyote and breaking some very expensive looking bottles of alcohol on the bar behind him.
Indeed, as Bane and Algy swept the suite for stragglers, the lemur couldn't help but remark, "Such a waste,"
Upon receiving a sidelong glance from Bane, the primate tacked on, "Of booze."
Before the Duros could reply, a door opened nearby. Bane and Algy quickly turned and raised their weapons, only to be greeted with the sight of a scantily clad lizard.
Quickly spotting other figures behind her, Algy ordered, "Everyone out of there, now! And keep your hands where we can see em!"
The lizard and half a dozen other women who were clearly ladies of the night came out of the room, hands raised as Algy had instructed.
With a grin on his face, Bane said, "Evening ladies. You wouldn't happen to have seen where Bartlett went?"
One of them, a feline of some sort, looked Bane up and down in fear.
"Wha… What the fuck are you supposed to be?!"
Bane's grin turned into a frown as he stalked towards the prostitutes. After closing the small distance, the Duros slapped the feline fronthand and backhand.
"I'm the one asking the questions here, little lady!" Bane spat, "So unless you wanna get plugged full of laser bolts, I suggest that you answer!"
The woman pointed at the wall with a shaking hand.
"There. Elevator," she stammered.
Just then, Algy's wristcom buzzed to life.
"Algy, do you have Bartlett?" Wolf spoke.
"Not yet," the sportive lemur replied.
"Well you better make it quick, we've got a shuttle inbound."
"Copy that. Algy out."
The primate then aimed one of his machine pistols and shot out one of the suite's windows. Him,
Todo, and Bane then went up to the edge and flew out.
The ladies of the night took that as their cue to get the hell out of there. As the group ran towards the elevators, one of them, a black furred jackal in a purple dress and boots, peeled off from the others and entered a security room.
Retrieving a data tap from her purse, the wild dog plugged it into a nearby terminal.
As the surveillance videos were downloaded, the jackal thought about the alien she had seen back in the suite. The alien whose voice she had secretly recorded.
"The CDF needs to see this," Louise Dortmund muttered to herself.
Elsewhere
On the rooftop of the building he owned, Reggie Bartlett waited anxiously for his shuttle. The sea otter sipped some whiskey from a flask.
"They should've been here by now," he mumbled.
Suddenly, Bartlett and his guards heard the sound of retro rockets, a sound that quickly increased in volume.
Suddenly, two figures zoomed up over the side of the roof and opened fire. Bartlett saw two of his men fall and felt blood spatter on him. The sea otter attempted to escape, only to feel a laser bolt strike him in the leg.
Bartlett tried to crawl away as his bodyguards were slaughtered, only for a figure to land in front of him. Glancing upwards, Bartlett saw a blue skinned alien dressed like the wranglers of eons ago.
"Not so fast, Bartlett," the creature taunted and leveled a blaster at the otter's head. A weapon that Bartlett thought looked like a futuristic version of a cowboy gun.
Calming himself, the otter stuttered, "Whatever you're being paid, I'll double it. No, I'll triple it!"
"Nice try, butthead," a voice sounded from behind Bartlett, a voice that belonged to Algy Hoffman of Star Wolf.
Kneeling down and slapping a pair of handcuffs on his quarrie's wrists, the lemur continued, "We both know you can't match Mr. Corey's prices,"
For his part, Bane glanced at his wristcom and saw that the Justifier had completed it's scan of Kew. He glanced over at Todo and gave him a sly grin.
Corneria City
Along one of the many boardwalks that could be found in Corneria's island based capital city, a vulpine couple walked hand in hand.
The male was orange and white furred while the female was blue and white furred.
They were none other than Fox McCloud and Krystal Burrell of the Star Fox team. Casting a glance towards the city, Fox thought to himself, "Gee, you'd almost think the Aparoids hadn't attacked us."
"I couldn't agree more," Krystal mentally replied.
The couple's moment of tranquility was broken by the sound of Fox's wristcom. Glancing down, the vulpine saw that the caller was none other than General Pepper.
"No rest for the wicked," the vulpine grumbled as he answered the call.
"McCloud here."
"Fox," spoke the voice of Corneria's highest ranking military officer.
"There is a situation involving your old rivals Star Wolf. I will tell you more after you have assembled your team."
"Got it, sir."
Turning to Krystal, the vulpine said, "Let's go,"
Great Fox II
After all the members of Star Fox had arrived aboard the team's new mothership, Fox activated the bridge's holotable and contacted General Pepper.
The mercenary team was soon greeted by the image of the CDF's leader, a bloodhound in a red and gold uniform and cap.
"Greetings, Star Fox," Pepper curtsied.
Fox inclined his head and replied, "So, sir, what's Wolf up to now?"
The bloodhound shook his head.
"It is better that I show you than try to explain."
General Pepper's image was replaced by what appeared to be a surveillance video of three figures walking down a hallway, or hovering in one case. Star Fox recognized the shorter of the two living beings as Algy Hoffman, a lemur who had joined Star Wolf shortly after the Aparoid Invasion.
But it was the taller of the two and the strange robot that really got their attention; A blue skinned, red eyed, and oddly dressed alien.
"Geez," Falco scoffed, "Wolf must've sunk really low if he brought on someone who thinks he's a cowboy."
The pheasant's bravado was soon tempered when the video showed the alien gunning down three thugs with perfect headshots.
"A very dangerous cowboy," Peppy deadpanned.
The Star Fox team continued to watch the two outlaws fight their way through armed guards before the feed cut off, being replaced with audio.
"I'm the one asking the questions here, little lady! So unless you wanna get plugged full of laser bolts, I suggest that you answer!"
As the realization that the alien spoke Cornerian Basic dawned on the team, Pepper's hologram returned.
"Star Fox, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to not only bring in Star Wolf, but also that alien. Capture him if you can, but eliminate him if you must."
"Dead or alive," Fox mused before meeting the General's gaze.
"We'll do it, sir. Send us our retainer."
"Excellent," Pepper said with a smile, "That footage was taken on Kew. In all likelihood, Star Wolf is still in the outer fringe."
"Understood," Fox replied, "We'll head there right away."
"Good luck, Star Fox. Pepper out."
After the General's hologram disappeared, Fox glanced around at his friends.
"Alright guys, let's rock and roll!"