Torzan, Kew
The Star Wolf team and their new ally sat at the bar in Saru's Roadhouse, drinking to their good fortune.
Or at least, that's how it appeared to Louise Dortmund, who was seated in a booth near the back of the tavern, eyes trained on the quintet.
The black furred jackal had traded her hooker disguise for a green shirt, a black vest, blue jeans, and sneakers after receiving orders from her superiors terminating her mission spying on Reggie Bartlett and putting her on the trail of Star Wolf and the alien gunslinger.
She had picked the outlaws up just as they were handing Bartlett over to their client. The sea otter was as good as dead.
Or possibly still dying, if Burton Corey's reputation was anything to go by.
Louise was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the slurred speech of a patron.
"Hey, pretty lady. Wanna dance?"
Louise turned towards the gerbil and narrowed her blue eyes.
"Buzz off, loser."
The rodent mumbled something profane under his breath before walking away, allowing Louise to turn her attention back to her quarries.
As it had been in the last two bars that Star Wolf and their new ally had visited, nobody seemed to question the presence of the alien.
That didn't surprise Louise in the least. On a planet as lawless as Kew, minding your own business was essential to survival.
And yet, an aardvark was approaching the alien. Louise watched intently through the haze of cigarette smoke as the mammal asked the gunslinger something along the lines of, 'How good are you, cowboy?'
The alien downed the rest of his drink and replied with something to the effect of 'Let's find out.'
The mercenary then turned around and threw the glass in the air, before quickly drawing one of his blasters and firing a shot that shattered the glass.
Heads in the tavern briefly turned towards the scene before quickly returning to their drinks. Such a thing was hardly out of the ordinary on Kew.
Visibly shocked, the aardvark slapped some credits on the bar near the alien and walked away. The gunslinger pushed them towards the bartender and bought another round.
Said round turned out to be the last, for the five outlaws stood up and began stumbling towards the door. Louise gave them a slight head start before finishing her drink and paying for it.
Reacquiring the quintet didn't take long, for they were in no hurry. The jackal half expected them to go into another tavern, but it seemed they'd had their fill.
After several minutes, Louise was watching the group from an alley as they stood outside a motel. O'Donnell was inside while the other four were hanging out in the parking lot.
"So," she heard Powalski slur at the alien, "Why do they call you Cad Bane?"
"Honestly, I don't remember," replied the alien.
"Don't remember, or don't want to say?" Louise thought to herself.
In the meantime, Wolf came out of the motel and passed room keys to Leon and Algy. From there, the group split up, with Leon and Panther going to one room, Bane and Algy going to another, and Wolf going to one all by his lonesome.
After the lights in the rooms went dark, Louise left the alleyway and began heading towards Torzan's spaceport.
Time passed, and the jackal found herself walking through the corridors of the starport, her eyes eventually falling on the hanger that housed four Wolfens and the scorpion-shaped ship that belonged to the alien now known as Cad Bane.
After doing a quick check around her to make sure that no one was watching, Louise ran towards the hanger in a low sprint, coming to a stop beside a Wolfen.
Fishing a homing beacon out of her vest pocket, the jackal planted it below one of the Wolfen's lower wings, but soon became alert as the sounds of a ship's loading ramp filled the hanger.
A quick glance showed Louise that the sound was coming from Bane's ship. As the ramp lowered, the wild dog dashed away and hid behind a stack of crates.
Peering through a gap, Louise caught sight of the mysterious robot, Todo, if she remembered right from the security footage, hovering outside of the ship.
"Who goes there?" Todo droned.
After looking around for a bit, the robot shrugged his metal limbs and shook his head.
"My sensors must need recalibration. I'll have to mention that to Mr. Bane."
With that, Todo turned around and returned to the ship, the ramp raising behind him. Louise waited for a few minutes before slipping out of the hanger.
Two things dominated the jackal's thoughts; One was the fact that she now had a name to put to the alien's face.
The second was that, wherever this Cad Bane came from, robots certainly had much more personality than ones from Lylat.
The next day
Great Fox II
Kewian orbit
Above the grey planet, space seemed to ripple in on itself, soon followed by the Star Fox team's mothership zooming into view.
On the bridge, Fox sat in the command chair while Falco stood to his right, Peppy manned the navigation console, and ROB manned the helm.
"So what's the deal, Fox?" asked the pheasant.
Turning the chair towards his second in command, the vulpine replied, "All General Pepper said was that we are to pick up someone who can lead us to Star Wolf."
"A passenger, eh? Well ain't that just swell," Falco snarked.
Fox's attention was brought forward by a beeping from the consoles.
"Captain McCloud, we are being hailed by an approaching shuttle," ROB droned.
"Put them through."
An image of a female jackal appeared on the ship's view screen.
"This is Agent Dortmund of the External Security Bureau. Requesting permission to come aboard."
"Permission granted, land in the hanger bay," Fox replied.
"Thank you, Star Fox. Dortmund out."
After the call ended, Falco crossed his arms.
"A spook. This just keeps getting better," he said, making no attempt to hide his sarcasm.
Standing from his chair, Fox met the avian's gaze.
"I don't wanna hear any complaints, Falco," the vulpine stated in a stern tone, "From either of you."
Meanwhile, down in the hanger, Krystal, Slippy, and Amanda watched as a small shuttle touched down. The ramp lowered and a female jackal walked down it and into the hanger.
"Welcome aboard, Agent Dortmund," Krystal curtsied.
"Glad to be here," Louise replied as the two women shook hands.
After the process was repeated with Slippy and Amanda, the quartet boarded the lift and began ascending towards the bridge.
On the way up, Louise cracked a small smile.
"Never thought I'd be aboard Star Fox's mothership."
"You should've seen the old one," Slippy replied.
Eventually, the lift arrived at its destination and the doors opened, revealing Fox and Falco.
"Welcome, Agent Dortmund," the vulpine said as they shook hands.
"Thank you, Captain McCloud."
Falco's introduction was much more curt.
"Agent."
"Lombardi," Louise replied in an equally curt tone.
After making his introduction, Peppy commented, "In all the years I've been on this team, I can't say that we've ever worked with the ESB."
"I guess there's a first time for everything," the jackal replied before turning her gaze back to Fox.
"You probably want to know where Star Wolf and their new pal are, right?"
"That would be helpful," the vulpine replied.
With that, Louise took a data drive out of her vest pocket and handed it to Peppy.
"I planted a tracker on one of their fighters. We should have no trouble locating them."
As Peppy headed back to his station, Fox crossed his arms.
"Agent Dortmund, I have to ask. Has the ESB learned anything more about the alien?"
Setting her hands on her hips, Louise replied, "Other than the fact that his name is Cad Bane, not much."
"Cad Bane?" Amanda snickered, "His parents must not have liked him."
"If he even has parents," Falco put in, "For all we know, that cowboy wannabe was cooked up in a test tube."
"Wannabe?" Louise questioned, "That guy hit a glass in midair while he was deep in his cups. I saw it happen."
"You saw the footage, Falco," Krystal added, "This Cad Bane is not to be underestimated."
"That was him on the ground," the avian retorted, "I'll reserve my judgment until I see him perform in the air."
The conversation was interrupted by Peppy activating the holotable and showing a map of the Lylat system.
"Looks like Star Wolf's headed for Eladard," the lepus stated.
Nodding in agreement, Fox began issuing his orders.
"ROB, set course for Eladard."
"Affirmative, Fox."
Turning to the rest of his team, the vulpine continued, "Ready your fighters, I doubt that Wolf and his pals are gonna be happy to see us."
Eladardian orbit
Above the ringed planet, four Wolfens and the Justifier dropped out of hyperspace, with the latter soon disgorging the Xanadu Blood.
Within the cockpit of the Rogue-class starfighter, Cad Bane and Todo watched as their mothership settled into orbit. Bringing his attention forward, the Duros bounty hunter opened a line with Wolf.
"So, what're we going to get up to here, O'Donnell?"
Wolf flashed a toothy grin before replying, "Catching up with an old friend of mine."
Seeming to understand that he wouldn't be getting any further details from the lupine, Bane cut the line and took note of his fighter's scanners. While there were quite a few settlements on the planet, it mainly consisted of forest.
"A perfect place to do business away from prying eyes," the Duros mused.
The minutes passed as the quintet of fighters entered Eladard's atmosphere and flew low over the forest canopy, eventually settling down in a clearing.
From there, the outlaws dismounted and took a moment to stretch their legs.
"Alright, let's move, boys. Andrew's not gonna wait all night," Wolf ordered before setting off down a path that had hastily been cut into the trees.
As the rest of the group followed along, Bane fell into step with Algy.
"So, who is this Andrew?" he asked.
Looking up and meeting the Duros' gaze, Algy replied, "That would be Andrew Oikonny, the nephew of Emperor Andross. He used to fly with Star Wolf during the war. These days, he's leading what's left of Andross' forces."
The disdain in Algy's voice was not lost on Bane.
Putting a hand on his chin, the bounty hunter ventured, "You don't sound too impressed with him."
Algy responded by sticking what Bane now knew to be called a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it up.
After taking a drag and blowing out a cloud of foul-smelling smoke, the sportive lemur finally replied, "Andrew's a lot of things, but he is not his uncle. Honestly, I'm shocked he was able to get off Fortuna when it was crawling with Aparoids."
Bane nodded and focused ahead, catching sight of armed men who were presumably Oikonny's soldiers. As the group of outlaws entered another clearing, the Duros caught sight of more Remnant troopers, along with a white furred ape in a yellow jumpsuit and red body armour.
The primate looked up from a data pad, showing that there was a pair of scars on his face, one below his left eye and the other running across his forehead.
Upon seeing Wolf, Andrew grinned and chuckled.
"You ready to stop fucking around and get back in the fight, or what?" the ape snarked.
"I see you were able to get off Fortuna unscathed," Wolf retorted, "Well, mostly."
Gesturing at his scars, Andrew deadpanned, ""I've looked worse. You know that."
"Indeed I do," Wolf replied, briefly thinking back to the aftermath of the team's encounter with Star Fox over Bolse Station.
Both him and Pigma had needed patching up while Leon and Andrew had been temporarily blinded by the station's explosion, the former in his right eye, the latter in both. If not for digital lenses, they would not have been able to fly against Star Fox at the entrance to Andross' lair.
Both of them turned their attention to Bane.
"Andrew, this is Cad Bane. Bane, this is Andrew Oikonny."
"I'm honoured to finally meet the heir of Emperor Andross," Bane said as he tipped his hat towards Andrew.
Beaming, the ape stated, "Well, looks like someone knows who the rightful ruler of Lylat is."
That comment prompted Leon to cross his arms and let out a quiet huff, as well as Panther and Algy exchanging a look and discreetly rolling their eyes.
"Anyways," Andrew continued, bringing his hands together, "I guess you'll be wanting the usual stuff. Fuel and supplies."
"Yup," Wolf replied before his eye landed on a pair of all-terrain vehicles.
"Say, Andrew. How much do you want for those?" the lupine asked while pointing at the machines.
Following his old leader's gaze, Andrew remarked, "Honestly, Wolf, I just want rid of those things. Got some newer and better models from William Bartok a couple weeks ago."
"Still dealing with that pirate?" Wolf asked.
Before Andrew could answer, Bane interjected himself into the conversation.
"It'll be a tight squeeze, but we should be able to fit them on the Justifier."
"The Justifier?" Andrew asked.
"My mothership," Bane answered, "I've got her in orbit, keeping an eye out for Star Fox."
Andrew let out a chuckle.
"I like the way you think, Bane."
From there, Wolf took off his backpack and set it on a nearby table, where two of Andrew's soldiers opened it up and counted the credits within.
"It's all here, Commander," one of them said.
Good. Good," Andrew murmured before turning to another group of Remnant troopers.
"Get these machines loaded, on the double!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
True to Andrew's word, his soldiers were able to load the ATVs in a quick and efficient manner. Once everything was secured, Wolf and Andrew shook hands.
"Always a pleasure doing business with you, Andrew."
"Same here, Wolf."
Wolf and Leon climbed into one ATV while Algy, Panther, Bane, and Todo went to the second, the latter two climbing into the back.
The drive back to their fighters was uneventful until Bane's wristcom began chiming, indicating that the Justifier had detected another ship.
The Duros brought a hologram and frowned when he saw the carrier with the winged fox insignia.
"Star Fox," Bane growled before contacting Wolf.
"Looks like McCloud and his pals are onto us."
"Damn," replied the lupine, "That happened faster than I thought."
As the two ATVs increased their speed, Bane knelt down and leaned towards Todo.
"As soon as the Justifier is finished with its scans, bring it down here and get these vehicles loaded," the bounty hunter ordered in Durese.
"I'm not a loader droid, I'm a techno-service droid," Todo protested in the same language.
"You'll be a scrapped droid if you don't do what I say," Bane growled before standing back up.
Algy meanwhile, had casually leaned back in the passenger's seat, trying to pick up on what the two were saying. But between the vehicle engine and the fact that they were speaking in the same alien language that Algy had heard over the bugs in Bane's quarters on Sargasso, the lemur was at a loss.
Knowing that they had a much more pressing problem, Algy filed that away and focused ahead.
Upon returning to the landing site, the outlaws jumped out of the ATVs and began manning their fighters.
"They think they're the heroes of Lylat. Wait till they get a load of me," Bane thought as his cockpit closed.
Eladardian orbit
Great Fox II
Within the cockpit of his Arwing, Fox watched as a timer counted down on his HUD. Once it reached zero, the vulpine stomped on the boost pedal, and with the aid of a catapult, his fighter rocketed out into space.
"Alright team, form up. Let's get after Star Wolf."
"No need for that," Krystal stated, "They're coming to us."
True to the vixen's word, five hostile signatures appeared on the team's radars. Likewise, they could see five shapes flying up towards them from the ringed planet. Four were black and crimson in colour while the fifth was green.
Soon enough, Wolf's scowling mug appeared on Fox's view screen.
"Still doing the CDF's dirty work, pup?" the lupine taunted, "Old habits die hard, don't they?"
"Look who's talking," the vulpine retorted.
Wolf's image was replaced with Leon's.
"Looks like it's going to be roasted pheasant on the menu tonight," the lizard said with a sadistic smile.
"Geez, I'm really scared," Falco sarcastically replied.
Panther soon took the place of Leon.
"You chose poorly, Krystal. Now I have no choice, but strike both you and the orange boy down."
Angered, Fox opened his mouth to retort, only for his girlfriend to beat him to the punch.
"You put so much as a mark on Fox, Panther, and there will be nowhere that you can hide from me."
The enraged jungle cat was replaced by Algy.
"You buttheads have stuck your noses in our business for the last time."
"You're going down, you little gremlin," Amanda responded, which only seemed to make the lemur grin.
"You're funny, froggy. That's why I'm gonna kill you last."
"Don't even think about it, creep!" Slippy interjected.
Algy's visage was replaced, finally allowing Star Fox their first good look at the alien ally of Star Wolf.
"So this is Star Fox. I've taken down so many young upstarts like you over the years. Once you figure out one, the rest are easy."
Fox narrowed his eyes and replied, "You're in for a shock, Cad Bane."
The alien seemed surprised at the fact that Fox knew his name, but soon regained his composure and grinned at the vulpine.
"Let's find out."
By this time, the two mercenary teams had entered engagement range. Both of them broke formation and began searching for targets, blue and red laser bolts cutting through the void of space.
Eventually, each of the pilots settled on a target; Fox was against Wolf, Falco was against Leon, Krystal was against Panther, Amanda was against Algy, and Slippy was against Bane.
Finding himself on his rival's tail, Fox fired a burst of lasers at him, only for Wolf to barrel roll and deflect the shots.
"So Wolf, what's the deal with your new friend?" the vulpine asked.
"He's hardly my friend, pup. More like a means to an end."
Wolf shocked Fox by looping behind him and opening fire.
"Namely, turning you into space dust!"
Elsewhere, Falco kept a bead on Leon.
"How's roasting me coming along, Powalski?" the avian taunted as some of his shots hit their mark.
But to Falco's chagrin, Leon hit his brakes and allowed the Arwing to overshoot him.
"Annoying bird, I am the Great Leon!" the chameleon growled and punctuated that statement with laser fire.
Panther growled in frustration as he attempted to land a hit on Krystal's Arwing. But thanks to her telepathy, the cobalt vixen was able to dodge the laser fire and eventually get behind the wildcat.
"We could have been so good together, my Blue Rose," Panther purred.
Krystal simply rolled her eyes and fired at the jungle cat's Wolfen.
"In your dreams, lover boy."
Amanda tailed Algy, and while a few of her shots hit their mark, the sportive lemur dodged or deflected most of them.
"Come on, is that all you've got?"
Amanda fired another burst of lasers at him and then heard Agent Dortmund over the comms.
"Durante, check your fire. That's the ship I planted the tracker on."
The pink frog checked her HUD and confirmed that the signal was coming from the Wolfen in front of her.
Algy meanwhile, soon realized that his pursuer was being much more careful.
"What the hell's going on here?" the primate mused before a devious grin spread across his face.
Algy quickly pulled a U-turn and opened fire on Amanda, forcing her to evade. Now with the tables turned, the sportive lemur didn't hold anything back.
"Remember how I said I was gonna kill you last? I lied! Ha hah hah ha!"
That turn of events worried Slippy, who was currently in pursuit of Bane.
"Amanda, be careful!"
"So concerned about your woman," Bane taunted, "A credit's worth of free advice; Look out for yourself. Anything else is weakness."
"Spoken like a gutless murderer," Slippy growled before firing at the green starfighter.
Although a few bolts hit their mark, Bane managed to dodge the rest.
"Gutless murderer? If that's not the Quacta calling the Stifling slimy."
Before Slippy could respond, Bane's fighter suddenly disappeared from his view.
"What the hell?" the toad croaked as he checked his radar and saw that there were only four hostile signatures.
"How in the…." Slippy began to speak before being interrupted by Krystal.
"Slippy! Behind you!"
The amphibian threw a glance over his shoulder and didn't see anything at first. But then, Cad Bane's ship materialized and opened fire on the Arwing.
"Aaah! I'm hit!"
"Now's about the time you jet off back to your pond, froggy."
Seeing what was going on with Slippy and Amanda and still having his hands full with Wolf, Fox made a judgment call.
"Krystal, Falco. Go help Slippy and Amanda."
"Roger, Fox," the vixen replied.
"Whatever you say," grumbled Falco, clearly not thrilled about having to help another rookie.
Bane continued to pour fire into Slippy's Arwing, bringing it's shields dangerously low.
"Nothing personal, froggy," the Duros taunted, "It's just business."
But before Bane could finish him off, he caught a flash of silver and blue out of the corner of his eye. The Duros quickly banked the Xanadu Blood to evade laser fire from the new threat, which soon settled in behind him.
"Leave him alone, bounty hunter."
Bane grinned at the image of Krystal.
"Charmed to meet McCloud's woman."
That bought the Duros a couple of laser blasts, though his rear deflectors held steady.
"Our relationships make us stronger as a whole, Bane. They are not a weakness to be exploited, though I don't expect a coward like you to understand that."
Bane jinked and weaved in an attempt to dodge the vixen's laser fire, but most of them still hit their mark.
"We aren't as different as you like to pretend, little lady," Bane growled.
"We couldn't be more different," Krystal retorted, "Me and my team fight to protect the innocent. Your loyalty lies only with whoever's paying you."
"Protecting the innocent," Bane said with a smirk, "Sounds like a quick way to end up poor. Or dead, like your planet. Probably both."
Within her cockpit, Krystal felt a twinge of anger. Knowing the alien bounty hunter was trying to get under her skin, the cobalt vixen took a breath to calm herself.
"Fuck with me at your own peril, Bane," the Cerinian growled before she picked up some stray thoughts from the bounty hunter that shocked her.
"Planetary scans."
"Credits."
"Empire."
It was then that a sixth signature appeared on everyone's radar, one that told Wolf that it was time to get the hell out of Atvar.
"Disengage boys," the lupine ordered, "We've had enough fun for today."
From there, the Star Wolf team and Bane broke off from their dogfights and began to fly away while the Justifier covered them with it's turrets.
"We'll finish this later, Star Fox," Wolf snarled before the six ships jumped into hyperspace.
After letting out a breath, Fox keyed his comm.
"Status report."
"I got banged up pretty good, but I'm okay," Slippy responded.
"Same here," Amanda said.
When Krystal's image came up, she had a worried expression on her face.
"Fox, this situation is more complicated than we first thought. Cad Bane is mapping the Lylat System on behalf of an Empire."
Fox's mouth fell open at that statement.
"Another potential invader?" He thought, "Can't we ever catch a break?"
"Well what the hell are we waiting for?" Falco put in, "Let's get after them!"
"With all due respect, I must advise against that. If we tail them too closely, they'll know something's up sooner or later," Louise stated.
Massaging his temple, Fox tossed the mental coin.
"They're both right; The sooner we capture Cad Bane, the sooner we can stop his plan. But if we follow too closely, Star Wolf will realize that something's wrong."
His mind made up, the vulpine contacted his team.
"I agree with Agent Dortmund. Wolf might be headstrong, but he's not stupid. It won't take him long to put two and two together if we keep on him too much. For now, we wait and see where they head. In the meantime, return to the ship.
Teerts Station
After the four Wolfens, the Xanadu Blood, and the Justifier exited hyperspace near the old Venomian space station, which if Bane's current coworkers were to be believed, was just as much a hive of scum and villainy as Sargasso.
After docking his fighter in the Justifier's hanger, which was now a little more cramped thanks to the two ATVs, Bane walked through his mothership, soon arriving on the bridge.
"There it is again," he heard Todo drone.
"There's what again?" Bane asked.
Turning to face his master, Todo replied, "A signal. It's very faint, but it repeats at regular intervals."
"Why didn't you contact me?" Bane growled while crossing his arms.
Shaking his head, Todo replied, this time in Durese, "You never know who might be listening."
Bane simply grunted and took his place in the pilot's seat. After a few minutes, the five ships landed in one of the station's hangers.
As the outlaws dismounted from their craft, Todo paused in mid flight and got Bane's attention.
"It appears that the signal is coming from Mr. Algy's ship."
"What signal?" the sportive lemur asked.
Todo floated down and landed beside Algy's Wolfen, walking under one of the wings.
"Ah, I think this is our culprit," the techno-service droid remarked as he came out with a small device in one of his metallic hands.
Algy's red eyes widened before he snatched the device from Todo.
"Holy shit!" the primate cursed, "This is an ESB issue tracker."
"No wonder they found us so quickly," Wolf mused before adding, "Whatever. Let's smash the thing and get some grub."
"Hold on," Bane interjected, "I think I know a way that we can turn this to our advantage."
A wicked grin spread across the Duros' features.