My friend, you I will never abandon

By Gray Lancer

This is a story about a lot of things. Love, war, death, life, 
relationships, friendship, 
treachery... should I go on or should you just read the story? On another 
note, the main 
character is indeed my avatar. Joy.


"I hate that dream... I always end up having it at the end of a bad day!"

	-Gray Lancer, mercenary

	That taste... it was so familiar... it was blood... his own blood. The 
taste was disgusting and it 
filled his mouth yet again. The blood was visible now, it flowed down his 
snout and out of his mouth. He 
felt the warmth and moisture as it trickled onto the ground below... his 
own blood...
	Gray Lancer woke in a cold sweat with the taste still on the tip of his 
tongue. He shuddered at the 
memory of the dream. It had happened again. He hated that dream... 
loathed it! He shook his head to clear 
it and the taste faded. The memory stuck, though. The dream was always 
the same... re-living the event 
from his childhood. Some older students had attacked Gray, he had been in 
the hospital for months.
	Gray Lancer shook his head again and got to his paws. His whole body, 
from the tips of his ears 
to end of his tail was drenched with sweat. He wiped his forehead and 
looked at his watch. It was only 
four in the morning. Too early to eat breakfast, too late to go back to 
sleep.
	It had only been one week after getting out of the Cornerian Special 
Forces that the dream had 
started. He'd been having it once or twice a week for the past year. He 
hated it. That was one disadvantage 
of having become a mercenary... it left you with too much time to think.
	And the last year had been hell. That was all there was to it. He had 
gotten out of the CSF and 
bought a ship. His best friend Rilah and his friend Mike had offered to 
go into the business with him. 
They had been a great team. Had been...
	Then they had gotten into a fight with pirates over Venom. They had 
lost. The ship had been 
destroyed, Mike had been killed, and Rilah... poor Rilah, she was blinded 
in her left eye. It looked fine, 
but she couldn't see anything out of it. She and Gray had said good-bye 
and gone their separate ways. 
Gray had come into the business of working as a free-lance mercenary 
commando.
	And the dream had really started occurring a lot recently. It was always 
the same, he remembered 
being beaten up. Every detail was clear. He remembered Rilah running out 
and seeing him lying there, 
bleeding. He remembered her expression of horror when she saw him. He 
remembered every horrible and 
unpleasant detail. And he never forgot, not in his dreams.
	Gray picked up some clothes and dressed. Now fully clothed, he was 
beginning to wake up. The 
unpleasant dream was finally beginning to fade from his mind. Gray sat 
down on the bed and thought. He 
needed to do something very important... what was it? Gray wasn't really 
awake yet.
	Then his brain finally decided to wake up. Gray thought out loud,
	"Oh yeah! I was going to buy a new ship! I almost forgot about that!"
	He jumped to his paws and then stopped himself. Again he thought out 
loud,
	"Except that the shop isn't open until nine... damn it!"
	He let himself fall back onto the bed again. Nine o'clock was another 
five hours away. Why not 
get a little more sleep?
	Then he remembered the dream.
	He decided to take a walk instead.

"I can't handle it, Gray. We lost the ship and... I... lost Mike..."
	-Rilah, Gray's former exec

	The shop was finally open as Gray walked past it for the seventh time. 
He walked into the small 
front lobby and up to the desk. The clerk, a young female cat, peered up 
from her computer screen and 
smiled at Gray as he entered.
	"Can I help you?"
	"Be quiet, you know who I am, I've been here about three hundred times 
in the past six days."
	"Very funny. You're here to pick up your new ship?"
	"Yeah."
	"I'll show you it myself, you paid quite a bit for that sucker!"
	"You've got that right. Don't you have other work to do?"
	"No. I'd rather show you the ship anyway."
	"Fair enough. Lead on."
	The clerk picked herself up and walked through a door. Gray followed her 
closely. She led him 
through several other doors and hallways. They finally took a slightly 
larger door into a hangar.
	The hangar was filled with small ships and one larger one in the center. 
That one is what caught 
Gray's eye.
	"Is that one mine?"
	"Yep. You've got the code card and everything. You've even handled 
naming... the Quicklight... 
interesting name."
	Gray walked over to the ship and walked around it, examining every 
detail. He muttered almost 
to himself,
	"I can't believe this thing is classed as a starfighter."
	"It is the largest starfighter currently produced. Everything bigger 
gets classed as something 
different."
	"I just wish I had a co-pilot... or a gunner..."
	Seeing Gray's downcast expression, the clerk spoke,
	"I know I'm not supposed to ask about personal things but... is 
something wrong?"
	"No... nothing's wrong. Just some bad memories."
	The clerk nodded her head slowly. Gray turned to her and spoke,
	"So I can just fly it out of here?"
	"Yes. You've handled everything, even the insurance."
	"Nice. Can I leave it here for long enough to get my stuff from the 
hotel?"
	"Sure."
	She paused for a second and then spoke again,
	"Listen, business isn't going to be great today... I can just take a 
break for ten minutes and nobody 
will notice. Want some help carrying things?"
	"But I've only..."
	Gray looked at the clerk's face and smiled,
	"Sure. Come on. Oh, what's your name?"
	"Oh... I should have said that. My name's Christine. Please just call me 
Chris."
	"Ok, Chris. Let's get going."
	Together they walked out into the halls again. They walked back the way 
they came and into the 
front lobby. Chris walked over to the counter and scribbled a note saying 
she went to get some office 
supplies.
	"That should cover my absence if my boss shows up. Where's your hotel?"
	"About four blocks away. Short walk."
	They walked together in silence, both looking straight ahead. Gray 
stared at the blue sky above 
Corneria City and thought. He thought about his new luck. No longer was 
he confined to traveling where 
clients wanted him to. He could travel where he wanted. Do what he 
wanted. But it would still be nice to 
have an exec again. That would be really nice...
	"What happened to your old exec?"
	"What? How do... what?"
	"I know you were a flyer merc once. You had an exec."
	"Yeah... his name was Mike."
	"What happened to him?"
	"Our ship was destroyed over Venom. He was killed."
	"And your gunner?"
	"She was blinded in her left eye. It looks fine but she can't see out of 
it."
	Christine solemnly nodded her head and they continued to walk on in 
silence. They walked 
another hundred feet before Christine turned back and spoke again,
	"What's it like?"
	"What's what like?"
	"Being a mercenary. Being free to do what you want."
	"It's Ok. But it's dangerous, and there's no security."
	"Sounds like it. Does the war with Andross increase business?"
	"Not really. The Cornerian Military tends to dislike mercs."
	"What about those Star Fox guys?"
	"I think they're sort of a special case. They have some serious 
connections! James McCloud, 
Fox's father, was a Cornerian hero!"
	Chris nodded her head. They continued to walk down the street towards 
the hotel where Gray 
was staying.

"I've always been sort of an outcast. I never seemed to have any real 
friends... the kind I 
could really talk to."
	-Mira Delinax

	Mira Delinax walked through the streets of Resilience City on Katina. 
The small town was 
nothing special, not really on any maps. It wasn't an important city. 
Nobody important, or smart, ended up 
there. Nobody with anywhere else to go. And Mira had nowhere else to go.
	She had no family, both parents were dead and all no other relatives 
would take her in.
	She had no friends, nobody seemed to enjoy her company much.
	She had no loved ones... what a funny word. Love... she had never really 
known love.
	But here she was... walking down streets filled with dust. Nowhere to 
go... nobody to stay with. It 
was a wonder that she had held on this long. That fact was probably 
mostly do to the fact that she still had 
one skill left to exploit... she could kill people.
	Even places like Resilience drew a few mercenaries. Not many, but a few. 
Mira had last gone on 
a mission with a merc, a male wolf, who had picked her up and then 
dropped her back off in the same 
place. The mission had not paid well, but it was money in her pocket. But 
even those few mercenaries had 
stopped coming. It was beginning to look as if there would be no more 
opportunities to earn her keep... it 
looked as if Mira's luck was going to finally run out... and she was 
going to starve.
	She kicked the dust and watched as it swirled around and mingled with 
the dust already in the 
air. A few people walked past. They didn't even glance at Mira.
	Mira saw a mother and father along with a young girl in the distance. 
They had obviously 
stopped for only a short amount of time on their way somewhere else. 
Nobody stayed in Resilience for 
very long... nobody with a choice.
	And the dust swirled back down, the wind blew sand in Mira's face. She 
spat out the grainy dust 
and sand. Mira pulled her jacket closer to her body and tried to shelter 
herself against the now rising 
wind. It didn't work very well and she received another mouthful of dust 
and sand. She spat again, this 
time only managing accidentally swallow half the grit.
	Mira coughed and moved towards a building on the other side of the 
street. The local tavern was 
a decent place to sit down for a while. And she had just enough money to 
buy something to drink.
	Mira reached the tavern without receiving another load of dust so she 
considered herself lucky. 
She pushed open the tavern door and entered.
	Several patrons sat around at tables drinking. Most of them were silent. 
It was no wonder that 
Resilience had lost a quarter of its population to suicide. Mira went up 
to the counter and the bartender 
greeted her,
	"The usual?"
	Mira, looking worn out, nodded her head. The bartender placed a glass of 
watery beer before her 
and Mira handed him the cash.
	It was odd, she had never drank before coming to Resilience. She had 
wondered about that in the 
past. It didn't make any sense, or did it?
	Mira sat and stared at the glass. She took a sip to wash the taste of 
dust out of her mouth. It 
helped a little, but she knew that the minute she took a step outside 
she'd just end up getting another 
mouthful of the stuff. This part of Katina was what was know as the "dust 
ocean." It was nothing but 
parched desert and sand storms all around. Mira spoke her thoughts aloud,

	"I know I'm gonna die here."
	The bartender looked over at her,
	"Who knows? Maybe your luck will change."
	Mira almost laughed,
	"Yeah right! I haven't had a mission in three weeks, I'll be out of 
money soon enough. Just a 
matter of time before hunger or exposure kills me... the dust claims yet 
another victory."
	Mira turned back to her drink and sipped slowly. Nothing would change in 
Resilience after she 
was dead and gone. Nothing had changed at all when the last person had 
died. There hadn't even been a 
funeral. Nobody would shed a tear when Mira Delinax fell over in the 
streets of Resilience and died.

"I can't believe my luck lately... everything's been going my way."
	-Gray Lancer

	The new ship flew like a dream. It handled perfectly. It responded 
quickly to everything Gray 
tried. It was big, powerful, fast, and well armed. Nothing could argue 
with a ship like this. Gray was, for 
once in a long time, really happy. Then he looked over at the co-pilot's 
seat.
	He thought of Rilah...
	He thought of Mike...
	And his happiness was tempered with a sort of bittersweet feeling. The 
feeling of something 
being incomplete.
	He needed a new co-pilot.
	Preferably a female co-pilot...
	He didn't really know why he wanted a female exec... actually, he did 
know why. He knew 
perfectly well why. He knew it was because he had given Rilah up, all 
those years ago he had willingly 
said that he would not take things any farther.
	She had not protested.
	She had simply said that it was fine and that she understood.
	But they both lost something that day.
	Rilah had replaced it, then lost it again.
	Gray was still in there trying.
	He decided that he would place an ad on the newsnets and look for a new 
exec. He actually 
needed one now that he owned his own ship again. Gray made a mental note 
to place the ad. He flew his 
ship into a few more maneuvers to test its handling. It was fine. Gray 
could not decide where exactly he 
wanted to go now. He had gotten a new ship and had nothing to do with it.

	He decided to open the newsnets and look for anyone currently asking for 
mercenaries.
	He brought up the main newsnet on the screen and scrolled through. Most 
of the jobs were filled 
except for one near the bottom. He opened it up and read.
	The post said only this:
	"Save me. Get me off this hell hole. I'll work as any position on any 
job... just get me away from 
Resilience City on Katina."
	It was signed to a Mira Delinax. It didn't really look like a job... but 
any job... maybe this person 
could be an exec. Anyway, it was something to do. Resilience City, Gray 
knew where that was. He began 
plotting a course to it.
	Mira? That sounded like a female name.
	Things were looking up.
	He finished plotting the course and locked it in. His ship surged into 
hyperspace and was gone.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, but don't expect any bleeding heart 
gratitude from me. 
I'll earn my keep."
	-Mira Delinax, to Gray Lancer

	The next day was beginning to look exactly like the last, and the one 
before that. Mira was not 
expecting any change from the day... and it didn't disappoint her. She 
walked again down the streets, 
swallowing dust and staring down the nearly vacant walks and roads. 
Nothing had changed at all since 
the last day. Things would be the same tomorrow.
	Mira decided to enter the tavern a little earlier than yesterday. What 
else was there to do in 
Resilience? She entered the building and walked over to the bar. The 
bartender looked up and spoke,
	"Mira, there's someone who wants to talk to you."
	"What? To me? What the hell is going on?"
	"I don't know. He said something about employment."
	Mira frowned slightly.
	"Where is he?"
	"Over there."
	The bartender pointed to a gray fox, sitting at one of the tables. Mira 
looked puzzled. The 
bartender continued speaking,
	"I guess he's a mercenary or something."
	Mira nodded and walked over to the table. She sat down across from the 
fox. He looked up and 
spoke,
	"You're Mira Delinax?"
	"Yes. What do you want?"
	"You need employment?"
	"Yes. Why?"
	"I can give you a job."
	"Doing what."
	"As my new exec. It pays pretty well as long as I can find some work."
	"I don't care, as long as you have a ship."
	"Yeah, I've got one. We can leave today."
	"Fine."
	"That's all?"
	"Listen, I don't know who you are, but don't expect any bleeding heart 
gratitude from me. I'll 
earn my keep."
	"Fair enough. Get your things and we'll leave now if you want."
	"I don't have any things. What you see is what you get."
	"Fine. Then let's go."
	The fox stood and began to walk towards the door. He spoke again,
	"Aren't you even interested in what my name is?"
	"Not really."
	"I'll tell you anyway. My name's Gray... Gray Lancer."
	Mira also stood and followed Gray out the door. She lagged several yards 
behind him. He led to 
the small hangar which serviced Resilience. Inside were several ships. 
Gray walked over to a rather large 
one and opened the main hatch.
	"My ship."
	Mira only nodded and followed him inside. He closed the hatch behind and 
went up to the 
bridge. Mira followed him and stood at the door as Gray sat down in the 
pilot's chair. He opened up the 
newsnet and did another search for work. He finally saw something which 
provoked a vocal response,
	"This looks good. Pays ten thousand for one cargo run. Cargo is just 
some water being delivered 
to a settlement in the deserts of Titania. Should be an easy way to get 
ten thousand credits."
	"Boring though."
	"So what?"
	"How much do I get paid?"
	"Hmmm... easy enough with only two people. You get half, five thousand. 
No catches."
	"Really... I mean, oh."
	"Right. Sit down! You're not some passenger, you're my new co-pilot... 
you CAN fly a ship?"
	"Of course. I've never seen this model before though."
	"It's the new G-Class Repulsor. Have you ever flown a B-Class or 
D-Class?"
	"Yes, I flew a B-Class for four years."
	"Then you know how to work the co-pilot's station. Sit down and let's 
get to work."
	Mira walked over to the co-pilot's chair and took her seat. She looked 
straight ahead and mostly 
ignored Gray. They began, ran, and finished the pre-flight checks in 
silence.

"She's so... HOSTILE! But it doesn't seem to be natural. It seems like it 
was forced on her 
by society. I feel sorry for her... and... well... something else."
	-Gray Lancer

	The Quicklight pulled out of hyperspace near Corneria. Gray had already 
negotiated the mission 
details over the com link. Gray had been instructed to pick up the water 
containers at an orbital station, 
then fly them to Titania, where they would be led to the settlement by 
fighters.
	Gray flew the Quicklight towards the orbital station. He could see a 
short range transport heading 
towards his ship. Gray opened the com channel for the base and spoke,
	"Base, is that transport the one with my cargo?"
	"Yes. Just power down your engines and wait."
	"Roger."
	Gray shut down the engines and the ship automatically stopped itself 
with retro thrusters. The 
transport slowly poked towards the Quicklight. Mira glared at the radar 
display.
	"What's taking that damn thing so long?"
	"Calm down Mira. It's just a stupid transport."
	She glared over at Gray and then turned back to the display. The 
transport was almost at their 
ship when Mira spoke again,
	"Why did you take this mission anyway? There had to have been something 
better... more 
interesting."
	"Do you want me to give you the truth or the made-up lie you know I'll 
use anyway?"
	Mira glared at Gray again and looked at the display. The transport 
hailed the Quicklight on the 
comm.
	"This is Loader 1 to Quicklight, are you ready to receive cargo?"
	Gray answered the com,
	"This is Quicklight to Loader 1, we are ready."
	The com shut down and the transport edged closer to the Quicklight. Gray 
felt a small jerk as the 
transport attached to deliver its cargo.
	In five minutes the transport had completed the transfer and detached 
from the Quicklight. The 
transport again contacted the Quicklight,
	"This is Loader 1. We're all done."
	Gray answered,
	"Good. Can we get going."
	"Sure. Loader 1 out."
	Gray shut down the com and turned to Mira,
	"Mira, plot us a course to Titania. The shortest route possible."
	Mira nodded her head and began to work. Unknown to Gray, she plotted a 
course which slipped 
through a very dangerous sector of Lylat. She'd have some excitement yet. 
When she was done, she spoke 
again to Gray,
	"The course is set."
	"Ok then. Let's get going."
	He engaged the hyperdrive and the Quicklight followed along the set 
course.

"Yes, it was stupid of her to do that. But I wonder if it helped in the 
end."
	-Gray Lancer

	The Quicklight sped along its course as Mira and Gray sat in silence, 
each absorbed in their own 
thoughts.
	Then the alert sounded and the ship unexpectedly jumped out of 
hyperspace. Mira looked down 
at the threat display and spoke to Gray,
	"We've got seven enemy fighters around us. Looks like pirate I-6s."
	"Right, go to combat readiness mode. I want to know what they want."
	Gray opened a channel to the leader of the flight and talked into the 
com,
	"This is Gray Lancer commanding the ship Quicklight. Please state your 
demands."
	"We want your cargo... and we'll do anything we need to..."
	Gray cut the pirate short in mid speech and talked instead to Mira,
	"That's enough of that. Go to full combat mode and prepare to open 
fire."
	"Right."
	Mira worked the controls quickly, the result of years of experience. 
Gray looked down at his own 
threat display and swore.
	"We've got three of the ships behind us, the other four kind of spread 
around us. Get me a missile 
lock."
	Mira nodded and worked the console. She looked up.
	"I've got the lock."
	"Now fire!"
	She pressed the appropriate button and a missile leapt off of the 
Quicklight's launch rack. It 
slammed into one of the pirate fighters, causing it to explode.
	"Got one."
	"Good shooting, Mira. Lock another. I'll handle the lasers."
	"Right."
	Gray pulled the ship into a sharp climb to avoid enemy fire. He brought 
it into line with one of 
the fighters and fired. The fire burst into a fireball and was gone. He 
pulled into a turn and shot down 
another of the enemy fighters.
	"Mira, fire something!"
	She glared and launched two missiles. They both hit their marks dead on 
and eliminated two 
more enemy fighters. Gray shot down another of the fighters. The last one 
began to run from combat. 
Mira looked at the threat display and yelled at Gray,
	"HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
	"Calm down. I've got him!"
	"No you don't, I do!"
	The fighter suddenly jumped into hyperspace and was lost. Gray looked 
startled and then spoke, 
half laughing,
	"I guess neither of us does. Oh well."
	Mira just glared at him again. Then she spoke nervously,
	"Uh... I'd like to make a navigation correction."
	"Go ahead."
	Mira sheepishly changed the course back to the shorter, less dangerous 
route. Gray pretended not 
to notice anything. When she had finished, he simply engaged hyperdrive 
and they were again on there 
way.

"I don't know why he hasn't just dumped me back on Katina yet. It doesn't 
make any 
sense!"
	-Mira Delinax

	The Quicklight came out of hyperspace again, this time next to Titania. 
Gray contacted the com 
channel assigned to the fighters that would be leading him and Mira in.
	"This is Quicklight to Beacon Flight, where are you?"
	The answer came back on the com,
	"This is Beacon Flight. We see you on radar and are coming to meet. 
Please don't go anywhere."
	"Roger that, Beacon Flight."
	Gray held the ship in a stable orbit and waited for the fighters to 
arrive. He looked at Mira, who 
was staring out the window in the opposite direction. Gray thought about 
her... she was so wrapped up in 
her own world... so opposed to the outside intruding. But she was a good 
co-pilot. She seemed to be a nice 
person underneath... but the world seemed to have tempered her outside to 
be hard and cold.
	The fighters finally arrived at the Quicklight and contacted them again,

	"Hello, Quicklight. Just follow our lead and we'll head down to the 
settlement."
	"Wait, what about payment."
	"The settlement is paying for the delivery themselves."
	Gray piloted the Quicklight after the small fighters and down to the dry 
surface of Titania. They 
flew down over the desert and to the small settlement. The fighters and 
the Quicklight settled in a small 
landing area.
	Gray opened the hatch and the cargo bay. He and Mira stepped out and 
into the hangar. One of 
the fighter pilots walked over to Gray and spoke to him,
	"Here's you money."
	"Wait. Why is this settlement here?"
	"Oh. It's a working camp. People come here when they've got nowhere else 
to go."
	Gray looked around the hangar. He saw several children running around, 
covered in dirt.
	"Have you people already paid for the water?"
	"Yes, it cost us almost half of what we had. We've only got two thousand 
credits left after we pay 
you."
	Gray shook his head slowly.
	"I can't take money for this. I can't make you people suffer any more. 
Keep your money."
	"Really?! Thanks..."
	"It's Ok. I've got to get going."
	Gray stepped into the Quicklight followed by Mira. When the hatch was 
closed Mira exploded at 
Gray,
	"YOU IDIOT! THAT WAS TEN THOUSAND CREDITS YOU REFUSED! HALF WAS MINE 
ANYWAY!"
	"Take your half."
	He handed her a credit note.
	"What... oh... I'm..."
	"No. You deserve it. Keep the money."
	Gray took his seat and so did Mira. She looked very guilty and flushed 
red. They again ran the 
pre-flight in silence.

"I wish I knew a way to tell her how I feel... but I'm not even sure how 
I feel about her 
myself."
	-Gray Lancer

	Mira had never had this dream before. It was all very odd. She was 
standing in Resilience City 
again. But nobody else was around. The streets were empty. The dust 
swirled about her as she stood. She 
looked around for any sign of another person... anyone at all. There was 
no one. Mira suddenly felt 
hopeless and alone. She didn't feel angry, or hostile, or defiant... she 
just felt scared and alone. Her 
hardened exterior vanished, leaving a frightened vixen... unsure of what 
would happen. Mira sat down on 
the side of the street and buried her head in her paws. She began to cry. 
She didn't know why, she had 
never cried before... not even in dreams. But she felt a comforting paw 
on her shoulder. She felt better. 
She couldn't see who it was... but she felt that she knew already...
	The Mira woke up. She just opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. 
Then she remembered 
where she was, she was in a small hotel room on Corneria. Gray Lancer was 
in the room next to hers.
	Mira thought about the mission she had just been through. She didn't 
just go over it in her mind, 
she really thought about it. And she hated herself for what she had 
done...
	
	Gray Lancer woke up in his own room and sat up in bed. He walked over to 
his stuff and dressed. 
He noticed a small object lying by the door and walked over to it.
	It was a credit note.
	For exactly five thousand credits.
	Gray took the credit note and looked it over. There were no markings. 
But Gray thought he had 
an idea who had put it there. He put the credit note in his jacket with 
his other money and walked out the 
door and into the hallway.

"Why am I acting like this? I can't even answer that myself."
	-Mira Delinax

	Mira Delinax once again sat at a bar. This time it wasn't on some dusty 
planet in a run-down 
little town, but the point was exactly the same. She didn't want to think 
about her problems and she was 
looking for an easy way out.
	So why couldn't she touch the drink in front of her?
	Mira hadn't even picked it up. She couldn't. She just sat there and 
thought. Things were 
changing, her entire world. Mira knew she had to change with it... but 
she didn't want to. Or did she? 
Maybe she couldn't. Maybe both.
	At least she wasn't rotting in Resilience City on Katina. But was that a 
good thing? She had felt... 
well... different ever since Gray had given her the job. She couldn't 
place the feelings inside of her, there 
were far too many. Half of them disagreed with the other half and most of 
those didn't make sense 
anyway.
	Mira gave a long sigh and stood up. She needed to take a walk outside. 
She gave the bartender 
his money and walked out of the room. Oddly enough, she felt like someone 
was following her.
	Mira left the bar and turned onto the street. She turned again into a 
small passageway between 
two buildings. Whoever it was that was following her was still there. 
Mira turned to see who it was.
	Gray stood at the head of the alley. He approached Mira and spoke,
	"Mira, is something wrong?"
	"Dammit Gray! Why the hell did you follow me?!"
	"I just wanted to talk to you."
	"Gray, just leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you!"
	She turned and put her head down. A tear threatened to form in the 
corner of her eye. Gray 
walked next to her and placed a paw on her shoulder.
	Quite unexpectedly, she turned and bit his paw very hard. Blood flowed 
slowly from the wound. 
Gray did not give any sign that it had hurt him... but his face was 
showing emotions that had nothing to 
do with physical pain. He turned and left the alley, leaving Mira alone.
	Mira looked shocked for a moment... what had she just done?!
	She turned around again and looked at the wall which was at the end of 
the alley. Mira lowered 
her head again and stared at the ground. Had she blown it yet again at 
life?
	The tear which Mira had held in check finally flowed down her cheek. 
Mira kept looking at the 
ground... searching for an answer to her thoughts...
	No answer came.

"It's not a suicide mission, it's a high-risk assignment."
	-Gray Lancer

	Gray sat at the bar now. He was alone. Mira had stayed in the alley. 
Whether or not she was there 
still, Gray did not know. She'd been pretty mad at him when he had 
approached her. But it wasn't that, it 
was when he had touched her, laid his paw on her shoulder, that she had 
exploded. Mira was still a total 
mystery to him.
	But it didn't really matter. They both needed employment that would pay. 
Mira was competent in 
space combat and probably a decent ground fighter. She could handle a 
difficult mission. Maybe they both 
needed to do something to keep their minds off their emotions. Maybe they 
NEEDED a difficult mission.
	And besides, that could give Gray chance to learn more about Mira. Not 
necessarily about her 
past... he didn't want to prod, but about her personality. She was still 
a complete mystery to him. Mira had 
displayed every range of personality from cruel selfishness to what was 
almost warmth and caring. What 
was she truly like beneath the outer shell?
	So Gray needed to check the newsnets. He got up, paid the bartender, and 
left for his hotel room.

	Gray entered his hotel room and sat down heavily. He took out his small 
personal computer and 
brought up the newsnet. He quickly scrolled through the available 
missions looking for any that looked 
particularly interesting or challenging.
	His eyes rested on one of them.
	It said only "Cornerian Special Forces seeks mercenary team for 
high-risk assignment."
	Gray opened the file. It contained nothing more than a contact address. 
He wrote it down. The 
CSF usually paid pretty well for their missions, and high risk meant high 
pay. Just the thing to make up 
for a no-pay cargo run.
	Gray closed the computer and went over to the door separating his room 
and Mira's. He knocked 
on the door several times. No one answered it. He looked outside the 
window and saw rain pouring down 
on Corneria City. Gray sighed and grabbed the room key. Mira was probably 
down at the lounge.
	Gray left the room, locking the door behind him, and headed for the 
elevator again.

	Down at the ground level, Gray entered the lounge and looked around. He 
saw no sign of Mira. 
Gray walked over to a clerk, a mouse who was busy looking at his 
computer, and spoke,
	"Hey, have you seen a vixen... about two inches shorter than me, brown 
fur, wearing a leather 
jacket and a blue sweatshirt underneath, dark green pants."
	The clerk looked up and thought for a second, then he responded,
	"Uh... I can't say that I... no wait, I saw her about ten minutes ago. 
She went out the door over 
there."
	The clerk indicated one of the doors across the lounge. Gray thanked him 
and turned to the door. 
He walked out into the rain. Was Mira still outside? Gray turned around a 
corner and walked down the 
street. For some reason this area looked familiar.
	That was it, he had been out here earlier today. He had followed Mira 
down this street and... the 
alley should be just ahead.
	Sure enough, the alley was just ahead. Gray entered it and looked 
through the driving rain. Mira 
was standing in the alley with her jacket off. Her sweatshirt was soaking 
wet. Gray walked a couple of 
steps and Mira spoke to him,
	"I know it's you. Why'd you come back here?"
	"We have a mission."
	"Really? I don't care. You'll be fine without me."
	"No, I need you help... at least on this one."
	"That's a lie! You can do fine without me! Don't try to fool me just so 
I'll come along!"
	"Fine. But at least come inside."
	"No. I'm fine out here."
	Gray walked a couple more steps and spoke again,
	"I don't think so. Mira, what's wrong?"
	Mira spun around quickly and pointed at Gray.
	"NOTHING! Nothing's wrong! Leave me alone, Lancer!"
	Gray backed off and put his hands up.
	"Sorry I asked. It's Ok, I've got to talk to the CSF about the mission 
anyway."
	Mira slowly turned back around and lowered her head. Gray left the alley 
slowly and began 
walking in the general direction of the CSF building.
	He heard footsteps behind him and turned around. Mira, now wearing her 
jacket again, was 
walking after him. He stopped and let her catch up. Before he could say 
anything, Mira spoke,
	"Don't say anything, Lancer!"
	Gray just nodded his head and they walked on in silence. The Cornerian 
Special Forces had a 
large building nearby. Gray had been instructed to go there if he wanted 
the mission.
	The rain had finally stopped. Gray and Mira both remained silent, 
avoiding looking at each 
other. They were each troubled with their own thoughts and neither wanted 
to talk to anyone else about 
those thoughts. They each thought of each other without even knowing it.
	They arrived at the CSF building in a short amount of time. The large 
building loomed above 
them, like a citadel of impending doom. They walked into the main lobby.
	The air inside was cool and dry. The lobby was clean, constructed of 
black marble and metal. A 
cold and indifferent look, fitting to the military organization which the 
build housed. Gray walked over to 
the receptionist and spoke,
	"Excuse me, I'm coming here about the job offer. You see, I..."
	The receptionist pointed her paw at an elevator. Gray nodded his head 
and walked over to the 
elevator. He pushed the button and he and Mira waited for the elevator to 
descend.
	The door opened and they stepped inside. There was only one button, 
which Gray pushed. He and 
Mira stood apart from each other and still avoided eye contact. The 
elevator quickly reached its 
destination and they both stepped out of it.
	They found themselves in yet another lobby. This one was considerably 
smaller than the first, but 
it had the same harsh, cold look to it. There was only one door at the 
far end. Gray and Mira walked to the 
door and opened it.
	Inside was a large office. The walls were paneled with wood and the 
floor was carpeted, giving 
the room a less hostile look that the rest of the building. A desk sat at 
the far end. Near that desk was a 
large chair with the back turned to Gray and Mira.
	The chair slowly swiveled around. On it sat a large weasel with piercing 
eyes. He was dressed in 
a military uniform and looked directly at Gray. Gray did not even flinch 
as the weasel began speaking,
	"Gray Lancer, I believe. You served your term in the CSF. Why are you 
back?"
	"I came about the assignment."
	"Oh, that. Will you accept it?"
	"I was hoping for a little more info."
	"Answer the question."
	"Yeah, I'll accept it."
	"Come with me, both of you."
	He stood up and walked to another door. He punched a series of numbers 
into the keypad next to 
the door and it opened. Gray and Mira followed him through the door and 
into the room beyond.
	Inside was a large room with many people sitting inside. Various species 
were there. The seats 
faced a large open area with a screen and a podium. Gray and Mira found 
empty seats and sat down. The 
weasel went to the podium and spoke,
	"We have our last two team members, Gray Lancer and... whoever that is."

	Mira looked indignant and spoke,
	"I'm Mira Delinax."
	"Great. Gray, in case you're wondering, we expected you to take this 
assignment. That's why that 
ad was planted in your newsnet buffer. Thank our computer experts for 
that. Every single one of you here 
today is under the strictest vow of silence about this mission. Nothing 
said here is to leave this room or 
this group. It is of the utmost importance that this remains secret. Look 
here."
	He pushed a button and the room lights darkened. The screen light up 
with a picture of someone 
Gray knew he had seen before.
	"This is Andross. He was a brilliant scientist on Corneria who was 
banished for some tests he 
did. Now he's back. That's not important. The point is that he's building 
an army on Venom. Nobody 
really knows about this, including the regular Cornerian Military, so 
keep it secret. We're seriously 
worried about Andross. The current state of the system is not good. 
Papetoon, Aquas, and Fortuna are all 
neutral right now. Macbeth may already be under his control, Sectors X, 
Y, and Z have no friendly bases 
in them and no patrol forces. Zoness only has a token defense force, 
Titania is pitifully weak at the 
moment. Rumors of Andross building defense platforms around Venom have 
been confirmed by scouts. 
The only planet that's up to fight Andross is Katina. If he makes a run 
through the neutral areas and 
captures them, he could head through Katina and smash Corneria."
	The screen's image shifted to show the system. The neutral worlds were 
colored white, friendly 
colored blue, and enemy colored red. The three sectors and the asteroid 
field were colored green.
	"What's worse, our own defense troops are not really up to speed here. 
Pepper has done, quite 
frankly, a terrible job organizing the Space Navy and Air Force. If 
Andross does manage to hit Corneria, 
there's not a whole lot we can do to stop him. That leaves us."
	The screen shifted again to show a picture of Venom's surface.
	"This is the area of Venom nicknamed the Desolation. It's a huge desert 
covering a good seven 
thousand square miles. Rumors have come back that Andross is constructing 
something out in the 
Desolation. Reports are pretty sketchy, but we know its a planetary 
defense weapon and we know it's big... 
real big. It is CRITICAL that we find this weapon and take it out! We 
can't get our fleet anywhere near 
Venom with that thing in place. We have also heard some very disturbing 
rumors..."
	The screen shifted to show a picture of a blueprint. The blueprint 
showed a huge planetary 
defense gun.
	"This is the PD-103X Armageddon Planetary Defense System. The plans for 
it were stolen from 
the Cornerian Military several months ago. Guess who we think has the 
plans. There are many rumors 
that say Andross is building a PD-103X on Venom. I'm not supposed to tell 
you ANYTHING about the 
Armageddon System but I'll give you one piece of information... all the 
ships in the Cornerian Space Navy 
and Corneria Air Force... everything from a giant carrier to a tiny 
probe. If they approached Venom when 
it had an Armageddon up, not ONE of those ships would make it in. We have 
to find that system before it 
goes on-line. Corneria long ago ruled that constructing the Armageddon 
was impossible for lack of 
resources, but apparently Andross found what he needed to build one. 
You're all going to be down in the 
Desolation hunting for the Armageddon's construction base. Once you find 
it, do as much damage as you 
can and our air units will try and finish the job. You'll be given full 
details on the way there. You leave 
now."
	The lights returned to the room and everyone stood up. Gray and Mira 
filed out with the rest. 
After they were out, Mira turned to Gray and spoke in a loud tone across 
between anger and fear,
	"It's a suicide mission!"
	"It's not a suicide mission, it's a high-risk assignment."

"I'm still not sure about her, it's like she's got two different 
personalities that are fighting 
each other... I wonder which one will win."
	-Gray Lancer

	Gray and Mira once again sat in the Quicklight. Once again they did not 
speak to or look at each 
other. Both were once again absorbed within their own thoughts. Neither 
knowing and both wondering 
what the other was thinking. Neither willing to say anything.
	The fact that they were on a mission had not really changed anything.
	Gray's thoughts drifted around without staying constant. He sometimes 
thought of Mira, what 
was she thinking about? Would he be able to count on her in a fight? 
Sometimes his thoughts drifted to 
the mission itself, was this all just a vain search for something which 
could never be found and stopped? 
But his thoughts lingered on one question, could he really count on Mira? 
Would she protect his back in a 
fight... or would she drive a sword in deep and twist the blade?
	He found himself willing to trust her. He did not know why.
	Mira was also thinking of many things. It seemed that her mind could not 
decide how she should 
think. Her emotions were confused and her thoughts provided no refuge. 
Mostly she thought about her 
own life. All that had happened to her. And ironically of Gray. If she 
was supposed to dislike him so 
much, why the hell couldn't she just ignore him and stop thinking about 
him. More importantly, why did 
the thoughts keep coming up as good. Half her mind was telling her that 
this was wrong and stupid, that 
she should hate Gray for what he was. The other half was encouraging this 
to the fullest extent.
	Mira didn't know which to believe. She just sat in silence and tried to 
think of other things.
	The intercom came to life and Gray turned to it, relieved to finally 
have a distraction.
	"This is Far Range Lead to Probe Lead, do you read me?"
	Gray spoke into the intercom in a level voice,
	"This is Probe Lead, I read fine. Is it time already?"
	"In another five minutes get ready to make the jump. You're on point for 
this one."
	"Gotcha. Give me a sec to prep the ship."
	"Five minutes, got it?"
	"Right. Probe Lead out."
	Gray shut the intercom channel off and turned to Mira,
	"Almost showtime. Five minutes to prep the ship."
	"I know! I can hear, you know."
	"I'm sorry! Let's prep the ship."
	Mira scowled at Gray and turned to do her part in preparing the 
Quicklight for a hyperspace 
jump. Probe Flight, seven ships commanded by Gray, would come out of 
hyperspace in high Venom orbit. 
>From there they would descend to the Desolation and land. They would set 
up a temporary camp and give 
the all-clear for the other flights to come in. Once a camp had been set 
up, the search for the weapons 
platform would begin.
	"Mira, just one question... why do you dislike me so much?"
	"Listen Lancer, you don't want to force me to answer that question... 
EVER!"
	"Ok, I'm sorry I asked."
	Mira turned back to her work, and Gray to his. They continued to prep 
the ship in silence and 
finished quickly. The intercom again came to life,
	"You better be prepped!"
	"Yeah, we are."
	"Good. Your butts are goin' into the fire first tonight! Good luck... 
and Gray..."
	"Yeah."
	"I don't know if this name means anything to you, Rilah."
	Gray answered slowly, his voice choked with a thousand emotions trying 
to surface,
	"You... know... her?"
	"I knew her in school. I passed her a few days ago on Corneria. She 
recognized me and we got to 
talking. I ended up telling her that I had this big mission. She figured 
you were going to be on it too. We 
talked for a long time about old times... finally I asked about you and 
why she cared. She said to tell you 
only this..."
	"What?"
	"These are her exact words, 'remember what could have been, but never 
stop trying... she really is 
right for you... I've heard about her...' That's exactly what she said. 
No more and not a word less."
	"Thanks... preparing for hyperjump..."
	Gray looked over at Mira, who had not been listening and was looking out 
the window. He 
furrowed his brow slightly. Was Rilah serious?
	Gray finished the startup and the ship moved quickly into the vastness 
of space. Soon he would 
have to trust Mira... possibly even with his life...
	The oddest thing was... he didn't feel afraid... or even apprehensive.

"You, take my left. You, take my right. Mira, I don't know what the hell 
has gotten into 
me... you take my back."
	-Gray Lancer

	Venom was a very ugly planet. Nothing natural lived on Venom... not 
anymore. The whole thing 
was a yellow-green mass of polluted waste.
	And somewhere on that yellow-green mass lay the most powerful 
planet-based weapon ever built.
	It was going to be a long day.
	The Quicklight came out of hyperspace more or less in the correct 
position. A small amount of 
adjustment by Gray put it into the correct orbit around Venom. The other 
ships in Probe Flight quickly 
leapt out of hyperspace and settled into roughly the same orbit. Gray set 
up the com channel between the 
ships and spoke into the intercom,
	"Everyone all right? Report in."
	"Probe 1, reporting in fine.
	"Probe 2, we're fine."
	"Yeah, we're fine too... Probe 3 that is."
	"Probe 4 is looking great."
	"Probe 5 is fine."
	"Probe 6 is fi... OH MY GOD!"
	Gray sat bolt upright in his seat and snapped the intercom to Probe 6's 
channel.
	"WHAT IS IT?!"
	"A whole bunch of Venomian fighters came up from around the planet. They 
look like V-23 
Gargoyles to me!"
	Gray switched the intercom back to squadron frequency and turned to 
Mira,
	"Mira, power weapons and lock the nearest fighter. I want to see what 
we're up against."
	Mira complied without hesitation. The threat display popped onto the 
main screen and Gray 
stared intently at it before speaking into the intercom,
	"Ok, that's confirmed... we've got six... seven... nine... eleven... 
fourteen fighters closing fast. 
That's fourteen V-23 heavy interceptors. Combat formation everyone and 
hold until I say so!"
	The ships in Probe Flight quickly moved to obey Gray's orders. The whole 
flight began flying in 
a wedge formation with the smaller fighters on the front and the bigger 
ships on the back. The large 
enemy fighters continued closing on the small group.
	The threat display now gave an accurate three dimensional picture of the 
fighters. They were 
somewhat triangular in appearance, with large engines on the rear of the 
fuselage and two forward-swept 
wings coming off the middle. Gray spoke to Mira without taking his eyes 
from the display,
	"Lock a missile on the lead ship and target the rear one with lasers. 
I'm transferring laser control 
over to my console."
	Mira quickly worked the controls to arm and target the weapons. Gray hit 
a switch which 
transferred laser control to the pilot's side. He double-checked the lock 
and nodded at Mira. She just 
flicked the end of her tail and turned to the controls. Gray shrugged and 
spoke to her,
	"Now on my mark, fire the missile... wait... hold on... now!"
	Mira let the missile loose as Gray squeezed the trigger on the lasers. 
The long-range beams shot 
into the tail fighter. The fighter came apart under the heavy assault. At 
that moment, the missile hit its 
target dead on and destroyed it.
	The enemy fighters, unsure of where the attack was coming from or where 
it was aimed, broke 
formation and randomly flew around. The intercom crackled,
	"This is Probe 4, should we break formation?"
	"Nope. Keep in formation and fire at anything within range!"
	The group remained in tight formation as enemy fighters swarmed around 
at random. Several 
enemy ships went down under concentrated fire from various ships in the 
flight.
	Then something very unexpected happened, one of the ships in Probe 
Flight broke formation and 
went off towards the enemy ships. Gray hailed the ship on the intercom,
	"Probe 5, what the hell are you doing?!"
	"Something's trying to lock on to my ship! I don't know where it is!"
	"What? That's impossible, get back in formation!"
	Mira looked up from her controls and spoke urgently to Gray,
	"No its not impossible. We're within the range of surface defenses!"
	"But we're... they can't have that!"
	"Check long range scanners!"
	"Right..."
	Gray punched several buttons on the scanner keypad to bring up long 
range ground scanning. He 
checked the display carefully and turned back to Mira,
	"You're right. The scanner has found both VS-14 Golem and VS-17 
Juggernaut surface-to-air 
missile sites down there! We've got to break formation!"
	He flipped on the squadron frequency,
	"Break formation and go to evasive! If anything locks on you, its coming 
from the planet! We've 
got both VS-14 and VS-17 missiles down there!"
	The flight broke formation quickly. Gray guided the Quicklight towards 
several enemy fighters 
still in the air.
	"Welcome to hell, enjoy your stay!"
	He fired the Quicklight's full array of forward lasers at one of the 
ships and destroyed it. Two 
others nearby pulled into loops to avoid the same fate.
	"Mira, can you fly well?"
	"I guess so... why?"
	"I'm giving you control of the ship. I'm gonna head back to the turret 
and cover our back."
	"What? Why aren't you sending me back there?"
	Gray shrugged his shoulders and hit the switches to transfer control of 
the ship to Mira. He 
quickly made his way back to the rear turret. Mira pulled the Quicklight 
into more evasive maneuvers to 
avoid being hit, wondering why Gray had basically left her in charge.
	Gray seated himself in the turret and quickly strapped in. He powered up 
the duel high-powered 
lasers and aimed for the closest enemy fighter. Mira was doing a good job 
with the defensive. Gray aimed 
at one of the fighters in range and splashed it with laser fire. The 
fighter came apart in a brilliant fireball 
which was quickly swallowed up by blackness.
	The intercom in the turret came to life,
	"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is the Rightful to anyone! WE HAVE LOST ALL 
SYSTEMS! 
One of the SA batteries on the planet nailed us! MAYDAY!"
	Gray thought for a second about which ship in the flight the Rightful 
was. Someone answered on 
the com for him, it sounded like Mira,
	"This is Probe lead to Probe 2. Can you stay up?"
	"Uh... negatory on that one, cap'n. We're goin' down fast!"
	"Then get to the escape pods!"
	"Sir, won't that make us targets?"
	"Don't call me sir."
	"Right... who is this?"
	"Mira Delinax, second in command of Probe Lead. Gray's in the turret, he 
left me in charge."
	Despite the fact that the statement was not entirely accurate, Gray 
didn't bother to correct it. He 
just let Mira do her job. She was handling herself nicely so far.
	Gray aimed at another enemy ship that strayed too close and blew it to 
tiny fragments of metal. 
The com conversation continued,
	"Right. If we use the pods, we need some cover."
	"You've got it. Just get out of there!"
	"Gotcha si... er... Mira."
	Gray noticed that Mira had switched the com frequency to that of one of 
the other ships, Probe 3. 
She spoke into the com again,
	"Probe 3, this is Probe Lead. Find Probe 2 and defend ANY escape pods 
that come out of it."
	"Yes sir!"
	"Stop calling me that."
	She shut off the channel and switched it to the inter-ship frequency. 
She spoke to Gray through 
the com,
	"Well, it looks like you and I don't make such a bad team after all."
	"Mira, if I didn't know better I'd say that was a friendly compliment."
	"Don't press your luck, Lancer."
	"Hah! Nice try! Just keep us alive and I'll pretend I heard nothing."
	"Thanks, I guess."
	Mira pulled a violent loop to shake a missile lock. Another fighter 
crossed Gray's sights and was 
obliterated. A tone sounded in Gray's ear. He turned to look at the 
threat display to his left.
	"MIRA! Look out! There's a couple VS-14s that want our tails!"
	"Thanks for the info. How many operable ships do we have left?"
	"Hmmm... everyone but Probe 2."
	"Tell them to follow my lead."
	"What? You're in the turret!"
	"Not for long, fighting is becoming very useless. I'm coming back up."
	"Fine."
	Gray unstrapped and scrambled back into the main corridor. He ran back 
to the cockpit and took 
his seat. He flicked the switch which transferred control back to the 
pilot's side of the controls. Mira 
looked over at him expectantly,
	"Well, what's the big plan?"
	Gray smiled slowly,
	"To run like hell."
	Mira rolled her eyes and responded sarcastically,
	"Oh, that's a plan."
	Gray grew mock-serious,
	"Hey, let's see you come up with a better one."
	"I can't."
	"HAH!"
	Gray turned the intercom to squadron frequency and spoke,
	"Everyone, make sure all escape pods from the Rightful are picked up, 
then follow my lead."
	"This is Probe 4, we've got all the survivors on board. The pod with the 
captain and his first 
officer was shot down by a VS-17."
	"Any family?"
	"The first officer had a wife and two kids."
	"Oh my god..."
	"Sir?"
	"Never mind. Just follow my lead."
	"Right."
	Gray pushed the throttle forward as far as it would go and gripped the 
controls tightly. He flew 
towards several enemy fighters that were clustered together in formation. 
His face was grim as he spoke to 
no one in particular,
	"This is getting out of hand..."
	He hit the booster and the Quicklight plowed into the enemy formation. 
The big ship, with full 
shields up, smashed through the small enemy fighters, completely 
destroying them.
	"Gray! A Golem just locked us!"
	"I can't shake the lock!"
	"It just fired!"
	"HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!"
	"It's closing!"
	"HOLD ON!"
	"We're dead!"
	"JUST HOLD THE HELL ON!"
	Gray jerked the controls violently and the Quicklight swung quickly 
around. A muffled explosion 
resounded through the hull. Then tearing noises.
	Gray's head swung around and smashed into something very hard. His 
vision went completely 
red and pain encompassed his head. His instincts told him to yelp, but 
his training told him he couldn't... 
not even if he had wanted to.
	Everything went black.

	The dream was not the same this time. Gray did not know why it happened 
differently, it just did. 
Maybe it was the unusual circumstances of his unconsciousness... but 
probably not.
	Normally he saw everything as if he were actually there on the 
playground when he was a child. 
As if that past day's events were happening again. He usually went 
through the brutal beating again 
himself... he had thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened 
to him in a dream...
	He was wrong... it was different this time and he was wrong.
	The worst thing that had ever happened in a dream was watching someone 
else get the same 
treatment... someone he loved. Even if he wouldn't admit it.
	It started pretty much the same, Gray was viewing that playground again. 
But this time there 
seemed to be a small difference in perspective. Like he was watching from 
a slightly different point.
	Then he did see the bullies in his dream, but they were not surrounding 
him, this time they were 
surrounding someone else...
	This time they were surrounding Mira.
	Mira, not as a child, but as a full-fledged vixen. As Gray knew her. 
This was one thing which 
puzzled him. Shouldn't she be a child. No, this was a dream.
	Then it began.
	The first blows rained down on Mira. She was unable to defend herself. 
Gray tried to rush to her 
aide. If he could even take some of the punishment for her...
	But he was unable to move. Unable even to cry out.
	Mira was getting hit pretty badly... it seemed so much worse when he was 
watching it happen.
	Then it was over... only one person was still on the playground. Two, if 
Gray counted himself, 
which he did not.
	Mira, or rather Mira's body... for Gray could not tell if she were alive 
or dead... lay on the 
ground. Bleeding.
	Gray could finally interact with the dream. He was there on the 
playground, as an adult fox, not a 
child. He rushed over to Mira's side and knelt down next to her.
	She did not move.
	Gray stared down at her broken body. Blood stained her clothes and oozed 
out of open wounds. 
Gray stared in horror, unable to take his eyes away.
	It was not the ferocity of the wounds which horrified him, years of 
special forces and mercenary 
experience had dulled this to a mere perception of the wounds being very 
bad.
	It was who the wounds were inflicted on.
	Mira did not move... she did not breath... she did not rise... or even 
tilt her head...
	Gray gasped. He had ceased to realize that this was only a dream. It was 
so vivid, so real!
	Then Gray did something he could not remember doing since he was a tiny 
child.
	He cried.
	Something snapped inside Gray Lancer when he saw the body of Mira lying 
on the ground, 
covered in blood and not moving at all. Something snapped which had 
resisted the deaths of both parents 
and of countless friends. Something broke and shattered, something which 
had withstood all the death and 
suffering that Gray had seen up until that point.
	To Gray, this was not a dream... this was like a premonition... a 
prophecy of things to come...
	And he cried.
	The tears rolled down his cheeks, hot a salty. He had forgotten what 
exactly it felt like to cry. He 
had forgotten why someone would want to cry. Was it not a sign of 
weakness?
	At that moment, Gray saw exactly why someone would want to cry.
	And he didn't even know her that well. Why did he feel such a bond 
towards this vixen? Hadn't 
she attacked him? Hadn't she been rude and callous towards him?
	So why did he care?
	Because he had finally stopped denying how he felt about her?
	It did not matter. It did not matter why and it did not matter that this 
was only a dream. It felt 
real and it felt right, even if it tore him apart.
	He slumped over on Mira's body and continued to cry. She still did not 
move. She was not going 
to move. Gray knew this perfectly well.
	The great mercy of wakefulness finally saw and seized Gray Lancer. He 
awoke from his hellish 
delusions at last.

	Gray woke inside a soft place. Not soft in the sense of soft to the 
touch, but soft in color and 
texture. Like a tent. Wherever he was, he was no longer inside the 
Quicklight.
	"Look who decided to wake up! We made it, no thanks to you!"
	The voice belonged to Mira, who was across the room sitting on a cot. 
The words were not meant 
to be comforting, but they were the most wonderful thing Gray had heard 
all day.
	"Gray, are you alright? You took a nasty hit to the head."
	"I'll be fine. What happened after I got knocked out?"
	"Well, I had to fly the Quicklight in. We managed to lose the fighters 
and the SA missiles 
couldn't track us when we got over the horizon. We've landed in the 
Desolation and set up camp. 
Welcome to your home away from home. We have to sleep in the same tent 
but don't get any ideas."
	"That's the LAST thing on my mind right now. The first thing is pain. 
What the hell does my 
head look like?"
	"You hit the back of it. It bled pretty badly. Nothing too serious. How 
are you feeling?"
	"Ok, I guess. Except that I've got one killer headache... and I had the 
weirdest dream..."
	"What kind of dream?"
	Gray looked over at Mira and thought for a second. Did he really want to 
tell her about the 
dream? If she knew how he really felt... he decided to lie for the time 
being,
	"Not much is coming back right now. Just that it was... weird. I'll tell 
you when I remember."
	Mira only nodded her head. Gray sensed that she knew he was lying. But 
he also sensed that, 
deep down, she understood why he was lying and accepted that.
	"So you're Ok?"
	"Yeah, I'm gonna look around camp. Oh, and Mira."
	"Yes."
	"I am REALLY glad to see you. Don't ask me why, I just am."
	"Of course."

"I'm confused. About what? About a lot of things... life is too 
confusing."
	-Mira Delinax

	Gray couldn't really pay attention to the planning session he was 
supposed to be leading. All 
those under his command needed to do was establish a communications link 
with the rest of the attack 
force and give them the all-clear... and to tell them to watch out for 
the surface based missiles.
	So Gray was supposed to be listening while various people gave him 
intelligence reports. The one 
talking now, a male squirrel named Jake, was telling him about the 
defense situation at their base camp. 
Gray Lancer didn't give a damn about the defense situation. He had too 
much on his mind. The pain from 
his wound had subsided, even though Gray had refused to use pain killers, 
but the memories of the dream 
remained implanted in his head.
	"...and so, if we can set up concrete bunkers around the dunes, we might 
be able to hold out 
against..."
	Gray had heard enough to know what the squirrel was going at. He stopped 
Jake in the middle of 
his sentence,
	"Hold on a minute. Here's some important things to remember. Number one, 
we are in the middle 
of a giant desert with no one in it! Number two, nobody knows exactly 
where the hell we are or cares. 
Number three, construction might draw attention to our tiny camp. The 
best thing would just be to lie low 
and wait for the rest of the attack group. Got me?"
	The squirrel looked slightly indignant that his plans had just been shot 
down, but he relented and 
took his seat.
	"Who's up next?"
	"I am sir."
	It was a female husky, Fenica Delestes, who had spoken up. Gray nodded 
and she stood.
	"I'm representing all of the survivors from the Rightful. The captain, 
bless his soul, and most of 
the support staff were killed when their escape pod was destroyed. That 
leaves me in charge of the crew. 
We need to know what not having the equipment off the Rightful will do to 
the mission."
	Gray actually cared about this, it was important. He thought for a 
minute and then replied,
	"The Rightful had a lot of our defense stuff. Most of the extra weapons, 
ammo, and base defense 
systems were in its cargo hold. That means we all have to make our 
sidearms go the extra mile around 
here. It also had some other stuff, some stuff that the CSF never told me 
about. It was there but I don't 
know what it was."
	Fenica nodded her head.
	"Oh, and another thing... memorial service for the dead will be held 
first thing in the morning. 
What was the name of the captain, the one who had a family."
	Fenica looked sad at the mention of the captain. She turned her head 
down and mumbled the 
answer,
	"His name... was James Tiulan..."
	Gray nodded solemnly,
	"Get a letter out to his family. As the new commander of his ship, 
that's your job. Writing those 
letter is the hardest part of being in command... you'll see why after a 
while. To be quite honest, I don't 
give a damn what the rest of you have to say. If it won't directly affect 
us in the next 24 hours, we can 
afford to wait. Let's just bury our dead and get some sleep."
	The majority of those present agreed that this was the best course of 
action and they slowly 
walked out of the main tent. Walked out the flap, followed closely by 
Mira. She looked angry at him for 
some reason,
	"What the hell were you BS-ing about, Lancer?"
	"What?"
	"Hardest part of being in command my tail! You're a fake."
	"You object to my choice of priorities? Or to the fact that I have 
emotions? Or are you just 
screwed up? I'm sorry to be rude, but think about it... I have to tell 
someone I don't know at all that their 
husband died! DIED! That they WILL NOT BE COMING HOME! I had both my 
parents die and it tore 
me apart. Your spouse is a lot closer than your parents."
	"I... I'm sorry... why did I yell at you anyway? I'm so sorry... my... 
my parents..."
	"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. What about your 
parents?"
	Gray couldn't see Mira's face very well in the darkness, but it looked 
as if light were glistening 
off it in a peculiar way... as if there were wet streaks coming down her 
cheeks.
	"They... died when I was very young. I never knew them."
	"Listen, I'm sorry about that... like I said, I shouldn't have gotten so 
worked up. I'd just like to 
know why you're acting so hostile about it."
	"Just go write the damn letter, Lancer. I want to... to sit and think 
for a while."
	Gray nodded his head and walked towards the tent which he shared with 
Mira. She walked in the 
opposite direction, towards the perimeter of camp.
	Gray pulled aside the tent flap and entered. He sat down at the small 
desk with its computer 
console and started the computer. He waited a second for the device to 
power up. Gray started the memo 
program to type out his message. He sat at the computer and thought about 
exactly what he would write.
	We regret to inform you that your husband has passed away?
	No, Gray had always hated the classic military approach. It was like 
going up and saying, in a 
flat and unemotional voice, "sorry your husband was killed, but what can 
you do?"
	Gray thought over what he wanted to write some more. Nothing was coming.

	He did not have to think for long, a yell came from somewhere near the 
camp perimeter. It 
sounded like Mira.
	Gray jumped out of his seat and quickly shut the computer down. He 
unholstered the modified 
CSF pistol he had at his side and went outside the tent.
	The cool night air felt nice, but it had an unpleasant smell to it. The 
smell of war.
	That acidic smell of burning, of fuel and oil and explosives. It meant 
that an attack was going on. 
The odd thing was that Gray could see nothing wrong.
	Then he heard gunfire. Not laser fire, but the chatter of kinetic 
weapons, of rotary machine guns. 
He ran in the direction of the gunfire.
	Gray passed several tents in a state of confusion. Nobody seemed to know 
what was going on. He 
finally saw someone he recognized, Mira. She shouted to him,
	"GRAY! An enemy patrol go through the defenses! They're all over. Looks 
like some sort of 
armored battle suits."
	"Right. What are they firing at?"
	"Us! They wasted everyone in one of the tents and the guards."
	"Oh no... which tent?"
	"I don't know, they've moved in farther."
	"Let's go!"
	Gray and Mira worked there way into the tent camp. They passed the burnt 
bodies of several 
soldiers with their own group. Gray saw three enemy soldiers dead ahead. 
He recognized them,
	"Those aren't Andross' troops!"
	"WHAT?!"
	"Those are Cornerian Special Forces commandos! No doubt about it, and 
the tactics match 
theirs."
	"Why would they want to attack their own people?"
	"Beats me. Kill them!"
	Gray and Mira opened fire on the troops. One of them dropped under the 
concentrated fire. One 
of the others turned to flee. The last one leveled their gun at the two 
foxes and fired several rounds.
	Mira didn't exactly know why she was still alive. She was hit by 
something, hit hard, and thrown 
back into the air. She felt warm blood flowing out of her chest but she 
did not feel any pain. She fell back 
to the sand hard and slumped back. Then the pain started. She could feel 
nothing but pain. She heard 
shouting, the camp was organizing a counter-attack. She also heard 
something considerably more 
soothing, a calm voice next to her.
	"Mira, can you hear me?"
	She struggled to inform whoever it was that she could hear. She tried to 
respond, but only a tickle 
of blood and a choking noise came out.
	"Listen Mira, don't move at all. You're lucky you were wearing a combat 
vest or else you 
would've been ripped apart by the trooper's bullets. Just lie back and 
try not to breath too deeply or move 
around. I'm going to get the combat vest off of you."
	She felt her jacket being removed. Then the combat vest. She had only a 
T-shirt on, which was 
soaked in blood. She felt a little better with the armor off her body.
	"Ok, I'm not a medic but I know that the bullet went all the way 
through. It also appears to have 
missed vital organs and most of your bones. You were really lucky, Mira."

	Whoever was talking to her shouted for a medic. From the sounds around 
her, it did not sound as 
if the CSF troops had won the battle. It sounded as if the camp had 
defended itself. Someone else came 
running up to Mira. She felt herself being lifted onto a stretcher and 
picked up. Whoever had been helping 
her spoke again,
	"Take her to the med tent. I'll visit her when I finish with some 
other... business."
	Mira strained to open her eyes. She looked in the direction of the 
speaker to see who had been so 
kind as to help her.
	She saw Gray Lancer, walking into the devastated area of the camp.
	Why would he want to help her?

"If they weren't working for the CSF as a whole, who gave them their 
orders... and if they 
were, who gave US our orders?"
	-Gray Lancer

	Gray walked up to the smashed tent. Various soldiers were outside, 
carrying away those 
unmistakable black plastic bags. Gray looked on impassively, this should 
disturb him... but for some 
reason it had no effect. His life had been too hardening. Gray walked 
over to a tall cheetah in charge of 
the cleanup and spoke to him,
	"Who was in the tent?"
	"Uh... Captain Fenica and her staff. All dead before they knew what was 
happening."
	"At least it was quick... poor Fenica... I'll bet she hadn't even gotten 
over the death of her old 
captain... why did they attack us?"
	"We still don't know. They were definitely CSF trained, not just Andross 
trying to fool us. But 
why they'd want to attack us is a mystery."
	"Right, who's in charge of notifying the rest of the group that its safe 
to proceed."
	"I am."
	"Good. Until we find out just what the hell is going on here, no ship 
enters the Desolation. Not 
even a cargo ship. A quarter of our people are dead at the hands of CSF 
troops."
	"Oh, sir, there's something you might want to see."
	"What?"
	"Follow me."
	The cheetah walked around the smashed tents and towards one intact tent. 
Gray followed closely 
behind, gazing at the destruction all around him. He and the cheetah 
entered the tent and saw an unusual 
sight. A large bobcat was tied up in a chair. He was wearing a 
bloodstained CSF uniform.
	"We found out that this one had just been injured, so we took him 
prisoner."
	Gray nodded and motioned for the cheetah to return to his work. The 
cheetah left the room and 
Gray knelt next to the bobcat. He met the bobcat's intense gaze without 
blinking. Gray spoke softly but 
with an intensity that made the guards nearby fidget,
	"So, the CSF has changed a lot since I was in it. You're now told to 
attack your own people? 
Seems like a funny way to run a military."
	The bobcat did not speak, he only growled.
	"So you've learned all the techniques to deal with interrogators? Yeah, 
I did too. You know the 
name Gray Lancer?"
	The bobcat looked briefly surprised, then returned to his former 
expression of defiance.
	"Yah, I thought you might. You know, you look kinda familiar... that's 
right. Your name is Barus 
Ryselles. You were assigned to lead project Dead Watch before you joined 
the CSF. My unit saved your 
tails."
	The bobcat gave no sign that Gray was either right or wrong.
	"I figured I was right. Guards, untie him please."
	The guards looked at each other nervously, then quickly untied to 
bobcat. The bobcat stood and 
brushed himself off.
	Without warning, the bobcat sprang at Gray. Gray ducked and grabbed the 
bobcat's uniform. He 
brought the bobcat down onto the ground, hard. Gray pinned the bobcat to 
the ground and spoke very 
slowly,
	"I also know your hand-to-hand record is way below mine. Don't make me 
use the combat knife 
I'm wearing. Just tell me what I want to know. Why is the CSF sending you 
after us? We're supposed to be 
working for you!"
	The bobcat spoke only once,
	"Look at the roster for Probe Flight and think about it."
	He did not speak again. Gray hauled him up and threw him into the chair. 
With a sigh of disgust, 
Gray motioned for the guards to tie the bobcat up again. Gray turned and 
walked out of the tent.

	Mira saw Gray Lancer enter the medical tent and smile. She actually 
managed a weak smile 
herself and spoke to Gray,
	"Listen, thanks for helping me out there. You probably should have left 
me to die."
	"Why?"
	"Well, I haven't exactly been nice to you. You saved my life there!"
	"Never mind. It'll be Ok."
	"Gray, when are the other flights getting here? When is there gonna be 
some more supplies and 
weapons?"
	Gray turned his head down and shook it. He looked very grim. Mira 
questioned him again,
	"Well? What's wrong, Gray?"
	"Mira, we capture a CSF soldier. I managed to get him to tell me 
something."
	"So?"
	"All he said was to check the roster for our flight. I did that."
	"So what?"
	"I also did cross-checks on everyone. Everyone assigned to this flight 
would be classed as a threat 
to Cornerian Military supremacy."
	"What do you mean?"
	"They're all well known mercenaries. Most have the ability to really do 
some damage. Captain 
Tiulan was in command of the best smuggler freighter anywhere. He could 
do any run in the shortest time 
possible. No one could take him down."
	"And know he's dead!"
	"Yeah, and another... Dirk Saladias... he is... or was... a famous 
espionage agent. He destroyed 
one of Andross' primary battle stations without even shedding a drop of 
sweat. He's in a plastic bag now."
	"But Gray... what does that mean?"
	"I means that the CSF sent us in first for a reason! They want us out of 
the way. This mission was 
designed to lead us into a trap... and it worked! The other flights 
aren't coming, ever."
	"Then the Armageddon isn't real?"
	"No, I think the Armageddon Planetary Defense System is all too real. I 
also don't think that the 
CSF cares about it. They will be happy as long as Andross leaves them 
alone."
	"So what do we do?"
	"We have to find the Armageddon and take it out."
	"With only what we have here?"
	"With only what we have here."
	Gray turned around and started to walk out of the tent. Mira spoke to 
him,
	"Gray, after I'm out of this med tent, I need to talk to you... alone!"
	Gray nodded and walked out of the medical tent. Mira lay back to rest 
some more.

"We've been forsaken. Let's all face it and move on with the mission."
	-Gray Lancer

	Another meeting in the main tent. Basically the same as the last one, 
various people telling Gray 
about their progress. With one critical difference, Gray cared this time. 
The squirrel who had been talking 
about defense before once again spoke about it,
	"If the CSF finds out that their troops were defeated, they'll send more 
in. They'll probably send 
more too. We need some sort of barrier between us and the CSF, to keep 
them out of our main camp."
	Gray shook his head slowly,
	"That won't help. The CSF can put troops down in the middle of our base 
if they want to. It'd just 
be a waste of time and effort to put up walls. We'll increase the guards 
around the perimeter. You're right 
about the CSF sending more commandos next time. We need a way to delay 
that process. I have to talk 
with all of you about exactly what is happening..."
	Everyone in the room looked surprised and looked expectantly at Gray. He 
waited a second and 
then spoke,
	"The CSF is indeed the force which sent those commandos. There's no 
doubt about it. We were 
sent on point for this mission because they want us dead. The other 
flights are not going to come, they 
were probably back on Corneria long ago."
	A mouse in the back spoke up,
	"Does that mean that there's no secret weapon?"
	Gray frowned and responded,
	"That's the worst part. I have a good reason to believe that the 
Armageddon is very real and that 
the CSF doesn't care about it. We still have a mission, we just don't 
have many resources to complete it 
with. We've been forsaken. Let's all face it and move on with the 
mission."
	A falcon in the back raised her head and spoke to Gray,
	"Sir, what about all the death notices to be sent out? Sorry if that 
sounded morbid."
	Gray replied without any anger or irritation,
	"No, it's a perfectly good question. There are a lot of people who got 
killed in the attack... many 
of them have families. But the situation here is not looking good. None 
of us may survive. I may not 
survive, the people in command positions may not survive. I'm not going 
to write the first sentence of a 
letter until I'm sure nobody else is going to die. But there is something 
we have to do. The memorial 
service. I'm not going to make this long, just a short ceremony, but it's 
gonna happen in ten minutes. Be 
out in the main square then. No gun salute, no prolonged funeral, nothing 
to draw attention to ourselves. 
Just... just be out on the square in ten minutes. Go to it."
	The assembly walked out of the tent slowly. They all seemed depressed. 
Gray was not surprised, a 
solid quarter of the camp's population had been wiped out by the CSF. 
Gray needed to prepare the 
memorial service... thankfully he would not need to actually perform the 
service itself.

	The morning broke slowly over Venom that day. Gray stood outside in the 
main square with the 
rest of the camp. The sky, as always, was covered with an unbroken series 
of clouds. Gray was extremely 
uncomfortable in the heat. This part of Venom did not usually cool down 
much.
	Gray motioned for the officer in charge of the funeral to begin the 
ceremony. He did not, 
however, pay attention himself.
	He held a memorial service of a different kind. He thought about those 
who he had known who 
were killed. He also thought of those he had not really known at all... 
which had been all of them. He 
hadn't really known Fenica when she was killed. But he still felt sad 
that she had been killed, a sadness 
dulled by years of emotionally hardening work, but it was sadness still. 
Gray pondered everything that had 
happened since he had put the Quicklight into hyperspace. He thought 
about Mira, lying in the hospital 
bed, wounded by the Cornerian Special Forces. The very people who Gray 
was supposed to be working 
for. Gray suddenly got the urge to go and see someone...
	He just left the square and headed towards the tent.
	The officer in charge did not stop the ceremony. A few heads turned to 
follow Gray, then looked 
back at the officer and continued their remembrance.
	
	Gray pushed open the flap of the tent where the CSF trooper was being 
held. Both guards were 
watching the bobcat closely. Gray motioned for them to leave.
	"Sir? Are you sure, he's a tough 'un."
	Gray spoke in a voice not more than a growl,
	"Just leave the tent..."
	They shrugged and left the tent, closing the flap behind them. Gray 
turned to the bobcat,
	"Just when I thought there was one Cornerian Military division with a 
sense of honor... you make 
me sick!"
	The bobcat growled, but his expression resembled a smile.
	"You think that's freakin' funny? What the hell is your problem?"
	Gray grabbed the bobcat's shirt and hauled him up, chair and all. The 
bobcat looked a little 
nervous that Gray was strong enough to lift him.
	"Listen, I don't care if I have to kill you. I WANT to kill you right 
about now..."
	"L...listen t...t...to me... keep calm... please keep calm..."
	"Go to hell. I'm calm... if I wasn't calm, you'd be dead right now. I 
learned more about killing 
than you'd care to imagine... and I don't want to have to impart that 
knowledge on you. But I will if I have 
to... so DON'T TEST ME!"
	The bobcat, looking very nervous, only nodded.
	"Now you're gonna tell me a little bit more info. I know that the CSF 
sent us here to waste us, 
that much is obvious. What I want to know is how you're working this. Was 
it a one strike deal or not?"
	"I'm not gonna tell you nothin'!"
	Gray pulled out his pistol and jammed it in the bobcat's gut. He flicked 
off the safety.
	"This will only hurt for a couple of hours before you finally die of 
blood loss. It's not on a setting 
high enough to kill you instantly."
	The bobcat's last bit of confidence vanished completely and he spoke 
very nervously,
	"O...Ok... I don't w...want any t...t...trouble... I don't know anything 
except... except that someone 
mentioned that we were the first wave... there might be more."
	"Good enough."
	Gray threw the bobcat, still tied to the chair, back to the ground. He 
called the guards back in.
	"If he gives you any trouble, shoot him."
	They nodded. Gray walked back out of the tent and went over to the 
medical tent.

	"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! THE CSF IS BACK!"
	The shout came to Gray when he was halfway to the medical tent. He swore 
and turned to look 
around the camp. He looked past the tents and into the sky. Several ships 
were fast approaching. One of 
them was a large dropship, the others were all fighters. Gray pulled one 
of the camp soldiers aside and 
questioned him,
	"What do those fighters look like to you?"
	"Uh... I'd say they look like those new fighters... the Arwings."
	"Damn, I thought as much. The CSF isn't going at this alone."
	"But sir, only one squadron flies Arwings, Star Fox! They're good! 
They're on our side."
	"Then why the hell are they strafing our airfield?"
	Sure enough, the Arwings were attacking the makeshift airfield outside 
the camp. Gray ran to the 
medical tent and saw Mira, sitting in bed.
	"Mira, can you walk?"
	"Yeah, what's going on?"
	"Can you fly a ship?"
	"Probably. What's going on?"
	"You have five minutes to change. We're being attacked, for some reason, 
by Fox McCloud! I 
don't want to kill him... and I don't think I have to... but I need to 
convince him that we're on the same 
side."
	"Right."
	Gray ducked outside the tent while Mira changed into her normal clothes. 
She came out of the 
tent and nodded to Gray. He led the way as they ran outside the camp and 
to the airfield.
	The airfield was crawling with other pilots trying to get into their 
ships and take off. The 
attacking Arwings had only been able to destroy a few small fighters, but 
they would get one of the bigger 
ships before long. Gray and Mira rushed to the Quicklight and entered the 
ship.
	They both ran down the corridor which went up to the cockpit. Gray 
seated himself at the pilot's 
station and Mira took the co-pilot's station. Gray began preparing the 
ship for launch.
	"Mira, when we get into the air, find out what frequency Star Fox is 
using. I want to try and talk 
them out of this before things get ugly."
	Mira only nodded. Gray flicked several switches and grasped the 
controls.
	"Time to see how good a negotiator I am."
	He shoved the throttle to full and pulled the Quicklight off the 
planet's surface. The ship quickly 
gained altitude until it was at the level of the Arwings and dropship. 
Mira turned to Gray,
	"I've got the frequency. It's programmed into the main com."
	"You're incredible. I'm gonna have a little chat with Fox McCloud."

"The CSF lied to us! We're attacking people on our own side!"
	-Fox McCloud

	"This is gonna be soooo easy."
	Falco Lombardi sounded exceedingly confident in his own abilities. Fox 
McCloud just rolled his 
eyes at the avian's arrogance. The voice of Fara Phoenix came over the 
com into Fox's cockpit,
	"Fox, we have to get the enemy camp. If Andross finishes that bio weapon 
research..."
	"It's all over. I know. The central tent has the actual production 
facility, the others are storage."
	"And when we get done with this, you promised to take me out for 
dinner!"
	"I know, I will."
	Falco came on again,
	"Hey, stop flirting over there. We gotta lot of work to do."
	"Too bad you aren't attacking a bio research facility."
	Fox looked confused at the new voice, it sounded familiar but he didn't 
know where from.
	"Who are you?"
	"A friend. Just pull off the attack!"
	Falco's voice cut into the conversation,
	"Are you gonna listen to this guy? He's bluffin' us!"
	The unknown voice spoke again,
	"Falco, look around you. Do you see any Venomian class fighters?"
	"No, but that doesn't mean anything."
	This time Fara's voice came onto the com,
	"Fox, I found out where the transmission is coming from. I'm going to 
take that ship out, it looks 
mean!"
	"FARA! Wait!"
	Fox's words were lost on Fara. She throttled her Arwing forward and got 
a missile lock on the 
large ship she claimed the transmissions were coming from. She fired the 
Arwing's full missile load.
	The missiles were dead on, the ship had no chance of escaping through 
evasive tactics. Within 
seconds it would be a smoldering lump of metal.
	But the missiles never hit the target. The ship plunged straight down at 
full throttle. The missiles 
tracked onto it and closed for the kill. The ship smashed into the 
ground.
	And bounced up... the missiles flew into the ground and exploded 
harmlessly. Fox gaped at the 
ship as it continued on unharmed. He spoke to his squadron,
	"The CSF lied to us! We're attacking people on our own side!"
	"Hey, how do you know that?!"
	Falco sounded furious. Fox responded quickly,
	"Because of what that ship just did. There's only one fox who could EVER 
pull that off... Gray 
Lancer."
	The unknown voice from before came onto the com,
	"Good, you finally believe me! Pull off the attack and land at our 
airfield, we have to talk."
	Fox shook his head and spoke into the com,
	"Sorry, Gray. If we don't head home, the CSF will be very suspicious. We 
have to get back to 
base."
	"I get it. Good luck... oh, and Fox."
	"Yeah."
	"Have fun with Fara tonight."
	Gray shut off his com connection and Fox chuckled. He switched the 
intercom back to squadron 
mode.
	"Let's get the heck out of here. Everyone form on me and pull up."
	Fara came on, sounding urgent,
	"Fox! The dropship isn't turning back!"
	Fox hailed the dropship on the com,
	"This is Star Fox Lead to Infiltrator. Why aren't you turning back?"
	"You traitors, if we could get a message through Venom's atmosphere, 
we'd have the entire CSF 
on you five!"
	"You can't get a message through? Then they won't know the truth about 
this. Sorry, but the 
enemy of my friend is my enemy... or whatever."
	He switched the intercom to squadron mode and spoke,
	"Star Fox, kill that dropship."
	The Arwings broke formation and started attacking the dropship.

	Mira looked up from the threat display and turned to Gray,
	"Star Fox is attacking the dropship!"
	"Let's give them a little hand. Arm hardpoint C."
	"Gray, there is no hardpoint C on this ship."
	"Not on a normal G-Class Repulsor... but there is on mine. Arm it!"
	She complied with Gray's instructions. A computer voice spoke,
	"Warning, minimum safe distance is one kilometer."
	Mira stared at Gray, he only smiled. He then put the intercom to all 
friendlies mode and spoke,
	"Attention, anyone less than one kilometer from the big dropship, get 
the hell away!"
	He turned off the intercom and turned back to Mira,
	"When all friendlies are away, fire the missile."
	She nodded without speaking. She checked the threat display and waited 
until all friendly ships 
were away from the dropship.
	Then she fired the missile.
	A huge missile leapt out from under the Quicklight and streaked towards 
the dropship. It 
impacted with a huge fireball. A second massive fireball all but consumed 
the dropship. The dropship's 
remains began their plummet to Venom's surface. Gray switched the 
intercom on again.
	"This is Gray Lancer, attack force has been destroyed. All remaining 
ships, including the 
Arwings, are friendlies! My people, land at the airfield and head to the 
main tent for an emergency 
council of war. Star Fox, the dropship was downed by an enemy ship before 
you could do anything. Good 
luck all."
	He shut off the intercom and guided the Quicklight towards the airfield.


"My life is surrounded, my emotions are against me, my entire world is 
out to kill me."
	-Mira Delinax

	The council of war had not gone well. That was basically the end of it. 
Things had started 
looking bad, and by the time night fell, they were looking worse.
	Mira was trying to sleep in her tent. Gray was still with the defense 
heads, trying to get a 
workable plan for defending the camp.
	Before he had gone, Fox had told them something very important... the 
entire planet was being 
blockaded. Not only by the Cornerian Forces but by Venom's ships as well. 
Why the two were not tearing 
each other apart was a mystery.
	But Mira was surprised by how little she really cared. She was not up 
thinking about the mission, 
the blockade, politics, militaries, or even about whether she would live 
or not. She was sitting awake, in 
the dark, thinking about her feelings.
	It was Gray Lancer's fault. She had never had emotional problems before 
he had come into her 
life.
	The problem was that she didn't know how she felt about Gray. Did she 
hate him or did she like 
him. And how SHOULD she feel.
	Mira thought of the good points. Gray had saved her from Resilience, he 
had given her work, he 
had treated her as an equal, he hadn't probed her painful past, he hadn't 
complained when she had treated 
him like dirt, and he had saved her life only a day or two ago.
	Mira thought for a while about the bad points. She turned that aspect 
over and over in her mind. 
There weren't any bad points. Mira couldn't even think of one.
	Then she thought of something else. Gray trusted her. Even if it made no 
sense it was true. She 
had won his trust, even though she had been cruel and selfish to him.
	Then she realized who was truly at fault. She was. Everything was not 
Gray's fault, it was her 
fault.
	But if she put this before Gray, he would deny it. He would take the 
blame for her. He would do 
that, and a hundred other things, to lighten the load on Mira's 
shoulders.
	Mira thought about this for a while. Then she began to fell odd. The 
hardened emotional shell 
she had been building up since she was a child was not there any more.
	And Mira cried. No one was around to see her, no one around to hear. No 
one would comfort 
her... and she was glad. She wasn't ready to deal with people again. The 
vixen just sat on the bed and 
cried to herself...
	
	Gray Lancer sat down heavily in his chair when he received the report. 
He looked at the tall 
squirrel who had brought the report with an incredulous expression,
	"How... did... you... lose track of... an entire armored division?"
	"I told you sir, they just disappeared."
	"So you were following one of Andross' armored units, to see if it was 
going to be a threat?"
	"Yes."
	"And it just... vanished?"
	"Basically. We couldn't find it on visual, IR, laser, light amp, you 
name it!"
	Gray shook his head and threw his arms in the air.
	"It's incredible! But there might be an explanation. Where did you last 
see the unit?"
	"Over on Devil's Skull Ridge."
	"Right. Tell your recon troops to start a search fanning out from that 
area. Tell them to report 
any indications of an underground base."
	"Why, sir? Shouldn't we look for the Armageddon instead of the armored 
unit?"
	"Listen, if I wanted to hide a giant weapon of death, I'd put it 
underground. I'd also bring in some 
tanks if I saw CSF ships flying around. Get me?"
	"Yessir! I'm on it!"
	The squirrel saluted and left the tent. A small sparrow walked in and 
saluted. He was holding the 
updated defense plans. Gray sighed, this was going to be a long night.

	Mira finally slept. She slept and she dreamed. She did not dream of 
anything in particular. She 
was too tired for that. But, for once, her dreams were pleasant. She felt 
at peace. She didn't know exactly 
why. But it was nice.
	Sometime late in the night, Mira lay half-awake in bed and heard someone 
enter the tent. Mira 
peered through half-closed eyes and saw it was Gray. He entered quietly 
and went over to his own cot. He 
glanced at Mira, who was still pretending to be asleep. He smiled and 
climbed into his bed. He turned 
around and went to sleep.
	Mira sat and thought for another hour before sleep came again. Her 
dreams returned, and they 
were still pleasant. All the anger, frustration, and pain of the day 
seemed to have melted away and been 
replaced with a peaceful calm.

	The third attack came before dawn, in the quietest hours of the night.
	Gray and Mira both sat bolt upright when they heard the fire of kinetic 
weapons and the sizzle of 
laser beams. Gray jumped out of bed and pulled out his sidearm. Mira 
reached over and grabbed her 
jacket, which contained a modified Cornerian Army pistol. She drew the 
gun and checked the clip. The 
pistol fired large kinetic rounds which shattered on impact. It was a 
nasty thing to get shot with.
	The two foxes, now fully awake, stepped outside into the relatively cool 
air of the very late night. 
The area around the edge of the camp was lit by gun fire. Gray motioned 
for Mira to follow him. They 
worked their way over to where the fight was occurring.
	Gray and Mira found themselves looking down a small hill onto the fight. 
Several large battle 
suits were fighting the camp defenders. Mira looked at Gray with a 
questioning expression.
	"Those are CSF Thrashers. Look in the horizon, that's a Rampage."
	"A what?"
	"A 25 foot tall walking tank with enough power to level a small city. 
Only one in existence... 
right there."
	Sure enough, the giant walking tank was thundering in the direction of 
the camp. It was far off, 
but moving fast.
	"We have to reach the airfield and get to the Quicklight. Mira, go and 
get the ship. I've got to 
find the defense head and tell him what my plan is. Just find me with the 
ship and pick me up later. The 
ship's access is 22322-B224D. Got it?"
	Mira nodded and gawked. Gray had just given her the ship access code. If 
she wanted to, she 
could just fly away... but deep down inside herself, she knew she would 
never even consider it. She ran off 
to get the Quicklight as Gray went to opposite way, down towards the 
fighting.
	As Gray came closer to the scene of the fight, he saw many commandos 
attacking the camp 
defenders. He fired several rounds of pistol fire at one of the 
commandos, taking the soldier down. He ran 
up and grabbed the dead soldier's assault rifle.
	Then he got an idea. He saw another CSF commando running towards him. He 
ducked behind a 
tent and waited until the commando was within jumping distance.
	Gray leapt from behind cover and grabbed the commando. The commando 
tried to fight but Gray 
managed to rip their helmet off. Underneath was a young vixen. She looked 
very frightened. Gray spoke 
harshly to her.
	"Do you realize who you're attacking?"
	"N...no... don't k...k...ill me..."
	"Just take your armor off! NOW!"
	She looked confused.
	"Take off the combat armor. Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you. I'm 
just trying to save my 
people's lives."
	She nodded nervously and took off the bulky battle armor. Gray ripped 
off one of the tent cables.
	"Sorry, but I have to tie you up now, can you keep quiet?"
	She nodded. Gray tied her up with the cable and started to put the 
combat armor on. It fit him 
fairly well.
	"Y...you'll never be able to w...work it..."
	"Why not, I was in the CSF for three years of heavy combat duty. I think 
I remember how to 
work the equipment."
	"Wait, w...who a...a...are you?"
	"Name's Gray Lancer. I retired as a full Commander."
	"We read about you! They didn't tell us we'd have to kill you! I don't 
want to."
	"Then don't... like you have a choice."
	The vixen looked down at the cable holding her and smiled slightly.
	"My name is Jeanette Selvana. Please just call me Jennie, all my friends 
do. The CSF told us you 
guys were traitors, but I know you're no traitor."
	"Right, I have to keep you tied up to maintain appearances. But I'll 
tell a couple of the guys to get 
you to a safe place. We'll talk when this is over."
	Gray finished putting on the armor and clicked the helmet into place. 
Jennie smiled at him again 
and he walked over to the fighting again. He came up to two camp 
defenders. When the defenders turned, 
they yelped in fright and braced themselves. A CSF commando several yards 
away yelled to Gray,
	"Hey, number 6, kill them ALL! What the hell is wrong with you?"
	The two defenders ran away in terror and the commando who had spoken 
walked up to Gray. 
They looked deep into the faceplate.
	"Hey, you're not number 6, you're not Jeanet... ARGH!"
	The commando did not finish speaking. A large rifle bullet penetrated 
their armor and killed 
them before they could. Gray nodded grimly and shoved the dead commando 
over.
	The two defenders had seen Gray shoot the commando and came over. One of 
them, a mouse, 
spoke,
	"Who are you?"
	"It's me, Gray Lancer. Go over to the tent you were hiding behind and 
look around. There's a 
vixen named Jeanette who needs to be untied. She wants to join us. I 
stole her armor. I'm gonna do a little 
negotiating with the battle suits now."
	The mouse nodded and he and his companion ran off to untie Jennie. Gray 
knelt down next to 
the dead commando and took off their suit. He cleaned it off and put it 
on himself. It was a little large.
	"Good, this guy was the squad leader. Hopefully this will work."
	He switched the suit's com unit to the frequency used by the whole squad 
and spoke, in a passable 
imitation of the dead squad leader's voice,
	"All units, fall back and wait for the Rampage. Number 6 is down and so 
are several others. We 
need to take the camp quickly and efficiently. I repeat, fall back and 
wait for the Rampage!"
	He shut off the com and watched the battle suits. All the CSF units 
seemed to be falling for the 
trick. Gray smiled to himself and began taking the armor off.
	A ship flew directly overhead and began descending into the open area. 
Gray looked up and saw 
it was the Quicklight. The Quicklight landed and the hatch opened right 
as Gray removed the last piece of 
bulky armor. He ran into the hatch and was met by Mira.
	"Gray, there's blood on you!"
	"Don't worry, it's not mine. We've got one more ally... one of the CSF 
troopers decided she'd 
rather be with us than against us."
	"Later. The units are all falling back."
	"I know, I told them to."
	"What?"
	"Long story. Head back to the cockpit and prep hardpoints A1 through 
A10."
	Mira nodded and ran ahead to the cockpit. Gray pressed the button to 
close the hatch and walked 
after her.
	He arrived in the cockpit to find Mira almost done arming the 
hardpoints. He sat down and 
strapped himself into the seat. Mira looked over,
	"It's done. The hardpoints are armed."
	"Good. This better work, cause this is the last of these I've got."
	"Last of what."
	Gray smiled,
	"You'll see."
	He lifted the ship into the air and flew towards the retreating 
soldiers. The Rampage was about 
halfway to the camp at this point. Gray spoke to Mira,
	"Arm hardpoints A1, A2, and A3. Lock onto the Rampage."
	Mira flicked several switches and worked the target computer.
	"Done."
	"Now fire!"
	She squeezed the trigger and three missiles leapt from under the 
Quicklight. They traveled to the 
Rampage and impacted the walking tank. The Rampage buckled and its legs 
blew out from under it. The 
rest was destroyed in a massive fireball.
	"Now for the limited editions... lock onto the center of the retreating 
troop formation and arm the 
remaining hardpoints."
	"Gray, why is the computer listing them as 'slaved hardpoints'?"
	"You'll see, just lock it."
	Mira nodded and used the targeting computer to lock the target.
	"Fire away."
	She pressed on the trigger. A massive missile flew out from the 
Quicklight and began descending 
to the troops. Gray pulled the Quicklight into a steep climb and then 
leveled off. A huge burst of light 
came from below.
	"Electro-neutralizer. Their equipment is now useless. Only one of its 
kind ever made."
	Gray raised the defense head on the com,
	"Hey, send somebody out to collect prisoners. We're talkin' about half 
of the attack force. Their 
equipment is useless so don't worry too much. Just be careful. If the 
want to join and seem serious about it, 
let them. We already got one convert."
	Gray shut off the com and Mira turned to him,
	"That reminds me, you said you'd introduce me to this new member."
	"Oh yeah, let's go down and have a little talk with her."
	Gray turned the Quicklight around and began to fly it in for a landing.

"I don't think it's that they're evil... not as a whole... but there are 
so many commanders 
within running their own private wars."
	-Jeanette "Jennie" Selvana 

	"In any case, one thing is absolutely certain... we won't survive the 
next attack... not without 
heavy losses."
	The defense head, a stocky badger, sat back down in his chair and looked 
over at Gray. Gray 
slowly nodded in agreement and spoke,
	"I have to agree with that. We're out of tricks. They know where we are 
and we don't have any 
last resort weapons left. Next time they'll hit us hard and they'll hit 
us fast. We have to start our search for 
the Armageddon now. We've got someone who thinks she can help us out, 
Jennie."
	He motioned for the vixen to stand. She did and began speaking,
	"Well, the CSF knows roughly where the weapon is. Not exactly, it's 
underground, but they have 
a general idea. I never got a look at the tactical maps, but I know that 
some members of our squad did. 
Some of the prisoners might know where the Armageddon is hidden."
	"Thank you, Jennie. The only lead we have is the mysterious 
disappearance of one of Andross' 
best armored divisions. We believe that the tanks were diverted to help 
defend the Armageddon in the 
final stages of production. Jennie, again I believe you have some info 
for us."
	Jeanette stood again and spoke,
	"Yes, the CSF knows what production stages the Armageddon has to go 
through. They told all 
commandos about them. First is the basing stage, where a base site for 
the Armageddon is selected and 
built. Next the power unit is constructed, then the targeting computer is 
assembled, then the support units 
are built, then the focusing unit, finally the firing unit is built and 
the weapon is powered up. We believe 
that Andross is almost done with the final support units."
	"How long does that give us?"
	"About a week at the very most. More like four or five days."
	The defense head stood up again and interrupted,
	"Wait a minute! She's CSF! Why should we trust her?"
	Gray smiled ruefully at the badger,
	"Because we have no other choice. There is one other thing we may have 
to take into account, 
this may not be the work of the whole CSF."
	The badger stared,
	"What? What do you mean?"
	Jeanette spoke again,
	"I don't think it's that they're evil... not as a whole... but there are 
so many commanders within 
running their own private wars."
	Gray nodded,
	"Well put, Jennie. We have to accept that the Cornerian Military 
structure allows for a lot of lone 
gunmen and rouge commanders. Let's just take what comes and focus on 
survival and completing our 
mission!"
	The people assembled in the tent murmured with agreement. Gray motioned 
for silence and 
continued,
	"All defense heads, I want you guys to do a little something. We're 
going to break camp and 
search as soon as night falls. I want you guys to make it look as though 
we're still in camp. Everyone else, 
get some sleep and get ready to start the search. We'll begin with the 
last known location of the missing 
armored unit. Go to it."
	The defense heads clustered in one corner of the tent to work out a 
plan. The rest filed off to 
sleep, talk, or think about the mission coming at the end of the day. 
Gray caught up with Mira and walked 
beside her. She addressed him,
	"Gray, let's go to the tent. I want to talk with you privately."
	"Ok, let's go."
	The walked off towards their tent.

	Gray entered first and sat down on his cot. Mira entered shortly after 
and closed the tent flap. She 
sat down on her own cot and sighed.
	"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
	"Funny thing is, I'm not really sure. I just felt like talking to you 
about... about anything. Maybe I 
just need to talk to ANYONE. Gray... I'm really sorry."
	"What? What for?"
	"For everything. Please don't try to take the blame for this... and I 
know you would. I've been 
mean, I've been greedy, I've been selfish. I could go on but I think you 
get the idea. I just stayed up and 
thought about things last night. I kept blaming you for all my problems 
when they were all my own fault. I 
looked at all my problems... I don't really have any! They were all 
because I was trying to get angry at you 
when I should have been grateful. I'm sorry."
	She noticed that Gray was now sitting next to her. Actually, she was 
sitting next to Gray, she had 
moved to his cot without even noticing. He looked at her with an 
expression of understanding. Mira 
continued,
	"Like I said, I'm sorry. I don't know why I felt angry at you... I don't 
know... I just want to put 
that behind me... friends?"
	She stuck out her paw. Gray smiled and grasped it,
	"Friends."
	They shook paws. Mira noticed something a little odd in the way Gray 
shook and he noticed 
something odd about the way she shook. It was as if they both knew this 
was a little more than ordinary 
friendship.
	Their reflection was cut short by the final attack.

"EVERYBODY DOWN! GET TO COVER NOW!"
	-unnamed mercenary

	The indicator was less subtle than the other attacks. Gray and Mira 
suddenly heard laser fire all 
around them. Shouts were coming from outside.
	Gray and Mira both jumped up and reached for their sidearms. Gray 
stopped and picked up the 
rifle he had stolen from the commando the night before. He checked the 
rifle's ammo and flicked the 
safety off.
	The two foxes stepped into the sunlight of Venom, dimmed by the 
ever-present clouds. Smoke 
was pouring from one side of the camp. Gray correctly summarized the 
situation in three words,
	"We are screwed."
	"How could the CSF attack so quickly?"
	"The prisoners."
	"What about... oh, a transmitter?"
	Gray nodded grimly. He and Mira walked a few more feet and ducked behind 
a pile of dirt that 
the defense crews had left.
	Mira watched for any enemy troops very closely. She was not paying much 
attention to what 
Gray was doing next to her. She heard a shout.
	She felt something warm splatter on her.
	She looked down at her sleeve and saw a red liquid... a warm red 
liquid... blood!
	Mira looked quickly at Gray, he was injured! A large wound in his 
shoulder was bleeding 
profusely. Mira searched for whoever had fired the shot and saw several 
CSF troopers standing nearby. 
She fired again and again at the soldiers, scoring hit after hit. She 
didn't stop until the clip was empty.
	And there were bodies strewn about... five soldiers... five dead bodies. 
Mira was panting heavily. 
She turned to Gray and almost threw up when she saw his injury,
	"Gray, can you hear me?"
	He nodded, his teeth clenched to keep himself from screaming. Mira tore 
a strip of cloth off of 
her shirt sleeve. She pressed on the arteries which fed the blood flow, 
trying to stop it and save her friend. 
Gray groaned but did not move. The blood stopped pouring out of the 
wound. Only a little oozed around 
the gaping hole. Mira checked for a bullet and saw a small shard of 
metal.
	"Gray, you've got shrapnel in there. I've got to get you to medical 
facilities."
	"H...how?"
	"The med tent!"
	"R...right... yeah r...right."
	"But the tent is right over... oh no..."
	She pointed towards the medical tent. A huge cloud of smoke billowed up 
from that area of the 
camp.
	"C...camp is going to d...die... get to ship... uhn..."
	Mira nodded dumbly and helped Gray to his feet. She wrapped the strip of 
cloth around his 
wound. The thick fabric helped to absorb some of the blood. Gray leaned 
heavily against Mira and they 
slowly walked towards the camp perimeter. Someone came running up, Mira 
looked and saw it was 
Jeanette. She was bleeding from numerous small wounds.
	"Mira! Gray! The camp is almost totally gone. A few managed to get to 
their ships, but most 
didn't make it. The prisoners have all been freed and most of the defense 
staff is dead."
	She looked at Gray and yelped,
	"What hit him?"
	"Something that causes shrapnel and massive wounds."
	Jeanette thought for a second,
	"A Mk. 23 flak rifle. Bad stuff. Get him to medical help now!"
	"We're heading for the ship. Help me support him!"
	Gray groaned and exerted himself to take a little load off of Mira. 
Jeanette supported him from 
the other side. They speeded up a little and moved towards the airfield.
	A CSF trooper came running into view and started firing. Against all 
probability, Gray stood on 
his own, turned around, and shot the trooper with his rifle. He turned 
back around and continued to the 
ship without the help of Mira or Jeanette. They stared at Gray and Mira 
spoke,
	"Are you crazy, Gray?"
	"No, but we can go faster this way. Let's move."
	The two others followed Gray closely. They were about halfway to the 
Quicklight when a huge 
group of CSF commandos came out from the camp and began firing. Jeanette 
shouted to the others,
	"RUN!"
	They did, even Gray, and covered the remaining distance in surprisingly 
good time. Gray opened 
the ship and walked towards the cockpit. Mira stopped him,
	"You are in no shape to fly."
	"Sure I am. Tell Jennie to get a kit from the med bay and I can patch up 
this wound."
	Mira nodded and passed the order on to Jeanette. Mira then ran back and 
closed the door before 
following Gray up to the cockpit.
	Gray sat at the pilot's side, Mira at the co-pilot's side. Gray started 
the Quicklight's engines and 
prepared for take off. Jeanette came up from the med bay with a first aid 
kit. Gray thanked her and she 
opened the kit. She removed various supplies and began to bandage Gray's 
gaping shoulder wound. Gray 
winced whenever something came into contact with the tender flesh. When 
she finished, Gray throttled 
the Quicklight up. Jeanette quickly took a seat and Gray pulled the 
Quicklight up and away from the 
planet's surface, leaving the CSF troops below. Mira looked over,
	"Should we try and reach any other ships?"
	"Try to find any of our own... if you can't, then we do this alone."
	"What?"
	"Find the Armageddon and destroy it."
	
"You ask how its possible to remain good with such power? The answer is, 
it isn't 
possible."
	-unknown

	Mira had not gotten a response out of the intercom after an hour of 
trying. Still she tried again,
	"This is Quicklight to anyone. Please respond. Please... come on... 
RESPOND DAMN IT!"
	Gray put a paw on her shoulder and spoke softly,
	"I think we have to face it, we're on our own now."
	Mira looked downcast.
	"You mean there's... no one out there?"
	"I don't think the CSF let many escape, and those that did probably got 
shot down."
	Mira motioned at Jeanette, who was asleep in one of the small bunks on 
the ship.
	"This is no place for someone like her. She's probably got a family... 
how did she ever get tangled 
up in the CSF to begin with?"
	"I don't know. But that alone means something. They don't just stick job 
skill hunting morons in 
CSF. They're careful who they spend the training budgets on."
	Mira smiled,
	"Ironic, isn't it?"
	"What?"
	"The CSF ends up training lots of famous mercenaries and criminals."
	"I never thought of it that way. Maybe they should do things 
differently."
	"It probably wouldn't matter. So what's our plan?"
	"Honestly, I don't really have a plan. All we have is the last known 
position of those tanks."
	"Sounds like a good place to start. Let's head over there."
	Gray punched several numbers into the navigation computer and set the 
autopilot. He leaned 
back in his seat.
	"We'll be there in half an hour."
	"Why so long?"
	"Because we ended up pretty far away and I want to go slow. If we keep 
to the clouds and head 
slowly, they shouldn't spot us."
	"So let's talk some more."
	"Why not?"

	The camp's defense head groaned and struggled to move. He found that his 
arms and legs didn't 
want to obey the orders his brain was sending. The badger groaned again 
and moved his head. Someone 
was talking nearby,
	"Yes sir, the Star Fox team is being tracked down as we speak."
	Another voice, this one deeper and rougher,
	"Forget them. So they deceived us. They didn't actually shoot down the 
dropship. Just let them 
go."
	"Fine, sir. What about the prisoners we took here?"
	"Damn them all, just start executing them every half hour or so. We're 
going to be here a while."
	The badger whimpered. There were still prisoners... and they were going 
to be killed! The badger 
tried again to move. He only succeeded in causing another fiery lance of 
pain to skewer one of his legs. 
Why was that leg hurting so much? He looked down at it.
	What he saw filled him with terror. The leg had a huge gash running down 
it. No, not a gash, the 
flesh was actually missing. Blood slowly oozed out. The badger turned his 
head away in horror. He was 
surprised that he wasn't in constant pain.
	He heard footsteps. The heavy footsteps of an armored soldier. He 
groaned again. Someone spoke 
above him,
	"Well. Look what we have here."
	The badger heard a clicking noise, not unlike that of a gun's safety 
being turned off.
	A loud noise, then blackness.

	Gray set the Quicklight down near the last known coordinates of the 
missing tank unit. He 
opened the hatch and got up in his seat. He walked over to Jeanette and 
woke her,
	"Jennie, it's time to look around."
	Mira, Jeanette, and Gray walked down the corridor and out the hatch. 
Gray closed the hatch 
behind them and looked around.
	"Not a soul for miles. This place lives up to its name."
	Mira walked up next to Gray,
	"Gray, how are we going to look for this thing?"
	"Well, let's start a spiral search, moving outwards. That should work."
	They started moving in a spiral pattern. Not talking, looking only at 
the sand beneath their 
footpaws. Even through the clouds, the sun was broiling hot. The search 
was on.

	Well into the day, Mira finally spoke,
	"Something isn't right here."
	Gray looked puzzled.
	"I found something, Gray."
	"That's great!"
	"I don't think so, look."
	Gray walked over to where Mira was standing. Jeanette came up a second 
later. Mira was 
pointing a paw at a large crate buried in the sand. Gray read the 
labeling on the side,
	"'Rations. Delivered to: PD-103X PROJ#1 c/o CSF' What the?"
	"Look at that! It's listed as being a CSF delivery... but why would the 
CSF be supplying food to 
the Armageddon project?"
	"Maybe we're wrong about who the project belongs to. Maybe it was a CSF 
project all along."
	"I don't think so, otherwise it wouldn't be listed as 'care of'. This is 
very bad."
	Jeanette spoke up at last,
	"Remember when I told you how often there are renegade CSF commanders?"
	Gray and Mira both nodded.
	"There you have it."
	She motioned to indicate the crate sitting in the sand. Gray spoke,
	"We'd better get moving and find that base. If this is what it seems, 
we're all in a lot worse 
trouble than we thought. Does the Cornerian government know about this? 
Do they condone this?"
	Jeanette shook her head,
	"Probably not. They would never do something like this. But you're 
right, we are in a lot worse 
trouble than before."

"We've all been betrayed... our only allies are those in it as bad as we 
are."
	-Gray Lancer

	There’s no war against Andross, it’s just what people who are 
misinformed say. Gray had heard 
that one a lot. Everybody called it ‘the war against Andross’ even when 
there was no technical war. Gray 
called it that too, and he sure as hell wasn’t misinformed. He knew 
enough to know just how bad of a war 
it had become.
	The crate was not helping things.
	They had pried it open and found rations, exactly like the crate said. 
Mira had also stumbled over 
something else in the sand. She held it up to Gray’s face and spoke,
	“What do you make of this?”
	Gray grabbed the data card and turned it over,
	“It’s a normal data card. It’s probably corrupted. Besides, we don’t 
have a terminal.”
	Jeanette walked over and looked at the card,
	“It’s not corrupted, those things can’t be. But not having a terminal is 
a problem.”
	Mira nodded and pocketed the disk in her jacket. The three companions 
continued to search 
around where they had found the crate. Jeanette walked around the crate 
some more and spoke her 
thought aloud,
	“Why is this here? It should have been inside a transport!”
	Gray glanced at her,
	“That’s a thought... why IS all this stuff just lying around?”
	Mira had wandered off several yards. She suddenly called out,
	“Come here, NOW!”
	Gray and Jeanette turned and walked over to where Mira was standing. 
Gray got there first,
	“Mira, what is it?”
	Mira kicked something hard and metal. She pointed with a paw. Gray 
looked down and saw a 
square metal object.
	“What is... wait a minute... is that part of a repulsor unit?”
	“Yes. There’s some other parts lying around. They all came from a 
transport. A land transport.”
	“Like the kind which would have been carrying the crate?”
	“Yeah. I also found something more interesting... come over here.”
	Mira and Gray walked another few yards and stopped. Mira pointed down 
again. Gray stared,
	“The sand is turned up, someone was moving something heavy around here.”

	“So what do you think?”
	“I think it looks as if the crate didn’t fall off under normal 
conditions. It looks like the transport 
was hijacked!”
	“More like destroyed. Someone blew it up, took most of the cargo and 
made off with most of the 
wreckage.”
	Gray nodded his head. He looked around quickly,
	“Hey, where’d Jennie go?”
	Mira shrugged her shoulders. Gray continued looking around him for 
Jeanette. He and Mira both 
heard the sound of rifle safeties being turned off. A very familiar voice 
came from behind the two foxes,
	“Please don’t move, I’d hate to have to kill someone who’s been so nice 
to me.”
	Gray looked startled and hurt,
	“Jennie?! Why the hell did you do this?”
	Another voice, this one very harsh, answered Gray,
	“Because she was under orders. Do you really think she was actually on 
your side at all? If so, 
you’re stupider than I first thought. You should remember me, Gray... 
nine counts...”
	“Janus Arkon, you piece of...”
	“Don’t get emotional.”
	Mira looked confused,
	“Nine counts? What the hell does that mean?”
	Janus laughed and explained,
	“Nine counts of unprovoked attacks on civilians.”
	“In your case, young children... and you didn’t just attack them 
either...”
	Mira gasped. Janus walked down from the dune he was standing on and came 
up to Gray. Janus 
was a very large wolf. His fur was a strange shade of grayish brown and 
his eyes were a dark brown, 
almost black. He looked very dangerous. He spoke quietly to Gray,
	“Your friend is quite pretty. I’ll bet you’d do a lot to keep her from 
getting hurt...”
	Gray snarled and quickly grabbed Janus’ throat. The wolf was not quick 
enough to prevent Gray 
from getting to him. Gray hauled Janus slightly off his feet and spoke in 
a very low voice,
	“Listen... if you harm her... I WILL KILL YOU! I do not care what it 
takes, if you touch her, 
YOU DIE! Understand?!”
	Janus nodded and Gray threw him to the sand. The soldiers around Gray 
aimed their rifles. Mira 
turned away and Gray stared defiantly at Janus. The wolf picked himself 
up and spoke,
	“Stand down men, if I want to kill Lancer, I’ll do it myself! She won’t 
be harmed, its you I want, 
Lancer. Your friend is just along for the ride.”
	Gray glared at Janus, he did not believe even one of the wolf’s words. 
Janus walked back up the 
dune to where Jeanette was standing. Gray now noticed the numerous troops 
wearing CSF armor and 
standing around. Gray felt his hope drain away when he saw just how many 
enemy soldiers there were. He 
saw Mira’s expression. It didn’t look like she thought much of their 
chances of escape either.

	Fox McCloud took the hit and reeled backwards. He felt a lot of pain 
near his stomach. He tried 
not to think about it and reached for his pistol. The large bear who had 
just hit him was strong, but not too 
bright. Nobody with half a brain would deliver a non-lethal blow to a 
mercenary packing a gun.
	The bear found out the hard way, Fox fired three shots at him. The bear 
fell over and did not 
move. Fox turned and looked around the hangar for Fara Phoenix and Peppy 
Hare. They had come in with 
Fox but he couldn’t see them now.
	Fox heard pistol fire past one of the ships. He crept around it and saw 
Fara with her back to 
another ship. Two other thugs, both wearing light armor, had her 
cornered... and she was out of ammo.
	But Fox wasn’t. He fired twice more, killing each of the thugs with a 
single shot. Fara ran from 
her position and embraced Fox. She looked up at him,
	“Thanks, I guess I owe you one more.”
	“Forget it! I’m just glad you’re Ok. Where’s Peppy?”
	Peppy came walking out from behind another ship and spoke,
	“I’m right here. Why did those goons jump us?”
	Fox shrugged his shoulders. Fara went over to one of the armored thugs 
and looked at the armor 
closely,
	“Why are they wearing combat armor? This looks like its military issue!”

	Fox shrugged again,
	“So they’re bounty hunters with a budget. So what.”
	Peppy shook his head and looked at the thug Fara was inspecting,
	“I don’t think so, Junior. That armor looks like military standard only. 
Not for resale... and why 
didn’t they wear something heavier. I think something odd is going on 
here.”
	Fox looked at the thug himself,
	“It couldn’t be that thing we did on Venom... could it?”
	Fara finally stopped inspecting the thug’s armor,
	“Peppy’s right. This armor still has the registration markings. It’s a 
Cornerian Special Forces 
suit!”
	Fox gaped,
	“They can’t know about the thing on Venom, no transmissions ever got 
out!”
	Peppy nodded,
	“Exactly. This is very odd. Maybe we should get Falco and Slippy and 
check this out. Fox?”
	“No.”
	“What?”
	“I don’t want Slippy OR Falco along!”
	“Why not?”
	“Because Falco would almost certainly refuse anyway... and Slippy wasn’t 
along the first time.”
	“So?”
	“So I’m not going to drag him in with us. Besides, I want Falco to do 
something else for us...”
	Fara looked at Fox’s expression and frowned,
	“Fox, I don’t think I like the way you’re acting here.”
	“Don’t worry, he’ll get a kick out of this assignment.”
	“Which is?”
	“I want him to do a little spying. We can get him inside the building 
where we got our 
assignment from the CSF. Then he can get a little... information.”
	Fara smiled,
	“That’ll work.”
	“Yep. Let’s get going, we need to tell him about that, get him inside... 
and then we’re going to 
Venom.”
	“Where on Venom are we actually going?”
	“To the camp we were assigned to attack before.”

“I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s lying like hell!”
	-Mira Delinax

	It hadn’t exactly been a good day. It was about to get a whole lot 
worse. Gray was tied up very 
tightly and sitting in a dim cell. There was only one consolation, Mira 
was with him. She sat back-to-back 
with him. She was also tightly tied up. Mira turned her head halfway 
around and spoke,
	“Got any special forces tricks to get us outta here?”
	“Nope, not a one. I’m thinking.”
	“Great, do it faster. I don’t know what they’re planning with us, but I 
don’t think it’ll be good.”
	“You mean what they’re planning for ME. Remember what Janus said?”
	“I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s lying like hell!”
	“Good point, so do I. He’ll hurt whoever he needs to. I can’t believe 
Jennie betrayed us!”
	“Betrayed? Doesn’t that require her being on our side to begin with?”
	“Good point. I should have seen it. She was too willing to switch sides. 
I should’ve realized that 
she was planning something.”
	“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Lancer. It wasn’t your fault. She WAS 
pretty convincing... hell, 
she had me fooled too!”
	Even thought Mira had called him ‘Lancer’ as she had often when trying 
to insult him, it didn’t 
carry the same implications this time. This time it was a friendly term, 
not an insult.
	“Yeah, she was a good actor.”
	“You mean she IS a good actor. Gray, we still haven’t really gotten 
anywhere.”
	“Sure we have, we’ve gotten captured and locked in a dungeon that’s far 
under the Desolation. 
That’s some progress!”
	Mira could not stifle a laugh at Gray’s sarcasm. For a second they both 
forgot about the terrible 
situation they had gotten themselves into.
	But only for a second. The door began to slide open. Gray and Mira 
instinctively tensed their 
muscles, even thought they were bound too tightly to actually do anything 
if someone attacked. The door 
opened completely to reveal a bulky trooper dressed in CSF armor. The 
trooper stepped inside the cell and 
snapped to attention. Janus Arkon entered the room and grinned,
	“Sleep well?”
	Gray felt a shiver run down his spine. He merely glared at Janus. Janus 
grinned again, showing 
his teeth,
	“Yes, well... it gets much, much worse. I’m going to try something... 
you, untie the vixen, except 
for her paws.”
	The guard nodded and did that. Mira stood with her paws tied behind her 
back. Janus took out a 
pistol and kept it to Mira’s head. He motioned to the guard again.
	“Now completely untie the fox.”
	The guard slashed the ropes holding Gray. Gray stood and rubbed his 
aching paws. Janus kept 
the gun to Mira’s head,
	“Now, I know you don’t want your friend to get hurt and you know I will 
hurt her if you try 
anything. Consider this a safety deposit. Follow me please.”
	Janus walked into the hallway beyond the cell and motioned for Gray to 
follow after him. The 
trooper brought up the rear and they walked through the corridor. Janus 
turned off to one side and stopped 
at a door. He entered several numbers on the control pad and the door 
slid open. Janus stepped inside 
followed by the rest. He closed the door behind them.
	The room they had entered was white and sterile looking. A metal chair 
sat in the middle of the 
room. Janus walked over to a small shelf and picked several objects up. 
He walked back over to Gray,
	“I need to know lots of information about your mission here. It’s so 
much easier that way. Now I 
could use normal interrogation techniques, but I know they won’t work 
very well on you. I’m going to try 
a little experiment on you. Normally we’d put you in that chair and strap 
you down before trying this but... 
you know...”
	He pulled out one of the objects, which Gray recognized as a hypodermic 
needle. He quickly 
jabbed it into Gray’s arm and injected the fluid inside. Gray pulled back 
and staggered towards the middle 
of the room. Janus smiled in a very evil way,
	“It’s untested, so hopefully you won’t die.”
	Gray’s vision started to go black. Everything was a blur. The last thing 
he remembered was 
thinking that he couldn’t let them hurt Mira. That and someone saying,
	“It doesn’t look like he’s reacting normally! This is not good!”

“You’re asking me to sneak around like some sort of spy inside the CSF 
base? That’s low 
Fox, real low... I’ll do it.”
	-Falco Lombardi

	Falco slipped in quietly. Inside the air ducts, he felt a degree of 
safety. He wasn’t actually safe, he 
wouldn’t be truly safe until he was back outside the Cornerian Special 
Forces building. He just felt safer 
than when he was sneaking around on the roof trying to find this vent.
	Falco sighed and drew his laser pistol. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to 
use it, but you could never 
be too careful. He moved a few feet down the big duct and looked around. 
There was a four-way 
intersection up ahead. No other intersections or vents were visible. 
Falco crept towards the four-way 
intersection, listening for signs of anyone... or anything... else in the 
vents.
	He heard nothing and continued on. He reached the four-way intersection 
and looked both ways 
for signs of trouble. Seeing nothing, he chose to take the right-hand 
path and turned in that direction. Still 
no signs that anyone was aware of his presence. Things were looking up.
	All Falco had to do was to gather information on something called the 
‘PD-103X Armageddon.’ 
That didn’t sound like something pleasant, whatever it was.
	So the archives department would be a good place to start his search. If 
only he knew where the 
hell the archives department actually was.
	Falco shrugged his shoulders and continued along the vent. Eventually he 
would find the right 
place. He stopped to listen again and heard some voices,
	“...they can’t actually expect us to do that...”
	Falco couldn’t make out the rest of what the voice said. Another cut in,

	“But we have our orders. So let’s get going. Everyone in our unit goes 
to the main briefing room 
for pre-mission.”
	“Fine, fine. I still say its stupid.”
	Falco puzzled over what the speakers had said. It shouldn’t seem odd, 
the conversation was 
perfectly normal. But something told Falco that he should follow the 
speakers. They were heading in a 
direction that the ducts led. Falco turned and worked his way in the same 
direction. He could hear the two 
people talking softly as they walked. They turned and opened a door. 
Falco turned in the same direction 
and saw that the room they had turned into could be accessed through the 
air vents. He walked up to a 
large grate roughly over the door the two speakers had passed through. 
Falco could see a large room 
beyond the vent. He sat down in the ducts and watched as several soldiers 
took seats in the room. A 
leopard dressed in a military commander’s uniform walked to the front of 
the room and looked around. He 
started speaking. Falco could clearly make out what he was saying,
	“Ok, looks like everyone is here. Let’s begin. You’re all here because 
you will be going to Venom 
shortly to investigate reports of a secret weapon being developed. I have 
something very important to tell 
you all. One second please.”
	The leopard moved to the side of the room and bent down. He bent back up 
and was holding a 
rifle. Falco looked at the weapon, it was a concussion rifle, deadly and 
it left little or no firing residue. 
There were noises of motion all around the room. Many special forces 
commandos in full armor stood 
around holding similar rifles. The leopard spoke again,
	“You’re all dishonorably discharged.”
	The leopard and the commandos all began firing. Falco heard shouts and 
the sounds of fighting 
below. No, not fighting, a massacre. The sounds abrubtly stopped. Falco 
heard the leopard speak again,
	“Get the bodies out of here and clean this up. This never happened. Got 
it? I have to go and 
report to General Arkon, so do a good job.”
	Falco saw the troopers cleaning up after they had slaughtered the 
soldiers in the briefing room. 
Why would the CSF attack its own soldier like that? Were they really CSF 
troops? Yes, they were wearing 
CSF uniforms and using CSF equipment... but something was very wrong with 
this. General Arkon, why 
had Falco never heard of any General Arkon before? This was very unusual.

	And Fox McCloud needed to know about it. Except that first Falco needed 
to get out of the base. 
He turned around and began to work his way back through the vents.
	Falc