Chapter Five: No Leaf Clover

Wolf lifted his head slowly, and yawned, pushing himself off the thin capsule bed and popping his neck absently. According to his watch, he’d been asleep about 36 hours, which was consistent with what Andross had told him. The med capsule, which had eased him into a deep, dreamless cool sleep, had popped open on its own, but it was supposed to.

He was rubbing his neck one-handed when he paused, looking down at his arm. No metal, just fur, living fur. He trailed his fingers through it, smiling when he could actually, really feel it. Synfur and programs, he knew, but god, it felt real. He rubbed his ear and felt the fur there, twisting his ears around, grinning when he felt the mechanical one, now stripped to a light frame, easily bend like his living one.

He bounced to his feet and found a mirror, and blinked. He was fuzzy, haloed in loose hair. His hair was down past his shoulders, and he was leaving a trail of fur. He shook out vigorously, combing his hands through his real fur. The accelerated healing processes of the med capsule normally had this effect on fur, making winter coats grow in or shed out, making hair grow faster. By the time he was done, he had filled a trash can, stripping down and brushing himself out as well as he could, then pulling the sweat shorts back on and staring at himself, but this time for other reasons.

Whatever Andross had told the med capsule to do to him had stripped four or five years off his appearance. His scars had faded back, his hair was long, no blind eye, no notched ears. All of that painful wear and tear, the crash, the beatings from Leon… erased. No physical evidence that could be seen without special equipment, except for the one artificial eye, the iris of which was silver.

“Holy crap. I look as young as Fox is.” He heard himself say numbly, tracing the tribal tattoos on his one arm. Another thing to thank Andross for… speaking of which, how had Andross done this? The fur shedding was normal, but not this. He had never heard of a med capsule causing retroactive aging. Never. After staring at his reflection for a long time, Wolf pulled on a robe without tying it, and slowly stepped out of the private room, looking for an explanation.

Jesse was curled up on a couch just outside the door, covered in a thin hospital blanket. The lights were dim, apparently it was late enough that no one was around. He crouched down by the couch, brushing his hand over Jesse’s cheek, pushing the hair out of the way. “Jesse?”

“Mmn.” He woke up with a start, blinking wide-eyed at Wolf, silhouetted by the light coming from the room he had just left. “Wolf?” Then Jesse was in his arms, face buried in his neck. “Thank god, thank god… I know its standard, but I was so worried that something would go wrong…”

Wolf rocked his younger love automatically, murmuring softly. “I’m all right, Jesse. In fact, I’m better then you probably ever imagined.”

“What?”

Wolf set Jesse on the couch and stood, flipping the lights on, taking a strange delight in the blank incomprehension that crossed the young genius’ face. He dropped the robe to the floor and spun, showing himself off. “This is a little strange, I look so different, I mean I didn’t recognize myself, not with a working realistic eye, not without my scars.”

“And the hair. The hair is a nice touch.” Jesse said, swallowing, not trying to cover his stare. In a day and a half, Wolf had gone from battered, rugged soldier to flawless silver god. Well, not flawless, a long scar crossed his stomach at an angle, and the faint line of where his flesh and robotics connected was visible, but it seemed to sweeten the deal, made it real.

“Kinda long isn’t it?” Wolf reached up and pulled some around to look at it, the peppered silver strands gleaming in the harsh white florescent lights. “Should I get it cut?”

“Sweet Jesus, no.” Jesse heard himself blurt, blinking when Wolf laughed, flopping on the couch next to him and yawning. “You’re still tired?”

“No, but you are.” Wolf pulled Jesse to his chest, snuggling down and wrapping both in the blanket, lazily nuzzling Jesse’s ears as the mongoose trilled happily. “You’ve been working yourself to the bone trying to help us fight the Beast. Go to sleep.”

“The doctors…”

“Andross will probably arrive in the morning, and the worst we’ll get from him is an eye roll. Sleep, Jesse. Talk later.”

“Wolf’s up and around. He’ll be here as soon as he gets the go-ahead from the doctors.” Peppy remarked, scrambling eggs. He could cook, no where near as good as Wolf, but it was something, and someone had to make sure the other crew members ate.

“That’s good then.” Fox said, buttering a croissant absently. “The poor General is lying through is teeth about us to the GalFed, who are becoming a bit suspicious about the fact that we’ve been off radar this long. They figure we’re either in unmapped territory, or here, and apparently they’re betting on here.”

“Great.” Falco rubbed his eyes. “Like we need to give them an excuse to blow the Hub apart.”

“Exactly. We’ve got to figure out a way to get out of here on the sly. They’ve got probes at the edge of our territory, they’ll know the minute we leave.” He moaned. “I hope after all this I get to take a vacation.”

Peppy chuckled softly, passing bowls of eggs out absently. “That’s all of us. I’d like to get a house built, have a garden, and breathe some real air. Any of you notice that the trees have purple leaves on Alpha?”

Fara nodded, smiling. “And cinnamon grass. Beautiful…”

“We’ve been on a ship too long.” Katt remarked.

Drax walked in, pixie sticks holding his hair in a bun, looking a bit dazed. Everyone looked at him and burst into laughter, shaking their heads.

“Bill accosted you, I take it?” Katt lifted her eyebrows, taking a sip of her coffee.

“I suppose so. All I saw was a grey blur, then I’m sitting on the floor with my hair up.” He reached back, taking his hair back down and staring at what was in his hand. “Pixie sticks?”

Falco laughed again. “Bill’s a sugar nut.”

“Hey, there’s worse. He was a stoner all through his junior year of high school.” Fox sighed. “I’m glad he pried himself out of that.”

“Wolf just arrived in the bay.” ROB’s voice remarked, sounding shocked. “He’s on his way to the Galley now.”

“Thanks. What’s wrong?”

“You’ll see in a moment, if you don’t get cardiac arrest.”

The people in the galley exchanged confused looks. “Should we take that to mean whatever Andross did didn’t go well?” Katt finally asked, sounding mystified.

“We’re going to find out in about ten seconds.” Fox replied, hearing footsteps approach, hard even ones for Wolf, lighter skipping ones for Jesse. The door opened, and the confusion turned to shock, jaws dropping.

Wolf had gone shopping. The combat boots he had had before, and with it he wore magnificently cut jeans, a pale blue tank top tucked in, and a leather jacket. He glowed, a jewel once rough now polished, a halo of silver hair around his shoulders, younger, different, slimmer somehow.

He grinned. “You like?” He lifted his arms and strutted in, twirling easily, boots making marks on the metal floor. “I lost about twenty pounds of hard-earned muscle healing all the damn scars, but I think it was worth it. I owe Andross a few expensive dinners, even if he didn’t tell me and I nearly died from shock the first time I looked in a mirror…”

“What did Andross do to you?” Falco wanted to know.

“Well, aging is kind of a slow disease, and he’s figured out that you can reverse a little of it, if it’s done by stress or battering or something like that. I had a lot of scars, which I’m happy to say I don’t have now.” Wolf grinned. “So. How’s life here?”

“Need you ask? The GalFed wants us killed, the Hub is being monitored, and we’re all needing very badly to get off a ship and be on a planet for a while.” Peppy said, offering Wolf and Jesse some eggs. Both accepted. “Needless to say, the High Command is more then a little pissy about the whole thing.”

“I’d imagine.” Jesse said. “You said the Hub was being monitored?”

“Yes, from our borders. They haven’t picked us up on radar for a while, so they think we’re here. They’ll catch us the second we start to leave.” Fox said, sighing. “Which would give them an even bigger reason to come after our race.”

“So what are we going to do then?”

“I don’t know.”

Wolf sat down at the table, and Jesse flopped down next to him, fighting the urge to lean into him. He had been woke up by Andross’ rich laughter, apparently Wolf had been having a conversation with Andross, since he hadn’t been asleep. Jesse had let Wolf up reluctantly, watching as Andross easily checked over the synskin, making sure everything was working. Andross clearly didn’t care that he had found the two snuggled together on a couch, and for that Jesse was grateful.

“Way I’m thinking it, we may just launch anyway, gamble on the fact that they probably won’t be able to touch our people.” Fox rubbed his jaw, eyes distant. “Not without lynching themselves, politically speaking.”

“I think we can conclude that they don’t give a damn about the public opinion.” Said Katt. “Either that or they were counting on no one finding out.”

“They had to know that someone would find out.” Drax protested. “The governments of the colonies at least.”

“I don’t think anyone knew much of anything before we started broadcasting it to the universe.” Fara sighed softly. “I think the GalFed has been keeping everyone blind of how they really are.”

“That would be the best way for a corrupt government to run.” Said Falco, poking at his eggs then eating them. It always felt strange to eat poultry or eggs, but hell, he figured it was no one he knew. “They’re probably running dozens of humanitarian projects to cover up the fact that they’re doing experimental weapons research, among other things.”

“Do you think all this would have happened if we hadn’t come here?” Wolf asked, looking at the table, eyes distant.

“Probably. Only the colonies wouldn’t have a chance at all.” Said Peppy gently.

“I don’t want to run again.” Fox said, voice flat. “Never again, never from them. Someone needs to teach them a good lesson.”

“Why not us?” Fara wanted to know, brushing her fingers over Hope’s hair.

“Do we really have the power to do so?” Slippy wanted to know. “We don’t have the firepower, the manpower, or the armor.”

“There’s got to be some way for us to get a better advantage. Some way to get to their weak points better.” Said Katt. “Those missiles you used tore their ships apart Jesse. Could we build them?”

Jesse shook his head. “No. The technology doesn’t exist to build them. Those were thousands of years old. It was a miracle they still worked.”

“Do you have any ideas on how we can get past their armor, Jesse?” Fox asked quietly. “Slippy?”

There was a long pause, then Wolf snapped his fingers, sitting up. “The external armor of a GalFed ship is pretty much the same as the internal walls, right?”

“Sure. It’s just thicker. It’s like they’re carved out of one big hunk of ore.” Said Wrin. She and Jirest were quietly listening to the conversations, ends of their antennae hooked together for comfort. “Why?”

“Because when I boarded that GalFed ship, those chainguns on the suit were ripping apart the walls.”

There was a long, stunned silence.

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Slippy asked.

“I was thrown in the brig five seconds after coming back. I think I’m allowed a little bit of delay time.” Wolf replied indignantly.

Fox looked at Slippy and Jesse. “Can we change out the Great Fox’s main guns with bit rail guns?”

Jesse got his evil grin on his face, but Slippy looked unsure. “We can try.”

“Good, do it. I want to be out of here as soon as possible. I don’t want to hear about more planets being lost to the Beast.”

“They’ve got to be inside that ridiculous space station.” Pejim grumbled, looking at the images. “They’ve been off radar for almost three of their days! No ship could stand warp for that long, and I highly doubt they’re brave enough to go into unmapped territory.” He paced back and forth in the meeting room, which was empty besides himself, the long table covered in pictures and reports.

The GalFed was falling apart, one planet at a time, slowly caving in on itself. Apparently, the rogue Lylatian team had started broadcasting what was going on, and more and more planets were dropping out of the GalFed and allying with Lylat. The Rinaldi withheld comment, but the GalFed knew they would ultimately side with Lylat, and their insiders confirmed that if the GalFed attacked Alpha, the Rinaldi would send ships to assist the youngest GalFed race with no hesitation whatsoever.

He snarled, staring at the pictures, not comprehending what he saw. It was one of the pictures from when one of the rogues had boarded a GalFed ship, sitting against the wall in a huge armor suit, the visor pushed fully up so his face showed. The Lylatians weren’t large, and were largely considered to be beautiful by most of the GalFed citizens. This battered soldier wasn’t much different, but he had struck cold fear into many hearts in under five minutes.

Lylatians were fiery, full of emotions that seethed beneath their skin, causing them to snap at the slightest thing. They were restless and dangerous, not yielding to any outside superior officers and completely unwilling to give up. Or that’s how he saw it, anyway. And the fact that the small, strange cruiser of the rogue group was missing made him more then a little uncomfortable. They couldn’t scan the inside of that huge space station, but the bays were all closed. They were hiding something, surely!

After another hour of fuming, he left the meeting room and stormed up to the bridge of the cruiser, which was within transmission range of the probes, off the maps of the Lylatians, but still able to keep taps on what was going on. “Any changes?”

“No, Honored sir…” The officer frowned. “We have been picking up a radio signal for the past few minutes. We think its being purposefully broadcast to the probes. It’s looping, so it must be recorded.”

“Capture the signal at its start and record it then.” He crossed his arms, wondering just what this was. The Lylatians complaining about being monitored, perhaps? Or did they actually know someone was nearby, actively watching the probes?

“It’s done sir.”

He watched as the image suddenly snapped into place, and recognized who was sitting there, calmly looking at the camera, slouched, fingertips pressed together and tail twitching. Commander McCloud, young leader of the rogue Lylatian group. Apparently getting a signal from off screen, he smiled grimly and began to speak.

“You know who I am, so I won’t bother with introductions. I’m calling to tell you that all your monitoring is doing is annoying us.

We’ve been told that you’re trying to dismiss what we’ve been broadcasting. Hah, good luck. The people are starting to see the lies of the GalFed, and frankly we couldn’t be much happier about that. But we’re not going to start a rebellion. Right now, we’ve only got one objective, and that is to stop the Beast. Don’t argue that it doesn’t have anything to do with you, because we know that it’s a GalFed biological weapon, engineered genetically off the Entity. We know you’re afraid. We plan to use it to our advantage. But we are not going to be as cruel as you.

If this comes to war, and most of us are willing to bet it will, we aren’t going to hold back. But we will have more mercy then you. We will spare the children.”

A snarl of disbelief and fury came into McCloud’s voice when he said this, and Pejim blinked.

“Don’t try to brush it off. Your release of the beast has killed children. That was the final straw. Don’t try to call us, don’t try to negotiate with us, and unless you want your soldiers dead, don’t try to stop us.”

The icy voice cut through the bridge. All activity on the GalFed ship had stopped, personnel frozen, listening to the threatening voice.

“You’ve underestimated us before. It’s always ended up with your people dead and your ships damaged. We ran last time. We aren’t running again.”

The video imagery blipped out.

“How dare they?!” Pejim hissed. “How DARE they?!”

“I’m not sure about the how, but the when is right now.” One of the aides said. “A bay of their station just opened, and the ship we’re looking for just came blasting out, straight at our probes.”

The Commander stared, slack-jawed, as the ship rushed the small recording probes. The probes started to scatter, then the images cut off into static. Destroyed, picked off by the cruiser. Then a large, threatening blip came up on their radar, rushing them, and he shouted to prepare for combat, and when the Great Fox came into view, still at full throttle, he decided to hell with his last orders and prepared for impact.

Fox, on the bridge of the Great Fox, grinned and strapped in. “Well, I think they’re scared.”

Falco, who was watching the GalFed cruiser engage thrusters and try to back away, smiled. “You think? Told you an ambush would be a good idea.”

“So I owe you five bucks.”

“If this is chicken, they’ve backed down already.” ROB said.

“This ain’t chicken.” Drax said, fingers wrapped around the arm rests of his chair so tight his knuckles were white. “They’re just nuts.”

This would have brought a round of laughter, but that’s when the Great Fox hit the GalFed cruiser, the ship rocking with impact even though the forward shields absorbed the hit, shoving the larger cruiser backward. The GalFed ship had of course heard of the Lylatian ship using this tactic to its advantage, but had never believed that such a small ship could have big enough engines to actually throw its proverbial weight around. The GalFed ship shoved back, turning the struggle into a mechanical sumo contest, and within minutes the branch-like wings on the larger cruiser had wrapped the smaller one in a python-like embrace.

Fox gestured at ROB with a single nod. “Shoot just to cripple.”

“That’s hard, at point-blank.” ROB replied quietly, but opened fire.

Both ships rocked, the crews of both wincing as hull plates popped loose from the constant friction. The converted main guns of the Great Fox tore slender, ragged holes through the opposing ship, it took several impacts to break through the outer shell, but once it had the guns ripped apart the ship like it wasn’t there. It wasn’t until the strangle-hold stopped that the Great Fox stopped firing, boosting backwards to look at its handiwork.

The GalFed ship had been crippled, effectively for the next several months. The wings were damaged, hull shredded in spots, engines no longer running. It looked like a derelict, like it had been abandoned.

“Well, we have a way to defend ourselves now, at least.” Slippy said. “I still don’t think we’ll be able to take on a large group of GalFed ships though.”

“Probably not, but we’re better off then we were. ROB, page them. See if their radio is still working.”

“It is.”

Pejim, who was still clinging to his seat, wide eyed, winced when the radio chimed, and wordlessly reached up, hitting the button so it came through. When Fox’s face appeared, smiling crookedly and looking smug, he stood with a screech. “You… you filthy savage! Since when do you have the, the authority, the sheer gall to take out one of the ships of the Galactic Federation! You will pay for this!”

“We’ve always had the gall to.” Fox replied mildly. “We just didn’t have the gunpower. And now we do. Your ship is crippled, so don’t bother threatening us.”

Pejim stared back at him, too angry to say anything.

“We’re going to page our commanders and tell them not to even talk to you, unless they think you’re loosing air. You can call your own people to tow you out.”

“I imagine you’re not going to wait for them to show?”

Fox smiled just a bit. “Nope, we’re going to meet them halfway. As I told you before, we have much to do.”

Pejim went on a cussing tangent in his racial language, unable to voice his anger in Galactic Common or Lylatian. Fox only blinked, leaning back and listening, looking at ROB. ROB only shook his head, printing the text “you don’t want to know” to Fox’s screen.

About twenty seconds into it, Wolf stood and leaned on the back of Fox’s chair, looking at Pejim. “Shut UP.” He said in an irate voice. “Because while my commander doesn’t know a damn word you’re saying, I do, and the fact that you are insulting him is starting to piss me off!”

Pejim broke off, blinking. “And who the hell are you?”

“Oh, haven’t heard of me? Put me in a metal suit.” Wolf moved his hands so only the area around his eyes showed. “I’m the one that you want dead.” Not surprised when Pejim gaped, the shrugged a bit. “I am a soldier. I do what’s needed to do my job and to protect my friends. So stop insulting my commander, or I’ll make sure you won’t again.” With that Wolf ducked off the screen, smiling a bit at Fox, knowing it was a bluff and knowing it was a good one. But then again, if it all came down to it, both knew that his removal from action would be cancelled if they needed him.

“He hasn’t been punished?” Pejim stammered. “Are you insane? He’s a murderer.”

“He’s a damn good soldier. Everyone on this ship is.” Fox turned off the radio and gestured to ROB. “Let’s warp. Head for the nearest GalFed core planet. Maybe we can pick up some information there.”

“Well, nice to know we have a way to take down a GalFed ship.” Pepper said, striding down a corridor of the Hub, in uniform, putting on his hat as he walked. “Remind me to smack Fox upside the head when he gets back.”

“A pleasure sir.” The admiral grinned pacing him grinned, her expression tight. “Goodness knows that the High Command is tense enough without this going on…”

“True. Very true.”

They turned into the central command room of the Hub, those there acknowledging their presence but not stopping what they were doing, too busy fielding pages from the GalFed, both from out-system and from the ship that was now drifting, totally crippled, unable to move or defend itself. Fox had remarked to them to leave it alone, and they agreed, commending Fox on his win and keeping only a wary eye on the drifting cruiser. The cruiser had lost no time in relaying this refusal to assist on to their superiors, and now the GalFed seemed set in killing them all with scathing words. Pepper himself didn’t care, he had known since the discovery of the Beast that they would be separating from the GalFed. They would in no way condone such an action.

“I have a theory about the Beast.” Andross offered, standing. He had been waiting for Pepper to arrive, Batenani sitting on his shoulder, reading reports to him out loud as they both waited. The officers on the bridge tried to ignore this strange spectacle. “I’ve run some test programs and I think I’ve figured out how it can be damaged.”

“Tell me good news, then.” Pepper replied, crossing his arms.

“Well, we know it’s been engineered off the Entity, and that it’s obviously been deeply enhanced to be immune to vacuum, radiation, and god knows what else, right?” He took a deep breath. “I think I figured out a few ways to kill it, or at least put it out of commission, but each way requires the destruction of the host, be it machine or living.”

“Not good. What else?”

“It’s just a suspicion, but I’m willing to bet the back door the GalFed is using to control the Beast is pretty big.”

“How big?”

“… Big enough the Entity might be able to reinfect some people infected by the Beast.”

Everyone on the bridge paused to look at him, blinking when they saw he was perfectly serious.

“I thought that the Beast consumed the Entity.” Pepper said, lifting an eyebrow.

“It does. But if someone is fighting, and the Entity catches them off guard, I think someone could shake off the Beast. The problem is, if another member of the Beast is nearby, that person could become infected by the Beast again.” Andross sighed. “Keep in mind I’m not completely sure about this, I haven’t seen the actual genetic code or anything. I just can’t believe that the GalFed could have that tight of control.”

“All right, then. Is there any way the Great Fox can keep itself from being infected?”

“That, I don’t know.”

The Great Fox came out of warp, and ROB cried out when a swarm of hostile craft almost immediately attacked, turning and skidding to a halt, boosting away, turrets turning and gunning as they slipped out of the grasp of the GalFed.

They had been expecting this. Jesse and Slippy had hacked into the GalFed with the help from Wrin and Jirest, and now they had the current deployment order for all the GalFed ships. They knew that there would be ships waiting for them here, and that was one of the reasons they had chose this planet. If it was protected, then they figured it had something to hide.

They circled to the dark side of one of the nearby moons, and Fox nodded to Peppy, who then turned and hit the radio bands, broadcasting.

“They’re not taken by the Beast.” Falco remarked, looking at the ships guarding the planet. “I doubt this is the planet we need.”

“We can still get information, though.” Fara said. “And that’s what we need…”

“We’re working on that.” Slippy said, typing away on two different keyboards, switching back and forth as needed, glancing between two screens. They still had an open connection to the GalFed’s military net, and the GalFed had yet to notice that fact.

Peppy tapped the head mic, glancing at the radar. They were partly surrounded, but it was from a distance. They weren’t in danger. Yet. “This is Peppy Hare of the Lylatian cruiser Great Fox. We are seeking information. We do not want to fight.”

“We don’t believe that.” Said a heated voice, the accent unfamiliar, and a pale green face appeared on the radio, almost featureless save huge eyes with slanted pupils.

“And that is…?” Falco mumbled to the people nearby him.

“A Bylar.” Said Wrin. “They’re a fairly populous race, but they usually stay out of politics…”

“Well, it’s the truth. We’re looking for the planet the Beast originated on.” Peppy said, trying to keep his voice calm, unthreatening. “We have no wish to attack you.”

“We do not know what you are talking about.”

Peppy transmitted the video they had. “I’m sure you do.” There was a long silence, and he sighed. “I’m sure you do not need this long to think over what I sent to you.” He said to the Bylar on the screen, who looked disturbed. “That video I just sent you is true. We watched it, we were nearly corrupted by it, and now we’re hunting it. If you know nothing, we’ll move on, no shots fired.”

There was a long silence, then Jesse made a low hissing noise, curling his hands into fists, hackles rising, eyes going hard and distant. “Get us out of here. Now.”

“What’s up?” Fox looked at him, blinking.

“The beast is there… it’s hiding…” He hissed, voice warped, and he dropped to one knee, holding his head. Wolf was beside him immediately, not touching, waiting for the next shoe to drop. “Get within view of them, I’ll show you…”

“What is going on?” The Bylar demanded, seeing the action behind Peppy.

“Our resident member of the Entity says that you’re all corrupted by the Beast.” Peppy replied simply as the Great Fox moved away from the moon, doing a slow circle of the GalFed ships, staying just within decent view, out of range of the infection beams.

“That’s ridiculous! I don’t know what you're talking about! Do we look like we’ve been infected by this… this… ugly mass in the video you sent us?” The Bylar snapped its head back as if it had been slapped.

Jesse stared out the view port and reached out a hand toward the GalFed ships, making small strangled noises. Wolf held onto him, supporting him, worried and unable to do anything about it. Everything that was Jesse was gone from those emerald eyes. All that was left was the Entity, reaching out, voicing pain he couldn’t understand.

The GalFed ships ruptured, living branches bursting out of the hulls and wrapping around, whatever containing them gone. The capital ship rushed toward the Great Fox, intent clear. ROB threw the ship into reverse, guns firing again and again. Jesse yelped, and made a grabbing motion, pulling his empty fist toward himself, and the capital ship lost control, the hull rupturing for real as the Beast’s grip grew too tight, and the vessel stopped being airworthy.

The Great Fox hit warp as Jesse curled up on the floor, leaning across Wolf’s lap, shaking hard, clutching his head mindlessly. Wolf watched the vines spread, wrapping up the mongoose’s neck and ears, down his tail, and knew he had lost Jesse.

“So, what happened? How the hell did Jesse make the Beast do that?” Falco asked, passing coffee around. The subject of conversation was curled up in the sick bay, still shaking, still unconscious. Wolf had carried him there, then had gone to his room and closed himself in.

“My best guess is that it’s because there’s some sort of link between the Entity and the Beast.” Slippy said, gladly taking a drink from the just-filled mug. “Which isn’t surprising, being that the current theory is that the Beast is engineered off the Entity.”

“Well, any way its put, Jesse’s not here anymore.” Drax said in an odd, flat voice. “He’s in the Entity completely. He’s not himself.”

“A central mind.” Fox said, shaking his head. “Dammit! Now Jesse will never dump that god damn hive mind, and Wolf will probably never come out of his room willingly again.”

“So what do we do now?” Wrin wanted to know. “We can assume that most of the GalFed ships are corrupt now, willingly or not.”

“Which emphases the fact that we need to take the Beast out.” Peppy said. “We’re running out of time.”

“But we don’t know how.” Katt said. “We don’t even know where to look.”

The conversation from there dissolved into a debate, pouring over star charts, estimating how much of the Galaxy was now in the grip of the Beast.

Outside the Galley, Jesse leaned on the wall and shook his head wearily, overwhelmed by bewildered voices. When he spoke, it wasn’t him, it was them, it was the voice of the Entity, and the Entity didn’t understand why Fox was so mad at it. He stood and walked away from the galley silently, hugging himself, tail twitching.

Jesse didn’t know who he was anymore. The person he was was locked in a small box in the back of his mind, bound to watch what was happening and voice an opinion, but not in control anymore. The euphoria of the Entity should have made him happy, but it didn’t. He was miserable, had been since he had woke up in the sick bay alone. He paced down the hallway, finally hesitating in front of Wolf’s door, then knocking.

There was a long pause, then Wolf opened the door, wearing just jeans, barbells dangling from one of his hands, a towel across the back of his neck, hanging to cover parts of his chest. “Why are you out of sick bay?” He frowned, looking at the swirling green eyes that looked up at him. “When’d you wake up?”

“We woke up when you left.” Was the plain, painful reply. “Why did you leave?”

Wolf took several steps backwards, barbells slipping from his fingertips and hitting the ground with heavy thumps. “Go back to sickbay.” He replied after several long moments, looking away, unable to stand hearing the plural reference from the boy he loved. “Go there, stay there.”

“But… but we do not understand. You care for this one and yet you left him. That’s not right at all.”

Wolf growled. “Go away. You’re not Jesse. You’ll never be Jesse again. Stop hurting me. I’ve been hurt enough.”

Jesse stepped back, eyes wide. “We don’t want to be alone.” He heard himself plea, beg. “Don’t send us away.”

He snapped, snarling, tossing his arms open. “I don’t want to be alone either, ok? That’s the worst punishment in the world for me, but you’re dooming me to it by taking the person I love from me! Now leave!”

Jesse ran, hearing the door slam and lock behind him, confused, the many voices confused, even more so when they noticed that the person that was truly Jesse was unable to stop crying.

“Why did you destroy one of our ships?!” Pejim screamed, lashing out angrily. The alien’s head jerked to one side, blood flying up from one of the nostrils. It wearily turned its head back to look at its furious captor, ignoring the blood flow even as alarms chimed. A little medical robot hovered up to briskly wipe away the blood, which was dripping on the metal floor, another drip-drip sound to accompany the IVs.

“It was not my choice.” The alien said in a cold voice. “The Beast that held that ship was forced to do it. Another mind told it to.”

“What do you mean, another mind?!”

“Just that.” It looked away, and was slapped again.

“COMMANDER PEJIM! STOP THIS AT ONCE!” Brogt thundered, striding into the room and shoving the smaller alien away. “It is too valuable to us to be damaged, and you are striking out at it! What has gotten into you?”

“It disobeyed orders, then destroyed one of our ships, killing almost the entire crew, Representative.” Snarled Pejim. “And if I am to believe what it is saying, the network you created is not as airtight as you claim.”

“What?” Brogt looked to the tired, tired alien. “What did you say?”

“Another mind commanded the destruction of the ship, as well as the revealing of the Beast within the ships.” The alien replied in a dull voice. “I could not interfere. It was too far from here, and I was overpowered.”

“This is troubling.” The rekuva sighed. “Do you have any idea what interfered?”

“The Entity. The Lylatian central mind.”

“The kid they refuse to hand over has become a central mind?” Pejim blinked, newly angry.

“Yes, and a very powerful one. He … she? He reached out and touched the Beast, and it answered.”

“The corrupt one on the Lylatian ship is male.”

“No, he is both.” The alien almost laughed at the look on Pejim’s face. “Before I die, I want to see sunlight.” This was said to Broght. “I have been kept in cages and stasis jars and other such atrocities for over a millennium. I want to see the sun.”

“What do you mean? You aren’t going to die.” Broght sputtered.

“The beast is going to die in thirty-six hours.” The alien let its head drop, and no matter of coaxing could get it to speak again.

Fox glanced at Jesse, whose gaze was distant, the mongoose’s hands drifting over the starmaps. The team had no idea where to go, so had asked Jesse, who had been wandering the ship, sleepless, alone.

“Any ideas?” Fara asked. She was a bit uneasy about the look in Jesse’s eyes, but that was better then some. Katt was thoroughly creeped out.

“We don’t have many places we can go.” Jesse replied in his odd voice. “The Beast has the fringe, and at least a third of the GalFed systems. If we go to one of our allied systems, we’ll only lead the Beast there.”

“Where is it originating from?” Peppy asked.

“I don’t know, but…” The mongoose stopped his hand, fingers pressed to a sun symbol. “But we need answers… and once we thought there were answers on Talar’dan’i. Maybe they’re still there.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Last we saw, that planet was a wasteland.” Said Falco. “And now it’s totally closed off.”

There was a pause, then Fox laughed. “Oh, my god. That is perfect.”

Jirest, who had just come to the same conclusion, nodded. “If it’s already closed, there’s no reason for us to look there, logically speaking. It’d be a snap to set up base fast and base operations out of there.”

“If they didn’t already have some sort of base there in the first place.” Said Katt.

There was a pause, then Fox sighed. “Think we should get Wolf’s opinion?”

“I’ll talk to him, if you like.” Drax offered.

“No, we…” Jesse said, frowning.

Drax set a finger to Jesse’s lips. “No. You’ll just make him mad. I’ll do it.” And with that he left the room.

Wolf growled when someone knocked on the door, wiping sweat off then hefting himself up, opening the door roughly. Drax lifted an eyebrow, letting his vision wander for second then dragging himself back to the matter at hand. “Working out?”

Wolf shrugged. “Pull-ups. What’s up, Drax?”

“We’re going back to Talar’dan’i. Everyone else just wanted to make sure you approved of the move.”

He considered, mind working over that. “I’m good with it. I’m not sure why they’re bothering, I’m out of action right now.”

“So? You still have a valid opinion. You’re one of the top two pilots on this ship, and a former wing commander.”

“True I suppose.” He walked across the room and leaned on the view port, leaving the door hanging open. His room was trashed, most of it seeming to be recent.

“Jesse was the one who wanted to ask you about this…” Drax started.

“Thanks for rescuing me. I don’t really want to see him right now.”

“That’s… a bit mean.”

“It’s not him, Drax.” Wolf spat over his shoulder. “I want to hug him and say things but I have no idea who’d be hearing them. Dammit, my personal life does not include the Entity! The Entity doesn’t need to know!”

“But he’s got to be in there listening.”

“Maybe, but he’s not the only one, and I only want him, not all the other personas hitching free rides in his brain.” There was a long pause, then Wolf chuckled dryly. “Don’t tell him I said this, but Bill’s probably going to ask you out when we get back to the Hub.”

Drax squeaked in surprise. “How do you know that?”

“Overheard him talking about it. He likes you, and he’s not so much bi as he doesn’t give a damn.” Wolf turned to look at him and smiled sourly. “Besides, in my opinion you’d be good for him. You’d probably level him out a bit.”

“Well, uh…” Drax shuffled, then frowned at Wolf. “Hey, when did this discussion become about me?”

Wolf laughed out loud. “I don’t like talking about myself. Tell Fox I’m ok with it, and to tell me if I’m needed on the battlefield.”

“All right.” He left the room, sparing glances over his shoulder as Wolf leapt up and caught the bar again, fur gleaming, every muscle showing, beautiful and clearly hurt in many ways. He sighed, shaking his head as he walked down the hallway.

“The only way we will be able to get through those defensive shields is by hacking through.” Jesse said, working on Falco’s suit carefully. Falco, who was a bit uneasy considering he wasn’t sure if whoever was in charge knew what Jesse knew, was watching the mongoose’s moves carefully, obediently moving when needed but broadcasting nervousness.

“Are you sure?” Slippy asked, peering down the barrel of a gun, not worried because it wasn’t currently attached to the rest of the gun. “I mean, Jirest and Wrin have lower-level passwords, and that might help if they haven’t been cancelled, but they wouldn’t have access to open the shields.” He glanced at the young mongoose, trying not to look at the vines, which always were moving a little, making him motion sick.

“Not completely, but we doubt force would get us anywhere. We’d need nukes, and those were all left behind.” Jesse scratched his ear with a screwdriver, frowning. “And even then we don’t now if we’d get through. After all, our overly large railguns barely hurt the ships, and these are defensive shields.”

“What’s the chances of us hacking them, though?” Falco asked.

“We think it’s decent.”

“That’s not good enough.” Fox frowned, leaning on a table laden with tools. “By the way, what guns are you loading on those things?”

Slippy held up part of a chaingun. “Rotary tools, man.”

“That’s just wrong.” Falco said around laughter.

Jesse frowned, but shrugged and turned back to his work, slowly finishing the adjustments. “All done, Falco.”

“Great, man.” He straightened and flexed, moving the arms back and forth. “You going to tweak up Wolf’s too?”

“If he will let us, yes.” Jesse frowned again, thoughtfully this time. “He has decided to ignore us for the time being…”

“Hey, crack the knuckles and hit the crystals.” Katt said over the intercom. “We’re about to come out of warp.”

Slippy and Jesse exchanged a look, then both sprinted up to the bridge, leaving Fox and Falco to look at each other, blinking.

“Looks like they’re really going to try the hack.” Falco said, trying to scratch his head and clanking himself in the helmet with a gun barrel. He cursed, then opened the suit and fell out unceremoniously so he could actually scratch his head.

Fox smiled a bit. “Looks like it. Want me to keep you company?”

“Sure.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Slippy asked, sitting down and bringing up command prompt screens.

“No, but it’s the best option we have.” Jesse said, also bringing up prompts. “Hook us to an IO for the shields, ROB?”

“You got it.” The prompts on the screen changed, and the pair nodded to each other, used to hacking together now since they had been doing in the last few days. Slippy felt more at ease now, somehow it seemed like a bit more of Jesse was peeking through the curtain of vines that separated him from the rest of the world.

In the end, it didn’t take all that long, apparently the GalFed didn’t have to deal with many digital terrorists. The shields came down, and hell broke loose.

“Apparently there’s a ground base set up next to the ruins, which, I may add, are being taken apart.” Fox said, checking his gun absently. “We’re safe for now, but they’re calling in some heavy metal even as we speak. It looks like we’ll be in for a decent struggle on the ground too.”

“That’s why we’re geared up, of course.” Falco said. “With more god damn sandbag rounds.”

“We’re not here to kill people.” Wolf said. “But I am curious, do we have any idea what we’re looking for, or are we just going to plow through?”

“What we’re looking for is probably locked down somewhere, probably in a lower level.” Peppy said. “That’s classic government operations, no matter what government.”

“Let’s cook then, before something arrives that can actually do us some damage.”

The groups split up, those going down to the surface boarding the shuttles, and Wolf huffed when Jesse boarded the shuttle, frowning at a handgun like it was a stray extraterrestrial tentacle. “You’re not coming. You don’t know how to fight.”

Jesse turned the frown to Wolf. “We have to. If your suits break down, you’ll need us, or you might get some serious neuro damage. Besides, it seems we have a bit of an edge against the Beast.”

Wolf looked away, the head of the suit doing so as well. “I do not want you hurt.”

“You won’t let us get hurt. Will you?”

“… No. No, I won’t.”

Jesse nodded, looking toward the cockpit. “Let’s go, Fox.”

The shuttle plowed toward the surface, scorching through the poisonous atmosphere. Fox itched at his respirator absently, rolling the shuttle to avoid cannon fire, grinning when he was promptly and vibrantly cussed out from the people in the cargo hold. “Sorry, sorry. It was either that or make an ungraceful landing.”

“None of your landings are graceful.” Falco snarled.

“Any landing you can walk away from…” Wolf stood and braced himself, staring out the cockpit glass at the strange temporary base. The pillars were gone, the temple was halfway gone. “Why the hell are they doing that?”

“Erasing evidence.” Fox said, and gunned the engines, heading right toward the base. “Can those things air drop?”

“I can. Falco’s a klutz. Go in lower, and we’ll cut out a welcome mat for you.”

The ground soldiers, who had been watching the shuttle circle the base, were a bit surprised when they saw what looked like huge robots leap from an open door, landing and leveling guns at them. The guards surrounded the suits, and there was a moment of strange, empty silence.

“So, can we arm wrestle this out?” Falco asked brightly.

“Arm wrestle the Beast?” Wolf snorted, looking at the mark of infection. “Let’s make Fox a landing zone…”

The suits turned back to back and started firing, the pilots of the suits wincing as lasers pinged off their armor, feeling the biting stings of armor damage.

Jesse, who was hanging out the open door, watched the fight with wide eyes, watching the GalFed personnel go flying, none dead, but plenty battered and hurt from the sandbag rounds. Fox started settling the shuttle down, and Jesse leapt down, staying close to the suits, finally climbing on the back of Wolf’s suit and hanging on for dear life, shivering, the Entity terrified of the Beast but not wanting to leave Wolf’s side.

“You couldn’t stay with the shuttle, could you?” Wolf asked.

“No.” Jesse held on, shaking, and Wolf sighed, letting his guns wind down.

“It’s going to be ok, Jesse. But you’re cutting off my ammo chains. Find another place to hold on.” He looked back, and saw the catatonic, scared look Jesse had first gotten on his face when he had first seen the Beast, visible even around the respirator mask. “Jesse? Jesse, what’s wrong?”

“Heart-to-hearts later, guys.” Falco said, defending them, then saw how Jesse looked. “What’s wrong with him? Or, uh, them?”

“I don’t know. Jesse? Can you hear me? Entity? Is anyone there at all?”

Jesse swallowed hard, something was here, and the network of the Entity was suddenly tangled with the network of the Beast. He saw eyes, old eyes, looking at him, he saw a need for release, centuries of torment… the being behind the Beast, now reaching to him through the network of the Entity. He wasn’t sure how, but wasn’t surprised either. After a few seconds he jarred back to reality, cleared his throat, and whispered, “Down. We go down.”

“You sure?” Seeing Jesse nod, Wolf sighed and hefted the mongoose into a more correct piggyback ride position. “Can you cover us, Falco?”

“I can try. Fox, you lead.”

“You got it.”

They didn’t meet much more resistance as they walked through the base, apparently the grand majority of the guards had already been sent out to attempt to stop them. The rest of the people within the base were workers and scientists, which hastily got out of their way as they paced down the corridor, Fox in the lead, gun in hand but not bothering to point it at anybody. The suits clunked along behind, Jesse looking over Wolf’s shoulder, eyes flickering multiple shades of green as he watched the scientists, not all controlled by the Beast, but a sizable percentage.

“What, by the grace of the Galaxy, is going on here?!” Thundered a voice, and a Bylar strode over, tall and thin, eyes bright with anger.

“We’ve come to shut down your project.” Fox said, crossing his arms, gun visible. “We don’t mean any harm…” Seeing the Bylar look at his gun, he sighed. “It’s got tranquilizer rounds. We’re here to take out the Beast, by any means.”

“What are you talking about? There is no Beast here!”

“The Beast is a genetically engineered creature which is able to take over machines as well as living creatures. It was based upon a naturally existing creature known as the Entity.” Wolf said, letting his guns relax and stepping forward to tower over the Bylar. “We know you’re hiding something here. You’d save yourselves a lot of annoyance and destroyed labs simply by showing us there.”

“We can’t do that! Leave!”

Jesse slowly got down off the back of Wolf’s suit and walked over to the Bylar, craning his neck to look up at the alien’s eyes, swaying a bit, the voices shouting in his mind, thousands of hissing whispers. “You can do that.” He said, speaking in the home language of the Bylar, the heavenly singing words echoing down the hall.

The Bylar took a step back.

“Show us where you’re keeping the core of the Beast.” Jesse stepped toward the Bylar, which stepped back again. “Show us. We will not hurt anyone at this base. Just show us what you are hiding.”

“We can’t trust you, you’re part of the Entity.” The words were faint, unsure.

“You can trust us more then you can trust your superiors, who killed from senseless fear.”

There was a long silence, the Bylar fidgeting, looking anywhere but at Jesse’s ancient eyes, then nodded.

Fara sighed, sinking into the chair and staring at the screens, cradling a sleeping Hope in her arms. Hope’s small hands were tight on the flannel button-up shirt she wore, clinging to her even in slumber.

“How long have they been down there?” She glanced at Peppy.

“Ten minutes.” He replied, glancing at a clock. “Looks like they haven’t gotten much resistance, from what ROB can see.”

“That’s good. How soon can we expect company?”

“Well… if these are right…” Wrin frowned at a printout. “Within another ten minutes.”

“What?” Katt snagged the printouts. “Oh, hell. Where do they get these engines?”

“They must not be very far away.” Said Slippy, looking at the screens Fara was staring at. “How many ships?”

“Seven big boomers, by their warp insignias.” Katt bit her lower lip.

“Let’s hope they hurry.” Drax said, looking at the report with Katt. “We don’t have a chance against these things.”

Falco ducked into one of the corridors, grumbling. They were now three levels below ground level in the base, and luckily enough they had run out of down. “Where are we going?”

“The holding room.” The Bylar replied, glancing at Jesse, who was walking peacefully behind him. “What are you going to do?”

“Well, the original plan was to destroy it…” Fox said, rubbing the back of his neck, catching the sharp look the Bylar gave him. “If something else presents itself we’ll go with it ok?”

“Thanks. I guess.” The Bylar sighed, hesitating at a large security door. “I… don’t have clearance.”

“I do.” Wolf aimed at the electronic lock and pulled the trigger. The Bylar leapt and watched with wide eyes as the locking mechanism was torn apart by the sandbag rounds, then the door was forced open by Wolf and Falco working together. The room beyond was only dimly lit.

“Open, says me.” Falco said. “Let’s go.”

Fox stuck his head inside the room and slowly stepped in, looking for a light switch as the others came in after him. “Lights?”

The Bylar said a command in Galaxy Common, and the lights flickered to life.

Falco took a step back as Fox dropped his gun, the entire group including the Bylar staring at the one occupant of the room. It was a large alien, the type unknown, hanging in a sling so its back legs were barely touching the ground, the points of the huge claws scuffing the metal, the front legs restrained to the torso. Multiple IVs ran to the ET, which were audibly dripping.

“What… is… that…?” Falco demanded, automatically aiming his guns at it.

“The Beast.” Jesse said. “The Central Mind of the Beast.”

The ET lifted its large head, four eyes wandering, unfocused, until they came to rest on Fox. “Who are you?” It moaned in Galaxy Common, then moved on, looking at the suits, seeing easy targets for the infection, seeing the hearts beating inside, then finally looking at Jesse, who looked back peacefully, not disturbed at all. “You…”

“We are the Entity.” Jesse stepped forward and pulled out the IVs with quick flips of his wrist, then moving onto the restraints. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”

“I’ll die…” The ET moaned, turning its head to look at the brisk motions of the mongoose. “Those IVs are the only thing keeping me alive.”

“You aren’t going to die.” Unable to undo the restraints, he looked at the others pleadingly. “Help us.”

Fox stepped forward slowly and helped, finally undoing the cuffs from the bony wrists, wincing when the sling went and the ET fell to the ground, moaning, trying to get to its feet. “What if what it says is true, Jesse?” He asked, watching as Wolf came forward, giving the ET a strong arm to lean on.

“We will figure that out later. Let’s get out of here.”

“Fox? Fox, do you read me?” Fara asked, frowning.

Fox landed in his chair and grabbed the radio. “I’m here.”

“Take your headset next time, you stupid bastard! We’ve been worried sick!”

He winced. “All right, all right. Sorry. We’re coming back up, and we’ve got a rider, an ET.”

“We’re going to have company in about two minutes.”

Fox cussed a storm, ignoring the fact that everyone else was leaning through the door connecting cargo to the cockpit, staring at him curiously, even the ET. “We’re on our way up. Prepare for jump as soon as we arrive.”

“Are you kidding? We’ve been ready to jump since we picked up on this!”

“Strap down, we’re lifting fast.” Fox said over his shoulder.

“You got it.” Wolf and Falco braced as well as they could, letting Jesse mildly tether down their suits, watching as the small Lylatian took care of the ET. The alien’s large head was resting in Jesse’s lap, faint moans echoing through the cargo bay as the track marks of the IVs were wrapped up gently.

“You should be scared of me, little beauty.” The alien moaned in its own tongue. “Why aren’t you?”

“Brothers don’t hurt each other.” Jesse replied in the same tongue, finishing up his administrations.

“I’m going to die.”

Jesse’s gentle smile stunned the alien. “No. You’ll see.”

The shuttle slid into the docking bay, and the Great Fox’s engines kicked in almost immediately, the ship blasting away from the planet as the GalFed cruisers came out of warp. The Great Fox continued to race away as Fox joined the others on the Bridge, looking at the cruisers that had just arrived. “Assault cruisers?”

“Exactly.” Said Jirest. “We’re out of their gun range, currently, but we won’t be for long.”

Jesse came onto the bridge with Wolf and Falco, all of them helping to support the ET, which looked around with distant eyes. “Are they infected by the Beast?” Falco asked, sitting down and rubbing life back into his arms, still feeling the aftershocks of the suit.

“Looks like it.” Said Katt, everyone looking at the ET, which looked back, then frowned at one of the chairs, finally sitting on the floor facing the view ports. “Who is this?”

“This is the central mind of the Beast.” Said Wolf.

“Mother mind.” The ET said dryly. “Or that is what it calls me. The Beast is not smart, but it feels.” He peered out at the ships, shaking his head when they started careening toward the Great Fox.

“ROB, get us out of here. Warp for the Hub.” Fox said, buckling into his command chair.

“Not yet.” Jesse said, kneeling down next to the ET. “We still have to take care of the Beast.”

“Jesse, those ships are going to smash us in less then a minute.” Falco said, scowling. “We don’t have time for holistic mumbo-jumbo.”

“He’s right.” ROB said, looking at Jesse, hesitating. The back door through his programming was still open. He couldn’t disobey Jesse, but he didn’t want to get his friends killed.

“Hold speed.” Jesse ordered.

Fox growled, standing back up, arms crossed. “Jesse, god damn it, give me back control of my ship! You’re going to kill us all!”

There was a frozen moment, then Jesse passively turned back to the task at hand, looking at the ET. “Do you consent?”

“I did long ago, I do now.” The ET laughed, a strange, rasping noise. “Immortality is such a curse…”

“That depends on your frame of mind.” And with that said, Jesse pressed both his hands to the ET’s side. His shirt rippled, and the Entity moved, every vine pulling up, tiny streams of blood left as the creepers were hastily pulled. Jesse bit his lip, shaking hard as the voices in his head started to quiet, the vines securing comfortably onto the ET as if taking old paths. Outside the cruiser, the GalFed ships suddenly came to a confused halt, the Beast being hit with a flood of new information, being taken by the Entity from the inside.

It took less then a minute for the process to complete, then Jesse had collapsed, Wolf catching him and holding the bleeding, wheezing mongoose to his chest. The ET just sighed, slowly standing back up, shifting a few vines then nodding once.

“We can go now.” The ET told Fox.

“Jesse’s got control of the ship. We can’t go anywhere.” Slippy said.

“He’s unconscious.” Wolf said, standing, cradling Jesse in his arms, feeling oddly relieved. Jesse had willingly given the Entity up. “He can’t give any commands right now….”

Even as he said that, Jesse’s tear-blurred green eyes reopened, looking around blankly, unfocused, mumbling a thread of code then slumping back into unconsciousness.

“He closed the back door. Let’s get out of here.” ROB said, and the ship warped.

“So the Beast is no longer a threat?” Pepper slumped back into his seat, twirling a pencil through his fingers. Fox was sitting across from him, wearing casual clothing for the first time in what had to be ages.

“Well, the Beast itself is on our side.” Fox replied. “The ‘Mother Mind’ of the Beast is currently in discussion with Andross. The problem is, we’re pretty sure the GalFed is going to be a growing threat. We’ve done a lot of things to piss them off.”

Pepper looked at him, and smiled sourly. “You went back to Talar’dan’i’, found the Beast, took care of the problem, yet didn’t find our answers?”

Fox blanched. “Uh…”

“No, relax. We received this early this morning.” Pepper held up a data crystal. “Some sort of thanks from a Bylar researcher on Talar’dan’i. It’s a recording of all the texts they’ve found in the ruins.”

He blinked. “Well, I guess I owe him some thanks then.”

“Nah, Jesse does. He’s the reason why we have this now. Apparently the Bylar was so overjoyed to hear its own language spoken so wonderfully that he did it as a way to pay Jesse back.”

“We have strange luck.”

“We live in interesting times.” Pepper stood and held a hand out to Fox, who stood and gladly took it. “Tell your entire crew to take some leave time, get some real air. We’d like to get some houses set up for you guys.”

“Thanks, General. Oh, is it true there’s now a huge bar in the Hub?”

Pepper laughed.