Chapter Two: Family Ties

Katt smiled, leaning over the edge of the temporary holding pool, thrusting her arms into the water. The long form coiled at the bottom of the pool rose to meet her, breaking the surface with a spectacular shower of water, the deep eyes looking into hers as she scratched at molting scales, the wide mouth yawning. Boomer was still sleepy from being woken up from his cool sleep, the tag dangling from his ear. The scientists knew that Boomer was Katt’s, and they saw fit to tell her he would be put in a designated water reserve with the rest of the dragons and dolphins they had brought with. They would not be released on their unnamed home, oh no, that was risky to the planet and the creatures. Instead they would carefully clear and fence off an area off the under-construction coastal science base, and release the animals there, to be monitored as needed.

“Hi, Boomer.” She heard herself whisper, and the dragon replied with one of the signature base-thumping cries of the Zoness sea-dragons. “How was your nap?”

Boomer slipped back underwater, rolling absently in the small holding pool, thrashing about, and breeched as well as he could. The yearling was almost too big for the pool, but they could do no better for now. After feeding him, she left that wing of the ship, walking down the now-busy corridor. More and more scientists were being woken up, Falco was joking that currently they were a society made up of 70% eggheads, 30% jarheads. She had laughed and agreed then, the scientists were all busy, thousands were laboring and still they seemed to be understaffed.

She hesitated before pressing the button, leaning next to the intercom. No passcode got you through this door, only explicit permission did. She knew Beltino had clearance, but that was about it.

“Yes?”

“Hi Andross. Can I come in?”

“Katt Monroe? Of course!” Andross grinned, sitting back in his chair and stretching his arms wearily. So much to do, so little time to do it in, and sometimes he felt so damnably old… but ah well, he would make a difference. He had to.

She came in, looking around the lab. It was quiet compared to the rest of the ship. She saw the dinosaur-like ET AI prowling on the screen, and what looked like a tiger-striped lemur was lying across Andross’ shoulders, hands folded and double-tail raised in a question-mark shape. “How are things here?”

“Working on the decay model for Talar’dan’i’.” He replied. “A request from your friend Jirest. It’s obvious, really. Corneria was doing this, a few centuries ago, before we realized what we were doing.” He scratched the lemur under the chin absently. “Have you met my little assistant?”

“Not as of yet, no.”

“Introduce yourself.” Andross extended his arm, smiling when the lemur walked out onto it and sat up, extending a hand to shake with Katt.

“I am Batenani, Ani for sort.” The lemur said in a soft, lisping voice. “I am Andross’ daughter and help him here.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Katt’s eyebrows shot up, but she wasn’t surprised. Of course whatever Andross made would speak… “Daughter?”

“Not genetically, but emotionally.” Andross let Ani climb back, smiling. “My creations are always my children. We’re rather a clan of adoption. It keeps me happy. I can’t have kids of my own.”

“Makes sense.” She sat down, looking at the AI on the screen, which was playing video games. She blinked and looked back at Andross. “Guess I should get to the point, eh?”

“I don’t mind purely social calls, but they just don’t seem to exist nowadays.” Andross shook his head. “What’s up?”

“I’m worried about some things… you seemed like the most logical choice.” She sighed. “Do you know anything about Rekuva biology?”

“Is that a trick question?” He replied in Rekuva.

“Wise guy. Look, we have a Rekuva on board named Jirest, he’s been with us a while, he’s a good friend of all of us.” She glanced away. “But… he lost most of one of his antennae. He seems to be going blind now.”

“I’ve read about it.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Rekuva antennae are very, very connected to their entire nervous system, all of their senses. Vision, scent, touch, and hearing are all linked to them. They’ve been trying to correct the problem of antennae loss for many years, but a good solution has never been found.”

She sighed. “Well, he’s lost his position within the Rekuva fleet because of his disability, so we’ve taken him in as a liaison officer. He’s been kowtowing to Fox ever since, let me tell you. And Wrin seems to be staying with him to help him, which means she’s given up her position as a ship commander.”

“I’ll look into it for you.”

“Thanks.” She stood, hesitating.

“Anything else?”

“You… you have one of those spiders from Talar’dan’i’, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course. You guys were the ones that procured one for me, and I’ve convinced the High Command to let me study it.” He blinked. “Why?”

“She won’t talk about it, but Wrin took me aside. One of them bit Fara, and she went into labor not long after that. She’s fine, and Hope is healthy and bright-eyed, but…” She scratched under one of her ears. “But I always get an odd feeling around them. Like something is wrong.”

“I’ll intensify my study, of course. I echo your concern.”

She smiled and pecked him on the forehead absently. “Thanks, Andross.”

He watched her skip out, shaking his head. “Honestly, women. Why hasn’t Falco married that girl yet?” He turned back to his screen and cued up the information on the spiders, reading through it again. He agreed with Katt, something about the timing of the mentioned events just plain stunk, but he hoped that whatever it was, it wasn’t anything bad. Fox had gone through enough already.

“Taking off on us eh?” Fox said, grinning as he watched Bill finish loading his personal effects into the cargo bay of his fighter.

“My team is being reinstated. Husky Unit is going to be the official patrol group for Beta.” Beta was the temporary name for the colonizable moon, Alpha being the planet itself, and Omega being the empty moon. “Not that I don’t love living in chaos, but you know how it is. Duty calls and I come trotting, tail a-wagging.” He grinned and clapped hands with Fox. “Besides, way I hear it as soon as this old bird gets refitted, you’re off to play hero again.”

“Ha! Nope, just to bitch at a certain blockade. Or so I’m told.” He lifted his hand in a salute. “Take care of yourself, Bill.”

“Kiss the kid for me, Fox.” Bill grinned, swinging into his fighter, and launched, the custom rig boosting away, twirling in a fancy flip as a way of waving goodbye.

“Well, that’s one less bedroom taken up, eh?” Falco said, leaning on the door of the launching bay.

“Yep, so it would seem. I hear Katt’s taking off, too.” Fox joined him, walking with him down the corridor.

“As soon as the base is built.” Falco sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t want her to go, Fox.”

“Then ask her not to, dim bulb.” Fox shoved at him playfully. “Don’t be so damnably shy. She’ll stay in a heartbeat if she thinks she’s wanted, you know that.”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know if its right, you know?”

“What’s wrong about it?”

Falco couldn’t find an answer for that.

The Great Fox swung in a slow circle, watching the mother ships shed their feathered wings in bursts of fire, the scraps being towed away by construction droids. Arspace had been praised before, but no one had realized just how brilliant those engineers and technicians really, truly were.

One by one, the wings blew off, and the mother ships started a dance of stunning complexity, so close it was shocking, Blue Angels on a size unparalleled. Arms extended, slowly at first, reaching with the uneasiness of a newborn, then linking, pulling the mother ships toward each other. In a final blinding flash of light, the ships joined, and two interlocked rings had formed, ten mother ships had come together to form each. It was a colony hub.

The entire StarFox team found themselves plastered to the observation windows, watching with wide amazed eyes as the construction droids abandoned the wings, which made their own blinding flashes, blowing apart to reveal other components, other forms which flew to join with the hub.

When all was said and done, the mother ships had become a single station shaped like a Moibus strip, but thick, a true colony hub built to research, construct, and support. It was beautiful.

“Beltino is a genius.” Peppy finally said, staring at the hub with awe in his eyes.

“He watched a lot of Transformers as a kid.” Jesse smiled. “So did I.”

“Jesse? You…?” Jirest blinked, nodding at the station.

“I helped. I am a robotics expert, all of that had to be automated with the push of a button. All of it had to be coded flawlessly, we are talking thousands of pages of code. Well worth it though.”

“God, I thought Slippy was smart.” Falco said, making Slippy snort and shove him.

“Forgive me for saying this, Slip.” He smiled sourly. “Slippy is a better programmer then I’ll ever be, but he will never beat me in robotics. He’s about twelve points short of genius, while I’m twenty-five points over.”

“Holy crap. Two smart guys on our ship. Guess that means our arwings will never break down eh?”

Slippy shoved Falco again with a laugh, which cut off abruptly when Jesse blurted a reply. “Uh, actually, just one, Falco. I’m a transsexual.”

The silence which had preceded due to formation of the hub was nothing to the silence that pounded now as everyone stared at Jesse, blinking, faces blank.

Fara laughed, head tossed back, Hope asleep in her arms. “Decided to break the secret, eh? Brave man.”

Wolf only smiled, knowing that meant that Jesse trusted everyone, and that it was a good thing. It would take a while to adjust, but who cared? Jesse wasn’t changing, he already had, and was just informing people of that fact.

After about two minutes, Jesse wove a hand in front of Falco’s face, who hadn’t changed his expression the entire time—blank incomprehension. “Wheel is spinning, hamster is dead.” He finally said with a weak smile. “I was born a girl, but I’ve got a psychological thing, I’ve got a male personality and mentality. I take testosterone and all, but genetically and currently physically, I’m female. Pisses me off to no end.”

There was another long silence, then Fox tossed his hands up. “Jesse, you helped bring my kid into the world, you could practice voodoo and drink blood and I would still have a hard time finding a fault in you. Just don’t give me details.”

Jesse laughed. “Thanks, Fox.”

Falco’s brain finally caught up, and he sputtered. “But you… and he…” He looked to Wolf, then back to Jesse. “How…? But then… Argh!” He shook his head and stomped off. “Why do my team mates have to be such weirdoes?!” He asked over his shoulder, standing in the doorway for a second.

Wolf pegged a crumbled soda can off his head.

General Pepper sighed, prying the cap off the beer bottle absently, staring out at the new hub. The official word now was that he could relax. Talar’dan’i’ was closed, so their business with that was on hold for now. The hub was built, and their first colony’s modules were being constructed to be landed within a week. Patrols were set up, the list of the first people awakened was set, everything was according to plan.

Except, of course, the trouble with the Rekuva. Tordak’s ship the Cold Cry had been recalled, and he hadn’t been heard from since. Now they had a new overseerer, but at least she hadn’t tried to boss him around yet. The Vun had been the most helpful, ignoring the issue with the Rekuva and helping them plan their colonies, their glittering childlike eyes shining as they revealed mystery after mystery to the scientists of Lylat. The Galaxy council checked in, but didn’t reprimand the Rekuva. It wasn’t their business, they had deemed, but Pepper thought it was very well damn their business.

He took a swig absently, slouching further into his seat. Either way, he needed a few days to relax.

His comlink chirped, and he sighed, lifting a hand to his headset. “Pepper here. What? I’m on temporary leave of duty.”

“We know sir.” It was Reeve, his current Second in Command. “You know we’ve been waking people up as needed, and, well… that included a host of medical staff.”

“Well, yes, of course. What about it?” He played with the bottlecap, mind wandering. He was probably going to sleep most of his leave time away, but gods, he needed it…

“Well, sir… We’ve got a doctor here who wants to see you.”

“Tell them to wait until I’m back on duty.” He took a drink, lifting a hand to turn off the radio and remove it.

“But sir! She’s claiming to be your wife. Sir.” Reeves blurted, sounding bewildered.

The bottle slipped from his hand, and beer splattered over the floor.

Nancy worked her fingers against each other, ears pressed back against her slender skull, shivering nervously in the cold meeting room. She couldn’t believe that she had done this, not after the trouble she had gone through to make very damn sure she’d never see Charles again, nearly twenty-five years ago. It had seemed so necessary then, she had been so young, so damn young and arrogant and angry. Now, nearing fifty-five, she was wiser, and almost painfully regretful of what she had done.

It had made so much sense then! She felt like she had hated him, she had wanted to get away from him. She had changed planets, switched names, done everything she could think of. And now, here at a new home, she felt… changed. She wanted to have a new beginning. She could do that even at this age, right? Even an old dog could learn a few new tricks, right?

The door opened, and Pepper froze with his hand still wrapped around the knob, slowly lifting a hand to take off his mirrored sunglasses. The woman sitting at the table waiting for him was older then he remembered, but that delicate beauty he had loved so much was still there, the radiance was still there. Pain thundered his heart, confusion. Why now, after so long? After he had been so certain she was gone forever from his life?

“Hi, Charles.” Nancy smiled weakly, standing, brushing her skirt out. She was a greyhound, still thin and athletic in her age, silver fur accumulated on her jaw and around her eyes.

“Nancy.” He stepped in and closed the door, setting his sunglasses on the table after a moment, not looking at her. What would he say, after twenty-five years? Bitter words? Plead? He didn’t know how to feel.

“Did I come at a bad time?”

“No. I’m on leave for now. High Command felt I needed it.”

She chuckled weakly. “I didn’t know you were even Commanding General until the war… made it easy to find you.”

“Your lack of knowledge is no fault of mine, Nancy.”

Her face fell. “That’s unfair.”

“No, it isn’t.” He turned back, his naturally sad eyes full of old pain. “You left me, old love. You flew into a rage and left me.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that.” She finally said, looking away, unable to meet his gaze.

“Why did you come here? You should have known some wounds can not be healed. I never remarried.”

“Neither did I.” She said carefully. “I had to come here, Charles, I had to.”

“Why?”

There was a very long silence, and she turned back, wiping at one of her eyes. “Because I was wrong.”

“I’m so glad you admit that, finally.” He sat down roughly.

“God, you haven’t changed have you?” She snapped, suddenly furious. “Still the bossy military man, unable to admit to having a flaw.”

“I have plenty of flaws. But I was not the one that left, Nancy.” He spread his hands. “You never explained why you left. I know we were fighting, but was it only that?”

She moaned, sitting down across from him. “You were married to your work, not to me. We barely saw each other, and when we did, all we did was fight. But you weren’t willing to change your hours, Charles.”

“Neither were you.” He replied gently. “And that’s not true. As far as I know, I’m still married to you. I never had it annulled.”

“Neither did I.”

After a long moment he pulled his dog tags out from under his shirt and held them up to the light, letting her see the gold band that was looped through the chain, sparkling dully in the light. She weakly held up her hand, showing the ring, not meeting his eyes.

“So what happens now?” She finally asked, tugging one of her ears nervously, looking away. Twenty-five years. A lifetime. But it felt like nothing had changed. They were older, wiser, more scarred by time, but both felt the flickers of an old fire, and they knew it.

“I don’t know.” He replied honestly. “For starters, I can get you quarters on this cruiser, if you like. We do need to talk about things.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Offering your wife of thirty years her own room? That’s interesting.”

“Have mercy, I’ve slept alone twenty-five of that.” He grumbled, standing. “One of my aides will arrange it for you.”

She stood and caught his hand. “Charles?”

“Hm?” He turned back, feeling old and worn.

She looked up at him for a few moments, then drew him into an uncertain hug. He jumped, then returned it helplessly, eyes closed, wanting to let himself believe that everything was going to be all right, but somehow doubting it.