"After we landed on Corneria, I thought 'Thank God its over!' Little did I know that for me at least, it was just the beginning…" -Commander Beatrice "Boomer" Gray-Monroe, 20 years after the Defeat of Andross.

Boomer Gray trotted off the Great Fox, as soon as she had landed the Shockwave she had practically sprinted to the larger ship to check on her brother. He was still holding up fine, since the medical facilities would be minimal for the time being her brother, Katt and the StarFox team would remain on the ship until things could be sounded out. The GreatFox had landed close to a newly rebuilt Alpha Base, it wasn't as good as the original in Boomer's opinion, but it was in the same location. The husky sighed thankfully that a single jet and a very determined pilot had freed the slave camps on Corneria. As Boomer was about to head for a cluster buildings to see what was going on something else caught her attention.

"Hello?" she mused as she spotted a very unique jet a shot distance away, and somebody she didn't quite recognize kissing a familiar fennec fox. Boomer chuckled, "He better watch out, Fara is a handful." Boomer headed in the direction of the stranger since it also appeared that whoever he was also owned that ship. Always a sucker for new tech, Boomer decided to meet this guy.

Shade Monroe looked away from the Iriah to see an all too familiar jet. The Shockwave, and its cockpit was empty. He silently began to pray Please tell me that Beatrice didn't see me kissing Fara… Please tell me that Beatrice didn't see me kissing Fara… Please tell me that Beatrice didn't see me kissing Fara… The ship hearing his mutterings asked in Imperial {Is everything alright Master Shade?}

Shade sighed and replied {Just the end of my life as I know it Iriah, and please don't call me Master!}, at that precise moment he felt a tap on his shoulder he nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around to look right into the face of his girlfriend. Shade swallowed, she hadn't recognized him yet maybe he'd get lucky…

Boomer looked the black cat over for a few seconds, then she saw the white bandanna with the red symbol on it, and only one person in Lylat had one like it. "Shade?!" she gaped.

"Uh… Hi Beatrice." Shade gave her a sheepish grin, he was relieved as she gave him a hug, though his relief was short lived as she then gave him a perfect sucker punch right under the ribs knocking the wind out of him and sending him to his knees. "Nice.. (gasp) to see… (wheeze) you to."

"Now what pray tell were you doing with that fennec fox?" Asked Boomer.

"Uh… She kissed me first?" Shade gave her a lopsided grin as he got to his feet.

"Uh huh." Replied Boomer; "If I wasn't so glad to see you I'd do more. Count your blessings, and what in the world are you wearing? Where did you get that ship? And what's the deal with those tattoos? They look like Mariko's…"

Before she could rattle off any more questions Shade put his paw over her mouth and simply said, "We need to talk." Boomer nodded and two went off to find someplace a bit more private.

Back in the GreatFox's medical bay Mariko was finishing patching up Peppy. "There, that should do it until we can get you to a better facility." Peppy looked at her carefully.

"What's wrong?" The older rabbit asked.

Mariko was startled for a second, normally Peppy could not read her with his telepathy, her mental shields were normally too strong for a telepath of his level to get through. She must have been really rattled by Fox's appearance back on Venom for her guard to slip down far enough for him to read her. "Simple answer, I'm worried about Fox, I only have a clue on what happened to him back there and just that little bit scares me."

Peppy nodded, "We were all scared of that witch, for some reason she centered her attentions on Fox, Leon was the one who got myself and Bill." Peppy swallowed before continuing. "Is Vixen really that bad?"

Mariko nodded, "Actually she's far worse. I've tangled with her in the past, looks like she's still carrying a grudge against me."

Peppy sighed, "And since she couldn't get to you, she took her revenge on Fox instead."

Mariko swallowed remembering Vixen's final mental message to her back on Venom, "I better go check on the others and see what's taking Boomer so long, she was just going to scout things out and be right back."

"If I recall we are close by to her old station, Alpha Base, she might have run into some old friends and is catching up on what's going on." Mariko nodded in agreement and quickly left the small room to check on the others. As soon as she left Peppy allowed his positive face to slip. He was in the cell next to Fox's back on Venom, he may have not seen all that went on there, but he could hear though. Peppy swallowed and shuttered if only half of what he heard actually happened then the Fox McCloud they knew was dead. All they could do now was to deal with whoever was now in his place.

Boomer was rubbing her temples, "Okay lets see if I've got this straight Shay." She began. "You were enroute to the Sol System when you received news of the attack and then you beelined it back here, saw that Lylat had been taken over and decided to do a suicide run to Venom. Got attacked by StarWolf, got captured by StarWolf then met Vixen, and escaped by trying to set her on fire?"

"Uh huh." Smirked Shade.

"All right, you were able to steal Pigma's WolvenII and then headed for the Imperial System, met Rhogen, who took you to see Mariko's brother and asked them both for help to rebuild the WolvenII into what is now the Iriah." Boomer continued pointing to where the white ship was parked.

Shade nodded and grinned, this next part is where he kept losing her when he tried to explain. Shade guessed that it was hard for a person whose lively hood was science and technology to understand exactly how Knights worked let alone what happened to him on Gadget World.

"So then you and Rhogen went to get parts and you met another Knight, who happens to be a praying mantis, and he is your brother?!" Boomer continued to rub her temples.

"Soul brother." Corrected Shade, "We were brothers in a previous life time."

"Uh huh." Nodded Boomer. "And this Soul brother of yours was able to awaken more long dormant Knight powers that you always had but didn't know it." After Shade's nod Boomer continued. "After that you built the Iriah came back to Lylat and then freed Corneria's slave camps." Boomer paused to catch her breath, "Have I got it straight now?" (Authors Note: For the FULL story see Shade's Fic "Decent into the Soul")

Shade nodded, "I'm assuming that since you escorted the GreatFox to Corneria that Venom is no longer a factor."

Boomer nodded with an evil grin, "You think you have been busy? Shay have I got some stories for you…"

Back on the GreatFox Mariko had finished checking on everybody else and was now peeking into Fox's room. He appeared to be asleep lying on his bed with his eyes closed. Mariko sighed; compared with the rest of the team, Fox was in the best shape physically. He needed the least medical attention other than some food and rest, but it was the mental injuries that gave her the most concern. Mariko stepped into the room to have a look at his few remaining injuries from Leon's torture sessions to make sure no infection was setting in.

When Mariko entered the room Fox's eyes flew open causing her to practically jump out of her skin. She swallowed before speaking. "I thought you were asleep."

Fox's bright emerald eyes had a coldness about them that wasn't there before his capture. He sighed at stated, "I tried to, but I couldn't sleep."

"How are your injuries doing." Mariko came close to asking 'How are you feeling?' but that was a loaded question if she ever heard one.

Fox nodded, "Okay, I guess, they seem to be healing quickly, no infections." He began to get out of bed. Mariko stopped herself short of telling him not to, he was physically fine she had to keep telling herself, and this was his ship.

"Do you need any help with anything?" Asked Mariko. She knew it wasn't the best thing to say, but nothing else came to mind at the moment.

"No, if I need your help I'll ask." Came a rather curt reply. Mariko swallowed at the icy edge to Fox's voice and nodded before leaving the room. Fox sighed after she left, did he still love her? Yes. Came his mental reply, but could he fully trust her? I don't know any more. Came the response.

After leaving Fox's room, Mariko decided to look for Boomer and get some fresh air. She needed it. After leaving the ship she spotted the female husky with somebody she didn't recognize. All Mariko could see from this distance was that whoever it this guy was he was in Imperial Dress and was also a Knight. That made Mariko's guard go up, this guy was not a Rogue, but with her run of luck lately her teacher might have sent somebody to ask her for a favor. Nine times out of ten the favors asked by other Knights were not pleasant to do at all. After a few deep breaths she walked toward them.

"Last I looked Shade, Katt was just fine. From what Bill told me Leon was only with her a few times she's recovering well. I mean you know first hand Mariko's skills as a medic." Boomer was heading back to the GreatFox with Shade in tow, he really wanted to see his sister Katt, last he saw of her was at the hands of Leon and Leon was not in a good mood.

Shade looked up to see Mariko coming off the ship, he was a bit nervous about seeing Mariko again, after all he was a Knight now, hopefully she wouldn't do anything drastic like try and kill him. As Mariko approached her eyebrows went straight up when she saw Shade. "Well its about time!" she chuckled good-naturedly.

Shade's face was priceless as his jaw dropped at Mariko's words. "You… knew?" he was finally able to get out. Mariko nodded.

"I knew from the moment I met you what you had the potential to become. Needless to say I didn't bring it up because I'm not a teacher, I could have told you what you were but couldn't do anything to help you out, so it was better for me to stay quiet. Looks like you met somebody who could bring your hidden skills to the surface." Finished Mariko. "Now I see what took you so long Boomer. Katt's inside she might be awake by now, she'll make a full recovery in a week or so." Mariko quickly walked off.

"Is it just me or does she seem to be a bit preoccupied?" Asked Shade.

Boomer nodded. "Some Rogue Knight named Vixen was using Fox's mind as a play toy. He's just not the same anymore, and given Mariko's feelings for Fox…" Her voice trailed off as Mariko continued toward the group of buildings that made up the current Alpha Base.

Shade swallowed remembering well how his fur stood on end when Vixen was in the same area as he. She was as evil and as cruel as Leon, maybe even worse, may the gods help Fox, and he was going to need every bit of help he could get.

A week later:

"Ow." Was the only thing Shade could get out at the moment. He was flat on his back his new arcane stave was a short distance away from his paw. Mariko just tossed him about 50 yards away using her powers and was not gentle about it either. As his head slowly cleared she saw Mariko about to take advantage of his dazed state as her light gray saber was about to come down on his head, or too damn close to his head for Shade's comfort. After both thinking and saying several unrepeatable phrases about the current situation his stave leapt back into his hand and he was barely able to activate it and block the blow in time.

"Now I'm pissed." He growled.

"Good!" Replied Mariko, "Maybe you can give me an actual workout instead of playing target dummy." Shade's eyes gave off a glow. Mariko sighed, "Not again…" She barely had time to flip out of the way before a stream of flame produced by Shade's powers engulfed where Mariko was. She just landed when he knocked her across the field just as she had done to him earlier. The difference was Mariko knew how to fall and was quickly back on her feet. "Your losing you temper again." She remarked holding her saber at the ready.

"And your point would be?" Growled Shade. Lunging with the stave at Mariko.

"That you would have learned by now," Mariko replied as she leapt behind him and landed a killer roundhouse kick to the back of his head. As Shade was counting the stars in his vision when he hit the ground, she finished her sentence, "that losing one's temper doesn't work worth a crap when dealing with Knights."

"Must you make that particular point with pain?" Groaned Shade rubbing the back of his head as he got to his feet deactivating his stave.

"Be grateful, some teachers I know would have put you in a body cast to make that point." Mariko caught her breath as she to deactivated her saber and hung it on her belt before sitting down under a nearby tree and grabbing a water bottle.

Shade swallowed. "I hope I don't have to go through that." He also set himself down nearby the tree and used his knack to grab his water bottle. "Hey I actually caught it this time!" He crowed as the plastic bottle landed in his hand, Mariko shook her head, last time Shade tried to grab something telekinetically it wound up about 20 feet behind him.

"It's a start." She replied, "You've got a good grip on your element powers, but it's the basic skills and control that you need help on. Without them your element powers are about useless unless your emotions are borderline out of control. We've both seen what happens then." Mariko finished with a pointed glance toward the singed area of the field that was still smoking from his last blast.

Shade nodded in agreement, "Any suggestions?"

Mariko replied, "I can try to teach you what I can, but I may have to locate my teacher for some advice or he'll have to take over your training, but that's only a last resort. Off the subject how is Boomer doing? I haven't seen or heard much of her lately."

Shade sighed, "Busy, the CMF is a tad short handed and since she is an officer they have been keeping her hopping. Thankfully she's staying on Corneria, Katina was badly hit and she was almost sent there for the time being."" Mariko rolled her eyes at the mention of Katina, she was a tad responsible for some of the damage there, along with Boomer, Ariel and Wolf O'Donnell. Shade looked at her funny, "What do you know about Katina?" he asked.

"Damn you are getting better!" She laughed, "Let's just say Venom left a nice load of supplies at Headquarter Base and leave it at that!" Shade chuckled in response, rumors were flying around about the mercenary team that helped free the system and killed Andross, Mariko and Beatrice were confirmed members the other two were still a mystery to most people. "I better get back to the GreatFox." Sighed Mariko, "Jobs may be far and few between now, but there is still work on the ship to be done. Same time tomorrow?" Shade nodded as the two walked back to their ships that were parked nearby.

"Contrary to most peoples belief, I don't like to kill. It's so much more fun to drive them to the brink of insanity and let them live…" -Vixen: Former Commander of StarWolf

Late that night:

He was back in the cell on Venom, he heard the soft footsteps of his tormentor coming closer and closer to his cell. He quaked in fear and horror. How can any being be so cold, so heartless as to gain pleasure from another's torment? She was coming again, as the cell bars deactivated his nightmare made flesh walked in. She yanked him to his feet and was forced to look into the cold yellow eyes that only brightened when he or another suffered. This time the eyes were different and they scared him to his very soul, "No.." he whimpered…

"NOOOO!!!" Fox sat straight up in bed drenched in sweat. It took him several minutes to orient himself. He glanced around the room, his room, on the GreatFox, he was not on Venom anymore. He was trying to calm down when he heard the pounding on his door.

"Fox! You okay in there?" Falco's voice came through the door.

Fox silently cursed, he woke up the entire ship. Again. "Come in Falco, it was just another dream." He finally answered the avian's insistent pounding on his door.

Falco's blue feathered head came into the room, "Need anything aside from you-know-who's head on a platter?"

"Yeah keep the rest of the team out, if possible." Muttered Fox.

Falco leaned out of the room and back in, "Sorry pal, too late they are already here."

"Great." Muttered Fox as he saw Peppy yank Falco out of the way and stick his head in.

"Fox?" the older rabbit asked.

"I'm okay, really. Everybody just go back to sleep, it was just another nightmare." Fox tried to convince his crew to just leave him alone, he really didn't want their concern right now.

"You heard the Leader, everybody out!" Called the last voice Fox wanted to hear, he inwardly winced, she wasn't gonna buy his bravado act.

Mariko had to yank both Falco and Peppy out of the room, to reassure them she whispered, "I'll get a look at him before he kicks me out too, now go back to bed." They finally agreed and trotted off back to their respective rooms. Mariko shook her head and glanced back at Fox.

"I meant you too Mari." Growled Fox as he headed for the bathroom to clean himself up a bit.

"I know but if I don't stay here for at least a few minutes you'll have either Falco or Peppy camping out outside your door." Replied Mariko.

"You are kidding." Came Fox's voice from the bathroom.

They have done it before, I should know I had to relocate Falco's shoulder." Quipped Mariko.

A snort came from Fox has he came back into the room, "I'm fine, it'll just take me a bit to get my head back on straight, at least I know the difference between dreams and reality now."

"Are you sure?" Asked Mariko.

"Yes." He answered. "Get some sleep Mariko, I'll be fine."

Mariko nodded and left the room. As much as she wanted to use her powers to repair the damage Vixen had caused, she couldn't. First of all she needed Fox's permission to muck around in his head, and secondly she hated using the mental aspect of her knack like that. Reading feelings and thoughts was one thing. Tampering with memories was another. If the code she lived by didn't stop her, her morals did.

After the door shut Fox could have punched himself, he wanted nothing more than to gather Mariko up and tell her that nothing had changed between them. But things had changed and they both knew it. The final image of his dream still haunted him, the one that caused him to scream himself awake:

Instead of the off white feline with evil yellow eyes that he expected he saw a white rabbit with black hair and a familiar red tattoo, but the normally warm dark eyes were cold as ice. Mariko…

A month later:

Slowly but surely Lylat began to heal after the war. Teams had been sent from Corneria to Venom and the other Venom controlled planets to completely disassemble the remains of Andross's empire as well as repair the damage done to Venom and Zoness to restore the blighted worlds to their former glory.

The first division to explore the ruins of Andross's main base found the remains of Pigma Dengar in the charred shell of his WolvenII, and the body of Andross himself under a couple hundred pound slab of concrete. Formal notices for the death of StarWolf's commander, Wolf O'Donnell, were also discovered. Per this information it appeared that an escaped Cornerian soldier was responsible for the death. However his name was not recorded. That only left, Leon Polowski, and Andross's nephew, Andrew still not accounted for. Andrew's WolvenII was discovered with a bomb planted on it to explode when launched, but it appeared he had escaped another way.

A report given by Lieutenant Gray showed that at last sighting Leon was alive but badly injured, since his WolvenII was missing as well, it was also believed that he had escaped alive. As for the unknown Rogue Knight who took Wolf O'Donnell's place she too slipped through the CMF's fingers.

The remaining commanding officers of the CMF had divided the remaining forces into separate teams to gather and rebuild the shattered system. One team's sole mission was to decode and analysis the massive amounts of data stored in Venom's computer banks. General Pepper, along with other high placed officials, believed that there was no way that Andross's blitz attack would have worked unless there were spies and traitors with in the ranks of the CMF. Hence the team was formed to attempt to find a trace of them with in Venom's database. As well as any other surprises that Andross might have left behind.

The head of the team was a husky Two-Star General, named Roger Grayson and he was currently sitting in a make shift office on Venom going through the mounds of data his team had collected and condensed, and it still was a huge amount of information. General Grayson was a very ambitious man he knew if he found a traitor or even one of the missing Venom war criminals it would skyrocket his career. He was about to call it a day when one of his team ran into the room with a stack of papers. "Sir! I found something!"

Grayson looked up, "Yes?" he asked.

The ferret nodded quickly, "I was going through the high classified files like you said and I found what information Venom acquired on the Black Dolphins, all four members that is." He finished with a grin. General Grayson practically snatched the file from the ferret's grip, a war hero may not get him as many points as a war criminal but it would do. Pepper was very eager to honor the Black Dolphins Team as a whole, not just the two members that had been identified so far.

"Tell no one what you read in this file until you have my say, is that understood?" The canine ordered. The ferret nodded, saluted and left the room. Roger eagerly opened the files the first one was on a member of StarFox, Mariko, it covered from when she was captured by Venom with the rest of StarFox, escaped and later on was a member of several raids on numerous planets, including Katina. Grayson snorted with disgust, he'd never touch that Knight for the raid on Katina, being a member of StarFox would protect her for the most part, and the fact it was Venom controlled at the time made her actions acceptable.

The second file, he almost dropped, it was a very detailed dossier on Lieutenant Beatrice Gray, and as to how she survived the initial bombing on Alpha Base where she was stationed was unknown to Venom. General Grayson assumed that she was in the Base's underground bunker at the time of the bombing and later broke herself out. What she had done after the bombing was quite clear. The Shockwave, her personal jet designed by her, was a confirmed sight on several Venom bases during various raids. Side by side with the stolen WolvenIII. He placed her file aside for now, it would deserve his special attention later. He then glanced the next file and his eyebrows raised, "Ariel Triton? Who is she?"

A few checks into the Cornerian Database soon answered that question, Ariel Triton was a scout and information gather who worked for StarFox while James McCloud was still alive. How he had found her was a mystery, but since he trusted her, so did the people he worked for. About six months before Pigma betrayed StarFox to Andross she had left Lylat for parts unknown. Venom's records filled in some of the blank spots of her story. It seemed like she was directly responsible for a series of thefts throughout Lylat and James was asked to bring her in, not to the authorities but to her victims. When the reasons came out that the items she stole were already stolen James helped turn his employers in. Later on Andross approached her with an offer to betray James, and she bluntly refused the offer. Andross had waited until after she left Lylat before approaching Pigma and making his offer to the obese pig for fear that Triton would warn James. The file also contained a detailed scan of her main ship called the New Atlantis, General Gray's eyes bugged out. If he could get that ship… He quickly discarded that idea, her former association with StarFox would shield her as it did Mariko.

He pulled open the last file and a slow grin spread across his features, as impossible as it was, the last member of the Black Dolphins was none other than Wolf O'Donnell, leader of StarWolf and on the CMF's Top Ten Most Wanted. Andross tried to have him killed and failed, he was found by the Dolphins and they used the information he had to fight Andross. An interesting piece of information, evidently it was discovered that he was the Dolphins fourth member just before the final attack, since most of Venom's general population still believed that he was dead. Even the CMF believed he was dead and had not bothered to issue a warrant for his arrest for war crimes against Lylat. But since the war had ended Wolf had not been seen, period, he should have been turned over by the Dolphins after his usefulness was ended to the CMF. Yet he was still on the loose, General Gray smiled darkly and picked up Lieutenant Gray and Mariko's files, association with StarFox or no, he might have a way to get everything he wanted.

Before he could arrange an interview with Ms. Gray he had some other details to take care of. There was a large stack of files that he had kept separate for the rest. They outlined how one William Gray had assisted Andross in the takeover of Katina. He made sure he was the only person who saw those files, the only person alive that is. He went through a great deal of trouble to alter records to make himself a General in the CMF, the real General Grayson was a recluse and his face not known to most, the few who did know him were no longer around. He couldn't have his own involvement with Andross's blitz attack show up at this point. It would be hell on his new career. He smiled darkly as he transferred Venom's files on the Black Dolphins to his own database and calmly burnt the originals, along with several other skeletons that he had with his closet.

Corneria- A week later:

Beatrice Gray had her head stuck into one of the many jets that needed repair and evaluation at Alpha Base. Only a few were salvageable and everybody and anybody regardless of rank who knew their way around an engine were drafted to help. Bill Gray was about fully recovered by now and was on Corneria assisting with the countless other things that needed to be done to rebuild Lylat. He strolled through the hanger bays looking for his sister, when he did he made the mistake of tapping her shoulder while her head was still under the hood. She quickly stood up and whapped her head on the metal plate. Bill winced at the colorful cursing that followed.

Still holding her head Boomer turned around, saw her brother and muttered. "I am going to hug you now."

"Shouldn't that be, 'I'm going to kill you now'" Bill gulped taking a few steps back, death would be preferable to a hug from his sister at this point.

"I'm in a grease covered jumpsuit and you are in nice clean dress uniform, a hug will do for now." Boomer got an evil grin and was about to pounce on her brother when he pulled out an envelope and held it front of him as if it was a totem to ward off evil. Since it was official orders for his sister from CMFHQ it was close. She paused in mid pounce and gave a huge sigh as she grabbed the envelope. "Lucky." She muttered pulling off her gloves before opening the envelope.

Bill sighed with relief, "This is my last uniform Bea, I do not want to attempt to get it cleaned now." He peeked in the engine she was working on. "Ow is it dead yet?" He asked looking at the borderline totaled engine.

"Not quite…Yi yi yi.." She gulped reading the orders.

"What did they do give you a promotion and transfer?" Grinned Bill, knowing his sister's loathing of paperwork; she had been dodging any promotion that would stick her behind a desk for any length of time.

"No, you know the group that was sent to Venom? The Head of that Division wants to see me, tomorrow bright and early at CMFHQ."

Bill was confused, "What? Their main objective is to sniff out traitors and war criminals, why do they want to talk to you?"

"Computer help?" Shrugged Boomer, "I mean my crew is the best at this kind of thing."

Bill nodded, "I'm sure that's it, I mean you saved General Pepper, StarFox and I from Venom, which is not the work of a traitor. But call me after the meeting, I'm still curious on why they are meeting with you so formally if they just need your skills." Boomer nodded in agreement.

"No problem, I gotta call Shade, tomorrow was my day off." She grumbled as she left the hanger. As Bill snickered behind her she muttered "Shut up."

Next Morning:

At eight o'clock exactly Lieutenant Beatrice Gray was reporting as ordered to Cornerian Military Forces Headquarters. She hated this place, a bit too stuffy for her tastes, give her a field job or stick her on garage duty before stuffing her behind a desk. To top it off she had to take a transport to the HQ Building, full dress uniform and her motorcycle did not mix. Oh well, she walked up to the reception desk and told the female hamster there who she was and that she was expected. After a shuffle of papers and a phone call or two she pointed down the hall.

"General Grayson is in his office second door to the right, and he is expecting you Lieutenant." The hamster relayed to her. Boomer gave her a smile of thanks and headed down the hall. After a brief knock and a muffled response to come in Boomer walked into the room and if she had her blaster she would have shot the figure behind the desk without a second thought.

"Grayson." She muttered under her breath, "I should have guessed, but I didn't think that you'd ever pull off something like this."

"Is that anyway to speak to your father young lady?" General Roger Grayson A.K.A. William Gray Sr. asked almost casually.

"When he still has a warrant outstanding for his arrest for my kidnapping? I think so. So what do you want, I doubt that you ordered me up here for just a pleasant chit chat." Boomer was so wary now she swore her fur was practically standing on end. Not only was her father back in the area, but he now had the power to not only destroy her life but the lives of some of her closest friends, not to mention her brother's as well, and he had plenty of motive to do so.

He gave a smile, "Not much really, just give me some information and that's all I'll ask of you. Then we both can get on with our lives."

"What kind of information?" Replied Boomer flatly.

"Where's Wolf O'Donnell?"

"Excuse me?" She croaked. "How would I know where he is?"

"According to Venom's records he was a member of the Black Dolphins team same as you, however after the war was ended you and Mariko came back to Corneria without O'Donnell, in custody or no. That leads to the question, where is he and did you aid his escape?" Grayson smiled coldly.

No matter what she said she knew her career was dead, thought Boomer, he'd find a way to twist whatever she said against her if she didn't give him an exact location, and she didn't have an exact location. Okay she had an idea of where Wolf might be if he was still in Lylat, but nothing else. "I have no idea," She replied, "on the rescue raid to Venom we were split up into two groups, Mariko and I headed for the dungeons, the last I saw of O'Donnell was when we entered Andross's base."

Her father cocked an eyebrow, no doubt she was telling some of the truth, but he knew her better. She had no love for O'Donnell but she may be protecting Triton or Mariko. "Do you have any idea where he might go then?" He was still smiling that cold smile.

The first thought that entered Boomer's mind was the abandoned base on the Jungle Planet; she stopped herself short from mentioning it though. For all she knew Wolf might be long gone, but Ariel might still be in the area, the last thing she wanted was for somebody like her father to get his hands on a ship like the New Atlantis. "No, I don't. I do know if I was in Wolf O'Donnell's shoes I would already be out of Lylat."

"Indeed." Muttered her father. "Then tell me about Ariel Triton."

Boomer's eyes grew wide. "Why her? She saved my life and without her help we never would have done as much damage to Venom as we did."

"According to Venom's databases she's also a professional thief, she may have other motives to assisting you as well as plans with or for Wolf O'Donnell. So do you have any information on her?" If it was possible the husky's smile got even colder.

Boomer swallowed, "Other than James McCloud trusted her? Not much." Then Boomer's emotions got the better of her; "Not much I'm willing to tell you that is."

His smile turned into an icy cold glare. "Evidently you are not paying attention to the situation my dear. One word from me and you'll be bouncing in a eight by ten cell for the rest of your life!"

"And one word from me will have you in the cell next to mine." Boomer hissed back. "A simple blood test is all it will take to destroy your cover."

"You may be willing to sacrifice yourself to put me behind bars my dear Bridget," Boomer flinched at the mention of her old alias, "but what about your friends, and your brother? I found some interesting information on a Shade Monroe." He let his voice trail off.

"You. Wouldn't. Dare." Growled Boomer. Shade had been dishonorably discharged from the CMF for allowing a few members of his squadron, including his then fiancée, to be killed due his own errors, and lack of concern for their safety. It was later proven that it was not Shade's fault, but the CMF didn't want to hear it so the records stayed the same. The last thing Boomer wanted was to have that dark portion of his life reopened and ripped to shreds by her vindictive father.

"I can and I will my dear. You give me the information I seek or I will have your Shade Monroe brought back into custody for conspiring with the killer of his Squadron and then killing her to cover his trail. I'll not mention what I can do to Commander Gray's career for now." He stood up behind his desk. "Well what will it be?"

Boomer was seething, he had her by the short hairs and he knew it. He can and will forge the evidence needed to destroy everybody she cared about. "I already told you, I don't know where Ariel and Wolf are, what else do you want to know?"

"Well Lieutenant, you'll have to find them now won't you? While your doing that you can also tell me how a strike team can get aboard Triton's ship as well."

Boomer almost lost it at this point. Her father wanted to hand Triton, O'Donnell, and the New Atlantis to General Pepper on a platter and was blackmailing her to help him. "Like hell I'll have to anything for you." She growled.

"Well then I was hoping I wouldn't have to use drastic measures on my own daughter, but it seems like you need to learn who you betters are. Lieutenant Gray either you assist me in the capture of Wolf O'Donnell, Ariel Triton, and securing the New Atlantis, or I will place you under arrest for aiding and abetting a known War Criminal. You have 24 hours to think about it. Do I make myself clear?" He smiled darkly.

Boomer was furious, her utmost wish at the moment was to have several high powered explosives planted under his chair and her hand on the switch. But that would get her nowhere. Knowing her luck there wouldn't be enough left of the body to prove her claims on his deception. So she'd have to go about it another way, but would she have enough time? "Crystal." Hissed Boomer in response.

"Very good Lieutenant, you are dismissed, I expect to here from you soon." 'General Grayson' calmly went back to his paperwork as if he just asked for a routine report from her.

By some miracle Boomer calmly walked out of his office out of CMFHQ and was heading back to Alpha Base. During the entire trip she was seething, she had less that twenty four hours to prove who 'General Roger Grayson' really was, that was next to impossible with out a blood test, which he would never give. To trace his computer trail would also be a long and grueling process; he was a computer programmer and specialist before her parents divorced. Now he had his own resources plus those of the CMF to cover his tracks. She could contact Bill, but knowing him he'd try the direct approach. Wouldn't work on their father. He'd vanish again and be sure some wrenches were in the works before he did so. One thing was certain, she wasn't giving her father what he wanted, and he would pay for his crimes, one way or another.

"The worst part of the month following Andross's Defeat was seeing Fox suffer and not being able to do anything to help. When the time came for me to help, all heck broke loose..." - Mariko; Member of StarFox

Back on the Great Fox:

Over the past month Fox's temper had gotten shorter and shorter especially with Mariko. Peppy was wondering how Mariko was staying in control; Fara would have decked him by now. It went with out saying that Mariko was spending less and less time on the ship. The theory was to give Fox some space until he got his head sorted out; it was working in a way. Now Fox thought she was avoiding him.

Fox finally screwed up his courage and decided to look for Mariko, they were over due for a long talk. He first checked with ROB64 and made sure that both the Trainer and Mariko's new jet, KnightFall, was still in the hanger. They were and Mariko was also in the hanger, per ROB she was not prepping for launch. Curious he headed down to see what she was doing.

Mariko had her head inside the KnightFall's engine, on her last flight the jet seemed a bit jerky to her. Since Slippy wasn't around she took a peek, her skills as a mechanic were not as good as Boomer or Slippy's but she knew her way around an engine. It came with the territory of being a pilot. After forty minutes of scrounging around she finally spotted the problem, the connections between the steering thrusters and the pilot controls were a hair out of alignment. Since the controls were so sensitive and precise, the slightest flaw or misalignment could result in a noticeable loss of performance by the pilot. Mariko needed a tool, which was on the ground, outside the jet. She groaned she couldn't remember exactly where it was so forget her knack. She was about to pull herself out of the engine when she heard a set of footsteps close by.

Fox was half smiling, it was very rare to see Mariko working on the jets, not because she didn't want to, but because though she was a good pilot, she wasn't the best mechanic. He was trying to figure out what to say when Mariko's muffled voice called to him. "Could you please hand me the size, uh, 5 conductor wrench?"

Fox almost busted out laughing, he grabbed the tool she wanted and handed it to her, he also grabbed the size 4 and the size 6, nine times out of ten, the connector was never the size you thought it was. Sure enough a growl told him it was the wrong size, "Nuts, too small, hey can you hand me the…" The size 6 wrench appeared. Due to being in the engine she couldn't hear the chuckles she knew were out there. After a few turns and the alignment corrected she got her head out of the engine. "Oh! Uh hi Fox." Mariko stuttered.

"Hi." Replied Fox, needing a neutral topic fast he focused on the jet. "So what was the problem?"

Mariko quickly followed Fox's lead, if there was one thing you could talk to Fox McCloud about without fear it was jets. "Some connections were a hair off, screwed up the whole jet's control, steering was jerky." Replied Mariko wiping her hands off.

"Only a hair?" Asked Fox, "The Arwing's connectors can be a degree off before performance goes down far enough to be noticeable." He mused.

Mariko smiled, "The Imperials primed this jet for hair steering and maneuvers, a hair off makes a big difference, as I just found out." She rolled her eyes, "Check out the cockpit and you'll see what I mean."

Fox shrugged and hoisted himself into the jet and landed in the pilot's seat. The first thing he noticed was there was no control stick directly in front, but there were two handles that were similar to control sticks to either side of the seat, and they were positioned so they were held horizontally, not vertically. Mariko got up next to the cockpit and smiled. "Unlike most jets this one has two control sticks for each set of steering thrusters on either side of the jet. Only minimum computer adjustments and compensation, so the pilot is controlling about 90% of the jet's actions."

Fox whistled, "I get it, makes for better maneuvering but a pain to control, no wonder it was going to be moth balled, Jeez how can you stand having two controls to worry about? It would drive me nuts!"

"It took some getting used to, but I learned quick, unless I wanted to splattered against the nearest large object." Mariko smiled. Fox snickered.

'That would be a good motivation to learn quickly! Uh any chance I can take it out for a spin?" Fox asked.

Mariko raised an eyebrow, "Only if I can take your arwing out while you're in my jet."

"No way!" Gasped Fox, he then chuckled, seeing now where Mariko was alluding to, "You win, a quick dog fight then?"

Mariko brightened; it was about time Fox showed some emotions other than depression and anger, as well as an interest in flying. "Deal!" she replied jumping down and grabbing a set of com-links tossing one to Fox as he jumped out of the KnightFall and jogged to his arwing. In less than five minutes both jets were off the GreatFox and heading for a nearby asteroid field for a space version of 'Tag'.

An hour later…

"No fair!" Yelled Fox into his com-link, "I can barely see your jet!" He was glancing about trying to locate the KnightFall, since it was matte black and no visual markings it was practically invisible out in space.

"Oh look whose talking Mr. "Lets-shoot-my-Hyper-Lasers-and-move-a-few-asteroids- about-to-see-if-she-can-dodge"! " Mariko laughed back. She was hovering a short distance away from Fox and behind a large asteroid, plotting her next move unaware that Fox was behind her.

"Mwhaha.." Chuckled Fox as he lined up the black ship in his sights, visual may be shot, but her ship showed up on radar at close range well enough.

On hearing the evil chuckle Mariko got worried quick. "Fox?" She asked, just as her console bleeped a warning of a lock on.

"Goose!" Yelled Fox as a low powered laser hit the backside of her ship. Mariko gave a yelp of surprise as Fox gunning it out of the field as fast as the arwing could go, laughing all the way. At least until he saw the KnightFall hovering in front of him. "Well that answers the 'Whose jet is faster?' question." He muttered u-turning his jet in short order. Thankfully he was able to keep Mariko from getting a lock on.

After Mariko finally scored a hit on Fox and they both headed back to the GreatFox. As he climbed out Fox felt better than he had since he came back from Venom. Maybe he and Mariko could patch things up after all. "Thanks." He told her as she climbed out of the KnightFall.

Mariko smiled, Fox was grinning like a madman, and it was a good sign. "No problem." She replied as they walked out of the hanger bay toward the rec-area. As they were chatting things seemed to be on the upswing and almost back to normal. But something nagged at the back of Mariko's mind, If things are going so well, why do I have the feeling that this situation will get much worse before it gets better…

Back on Corneria…

Boomer had made it back to Alpha Base, and had spent the past four hours hacking through as many files as she could find on 'General Roger Grayson'. She was hoping to find something, anything that would prove that the husky claiming to be the two-star general was an imposter. She was having no luck, period, everybody who knew the real General was dead, either by natural causes or in the recent occupation, and Boomer was laying bets the real General was dead as well, killed in the occupation. She could tell simply by looking at some of these records that they had already been 'cleaned' and she identified her father's handiwork in the file's code.

She thumped the desktop in frustration; this was getting her nowhere. Maybe she was going at this from the wrong angle, instead of trying to trace General Grayson to her father, maybe she should try tracking her father to the General instead. Lots of records were destroyed in the occupation, but most of those were military, hopefully the civilian records were intact enough to hopefully open a few doors that her father had missed sealing shut

An hour later Boomer sat in shock in front of her computer. She had found out what happened to her father after she changed her name back all right, and it scared her more than her father's threats to ruin her friends' lives. After she entered the Academy under her real name, it appeared that her father had left Corneria for Zoness. Odd moves, since Zoness was then under the control of Andross. The trail went cold through the civilian records, and heated up again through a small note in a surveillance video taken by a spy on Zoness a month later. Boomer prayed and had hacked into the report, when it came up on her screen she swallowed it was her father, and he was in a Venom uniform. The file noted that the person appeared to be William Gray Sr. and recommended that an investigation be done as soon as possible, it was never followed up on. After she came out of shock she quickly saved the computer's version of the video and did some more hacking to find the exact location on where the original was stored. The copy was good, but the original could be the nail in her father's coffin.

Well the good news was that Boomer found out that the location of the original tape was here at Alpha Base. The bad news was the records building was now so much rubble, she didn't have the time to dig through the ruins and find the box with that tape in it. The records storage boxes used by the CMF were heavy metal and built to survive bomb attacks, the theory was if the boxes were scattered about it would be harder for the enemy to find and reassemble the information. She had the box's number and the tape number but would it be found before her father found this report? She quickly re-hacked into the report and inverted a few numbers about. Now if her dad tried to find the correct tape, he'd be on a wild goose chase, and maybe buy some time.

Boomer sighed, her time was running out quickly. There was no way she would gain enough information to stop her father before he arrested her. Once in prison, she'd vanish, this time maybe for good. She bit her lip and began to type, Shade did leave her a message that he was coming by later, she hated keeping this from him, but hopefully he'd forgive her later. She made two disks, one for Mike and one for her brother, they contained the whole story, from the time she was trapped in the bunker to the time she arrived at Cornerian and confronted her father. She also left warnings to Mike as well as to pass the warning on to Shade, Bill and anybody else who might try and directly confront her father, he'd destroy them all to get what he wanted. They had to make sure they had the equivalent of a smoking gun to put him away for good, she noted the correct location of the tape it would be a good start. After she finished she slipped into Mike's room and left the disks there and a short letter, explaining what to do with the disks. He wouldn't find them until after all heck broke loose, at least she hoped so.

After she was done and returned to her quarters she loaded a virus on her computer's hard drive and let it do it's work, knowing her father he'd grab it and scour it for useable information after she escaped or was safely in jail. Boomer smiled, he'd know jack about what she had been doing, she also grabbed a small packet from under her bed. It had the plans for both the Shockwave and the EM Pulse as well as backups to everything she had on her computer. Boomer glanced at the clock; she had about an hour before Shade got here, not much time. She stuffed enough items to get by into a duffel bag as well as the disk packet and sneaked out to the Shockwave. Loaded it up and made sure it was fueled and ready to go at a moments notice, if she timed this right she wouldn't have too much time to dally about… Her father would have MP's at her door with a warrant for her arrest at 8:00 am sharp; she wasn't planning to be here when and if they arrived.

Back at CMFHQ-

Grayson was tapping his fingers on his desk; he hadn't heard so much as a nasty toned peep from his daughter. It made him nervous, very nervous. He began to scan the CMF's records for recent activity; he had a hunch that she'd be spending her time trying to blow his cover, instead of doing what he asked. He smiled as he saw that a user from Alpha Base was looking into his career, he hacked back through the files to see what else this user was looking at. He almost passed out as the files came onto the screen.

Beatrice was cleverer than he thought.

Instead of wasting her time looking at Roger Grayson, she centered her attention on William Gray Sr. and dug up some interesting information, including a rather embarrassing video of him on Zoness in a Venom uniform working for Andross. There was also a double damning note on the report that stated that the figure appeared to be William Gray and this should be looked into given his son's, Commander Gray, status in the CMF. That note was never followed up on. To top it all off, it seemed like the original tape was stored at Alpha Base, okay the actual building was now rubble but the records containers would have survived, and he knew that no records from Alpha Base were recovered by Venom during the occupation. That meant that Beatrice had access to information that may not topple his career, but it would at the very least get an investigation going into him and his actions.

He scowled as he took note of the record box ID number at the tape's number as well, he decided to make a quick trip to Alpha Base tonight and make sure nobody ever found that tape. Later looking back he should have kicked himself for not double checking the file for tampering before he spent several hours in the dirt looking for the wrong box…

Once Boomer had finished laying out her plans she found it was much easier to act normal around Shade that evening. Planning ahead really did boost your confidence. Her only regret was that she was deceiving Shade now, he'll be mad as all heck when he learned everything, but it was necessary to protect everybody involved, she was hoping that he would see that later. If there was a 'later' for the two of them.

As Shade and Boomer's date progressed Mariko was pacing in her room, "Okay." She muttered to herself, "Fox is doing better, a few small jobs are coming in, from what I can tell Usagi is fine, Shade's training is going smoothly, so why in the hell am I getting this feeling of dread?" Mariko was at her wit's end trying to find out what was happening, the fear of something darker on the horizon had been practically choking her since early this morning. She had tried meditating, writing in her journal, working on her jet, a full workout, everything she could thing of to try and clear her mind and discover what was happening. After another hour of fruitless pacing and no end in sight Mariko, decided to go to bed. Maybe the answer would come to her in the morning.

If Boomer thought she was fooling Shade into thinking nothing was wrong, she was fooling herself. Mariko was right, sometimes it paid to be a Knight. On the way back to Alpha Base he decided to take the bull by the horns and ask her what was going on. "Okay Beatrice," He began casually enough, "what's wrong?"

Boomer about jumped out of her skin, she should have known that her chances of fooling him were slim to done before Andross's takeover. Now they dropped to impossible, catching her breath she answered. "Practicing your homework from Mariko?" she replied with an edge of sarcasm. At Shade's grin she thought fast and hoped he'd buy this answer, it wouldn't be the complete truth, but hopefully it would do. "Believe it or don't but my father is back in the area."

Shade's eyes bugged out. "What?!"

"You heard me." Grumbled Boomer, "He's back and he wants something."

"What does he want?" Shade asked, after their first few dates Boomer had told him about her past, and the creep she and Bill had for a father. Mariko had mentioned that morning that something was about to happen, it was big and it would not be fun. Shade had been having similar feelings though not as strongly as Mariko had. Though now with what Boomer had told him, those feelings had tripled. No way was he leaving her alone tonight. He'd keep an eye on her, one way or another. After all she did have a destiny with him, if those legends he heard on Gadget World could be trusted…

"Have no clue at this point." Stated Boomer is flat tones, "I do have a sick feeling I'll know soon enough. Now I wish I had finished tracking him down when I changed my name back."

"Hey." Replied Shade. "You had know idea this would happen, what's done is done and the best you can do is get him in jail as soon as possible. If I know you Bea, you'll have him cursing your name before round one is finished."

Boomer grinned evilly at that; her father would be cursing her by tomorrow morning, though not for the reasons Shade was imagining. "Heh, you got that right Shay." By this point they were almost back at the base. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Who says I'm going anywhere?" Smirked Shade. Boomer raised an eyebrow.

"Who says your coming in?" Boomer shot back.

"That was the old Shade Monroe you were able to chase out, this is the new Shade and I am harder to say 'No.' to." He clearly stated while smirking. Something was about to happen and Beatrice was involved, weather she was aware of it or not. Like hell he was leaving her alone tonight.

Boomer inwardly groaned, of all the nights Shade had to play this game, he had to choose the one where, for maybe the first time since she fell for him, she honestly didn't want him around. "Hum, hard to say it? Lemme try. Nnnn…" Beatrice stuttered and glared at Shade. He was grinning like a maniac.

"Nnnn…" She tried again. "What the heck are you doing?" She snapped.

"Keeping you from saying 'No.' that's all!" He snickered and mentally counted down. Four… Three… Two… One… and RUN!!!

Right on cue Beatrice lunged for him and he ran as fast as his legs would carry him, now he silently hoped that he had pissed her off enough to lead her where he wanted her and she would not figure it out until it was too late. Thank goodness it was late and the halls were practically empty or somebody would have stopped either one to figure out why she was chasing him through the halls.

Shade darted into a room and a still miffed Boomer was practically behind him. After she entered the room Shade quickly shut the door behind her. Boomer spun around was about to lunge when she finally took note of her surroundings, they were in her room. She shook her head and muttered, "Why you crafty son of a bi…."

Shade quickly put his paw over her mouth, "Hey that's an insult to both of us." He chuckled.

"Fine you made it here, now you can leave." Stated Boomer, trying to keep from giggling, and failing badly.

"I'm not leaving Beatrice." Stated Shade bluntly.

Boomer glared at him, "Give me one good reason why I should let you stay here tonight."

Shade's mind went blank, he couldn't think of a good reason other than this nagging feeling that something was about to happen to her. He acted on instinct, and planted one on her.

Neither of them remembered much else that happened for the rest of the night.

"When I discovered what had happened to Beatrice, I wanted to destroy the entire Cornerian Military Forces and to hell with the consequences!" - Shade Monroe: Freelance Mercenary/Novice Knight

The Next Morning-

At 7:15am Boomer slowly woke up, and was using the still sleeping Shade as a pillow, she sighed and carefully crept out of the bed not waking him up. When you have about three roommates at the Academy you learn how to get dressed quickly and quietly. She decided to use the window instead of the door to sneak out, she knew it was possible, Shade had done it often enough. Just before she climbed out of the window she gathered up Shade's clothing and put it near the foot of the bed she then muttered "Sorry Shay." Before climbing out of the window and vanishing from sight.

At 7:55am Shade Monroe was slowly waking up, and for once he was in a good mood, usually he hated mornings, but not his one. He yawned and tried to give Beatrice a hug, but she wasn't there. He looked around found the room empty then he glanced at the clock, it was almost 8:00am Bea most likely had a shift that started at eight. Shade sighed he'd get himself cleaned up and locate her on the base. He still had that nagging feeling of disaster, he also had to meet Mariko for his lessons at about nine so he didn't have much time. As he grabbed his kimono and hakuma from the foot of the bed when the door was almost knocked in by insistent pounds by somebody not in a good mood.

"Lieutenant Gray! Open this door, we have a warrant for your arrest!" Came a gruff voice.

Shade had no clue what kept him from yelling back but he did know he must have set the world record for putting on a kimono and hakuma as he got dressed and jumped out of the open window. As he hung just out of sight he listened and spied, and tried to find out what was going on here!

No sooner was he out the window then the door splintered inward and several MP's plus a two-star general came in. "No sign of her sir." Stated one MP to the general. The husky growled and snapped back.

"Two of you get to the hanger, make sure her jet is still there if it is lock it down!" After a few 'Yes sirs' two of the MP's jogged out of the room. The general mused, "Clever Bridget, but I'll get the last laugh yet!" He turned the remaining MP's "You get on her computer, and you search the room, and you watch the door incase she comes back."

Shade had heard enough he silently jumped down and sprinted down to the hangers, as he feared the Iriah was still there but the Shockwave was gone, he swore a blue streak and headed for Michael Angel's quarters. If Beatrice had left a message, she'd leave it with him. As he stalked toward another section of the base, something finally hit him. Why did that general refer to Beatrice as Bridget?

Word of the warrant for Lieutenant Gray's arrest went through Alpha Base like wild-fire, and over half the staff was shocked at the unbelievable charges. Aiding Wolf O'Donnell in his escape of all things! Mike Angel heading back to his quarters trying to figure out what was going on, after the MP's had burst into the main hangers where he was working at the time and demanded to know where the Shockwave was parked. He showed them where it usually was but it was gone and another worker had told them that Boomer had taken her jet out about 30 minutes earlier. The MP's left and the whole base soon heard the announcement on why they were looking for her. After being questioned by that creepy general for about two hours on what he knew about her disappearance Mike was finally released.

He opened he door and immediately knew somebody was already in the room. "Boomer?" he whispered hopefully.

"I wish." Came an irate male voice, Mike identified it quickly as he hit the light switch.

"Hi Shade." He replied, "I take it you want the same answers I do, but I'm as clueless as everybody else about this." Mike finished walking into the room and spotted the black cat leaning against the wall looking like he wanted to commit murder.

"Great." Hissed Shade, "At first I was hoping that this was a big mix up, especially when that guy referred to Bea as Bridget. Mike slumped into a chair with shock; some odd pieces were coming together. "What?" Asked Shade seeing the surprised look in the turtle's face.

Mike swallowed, "Did you say 'Bridget'?" After Shade nodded, Mike swore a blue streak, "That General looking for her is a husky named Roger Grayson, before she turned 18 and could change her name back Boomer went by an alias, 'Bridget Grayson' now do you see where I'm coming from?"

Shade cursed in Imperial and growled "Beatrice told me her father was back, but she never told me this, damn it all she KNEW all of this and didn't tell anybody!"

"Take it easy Shade." Stated Mike, in a calm voice, "She might have not had time, and she's smart she must have had her reasons." Mike got up and began to search the room, "And if I know her she left a clue for us, or a message, or something!" Shade quickly joined in before his powers went out of control. After five minutes they found the brown envelope with two disks, one labeled "MA" the other "BG"

Mike pulled a laptop from under his bed, "I have a feeling we don't want whatever is on those disks to be on the Base's network." He stated as Shade nodded after what seeming like an eternity to both of them the computer booted up and they got a look at what was on the disk, it began with a letter…

Mike-

If you are reading this I'm either a) in jail or b) off Corneria and most likely halfway out of Lylat by this point. You have also heard that there is a warrant for my arrest as well, and I can assure you the charges are as fake as Bridget Grayson is. I'm also guessing that Shade is looking over your shoulder reading this as well.

Shay, I'm sorry I could not tell you all of this in person but time wouldn't give me that privilege, I hope you can understand why I have to do it this way.

This whole mess started yesterday morning when General Roger Grayson called me to his office at CMFHQ; his unit is currently stationed on Venom looking into the identities of possible traitors. It took me about 30 seconds to find out that he was actually my father, he wanted to know the whereabouts of Wolf O'Donnell, yeah that SOB is still alive, last I saw of him was on Venom during the breakout and he was alive. Now I have no clue if he's alive, dead in Lylat or out of the system by now.

So I told 'General Grayson' that and he didn't believe me. After a brief 'discussion' on the topic he told me I had better do what he asked or he'd not only put me in jail but he'd also total your life, Shade's, Bill's and anybody else that I might be close to. That leads me to my reason's for leaving, I'm hoping that he'll be too busy trying to find me to hurt anybody else, well that's the theory any way.

On this disk you'll find the full story on WHAT happened during the occupation from when I was trapped in Alpha Base's old bunkers to when I landed back on Corneria with the GreatFox. As well as what information I could dig up of Grayson, it's NOT pretty I'll tell you that much. Take him down Mike, but be sure you've got the smoking gun before you do or he'll slip away again, or worse discredit you like he's done to me. The other disk, if you have not figured it out, is for Bill, with the same message for him. Be sure he gets it AFTER 'General Grayson' questions him, so in essence he won't be lying.

Good Luck, we are all gonna need it to survive this fallout.

Your Friend,
Beatrice "Boomer" Gray

Shade straightened himself up after finishing the letter, he sighed; the feeling of dread and worry was finally passing, this was what he, and Mariko as well, had sensed coming, and he knew what he had to do now. "Do what she says Mike." Muttered Shade. "I'm going after her."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Asked Mike.

"You don't wanna know." Replied Shade stalking out the door.

"How to find her or what your gonna do to her when and if you do find her?" Quipped Mike trying vainly for a light note to this whole mess.

"Both." Snapped Shade from halfway down the hall.

"Crap…." Muttered Mike has he shut down the laptop and followed the black feline out of the room so he wouldn't do anything stupid before he reached his ship. Good thing he did because a certain General was also leaving the base at the same time. The second Shade saw that husky he knew exactly who he was. If the slight resemblance to both Beatrice and Bill didn't tip him off the aura of darkness around him did.

Mike had just caught up with him when a low growl began to build in Shade and his eyes gave off an eerie glow. But before he could release the full brunt of his powers onto the one who had caused so much pain to the lady he loved, he was yanked by the back of his kimono and practically dragged out of Alpha Base before he was spotted by the General's group. Once outside Shade spun around ready to rip the face off of whoever stopped him from killing that slime ball. It was Mike and knowing how Boomer felt about him was the only thing keeping the turtle in one piece. "Why did you stop me?" Shade hissed.

"Two things," Replied Mike, "One you'll do her no good if you get tossed in jail for murder, and two I think she'd kill you for it because she would want the first crack at killing him later." He finished with a grin.

After a brief chuckle Shade's eyes turned back to normal, "Okay, I'll give you that one, but I'm still going after her."

Mike nodded, "By the looks of things the good General is heading for Katina next, I'm gonna hitch a ride and contact Bill after the interview we both know is going to happen." He sighed, "Good luck and I hope you can find her."

"Me too Mike." Replied Shade as he melted into the shadows toward the Iriah.

Boomer had landed at the abandoned base on the Jungle Planet, she was praying she did; yet did not, find the place empty. As a result she was both cursing and thanking the gods when she saw the New Atlantis still in the main hanger. As she jumped out of the Shockwave she yelled. "Anybody home?!"

Ariel climbed out of the much larger ship, blaster at the ready, to see who had come for an unexpected visit, and was quite surprised to see Boomer standing there. "What in the hell are you doing here?" The red head asked, putting the weapon away.

"We have got some serious problems." Began Boomer, "Okay, I've got some problems and they involve you as well, it's a long story.."

"Get your jet on board the ship and well have a long chat, I've been half expecting something to come up." Muttered Ariel, "Just a warning Wolf is still with me."

"After what I have been through in the past twenty four hours, dealing with Wolf will be a pleasure." Stated Boomer as the two women boarded the New Atlantis.

Thirty minutes later:

The Iriah came out of hyperdrive as it neared the Jungle Planet near Katina. "Why would Beatrice come here?" He mused.

{Sight seeing?} The Iriah answered. Shade glowered at the console.

{Just try and get a fix on her ship, she had to land somewhere…} Shade snapped back in Imperial.

{Of Course…Master.} Iriah giggled in its mechanical voice.

{For the last time…} Groaned Shade, {Please. Don't. Call. Me. Master!} The ship just kept giggling.

After 10 minutes and no Shockwave, Shade was starting to get slightly worried. Finally Iriah found something. {A small structure, about the size of a small base or station is about 10 minutes from here at first look it appears to be abandoned but I am picking up the energy signatures of defense screens surrounding the structure.}

Shade nodded, {Lets go…}

"Oy." Muttered Ariel after Boomer had finished explaining what had been happening back on Corneria. "You know you could have told your father about this place I could have gotten out in time, so could Wolf and Delphi would never let the New Atlantis be captured. Period. Delphi would destroy it first."

"That was also part of the demands he made. He didn't just want Wolf, he also wanted you and the New Atlantis, and after I found evidence that he could have been one of the traitors who made Andross's blitz attack possible, do you think I'd do anything for him? Let alone hand over one of the most powerful ships Lylat has ever seen?" Replied Boomer in a blunt tone.

"Well when you put it that way." Sighed Ariel, "If you are looking for a ticket out of Lylat ya got one, no problem. I owe you for finally figuring out how to get those transport transmitters to work right. They were exactly what I needed for the raid on Venom. And did the job I needed to do without a hitch."

Boomer nodded, "Before I split somebody had got to contact Mariko on the GreatFox, as the last member of the Black Dolphins my dad may try and go after her next. The fact she's a Knight my outweigh the fact that she is a member of StarFox."

"A perfect target." Ariel grumbled, "I've met many Knights in my travels and believe me with an exception of very few the rep they have earned is not deserved. I'll contact her, I have to talk to StarFox myself anyway, especially Peppy. There is something important I need to tell him."

Boomer nodded, "I didn't get to much sleep last night, and I had to leave Alpha Base in a huge hurry this morning."

"Nerves?" asked Ariel as Boomer got up to leave the rec room.

Boomer blushed, "No… Uh… boyfriend…" Ariel just snickered to herself as the husky left the rec room. As Ariel headed for the bridge she bumped into Wolf.

"Quick question." He muttered, "Why in the Hell is Gray's ship here?"

"The fallout I was half expecting has hit O'Donnell, we are leaving Lylat tonight and we may have one more passenger to be added before we do." Answered Ariel as she kept walking.

"Whoa." Growled Wolf, "You mean the CMF does have the stones to go after a member of StarFox and Gray's kid sister just to get me and you and I'm suppose to be dead?"

"Not quite, one of your former employers and co-worker has stuck his way INTO the CMF and has a vendetta against Gray. He's using us as an excuse to get her and further his career. I gotta call Mariko before he gets to her next. Gray, you and I already have warrants out for our arrest."

"Hell they may just shoot the Knight." Wolf threw up his arms "Why I've stuck around this long is beyond me."

"Could it be that I'm the only female in the galaxy that can tolerate you without the incredible urge to kill you?" Quipped Ariel as Wolf stalked off with out answering. "Figured as much." She chuckled after he was out of earshot.

Shade had gotten past the defense screens and was standing in awe in front of the large ship in the base's main hanger. "Wow." He whistled. He peeked inside and could barely see the blue and white paint job of the Shockwave sitting in the ship's hanger bay. He sighed and began to board the ship, and all hell broke loose.

Laser blasts seemed to come from everywhere and had him in their sights. "Crappola!" He yelled and dove behind some crates for cover. "Me thinks whoever owns this ship is a bit on the paranoid side…"

Boomer had just gotten cleaned up and changed and was about to take a nap when Delphi's voice broke over the intercom. "INTRUDER ALERT, MAIN HANGER DEFENCES ACTIVATED!"

"Oh no." Swallowed Boomer, "Did somebody place a tracker on the Shockwave when I wasn't looking? I know I removed the standard one when I left Alpha Base!" She was sprinting toward the hanger and got before either Ariel of Wolf did, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who was hiding behind some crates while the ship's auto guns were firing lasers at him. "Delphi! Stand down!" Yelled Boomer. She then hit the intercom, "Boomer to Bridge, I have the intruder situation under control, no need to panic it's just my boyfriend."

"Oh so the only person who really needs to panic is you Boomer." Snickered Ariel.

Boomer just shut the intercom off and headed to Shade who was carefully peeking his rather frazzled head out from around the crates. "It's alright Shade, the defenses are down, you can come out."

"You have allot of explaining to do." He hissed stalking toward her. "Do you have any idea on what kind of wake up call I had this morning?!"

Boomer winced and decided not to even giggle at the mental picture that he just painted. "Here's a short version." Boomer muttered back, "I think my father was one of the traitors who helped Andross in his blitz attack. He was trying to blackmail me not just for Wolf O'Donnell, but for Ariel Triton, an old ally of James McCloud, and this." She finished spreading her arms to the ship around her.

Shade was stunned, "And he's now a General in the CMF, oh Lord Bea, I'm sorry. But why couldn't you tell me sooner?"

"I wanted too, but he threatened to reopen the case of the Mammoth Squadron." Shade flinched, Boomer shook her head, "He covered all the bases, I had no way out but to run and less than 24 hours to plan, I had no time to tell you or anybody else what happened. I'm more than willing to go to jail and take him down with me, but not my friends too."

"So now what?" Muttered Shade.

"The New Atlantis is leaving Lylat as soon as possible. It's possible Mariko may be coming with us too." Stated Boomer. "After that I have no idea on what to do."

"Fine." Stated Shade. "I'm going with you where ever you go now. Tell the captain that you'll have another passenger, I'm bringing the Iriah aboard."

For the first time all day Boomer snickered, she was wondering what Shade would make of Ariel and Wolf as she headed for the bridge to find Ariel. This would be an interesting trip to say the least.

"I will do whatever it takes to survive, if it means destroying the lives of my children, so be it. They should have been more careful…" General Roger Grayson CMF/ A.K.A. William Gray Sr.

Peppy was surprised when he got a page from ROB64, "Private Communication for Peppy Hare." Came the robotic monotone voice. Peppy blinked a few times after hearing the page and tapped a few buttons on the vid console in his room to have the message routed to his room. He did a triple take at the face that appeared on the screen soon afterwards.

"Ariel!" He broke into a grin, "Where in the universe have you been? Still wreaking havoc I assume?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I am!" Crowed Ariel, "And I repaid an old dept to James while I was at it."

"Huh?" Asked Peppy.

"Who do you think helped Boomer and Mariko during the occupation?" Smirked Ariel.

Peppy grinned, "I heard about that, you drove Andross nuts! But how did you repay James?"

"He's now back on Corneria Peppy, I got him out of Andross's clutches for good. He's next to Vixy, where he belongs." Said Ariel in a quiet voice.

After that Peppy just sat back in his chair and sighed. "So." He stated, "You actually did it."

Ariel nodded. "It wasn't easy but yes I got James back, can you find a way to tell Fox and quietly inform General Pepper, he's most likely coming Venom for James now…"

"No problem, I only hope it was a good idea to keep this from Fox." Peppy sighed.

"If Fox knew he'd have been on one of the suicide missions to Venom to get him back, and Lylat couldn't loose another McCloud then." Ariel paused for a moment. "If he's always believed that his father was there, it may be better not to tell him at all."

"I'll think about it." Stated Peppy. "So how long are you going to be around, I'm sure Fox and the rest of the team would like to see you." Asked Peppy.

"I'm gonna be leaving soon and I'm sorry Peppy but there's worse news to come."

"Huh?" Asked Peppy, "What do you mean?"

"You have heard about the warrant out for Beatrice Gray's arrest haven't you?" After he nodded, she continued. "Well it was her involvement with me that got her into that mess so I'm leaving and she's coming with me. I think they'll go after Mariko next."

"WHAT!" Yelled Peppy, "Who is this nutcase?"

"From what I got out of Boomer, it's her father and he's dirtier than I ever was. Somebody better warn Mariko before the CMF comes pounding on your door. I'm sorry to put this on you Peppy, but at times I think you're the only person who keeps that team sane." Ariel sighed.

"Don't worry I'll warn her. If the CMF is looking for you we'd better end this transmission." Peppy muttered.

"This sucker is coded six ways from Aquas, if they trace it I'll eat my control panel. If Mariko wants to come with Boomer and I she knows where to find us we are leaving tonight. Triton out." With that the female rabbit abruptly ended the transmission. Peppy got up from his chair and paged the team to meet him in the rec room, everybody needed to hear this. As well as plan the next move before the CMF played their next card.

"What up Peppy?" Asked Falco as he was the last one to enter the room.

"Nothing good." Muttered Peppy, "I think Fox will be the only one to remember her, but I just got a call from Ariel Triton…"

"The crazy red-head who sometimes helped my father?" Gaped Fox. Peppy nodded. He grinned "Pigma hated her. It think that's why I liked her."

"She was also the one who helped Boomer and I during the occupation." Added Mariko, "I doubt I could have gotten you all out of Venom with out her help."

Peppy sighed, "Well believe it or not she's part of the reason for the warrant out on Boomer, Ariel thinks they might come after Mariko next."

"NO WAY!" Roared Fox. Falco and Slippy agreed.

"Oh shit." Hissed Mariko, "I think I know the rest, damn I knew saving his sorry tail was gonna be a problem." Everybody stopped shouting and looked at Mariko as she continued. "We found Wolf, alive, and used the info he had to plan several of our raids. On the final run on Venom, Ariel and Wolf went heaven knows where while Boomer and I saved you guys. If Ariel survived the base's explosion, then Wolf must have to."

"If they are just after Wolf why didn't Boomer tell them what she knew?" Asked Slippy.

"According to Ariel, she's got a warrant out for her too, Boomer might be reluctant to turn her in." Stated Peppy.

"Up until now I didn't think either Wolf or Ariel were still in Lylat, chances are neither did Boomer, but I'll bet some promotion happy idiot didn't believe her when she stated she had no clue where they were." Replied Mariko.

"So now what!" Snapped Falco, "Hell Boomer's older brother is the Commander of Katina's forces and that didn't stop this creep, what will they do to Mariko and us?"

"One things for sure, I may not like Wolf and love to see him rot in jail, but I sure has hell am not turning Ariel or Boomer in!" Stated Mariko.

Fox sighed, "I better contact Bill he may have more information, either officially from the CMF or unofficially from Boomer. One thing is for sure Mariko you are not going to jail for anything. You saved General Pepper and the rest of us, that's got to count for something."

"I hope your right." Whispered Mariko, "Or I may be a wanderer again." As Fox gave her a look that clearly said 'Like hell you are.' A page from ROB64 broke the tense silence, before anything could be started.

"INCOMING MESSAGE, PRIORITY FREQUENCY CMFHQ" Came the robotic voice.

"Route it here ROB" Answered Fox, as he read the text only message, he swore a blue streak that rivaled Falco on his worst day. He read from the message, his voice cracking. "StarFox is here by ordered to turn one Knight Mariko to the custody of the CMF for aiding known war criminal: Wolf O'Donnell. Failure to do so will result in charges of conspiracy against StarFox and seizure of their ships."

After five minutes of silence, Mariko finally spoke. "I left before you got this notice." She then pivoted on her heel and sprinted to her room.

"Like Hell." Snapped Fox and tore after her.

Mariko had already packed most of what she needed into a bag and was placing her father's swords back into their protective case by the time he got there. "You don't have to leave, I'll contact Pepper, we'll get this taken care of…"

Mariko stopped him in mid-sentence. "The last thing I want is to see my friends go through another hell just when they have recovered from the last one. I'm sure Pepper will clear the rest of the team, but at the cost of me. Face it Fox! They practically destroyed Boomer! I'm a Knight what the hell do you think they'll do to me! I will not sit by and watch as StarFox and everything you ever cared about get blown to dust for my sake!"

"So you're running away!" Thundered Fox back, "How will that help anything! Except maybe prove their case against you!"

"It will by you time." Replied Mariko, "I have a sick feeling that if you don't contact them quick they'll send somebody here to get me and maybe you as well. Something is very wrong about this whole mess, but we do not have the time to solve it now. Contact Bill, if I know Boomer she would have gotten a message to him on this whole mess, find how who's behind this and why! Once you clear my name I can hopefully come back. Please Fox, I don't want to go but I have to or see those I care for the most be destroyed. Please try and understand."

Fox hung his head, she was right damn it all. "Okay, you win. Once I clear your name your back in Lylat and on this ship. Got it?"

Mariko nodded, "Thank you. Good Bye Fox." She quickly kissed his cheek and grabbed her bags and sprinted to the hanger before the tears that were threatening to spill out did. After the KnightFall was safely out of the hanger Fox stalked to the bridge.

He paged Slippy, "I need you to fudge our computer records, swap the time we received the message from CMFHQ with the time the KnightFall took off."

"Understood Fox." Came the frog's sad reply.

"Open a channel to whoever sent that damn message form the CMF ROB." Hissed Fox. "I've got a few choice words for that SOB."

A short time later Mariko was getting the KnightFall into the New Atlantis. "Welcome back." Stated Ariel, "Though I wish it was under better conditions."

"You're not the only one." Muttered Mariko. "They threatened to seize the GreatFox if Fox didn't cooperate. I split before he decided to do something stupid. Really stupid."

"Come over to the rec area I have a plan." Smiled Ariel. As they headed out of the hanger Ariel told Delphi to seal up the bay and take off under cloak.

In the rec area, Boomer, Shade and Wolf were waiting when the ship gave a slight shutter. "We're leaving, that means the Mutton is here." Stated Wolf.

Shade was about to open his mouth when Ariel and Mariko came in. He quickly closed it, the two men had been glaring daggers at each other since they found out the other was aboard. Boomer was ready to blow them both up if they didn't at least try to behave. Ariel rolled her eyes at the scene she must be insane for even thinking that this could work, but oh well!

"Okay we are heading out of Lylat into the great big universe, any suggestions on now what do we do." All Ariel got in return was dead silence. "Okay I'll make a suggestion, we reform the Black Dolphins, if Lylat don't want us there are plenty of systems out there who might."

Wolf grinned, Boomer looked shocked, Mariko raised an eyebrow, and Shade looked confused. Wolf was the first to speak, "Where do I sign up?"

Okay it official, thought Ariel, He's as insane as I am. "Anybody else?" She asked.

Boomer tossed up her paws, "Oh why not! Despite our differences we sure made one hell of a team against Andross, count me in Ariel."

Shade pointed at Boomer, "Where she goes I go."

Mariko pointed at Shade, "Somebody's gotta keep him from blowing up half the ship, I'm in."

"It's official then." Stated Ariel with a fiendish smile, "The Black Dolphins are back and heaven help the universe."

Alpha Base that night:

Bill Gray was combing the ruins of the former records building with a metal detector. He had already found all the boxes above ground and none of them was the one he was looking for. Hence the metal detector, from the second he saw 'General Grayson' enter his office that morning he knew that it was his father. When he stated why he was there it was everything Bill could do not to toss him out of the window.

After the rather loud interview and the General giving him a rather firm warning on what might happen if he decided to aid his sister he left. Shortly after that Mike Angel came to see him. The turtle just walked in left a disk labeled "BG" on his desk and walked out. As soon as the door shut behind him Bill pounced on the disk and slammed it into a laptop, thankfully Katina's network wasn't up yet so there was no fear that somebody could hack into the files.

He read his sister's letter, and dissected every scrap of information she gave him. After he was done he smiled coldly. At times he would have blasted first and asked questions later, but his situation required something different. So his father thought that he could hide among those he betrayed and get away with it? William Gray Sr. was about to discover exactly how much of his nature he had truly passed on two his children.

After hours of taking his anger at the world in general and his father in particular out on the hard earth Bill finally got a beep on the detector. He quickly dug it the record box hidden under the ground and scrapped off the grime that covered its label.

Using a flashlight he read it hoping that it was the one he was seeking. It was and the seal was also intact. The tape showing his father working for Andross on Zoness had survived. Bill flew back to Katina in the Gray One that night with the box next to him.

It wasn't enough to put 'General Grayson' in jail and clear Beatrice's name, but it was a start. A beginning. As he neared Katina his gaze strayed to the Jungle Planet nearby.

Even from this distance he could see a form leaving the planet's atmosphere. It had to be a sizable ship to be spotted at this distance. The form arched toward the borders of Lylat before it melted into space and disappeared from his vision. He smiled. Beatrice's noted had told him about the abandoned base and the New Atlantis.

Good luck little sister, don't worry we'll celebrate your homecoming soon enough. Bill smiled at his thought as he headed to Headquarter Base. StarFox and his work was just beginning…

The Beginning…

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