Katheeri

[Zaphyr Stone]

The nurse walked him back to a more open area of the floor, a sort of central hub for the different corridors. The nurses' station was in the center of this hub and surrounded with monitors where other nurses worked tirelessly. She led him to an empty monitor, keyed in a password and set up the channel for him. "When you're finished, just close out the channel." She instructed before leaving to give him privacy.

[Tiger Carson]

"You got it." Tiger said to the nurse before she headed off.  He then looked into the Monitor. "This is Tiger speaking."
"Tiger." General Pepper's voice spoke from the monitor. "This is a secure line, isn't it?"
"It is." Tiger said, "The staff secured the channel, so only you and I will know what is discussed here."
"Good." General Pepper replied, "I'm calling to inform you that we have managed to get the Katheeri into your custody.  It wasn't easy to get this done, considering everything that happened, I had to pull in some favors."
"I understand, thank you for the effort General." Tiger said, "We'll get him transferred to the Sanctuary Tiger right away.  When we have him properly secured, we'll then proceed to awaken and then question him."
"Very well." General Pepper replied, "And Tiger, the Katheeri in your custody now.  He's not the same one we have seen in the security image.  You know what this means."
"There are probably two now." Tiger said in some realization. "And who knows how many more..."
"Be sure to find out from him how many there are exactly." General Pepper said, "Your orders still stand the same as before, just be sure to get any Katheeri you find into your custody.  It's important to their safety as well as the rest of the Lylat."
"Understood sir." Tiger said. "Will do as planned." He then asked the General, "Is there anything else, sir?"
"Yes." General Pepper said, "In light of the results of the scan you got of the fighter, and it matching the registry of a ship in Chamielnicki possession.  The results of which was determined two hours ago.  You have full authority to apprehend the Chamielnickis for the act of using Napalm on the planet in a non-wartime situation.  I leave it to your discretion in how you apprehend them, and when.  But you best do it soon, for their own safety.  Many groups are not at all tolerant of the use of Napalm in that setting.  They must answer for it, but they must answer in the proper channels, not to vigilante actions or acts of hatred.  In order to maintain peace with the Ruthenians, please, do everything your power to not kill them."
"We're not above the law, General." Tiger said, "I give you my word, I will do everything in my power to bring them in peacefully.  But I can't guarantee they won't force my hand, as they are indeed capable of anything after seeing them use Napalm.  Know that if it comes down to taking them out though, it won't be because we didn't try.  Is that all, sir?"
"Yes." General Pepper said, "The staff of the hospital will assist you in getting that Katheeri aboard the Sanctuary Tiger once the call is finished and your ship is in position.  I have one request as well.  Be careful out there, Tiger.  I have a feeling this is bigger than we all realize, and the longer this goes on, the more likely other groups will be to try and get there first, or try to stop you for their own ends.  Just be careful."
"Will do, General." Tiger said, "Tiger, over and out." He then saluted, which General Pepper saluted in return, and then the screen changed to show the CDF stand by logo.  When this happened, Tiger closed the channel out, bringing the screen to it's stand by look for the hospital.  He then walked back to where Laika was waiting.  During this walk, he opened up a secure communique to the Sanctuary Tiger via his headset. "We're ready to receive the package, Mark, lower the ship into position for loading."
"Affirmative," the automaton said, "Sanctuary Tiger will be lowered into range for pick-up in twenty minutes."
"Good, and Mark," Tiger added, "Tell the rest of the team we have a new recruit.  That, and this one is capable of taking care of herself since she decked me pretty good."
"Understood, I will inform the rest of the team." Mark replied, and went to working on bringing the Sanctuary Tiger in for passenger loading.  Tiger meanwhile closed the communique, and continued on to the room Laika was waiting at.  He then took up a seat next to her.
"That was the General." He said to her as he sat down and made himself comfortable while waiting for the hospital staff to prep Sitka for moving, his expression showing satisfaction, but also some worry. "There's some news, good and bad, though the bad depends on how you look at it."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Elizabeth nodded, still a distance away from Shepherd. She kept her sunglasses on.

"Well, then we should keep his head down and treat him as a VIP, even if there's no laser fire flying around. After all, he's our main ticket to Aiolius, plus..." Elizabeth stepped in somewhat closer to Shepherd. "...I get the feeling that some of the group is developing an emotional attachment to Zefran. They'll be much more inclined to protect him than if he was just some VIP."

[Renardfrost]

Renard could hear the praise drifting to the back, but elected to ignore it right now, he decided to touch his ear at the base and focus, activating the Farspeaker Pearl set within. He had to know something.

" Trigger." he stated flatly.

" Oh wow.. You actually use comms. i'm impressed."

" Shut up. I need to know... My father can't be on Titania. he could draw too much attention to himself, and the settlements there are small."

" Smart.. "

" What's Really down there?"

" Well you can't change course, can you? so i'll tell you."

"What did you do?"


" I've sent you straight into Caulder's arms."

Renard felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach... Caulder.. His eldest brother. He couldn't use magic, but has knowledge of every weapon under the sun. Even worse.. He hated Renard's guts... What he does, who he is... what he is.

His mouth clicked at he opened it. Renard's throat became bone dry.

" Is Rinae With him?"

Antwon Felt a twinge of guilt. It had been a while since heard anything but crass determination in his brother's voice.

" No, Ren. She might be On Titania looking for stones to work... but she's working solo. You'd be lucky to run into her, she's probably the only one vaguely on your side."

Renard Nodded. That was fairly true. He tried ti still his runaway heart. " and Raziel?"

" I can't tell you any more than that, Renard. Other Mages or snoopy enough authorities can catch us. and they might not have the best intentons for the state of this world at present. You've got a lot on your mind.. Find someone to talk to OK?"

Renard could only nod, despite that his brother might not hear it.

" Even with everything, you're sill my baby brother. just... Take care and be in touch, Ok?"

" Yes. I will."

" Good man." Trigger replied as the link was cut off.

Renard took a moment to fetch himself that glass of water and take the time to calm down before coming back to sit with the katheeri.

" Thank you. I've always been a stickler for taste so i usually keep something with each flavor type around with me so i can make any stuff i have to hunt taste good. Not to mention boots the nutritional content."

 

[Zaphyr Stone]

"It's a smart solution." Aura nodded as he came back.

Zefran was too busy with his steak to answer, but his silence indicated he was enjoying every moment of it.

----

"Uh-oh," Laika grimaced as he came back, "That's never a good thing to hear. What's up?"

[Sylono]

"Is... that so?" Shepherd shifted in her seat as the husky approached, she coughed once dryly before answering. "He does seem to have an effect on others."

For a reason she couldn't place, Elizabeth's observation came off as though the husky were implying something. No, that's was... she was thinking about this too much, this topic was irrelevant.

"If Korben is one to go by, it must be the wings." She said with a short laugh.

The buttstock was replaced with a polymer hand grip, while she was now on technicality done save for the sights, the weapon felt as though it needed just a personal touch more. Some simple additions like screw on and red ring sights, as well as looped charge holders and the whole thing was complete. All that was left was the testing phase.

"Let's see here..." She mumbled as she began testing the weight and how it felt while see aimed (at the floor, while displaying trigger discipline), a few motions with the lever showed that it was working fine.

The result was less compact than she was hopping but it seemed like she wouldn't need to have it strapped all the way across her back, perhaps a lower back or shoulder holster would do. After some admiration of her own handiwork, Shepherd stood up and offered the gun to the older mercenary.

"What do you think, Miss Elizabeth? The 'blunder-blast'?" The vixen beamed proudly as she asked the woman for her opinion of a name for the weapon.

[Renardfrost]

Renard smiled, taking the time to start eating his own food, chuckling to himself as he savored it. Zefran was right.. it was almost a shame to eat it.

" So Aura.. What is it like living on Aolius?"  He asked, genuinely curious.

[Tiger Carson]

"Bad news first." Tiger said, he figured getting the blow out of the way first would be the best thing. "We're ordered to bring in the Chmielnickis as peacefully as possible in addition to our current objectives.  As you saw first hand, they're capable of anything, so it'll be really risky.  I don't see us coming out without a fight happening.  It also needs to be done as soon as can be for their own safety, a lot of the planetary governments and citizenry don't take kindly to those who use napalm outside of wartime conditions.  That was the bad news.  Good news is, we have custody of ol' beastie over there now.  We're going to be moving him in a little under twenty minutes to the Sanctuary Tiger.  It's gotta get into position for passenger pick-up and all.  The staff will also help us get him aboard, and set up in the ship's infirmary.  But we'll be getting a move on soon."

[Zaphyr Stone]

Aura looked thoughtful as she swallowed another mouthful of succulent greens. Everyone knew it was there, and with Zefran looking equally if not more curious than Renard, she didn't see what the point was about being tight-lipped over such a benign question.

"I would imagine it's like living anywhere else." She started, "It comes with its perks and pitfalls. It's quite peaceful on its good days. It does differ from most worlds because it's not technically a planet. It does orbit a planet, but that world is simply a vast ocean, no landmass. The great isles of Aiolius sit suspended in the rings of that planet, and it maintains its own small atmosphere. We live in clans, each clan to an island, and we simply fly to each island at our leisure. The clans are united under our king and queen."

"What are they like?" Zefran asked curiously.

She smiled fondly, "They're fine rulers. Wise and generous."

----

"Well, it's not a fun prospect, but it's an understandable one." She got to her feet and stretched, "At least we can continue keeping an eye on him, maybe coax something out of him."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Pawel continued staring out of the observation's deck window. Now, however, he had turned the subspace communicator on his cell phone off, and instead was starting to listen to "Forever Young" by Alphaville. The singer's hypnotizing voice and synthesizer brought Pawel to a plane of existence where he felt as if the whole Universe's troubles seemed to melt away. The echoes resonated through his soul, and in that instant, he felt something deep inside and profound speak to him. His foot tapped to the beat.

[Tiger Carson]

"That we certainly can." Tiger said as he watched Laika stretch. "It's all that we can do at this point, watch and then try to coax an answer out of him." He then got up, and stood next to her as he said this, making sure to not get in the way at the same time. "So, you said you had friends mixed up in this, huh?" He turned to her as he said this, remembering what she said earlier. "Could you tell me a bit about them, what they look like, so I can help you find them and figure out what their part in all of this is?"

[Zaphyr Stone]

Laika smiled cryptically at him. "Well, I suppose that's a story for later time."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zefran and Aura had found their way to the observation deck to watch the Szabla's descent onto Titania. The vast expanse of bright, hot sand was beautiful in a way, the sand dunes cascading over one another like gentle rolling ocean waves.

"I've never seen such emptiness." Aura marveled.

"Not all the worlds here are like Titania and Macbeth." Zefran reassured her with a smile, "There are plenty that are much more beautiful."

"But this is beautiful in its own way, don't you think?" she looked out at the desert curiously.

He looked thoughtful a moment and nodded, "Yeah I guess so." he sighed, "Something tells me they're going to make us stay here on the ship."

"That makes sense, I suppose." Aura shrugged mildly, "We're important to them in one sense or another. They'll want to keep us where they know we'll be safe and contained. Don't take offense to it."

"That's easy for you to say." he huffed, "I want to be able to help, but no one will let me learn how."

"Hmmm, I could teach you a few things." Aura suggested, "Things only the katheeri can do. What do you say?"

Zefran blushed. "Could...you show me how to fly?"

Aura giggled, trying not to laugh to loudly, "Of course!"

[Renardfrost]

Renard stared down the expanse of sand as the path to disembark opened, the adventurer grimacing as he felt the desert heat hit him full force. He hated places like this... and he really hated the idea of what awaited him here somewhere on this fervid hellscape.

" I guess I'll hit a tavern and ask around." He said, heaving a sigh

 

[Sylono]

When matters involving the weapon were squared away, as well as any others needing to be solved. Shepherd made her way back to the hanger bay, got into her ship and attended to needs she had for further preparation (and, dealing with her hunger).

For the desert world, she swapped her clothing out for a chocolate-chip pattern BDU. Having plenty of experience with the desert world as she did, the vixen was dressed as best she possibly could for Titania, sans her keffiyeh.

Snacking on a dry biscuit from her ration kit, Shepherd put her ship into idle and began doing a system check of the 'Small Order'. All was functioning well, it seemed, there was no need for refueling or restocking weapons as none of that was used on Corneria or Macbeth.

As she reached to turn the ship off the emergency channel activated, instead of a voice begging for a pickup, it instead was incomprehensible digitized stuttering and noise behind irritating static. How odd, it was an SOS signal that was for sure but it seemed to be masked with an encryption, as the exact coordinates were a jumbled mess that kept changing every few seconds.

"I wonder..." She mumbled in curiosity as she took her comm-unit off her hip and activated it, then taking a cord that allowed for external device connectivity she plugged the thing in. At first, it didn't seem as though the Comm-unit was even touching the SOS, but when she reached to set the device on the 'Small Order's dash board, it sounded an "all finished" noise.

Bringing the device back to view, she now found the coordinates were on the device and clear as day. That settled it then, the SOS was either for her to find, or it was for anyone directly involved with her more personal history.

She wanted... No, she needed to investigate this.

Unplugging the comm-unit, Shepherd turned the frequency to reach the dragon in charge. Thankfully the cerinian thought to ask Elizabeth for a means to contacted the others.

"Bohdan, sir, are you receiving this?" She tested.

 

{[-~-~-]}

 

In a crashed ship half buried under sand, there was a soft digitized "hum" coming from a machine. If one were to place it, it would probably be called "soft", almost "lonely" in its melody.

A synthetic, it was crouched and curled in order to save space but it was obviously bipedal. It failed in it's mission, the orders were simple, find and deliver the long range point-to-point communications to 'CC-0031/75' then R2B. However, when the synthetic found the clone's signal and tried to follow, it was intercepted by... it couldn't find any information on the who or what, there were large vacancies in the units data.

From what it could gather, something hacked the machine, planted a virus or several of the swarm intelligence that ran the synthetic 'merged' and formed a whole new virtual intelligence. Either way, the machine was now 'unfit for duty' and would need to be made nonfunctional-able.

There it waited with the SOS activated, for a ally to come retrieve and or dismantle the tainted synthetic, or a curious wanderer to come pick it and the ship apart. Those were the only logical outcomes now.

'Why not search for the clone yourself?' There was that voice again, it started ringing through the synthetic's systems after the failed engagement with the anomaly. The synthetic's swarm intelligence was conflicted, one estimated half of its programs insisted that it was their only reasonable option left while the other half suggested staying and putting a vain attempt at a defense of the 'P2P-C' was the best chance to finish their mission.

When a familiar signal reached the machine's sensors, something picked up and decoded the SOS signal. That meant one of two things, either 'thirty-one/seventy-five' was approaching planet side or an 'Atlas' faction retrieval vehicle did. It was likely the later.

Synthetics didn't feel fear, that was a biological response to stimuli, but, it did not truly wish to be disabled... the voice was right, despite it not being factory functional in the software department, it was still operational and could inform the clone of the need for the 'P2P-C'.

'You could also provide a secondary contact location should the Communications device go missing' That was also correct, the swarm intelligence noted. Either out of a programed sense of duty or a primal attempt at survival, the synthetic stood at full height and made to escape the clutches of its would-be tomb.

Slamming opening the hatch, the synthetic climbed out into the sandy world of Titania, and started its trek to the closest port.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan, Elizabeth, Korben, and Pawel stepped off of the docking bay's elongated ramp and onto the warm golden sands of Titania. Bohdan told Sandor to remain aboard their ship, ready to spring into action with his fighter. The sun shone brightly down on the arid landscape, and the winds blew lightly. Not a cloud was in sight. In the distance, a few kilometers west of the Szabla, was a small collection of ancient ruins nestled against a rocky outcropping. Bohdan had it marked on all of their scanners, which they had attached to their heads.

Pawel, however, was the most intrepid out of the four of them. In his light gray collarless polo shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a white undershirt, a shoulder holster containing his sidearm, both of his hidden shotguns now in full view on his back, faded dark blue jeans, sunglasses, scarf, and brown outdoors boots, he walked out into the sun and ascended a small sand dune. His golden Ogniemite medallion, with the amethyst gem in the center, glistened in the brilliant sunlight. Pawel outstretched his wings, and raised his head to the heavens. He waited for a gust of wind, and it came, sweeping him off his feet. He flapped his wings, and began flying around.

"Woo!!!" he yelled, gliding freely through the air.

Bohdan shook his head, smirking. He then ordered Elizabeth and Korben to ascend the dune with him, which they did. Bohdan was wearing an all-white loose fitting robe with his read hood draped over his head. The robe was very good attire for the desert, due to it holding in cool air in between the pockets of space between itself and the wearer's body, as well as covering the body from the intense rays of the sun. Underneath the robe, Bohdan wore a white t shirt with a tactical vest, dark blue jeans, and desert boots. He also wore sunglasses, and his Ogniemite medallion shone brilliantly. His bastard sword in its scabbard and pistol were attached to his belt.

Elizabeth and Korben, however, were dressed in less suitable wear for the desert. Both of them had black shirts with the sleeves rolled up, white undershirts, black fatigues, black combat boots, sunglasses, tactical vests with an array of equipment and instruments of war, and headgear. Elizabeth wore a black tactical cap, while Korben had a Cornerian spec ops issue black helmet. It loosely rested on his head, the buckles hanging off of his head's sides. Both Cornerians carried assault blasters on carriers attached to their small packs on their backs.

"I think black was a bad choice," said Elizabeth as they reached the top of the dune. She already felt hot. Korben, too, was starting to be uncomfortable due to the heat.

"Remember, hydrate," advised the doctor. He unscrewed his canteen, preparing to drink. Bohdan, however, stopped him before he consumed any water.

"Were you not taught to ration water in the desert?" wondered Bohdan aloud. Korben covered his canteen, and put it away. The trio scanned the sea of sand as Pawel flew above their heads, the greedy vulture he was.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"I can't believe they're actually going to walk." Antoine shook his head as he packed his sidearm.

He watched the group make their way out up the dune and returned to his bike. Flipping a switch on the side, its thick wheels split and spread the bike wider across into a four wheeler. He preferred versatility over looks with his tools.

"You'd think with all these gadgets they flaunt around, they'd have a buggy or something to truck them through the sand." He started the ignition and walked back to finish loading his person with water and rations.

----

"Let's wait until everyone leaves." Zefran said as he watched the first group leave, "We can practice right outside the ship."

"Zefran, I don't think that's a wise idea." Aura furrowed her brow, "Your crew doesn't trust me, and rightfully so from their point of view."

"We'd just be right outside the ship. The people still on board would be able to see us." He countered, "We're not doing anything crazy. Besides, I know you're not going to try anything."

She sighed. "It's the wrong way to go about it."

"Please?" He asked, "I'll take full responsibility if anyone tries to accuse you of anything."

Despite her better judgement, she caved. "All right. After everyone leaves."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

The trio looked down from the dune to see Antoine loading up on his bike. Bohdan and Korben looked to themselves, but Elizabeth immediately began running down the dune.

"Oh sh-t! Oh sh-t!" she yelled, her arms flailing. "The goddamn hovercraft! Sh-t!" Korben looked perplexed.

"We have one?" he asked to Bohdan.

"But of course!" replied Bohdan. "I just... thought that Elizabeth would have it covered." They then looked on as Elizabeth went back into the docking bay, and activated the team hovercraft, with Chmielnicki Security decals. She hopped into the driver's seat of the four seat craft and piloted it outside. She stopped it at the base of the dune, and Bohdan and Korben descended. They entered the craft, and they drove off over the dune.

Pawel, too engrossed in his flying, was oblivious to his cousin and his team's departure.

[Sylono]

Her words were met with silence.

She glared daggers at the device in question, starting to notice a pattern. No matter, Shepherd could try again later, she still needed to set up some sort of means of communications with the others. Reaching under her seat she retrieved a box, opening that up revealed two handheld transceivers*, they were both a little aged and looked as though they've been tinkered with.

Shepherd pressed the button on both devices to check if they were still working, before setting them both under one arm and opening the 'small order's canopy.

Just as Elizabeth took off in the hover craft, the vixen hopped to the floor of the hanger, she found her self wondering if the others were scouting ahead or "putting the cart before the horse" as the saying goes.

"Mr. Antoine, a moment please?" Shepherd called out as she walked briskly toward the coyote.

 

((*This site doesn't like the word "walkie-talkie".))

[Tiger Carson]

Some time had passed, and Sitka was transferred to the Sanctuary Tiger without incident.  He was taken to the infirmary where Zera was doing observations, and had stopped the flow of sedatives after placing a forcefield tightly around him to keep him restrained once he would inevitably wake up.  During this time, Tiger had helped Laika get her motorcycle onboard the ship, placing it near the team's intact and fully operational Landmaster tank.  Which was similar to Star Fox's, except all the blue parts on it were orange, with black stripes on the G-Diffuser units.  There were also three other Landmasters in various states of build, rebuild, and upgrading.  Around the area were additional Arwings, about four standard types, with three interceptor class and three defense class Arwings as well.  And there were two special Arwings the team had, which they affectionately called Gunwings, these were intended to be two person ships, with a turret topside and bottom that the Gunner could use.  They weren't the prettiest of ships, but they could certainly come in handy later.  Funny enough, the team also had a Blue Marine class submersible, but to what use that would be would not be at all clear in the foreseeable future.  In addition to all this, were a set of seven chambers that looked like stasis tubes with what looked like a fox woman inside each, though upon closer inspection, it turned out to be semi-lifelike automatons.  Tiger explained to Laika when she had inevitably asked about them that they were the Aeris Units, on loan from Space Dynamics Company for the purpose of field testings.  These seven were the only prototypes in existence, their purpose was to be assistants in piloting ships and auxiliary operations.  Though well programmed, there was a vulnerability to hacking, but it would take someone who knew exactly what they were doing to get it done.  As security was tight aboard the Sanctuary Tiger, and it would require a pass code to open the chambers anyways, the chances of the androids being hacked were extremely slim.  The ship had already departed for space after everything was set up, and the hospital staff who had come aboard to help get Sitka situated had returned to the hospital.  Though to where they would need to go, they didn't know yet.  It all depended on when Sitka would awake...

 

"So," Zera said to Tiger and Laika who were there in the infirmary at that moment, as well as Hawk who was there to see the Katheeri in person. "I've stopped the flow of sedatives, and as you can see, he's contained inside the forcefield.  So when he wakes up, he won't be able to do much, except maybe rant and rave." Zera chuckled at the thought.
"How long do you think it'll be before he wakes up?" Tiger asked his sister.
"Could be minutes, could be hours." Zera replied, "We simply don't know enough about Katheeri biology to be sure.  He'll wake up when he's good and ready though, I can assure you of that."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Sandor quietly stared at Renard gazing upon the sandy sea, his knees up against his chest in the cockpit of his fighter. His snout rested upon his knees, and his glossy eyes reflected the sun's rays, which had bounced off the grains of sand. Sandor closed his eyes, sealed within his fighter. He began breathing deeply and slowly, in a meditative-like state of silent prayer. A rush of mental anguish and uncertainty simply overflowed his mind, and he gripped his shins so tightly that he began to leave marks on them. His eyes shut themselves tighter and tighter, and Sandor began rocking slightly forwards and backwards. His prayers now became audible, yet nothing more than almost completely indecipherable Magyar utterances.

Among his prayers was one hoping that he would remain unnoticed.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"Well, I guess that takes care of that." Antoine laughed to himself as he watched Elizabeth hurry back and take out the hover craft to the group.

This team was something else, for sure.

"What can I do for you?" He answered Shepherd as he ensured the safety was turned on on his blaster.

----

"Well, we've waited this long." Laika hummed to herself in thought, "I suppose we can wait a little longer."

She looked down at Sitka, who looked as though he was merely resting now. He really was a strange creature now that she was looking at him up close. His armor had proven to be easily removable enough for the hospital workers to address his wounds. Although enough to incapacitate him and definitely gruesome looking, they had proven to be fairly minor injuries that the hospital regenerators had no trouble mending. Under the armor, he was clad in what looked to her like a black flight suit that melded to his body like a second skin. Perhaps a little too well, if she was going to be honest. She had to look away when she felt a rush of heat to her face.

"This is an impressive ship you have here." she changed the subject.

[Tiger Carson]

"Indeed." Tiger said, "It's not really one of the biggest though, it's about as big as the Great Fox.  Being a mother ship type, it's got what it needs.  We've modified her over time, since when we purchased her originally, she was a well used ship, and proven tough."
"She was what we could afford at the time." Zera said, "We figured it'd be better than just outright building a brand new ship, and we decided we could alter her to our needs as we could do so.  It was my brother's idea to get into smart investments and build savings too."
"Yeah, it took a while to get going, but once it got a foot hold, it really grew." Tiger said with a smile remembering all of that hard work early on and how worth it that work ended up being. "We take out the interest built for the investments and savings we have, and use that in between jobs.  That's how we can afford to be picky like Star Fox is.  Matter of fact, we could retire on what we have right this instant if we really wanted to.  But I keep this job going because I always enjoy making people we help out smile.  That's the best reward for me." He turned to Laika, and decided to ask her a question. "Would you like to take a tour of the ship?  It's going to probably be a while before our guest wakes up, and we haven't exactly gotten you situated in your quarters yet."

[Sylono]

"I'll be taking a short detour, not far at all." Shepherd said, motioning with a thumb back at her personal ship.

"But first, I thought I'd check if we had what we needed for communications," She held up and shook one of the walkie-talkies she was carrying. "in case something came up... or happened."

Shifting to her side a little, Shepherd looked past Antoine and at his vehicle, while it looked in poor shape when they first got it on the Szabla, she now was admiring the coyote's bike in it's functional form. The vixen almost had to hold her tongue to keep from asking if he'd be okay with a temporary trade.

"If I were to judge by your preparations, you're covered, correct?" She asked, returning her attention to him.

[Zaphyr Stone]

Antoine watched her with mild suspicion when she mentioned the detour, but he pushed it to the side to grab his own communicator. His original phone most likely still back in that alleyway on Corneria with a nice blaster round through the middle, Antoine had ensured he had backups for such an occasion. He nodded and walked back over to his bike, flipping the seat up to reveal a small compartment holding a few meager survival necessities, mainly first-aid items and a pair of walkie-talkies.

"I'm good on my end, yeah." he answered her, playing with the dial on one end of the device, "What's your frequency?"

----

"Sure!" Laika smiled, "I wouldn't mind taking a look around. We were moving around so much earlier, I didn't really get a chance to."

[Renardfrost]

Renard sighed as he  took off his scarf, bundling it up and putting into his satchel along with his jacket. Taking a second to look at a map to get his bearing he set off to the nearest settlement, perferring to walk, he hated the desert, but he loved the feeling of being in a deser, the serene landscape, the incessant wind, the open sky.

It was just what he needed to clear his head.