Katheeri

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan's eyes quickly darted left, then darted right. He then looked straight ahead. "Okay," he said in a somewhat high-pitched voice as he jumped down onto the hangar floor, his worn brown work boots clanging against the cold metal floor. Elizabeth followed suit, her black boots also making a similar sound.

"Come on boys and... girl!" said Elizabeth, waving them on.

[Sylono]

Well, it was certainly a start, Shepherd supposed, though since she hadn't spent any time on this planet, she wasn't privy to the trafficking incident and by the look of things it didn't look like the fox was going to have a lot of time to to any research on the planet's internet.

"By chance, do you already have a name or place that you're planning to check in on first?" The clone asked, hoping this wasn't going to turn into a detective type ordeal.

[Dr. Orange]

 

Tom Started for the bay door of the ship to the outside where everyone else was discussing a plan of action. At the time he wasn't tuned in and was more focused on the outdoors. The light caught his eye and temporarily blinded him for a moment before his eyes could relax. 

He was pleased with the landscape, this was the land he remembers. The air the smell, it reminded him of home to which there was nothing better. 

Tom then faded into existence with what was being discussed and sat down at the top of the ramp and remained silent.

(OOC: looks who's back!)  

[Renardfrost]

Actually, waiting for orders was boring, searching for rumors about his father, now that was a worthwhile endeavor.

After a while of fumbling his way around the seemingly labyrinthine ship, he managed to find the dock and disembarked, making for the nearest bar

[Zaphyr Stone]

"I do." Antoine nodded, "I have a few contacts I'm going to check in with, people who worked that particular circuit at the time. While I do that, Zefran is going to retrace his steps and look for any clues that may jog his memory. Those are our two teams."

"So who's with me?" Zefran gave a goofy smile.

[Dr. Orange]

"Who do you want to go with you?" Tom replied. "Someone flip a coin or whatever." For Tom had no strong opinions one way or the other. 

[Sylono]

"I'll join Zefran." The vixen raised a hand, her own expression hiding the reluctance of taking what is essentially an escort job, even if issues of the mind were essentially her forte by default.

"If you need to shake someone down for answers, Antoine, I'd suggest bringing Bohdan..." Shepherd motioned in the dragons direction, "or at the very least, Johnny."

Considering Shepherd didn't have the years in here field or a big enough reputation to make up for that, she doubted she could get an answer out of someone without having to resort to violence. "Oh, just be sure to put on a mean face, mister Johnny."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Okay, Elizabeth," started Bohdan, Elizabeth's ears twitching as Bohdan said her name. "You will go with Zefran. I will go with Antoine." Elizabeth nodded.

"Got it, Boss," she said. "The freak will be under my protection." Bohdan frowned when she said the word 'freak'. "Oh, right, sorry," she apologized, noticing his unfavorable opinion.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"All right, so that's Johnny and Bohdan with me. Shepherd and Elizabeth with Zef." Antoine clicked his jaw idly in thought as he scanned over the remaining two, "We're gonna have an odd number either way, so why don't you," he motioned to Korben, "Go with Zef too."

"Cool! Where should we meet up?" Zefran asked.

"Let's meet back here say.....three hours? That should give us plenty of time to gather intel and then some."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Korben was staring into space, deep in some sort of trance. Sometimes, he goes into these trances that can last as long as an hour, without Korben noticing time has passed. Elizabeth saw Korben's trance-like state, and knew the perfect remedy to it.

"Sergeant!" she yelled at Korben. Korben's head immediately snapped to her direction.

"Sir?" he replied.

"On me," said Elizabeth.

"Yes sir," answered Korben, who jumped down to her. He was wearing a black leather jacket, with a white v-neck under it. His black fatigues and black boots adorned the lower half of his body. Korben's iconic black sunglasses covered his strange eyes that only Zefran and his team realized were there, and additionally had a black cap. He adjusted the cap.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"Good deal." Antoine nodded, "All right, we have a plan, so get up and go to. See ya back here." He lead his group out with a whistle.

"We're going to follow the railroad." Zefran explained to his group, "That's what I remember first."

[Sylono]

After a curt wave to Antoine's group, Shepherd nodded at the holo-disguised katheerian before checking to see if she if she had what she needed (as well as making sure to keep her more eye catching gear was out of sight).

"Ah, just so we're sure," Shepherd was sure they weren't missing anything (though she noted that magician was absent), but she wanted to be on the safe side, "we do have the means to contact Antoine and the others, correct?"

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan buried his fists into the pockets of his tattered and dirty gray hoodie. The damp atmosphere was clogged with the stench of heavy industry. He coughed, and wiped his snout.

"I never did like this world," Bohdan commented. He looked down to Antoine as the group walked. "What do you think of Macbeth?"

 

"Alrighty, Kid," Elizabeth started, patting Zefran on the back, "the rail yard. What do you know from there?"

[Tiger Carson]

Somewhere, in near Machbeth orbit...

A carrier class Cornerian ship, heavily modified, was approaching the planet.  The ship itself had two launch bays in front, a landing bay in the rear, and six wings, four of which were in an X configuration, while the remaining two were on top and bottom respectively near the stern.  There were a pair of turbo lasers on each top of the top and bottom wings with a turn table at the mid section to allow the lasers to move around to face a threat.  A modification made to account for the Great Fox's deadly flaw, it's offenses were front only.  Not this ship, it could better face a threat from all sides, though it would have to sacrifice having the hyper drive online in order to power all six of it's lasers, the last two being on the nose of the ship, which was where the bridge was.  In addition, the ship had a large powerful propulsion engine in the rear.  On the sides of the ship were the tampoed logos for the ship's owners.  A roaring tiger's head with a comet tail attached to it, and the words Star Tiger next to it.  Inside the ship's bridge, a male tiger was relaxing on one of the couches, as best he could anyways, given they were about to visit Machbeth for business reasons.  At the controls was a robot that went by the name of M.A.R.K., it was furiously typing in calculations, when it turned to the tiger. "Tiger, we have a transmission." M.A.R.K. said in a monotone voice which was surprisingly similar to ROB 64's voice. "Priority level from General Pepper."
"Priority level from him?" Tiger, that being his name, said. "Must be serious if he's doing that.  Call the team to the bridge, and patch him through."
"Affirmative." M.A.R.K. replied.
"Star Tiger, do you read?" General Pepper's voice shortly came out of the holoscreen that appeared, with the General's face on it.
"I read you loud and clear, General, over." Tiger replied as he stood up, and walked to the center of the bridge. "What's going on, Andross come back?"
"No, but this could be very serious." General Pepper said in a stern voice. "Do you know of Aiolius?"
"Aiolius?" Tiger repeated, "Who doesn't?  But you can't be contacting me for some old legend, right?" At that moment, a female oriental dragon, a female tiger, a male great horned owl, a male hawk, and a female squirrel entered the bridge, all five of them stood at attention when they saw the General's face on the holoscreen.
"At ease." General Pepper said, and the whole team relaxed. "I'm afraid it may not be a legend.  Those reports of the planet's inhabitants, the Katheeri, are indeed genuine."
"General." The hawk said, "You can't be serious, can you?  The Katheeri are nothing but legend."
"Do legends leave photographic evidence such as this, Hawk?" General Pepper said, another screen popping up with a clear, yet also blurry image of a Katheeri, along with a Coyote, a Sclav Dragon, a Siberian Husky, a Beaver, and a Tykerial. "This Photo was taken yesterday by a security camera we had placed due to increasing levels of crime, unfortunately, we lost track of them when the Katheeri ran, and they followed."
"We're kind of far from Corneria, sir." Tiger said, "We'd have to delay our business visit to Machbeth."
"Actually, you don't." General Pepper said, "We know of the group with the Katheeri.  They're the infamous Chmielniki Security team, and we know where they've gone.  We knew of their ship, and tracked it's ion trail and hyperspace trajectory."
"Let me guess." The dragon girl said, putting two and two together, "They're here, on Machbeth?"
"That is correct." General Pepper replied. "We believe they may know something about the Katheeri in question.  If the legends are true, we could be talking about something that could alter the very fabric of reality itself.  Can you imagine if someone like Andross were to acquire that power?"
"That's... a frightening thought, actually..." The squirrel said.
"Exactly." General Pepper continued. "I need you to find and protect the Katheeri, see what exactly the group is up to, find Aiolius, and ensure none of it's technology falls into the wrong hands.  I'm authorizing you to use any and all means you deem necessary."
"Including destruction of the technology and that power?" Tiger asked.
"If it comes down to it, yes." General Pepper replied. "Now be careful, we aren't under war times, so your use of the Arwings and your other combat vehicles on Machbeth will be limited."
"Understood." Tiger said, "I have one question though." He stated.
"Go ahead." Pepper replied.
"Have you contacted Star Fox?" Tiger asked, something which I'm sure the audience would be asking now as well.
"They're on a mission to an entirely different sector all the way across the galaxy." General Pepper replied. "The message would never reach them in time.  Fortunately, I had heard of your increasingly growing reputation, as well as having dealt with you before.  I know we can count on you, Star Tiger.  Will you help us avert potential disaster?"
"Affirmative, General." Tiger said, "We'll even make this a freebie if you want." Hawk face palmed with his feathered hand at the offer of making this a free job.
"This is something too important to be worked on for no price." General Pepper said, "Completion of the mission is ensuring that no Katheeri tech falls into the wrong hands, so you'll be well rewarded regardless of how you ensure this.  Failure, well, there may be no one left to point fingers to if you fail."
"Understood, General." Tiger said, "We'll get in touch as soon as we manage to learn anything."
"Very well, good luck, Star Tiger." With that, the transmission ended, and the holoscreens blinked out.
"Great, the general wants us to go out Crypto Hunting." Hawk said, "Sounds like it'll be some fun that I'll have to pass up."
"Hawk, you know the general wouldn't ask us to go on this if he didn't believe it." Tiger said to the bird.
"Yeah yeah, you guys ever stop to think that the 'Katheeri" in question could just be one weird hybrid that happens to fit the description?" Hawk retorted.
"The chances of that are very slim." the female tiger said.
"Approximate chances of such an occurrence are five hundred sixty two thousand three hundred seventy five to one, Zera." M.A.R.K. replied, having a tendency to speak when hearing such things as chances and probability.
"Thank you for the specifics, Mark." Zera said, "At any rate, this is serious enough to warrant investigation, plus we can do a dna test to confirm it once we gain his trust.  If we even can that is."
"Do it without me." Hawk said, "I'll stay on the ship."
"I think I'll stay out of oogie boogie stuff too." The Squirrel said, "Something about that Katheeri guy gives me the creeps."
"Well, at least I get company." Hawk said, "Anyone else want to dissent with Kola?"
"I've known the General too long." The Great Horned Owl said. "The team will need my knowledge and experience for this."
"Crazy old owl, do what you want then Copper." Hawk said, then turned to the dragon. "What about you Jeena?  You think this could be real?"
"About as real as I am." Jeena said, "We're going to need to investigate."
"You guys are crazy." Hawk said, "Fine, don't say I didn't tell you so when this all turns out to be nothing." He then walked out of the bridge with Kola trailing him.
"Alright team, let's figure out what we're doing." Tiger said, "We continue to dress like this, we'll be easily noticed, and this mission requires stealth.  Who knows what could happen if anyone learned we're tracking down a Katheeri?"
"I suppose that means the Land Master is out of the question?" Zera asked.
"Yep." Tiger replied flatly. "Dress casual, but don't be stupid about it.  Mark." Tiger said, turning to the android. "Take us down to a space port that's relatively calm.  This being a mission of stealth, we need to be stealthy, that and we don't need anyone messing around with the Sanctuary Tiger's systems or anything."
"Roger." The android said, and inputted the coordinates to land.  It just happened to be the same space port that the Szabla was at.
"Ugh, Machbeth, I don't care for the air there..." Jeena said, "I'd rather be up in the sky, but you guys'll need my help."
"Right as rain, Jeena." Tiger said, "Now lets get down to our quarters, and get changed."
"Guess we'll have to deal with that business later." Zera said as the team exited the bridge.
"Assuming there is a later." Copper said, "I've got a bad feeling about all of this..."

With that, the Sanctuary Tiger as the ship was called began it's descent through the atmosphere, and would soon be nearing the spaceport of Machbeth City, but instead of parking in hangar 12, the ship would be parking in hangar 7, another hangar that was rarely used.  Though the ship's approach would be noticed by anyone on the Szabla if they happened to be looking out the windows at the right time.  But for Star Tiger, that wouldn't matter as the group exited the ship, all dressed casually.  Tiger wore a red shirt, with blue pants, and brown boots, though he still wore his gloves and his headset.  Jeena was wearing a purple midriff tank-top, bell bottom jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes.  She too wore her headset and gloves, but she also wore sunglasses to help hide her eyes.  Zera wore a red vest with green shorts, and red boots, along with a black leotard that was covered by the shorts and vest.  She wore no gloves here, but had a turquoise bangle on her right wrist, along with her necklace.  She was also wearing her headset.  Copper was still in his jumpsuit, but was wearing a trenchcoat with a fedora, and also sunglasses.  Tiger had commented about it maybe being too suspicious, but the old owl was insistent on doing the classics justice. "Okay everyone, we're going to be less suspicious and obvious if we split up into pairs." Tiger said, "Zera, with me, Jeena, you and Copper explore the space port.  We'll keep in contact with a message every fifteen minutes.  If you two notice anything odd or out of the ordinary, call right away, and we'll head right for you."
"Right, pleasure cruise for sure, and with the smart-alec owl too." Jeena said sarcastically. "Joy time."
"Mind your elders." Copper said.
"Jeena, try to keep the mouth small this time, please?" Tiger asked, "We don't another incident like at Papetoon."
"Yeah yeah." Jeena said, "I'll keep it quiet."
"Alright Star Tiger, move out." Tiger said as he and Zera made their way into the town, they being fairly well behind the group that was already there.  Jeena and Copper decided to head to Hangar 1, and make their way through numerically after starting there.

 

(OoC: Sorry if the picture seemed like a cop-out, but I tried to make it look like it would make sense.  I also am going on the assumption that the space port is probably the only one in Machbeth city.  I can still change some of this if it doesn't make sense.  Also, I'm going with the angle of SF0 and the events of SFAd and SFAs still happening but with Generally Pepper being much tougher here so as to continue leading.  I don't consider SFC canon, at all.  Just thought I'd give an explanation for this, even if it was a bit long winded.)

[Zaphyr Stone]

(You really didn't even need to go that in-depth with it, Tiger XD Also, the RP is based in Lylat, but the plot itself doesn't really adhere to SF all that much aside from it taking place after Assault, so don't worry about timeline. And I know CDF has a lot of resources, but don't go overboard with how much everyone knows. There is a semi-set plot here.)

"Hey, come on, man." Antoine laughed, shaking his head at Bohdan's remark, "This is home to me. Born and raised right here on the railroad."

----

Zefran frowned, but walked on, thinking hard. "I was in a cargo van with some other people. Everything was so foggy." He walked down the abandoned rails, "I remember hearing the train. We were right up alongside it for some reason, and people were being pulled out of the van into the open train car."

[Dr. Orange]

You'll learn to like it." Tom remarked, adding on to the response to Antonie's statement. "I mean you got hills and mines," He counted on his fingers. "...uhh, minerals." He stopped.

"Ok well it's not the place for a honeymoon but it has some nice traits." he finished it off with that.

[Kurt]

Simo had lain in wait for this for a total of three days, he marked out where every stone, nail, and branch was on this 400 yard strip of the abandoned rail way. He had been hired by the local police department to 'retire' a local drug running operation. Perminitly. His black and gray splotched clothing blended in effortlessly with the surrounding stone, the XM-76 rifle blended in as well as he stalked his prey. 

He watched, slowly and steadily moving the rifle to keep aim on the transport car, a newer Mercedes, Red. Silently whispering into the microphone around his neck to the officers at the station. "They're here. Permission to engage ?" 

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Can you tell me anything about how life was like when you were younger here?" Bohdan inquired. He stepped onto the rail, with one foot going in front of the other, like how a child would do it. A 7 foot tall, 300 lb child. He looked down onto his old boots, making sure they stayed on the rail.

 

"Cargo van... Train car..." said Korben, taking in every detail. He walked beside Elizabeth, but was far more focused on Zefran's words than anything.

"Can you tell me the markings on either the van or the train?" asked Elizabeth.

[Tiger Carson]

(I just like to make sure I get something set up right.  To also tell the truth, I was hesitant about the photo in the first place, but I couldn't figure out a good way outside of that to get Star Tiger there with the set-up I had in mind.  And don't worry, I won't go overboard, that will probably be as far into detail for what General Pepper knows as I go.  He's going to be playing the part of the audience to an extent here, learning things as we learn them, and being our mouth for when he shows up.)

 

Tiger and Zera were making their way along through the town, they hadn't spotted anything yet, and were wondering if this was simply a wild goose chase at this point.  "No sign, yet." Tiger said, "Like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"We're getting nowhere, and fast." Zera said, "Can't keep just looking, we'll have to start asking locals."
"Have to be careful though." Tiger replied, "We don't want to give away too much."
"We'll just ask around if anyone's seen anything or anyone out of the ordinary, and tell them we're looking around for some who aren't from around here." Zera replied, "That shouldn't give away too much."
"You're probably right." Tiger then looked around, "Need to find someone who is friendly enough, and doesn't look like they want to punch a stranger in the face." He then clicked on his headset's communicator. "Jeena, Copper, you two find anything yet?"

-------

"Jeena, Copper, you two find anything yet?" Tiger's voice was heard on their communicators.
"Nothing yet, Tiger." Jeena said, "We just got back to hangar 7, and so far, it looks like Kola and Hawk have been keeping the ship safe.  We're moving on to Hangar 8, we'll let you know the second we find anything though."
"Alright." Tiger replied, "We'll get in touch in 15 minutes again if nothing comes up.  Keep your eyes peeled though, we've seen some less than savory characters around here."
"Will do Tiger." Jeena replied, "Jeena and Copper out." Jeena then ended the transmission. "Seems we're having no luck so far."
"We'll just have to keep searching." Copper said, "Nothing like this is ever easy to find, you know..." He began one of his war stories. "This reminds me of the time I helped the first Star Fox in a mission of discovery."
"Did it go well?" Jeena asked, hoping for something useful.
"It was rather uneventful, and lasted a long time before we finally found a good clue." Copper said, "We spent a full 72 hours looking nonstop.  But, it ended up being worth it."
"That's good, don't see how that helps here though..." Jeena remarked.
"We just have to stick at it, usually, most worthwhile things are found within about a period of three days." Copper told Jeena, "If it takes longer than that, chances are, the trail's gone cold.  We're not even through the first of the three day period yet though, so I think we have a good shot still.  Just have to be patient."
"Yeah yeah." Jeena said, regretting having remarked in not seeing how his story helped after that explanation. "Good things come to those who wait, yadda yadda, blah blah, I get it.  Let's just keep moving."

[Zaphyr Stone]

"What does that have to do with anything?" Antoine's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the beast.

----

"No, everything was a blur. I couldn't see very well. I do remember a weird smell. Kind of like rubbing alcohol, but it wasn't?" He took a deep breath as he struggled to remember more details. "I didn't make it on the train with the others. Why didn't I make it on the train?"

----

"Permission granted." Max answered through the comm. radio in his police vehicle, "Maintain radio silence until you've received further instructions."

He hung up the radio and smiled as Laika approached the vehicle. She opened up and slid into the passenger side.

"Sorry that took so long. I'm ready to go." She strapped in.

"No problem, here we go." He pulled out of the lot and onto the main road.

[Kurt]

Simo slightly smiled as he heard the command. Putting the cross hairs on the first targets head, the driver, he breathed, just like they taught him in training.

Full breath in, the scope rose

Full breath out, the scope lowered

Full breath in

Half breath out, hold, squeeze squeeze squeeze THWAP!

The suppressor sent the synthetic round down range, and it slammed into the driver with a satisfying impact. The gang, well, the remaining 6 began to hide behind anything they thought could stop a bullet, cars, rocks, none of them could hide, they sprayed automatic fire all over the place.

[Sylono]

After not receiving an answer, Shepherd simply shrugged and followed after the group heading to the railway, she was likely concerned over a non-issue.

"Perhaps we'll need to investigate any old buildings near the tracks?" Shepherd suggested, it was a longshot, but if luck is on their side, perhaps that smell would still be lingering if the place wasn't maintained.

[Renardfrost]

Renard sighed as he stepper out of some sad little watering hole a few hours later, trying to get the smell of smoke off of his clothes. " God.. not a single rumor.. at all... This was a bust"

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"I am a curious foreigner, friend," said Bohdan, shrugging his shoulders. His boots were still clanging on the rail. "I just want to know how it was like to grow up around here. I was raised in more affluent settings, so I had it easy. I am guessing you did not?"

 

"Well, maybe the guys in the van wanted you in the van," said Elizabeth. She glanced at Korben, who was attentive at Zefran.

"Do you know anything else?" Elizabeth asked.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"No one who lived here did." Antoine answered curtly, "And just so we're clear, friend, my business is my own. I don't go sharing the inner workings of my life with people I just met."

----

Zefran nodded at Shepherd's suggestion. "Good idea. They had to have kept us somewhere near the train before they transported us.

----

"There's a lot of foot traffic today." Laika observed, peering out at the busier than usual dirt roads and alleyways they drove past, "I wonder what's up."

"There's no scheduled event taking place today." Max took a swig from his water bottle in the cup holder.

"Sounds suspicious." She narrowed her eyes.