World Tree MUSH

     A message has been relayed to Krystal regarding a desire for a meeting, something over the mystery she faces (whatever that means), and is given coordinates to a location somewhere within the dangers of Meteo. The highly magnetic planetoids orbiting the twin stars makes general readings difficult and navigating them perilous. However, some general astrogation points pased along seem to hint at the current state of the surrounding asteroids so that navigating them is safer and easier. 

     The coordinates lead to a space station of Venomian design while nearby space rocks have turrets built on them. An approach is simple enough, although a vidcomms hail is immediately given from one of the monkey operators stationed asking for identification. Thankfully, a current passcode is also included in the message passed along which can be easily transmitted as a reply. It's a very automated process and has no suspicion caked onto it. 

     "You're free to dock. We'll have an escort ready for you on arrival. All hail Lord O'Donnell." The hangars are clearly marked both visually and through navigation metrics on which are available to be used. A force screen is used to keep the atmosphere within and ships have no problem passing through. To some...it must be a terrible sight to see entry into the station.

     Krystal piloted her ship to the assigned docking station and once docked, stood up from the cockpit seat and made her way out of her ship and into the station, trying to surpress a feeling of nervousness, though her tail still does lash back and forth a bit more than normal. Even though she had met Wolf twice, she realizes she still doesn't know terribly much about him, and the defenses and tight security details of this place made her fur stand on end a little bit. This lupine certainly leaves nothing to chance, and it occurs to her that if he wanted to keep her here, he could. She takes a deep breath and tries to push such thoughts from her mind, he just wanted to talk, right? So she had nothing to worry about. Outside her ship she would meet the assigned escort and follow them to wherever they would take her.

     The inside of the station, at least on the hangar level, is exactly as one might expect to see in any space station's hangar level. Plenty of ships of varied designs rest. They don't sit on the landing pads, however; part of the automated process includes moving the ships into a stasis position once passengers and cargo are removed. While it's hard to tell at a lasting glance, there are likely enough ships visible to be a rather overwhelming force if all used at once. 

     The escort is there waiting -- a monkey as well -- wearing no armor, only a uniform, but has a pistol of some sort at his side. "Welcome to Sargasso Space, owned by the great Lord O'Donnell, and to his very home. My name is George. You must have some pretty important business to use VIP clearance." He doesn't seem to recognize Krystal at all. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the lift where you can meet with Lord O'Donnell yourself, ma'am. He's currently flagged on comms as to not be disturbed, but I assume he's been expecting you." 

     The monkey lifts his brow at this; normally disrupting Wolf at such a time would be a very bad career choice. "Don't, uh, worry about your ship, by the way. It will be secure. If you want to refuel or require repairs, just let me know and I'll pass the request along."

     Krystal picks up on the fact that the monkey doesn't seem to know, or perhaps doesn't care who she is, just treating her as some woman who is here to see Wolf, and is probably of some importance considering the clearance. She decides not to comment on it however and as they near the lift, she nods in response to the last thing he says. "Thanks, I'm not sure how long I'll be staying, but see if you can have it fueled up for me. Been a while and now is probably as good a time as any." She asks in a polite tone, then turns to enter the lift after activating it, and waits as it presumably takes her up to the floor Wolf is on.

     "No problem, ma'am." The monkey speaks into his comms piece on exactly that along the way. The lift itself is actually made just for passengers and is one of a few. The cargo lifts must be elsewhere in the guts of the mechanical engineering area of the hangar bay. A touch-panel allows various interaction choices, although voice can work if you know precise commands, and the observant might notice that the monkey directs the lift to somewhere in the residential area -- a level closer to the top of the station itself -- but the escort says little in regards to it. He certainly looks like he wants to say something, but...he holds his tongue. 

     The lift opens to T-section of corridors and a specific path is taken down one of them that leads to a door labeled as 'recreation'. Job completed, George gestures to the door. "Enjoy your meeting with Lord O'Donnell." With an acknowledgment bordering on the militant, he monkey turns away to head back to the lifts. He has other things to do, most likely. 

     The door itself is unlocked and, when opened, reveals a gym complete with modern training equipment...and a few not-so-modern things. It has a decent complement of gear through and it seems to lead to a place for showering off after a workout. At one of the machines is a certain wolf, fully topless save for his pendant, with his hands grasping the handles of two levers. A readout indicates the current simulated resistance as well as the force being applied. Teeth bared, Wolf grunts loudly as he pulls those handles down and together around his sides.

     Krystal makes her way into the gym quietly, and sees that Wolf seems to be busy with his workout routine, so she takes her time walking through the gym, somewhat admiring the equipment, certainly top notch stuff. Even when arriving at the spot where Wolf was working on some sort of resistance machine. By now he surely knows she's here, assuming he didn't notice her from the start, but she will patiently wait for him to finish and acknowledge her, she was not in any rush.

     There is a ripple of muscle underneath fur at the strain so given. While Wolf is by no means a bodybuilder, his pull strength is substantial for such a physique; his body reflects well-rounded training. While not peak in any category, he still has a lot to show in most any situation or contest. Easing those machine arms back before releasing the handles, Wolf steps away while hotly panting. Because of this, he doesn't exactly say anything at first. 

     Instead, the aging mercenary space pirate gestures the intruder into his exercise time over to a hanging punching bag. It might seem a bit old school to some, but this bag isn't filled with sand. Instead, it's filled with a compound that resembles the general density and impact strength of the average person's body, although quite a bit more sturdy, that is also reinforced with a latticework of flexible struts. This also has a readout similar to the other and records data on use. 

     Wolf pats the bag twice. "Come hold it." Without fully waiting for compliance or not, he throws a few gloveless punches. The sound of impact alone might be frightening to some. "You actually came. Painless when expected. I was aware you were here the moment you used that clearance for docking." And yet he didn't even bother to get dressed. He doesn't even have boots on. Wasn't there something about a potential mission on looking into that 'mystery'?

     Krystal has been paying attention as Wolf works at the machine, even if he wasn't a professional body builder, she was still impressed, he may be aged, but he's certainly not letting that slow him down, and she certainly wouldn't be intentionally picking a fight with him anytime soon. When he asks her to hold the punching bag, she obliges, and nods as he confirms the obvious, wondering how much of a heart attack Fox would have if she knew where she was right now. "You sound surprised." She states with a small smile. "You said you wanted to talk to me about some sort of mystery I face, and with a vague invitation like that which lets my imagination run wild, how could I resist?"

     "I'll be handing you over to Panther for that," replies Wolf with a lot less emotion to meet such wonderment. Then again, he's pumped up at the moment and the blows given to the bag, even held stable, are particularly jarring. In other words, he's mostly focused on his routine and less on social subtleties. "He specifically requested overseeing this little...stunt. And he wanted to see if you'd be helping." Stunt is one very interesting word to use to describe a mission, to say the least. 

     "But, yes, I wasn't sure you'd actually come. After our last, mm, 'encounter', I figured you'd have run away to stay with that pup. Grr- HUP!" The vocalization made accompanies the next strike which follows through a bit too far and imparts much greater force into the bag. The timing in conversation is likely not coincidence. "Or did you not find him yet?" An eyepatched glance is given around the side of the bag at that question.

     "Panther huh? He has some sort of thing he wants me to help him with?" Krystal confirms with a curious expression. But then Wolf moves on to confirming he did wonder if she would come, particularly if she had met Fox again. When asked if she had, Krystal smirks a bit. "Oh I didn't just find him, I actually invited him to meet me in the very same restaurant I met you and your boys at. I guess I just liked it and wanted to eat there again. We talked, he seemed surprised to hear I had met you on Corneria and no one tried to arrest you. He asked if I knew where you were, and I told him no, even if that was sort of a half lie, considering you had told me of this base, but I also didn't think that letting him fly over here so you two can try to kill each other was a great idea, not to mention it would be a pretty blatant betrayal of me toward you as well. In any case, he did mention at the end of our dinner that he would be interested in meeting you, and even promised he'd be civil, so there's that I guess."

     The punches continue unabated throughout the conversational replies. Wolf lets loose a flurry of rapid jabs before pausing and resting in against the bag, partially hugging it, and can only really manage one question in reply: "And do you believe him?" He inhales deeply before letting it all out in a huff and then pants some more. It's not that he's tired. Wolves don't sweat and his exercise certainly heats him up. 

     In fact, O'Donnell seems to call it here. He turns away to wander over to where his shirt is lumped beside his boots on the floor and leans over to collect a towel from the nearby bench and drapes it around behind his neck. Additionally, mostly turned away from the vixen present, Wolf reaches up to remove the eyepatch and drop it atop his shirt.

     Krystal follows Wolf as he moves to collect his shirt, just enough to stay at a good distance for continuing the conversation without needing to shout. She nods to his question before voicing her answer. "I do. I didn't get any red flags of deception throughout our conversation in body language or even telepathically. Unless he's a very skilled liar and has as much of a resistance to telepathy as you do, I believe he wants to meet you and find out if you are any different from the Wolf of the alternate Lylat that he and I come from, which you'll remember, I conveniently haven't met." She says with maybe a tinge of sarcasm in the last comment, feeling it would be nice if she knew both versions of these important people so she could have a better grasp on things.

     Resistance to telepathy? Wolf snaps, "Stay out of my head," in a very stern tone as if to remind, if not altogether warn, that he doesn't appreciate such things. Still, he quickly moves on from that with a shake of his head. "You really are naive, girl." He doesn't fully face Krystal as he speaks and, even then, only shows his right side. "There's a difference between telling a lie and saying a lie. I know that much and I don't have 'what card am I thinking of' powers." A scoff follows that statement. "You can't tell a lie if you believe it, only say things that are untrue. But, still, are you honestly considering putting us in the same room together?" 

     "I don't know," comes a different voice from the room's entrance. A very graceful Panther leans against the wall just inside the gym wearing his flight suit while fingering a rose. "I think we could make a small fortune off of sold tickets." It would seem the feline has invited himself. Then again, he was expected. "Are you ready to go?" asks Caluroso of Krystal, perhaps figuring that Wolf explained things already despite it being his own idea, with a half-grin.

     "Calm down, I'm not in your head, as if I could if I even could be. Your skull is such a wall, maybe someone could break through, but not me. I could tell something was different about you when we first met and I didn't naturally pick up any additional mental tone when you spoke like I usually do with people. I didn't try to dig into your mind because I have respect for people's privacy and tend to avoid doing so without asking unless it's necessary for a job. Strong thoughts I usually still pick up on, but there isn't much I can do about that. For you though, nothing, like a radio picking up only static." Krystal thoroughly explains, hoping to ease things between them. It was certainly not the first time someone had reacted that way to her admitting to being a telepath. 

     She then moves on to the rest of what Wolf said. "If I'm being honest, I don't know enough about either of you to really know for sure if my trust is misplaced. However I'd rather give the benefit of the doubt rather than live in constant paranoia. As for putting the two of you in the same room, I don't know. I don't have to read either of your minds to know there is a lot of bad blood between the two of you, even if it's with different versions of each other. Perhaps a radio conversation first would be wise, and meeting each other alone is probably a bad idea, even having someone to mediate is probably a good idea..." She trails off as Caluroso interrupts, turning to the panther. "Ready to go? I'm still not sure what we're doing. Wolf only said you had some sort of 'stunt' as he put it, that you wanted my help with."

     Walking away to the area with the shower stalls while Krystal speaks, Wolf leans over a chest-high partition to get some water flowing, drapes his towel over that partition, and then leans against it while using a single hand to rub the half of his face that he shows to his guest. "It's really confusing to have alternate versions of people you know to keep track of suddenly." 

     "In some cases I think of it as a blessing," interjects Panther with a casual stare not directed toward his boss. 

     Wolf ignores this completely, however. "So, look, if that's something you want to try, fine. Maybe your Fox is a miracle and everything his father would want him to be, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't hold my breath. He and I never would have had the history we do if he and his father had made better decisions." 

     "I'm not perfect by any means. I mean, a lot of the choices I made were fairly lousy, but the alternative was starving. Or worse. If your Fox also dropped out of the Cornerian Academy, pulling Beltino's kid along with him, just to go play mercenary in my footsteps, then his father would already be disappointed after what he went through to make a good life for his family. Did you ask him about the Lylat Wars fee, because I'm just dying to know what he said about that."

     Krystal nods, seeing Wolf's point about alternate realities getting confusing. "I guess you're right, I just feel like even though I just met both you and Fox, I'm sort of caught in the middle between the two of you." She says before glancing at Panther and raising an eyebrow as he states his point about it potentially being a blessing. "How is it a blessing, if I may be curious." After allowing Panther a moment to answer, she turns back to Wolf, listening to the rest of what he has to say. 

     "I suppose it's worth a shot, and if anything, you have the upper hand here since he doesn't have any of his team, it was just Fox and I that got expelled from our version of Lylat. As for what he said, well, I remember pretty well since it was just the other day. He said he'd never charge so much that it would hurt innocent people, that his team exists to help those in need, but helping people isn't cheap. He also said that while he does charge for their services, that he wouldn't outright demand payment, and that as a mercenary not everything he does is for altruistic reasons, but the contracts he picks should speak for themselves, and that at least he doesn't work for Andross."

     Panther meant it as a compliment and not as something that needs clarification. When so pressed, he quickly asides, "I like to think of it as double the magnificence offered to this little corner of existence." 

     Wolf has a very different focus at present. The water streaming within the partitioned off shower cubicle behind him begins to emit steam. He scoffs with a half-derisive laugh. "Of course he did. Must be hung up on Andross to make that point, though. Makes me wonder what all was going on in your little version of Lylat. War is war. Everyone is the good guy in their own story. That said..." Wolf turns fully away and reaches over to test the water temperature before adjusting it with the console. 

     "If your Fox is like my Fox, he dropped out of the Academy with a promised military career before him lain out by the successes of his father, throwing it away in some twisted sense of seeking vengeance for his father's death, and discovered that killing the person you've come to hate for ordering the death of your nearest and dearest doesn't make you feel better. So, tell you what: what right does he have to charge the military he dropped out of for a service that should have been an obligation in the first place?" He glances over his right shoulder. "We'll discuss this later. Off with you two; I need to take a shower. Go do whatever it is you two are off to do."

     Krystal nods to Wolf. "He did mention that someone on your team betrayed his father and got him killed. I say also you do have a point there. I'm sure the money helps buy more advanced ships than are standard issue for the military, and not being enlisted allows more freedom to do jobs that the military wouldn't go for, but dropping out to then charge the military for your assistance does smell rather rotten." She offers quickly before turning toward Panther and allowing Wolf to have his shower. "I'm flattered that you think having two of me around the galaxy is such a blessing." She says with a laugh. "Now lets see what you have in mind for this job shall we?"

     "Yeah, well, tell him good luck finding Pigma. He was last seen somewhere here in the asteroid belt." Wolf doesn't explain himself, but he's not lying. 

     Panther pushes away from the wall and gives a polite shallow bow before turning and pressing for the door to open. "Beauty first," he offers with a gentle gesture of an arm. "It's really quite simple," he begins only once both have left the gym to head toward the lifts once more. "If anybody knows anything about your homeworld it'll be the CIA. So, I figure we'll just give the Cornerian Intelligence Agency a call and see what they have to say." The dark-furred feline rumbles softly as he pads along, the footfalls from his flight suit's boots surprisingly quiet, before lifting his rose to his nose to inhale the fragrance deeply. "Who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll tell us everything." He doesn't really believe that. But part of him does genuinely hope that it does happen that way. "We'll head back down to the hangar bay and prepare for launch. I have a ship prepped just for you and everything."

     Krystal smiles at Panther's gesture. "So chivalry isn't dead." She says with a grin, heading out into the hall and toward the lifts as Panther explains, very quickly drawing her undivided attention. "You really think they might have information like that? I should know better than to get my hopes up, but I do really hope you're right." Then Panther mentions that he has a ship prepped for her and she gives Panther a curious look. "Why a new ship? Are we trying to keep a low profile?"

     "Surely, you're as bright in mind as you are in body, Krystal." He whistles, but it's done in reverent appreciation and not as a measure of derogatory catcalling. "You're right, of course. Or at least half-right. I expect a certain result from our inquiry and I know of ways to get around it. But I want to be able to say I tried doing it the proper way first." 

     For as charming and genuine as Panther often is, it might be easy to overlook the fact he's been one of the Lylat System's most wanted for decades and is, beyond a doubt, a hardened killer. As before, Panther allows Krystal the chance to board the lift before him for a return trip to one of the lowest levels of the station from one of the highest and would no doubt have a different atmosphere riding with the feline than with that monkey from before. 

     "Honestly, it's more for your own protection than it is mine. If it comes down to it. But do you think you can trust me?" The rose-wielding cat glances sidelong to Krystal in a way that could offer eye-contact, but is by no means a direct stare. It's probably a very good question.

     Krystal nods. "Ah, I see. So you're hoping for the best, but not expecting that getting the information we want is going to be easy, or perhaps even legal." She states her understanding as she gets into the lift before Panther. When she looked up the information Wolf had told her about Fox, she had also checked into the info on Wolf and his crew in the Cornerian Extranet, so she had seen the wanted postings and read some further things. She had to admit though, that it surprised her that a person who was reportedly a cold hard killer, felt so genuine and treated her better than almost anyone she knows. 

     She knows it's risky going with Panther on this, but if it meant finding out what happened to her home world, she was willing to do almost anything. At the question of trust, she does look up at Panther, making eye contact. "Hmm, do I trust you? I probably shouldn't after some of the things I've read about you and the rest of your group, but I suppose after meeting you all I've decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully it won't wind up coming back to bite me in the tail."

     "You are free to pilot your own ship, of course," states Panther as he leans against the wall first with his shoulder, then the side of his head. "But, I've had the vidcomms modified to spoof an altered image and voice so you can travel in anonymity so as to protect your identity. Just in case. I think you should choose whichever option you're the most comfortable with." 

     For as polite and thoughtful as Panther is, for all of the compliments he gives, he never once crosses that line that compromises any mutual respect. Of course this is going to give mixed signals, but Krystal has never encountered Panther on a job, either. Nevertheless, he leans there, relaxed and not expecting anything, simply enjoying the company on the all-too-short elevator ride. 

     It's the hangar again. It looks the same now as it did before, only...Panther's Wolfen, the Black Rose, is prepped and ready to go along with another ship over on one side of the hangar bay while Krystal's Cloud Runner is docked on the other side. Choices and consequences. Of course, there's a third option: there's still time to back out. Panther patiently stands there admiring the general view for as little or as long as is needed. "I'll offer to protect you as much as I can, but I won't force you to let me do so. After all, you don't need somebody to keep you safe -- strong and willful as you are -- but sometimes it still feels nice, hm?"

     Krystal has decided before they even exit the elevator. As they enter the hangar, she looks from Panther to the docked ships and nods. "Well, if we're going to the trouble of masking who I am, may as well use your provided ship to complete the disguise. As for your offered protection, I can take care of myself sure, but it never hurts to have someone watching your back. I'm not foolish enough to believe I'm never going to be in a situation where I'm over my head, though, it helps that I've already been in some rough scrapes before." She replies with a smile before moving to enter the ship Panther had made ready for her.

     The walk across the bay to where the ships are at the ready might come with a twang of anxiety for whatever it is that Caluroso has planned. 'Contacting the CIA for answers' only explains so much. Of course, the walk also has its share of stares as the notorious hitman walks side-by-side with a member of Star Fox...for all they know. 

     At the immediate approach to the docked ships, right before paths slightly diverge, Panther turns to face the vixen and reaches to her with rose in hand. "For good luck. It's better to have it and not need it. This may not bear any fruit worth eating, but at the very least it should be a quiet ride together." The silver-tongued feline gives the rose a twirl by the stem as it is offered. 

     The Black Rose is of typical Wolfen design, although a distinguishing dark-petaled rose decorates the side. The ship for Krystal is less glorious: a G-Diffuser-modified Venomian long-range scout craft with light weaponry installed sits there, in very good shape, and both ships have raising platforms to better reach the open cockpits. They each only seat one pilot. The Venomian ship is about as hardcore military grade as it gets on the inside, but the basics remain exactly the same as any standard space craft. The canopy, when prompted, can easily close and seal and the cockpit itself can begin pressurization. 

     The comms alert to a direct hail on presence; the button on the panel to respond lights up.

     Krystal takes a deep breath as she walks with Panther across the hangar bay, trying to ignore all the staring eyes, though she doesn't fully succeed in that as she moves closer to Panther and whispers to him. "Why are they staring at us?" She senses a slight bit of anxiety, but also feels it a bit herself, this being the first time she did anything that might end up being illegal, assuming the CIA doesn't willingly offer up the information they are trying to find.

     At the offer of the rose, Krystal smiles warmly at Panther and takes it after he twirls it briefly. She holds the rose up to her nose and sniffs its sent for a moment before looking back at Panther. "Thank you." She offers before getting into her ship and placing the rose on the dashboard of the cockpit.

     The comms light begins to blink before it goes out and a voice cuts in. "Internal power enabled," rumbles the smooth voice of the Panther as his face pops up on part of the comms display. He's going over a full checklist of things as standard operating procedure and assumes that Krystal can manage on her own, as well. "Primary weapons, enabled. Secondary weapons enabled and primed. Astrogation system enabled. Can you find your way around in there, Krystal?" He continues to go over startup, hands moving over the panels while his gaze shifts about. 

     "Life support, enabled. Deflection shielding enabled and primed. Targeting systems enabled. Alpha interface enabled." The cockpit of the Wolfen goes darker at first, but then various panels for information light up and a holographic HUD is displayed against the canopy, only visible from within. "Beta interface primed. G-Diffusers enabled. Plasma engines enabled and primed." The engines do indeed fire up and are ready to provide propulsion. All boarding platforms are full retracted and everything is clear to launch. 

     The face on the screen turns to look to the side; from over in the Black Rose the panther looks across over at the other ship from one cockpit to another, smiles, and then gives a nod. "All systems are go, Krystal. When you're ready, we'll depart. You should have a course set for astrogation for us to exit Meteo safely and get clear of the asteroids' interference."

     Being in an unfamiliar ship, and not as experienced a pilot as her counterpart in this universe, it does take Krystal a little longer to get comfortable with the Venomian ship and go through enabling all the various systems check to make sure everything was working properly. When Panther's voice comes on the comm link, Krystal responds. "Roger that. This is certainly a bit different than my ship, or the clunker my dad bought for me back on Cerinia, but I'm figuring it out. Just give me a moment.... Alright, ready to go!" She responds as she slowly increases the thrust of the ship's engine and flies the ship out of the hangar bay, then begins following the astrogation chart. Now any anxiety she may have been feeling a moment ago is instead replaced with excitement.

     The engines on the Black Rose hum, growing louder, and eventually reach the whine of a craft seconds from launch. With only a bare minimum of distance between the docking/launching pad and the forcefield keeping the internal atmosphere pressurized while allowing for ships to come and go, actual launch acceleration /can/ be alarmingly high. Thankfully, Gravity-Diffusion makes the process of some ships being violently expelled, like the Wolfens, rather painless. "Launching in three, two..." 

     Barely a blink and a half can pass before the custom Wolfen is ejected and spacebound in a much quicker and more well-practiced exercise that his current wingman. It's a process barely felt inside Panther's ship at all. In fact, it feels more like the station itself suddenly slides backwards out of view and is gone with nothing but blackness and rocky planetoids in the distance floating within the endless expanse. It's a very smooth ride. "Following plotted course. We should be out of the belt in about ten minutes, give or take. Possibly less." The ship banks to follow the convenient holographic overlay, but from within it's as if everything else simply spins in place to rotate around the craft. "We'll skirt the edge of the belt's magnetic fields and make our call. How, rrrr, how's the ship handling for you? I hope that it's satisfactory. There's plenty of power in it, built for speed and nimbleness, but I'm not sure how it stacks up to your ship."

     It was quite a rush launching from a space station rather than a planet, Krystal had to admit. She may or may not have let out a cry of glee from the feeling of excitement. She then chuckles a bit and responds back to Panther. "Guess I'm still not over the thrill of being in a ship that has some real power. It's really quite fun. I do prefer mine, though I'm not sure I could tell you why, probably just that I'm a little more familiar with it, even if I've only had it for a little over a month, and what an interesting month it's been."

     The plotted course also allows some leverage with engine throttling. Panther is quite used to taking things fast and furious, but he's not irresponsible enough to leave behind his flight companion or risk speeds inside the asteroid belt that would be dangerous for a less-experienced pilot to handle. All the same, the current orbit of the constantly shifting and drifting planetoids allows for what appears to be very close passes beside them. In some cases, it might even feel like you could reach out and touch them, but they aren't quite as close as they may appear. With nothing but the blackness of space for comparison, visual depth perception can be misleading. "Just trust your instruments and you'll do fine, ha," states Panther with an edge of amusement; the happiness stems from the excitement Krystal exudes in the departure. 

     "I bet it's been a wild ride. New faces that already know you, familiar places that you've never before seen." He pauses and taps out a few things on his control console. "Adjusting course to account for the variance of Big Ugly Rock numbers One and Two ahead. We're still in the clear." Astrogation updates with very very slightly altered path. "You really were happy to be on Corneria again, that night I saw- heh. That night I met you. But you're still new to the system overall, right?" It's easy to forget that there are so many more worlds out there connected now when you're already dealing with interstellar politics and trade. "Is it treating you well?" the feline asks regarding the Lylat System.

     Krystal appreciates that Panther is taking it a little easy for her sake, and she dutifully follows the path charted through the planetoids, adjusting for the updates. Even having a plotted out path to avoid them, it was thrilling, and a little scary that they were weaving between them in what seemed like such close proximity. She listens to Panther agree with her about the past month likely being rather wild for her. 

    "Yeah, it has been. I still wonder what I'll say or do if I run into my other self. As for how the rest of Lylat is treating me, it's been nice to be back where it at least feels like I belong, even if it's not my actual home universe. I've been adjusting though. For example, at first I was sad again learning that Cerinia was destroyed here too, but then I thought of how awkward it would feel to meet friends and family that weren't truly my own. It's better this way, even if it's still painful." Krystal explains, then as she passes between another pair of planetoids, she exclaims "Must have taken some real guts to fly through places like this before modern astrogation!"

     "Many smugglers have lost their lives against these rocks in the past, sobering as it may be, so it's certainly a very dangerous place. Even still. The magnetic fields created by these ugly chunks has them all over the place. Occasionally one of the asteroids will get flung out, pulled back in, and slingshotted off in some unfortunate direction. We monitor the activity here in Sargasso space very closely, so we shouldn't get any nasty surprises." 

     The asteroids already seem to be thinning. It honestly doesn't take that long to clear the dense cloud of rocky debris when you have a safe path to follow. "Still, I like to think of it as a bit of extra security for home. Mm, speaking of..." Panther segues, "Do you have a place to stay? I can think of some beautiful condos on Corneria where you get the most wonderful sunsrise." Of note, he doesn't ask if she wants to stay on the Sargasso Station, too. That would be presumptuous. "I'd be happy to pay for your first half-year. No strings or obligations attached. Having somewhere safe to call your own is important for adjusting."

     "It's like a deadly, constantly shifting maze surrounding your base." Krystal agrees. "Wolf really knew what he was doing when he set up shop here, I must admit." She adds as she starts to see the light at the end of the asteroid field, so to speak. But then Panther asks if she has a place to live at the moment, and before she can even answer, makes her one incredible offer.

     "Oh my, I was going to say I've been sort of living out of my ship or any other place I can stay for a night or two as I explore the different worlds, and the other parts of Lylat, but that is incredibly generous for you to offer, are you sure?" Though she had to admit, it would certainly help her get back on her feet in this strange new world of worlds.

     "It would be terrible to have a radiant bloom such as yourself, though strong of stem, to wilt from the weight of stress and uncertainty. I can afford it." Panther has been doing his high-pay line of work for many decades. "So, yes, of course I mean it. Think about it; I can suggest a few places, but you choose something that works for you, and we'll sort out the details then. For now, though..." 

     "We're clear enough that we should be able to get a call in to Corneria City, but the transmission will be bounced a few hops to get there, so we'll have a bit of latency calling from ships rather than if we called from a proper communications hub. It's easier to mask ships than it is an entire station, though. Imagine the surprise if they got a call from the heart of O'Donnell's empire." He chuckles at the thought, teeth showing in a relaxed smile. "Pretty sure Wolf wouldn't find it funny. Can you- Go into your settings on your comms panel and enable Active Spoofing. It will, hm hm, disguise your appearance and voice. A terrible shame to have to do so, but it should...work." 

     Panther furrows his brow as he messes around with similar options. For some reason it -isn't- working for him and agitation reflects on his face and in his voice, although subtly. "Great." Krystal, however, should have no problem enabling the option, although unless she uses self-view to examine the transmission from ship to ship, she won't notice that she now looks mostly the same, only with red-orange fur and blond highlights.

     Krystal is still surprised at the extremely generous offer, but feels it would be rude to turn down such a thing. "Thank you, I can't remember the last time someone made such a generous offer to me. Maybe once we're done with this job, we can go pick out a place. You probably know more about Corneria than I do, so I would appreciate your suggestions." She replies before turning her attention to the task at hand. 

     Following Panther's instructions, she adjusts the comm settings to enable the spoofing. "Alright, I think I got it, is it showing up on your end?" She asks for confirmation. She wonders how far it is going to mask her, but doesn't enable the self view, feeling perhaps it was best that she doesn't know what she looks like during this call.

     Panther continues to tinker with the comms system, but something just isn't working and seems to flat out refuse to function. Leaning back, the sound of his nails drumming against the cockpit internals may be picked up over comms while he silently grumbles. "Well," he begins with a follow up laugh as if trying to downplay his frustration of being put on the spot. He's trying to be a gentleman, at least, even if Krystal is the last one to be fooled by the mask of humor. "I suppose we'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way." 

     "But, yes, it seems to be working well." Krystal's voice has some higher tones to it in the transmission. Just what kind of overall image is intended? Thankfully, there's no feedback audio, either. Caluroso clears his voice and begins the process of making the call. He'll have to discuss the technical issue with the engineers later. "Here we go. No worries, just play along. They shouldn't suspect a thing. Even from me." Really, why would Panther ever call the Cornerian Intelligence Agency with his criminal record?

     Panther's attempts to mask his frustration doesn't fool Krystal, and it doesn't take a telepath to guess what he might be frustrated by. "Let me guess, it's not masking you, but it is me... I suppose that's for the best. You can't be the only black panther in the galaxy, but I might be the only blue fox apart from my double, unless someone's going overboard with dyes." She says with a chuckle. 

     "Anyway, if you're sure it's fine, let's do this." She replies before going quiet as Panther makes the call to Cornerian Intelligence. She feels like she has butterflies in her stomach over the prospects of what they're doing, but does her best to stay calm and collected.

     "Cornerian Center for Intelligence and Operations, Cornerian Civilian Branch. How may I direct your call?" asks a very bored-looking dog that barely even pays attention to the video screen before him. The sounds of other operators speaking can be softly heard behind him. If ever there was a doubt how real this is, there shouldn't be now. 

     Panther speaks, but he emphasizes the roll of R's and holds his vowels longer. "This is Professor Estevan Sabroso of the Xenoplanetary Archaeology Committee and this is my assistant Candice Doux. We need to make a Level Three inquiry with the Department of Xenoplanetary Historical Societies." While the cat already has a smooth voice, he's laying it on thick. 

     The operator seems to be busy for a moment leaving both Panther and Krystal -- rather, Estevan and Candice -- time to take in the art of the deception. Or the broadcast latency. Finally, at length, the dog affirms, "One moment." And then the transmission cuts...for now. It's being forwarded, but that affords a little time not transmitting across the system. Panther looks straight at the comms lens and smiles a bit.

     Krystal nods as Panther introduces her, paying close attention to the name he has given her and hoping she can avoid accidentally using her real name during this transmission. When the transmission cuts, she takes a breath and grins back at Panther for a moment before once again putting on a warm but professional expression.

     "You'll have to forgive me if the name and spoofed appearance and identification seem demeaning in any way. Understand that it isn't personal, Krystal." With nothing else to do while passing the time and, well, this act not being Panther's first blatant lying to authorities, he goofs around a bit by rolling his Wolfen all the way around in a one-eighty before looking out the canopy to make a silly face with his thumb on his nose. 

     "This is Lieutenant Piper of Xenoplanetery Sciences. Doctor Dachshund of H.S. is out on holiday, uh, Professor Sabroso. What can I do for you today?" Piper is a rather stern looking dobermann overall, but he seems relaxed enough. After all, this is a civilian inquiry. 

     "My assistant and I need to make a formal Level Three inquiry," Panther replies. 

     Piper immediately asks in return (not counting the pause back and forth), "Level Three? I'll need you to transmit your identification and clearance." Panther presses a button.

     "Oh, it's fine, I know it's a necessary thing for this, and the name seems fine anyways." Krystal replies before giggling at the face Panther makes at her while doing a 180 over her ship. "Showing off Mr. Funnyface?" She asks quickly before quickly regaining her composure as the comm video resumes. 

     She let Panther do the talking still, as he was more experienced with this sort of thing, and perhaps a more convincing liar. She also figured, as his 'assistant' this would pretty much be what she should be doing anyway, waiting for where she is needed to 'assist'.

     Piper seems to take the time to receive and look over the clearance provided, looking back and forth from one screen to another to another (the latter two of which show the ones being so spoken to), before wrinkling his brow. "Who did you say you were again? Sabroso, Sabroso..." His glancing to the screen, however, is a matter of glancing specifically at Candice. His stern appearance breaks with a smile. "Ah, we have a Ms. Candice Dou- Miss, excuse me. Miss Candice Doux." He mouths the word 'wow' before shaking it off and seemingly okaying it. 

     "Everything okay, Lieutenant?" vocalizes 'Estevan'. 

     "Yeah, everything looks in order. A bit of corruption, but everything checks out. Probably interference from something. So, uh, what is this formal Level Three inquiry?" It seems the door is open to ask nearly any question about known planets outside of the Lylat System. Panther does not immediately answer. It would seem the task falls upon Mister Funnyface's assistant.

     Krystal waits anxiously as their clearance is checked, though she supposed as far away as they were, with the efforts Panther has used to mask where the transmission is coming from, the worst that could happen if they find a flaw in their clearance is that the call ends without them being able to ask anything. 

     When Panther leaves the questioning to her, she for a moment is nervous about going right out and asking what she wants to ask, but decides perhaps it would be less awkward than asking about something else and then attempting to shift later to what she really wants to ask about, so she decides on the direct route. "We were wondering, what information you could tell us, if any, about Cerinia."

     "Cerinia? Can't say I've heard of that one myself. Must be pretty far away. Do you know the system name?" Lieutenant Piper screws up his muzzle as he looks over a database search. "40 Erdinia, Sasoplece-7, no. Cccccerinia...uh." 

     It's a bit of an awkward moment for Panther, at least. He furrows his brow and reaches up to scratch idly at the scar on his cheek without really thinking about it. "Cerinopia, Ceraopoeia... Hold on, let me try something while it searches for a match." The dog turns away, gets up, and walks off for a moment completely off-screen. 

     The panther exhales a 'heh' in amusement; all he can do is shrug. "I suppose they must be having some sort of problem, Candice. Hopefully this matter is resolved in a timely manner, but I have full faith in the Lieutenant's ability to dig up the information we need for the meeting with the Committee. I've always been a fan of how reliable and knowledgeable the Cornerian data storage is handled. Admittedly, this is the first time I've seen this kind of holdup on such an...important inquiry." Passive aggressive powers, activate. 

     However, Piper's seat is suddenly bathed in a red glow and a three-beat buzz is heard. Scrambling footsteps have the Lieutenant hurrying back over, bumping into the seat and knocking it over, and the transmission frames his leaning in to read /something/. 

     "This is... This is a first. I mean, there's no file-" he stumbles in explaining. The buzzer razzes three more times. "But apparently looking it up has set off some kind of alert to higher command. It must be a locked entry for Lieutenant General or above...what." He seems to be trying to shut off the stupid buzzing, at least, with no luck. "How can looking up an entry be reported to General Pepper if there's no entry to look up?! Professor, this is beyond my experience and pay grade. I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a report on your inquiry and-" 

     The door opens up on the far side of where Piper works, two armed guards step inside, and one gestures for the other to go cut the transmission while Piper is...escorted out? The last image is that of a hound leaning in to cut it off...but not before recognizing the face on the screen. "Caluroso!" The connection drops. Panther pulls his hand away from the button. He's stunned into silence. Not so Mister Funnyface now.

     Krystal sighs after the transmission is cut. "Damn!" She exclaims. "Well I guess we're back to square one, only knowing that whatever they know about Cerinia, it's not good news, then again, I could have told you that. It's just a matter of how bad is it I suppose. So Mr Caluroso, what can we do now?"

     Panther seems to chew on his lip for a moment as he takes that all in. That he was recognized doesn't bother him so much, but he doesn't fancy they'll immediately believe Piper claiming to not know who he was. "Well..." Panther sighs and leans back fully into his seat. "I suppose, unless we want to go pay General Pepper himself a visit, we'll need to set our sights just a little lower. The Lieutenant mentioned Lieutenant General rank might be low enough to find something out, but that won't be easy. Forging a fake clearance for civilians, sure. But you can't just make a forgery of military clearance. Hmm." Panther drums his fingers again. "I suppose that means we have no choice but to gain Lieutenant General military clearance, then. Easy, right? I'm sure if we ask nicely, heh heh... By the way, you can, rrrr, turn off your Active Spoofing, Krystal. No need to hide that face of yours any longer than is necessary."