Author's Note: Regards to several authors who have trail-blazed the category and human/starfox/halo theme, namely Sanitarium, Feuerstoss, Vantage77 and Hookemhorns12. Shout out to the "G-Wing" series that has been floating around for ages, "Halo: First Contact" which has been a more recent ODST feature and the "Helljumper: Feet First into Lylat" fic. Special thanks and nod to Sanitarium's number one ranked "Star Fox: Exchange Student" story.

Reveille

"Oh, death was never an enemy of ours!

We laughed, knowing better men would come, and greater wars:

When each proud fighter brags

He wars on death, for lives: not men, for flags."

-The Next War

0430 Hours, August 17, 2554 (Military Calender) / Slipspace unknown coordinates near Lylat Star System

"Wake up little bro."

His brother's voice was distinct over the sound of the Cryotube cycling green. Vision blurred and stomach twisting furiously, he refused to act like any other civvie and give in to vomiting the inhalant.

He pulled himself from the form-fitting gel bed and hunched over the nearby bench, sightlessly pawing for a set of clothes. There was a rustle of fabric and a neatly folded set was dropped onto his searching hands.

"It's still early, but I'd rather give you some more time to get squared away before landing."

He frowned, wishing for the umpteenth-time his older sibling would quit treating him with kid gloves.

"Have we come out of slipspace yet?" His voice cracked after being dormant in the deep freeze, and he didn't even want to think about the taste in his mouth following that bronchial surfactant.

"No. Timing's 0515 for arrival, you're taking one of their birds planet-side."

The look on his face prompted a chuckle from his brother.

"Relax, it's probably a smoother ride than any of ours."

"Like you'd know shit about smooth rides ground-side..." he quipped in response.

"Ain't that the truth. Here."

Logan Jones sighed and ran a hand through his short brown hair, catching the towel that was thrown at him, and rubbing his face free of cryogenic applicant.

He was an unremarkable teenager, not particularly tall or short, with an angular jawline and hard grey eyes. There was a slight fatigue in the way he moved, and a note of sadness in the crease of his brow. The provided black tee shirt and denim jeans were wet in spots where the coolant was still drying, so he busied himself tugging on socks and boots.

The man next to him was only a few years older, but wore them heavily. The resemblance was in the facial structure, although his hair was just barely within the regulation 3 inches as opposed to his sibling's more relaxed cut. A stocky build with thick arms whipped in pale scars, dressed in Black BDUs already bloused at the calf.

"C'mon, lets get some chow and I'll help you square away your kit."

"Sure Adrian."

The siblings left the Cryo room, boots thumping in rhythm as they walked along the ship's deck. The corridors were eerily empty, although with the current skeleton crew of a ship that normally held at least a company's worth.

Logan glanced out of a porthole window, the strange lightshow of FTL speeding by enough to twist his stomach one more time.

The mess hall was populated by a few early risers and night crew compliment at such an hour. The brothers walked on to a terminal where they made a brief selection on a touch screen to receive a hot meal from the kitchen unit.

"Goddamn these eggs are bad," Groused Adrian as he loaded up his tray with the re-hydrated yellow muck. Logan elected to just have beans and toast.

Seated apart from the other scant few, the siblings talked quietly over the simple meal.

"Nervous?"

Logan swallowed a bite and shrugged.

"I guess so. Not the worst I've had but still, you know...it's weird."

His brother Adrian fiddled with some unappetizing egg, "I don't expect you to take it without a hitch. I mean, it is far out there alright. Seems like just yesterday we wouldn't have dreamed of having anything to do with aliens."

"One more time," Logan said rubbing his eyes again, "Just so I don't forget anything."

"Right. About a year after the War, we made contact with another alien race, this time peaceful. HIGHCOM gave the go-ahead and we whittle through some diplomatic talks. Some medical researchers swapped, diplomats back and forth, and now you're on the line as a civvie student, doing an exchange program at one of their secondary schools."

Logan breathed deeply, still trying to quell his fluttering nerves. It was an unwelcome feeling, but nowhere near the terror that he had lived through before. It still embarrassed him that he could be susceptible to something so...ordinary as first-day jitters.

"Now for all intents and purposes you're going through school down there same as anyone else, prove we're able to live in peace and all that, and you'll be staying with a host family. No name yet but I'm guessing that's just their admin being slow."

The beans were starting to taste like ashes, but Logan refused to act like a scared kid on his first day of school, especially in front of his older brother.

"I'm stationed here running some joint exercises with their defense forces, you've got my contact info and you can always call me on the E-Band."

Logan chucked dryly, "Any chance you wanna swap places?"

"Hell no, I went through highschool once and that was enough for me. Besides, mine was a backwater academy where I got jacked up all the way into enlistment, at least you'll get to see some real girls."

He stared at his brother with exasperation, "They're aliens bro; sharp teeth? Claws?"

"Makes it more interesting."

"Ugh."

Ignoring the smirk, Logan wiped his tray and got up along with his older sibling. They filed out of the Mess and followed the indicators on the bulkheads to the crew quarters, where his personal effects were laid out on a cot.

"You pulled these out?" He asked Adrian.

"Yeah, I swung by earlier."

The pair of them quickly began stowing articles of clothing in two olive duffle bags with familiar efficiency. A used Marine daypack was filled with a small portable computer, Data pads and a discreet TACPAD that had been courteously lent by ONI(which was suspicious just by association).

"Hey."

Logan turned at the note of concern in his brother's voice, to see him surreptitiously place an M6C Magnum into the back of his daypack.

"What the he-"

"Don't. I'm not letting you walk into the unknown without a little insurance. We're being screened on our end but you get to slip past without any contraband check. Just don't let anyone see it unless it's an emergency."

"You could get a lot of shit for this Adrian."

"Then they can charge me."

Logan relaxed, and nodded to his brother.

"Thanks."

Five more magazines followed, and then Adrian slipped a sweater overtop before closing the pack.

"Ten to, let's get moving."

Logan slipped on an old Longsword Pilot's leather jacket, the patches depicting Knife Squadron, having belonged to a friend of his brother's before he was killed in action. The jacket was a gift from when he had turned 10, only now did it finally fit him properly.

He walked in silence with Adrian, falling into step alongside the taller man. He was reminded of all those times they had been apart while his brother served, and the vulnerable part inside him was bitter that he'd be separated from all that was left of his family once again.

Seemingly picking up on the feeling, Adrian looked over and nudged his shoulder. Logan shook his head and walked on, steeling himself.

Exiting Slipspace in 5...4...

There was a subtle lurch as the Frigate pulled into real-time space once more, the brothers ignored it and dropped their gear by one of the benches as they entered the starboard hangar bay, were they would rendezvous with the alien delegation transporting Logan to the planet.

"Now then," Adrian said quietly, "I don't need to remind you to watch yourself. We still don't know a whole lot about the political situation down there, but FLEETCOM has been buzzing and there's more going on than we're being told."

"I'm not being roped into some ONI gongshow, am I?" Logan asked with a frown.

The elder sibling stared at him pointedly, "There's a reason they picked you and me for this, along with the rest of my section on standby. Joint Training doesn't cut it, for going to the trouble of specifically assigning helljumpers..."

The pair sat quietly then, as warning lights blared and the hangar beyond the blast doors depressurized in advance of the approaching shuttle.

Logan swallowed nervously, and Adrian patted him on the back to reassure him one last time.

"You're going to be fine."

He nodded, and stood up to heft his bags as a white alien craft pulled into view, settling down before the chamber re-pressurized, and the blast doors opened between them.

Logan composed himself, and stepped forward to meet his liaison.

The shuttle didn't look anything like a Pelican. It was an angular sort of craft with folding wings, and extended landing struts that framed a hatch just under the nose of the cockpit which had opened with the hiss of hydraulics.

His breath caught for a moment, as he witnessed the aliens in person.

They were like bipedal animals, dressed somewhat like humans but with the glaring difference in fur, tails and muzzles. He'd seen pictures of course, but actually seeing the exotic figures struck a chord in him that was uncomfortably close to the War. The majority were canines, although there was also some sort of hawk in the back and a squat toad in a labcoat as well. The bizarre sight of animal heads and limbs mixed with what looked like human torsos almost prompted Logan to stare, though he restrained himself from being rude.

Logan squelched the tension in his gut and stepped forward to meet them, his brother followed close. He recognized the decorated figure in red leading the pack from the briefings, and stood up straight as he addressed him.

"General Pepper sir, Logan Jones, I'm the student sent for the exchange program."

He was an old bloodhound by the looks of it, and the eerily human eyes peered out at Logan from under the brim of his cap, which was nodded once in an approving gesture. The Lylat equivalent of campaign ribbons and medals adorned his chest, and the teenager was acutely aware of his every move in the presence of such high ranking brass.

"Of course, welcome to the Lylat System. I'm sure you have many questions, but I assure you one of my aids will be able to assist."

"Yes sir."

The grizzled officer turned to examine the taller male standing next to him, Adrian having settled into parade rest staring at a point just above the canine's head.

"I understand you're one of the servicemen taking part in the Joint Training initiative?"

"Yes sir," The response was tighter than that of his brother, as the General looked over the unusual persons before him.

"Our staff are looking forward to the opportunity. I'd like to further assure you that if you should need to contact your kin at any time you are welcome to do so."

"Thank you sir."

Satisfied, the bloodhound signaled his guards, who exchanged protocols with the human technicians standing by in preparation for launch.

Just before hitching up his bags to enter the shuttle, Logan looked over to his brother, who gave him a pointed look and a slow nod; Unspoken assurance between the two. The older sibling turned smartly and marched off to the blast doors at the edge of the hangar.

Resolute, Logan boarded the shuttle, ignoring the trill of unease as he was made painfully aware he was surrounded by non-humans. He settled his duffles at his feet as he took a seat inside the rear section of the shuttle's interior while the General and his bodyguards split between the front and the back.

Jones found himself seated across from the squat toad from earlier, who piped up now that he finally had a chance to speak to the human.

"You must be nervous coming all this way by yourself."

The human shrugged and feigned indifference, "I've been to other planets before, I don't really get the jitters anymore."

The toad smiled far too widely and nodded.

"Yes yes, excellent. My name's Dr. Beltino Toad, I'm one of the head researchers that will be working together with some of your people's specialists."

"Really now? You must be fairly important then."

"Ah well now, eh heh..."

Evidently the toad did not get praised often.

One of the guards clad in green armor barked a mild laugh at the scene, turning to the teenager with an easy smile.

"Still can't really believe you're just sitting here making small talk. A real live alien. Heck, you're the same age as my son."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, he's starting his second year at CDSS, you'll probably see him down there."

"I'll keep an eye out Mr..." Logan glanced at the Dog's nametag, and his neural implant substituted the translation in a blink, "Grey, is it?"

"That's right," The grin on the canine's face was so genuine for a moment Jones wanted to pet him. He resisted, assuming the action probably meant something very different in their culture.

As the short trip went by, the teenager chat back and forth with the toad and the bulldog(as the breed was, evidently) and they grilled him mercilessly about life back in the Sol System. Jones told them about how he had grown up on Tribute, and later moved to Earth. He was surprised to find out how many parallels their cultures shared with one another, many of the cultural norms echoing the 1990's of old Earth.

"Do you plan on ever going back to your home on Tribute?" Dr. Beltino asked innocently enough.

There was a subtle twitch in Logan's eye, and after a pause he responded awkwardly, "Ah, no. I don't think I will be any time soon."

While Dr. Toad continued chatting away oblivious, the bulldog guard frowned almost imperceptibly, having picked up on the teenager's unease. He made no further mention of it, however.

"Ah, here we are! We're breaking through the atmosphere."

Logan glanced out one of the small windows of the craft, and for a moment found himself speechless once again.

The planet was blue, so very blue and teeming with life. Lights criss-crossed the dark side of the planet, and as the shuttle descended into the rising morning on one of the continents, the teen could make out the teeming shipyards and dry-docks scattered across the planet's orbit.

"Wow...it sure is beautiful..."

The bulldog swelled with pride for his homeworld, and reached forward to pat the boy comfortingly on the shoulder as he looked out the window.

"Welcome to Corneria."