This is the begining of something new and exciting for me, and hopefully it will be enjoyed as much by you reading it as I have enjoyed making it.

To get the legal stuff out of the way, Star Fox and all its characters belong to Nintendo. All my characters belong to me.

Anyway, enjoy!

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It has only been a week since the defeat of Venom. Only a week since the death of the most deadly tyrant in the history of Lylat. Venom still smoldered on its surface, elements of the Venomian Army still being rounded up. But for the most part, this was now peace time. Though you wouldnt know it after a glance at Venom and its outlying sectors. Patrols of CDF fighters still swarmed all around from Macbeth to Sector Z, doing their best to make sure no Venomian troops could escape to continue the fight. Luckily, the majority had simply surrendered once Andross had been defeated at the hands of the mercenary group known as Star Fox. They were the biggest hero's in Lylat since the days of the establishment of the Cornerian Empire.

But to one unbiased soul, that didnt matter much. Gabriel Lawerence was a writer, but he was far from a simple fictioneer who wanted to cash in on the lives of countless soldiers who had paid the ultimate price on both sides. Rather, he was renowned as being an expert on military tactics, having been a former officer in the navy himself. Even though the leopard gave up the military life early, not having the stomach to take lives, he was still one of the most respected persons associated with fleet tactics and had been a trusted advisor to General Pepper during the Cornerian counter attack after the defense of Corneria. It was his advice that had turned the tide at Zoness, and he was one of the few to agree with the general's decision to use Star Fox in the degree that they had.

But now, his advisory role was over.

The war was over.

But he knew there was still many lives that were yet to be taken before true peace could be restored and this his put him at unease as he gazed out the window of the Pegasus-class transport that was taking him to the surface of Venom itself. Large sections of Venom were dangerous to set foot on without a enviromental suit or simliar protection, but Andross's terraforming had allowed for small sections of the planet to be moderately livable, if unhealthy for the citizens that called it home. It was one of these sections that he was being taken to, Andross's palace to be exact. It was here that he was search for any evidence of further military reaserch and hidden technology that may be present there. It was his last task, he was to oversee the exploration and then he could finally go home.

The young leopard brushed aside his long black hair that ended about his shoulders, hardly the hairstyle of a soldier. Yet, it suited him. He had always been known as a rebel, and fair to boot. Too fair in fact, he had been investigated twice by Cornerian police during his time with the military due to his willingness to point out Corneria's flaws as well as Venom's. This had earned respect with some, and ire with others. But he didnt really care about that, he did what he thought was right and dealt with the consequences. It was a simple philosophy that had gotten him far to this point, and he was not about to stop now.

But his thoughts turned to the planet below and his last assingment before taking the long trip home. He really didnt exepect to find anything, surely anything of true value had been either destroyed or taken off planet by now. But still, orders were orders and with the panic that the Venomian troops had left with when they learned of their emperor's death, you never know.

His thoughts were interuppted by being poked in the side by one of his armored guards, a young husky sergant named Jell Lasky that he was on quite friendly terms with.

"You know, you should really put some protection on sir. Those fanatics on the ground are still lurking about the palace grounds from what ive been told. Seems they dont want to let their emperor's home go so easily."

Gabriel smiled. "First of all, im not your commander. You know that, so cut out the sir if you dont mind. Secondly, those "fanatics" as you call them, are probably just scared citzens thinking that we, the invader, are here to rape and pillage them."

Jell opened his mouth to speak but the spotted cat interupped him. "Now, they no doubt think that only because of their emperor's brainwashing. Who can blame them? If the person I thought was God himself told me that the people invading my planet were here to kill myself and my family, I would probably believe him. But at the same time, I dont think we have anything to worry about. I believe that a score of armed guards is more than a match for scared civilans armed with nothing more than rocks and harsh words, dont you think?"

"Yes sir."

"Good."

Gabriel returned his gaze back to the viewport as they entered Venom's stratosphere. He was known, and had caught some flack from the Cornerian media for this, as being in the middle when it came to the conflict between the two planets. He may have been a Cornerian officer at one point, but he was no fan of the racist treatment that he belived had given Andross all the ammunition he had needed to do the same in return. In his eyes, both sides were at fault for the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. In the words of one famous Cornerian colonel, "In war, there are no winners, just survivors."

But he had no more time to bother himself with his own mental debate over who was right or wrong, as the transport landed on one of the landing pads at Andross's golden palace that had once housed a madman. He had a job to do now.

The large metal gate at the end of the transport slowly swung open, and his twenty or so guards stood up to step off. Gabriel joined them as they walked off single file onto solid ground again, with Gabriel brushing past them to speak to the pair of soldiers that stood waiting for him at the end of the landing pad. The sky was a bright green that was almost hurtful to the eyes, and the air was harsh to the lungs. It seemed fitting that this hostile enviroment was the home to Lylat's greatest enemy.

Gabriel coughed several times as he walked off the landing pad and shook the hands of the soldiers that waited for him. One of them, a bulldog captain, offered a mask to the leopard who graciously accepted it.

"Good to see you here sir, we've already discovered several bunkers underneath the palace grounds. We had no idea we were there until scans from orbit showed them right under our feet. We havent been inside them yet, we were told to wait for you."

Gabriel nodded. "Thats all well and good captain, but why wait for me?"

"Orders are orders, though I asked that exact question to my surperior. Said he wants someone who will give an honest report about what we find, though that doesnt sound good to me."

"Well if the bunkers are hidden under the palace grounds, then you can bet that Andross himself may have been involved with whatever went down. The man was an honest scientist once after all."

"Yeah, and im prime minister."

Gabriel shrugged off his remark and motioned for the captain to lead the way. They entered the palace proper where scores of Cornerian soldiers were scurrying about taking whatever they could find and packing it into containers to be shipped back to Corneria, this was their prize of battle. The looting made Gabriel a bit uneasy but he kept his mouth shut. Many of these men were veterans and had seen many friends die in the course of this brutal conflict. He could understand their sentiment.

They descended down floors of stairs and once beautiful rooms of carved granite and laced with gold and silver. Many of the ceilings were paved with precious jewels that sparkled off the glint of the soldiers armor, a few of them were busy putting together makeshift ladders in an attempt to pry them from the ceiling. The captain did nothing to stop this and the group continued their journey past lavish libraries and guest rooms where once the patron guests of the emperor had stayed.

It wasnt long until they came to the bottom of the palace, where soldiers where busy entering and leaving with their pillage. They rounded the back of the silver main stairs that ascended to the heights of the palace, standing in their way was a large set of doors that looked like they had blown open with explosives. They passed these doors to come to yet another winding set of stairs that seemed to stretch down for quite some distance.

"Andross sure seemed to like his exercise, I havent seen an elevator yet." The captain remarked with a sigh.

"From what I understand, Andross was in prime physical health. Having so many stairs would be a way of showing how strong he was, to exhaust his followers while he was not would be a way of showing of for him I guess."

A few of the soldiers behind Gabriel exhanged a few looks with each other, though the Captain seemed to almost sense that and whirled around to glare at his men. Gabriel ignored this and only began his descent into the armored bunkers that Andross had kept secret from even those at the palace. It was a long climb downwards, as even the physically fit leopard had to stop to catch his breath and let his legs rest for a few moments.

As they neared the bottom, Gabriel was suprised to see that the stairs ended in a pair of massive doors at the end of a hallway. Several Cornerian soldiers were busy setting explosives to the doors as they approached.

"These doors are made of Thermosteel, the same materiel that captial ship armor is made of. Andross really didnt want people getting in unless they were invited."

Gabriel nodded and motioned for the captain to continue. "All right then, how do you plan to open them?"

The bulldog walked up to the door and patted the charge that was secured to the door. "These are some new toys that have been sent down from the flyboys up top. On the outside, these are your typical satchel charges. On the inside though, is about 5 grams of Novalite. Straight from the ammo from the big guns of the Estonia in orbit. These should have no problem getting through."

Gabriel smiled and chuckled to himself. "I suppose with the war over, we have to use all the spare explosives we have lying around. Either that or throw it away I guess."

"Pretty much."

The pair of soldiers that had been scuring the novalite charges to the hardened doors stepped back and handed a detonator to the captain. The bulldog ordered his men back up the stairs.

"All right, everyone needs to be at least half way up. You definetly dont want to be here when this bad boy goes off."

Gabriel muttered something under his breath as he did as he was told, though there was no way he was going all the way back up again. He was joined by the captain and a few onlookers as they waited for the last of the soldiers to ascend back onto the palace grounds. Gabriel looked back and nodded at his guards that stood ready for his orders.

"Captain, after the doors are blown, keep your men in the palace grounds. My guards will provide security."

The bulldog seemed surprised. "Why? Is there something I need to know?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No, but whatever we find down there is classified materiel, if there is anything to be found at all. I wouldnt worry about it captain, most likely these bunkers have been cleared out already."

The captain nodded reluctantly and after taking one last look to make sure everyone was a safe distance away, pressed the button on the detonator. At first nothing happened. Gabriel was unimpressed.

"You sure your men got this set up r-"

BOOM!

A large flash accompanied the defening noise and the grounds around them shook with the force of the detonantion. Several loose debris fell from the stairs and dust was shaken loose from the cieling.

The captain smiled. "Oh im sure."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and after a few mintues wait, descended back down the stairs with his men, the captain staying behind as he was told. When they reached the bottom again, the entire floor and walls were painted a deep black and were still smoldering with the fire of the Novalite bomb. Everything beyond the now breached doors was a pitch black as the leopard's guards drew their weapons and activated their night vision visors on their helmets. Jell handed Gabriel one and the leopard ordered his men forward in the darkness.

"Keep it tight Lasky, dont take any chances."

The husky nodded as he and his men pushed forward, guns at the ready. Gabriel stayed behind and paced nervously as several minutes went by. Finally, a large pitbull emerged from the darkness and waved at his commanding officer. Gabriel put on his visor and went with him into the blackness. All around him were gutted computers and what looked like operating tables of some kind. Rows upon of rows of burnt discs and books sat on one end of the wall while the other end spilt off into a seperate tunnel, which Jell and a few others were exploring further.

"Looks like they left in a hurry, made sure to either destroy or take with them everything not nailed down too." The pitbull remarked.

Gabriel noded and examined one of the smashed computers to see if its hard drive was still present. Finding none, he ordered a few soldiers to check the other computers when Jell emerged back out of the other tunnel.

"Sir, you need to see this."

Gabriel turned quickly to see a stone faced Jell doing his best to not look the leopard in the eye.

"Find anything?"

"You can say that. I might bring a gag if I were you."

Gabriel gave him a curious look and proceeded with him down the tunnel until they came to a series of rooms with giant glass walls and barred doors. Jell's troops were standing around looking uneasy, and there was a sense of evil in the corridor. Gabriel cursed inwardly, they were cells. He approached the first one to reveal a mound of bodies, all shot through the back of the head execution style.

"Son of a bitch."

"Tell me about it. A few of these cells contained children sir."

Gabriel wheeled around to look him in the eye, as if attempting to see if he was lying. Jell only stared right back. Gabriel moved past him with an under his breath curse. "I dont need to see that, Ill take your word for it."

"Sir we've got a live one!" A voice called out from down the cell block

Jell and Gabriel exchanged looks and rushed to where the voice had originated, all the the way at the end of the cell block. There, a pair of soldiers were busy attempting to break into a cell where a similar mound of bodies could be seen, but this one was different. Curled up in a ball was a single feline female, covered only by a ragged blanket that looked like it had been looted from another prisoner. With several kicks and blows from their rifle butt's, the door swung open and the feline withing crawled into a corner in a pitiful attempt to get away.

"Its alright, we are with the CDF. You're safe now." Gabriel spoke as he ordered his men to stay back. If they crowded around her, it might frighten her into doing something drastic.

The leopard came to a stop several steps away from the ragged black furred feline and there he went down on his knees. He smiled at the young girl and offered his hand.

"My name is Gabriel, im not here to hurt you. I promise."

The girl sat up and pulled her knees up to her chest as Gabriel realized she was completely naked except for the poor excuse for a blanket she wore.

"You must be freezing...here."

He took off his navy jacket and handed it to her, though she did not accept it at first. Gabriel laid it gently down on her lap and took a step back, allowing her room to consider. After a few moments, she gingerly and shakingly put the jacket on and looked up at the leopard. Her eyes were a startling red that seemed almost...artificial.

Gabriel offered his hand again. "Take my hand. We'll protect you, I swear."

The girl stared at his hand for a moment, as if unsure if it was a hand or a dagger. But after some hesitation, she reached out and joined hands with him. Gabriel helped her to her feet as he wrapped his jacket around her shoulders.

"Whats your name?" He asked in a friendly tone.

"9."

Gabriel drew his breath in sharply, if the only name she remembered was a number then she might have been here quite a long time.

"Alright 9, my name is Gabriel. Its nice to meet you. Lets get you out of here alright?"

Gabriel nodded to Jell and handed her off to him who picked her up by her legs and carried her out to the entrance. Gabriel gave one last look to the mound of bodies that sat mouldering in the corner. He always had a begrudging respect for Andross for his intellect, especially before the war. But now, all that respect faded. The man he had once respected had become a monster in his final years, and this prison was its proof.

After checking the other cells for survivors, they found none, Gabriel and his guards retreated to the surface where the leopard called in a forensics team to examine the cells and photograph the remains. Andross may have been dead, but someone was going to be charged with war crimes for these henious acts. It was a horrendus end to the final moments of Gabriels service to the Cornerian military. He sat down on the main silver stairs just inside the entrance, grateful that his part to this horrible war was over.

He prayed a silent prayer for the single survior of those prisons, and made his way back to the landing pad above him. There he sat down in the same seat he had arrived in, and waited for his guards to join him. Jell sat down next to him and pulled out a cigarette, clearly just as shaken as he was.

"Goddamn, I though I had seen it all."

Gabriel nodded and reached over and took the cigarette from Jells mouth, placing it in his own. Jell's surprise turned to laughter as he gave his companion a second look.

"I thought you dont smoke?"

"I dont."

And with that, the transport lifted back up and ascended into the stars.

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And with that, we have the prolouge. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and ill see you guys next time!