Alright. Now's the time for the disclaimer: all things Star Fox are copyright of Nintendo. I do not own them, and this should be extremely obvious. Only the things I create in this particular fanfiction are my own.
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"Come on, Slip. It's simple trial and error!" Falco grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. He leaned back against the chair, staring at the large monitor in front of him. On the monitor displayed a battlefield. Fox slowly entered from one of the adjacent doors, folding his arms across his chest and taking a seat as well. Falco gave him a quick glance, before looking towards the monitor. It displayed vital information for the Arwing in flight, but also the statistics of how the battle was going. There were other Arwing in the air, as well.
"Just give me a break, Falco! I've got it all under con.." There was the sound of an explosion on communicator, and Falco slapped his forehead. "trol.."
The vital statistics of the Arwing began to flash a bright orange and red, signifying low shields. "Fox isn't always going to be there to save your ass, Slip. Aww, c'mon, Slip! Do a barrel roll!" As if it were destined to happen, the statistics slowly changed to a gray as Slippy's Arwing dove towards the ground, destroyed by a ground-to-air missile. Falco's head was placed in his hand, and he closed his eyes, shaking his head.
Fox cleared his throat, folding his arms across his chest. "Give him a break, Falco. He's a mechanic, not a pilot."
"Yeah, well, someone needs to do something about that. One of these days, he's going to get himself killed." Falco grumbled, slowly moving to a stand. "I'm goin' to my room if you need me." The sound of a door hissing in opening and closing announced the Avian's exit. Soon after, Slippy exited the simulator.
"He's, uh… gone, isn't he?" Slippy inquired, tilting his head to look around the large control room. Once all signs pointed to the exit of Falco, Slippy quickly took the avian's old seat, glancing over towards Fox.
"Left a few seconds ago. But, at least it's good to know that you've improved." Fox smiled a bit, reaching over to punch the toad in the arm gently, before slowly making his way to a stand. "C'mon. We're supposed to be at the bridge."
Slippy abandoned his new seat, and quickly made his way over to the door as Fox did. Fox allowed Slippy out first, before following the Toad towards the bridge of the Great Fox. Though he hadn't really paid much attention to it, the Great Fox seemed very cold, and unforgiving… not just in a battle sense, but also, it lacked any color that might solicit an emotion. Ignoring that for the moment, he and Slippy made their way into the bridge, where Slippy did his best to avoid a look shot his way from the avian that had just been watching his progress earlier.
"So, Peppy, when are we gonna get a job so we can get some money? Running the Great Fox isn't free, y'know." Falco opened soon after everyone had taken their seats. ROB was still at work on one of the computers in the corner.
"Yes, yes, i'm aware of our shortcomings, but General Pepper hasn't had any assignments recently to offer us that he hasn't been able to dispatch the Cornerian army to take care of. All of the Aparoids have been wiped clean of the galaxy, and we've already gotten our pay for that." Peppy advised them, making his way to a sit.
Krystal, whom had been silent for the moment, finally lifted her muzzle to speak. "The way it's looking, we'll actually have to start getting jobs in Corneria. Now that there's no danger from Andross and the aparoid, there's no work for us."
"So, we're looking at team Star Fox… possibly shutting down? What about all those space criminals out there? Certainly we could bring a few of them in.." Slippy suggested, looking a bit frantic.
"That wouldn't pay enough. Not enough to continue to run the ship, even. The debt for the Great Fox has only climbed since the Aparoid War.." Peppy continued, eyes glancing from member to member. It was obvious he was beginning to regret his nearing retirement, knowing that at his age, he could no longer help to pay off the debt. "First there was James' debt, which was paid after the first Andross war. Then we felt safe enough to remodel the Great Fox, before the Aparoid War… and we all know what happened then."
The team gave a grave nod in unison. They were well aware the costs of rebuilding the Great Fox again, putting them in nearly even more debt than James and the remodeling debt combined… not to mention, their pay for the Aparoid War was barely enough to cover the remodeling debt, and the gifts from the people of Sauria put little more than a dent in the debt for rebuilding Great Fox. Not to mention the fact that they were spending money just to keep it running.
"Then there's only one thing to do.." Fox murmured, glancing over at the four of them. "We're going to have to take a job outside of using the Arwing.."
––––––––––––––––––––––––
"Well, well, well.. If it isn't Fox McCloud! I'd have to say that you guys were certainly a big help during the Aparoid War… in more ways than one. My company has had increased revenues after each and every war." A tall, stocky macaw-like business man squawked from behind his desk. Probably where it was safer. Though the macaw seemed to be in his mid-thirties, his colors were still quite vibrant; a mixture of red, blue, yellow, and a variety of other eye-pleasing colors.
"Can it." Falco began to pipe up, but was quickly silenced by a hand raised from their leader.
Fox simply lowered his hand, and folded his arms across his chest. "You of all people know that we need work. We still need to repay the debt." He glanced back at Falco, Krystal, and Slippy, before pulling out a thick folder, and tossing it towards the macaw.
"Please, friend, call me Mack." The macaw grinned, pulling the folder over. He began to slowly browse through the profiles and resumé of the Star Fox team. His beady eyes looked up towards Slippy first. "A mechanic, hm? We've been having a shortage of those recently.." Another moment of thought, a right wing brought up to stroke his beak. "Yes… yes, you'll do quite well, I believe. You're hired. Please, report to the mechanical sector."
Slippy had no gripes with this, and quickly made his way out the door. He got to do what he loved, and had all the funds to do it! Who wouldn't be so happy?
Next, his eyes rose up to Falco. He stared for a moment at the other avian, before giving a short nod. "The rest of you only have experience in strategy, tactics, and flying that Arwing of yours. And I most certainly have no use for telepathy.." He waved a hand slightly, also giving a slight roll of the eyes, which seemed to set Krystal and Falco into a defensive mode. Before he could say anything, Mack opened his beak again. "With the proper upgrades to your Great Fox, I think that there's a good possibility that we can put your Arwings to work hauling in asteroids… you know, what with your Great Fox being one big living quarters and all."
Falco quickly spoke up. "What about Slippy?"
"Him?" Mack's eyes turned back towards Falco. "Slippy will be doing just fine here, on Corneria. Should he decide to, a portion of his paycheck will go towards paying off the debt for the Great Fox." With that, he slowly stood up, leaning over the table to reach a wing out towards Fox. "Congratulations, Mr. McCloud. I welcome team Star Fox to Corneria Building Corporation!"
Fox looked from the wing, then slowly over his shoulder at Krystal and Falco. Neither seemed like they wanted to have to work like this, but gave a slow nod anyways. Fox simply returned the nod, and turned his head back to the wing, taking the wing into his hand, and shaking it.
"You won't regret this move, Mr. McCloud."