Chapter 1: Greetings

"You call this a ship? Geez... I've seen better things held together with tape. And not the heavy duty kind, either."

Commander Skye Abison stood above the massive hull of the Great Fox as snow whooshed past his face. He, along with the rest of the Star Fox team, drifted gently within the atmosphere of Fichina.
"Can't believe I'd be demoted... it was my team, too..."
Fox sat, sulking over his recent loss.
"Oh, Fox... don't be too sore..." Krystal began to speak, putting her hand on Fox's shoulder. After all-"
"... You weren't honestly expecting any less after the incident in Sector L, were you?"
"Skye..." Krystal sighed.
"'Cause I tell ya, that's a heck of a way to take out a base."
"Skye! Leave him alone! It wasn't his fault!"
"It was an accident... but surely not worth replacing me."
"Whatever. We're almost here."
"Here? You never told us where we were going... why Fichina?" Fox began to mumble. "Some leader you are..."
Skye grinned and sat down, staring off the edge of the ship and down at the ground.
"Fichina... WONDERFUL place. Nothin' quite like the constant bombardment of snow. I'd say that we're here to fix the malfunction of the Climate Control Center, but it's been taken care of."
"Then once again... why are we here?" Fox snapped and started to stare at the back of Skye's head.
"Because... the one who took care of it's our new member."
"What? We're getting a new member? Why didn't you tell us about this before?" Krystal jumped to her feet, shivering.
"Heh. That'd ruin the surprise."

The ship was lowered down slowly to a height of about 10 meters, an easy jumping height for Skye. He leaped off and did a flip, crashing his feet into the snow.
"Wow. The white stuff just kind of... BUILDS around here. You guys can stay if you want, it'll only take a minute."

He walked forward and greeted a figure, taking its hand and pulling it back to the ship.
"Hold on, Krys, I'm gonna go see who it is."
He jumped down and landed face first into the snow.
"Oof... you okay, Fox?" Krystal giggled and peered down over the edge.
Fox did not respond and instead struggled to free his face from the frosty ground.
"Wow. Some leader you made, I'm sure." Skye remarked with his usual sarcastic tone.
Fox freed himself and wiped the ice off of his ears, looking up from the ground at a familiar young vixen.
"Hi, Fox..."
"Fara? You... you're the new team member?"
He slid back on the ice and began to blush. She was wearing a small parka and helped him up with a mitten-clad hand.
"You look happy to see me." She said in a cheerful tone. "I'm just glad to have gotten that job. Finally some money..."
"Yeah... you always got high grades on your exams, I... I think you'll do fine."
"Mmm-hmm. Plus... it's nice to see you again." She whispered.
Fox swallowed and jumped back to the newly descended Great Fox, climbing up and walking inside with a heavy blush.
"Aw, we're like one big, happy, idiotic family... tch." Skye scoffed.
He followed with another great leap to the top of the ship, quickly darting inside, mumbling about the cold.
"Wow... this is the Great Fox? It's... smaller than I thought. So much for budget..."
She climbed up the side ladder and jumped on, following Skye inside and taking off her bulky suit and gloves.

Fox felt his heart pound as he raced to his room. How was he going to pull this off? Fara made a lovely addition, but... in too many ways! Could he possibly go on like he did before? As if nothing had changed? He had to pull this off... after all, he still had Krystal. And his heart was with her. He was determined to stay like this... the time at the Academy meant nothing. To stay professional... was key. She's just another member.

He walked out and saw Skye staring up at the sky.
"So... what's new? Any news on HQ?"
"HQ? Heck no. We haven't had anything to do and we STILL don't have anything to do."
"Something'll turn up, Fox. Don't worry yourself." Krystal smiled.
"Ah... the whole mercenary life is something I'm going to have to get used to..." Fara looked down.
"It's something we've all gotten used to... or... are all still trying to get used to. But hey, pay's good and we get to eat nachos all day." Skye grinned and continued staring off of the edge. "C'mon, Falco and the others are waiting. And boy, won't they be surprised."
"Y-yeah..." Fox responded.