Chapter 1
Greetings, and welcome to my first story in too long. To start with let me give you a quick summary so that when you are done reading this paragraph, you may better judge if this is the type of story you may like.
Plot: Another planet occupied by dinosaurs (much like Sauria but technologically advanced), but are forced to flee their home after being attacked by another un-named race. Much like the barbarian tribes that snuffed out the Roman Empire nearly 2,000 years ago, these people migrate to Sauria to establish a new home. The Lylat system is hesitant to let such a powerful entity settle near their borders and war quickly ensues that, of course, draws in everybody's favorite mercenary team.
The rating is for violence, some profanity, sexual innuendo, and alcohol usage. It would probably be a PG-13 movie, but for this purpose it is M. The rest is posted with the initial description.
So if this sounds intriguing to you, then by all means, read on. If not, than there are plenty of sappy romance dramas out there you can read.
Also, this story takes place after the events of Star Fox: Assault.
One more note, I have placed many dinosaur species names in here to help with physical descriptions (that 3 hr. credit college course I took on anthropology finally has come in handy after all). However, since I realize that most people know their dinosaur names from watching Jurassic Park and maybe a few Discover Channel specials, I have listed below what each one is by comparing it to some familiar names. So if you see something in the story that is meaningless to you, just a quick look up here should help you out.
Carnosaur- a large meat-eating therapod, in other words, a T-Rex
Dromaeosaur- part of the Deinonychosaur family, this is a smaller meat-eating theropod, like a Velociraptor
Saurornitholestes (say that 5 times fast)- AnotherDeinonychosaur, much like the one above, but a slightly shorter body
Ceratopsian- a medium sized herbivore, with a frill behind the skull and usually horns on the head, such as, you guessed it, a triceratops
Hadrosaur- a medium sized herbivore, four legs and a medium sized but thick tail. Medium sized neck with an elongated head. Not much to compare it to, but for those familiar with a duck-bill dinosaur, its of this species.
Stegosaur- Com'on, do I really have to explain this one? Didn't you learn this stuff in kindergarten? A big four legged herbivore with plates on its spine, a tail with boney spikes, and a tiny head. 'Nuff said.
Sauropod – these are gigantic, four-legged herbivores with a neck often as long if not longer than the body and a huge tail to match. Sometime reaching as a four story building, they are the largest land animal ever to exist. Some of you may remember the word Brontosaurus somewhere in the back of your brain (they recently re-named it to Brochiosaur, but same thing).
So, without further ado, sit back and enjoy.
And last but not least, the legal BS.
All names and places named in this story are a complete work of fiction and do not represent any real persons either living or deceased. I do not own any such copyrighted names such as Lylat, Star Fox, Arwing, or any other titles which are owned by the Nintendo Corporation.
-Duke402
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Prologue
A world's end
It was cold.
That was the one thing that stood out in her mind above all else from that fateful night, the bitter, horrible cold.
Most people of her species use the old cold blooded ancestry as an excuse to avert cold weather, but she always knew it wasn't the physical part of her body that suffered, it was something far less tangible, deep down inside, that being cold always caused her so much misery. It was like feeling the life slowly ebbing out of your body as it succumbed to a slow, joyless death; which in a biological sense wasn't to far from the truth.
But that night she new it was much more than the icy wind biting into her skin through the open door of the VTOL craft. She new that besides the below freezing temperature, it also carried the feel of death. Death for her way of life, death for her planet, and perhaps, even death for her people.
Death was all around her, stretched out before her on the ground only a few hundred meters below her was the ruins of their greatest city, now burning with the stench of buildings materials, machine lubricants, and bodies. Even though she was being lifted clear of it, death was still chasing her. Tracer fire from kinetic projectiles and energy weapons alike whipped through the sky in all directions, sending countless craft like hers tumbling into the fire below.
Yet despite this mayhem, she simply stared out the window like one gazing out a vehicle window on a lazy drive on the weekend. All she could think about was the cold wind flowing over her.
Some movement nearby caught her eye. Not the fast, constant movement of the carnage outside, but something in the carrier with her. It was the crew chief next to the window, a Velociraptor with a slight green tint to his skin waving his hands frantically trying to get her attention. He was screaming something. It was just then that she realized she had not put her headset on. All she could her was the jet wash of the vehicle thrusters and the explosions outside. Blinking like coming out of a dream, she fumbled next to her and put the headset on which allowed her to communicate with the rest of the crew.
"-it! Are you even listening to me Ma'am! We need to take immediate action! Everything's going to hell! This crew risked its ass to bail your stinkin' tail out of that hot zone, and your day dreaming! Of all the stuck up V.I.P. brass, I got to get the one-"
She held up her hand in a stop motion and made gestures like she couldn't hear him. He sighed and leaned closer to her face.
"I SAID, NOW IS THE TI-"
He never finished his last comment because she promptly reached for the back of his helmet and pulled with all her might, smashing his snout into the nearby bulk head. He snorted, holding up a hand to the blood now flowing out his broken nose
"Never speak to me in that tone again. Never forget that I am a superior officer and that as one I always know my duty. I will let this pass because the extreme situation we are in, and it may be hard on such a low ranking individual as your self,"
Now her eye slit narrowed and her tone deepened.
"But if you ever talk like that again I will personally envoke the right of Gal'nesh and eat your liver with a fresh glass of your blood. Understood?"
Still holding his snout with a solemn expression on his face, he nodded.
"Yes Ma'm." He mumbled.
"Good, now, get back to your station. I would be most displeased if I got shot down by incoming fire because you were not at your weapon to keep the enemy at bay." She said coolly.
As the crew chief sauntered back to his automatic plasma rifle mounted in the side of the hull, she flipped a switch at her headset that patched her through to the pilot.
"Lieutenant, patch me through to orbital command. Tell them General Gunik wants to know if there are any orders for her from higher."
"Uh, yes Ma'am, but I don't think orbital command is functioning anymore." Came the nervous reply through the headset.
Unflustered, she simply replied, "Fine, then find me the highest ranking pompous waste-of-space fly boy there up there, and tell him that as soon as I can get an orbital transport of this rock I'm going to rip his tail off if he doesn't have a good answer."
There was a slight pause.
"O-kay, but, um, what if that fly-boy is a she?"
She almost jumped out of her seat as she screamed a reply.
"Just dot it!"
"Yes Ma'am! Rerouting comms through Navy channels, standby."
She slumped back down.
As she waited for the pilot to go through the channels, she returned to looking out the window. It was about this time that the craft took a sharp bank to the west, tilting her side towards the sky. The fiery ground left her field of vision and was replaced by the twinkling stars.
She found this soothing, her view of carnage on the ground being replaced by the tranquility of the night sky and the twinkling stars. But it was a fleeting calm. For it was only a few moments before she realized that neither were those stars she saw, nor were they twinkling. They were space craft in orbit, and they were exploding. Each shinny dot probably was a capital ship in a fierce battle in orbit just as desperate as the one on the ground. Each flash of light probably a weapon impacting against a hull or maybe a engine overloading. Which side they were, she couldn't tell. But she found it morbidly depressing that there literally wasn't anywhere she could look without seeing death.
The VTOL then leveled back out and her view was changed back to the quickly passing ground. Fortunately, they were now leaving the frontline area and no longer were there quite as many signs of destruction on the ground. Instead it was replaced by the more familiar countryside that she had learned to love. Rolling green hills with dots of forest with the occasional farmstead snuggled in between. Of course she couldn't see this clearly at night, but she knew it was there.
"General, we're coming up on the space port, ETA approximately 3 minutes." Came the co-pilots raspy voice over the headset. She noticed the pilot hadn't made the call, probably to scared after her last out burst.
"What about getting me through to the Navy? Or is simply making a radio call to complicated for you?" She demanded.
There was a slight pause before the pilot responded.
"Uh, sorry Ma'am, but signal relay is out. We can't communicate with the fleet from here, we'll have to get you to a direct communication terminal at the base."
She sighed loudly and let her shoulders slump.
"Very well, just step on it, I haven't got all night." She winced inwardly as she realized that she let the sound of fatigue slip into her voice as she said this. Maybe the pilot didn't notice, because his reply came back promptly and earnestly.
"Yes Ma'am, 90 seconds now until touchdown."
It was actually 103 seconds. The VTOL touched down roughly on the concrete landing pad and the General immediately jumped out as she tossed her headset to the still sulking crew chief. She was promptly greeted by a dressed up Navy attaché waiting for her on the landing pad. As soon as the engine noise died down he made a crisp salute which she immediately returned.
"General, Lieutenant Grovoss reporting as ordered by Grand Fleet Admiral Volgran. He has tasked me with personally informing you that you are to establish a comm. link with him in orbit as soon as possible." He said in a hurry.
Her eyes widened slightly at Volgran's name.
"I though the Grand Admiral was killed in the initial bombardment?" She asked slowly.
"As I heard to General, but rumors fly fast in confusing situations as I am sure you are aware. Apparently there is still one fly-boy up there who still out ranks you Ma'am." He finished with a slight smug.
She heard a snicker behind her and turned to shoot the pilot a warning glance as he turned to cover his face.
She returned her gaze to the Navy Lieutenant with a more calm demeanor to her, "Very well, I will make contact in a matter of moments. Just as soon as I can reach an orbital comm. link."
"Yes General, of course." He said and once again made a crisp salute which she hastily returned. Without wasting any more time, she started out across the landing pad towards the nearest building which boasted a huge relay dish she knew was used for orbital communication purposes. Being careful not to get run over by the many transport trucks and fuel vehicles rumbling along the strip, she made it to the front door where she was then stopped by an impressive sized Dromaeosaur in full battle armor. She was about to show him ID when he held up a hand stopping her and said in a low guttural growl thick with a eastern continent accent,
"Don't worry about that General, I know who you are. I served under you in the Kroshar Penninsula Campaign 8 years ago. We gave them a good lickin' thanks to you, the least I can do is speed up your work here," He punched a code into the nearby keypad and the door popped open with a buzz. "Go in Ma'am, and show these new assholes how we do business."
Lost for words, she simply nodded and walked into the building. She made her way to the relay station where the comm. specialist patched her through to orbit. She was seated in a simple steel chair in front of what looked like a normal computer bank with a standard monitor in front of her when it suddenly lit up with an unsettling image on it.
Before her was Grand Fleet Admiral Kilson Volgran of the United Forces Navy. One of the very few full sized Carnosaurs to make it into fleet service, his normally imposing image was made much more so now by the expression he wore on his face. At least, what was left of it. The left side of his face was mostly covered by an assortment of bandages, the largest of which covering a now empty eye socket. His usually clean uniform was torn and dirty, covered in all manner of blood and oil.
Because of his immense size, a special command chair had been made for him on the bridge of his flagship. It allowed him rest his weight on a central stool which he "sat" in by bending forward to rest his torso on it. This allowed his head to be almost eye level with the rest of the crew and allowed his short arms to reach a special command console in front of him made for his height. Behind him she could see the crew busily running about as lights flashed and reports came in. His voice, however, was unchanged, and just as deep and rich as usual.
"Ah yes, General Gunik, so good to hear from you. As you can see, reports of my demise are somewhat exaggerated, if only by a little. Let me get straight to business. As of exactly 22:37 hours standard military time the United Council was vaporized in the first moments of the bombardment by enemy forces while at their summer retreat on the Kilsarian Continent. So far none of the Governing Nobles have been heard of either, presumably because of a similar fate. In accordance with protocol 63B of the United Charter, that places me as Commander in Chief of all remaining military forces, both Navy and Army, as well as head of state," He took a breath before continuing.
"As of right now, I have ordered a complete ground evacuation of all military and civilian personnel from the planet. Regrettable as it may be, we cannot stand up to the enemy in this state. I am sorry, but our home world of Saursalon must be abandoned." He finished with a sigh.
General Gunik blinked, "But Grand Admiral, my troops are still at 60 combat efficiency. If you give us more time and aerial support, we can-,"
Volgran cut her off with a growl as he smacked a nearby display with one of his stubby arms, "This is not open for debate, General! Be glad your troops are in as good as shape as they are in, they will be needed on down the road. It is time to cut our losses and leave while we still can. At the moment, the fleet is holding a secure route off the planet surface for transports. The enemy has made minimal attempts to engage our Navy, it seems that they are just as determined to get their troops on the surface as we are to get ours off, so harassment of evacuation ships has been at a minimal."
Trying to still sound confident and unflustered, she asked slowly, "A question Sir, about the enemy, I have gotten numerous conflicting reports about their composition. But most importantly of all, no one knows who they even are. So far all the attacks have been long range, no one has even seen their infantry soldiers and lived to tell about it. Do you have any information on this?"
There was a long pause before the Admiral replied, "I am about as in the dark as you on the matter. They have refused all communication efforts and have not sent any of their own. They have what appears to be a form of writing on the hulls of their ships, but we cannot not translate it as of yet, it has never been seen before. However, we did manage to capture one of their fighter craft which was destroyed in an orbital engagement and floated into out fleet. They found the pilot still strapped in," As he said this he typed a few commands into his console and another image filled her screen. It showed the before mentioned fight craft, burnt and damaged, with a mangled corpse still in his seat. Her breath caught in her throat.
"What the hell is it?" She asked dumbfounded. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. In some ways it reminded her of the small mammals that used to run around her father's farm when she was growing up, but this one had no fur and had what appeared to be a pinkish hide.
"Don't know yet, our scientists are still trying to determine that. A lot of tissue damage was done to the specimen both when his craft was struck by one of our anti-fighter missiles and by the vacuum of space afterwards. But regardless it is a species never seen before. DNA sequencing is under way but that will take some time, and right now, we have more pressing matters at hand,"
His tone shifted a bit and the image was replaced once again by his menacing gaze, "What I need from you General, is to place all none essential personnel under your command onto transports for immediate orbital evacuation. All combat ready personnel you have left need to protect all the space ports in your Area of Responsibility to keep enemy forces at bay. Evacuation is number one priority for the entire planet. A soon as we have gotten all the people off the surface as we can, we are breaking orbit, never to return. Any Questions?"
She was now having to work really hard to maintain her composure, "Just one Lord Admiral, where are we going?"
She could feel the reluctance to which the Admiral gave his response.
"The only known planet capable of supporting such a large population as the one we now carry, Sauria."
This was too much for her. For the first time since her officer basic course all those decades ago, General Gunik lost her cool, "But Grand Admiral, we can't! We must not lower ourselves to the level of those heretics! Surely there is still time to-,"
"That's an order damnit! There will be no discussion in this matter! I am the Commander in Chief now! The master fleet navigator is already plotted the course and the fleet's jump drives are being warmed up. We leave as soon as the evacuation of the surface is complete. It is the only choice left to us now. That, or oblivion." He said the last sentence with a much softer tone.
Trying her best to regain her composure, Gunik stood and saluted the image in front of her. "Understood Sir. I will carry out my orders to the best of my ability."
"Very good, have a report ready for me as soon as you reach the fleet. Grand Admiral Volgron, out." And with that the display went blank.
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OK, there you have it. Now, to answer the questions going through your head right now:
Yes, the Star Fox team makes their appearance next chapter.
Yes, those were humans that attacked Saursalon
And no, they will not make another appearance in this story. I used them because I simply could not think of another species to use (I'm trying to stick to the earth-based land animal theme here). I thought about using super evolved whales or dolphins or something, but that just sounded cheesy.
Next chapter up soon.
-Duke402