Author's Notes: Okay... I mostly wrote this story just for fun, so it may not be my best work. It is however the first multi-chaptered story I've ever completed; I got the rest of the chapters done, I just need to edit them before uploading. I'll be uploading new chapters over the next few weeks. I don't critique at all, but no flames.
Oh, one more thing; I've only ever played Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Assault. I have not played Star Fox Adventures, so everything I know about that game, I know from reading only... so sorry if I missed anything important story-wise. I do know the basic lore behind Krystal and her relationship with Fox. Also, this takes place a year after the events of Star Fox Assault. The Great Fox has been rebuilt by now, and the Lylat System is well on the way to recovery after the Aparoid Invasion.
Most of the crew aboard the Great Fox was asleep.
Falco, Slippy, Krystal, and Peppy had all retired to their bunks for the night. ROB was keeping an eye on the ship and it's crew from the bridge. Only the team's fearless leader was still awake in his quarters.
Fox McCloud sat at his personal terminal, his eyes glued to the monitor. The holographic display showed a recording of an Arwing fighter flying down a narrow tunnel; as captured by the black box and holocam on the second Arwing following it out. The visual quality was terrible, with the playback punctuated by constant static and screen tearing.
Fox had watched this recording what felt like a thousand times over; it'd been taken from the black box on his old Arwing, the one he'd flown during the Lylat Wars years ago. In the final battle of war, he'd flown into Andross's lair, challenged the mad scientist's giant mechanized head, and defeated him before racing back to the surface to avoid the resulting shockwave from the construct's destruction.
Only, he'd flown that mission alone.
When Andross was defeated, Fox had been momentarily disoriented by the explosion; unable to find the exit, he thought he was doomed to die with the mad ape. That's when that second Arwing appeared... and Fox heard the voice of his father, James McCloud, call out to him. He urged him to follow, leading Fox out of the underground lair and to safety.
Afterwards, Fox assumed that he must have hallucinated- maybe bumped his head against the side of the canopy. Peppy insisted that no one else had gone in after him; their Arwings were all too badly damaged to be of assistance. What was more, the data on his ship's black box had been corrupted at the time (a result of the explosion, Peppy theorized) so Fox couldn't go back and see if what he'd seen in the lair was real.
That was ten years ago. Fox's old SF-64 Arwing had gone down with the original Great Fox at the Aparoid homeworld, but it's data recorder was stored in a military archive on Corneria before that. General Pepper had returned it to Fox just a few weeks ago, after one of his engineers managed to piece the data back together.
That was how Fox came to possess the grainy holo-recording now playing on his terminal. It confirmed that there had been another ship leading him to safety on that fateful mission. There was no audio; the Cornerian techs had been lucky to get as much as they had out of that old data-core. Fox couldn't hear his father's voice over the comm, but he knew in his heart that it was him. It had to be.
Fox's ruminations were interrupted by the sound of the alarm on his cabin door; someone was outside, asking to come in. Fox had an idea of who it might be...
"Come in," he called out. The door hissed open, revealing a gorgeous blue-furred fox with azure eyes; his wingmate and close friend, Krystal.
"You're up awful late," Fox remarked.
"You're one to talk," Krystal retorted. "Am I interrupting anything?"
"Just trying to make sense of this," he replied, nodding his head at the monitor; he'd paused the recording, and now the second, unidentified Arwing could be seen in plain sight, the glare of it's main thruster just a few yards off the chaser's nose.
Krystal walked up behind Fox's chair, placing one hand on top of the headrest and contemplating the image on-screen. "What exactly are you hoping to find?"
"I honestly don't know... something. Anything. Just a small hint as to who he was, or where he went," Fox answered.
"I think you already know who he was," Krystal observed. "What you really want to know is what became of him."
"You're reading my mind?" Fox accused, looking over his shoulder. Krystal smirked back at him. "I don't need to," she retorted. "It's written all over your face."
You would think Krystal might set him on edge with her power of telepathy, but somehow Fox felt comfortable around her; he knew she didn't use her powers unless she had to, and would never be so arrogant as to invade his private thoughts.
"Fox, I'm getting worried about you," Krystal confessed. "You haven't been sleeping; you haven't been fit to fly in weeks."
"I know, I know..." Fox said. "I'm becoming obsessed... but I can't help it! I have to know the truth about what happened to him. I've watched this recording a dozen times, looking for some kind of clue... I just can't help but think that I'm missing something. Or that I'm forgetting something."
"I know how you must feel," Krystal comforted, kneeling down beside Fox and placing a hand on his arm. "And no, I'm not reading your mind... but I know how much your father must have meant to you. I know it must be frustrating to know that he might be alive, only to have hidden from you for all these years."
"That's the big question," said Fox. "If he is alive, why would he hide? Why would he lead everyone to think he's dead? It doesn't make any sense..."
"You want answers," said Krystal. "I understand. But depriving yourself of sleep and watching the same old recording night after night isn't going to help."
Fox stared at the screen for a few more moments, contemplating Krystal's words. What she said was true; he'd been combing through this same footage every night for the past couple of weeks. He was exhausted, his mind unfocused. Even if there was some clue to be found in the old recording, he wasn't going to find it in this state.
"I am pretty tired..." Fox admitted.
Krystal smiled. "Why don't you get some rest? If you like, I can look through the data for you; see if I can find that missing piece of the puzzle."
"Yeah, that'd be great..." Fox replied. "Thanks, Krystal."
Fox got up out of the chair, stretched, and yawned before making his way over to the bunk; he took off his jacket and tossed it aside before allowing himself to fall onto the bed.
"Anytime," said Krystal, who took Fox's place in the terminal chair. "Now, try to get some sleep. I'll let you know if I find anything, alright?"
"Mm-hm..." Fox grunted in response.
It wasn't long before Fox McCloud's snores filled the cabin. Krystal took over where Fox left off, playing the recording again and again, her eyes narrowed at the screen. She focused on the unknown Arwing leading Fox out of the tunnel, trying to pick out small details or identifying markings.
This quickly proved impossible due to the poor video quality. Krystal watched as the Arwing led Fox through a series of tunnels before exiting through a hatch at the end; as it left the breach, it quickly disengaged, boosting to orbit and out of sight of the holocam.
Krystal checked the data that accompanied the visual recording; it was heavily corrupted, but perhaps she could plot the other Arwing's trajectory to find out where it went.
Data scrolled down the left-hand side of the screen. Just as Krystal suspected, the corruption was extensive; too much for her to discern anything from it. She hadn't really expected to find anything there- Fox had no doubt look at the same data already, and found nothing.
But there was one thing Fox hadn't tried...
What Fox didn't know was that he had a powerful mental bond with his father. As such, if Krystal were to probe his memories through telepathy, then it would be possible for her to reach out to James's mind as well.
Krystal felt guilty invading Fox's privacy like this, but it was the only thing she could think of. It would be so much easier to do while he was sleeping, with his mind relaxed... if she could find his memory of the Battle of Venom, she could find James McCloud.
Krystal spun the chair around so that she was facing Fox's bunk. She placed her hands in her lap, closed her eyes, and focused.
As she plunged into Fox's mind, she saw images, flashes of ships battling in space, hear the sounds of explosions and blaster fire, as well as a myriad of voices. Concentrating with all her might, Krystal sifted through all of Fox's thoughts and memories, looking for his last memory of James McCloud.
As she delved deeper, she found something; images of the toxic world of Venom, Arwings and Wolfen battling above a dome-shaped stone structure nestled among rocky spires. They were soon followed by images of narrow stone corridors, and then Andross himself, and a most peculiar sight... a giant brain, floating high above the ground in a massive underground chamber lit by emerald lights.
She saw flashes of an Arwing battling this strange entity, followed by an explosion, and Fox crying out in shock; and then...
"Don't ever give up, my son..."
"Father!?"
Bingo.
Krystal saw the very same images from the data recorder, only now they were perfectly clear. Two Arwings raced down the narrow stone tunnels she'd seen earlier, a massive fireball threatening to engulf them from behind. She delved into the minds of the two pilots; one frantic and confused, the other calm and focused.
Krystal focused her own mind on the latter. She saw an image of an older fox in aviator glasses piloting the lead Arwing. As the two exited the dome, they split up, just like in the holorecord... only now, she could see where the other Arwing was going.
It broke orbit, and then came to a stop; the pilot's attention was focused on something beyond visual range, but Krystal could see the picture in the pilot's mind of the Great Fox, of Peppy... and of Fox himself.
"I'm sorry, Fox," said the pilot.
The next images were of the Arwing turning away from the planet; Krystal could see the pilot inputting coordinates on the fighters console. Krystal struggled to grasp the pilot's thoughts as he prepared to make the jump to lightspeed, hoping to uncover his destination.
"This isn't over, Andross," echoed the voice of James McCloud. "I know where you're hiding, now... and I'm coming for you."
Andross? What? Krystal was confused, but she had no time to ponder this; she needed to know where James went.
Where are you going? She thought. Where...
A single word echoed through the mind of James McCloud as the Arwing warped out of the system; and with it, Krystal saw one final image of an ancient star, a blue supergiant.
Kyrak.
Krystal gasped. Her eyes snapped open; Fox rolled over in his sleep, having been ever-so-slightly disturbed by her invasive telepathy. Krystal took several deep breaths, trying collect herself.
The Kyrak System. That was where James McCloud had gone.
Author's Notes: Well, that's the prologue, for what it's worth. Let me know what you think. I'll get to work editing the next chapter soon, and post it as soon as it's ready. BTW, I'll address Andross's presence on Sauria during Star Fox Adventures later on in the story.
I came up with a whole bunch of different planets and destinations in this new star system called Kyrak, with much of the inspiration coming from Mass Effect; mostly planets you found in the galaxy map, but couldn't actually visit.