Star Fox

The Dark Reaches

Hey hey hey! I've been looking into the Star Fox games a lot recently, and I actually found my favorite of the bunch, Star Fox Command, once more, and have been playing it a lot. Thus, here's the result of my inspiration: Hope you like it!

This story follows the endings of Star Fox Command in which Falco forms his own team after not getting to take part in the Anglar Blitz and Krystal remained with Star Fox. This is BEFORE the new generation of the Star Fox team begins, lead by Fox's son.

Please Read, Review, and Enjoy!~

Mission #001

Chapter One – Distress Call

~Outside Sector Z~

Space. An empty, dark void, barely illuminated by the twilight of various stars and star systems emanating their brightness for the entire universe to see...

This was where Falco felt that he belonged. Like a bird soaring through the wind... Except, you know, there's not really any wind in space, and he has to stay within his Sky Claw the entire time to not die because of it-

But that wasn't the point. Five years earlier, Falco felt grounded, a useless bird with clipped wings, when the Anglar Blitz was taken care of without him...

Thus, he had started his own team, Star Falco. A pretty flashy title wasn't really his thing, but it was nice to have it up in the ranks with the likes of the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams.

However, he didn't know just how much weight came with the job... One day, while the team was scouting near Sector Z for signs of potential danger, when a distress signal began to ping on their sensors. Falco flipped the switch to listen in. It was a fizzled loop that sounded as though someone was groaning, attempting to form words, but they just couldn't.

"You hear that Falco?" A voice came over the communicator. Falco looked out of the pilot seat to his left, where Dash Bowman, a former elite Cornerian pilot who had joined his team, came into view. "Sounds like there's trouble."

"Yeah, but it's way out there," Falco stated, checking his map on the center screen of the cockpit for the coordinates. It zoomed in on the location of the signal, near the outer-reaches of the known parts of the Universe:

The Borderline.

To Falco's right, another Sky Claw fell into formation beside him, belonging to Katt Monroe, the first member of Star Falco who had convinced him to create the team in the first place.

"Sounds like it'll be fun," she said cheerfully. "Why don't we go check it out?"

"That's uncharted space out there," Falco commented. "We don't know what the hell could be there."

"It's only on the edge of the Borderline," Dash pointed out, "We should be fine. Plus, it's a distress signal, we can't really turn away, can we?"

Falco groaned. Katt chuckled at this. "Oh come on Falco, we've scouted this area several times already and there's nothing here. We'll surely find some kind of adventure out there near the Borderline."

"Hmph, maybe..." Falco typed in the coordinates to lock in their ship's direction. In unison, the three Sky Claws turned, heading off. "Hope you're right about this..."

"Aren't I always?"

Falco looked over to his right, seeing the smug look on Katt's face.

"There's a first time for everything," he muttered. "Max out your G-Diffusers-"

"-and let's go!"

~The Borderline~

"There it is," Dash said as the three pilots slowed their G-Diffusers and braked, slowing themselves so that they could gaze off to their left at the large, cone-shaped space-station...

It was in tatters. Several holes and burn marks could be seen on it.

Falco whistled. "No way anybody survived here," he commented.

"Well, we have to check, don't we?"

"Guess so," Falco stated, switching his ship into All-Range Mode for easier maneuverability in the area. The others followed suit. "Dash, you got the left. Katt, take the right. Check for whoever might've done this; they might still be around."

"Got it," the two pilots said in unison, breaking off from the formation and heading around to either side of the station. Falco took the center, heading in to get a closer look, flying through some of the debris that was floating around.

"What could've destroyed a giant station like this," he wondered aloud. "No way some wimpy ships did this."

"...Falco!" Katt's voice came loudly over the communicator, then fizzled a bit.

"What is it?" The leader took a sharp turn to his left, then shot off to the right towards Katt's location, heading around the station. Once he arrived at the other side of the large station, he braked just next to Katt's Sky Claw. "...What the-"

There, behind the station, was a tall, gaping, blue vortex, seemingly being held in-place by several couplings along its length.

"It looks like a Warp Gate," Dash stated, coming around from the other side of the station,"But... This tech..." Dash trailed off, shaking his head. "The readings are off the charts!"

A loud, groaning noise from the gate began to ping all of their radars rapidly, causing their ships to rumbled violently.

"This thing must be the distress signal!" Falco groaned, trying to steady his Sky Claw as it turned and shook in the wake of the gate. "It's a setup!"

As if on cue, the groaning ceased, and several objects began to emerge from the gate, pushing through like it was gelatine before breaking through it, revealing that they were small, fighter-sized ships in full-black and red, pulsating lines across the hull.

"Never seen that before either," Dash commented.

Falco gazed at the ships that slowly emerged from the Warp Gate. He counted eighteen in-all until they stopped coming. Their weapons on either wing began to glow with a red, electricity-like aura.

"Ah crap, everyone, evasive maneuvers!"

Just as the ships began to fire quick, red bolts of energy their way, the three moved out of the way. Dash flew sharply to the left, Katt to the right, and Falco pulled back and flew up above. As the team split, their attackers dispersed into groups of six, going after them.

"I got some on me! They're fast," Katt exclaimed, kicking up her speed a bit, spinning and turning to dodge the oncoming fire.

Falco gazed out at Katt's situation, then turned to look over towards Dash, who was in equally as bad of a spot.

Dash's Sky Claw took a few hits to his right wing, tearing off a good chunk of it. "I've got a wing in critical condition," he called out. "Their weapons are too strong!"

"Outrun 'em," Falco told him.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Dash somersaulted in an attempt to get behind his enemies, but they followed with ease, not ceasing for a moment.

It was in that moment that something caught Falco's eye. He smirked. "I got it," he said, braking and stopping his G-Diffuser to stop his momentum. As soon as he did, he used his center console to see behind him, where the ships behind him did the same immediately, thrusters in their front powering on and bringing them to a halt. "I gotcha now!"

Falco spun his ship around to face his opponents, then used his weaker thrusters in the back to slowly propell himself towards them.

They began to fire, but Falco expertly turned and spun to dodge and deflect their shots. Once he grew close, he flicked his G-Diffuser back on, and shot forward, straight through the six enemies, spinning so that he tore right through them and knocked them away.

"Eat this!" He soared up ward, then flew back in a u-turn, heading for the ships as they spun off away from each other. He fired his lasers, taking out three with expertly-placed shots to the cockpit, then he delivered a final blow to the other three via a charged laser shot to the center one, blowing it up to take out the other two.

"Nice flying Falco," Katt commented, though she grunted as her Sky Claw was hit by a shot.

"Listen, these ships have thrusters all around, they're made to maneuver around easily," Falco relayed to them, "You gotta trick 'em and do things quick before they can react or you'll get creamed!"

"I'll try," Dash said over the communicator, turning down sharply. Like before,the ships followed, but, instead of continuing on, he turned down continuously, going in a circular pattern. The ships continued to follow in the endless loop. "Let's try this out!" Dash braked and spun his controller, spinning in-place. Before the enemy ships could stop, they flew right into him, a few of them getting shredded, while a couple dinked off and floated away.

"Nice work," Falco told him, watching as Dash turned and went after the remaining couple of fighters, firing at them. He turned his attention towards Katt, who was still getting rocked by her followers. "Katt! You gotta do somethin'!"

"Can't you see I'm trying?" Katt shifted from side-to-side, dodging shots, though it was to no avail as her followers locked-on and hit her with several shots, dealing loads of damage to her ship. "I-I can't-" Katt closed her eyes, shaking her head, tears coming to her eyes. These ships, they're too fast, too agile...

She was always trying to act tough, mainly because she admired Falco who did the same, even when things didn't go his way, even when he was left alone in the background...

But it didn't matter much in that moment. Acting tough wouldn't save her from the death of suffocating in space if her ship was destroyed now. I thought I was good enough at piloting, but Dash and Falco... She shook her head. I've been left behind-

"Wake up kitty cat," came Falco's voice over the communicator. Katt opened her eyes, snapping out of her trance, as Falco flew by, already taking out a few of her enemies. "Now ain't a time for a nap!"

"Right!" Katt took a deep breath and sharply turned up, spinning to deflect the oncoming shots of the remaining enemies behind her. "I'll show them not to tread on a cat's tail," she muttered, flipping the switch on her controller and pressing the button to fire a Power Bomb forward. She sped up, catching up with the speed of the bomb, trailing just behind it. Just before detonation, she quickly turned downward. The ships instantly went to follow her, but the bomb exploded right on-time, as they turned, eradicating them. Katt let out a sigh of relief.

"Hell, that was pretty good piloting, for a girl," Falco stated, flying in beside her.

"That last part was unnecessary, punk," she said with a smile. Dash flew in on the other side of Katt to join them.

"How's that wing, Dash?"

"It's pretty bad, but this baby can still fly," Dash told Falco.

"Good to hear, now let's-" Falco was cut off as the groaning sound emerged from the vortex once-more, making their ships stall and shake. "Gahh! This is rediculous!"

From the vortex, a large object began to emerge.

"Oh great..." Dash groaned. "Looks like a big one!"

"Falco, I think we should call in for help," Katt stated.

"You kiddin' me? I don't got a scratch on me," he commented.

"But we do!"

Falco looked to his left, gazing at his two team members' ships. He sighed. "Man, if it's that much of a pain, then let's just-"

Before he could finish, their radars began to ping, showing several large objects surrounding them. The three looked around, not seeing anything at first, but, suddenly, three titanic, gray ships began to emerge from a cloaked state, one on either side, and one behind them. They were tall, massive structures that looked like giant, metal walls floating out in space, close to each other but not conjoined.

"...Leave," Falco finished.

"Looks like that's not an option," Katt stated.

"I'll get into contact with Cornerian forces," Dash said. "Maybe they can-"

"Screw 'em. We'll handle this," he said. "Let's go, team! I got the one behind us." Before the other two could intervene, he u-turned back towards the large ship behind them.

"...I'll contact the Great Fox," Katt said in a private comm to Dash.

"Right."

With that, the two broke off and headed towards the large ships surrounding them...

~Near Corneria~

ROB was sitting at the helm of the Great Fox when a distress signal popped up onto the screen. He let it play.

"This is... Katt Monroe... Falco... In trouble... Large enemy fleet..." Katt's voice was fizzled and staticy. ROB quickly searched for the coordinates of the message, finding it near the Borderline, the edge of known space.

ROB quickly searched for the locations of the disbanded Star Fox team.

Fox McCloud – Corneria – NO LONGER IN-ACTION

Peppy Hare – Corneria – DECEASED

Falco – Borderline - UNKNOWN

Slippy Toad – Planet Aquas.

Krystal – UNKNOWN

"NOT GOOD," the robot stated. "NOBODY NEAR LOCATION."

A ship suddenly flew by, and a voice came onto the communicator.

"Don't worry ROB, I'm way ahead of you," came the voice of none-other than Krystal. "I sensed the distress before the message was relayed. Try to get a hold of Fox, will you?"

Her transmission cut out. ROB quickly began to work on communicating with Fox...

~Corneria~

Fox McCloud awakened to his communicator ringing on the nightstand beside his bed. He groaned, reaching over for his alarm clock, thinking that it was making the noise...

After a few moments of fumbling around, he got up and noticed that it was his communicator. He picked it up, gazing down at it.

Incoming Transmission from: ROB 64

Fox sighed, setting the communicator down and getting up, walking towards the large window of his room in one of the most prestigious living quarters on Corneria, a large tower in the main city's center.

"No way I'm getting back into that," he muttered to himself, reaching up and grabbing hold of the locket around his neck, opening it, gazing down at the picture inside.

It was a picture of Krystal, from years past when they had started to hit it off... However, moving the picture revealed a second picture beneath, the one that truly gave him the most comfort-

Himself, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, and ROB.

The old Star Fox team.

To Be Continued...

Next Chapter: Blackness

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm delving deep into the lore and history of this world and the games, so I'd like to know how I'm doing- Reviews are always great. Thanks!~