Star Fox: A New Threat
Synopsis
This story begs a question that seems to interest every fan of Star Fox: what would it be like if the worlds of Star Fox, Star Trek and Star Wars all coexisted. The story takes place only a few days after the events of Star Fox: Assault. After returning to Corneria with the team, Fox McCloud meets an old friend who has become part of the United Federation of Planets and is now the commander of the most famous ship in all of Starfleet: the USS Enterprise. He informs Fox that he must leave soon to respond to a strange signal in the Parvenian System. He is gone for four days, giving the team some time for rest and relaxation, and giving Fox some time alone with his teammate and girlfriend, Krystal. When the Enterprise returns, the ship is nearly destroyed, some of the crew members have been killed, and there is troubling news. The Enterprise has discovered an army of titanic proportions that threatens the survival of the Federation and the galaxy.
(Some inspiration taken from the fan-fiction, Star Fox: Assault, from the fan-fiction website, Krystal Archive)
Chapter 1: Return to Corneria
"Krystal. Come on, Krystal, wake up." Fox whispered in the blue vixen's ear. Krystal slowly opened her eyes to see Fox McCloud standing over her bed and gave him a small smile.
"Morning, handsome." she said as she sat up. She looked over at the clock on her desk in her quarters. She was surprised to see that it was already 11:00. "Oh, wow. I didn't realize I had slept in so late."
Fox smiled and leaned down and gave Krystal a light kiss.
"I just wanted to let you know that we'll be landing on Corneria soon." Fox said.
"Thanks. Now that the Aparoid invasion is over, maybe we can finally get some time to ourselves down there." Krystal said with a playful grin on her face.
Fox smiled at that and gave her another tender kiss. "That'd be nice. Well, I need to head to the bridge. I'll see you in a few minutes." he said as he started to walk out the door.
"I love you, Foxie." Krystal said.
"I love you too." he said as he walked out the door. Up on the bridge Falco was sitting back in his chair.
"God, we're finally done!" Falco said with a tone of relief.
"Yeah, I know. I thought it would never end." said Fox. "What's our ETA, Peppy?"
"About forty-five minutes. Is Krystal awake yet?" Peppy asked.
"Yeah, I just woke her up." Fox replied.
"So, you lookin' forward to a week alone with your girlfriend, lover boy?" Falco asked in a suggestive tone.
"Ah, shut up Falco." Fox said with a laugh in his voice. "But to answer your question, yes."
Falco smiled. "Nice come back, Fox. Simple and effective." Falco said.
At that moment, Krystal walked onto the bridge. Falco smiled and raised an eyebrow, clearly anticipating a little romantic moment between her and Fox. He was right. Fox went up to her and gave her a long, passionate kiss.
"Aww…how sweet." Falco said in his sarcastic tone. Fox just smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Good morning, Krystal. You slept in quite late." Peppy said.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that."
"Oh, it's no problem." the old hare replied. Suddenly ROB's voice came over the intercom. "Arrival at Corneria in ten minutes."
"Wow, we're pretty damn early." Peppy said. "Falco, why don't you go tell Slippy."
"Sure thing, old man." Falco said in a rather good tone of voice.
"Well, Fox, welcome home." said Peppy.
"Good to be home." Fox replied.
"It'll be nice to see what Corneria's like without someone trying to kill us." said Krystal.
Fox smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Trust me, Krystal, you're going to love it."
"You grew up there, didn't you?" she asked.
"Mm-hmm. A lot of memories on that planet. You know, we're gonna be there for a week. I should show you where I used to live." Fox said.
"I'd like that." Krystal said as she put her arms around his shoulders. Fox stared into her beautiful, blue eyes, and Krystal into his. The two vulpines were completely absorbed into each other. At that moment, ROB's voice was heard again. "Five minutes."
"Well, we'd better get ready." said Krystal. She leaned in and gave Fox a light kiss. The two walked to the exit ramp where Falco and Slippy were standing. The door opened up on the city where a huge crowd of fans was waiting. Their cheering almost drowned out the sound of the Great Fox's engines. Falco's eyebrows shot up. "Great. Here we go again."
"Ah, come on Falco." Slippy said. "It's not that bad." Falco looked at Slippy and raised his eyebrow.
"What are you, blind and deaf?" replied Falco.
"You might want to just stick with me, Krystal." Fox whispered. "These crowds can get a little…over-bearing at times." Fox put his arm around Krystal's waist which made the crowd cheer even louder. Krystal blushed at the cheering and moved a little closer to Fox.
The crowd was the largest and loudest crowd the team had ever seen. It took them almost ten minutes just to get through. When Fox and Krystal finally made it out, Fox heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Well, well, well. They sure are scraping the bottom of the barrel for fighter pilots these days, aren't they." the voice said. Fox whirled around and saw a familiar face. Standing there was a young Cornerian red fox, about twenty-four years old, a year younger than Fox and a year older than Krystal. He was about Fox's height and was wearing an officer's uniform. His most distinct feature was his eyes. If you stared into his eyes, you could tell that he could see right through you. He was smiling at the two Star Fox pilots.
Fox couldn't believe his eyes. "Jim?"
"In the flesh." the young vulpine replied.
A huge smile came across Fox's face as he went up and shook the vulpine's hand. "Krystal, this is an old friend of mine, James Kavannagh. Jim this is Krystal."
"It's very nice to meet an old friend of Fox, James." Krystal said.
"Uh, just call me Jim."
"Oh, sorry." Krystal replied.
"No problem." Fox was very impressed with how proper Jim was. He didn't go mouth-a-gape or stutter like Bill did when he met Krystal. All he did was introduce himself.
"So Jim, how have things been? I haven't seen you since we went our separate ways after the Academy." said Fox.
"Things have been going very well. You probably haven't noticed the uniform." Jim replied.
"Hey! Look at that." Fox then noticed the silver stars on his collar "Good God, you're a general! So you joined the Cornerian Army?" asked Fox.
"No. After the Academy I decided to join the United Federation of Planets. Specifically, Starfleet. So that would actually make me an admiral."
"Hey, even better." Fox joked, and the two friends started laughing. This left Krystal confused.
"Fox, what's the United Federation of Planets?" She asked.
"Well…" Fox began, but was cut off by Jim.
"It's a pretty long story." Jim said.
"Well, we've got plenty of time." Fox said.
"I don't. I have a meeting up at Federation Headquarters in a few minutes. But, you know, that shouldn't last longer than an hour. So maybe after the meeting we could meet up for lunch. That way I can properly introduce myself and answer any questions." said Jim.
"Sure that'd be great." said Fox.
"Right, I'll see you after the meeting." said Jim, as he shook Fox's hand and went on his way. An hour later, Fox and Krystal were standing at the bottom of the stairs of the Federation Headquarters, when they saw Fox's friend coming down the steps.
"Well, that didn't last very long. So anyway, you guys ready to go?" asked Jim.
"Yeah." said Fox. They three of them went to a pub that Jim recommended. They sat down as Jim began to 'properly introduce himself'.
"It's good to see you again, Fox." Jim said. "How have things been with Star Fox? I couldn't help but notice the ocean of fans at the docking bay." Fox laughed and rolled his eyes.
"Things have been going very well." he replied.
"So who are your crew members? I mean other than Krystal?" Jim asked.
"Falco Lombardi is my first lieutenant and the team's ace pilot. He's gotta be one of the best pilot's I've ever seen. You should have seen him during the Aparoid invasion. Given the opportunity, he could probably fly circles around a Federation fighter." The two friends laughed at that remark.
"I don't know. You've never seen an ARC-170 in action."
"Well, you've never met Falco." Jim lowered he head and laughed.
"Slippy's the team's engineer. He's pretty good at repairs and flying, but when it comes to ground combat, not so much." Jim laughed again.
"And Krystal is the newest member of the group. She joined after the Sauria Crisis. Her homeworld of Cerinia was destroyed."
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Jim said.
"Thank you" replied Krystal with a tear in her eye as she remembered her parents.
"From what I saw as you got off the Great Fox, it seems that you two are more than just teammates." Jim said in a suggestive tone.
"Yes." said Krystal. "Fox and I are in a relationship."
"Is that so? Well I'm happy for the two of you." Jim replied. Fox and Krystal both smiled.
"So, where did you two first meet." Krystal asked.
"We first met at the Cornerian Academy." Jim started. "Fox had joined at age fourteen and I joined at thirteen. He was a little indecisive about joining up, or so he says." Fox laughed and shook his head, remembering that that's what he said to everyone who asked him why he was so late to join the Academy. "We became friends our first year. We even had all the same classes together. We kept in touch after we graduated but started falling out after Fox's dad died. Fox wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and became the leader of Star Fox. He offered me a position on the team, but I turned it down because I had plans to join the Federation."
"Now, that's where I'm confused. What's the Federation?" asked Krystal.
"The Federation was started in the Laurentian System over 600 years ago between the planets Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar Prime. Over the years, the Federation's influence began to spread and other planets were soon admitted. Corneria was admitted only about 100 years ago." explained Jim.
"And what about this branch you're involved in. Uh…Starfleet was it?"
"Yes, I joined Starfleet after graduating the Academy. I began my service aboard the USS Farragut. I served on that ship for about seven months until I was wounded in the Laurentian System in a battle against the infamous Klingon Empire. That wound turned out to be my salvation. While I was on medical leave, the Farragut was destroyed. After that, I served some time as the first officer on the USS Berlin. While I was on that ship, I got involved in another battle against the Klingons. During that battle, the captain was killed, and me being the first officer, I had to take his place. As commander of the lead ship in the fleet, a lot of weight fell on my shoulders, but we were miraculously able to defeat the Klingons with minimal casualties. After the battle, the Federation decided to reward me for my heroics, and gave me a position of command in Starfleet."
"Yeah, I noticed that you were a commander. You command your own ship, right?" asked Fox.
"Not just any ship. I am the commander of a very, very, very famous ship." said Jim.
"Which one?" Fox asked
"Well, what's the first very, very, very famous starship you can think of?"
"Well, the only one I can think of in the USS Enterprise. Every cadet in the Academy hoped to captain that ship someday and…" Fox stopped and looked at his friend. He was smiling and nodding at Fox.
"You can't be serious." said Fox. "You mean to say that you're…"
"Yes, sir. I am the commander of the most famous ship in all of Starfleet: the USS Enterprise." Jim replied.
Fox was speechless. He couldn't believe that Jim had gotten the most coveted position of command in the Lylat System.
"Well Fox, it would seem that I've just about equaled your fame." Jim said.
"What do you mean by that?" Fox asked with a bit of a laugh.
"Well we're both famous commanders. You command Star Fox, the most famous fighter group in the system and I command the Enterprise, the most famous ship in Starfleet." Jim replied.
"Good point." Fox said. "Hey, Jim, what was that meeting about today?"
"I probably shouldn't talk about it in public."
"Well what harm could it do?" asked Krystal. Jim thought about it for a while and finally conceded.
"Well, the Federation has picked up some strange signals after making a magnetic wave survey in the Parvenian System. The Enterprise is being sent to investigate." said Jim.
Fox began to look a little worried, since they had just come out of a war. He hoped that this wouldn't mean the start of another one.
"What do you think these signals are?" he asked.
"Oh, probably nothing too major. Last time the Enterprise was sent to investigate some strange signals it was just a group of pirates. They were easily dealt with. Probably just something along those lines." said Jim.
"Well that's good." Fox said with a tone of relief.
"So when does the Enterprise launch?" asked Krystal.
"Tomorrow at about twelve o'clock. It'll take us about four days to do a complete sweep of the Parvenian System." Jim replied.
"Well, good luck, Jim." said Fox.
"Thanks, Fox."
"Well, we'd better get going. Falco and Slippy are probably already checking into the hotel. Krystal and I'd better do the same." said Fox.
"Which hotel?" asked Jim.
"The Grand Cornerian. Why?"
"Well there's going to be a celebration at the Grand Cornerian tonight for the 500th Anniversary of the USS Enterprise, and I was wondering if you and the rest of the team would like to attend."
Fox looked at Krystal, who smiled and gave him her oh, why not look.
"What time?" asked Fox.
"Eight o'clock."
"That's fine. We'd love to come." Krystal replied. Fox smiled at her and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Excellent. I'll see you two tonight then." Jim said. "Oh, you probably already guessed this but the dress code is formal." Fox and Krystal laughed.
"Well, I need to head back to my office and collect a few things. I'll see you two tonight." he said as he shook Fox's hand and went out the door.
"Fox?"
"Yeah, Krystal?"
"You looked a bit…concerned when Jim was talking about those signals. Is everything alright?" she asked.
"I'm just a bit worried about what it might be. We just got out of a war and I just hope that it isn't anything too serious. Plus, I don't want to see Jim get hurt." Fox said, in a worried tone.
Krystal leaned her head on Fox's shoulder and looked up into his eyes. Fox tried to break his gaze at Krystal's beautiful cerulean blue eyes, but to no avail.
"It'll be alright. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about." said Krystal.
"I love you so much, Krystal." Fox said as he gave her a tender kiss.
"I love you too, Fox." said Krystal. "We should probably get going before Falco starts a rumor."
"Good idea." said Fox as the couple walked out, hand in hand, thoughts about the signals still buzzing around in Fox's head.