Disclaimer: I blatantly don't own any of this stuff, except what you don't see in any games and such, but just to be sure: I Do Not Own Star Fox or anything related to that subject. All these characters belong to Nintendo.
Flying Katina
It had been a month of 'exhausting', 'arduous' and 'very important' patrol missions, mainly centred around the jewel of the Lylat System: Corneria. So far, everything that the people on the Cornerian medium-size Cruiser 'Kite' had responded to they had dealt with in the most professional way (even if they were all generally harmless things; a stray asteroid, perhaps a satellite needing realigning- they had once even had to give directions to a smaller passing vessel). They could, but were beginning to grow weary of their ridiculous assignments.
It was the fourth month after the Aparoid invasion had passed, and now everything the Cornerian Defence Force did was scrutinised by the media and therefore the people of the Lylat system. This was probably because they had nearly lost two wars, one to the Venomian forces and one to the Aparoids. Had it not been for General Pepper of the Army of the Cornerian Defence Force and a certain mercenary team, both wars would have either been lost or taken a long time to finish.
Captain April Tyler of the Kite was slouched, as she had been for four months, in her command chair, reading a book with one leg hanging over her armrest, her cheek supported by her hand. She was Cornerian, a typical Cornerian fox complete with brown hair and green eyes different to the Katinan Grey or the pink hair of a stereotypical Zonessian. A crew member turned in his chair: "Captain, I'm picking up a signal on the IFF frequency, but the computer doesn't recognise it." Another, an avian pilot named Richie added with humour: "Oh no Captain, how're we gonna get out of this one!"
She reluctantly sat up straight and replied "err…find out next week. Do we have a visual?"
"Yes ma'am, but you won't believe how this looks."
"Well, I'll take anything over this patrol. Let's see it."
She did believe what she saw, and thought it strikingly familiar.
"That looks a bit like…"
"Yes ma'am, Katina's old frontline base. Y'know, before they built the new one".
"I concur. It does, however, have some pretty odd inscriptions on the side." said an intelligence officer.
"What, like the name of the ship or…"
"No…they cover the ship. I don't think we've met these people yet." He stared intently at his personal screen, zooming in some more.
An engineer, a Katinan coyote turned to the Captain: "Unfortunately, I don't think it matters what it says on the side of the thing, 'cos it's heading for Corneria and is showing no signs of stopping." A split-second later, a huge explosion emanated from the back of the ship. "And that huge explosion isn't a good sign it's even able to stop." Then, a quiet beeping came from one of the consoles. The entire command crew looked at one avian communications officer who was busy looking at his screen.
"Err... Sorry, heh, that's me. We've got a signal coming from the ship. It's on a frequency reserved for civilian radio. They must not know that. Here it is"
A strange looking being, similar to Lylatians because of the arms and legs, but different because of the smaller heads and rounded ears appeared before them, complete with what looked like a ton of armour. He spoke for about a minute before a translation matrix could be compiled and his speech changed to Lylatian standard mid-sentence, saying: "And you will defend this vessel! I return, I shall spare your lives."
April stood, and said impressively: "I am Capt-"
"I care not for your title!"
Captain Tyler may have spent a long time being shouted at by higher ranking officers in her own military, but certainly not by people seemingly from far away and in need of their help. She beat down an impulse to shout back at him, and responded fairly calmly.
"Ahem," April continued: "April Tyler of the Cornerian Cruiser Kite. Identify yourselves and please explain your situation. We must know the reason you require defending before we do anything."
"You do not need to know anything. You are not worthy to know my name! Defend this vessel with your lives or die by my hand!"
She wasn't having this anymore, and decided to try taking charge of the situation.
"Now you listen to me! You sound pretty desperate and aren't in any position to be giving demands, now you've threatened-"
"SILENCE! I AM YOUR GOD!"
"I've heard enough, cut the transmission. Request backup and go tactical."
"Yes Ma'am!"
She quickly assessed their situation: the alien vessel may well have superior weapons technology and defences, but they seemed to be in trouble, especially since several Cornerian vessels would be bearing down on this position any second now.
The lights on the deck faded to be replaced with a red glow, casting shadows on the people's faces.
"Well month girl, how're we gonna get out of this one?" This time, the pilot said it quietly and seriously.
"heh. Let's find out now. You go to evasives, and stop calling me month girl!"
Richie decided what evasive manoeuvres he would take. To be honest, it was a little of tried and tested tactical manoeuvres and a little of his own design. The Kite, like almost all Cornerian ships was partially a melee fighter and sped towards the strange, pyramid shaped vessel. The ship charged its weapons and suddenly a massive purple cloud appeared in the middle of space, and two more, much larger flying pyramid ships, both like the original Katinan base emerged, blasting the back of the first pyramid to pieces.
By now, in orbit around Corneria behind the Kite were three medium-sized cruisers and two battleships. There was also a fast attack cruiser, defending the Orbital Gate generator.
At this sight, the two new arrivals turned and flew back into a new purple cloud and disappeared. The first, partially destroyed, plummeted through Corneria's atmosphere, what was left of its shields keeping it in one piece, more or less.
(------------------------)
Fox was driving through the most commercial section of Corneria City, the only section which had suffered damage during the Aparoid Invasion. He had been able to sabotage or destroy all the Aparoid's electro-magnetic communication jammers with help only from the rest of Starfox running an air support operation. Now, with all the repairs complete, people had returned to the area and the roads were thick with traffic again. The huge projected news cast near the centre of the area was busily reporting some of the recent, minor failures in the CDF's operations around Lylat. Fox's suv may guzzle fuel like nothing else did, but he wouldn't have settled for anything less.
Suddenly, the news cast changed and all the car radio's were forced to listen to what it was saying: "-ports that a massive alien space craft is heading for a crash landing in the middle of the largest commercial sector in Corneria City. If you are in this area, it is imperative that you head for cover or drive away as quickly as possible. The Cornerian Defence Force has made no comment on the origin of the craft, but"- and a huge piece of burning, blackened alien metal crushed the entire building. Another car swerved to avoid rubble from the crushed, previously grey and silver building and smashed into the side of Fox's car. The other car got the worst of it, but Fox still wasn't happy. The other driver had already started running for cover in a building. Fox decided to drive out, but then much smaller pieces of alien ship started falling and one piece landed right in front of him.
"Ah- hell with this!" Fox got out and ran for it too.
He took out his cell phone and blaster from the glove compartment and started dialling on the run.
"c'mon Peppy, pick up the phone…"
Halfway to the structure, he realised it was too late. Instead, he got behind a Police car, and hoped the extra armour it had would help protect him. The ringing was replaced with:
"You have reached the Fast Attack Cruiser Great Fox of the Starfox team. We are currently either playing computer games, training, or blowing stuff up. Please leave a message after the tone."
Fox got a pretty good view of the falling ship. There was a Cornerian medium-sized Cruiser plummeting with it, attempting to slow it down with a tractor beam and all of its electromagnetic cranes. It was a nice try, but the cranes were usually used for loading supplies. It would barely affect the vessel. The cruiser veered off at about 1,000 feet and let the alien ship fall.
The shields buckled on impact and the ship smashed into the ground, plowing cars, buses and buildings out the way. It eventually came to a complete stop when it hit the broad base of the structure in the centre of the district. There was a silence, followed by the sounds of sirens from several directions.
It was now that the phone began to rang.
"Peppy, what've you got?"
"It's nothing we've ever seen before. Definitely not Lylatian, but that doesn't matter now. Where are ya?"
"I'm at the corner of err…Central and Gold Street. I'll get back to the ship and-"
"No Fox. Stay there and tell us what's happening. The ship flattened the main news broadcaster."
"Well, ok. I'll get to the weird ship. It looks like the old military base at Katina; like a pyramid."
"Roger that, ROB's gonna do some more digging through archives."
General Pepper, with his aging face and immaculately presented uniform pushed open both doors of the corridor he was walking down, followed by three more officers who ere talking quickly. He and his entourage entered a large parking area and got into one black, big unmarked suv in a convoy of emergency vehicles, different from the others which all had their various organisations' names written on in bold writing.
He dialled Fox's personal number and was given a case which contained all the files on the situation so far.
"It's good hear from you General; Where are you?"
"On my way Fox. I'm gonna take control there so this doesn't blow up in my face. Want you there as a 'technical consultant', if that's alright."
Fox grinned as he knew that by 'technical consultant', the General meant someone more competent than his junior officers.
"Well sir I'm already here. I was just getting my… groceries."
"…it's beer, isn't it?"
"and nachos and crisps and ammo. We used a lot on our last dispatch. I hope you don't mind paying. It was your mission after all."
"As usual Fox. My eta is five minutes."
(------------------------)
"Ma'am, you're getting two calls from the surface."
"Me? What, personally?"
"Looks like your popular today," the communications officer replied. "It's one from the news service and one from General Pepper."
"General Pepper!"
"Oh no month girl, What'd you do This time?" Richie said sarcastically with humour.
"If you don't tell the General about our illegal and dangerous surface rescue dive, I say 'what illegal and dangerous surface rescue dive', ok?"
"Unfortunately", the communications officer said, "I think we were on live tv."
"Right. Well scratch the call from the press, and put Pepper through."
(------------------------)
All the officers around the desk in the temporary structure looked at April with their best 'we're about to tell you off' faces as she walked in, and were all very surprised when General Pepper clapped in her direction.
He replayed a recording of the Kite pulling away after slowing sown the alien ship as much as possible before the crash.
"Well done captain", he remarked in his gruff voice. "That was some rescue you pulled off there. Did you know how big the explosion would have been had the engines of that thing exploded?"
She had an idea, but wasn't sure.
"You slowed it down so it didn't, but if it had, this whole commercial area would have been destroyed. This would have been especially tragic considering we just finished repairing the place after the Aparoids got to it. We believe the loss of life would have been 100"
"Err…thank you sir. It was a bit of a surprise having the thing just smash into the system like that."
"Well you're on the next commendation list. In any case, I now want you to oversee the exploration and study of this vessel. Tell your ship scientists to call whatever specialists they want."
She was about to respond when a door opened from the next room of the grey prefab structure and Fox McCloud of the Starfox team walked through. The Captain almost did a double-take! He was the leader of the most successful mercenary team in the whole system!
"I just got off the phone with the President. He's made this official, so Starfox will assist in the exploration of the ship."
"I see", said Pepper. "Fox, this is Captain April Tyler of the Kite. You may have witnessed her ship save your life earlier."
"Oh yeah, thanks for that. I was very close to the crash site."
"Oh," she said modestly, blushing slightly, "you're welcome."
"Yeah. General, what are we looking for exactly?"
"Anything you like. More advanced technology, their history, medical supplies. If there's more than one, you can even keep it as a souvenir. So far the most obvious pieces of technology to study have been the alien's small arms, which are in the shape of a staff and fire some kind of directed plasma energy."
"Kind of like the old CDF L-939 rifle sir?" asked April.
"Exactly. We're gonna search our 'Flying Katina' entirely."
General Pepper rose and headed for the door, turning to say
"You're the ones who are gonna get this done, so get to it."
Everyone in the room shuffled their papers and got up to make calls and organise people into action.
2 weeks later
"No General, definitely no medical technology that we could see was on board."
Fox was in the rec room of the Great Fox, the Starfox team's Fast Attack Cruiser, that they were still paying for. He was looking out the big window that was on one wall, looking at his laptop and holding his phone at the same time between his cheek and shoulder.
Their mission list was still empty, so they had kept working on the ship. Starfox had been in charge of weapons on the ship; finding out how they worked and how powerful.
The Great Fox was landed in a dock in one of many landing areas, with a ramp allowing ground vehicles in and out of the docking bay. The cars parked about two stories under the Arwings.
"Yes sir, we found that strange too. In the storage rooms there are crates that don't appear the same as any of the other alien stuff. They look like green, plastic boxes and are filled with vests and projectile weapons. There's a lot, so I'll brief you properly face to face. …Yes sir… ok see ya later."
Falco came in, pulling on a jacket, yawning.
"What's that about some new weapon?"
"Ah, Slippy'll tell you about it."
"I'll tell him what?
Slippy was busily making breakfast with Fara Phoenix behind the bar, which the team also used as a work surface for cooking on.
"About those powerful projectile weapons Slippy", Fara said, "but that's not the most important thing right now. First, you need to go over our finances with Peppy and ROB. And Fox? Krystal said she'd drop by later with Bill."
"Oh, I didn't know she was back on Corneria already!" Fox remarked.
"Yeah, yeah, right," joked Falco.
Fox's cheeks glowed a bit red and he retorted "I really didn't! Anyway I heard Katt was back too!"
Falco turned quickly as if he were about to say 'When did she get here!', but he checked himself in time: "Yeah, well why don't you just ask Fara out already?"
"Excuse me, 'Fara' is in the room! And maybe he should."
Fox was taken aback spluttering: 'Well- I- this is just-I don't think- You kids need to just-"
That last part had the whole team in hysterics. Falco was rolling on the couch, and said "You kids! You're barely older than me!" He could say no more for laughter. Fox sat rather dejectedly on the second couch, which was at a ninety degree angle to the first, so they both faced a large TV. Fara tugged at his cheek, also laughing; "aw, look at him when he's mad!"
Fox finally broke a smile, lunging at Falco in mock attack; "Ok, come on flyboy! You wanna go?" He and Falco assumed Close Quarter Combat positions and launched into a vicious slapping fight.
Peppy stormed in, throwing a news paper to the table in front of the two couches saying with anger: "have you guys seen this!"
"Woah, gramps! What?" Falco asked.
"There's been a war scale weapon test over the Southern Ocean by the CDF."
"So? There've been tests like that before," Fox pointed out.
"Well yes Fox, but those were in space, not Inside the Atmosphere!"
"Man, the press are gonna have Pepper's head for this."
"Not necessarily Fox. The General's been very vocal about how angry he is. He's told the press that the test was authorised due to clerical errors in paperwork, but… he told me that some of his most senior officers are to blame and that this isn't just any new weapon they tested. They went behind his back to get the test approved. The President would also like to take action, but…"
"But what?" asked Fara.
"Getting rid of these senior officers would actually be bad because, although they went around both the President and General Pepper, what they did was legal."
"What?"
"Really?"
"Yes. They got all the approvals and people they needed to develop the weapon because they slipped them in with other bits of paperwork. Also, the press would make a lot of criticism because right now, the CDF need all the good, experienced officers they can get." Peppy sounded tired now, and frustrated the CDF's lack of restraint.
"So they can't just demote or fire the trigger happy senior officers." added Fara.
"Well that sucks!" shouted Falco.
Fox then thought and said: "What's so special about this new weapon? And how did the development go on without Pepper hearing about it?"
"Well Fox, rather than concentrating a massive explosion in one place, a still powerful explosion spreads out over a much larger area. There isn't much radiation fallout either."
Peppy considered.
"As for how they got it past him, the senior officers involved probably intercepted all the memos about the weapon before they got to the General. This is dangerous Fox. It could signal weakness in Pepper, leading to all kinds of crap getting challenged and put forward. Watch this."
He flicked on the television and an image of a grey haired Katinan came up. He seemed to give an air of authority and experience. His military uniform held several medals and the Cornerian Army logo on his lapel.
At the bottom of the screen his name was in bold: Cornerian Army General Ford. He was in a press conference, the subject of which was the recent CDF
Weapons test over the sea. A member of the press asked him:
"Isn't that kind of test illegal inside the atmosphere of this planet?"
He responded without hesitation: "Normally yes, but with permission from the Commander of the armed forces and two Generals it can be allowed."
"So you're saying that General Pepper allowed this test even though last year he promised more stringent controls on weapons testing exercises?"
"I can't speak for him, but yes. He did. In fact, it is exactly this kind of attitude that General Pepper has that has led to the failings in the last two wars."
"What about his calling on the Starfox team to assist the army and fleet during those conflicts? Wasn't that a good decision?"
He Army eneral gave a small chuckle: "When you need to call on a mercenary team to fight a war for you that your entire fleet can't handle, you know you've got bad organistaion and therefore leadership, which led to the weapons test."
Peppy muted the tv.
"That guy is getting far too much influence in the CDF."
"But from the way he says it, it almost makes me believe what he's saying" said Falco.
"Oh come on, what's he gonna do, take over the CDF?" asked Fox.
Peppy cut in: "Well actually he probably is. It's likely he thinks he can do a better job than Pepper or he just wants power."
A moment later, ROB's voice come over the intercom: "A Cornerian Defence Force ground vehicle has entered the Great Fox docking bay. It is registered to Captain April Tyler of the Cornerian Medium-Sized Cruiser Kite."
"Ooh, I know her!" Fox got up and went to the lift down the hall.
(------------------------)
"Hey April, what's happening?"
"Err…I was wondering if you could give me some help."
"With what?"
She reached into her car, a metallic silver saloon, and took out the same news paper that Peppy had held previously.
"I can't get any straight answers out of command. I heard that you may have some friends."
"Oh, I have the friend."
They started walking through the corridors of the ship towards the Command Bridge.
"General Pepper? Well I suppose that makes sense, he is the one who hires you. All the other ship captains are a little uncertain about General Pepper's ability to maintain authority, after he failed to notice a clerical error. Like I believe Clerical Error. Someone got past Pepper, didn't they? Got approval somehow?"
"Yeah, Peppy thinks so. Y'know Peppy?"
"Yes, of the first Starfox team."
"Anyway, anything else you came for? We can give you General Pepper's personal contact details. Just tell him I gave them to you."
"Thanks, and yes, I do have something. These projectile weapons from the alien ship."
(------------------------)
Beltino Toad walked with a surprisingly fast pace considering his smaller size, and was followed by an entourage of four scientists. He walked straight into Pepper's office without even glancing at the secretary who spluttered at them about needing an appointment. There was already an officer having as meeting with the General, who hurried to stuff some important documents into a case as the scientists burst in.
"General, we just discovered something on the alien ship quite incredible."
"Is it some kind of technology, because I've seen plenty of that recently from that ship."
"oh no General. This is about where we came from."
(------------------------)
The entire team came down to the Great Fox's shooting range with April and each took one of the strange weapons from the crate she had brought. They were black, with gold strips running down the top of the weapon. It was obvious where you were supposed to hold one and where you should place your hands, as there were holes in the side to allow for it. It was slightly thinner than a standard Starfox blaster.
"What's so great about it Captain?" Falco asked.
"You'll see. Just point and shoot. And you must check that this switch is turned and… hold the handles tight."
She indicated to one part of the gun and flipped a switch and levelled the weapon with the stock in her shoulder, which was unusual among Cornerian weapons which were normally fired from the hip or just below the shoulder. She aimed and opened fire on the target in front of her. Normally, the targets, which were heat resistant and laser proof, would absorb a laser and show where it had been hit on a screen in front of the user.
When April fired, a streak of flame emanated about eight centimetres out from the short muzzle. Holes were punched in the target, which then split in half. She was hit with a bit more recoil than an average Cornerian Blaster would give to its user.
"Well-that is-that would- Cool!" said Fox loudly, impressed; "but it wouldn't wound very easily."
"No, this is designed to kill your enemy. Not just stun or burn."
"What's this mean on the side?" asked Slippy, pointing at an inscription.
"It's another of the words they've deciphered. Well it's not really a word, more a designation. According to what they've translated, it's called a peanutey."
"Are you sure?"
"Sorry", she took a moment to pronounce the name properly, looking at a piece of paper which she had written the name on in Lylatian standard and enunciated more clearly;
"It's called a P-90," April replied.
Falco experimented and found a torch and a laser sight.
"Can we keep these, pleeeeze," he pleaded.
"Oh yeah, there are plenty more where these came from. It looks like another race of aliens tried to take the ship, but failed and their weapons were left there. Anyway, I'm afraid they're not as enduring as blasters, so you have to replace these cartridges on the top of it after fifty shots. But, that's a lot of shots-"
Fox broke in; "Hey, if we're gonna run out of ammo with these things, we're gonna have to stick with blasters. Can you get us more cartridges?"
"Yes, my crew can synthesis more, but you still need to get me Pepper's details, and if I get you these weapons, you need to come with me to back me up."
"Deal. I was gonna go and see him anyway."
(------------------------)
"Where we came from? You mean somewhere besides the Lylat System?"
Pepper's office in the Cornerian Army's headquarters had a fantastic view of the suburbs of Corneria City, which, although they were just suburbs, still often rose to three or four stories high. All the buildings seem to complement each other and all fitted together, yet there was still open spaces with a few trees on either side of the main road, which parted into smaller roads.
Beltino took out a folder and said: "Well, you see, our evidence is 10, 000 years old, from ancient records in the ships computer systems, which are, um, of a crystal based technology. Don't take it to court, but we've got good circumstantial evidence about this."
"Director, what's your point?" asked a confused General Pepper.
"I-we- now believe that our various species did not in fact evolve in this solar system, but that non-sentient animals were taken from a planet far away to this place and were involved in genetic experiments to make the ultimate beings to serve the aliens of the crashed ship."
There was a shattering silence in the office as this new information was taken in by the General and the officer in front of him. He was the first to speak.
"You,… you, all must be mistaken! It would have taken hundreds to continue the various species after a transplant from another planet like that!"
Pepper was also sceptical, and, having had a lot of problems recently, said wearily; "What evidence do you have to present?"
"Well…you see…the solar system shown in the records of the um…ship show the system in exactly the place in the galaxy that we believe Lylat was 10,000 years ago, taking stellar drift into account. Also, it makes utterly no sense that very similar creatures would evolve on all the major planets of the system, especially since we have found absolutely no evidence for the existence of the creatures that we evolved from originally on any planets. It's been something of a puzzle and we may have the whole, um, picture."
The toad said this with remarkable speed considering how controversial and difficult to understand his findings were.
"I see," the General said, "and is it possible that any more life supporting solar systems are near by to this system?"
"No. Our scanning technologies would have detected any anomalies like that a long time ago. Any other inhabited planets must be a long way away. We could get further put from Lylat, put it would cost us, as you know. Incidentally, it seems that the projectile weapons and equipment of the other alien race, who had boarded the ship previously, are from our true home planet."
Pepper slumped back into his chair.
"This is very interesting, if it's true, but what are we to do about with this information."
"Well", Beltino stammered, "we think we can go there-"
Another scientist butted in; "or at least send a probe, which would then return to us. It would be a lot cheaper than sending people. The probe, with our latest green gate technology, could be to this world in a few years. It's a nice little solar system with nine planets, one sun with about four point five billion years left in it. However, only two of the planets seem like they are capable of supporting life; the third and fourth worlds out from their star."
Pepper stood. "Thank you, gentlemen, I'll suggest the idea of sending a probe, but not now. The President and I are far too busy dealing with these unhappy senior officers right now. I would like for you all to keep this information to yourselves for now. Give me a copy of your report and I'll contact you at a later date.
"Thank you General." Beltino handed Pepper a few sheets of paper and all the scientists all left talking excitedly about their probe project-to-be.
Pepper sat back down and asked the officer in front of him to make another appointment with his secretary.
'That damn alien ship is going to turn the whole planet upside down,' he thought to himself.
He loosened his collar and picked up his phone and dialled one on his speed dial.
"Mr. President. Yes, it is a good afternoon, but not for much longer I fear. I was just informed by several scientists, including Beltino Toad. I'm sending you-" he slid the sheets of reports into a slim machine that copied them and sent them and pushed them back out, "-a report now."