(A/N): Ok, my first multi chapter story. Woot. Now, before we begin, I should explain that I have a lot going on day to day (school, homework, church, ect.) So I can't promise regular updates. But I will continue to work on this story when I can.
Positive Reviews and constructive criticism are always accepted. Flames are evil, and never allowed.
I do NOT own Starfox; I only own the plot and any OC's I make up. And even then I probably wouldn't fight too hard over them. It is a fan fiction.
Chapter 1: Where We Are Today
Captain James F. McCloud (whom everyone simply called by his middle name, Fox, so as not to confuse him with his late father, James T. McCloud) sat at the bridge of his C.D.F. (Cornerian Defense Fleet) interceptor class ship, the Great Fox, which was currently in hyperspace warp to, well, if Fox was going to be honest, the middle of nowhere. He and his crew had been sent to the small moon orbiting the planet of Mascoon, which orbited on the outer edge of the Triveil system, which was on the edge of the Mendain galaxy, the closest galaxy to the Maridian galaxy, which is where the home system of Fox was, the proud Lylat system.
The mission didn't make any sense either. From what Fox had heard and been told, they were transporting some sort of important cargo. But it was strange that the Great Fox was the only ship sent on this mission. Especially considering the security on whatever this cargo was. Several solders had been added to the ship's crew for this mission, along with one of Corneria's greatest military leaders, Lieutenant General Peppy Hare. Plus Fox, all the ships pilots, and even the mechanics had to go through a standard military training session before the mission. Yet despite all the safety protocols, the Great Fox was the only ship on the mission. Usually something this important would get a whole fleet to move, and the interceptor's would just be the front defense, the cargo would have been carried by one of the huge battle cursers.
If this cargo was this important, why were they taking it to some backwater planets moon anyway? Fox had heard rumors of Lylatian bases that far out, but he had never really believed they were there. And none of them were suppose to be military. So why would the C.D.F. send a ship and cargo to a civilian base that was on the other side of the galaxy and then some in the middle of a civil war, wrap it up in tight security onboard, and not send some backup? Thinking about this was hurting Fox's head. He decided a routing check-up on the bridge would help, or at the very least, provide a distraction.
"ROB 12, what's the ship's life support status?"
"All systems functioning" the tan colored robot answered from his seat on the bridge.
"ROB 36, what are the radars showing?"
ROB 36, a green colored robot, turned to his computer systems and briefly scanned over them before replying "nothing in sight that requires concern."
Fox glanced over all ten of his Robotic Operated Bridge units before his sight fell on a gold colored one sitting to his front-left. "ROB 64, what's our ETA on Mascoon's moon?"
"2 hours and 13 minutes Remain in warp" ROB 64 replied.
"Good. Alert me if there are any changes." With that, Fox sat back in his chair, decided that thinking about the strangeness of his mission any more would be a waste of his time, and drifted into the land of sweet slumber.
...
"I can't believe this! Millions of battle ships on the front lines blowing apart that stupid ape Andross's men, and I get stuck on the one that's going to the middle of nowhere!" Falco Lombardi paced the random grey toned hall he had chosen to occupy aboard the Great Fox. He was having a conversation with the only "chick with flight skill" as he had often called her, Katt Monroe. Though his conversation with the gray cat (she use to dye her fur pink, but the military apparently had rules against that) had been more of a one sided shouting fest on Falco's part, Katt still stood there, hoping the bird would eventually run out of steam and calm down. The blue avian was a thrill seeker and a man of action. He hated being cooped up without anything to do. Even back in there days as Hot Rodders, Falco couldn't stand having to lay low. His obsession with action, ironically enough, is what had landed both of them aboard a military vessel.
The Hot Rodders were a gang of fast ships and high thrills. They spent their time racing, drinking, and every once in a while, fighting. But when Andross invaded Zoness, they had decided to lay low and avoid causing trouble. Unfortunately, Falco wasn't so good at that. He had though it would be a great idea to swipe some stuff from one of Andross's damaged freighters and try to make a quick buck as the battle for the planet was ending. Although the rest of the gang didn't find it a great idea at first, they soon grew tired of Falcos constant yapping, and anything that shut the bird up seemed like a good idea. Sadly the C.D.F. hadn't thought the same way. Most of the gang got away, but Falco and Katt were shot down. Desperate for pilots, the C.D.F. officer controlling the fleet gave them two options, sit in a boring, damp jail cell for a long time, or serve as pilots until the war was over. Katt was quick to agree to the pilot gig, but Falco was a bit more reluctant. Still, as Katt made him realize, there would be a few thrills in the military, but there would be NO thrills in jail. So they had both been trained as C.D.F. pilots and put onboard the Great Fox. A few missions of picking off patrol squads later and here they were, heading to the middle of no were, and not an enemy in sight.
"Look at it this way Falco. It's just a few hours more, then I'm sure we'll be back to flying around Lylat, blasting that monkey's guns." Despite her best effort, Katt could clearly see Falco was still not happy. "Ok, how about this," Katt offered "they wouldn't put this much security onboard if they didn't think we needed it. So chances are, were going to get to see some action."
"OR," Falco wasn't buying it, "there just having us move these guys to the drop off base or whatever with the cargo as resupplies to save a trip. Clearly whatever is on here isn't important, or we would have a whole fleet with us."
"Then why did they have to retrain us?"
"Probably just some standard carrier pigeon stuff. I don't know"
"But doesn't it seem odd. I mean, why would Peppy Hare, war hero of Zoness and one of the top men in the military be going to some backwater planet anyway." Katt barely let the sentence slip out, before she realized what she had done.
"Peppy Hare! Isn't he the rabbit who got us into this in the first place? Him and his little dress up doll solders made us join up for their stupid little fly in circles games, and now he's gone and dragged us off to the middle of nowhere. I'm going to give this guy a piece of my mind." And with that, Falco stormed off to find Peppy's private quarters.
"Falco wait, I'm not sure that's such a good idea!" Katt ran after Falco, hoping to convince him not to get them in even more trouble.
...
Slippy Toad wasn't sure why he put himself through this. The constant insults, the slurs, the orders. He was a competent mechanic, but when it came to being popular, he was a total idiot. It probably didn't help that he was in the hyperdrive engine room of the Great Fox, and not in the hanger bays where he was technically assigned to work. He had the clearance, but he still didn't really have a job here. Slippy just couldn't help it, he loved machines, and the Great Fox's hyperdrive engine was a nice machine. Still, technically he didn't work here, so hanging out here wasn't the best idea.
When he had grown old enough that he could go out on his own, Slippy had been eager to help in the war efforts. But he was scared of flying in a fighter or blasting at the enemies. So he decided to help out by doing something he loved, putting stuff together. Slippy traveled from his home planet Aquas to the factory world of Macbeth to find work. He quickly got into a factory and began building the latest and greatest fighters for the C.D.F., the Arwing. His supervisors quickly noticed that Slippy was skilled in just about every aspect of the craft, maintenance wise. So when the military came to Macbeth looking for new mechanics, they quickly recommended Slippy. The young frog at first was unsure what to do, but an untimely attack from a fleet of Andross soldiers left the factory Slippy had worked in a pile of charred rubble, and the frog with only one option. Most factories were already well staffed, and thanks to the military's quick timing, the attack hadn't "opened up" too many positions. So he became a mechanic.
He was first assigned work on the interceptor class ship Eladard, but that didn't last long. During a mission to patrol in one of the neighboring systems, the ship fell under brutal attack against forces it and the rest of its patrol fleet were in no position to fight. The ship itself was damaged beyond repair in the end, but thankfully for the bit of crew that had survived, Slippy had a secret passion. His hobby while aboard the Eladard was to study how the ship worked, which got him many suspicious looks from superiors. But when the ship fell prey to enemy fire, and most of the hyperdrive crew was injured or killed, Slippy had known enough to figure out how to keep the thing going long enough for the Eladard to warp out and reach a friendly planet. Thanks to his quick work, a lot of the crew was saved, and he was granted permission to go to any of the major systems and engines of the next ship he was put on, the Great Fox.
"HEY SLIP-UP, GET OVER HERE!" Came the shout of one of the meanest hyperdrive mechanics onboard, a pig named Donto. Although he had to shout to be heard over the hyperdrive engine across the room, Slippy knew he would probably have yelled at him anyway. Slippy reluctantly waddled across the football field sized room over to were Donto stood.
"Hey, frog. Why do you insist on taking up my space! Do you think I'm going to sit down and let you be some sort of hero again, huh frogboy?" Donto was bad news for Slippy. The annoying swine had been the chief mechanic of the hyperdrive on the Eladard, but had been injured during its last mission. He was never happy that Slippy took his glory that day, and he made sure the toad knew it. With Donto, everything was about glory and fame. He was convinced that he would be a failure if his name wasn't remembered by history somehow. So when he found out Slippy was on the same ship as him again, and had permission to be in the space he was chief mechanic over, he was not happy.
"Why don't you make yourself useful princess toadfool, and get me and some of the MEN up here something to drink?" Donto just loved to make Slippy get him things, especially things he didn't need. Normally, Slippy would try to say something, which would come out as a whimper, and then Donto would threateningly ask him if he had something to say, which quickly sent Slippy off to his assigned task. But today, for some reason, Slippy felt it was a good idea to get the man his drink quickly. So Slippy turned and walked away.
"Stupid pig" Slippy managed under his breath as he walked out. All the while, he didn't notice Donto chuckle menacingly to himself, check his watch, and then call for one of the workers to open up the main stabilizer panel so he could "check it out".
...
Lieutenant General Peppy Hare sat in the office room he had been assigned onboard the Great Fox. It was one of the few rooms that was reinforced, making it one of the safest. This is why it was excluseivly for him. After all, he was one of Corneria's finest men. He should be proud of that. But Peppy wasn't sure how he was feeling right now. He had power, he had honor, and he had General Pepper's absolute trust. He was one of the only people to actually be in the know about what was going on with this mission. But he still felt kind of bad, especially being on this ship. He felt bad because this ship had lost its first captain, and so much good had come out of that for him.
Back during his days at the academy, before this war had actually started, Peppy Hare had been good friends with the somewhat loose cannon vulpine James T. McCloud. But when they graduated and the war started, they had different goals in mind. Peppy went on to become a commanding officer for the C.D.F., while James went on to become a pilot and later a captain. Peppy and James had however kept in touch. Peppy had even suggested a name for James' son when he was born. (James didn't use it however, not seeing eye to eye with Peppy about how cool a name Bartholomew was) Peppy over the years rose in the ranks to become leader of a whole fleet of ships. It was during this time that the news hit him.
Peppy had been regrouping outside of the sector z combat zone with a good sized defense force, and was on his way to give the order to head back to Macbeth to meet up with a few other squadrons when he received a communication. It was a message saying that his good friend James had been shot down while on patrol. Peppy was so upset by the news he accidently gave his navigator the wrong co-ordinates, and took the whole fleet to Zoness by mistake. That turned out to be a happy accident however, as he discovered Andross's fleet about to attack. With no time to lose, he quickly jumped into action, calling for back-up and then engaging the enemy. Thanks to his quick wits, battle strategy skill, and his accident, Zoness was saved. And he even managed to catch a few local criminals and get them to become pilots in the C.D.F. It was a very lucky thing for his career. But he often didn't consider it to be lucky; being it was overshadowed by one of his best friend's deaths.
Peppy, throughout his military carrier, felt he had been lucky in one aspect, he knew General Pepper well. They had first met while both men were on leave, back when Pepper had been a Lieutenant General himself, and Peppy had only been a Second Lieutenant. They had quickly formed a professional friendship. Peppy's Zoness save was not accepted well by the high ranked officers at first. Most called it careless; some even called it treason for disobeying command orders. But Pepper had seen it as a good instinct, and a heroic act. He also took into account the fact that Peppy had just lost a friend. So he promoted Peppy to Lieutenant General. Peppy had been happy in this position, sitting in control of several fleets at once. But it didn't last long. About 6 months later, Peppy received a message that General Pepper wanted to see him. That meeting had been what put him here.
Peppy had met the general in his office on Corneria. Pepper had told him first and foremost that the whole thing was hush-hush and that he was being chosen to oversee it because Pepper felt he could trust him. He was then told that the "cargo" that had been recovered was of the upmost importance, and could even be the deciding factor in the war. After that Pepper took Peppy to an even more secure room than his office where he gave him the details. At first, the Papetoon was to take this mission on, but as Peppy and Pepper discussed it, it became obvious that both had a feeling that the Great Fox, captained by James McCloud's son, Fox, was a better choice. So one week of training later and here they were.
Peppy sighed and adjusted his glasses. No need to worry about it now, the mission was going as smooth as they had hoped. And all Peppy had to do was make sure the "cargo" was safely put in the base when they arrived, and then relay Peppers orders to whoever ran the place. After that, he was back to the war. Still, Peppy had a feeling that this was too easy. His gut told him to hang on for some unforeseen event, and it would be bad. But he also had a feeling that that event would ultimately lead to something good. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about…" he started to muse to himself. But before he could finish, he was interrupted by the racket just outside his door.
"LET ME IN! I'VE GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH THIS GUY, AND I'M NOT LEAVEN TELL I DO!"
"CALM DOWN BEFORE YOU GET US IN TROUBLE. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SIT STILL AND GO WITH THE FLOW FOR ONCE?"
"What in blue blazes is going on out there?" Peppy quickly got up and began walking to the door to go deal with the disturbance.
...
Fox sat at the dining room table, not a care in the world, happily eating his bowl of cereal. And why shouldn't he be happy, he had just graduated top of his class at the military academy, and was on his way to becoming a pilot in the C.D.F. He was on top of the world. Then came a knocking on his door. He got up with a hop and a skip to go answer it. What he found there quickly shattered his happy state. Outside stood a soldier holding a rolled up piece of paper. "Fox McCloud, this is for YOU." Upon the word "you" the outside world changed from a sunny, cloudless day, to an angry stormy night with lightning crashing all around. Fox opened the letter, to discover in big red letters the words "YOUR DAD IS DEAD". Suddenly the housed began breaking away, leaving nothing but a black void. As the floor crumbled, Fox began to fall into the infinite dark abyss, screaming "NOOOOOOoooooooo…" all the way down.
"gahh" Fox shot up gasping, slowly coming to grips with where he was. He was back onboard the Great Fox, sitting in his captain chair. It had all just been a dream.
"Are you alright sir? Do you require anything?" The blue tinted ROB 4 asked.
"No, I'm fine, just a nightmare." He dismissed the medical robot's questions with a wave of his hand. It had just been a nightmare. But that nightmare had been an all too real event; minus the sudden thunderstorm and the world crumbling away, and the soldier had been a bit more compassionate that in his dream too. It had felt like that had happened though. Fox McCloud had been all ready to take his position as a pilot when the unthinkable had happened.
According to the real message Fox had gotten, his father had been out patrolling when the ship had been attacked by a force that had it horribly outmatched. Worst of all, apparently Andross had somehow build some new ships that were like upgraded Arwings, and his nephew, Lieutenant General Andrew Oikonny had diploid them against the C.D.F. forces, apparently being piloted by some wanted criminals known to be skilled in a dog fight who went by the name of Star Wolf. But the worst part was that one of the Great Fox's best pilots, Pigma Dengar, had betrayed the C.D.F. and shot down several pilots. The only way the Great Fox and its remaining crew could escape was if someone went out there and covered them. And that's exactly what James had done. Leaving the ship in command of first officer Grey, he flew his Arwing out to meet with enemy forces. As the ship was escaping, one last signal was picked up from James' Arwing. The shields had gone down, and the haul had suffered a minor breach. He wasn't dead yet, but with no shields, no mother ship, and being surrounded by enemy fighters, the odds of surviving were about 3 trillion to one.
After he had received that news, Fox reported to the C.D.F. station as he was assigned a week early. He asked to be put in the forces ahead of schedule. He had no parents, his mom having died of illness when he was little, and no happiness. Of course the no happiness part faded with time, but he still missed both his parents almost every day. As fate would have it though, the Great Fox itself had survived, and its current "captain", first officer Grey, didn't really want to be captain, nor was he really ready.
First officer Bill Grey had been a skilled pilot on Katina. But disaster struck when the base he was assigned was attacked. With most of division 126, often referred to as "Bulldog", being wiped out, he was reassigned to be a pilot onboard the Great Fox. He quickly rose through the ranks, being dubbed first officer only a week before the incident. Still, he didn't feel ready to be the captain, and some of the higher up officers agreed with him, telling him they had their eye on someone else, as fate would have it, James' son Fox. So Fox was promoted to captain of his father's ship, the Great Fox, and set out with a crew made up of mostly people new to the ship, seeing as how few had survived, and 6 months later, here he was.
Fox sighed and whipped his hands over his face, "ROB 64, what's our ETA?"
"2 hours and 5 minutes sir," the robot replied in its usual monotone.
Fox sighed and decided to drift back into sleep, hoping that this time his dream world wouldn't fall apart around him again. Little did Fox know that when he next awoke, it would be his whole world would be falling apart around him.