Fox McCloud stared out on the balcony of his small apartment on the eastern outskirts of Corneria City. He was sitting in a small brown rocking chair watching all of the busy cars rushing up and down the freeway. It was late afternoon, and a light purple and orange began to appear on the light blue sky. Fox peered at the nearby skyline of the city, as some of the buildings began to turn on lights in various colors. It was honestly one of the most beautiful things most Cornerians would ever hope to see in their entire lives, but Fox absolutely despised it. He despised it, because he has looked at every day for the past several months.
Corneria was going through a time of peace, and Star Fox was completely out of work. In fact, they even traveled all across the Lylat System for work, but sadly the cost of energy to run the Great Fox all the way out to the outskirts of the planetary system cost more than what they could fairly charge for their services. Though the Cornerian Defense Force had their number on speed dial, they still had no need for Star Fox, due to the peace throughout the Lylat System.
As the sky began to darken, Fox sighed and gently placed his small tablet he was using down on a small table and walked through the clear sliding glass door into his apartment. Though it was on the smaller side, it was still homey enough for the vulpine. There was a medium sized flat screen TV on the wall adjacent to the front door, and two brown leather couches in front of it, one facing the TV and the other off to the other side. The entire living room was covered in dark brown oak wood flooring. There was a small kitchen area to the left of the front door that contained a piano black oven and stove with a matching microwave, fridge, and freezer, as well as a piano counter. To the right, a small hallway that lead to a bathroom and Fox's bedroom.
Fox decided to make himself something to eat and wandered into the kitchen to make himself a quick TV dinner. He opened the fridge and lazily pulled out the first frozen meal his paw touched, which happened to be meatloaf.
"Damn, meatloaf again." he whined "I gotta get work, and fast so I don't have to eat these stupid things anymore."
He lazily followed the generic instructions on the package and placed the food in the microwave. After hearing the distinct beep that signaled the timer finishing, the vulpine snatched his meal out of the microwave and made his way in front of the TV to consume it. He flipped on the TV and began to watch a generic trivia show and eat. By the time he was half finished, he heard the familiar tune of his ringtone play from his transmitter fixated on his left wrist. He hesitantly shut off the TV and looked down at the transmitter screen. His ears perked up in happiness as he glanced at the caller I.D. He swiftly pushed the answer button with his right paw.
"Yes, sir?" Fox asked in a perky voice.
"Ah, Mr. McCloud. General Pepper here. We have some work for your team if you're interested." Pepper stated over the transmitter.
"What kind of work are we talking?" Fox asked in a curious voice.
"Be over to CDF headquarters in one hour and I'll explain. I already told the guards you're coming. Come alone." Pepper ordered
"You got it, sir!" Fox stated as he turned the off button.
Though Fox's apartment complex was a measly thirty miles from the headquarters of the CDF, it was rush hour at the time and he figured he'd leave immediately to risk being late. He practically skipped out the door and down the stairs to the parking garage below the building.
"Hell yeah, we're getting a mission!" Fox said gleefully as he used the remote to unlock the door to his red hover car.
The hover car was the norm on Corneria, as it ran on energy packs and used flux of a magnetic field that was generated by a device embedded in the bottom of the vehicle. They were much more economical, too as they didn't rely on nonrenewable resources such as petrol and didn't even require tire replacements.
He then got inside his hover car and began to drive out of the parking garage and onto the streets of the suburbs. In no time he merged west onto the freeway into the city. Luckily, because he was going into the city, the traffic was not nearly as bad as it was on the other side, but with a city of over two billion inhabitants, there is bound to be massive traffic.
I wonder what the mission could be, he thought to himself, We've been in a time of peace for so long. I wonder who's trying to disturb it?
After nearly forty-five minutes of on again and off again traffic Fox finally reached his exit and merged off the freeway. He made a couple of turns and was at the CDF headquarters in absolutely no time at all. The CDF was a fenced in facility composed of several metal buildings housing the many different departments. There were several different hangars scattered around the premises that held many of the vehicles and other prototype inventions the research department was churning out. All of it was completely surrounded by the metropolis that was Corneria City. By this time, it was completely dark and the sky had to be illuminated by the lights of the various skyscrapers that surrounded the perimeter of the CDF headquarters.
Fox pulled up to the front gate. A large German shepherd in a CDF uniform peered his head out of the small guard building right in front of the gate.
"Name and identification, please" he said in a deep voice.
Though right when he saw Fox's trademark green eyes along with his red scarf he soon retracted his mistake.
"My apologies, Mr. McCloud. General Pepper is waiting for you; please come in." he said in a half embarrassed tone.
Fox nodded at the canine as he saw the twenty foot gate began to open inward in front of him. He then slowly drove onto the premises and navigated to the central tower, which houses General Pepper's office all the way on the top floor.
He then parked his hover car in front of the tower and walked inside. Since it was after hours, the interior was practically deserted. The reception desk seen right when he walked in was completely empty, and all of the hallways and meeting rooms that made up the ground floor were completely vacant. The whole area was dark too, except for small strings of security lights used to help night guards keep an eye on the area. Though those lights were all the vulpine needed to navigate to the elevator to go up to Pepper's office. Fox walked to the elevator to the right of the entrance and called it. When it arrived, he walked inside and pushed the button to get to the tenth and top floor. Once the doors opened once the top floor was reached, Fox walked out and walked down a long hallway to the General's office.
Though Fox thought it was a bit odd that General Pepper asked to meet him at night, as most of his mission briefings were done during the day. Though, that made him feel that the mission was even more threatening than his average one if the briefing couldn't wait till tomorrow.
Fox raised his paw and knocked on the door to Pepper's office. It was a tall glass door that was tainted so nobody on the outside could see past it. It had the Corneria logo engraved in white near the top with 'General Pepper' engraved in bold letters under it. After a few seconds, Pepper opened the door, revealing himself in his usual red uniform. Fox saluted as soon as he saw him in his peripheral vision.
"Good evening, General." he stated firmly
"Fox, please come in. We have much do discuss." Pepper replied.
Fox walked inside to the large office of General Pepper. Pepper sat down in his large brown wooden desk with a computer with a 3D projector on it. Behind the desk were large flat screen 3D monitors on each side of the room and a large bulletproof glass window looking out on the metropolis behind the desk. Fox took a seat in front of the bloodhound's desk.
"So, Fox, as we know Corneria has been at a time of peace for a couple of years now, but I think I found a mission for your team, if you're prepared for it. Though I will be completely honest, it is quite a bit different than anything I've assigned to you before."
"Well, I'll be honest with you. We all really need the money right now." Fox started "We'll do just about anything for the credits, and more importantly, the experience".
"In that case," Pepper started "I have some maps and diagrams to show you."
Pepper then took his eyes off the vulpine and over to his computer and pulled up a presentation of various slides and diagrams.
"Our scientists in the research department of the CDF have found life outside our planetary system." Pepper started
He then pulled up a diagram of the Milky Way galaxy on the 3D projector and the image popped out from the top of his desk.
"Here we are" Pepper said, pointing right outside of the black hole inside the center of the galaxy.
"Here is the planetary system our scientists have discovered" he continued, pointing to a small area near the edge of the galaxy.
"Our scientists have been able to pick up readings of carbon based life forms on the surface of this planet right here" Pepper informed, pointing at a small blue planet inside a zoomed in image of the area, showing the solar system.
"So, what do you need us to do, General? Destroy them?" Fox asked eagerly.
"Hell no, McCloud!" Pepper barked. "We know absolutely nothing about these creatures, are you insane?"
"Oh, so what do you want us to do, then?" Fox asked.
"Well, I want you to go over there and investigate them. We don't know if we want to form an alliance with them or set up any communications with them for that matter." Pepper stated.
"Huh? What exactly do you mean, sir? No destroying enemies? No taking down a military base?" Fox asked with a confused expression.
"No, Fox. I did say that this mission would be quite a bit different than the ones we assigned for you in the past or any of your missions in that past for that matter." Pepper said
"We want you to get to know more about these creatures. What they are, their way of life, what they do for a living, how they spend their free time, etc. To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect from these aliens, but all I can tell you right now is their planet is referred to as 'Earth'.
"Well, I'll be completely honest with you, General." Fox replied "This really doesn't seem to be our kind of thing. You could probably send someone else to do that"
"That may be true, Fox. However, we have no idea what these aliens are like. Who knows what they're like? Your team may be the only ones to deal with them if we find out they're hostile. You may get some action after all." Pepper explained. "Plus, this may give our military even more contacts to have to build it up even stronger than it is right now. This could be a very important mission for us, you know."
"Could you give me a moment to think it over?" Fox questioned.
"Certainly." Pepper responded.
Fox sat in his chair and considered all of the information Pepper shoved down his throat at ones. He was in no position to turn down work at this point, as all of the members of Star Fox have had to take huge financial cuts, and if they couldn't find work soon, they may have to disband. This was no time to be choosy, as work was work and he didn't want to risk his team having to go on hiatus.
"We'll do it." Fox said in a hesitant voice
A/N: Well, that wraps up the first chapter of Star Fox: Coastal Catastrophe! This is my first fan fiction and I really want some feedback by all of you. If you could leave a review, it would really make my day! I have a lot of plans for this story and I hope you all will enjoy it as it grows.
Also, as an aspiring engineer, I plan on introducing many different inventions I have come up with for this story (like the hover car, for example). If you have an idea for a gadget, weapon, or any other type of invention, shoot me a PM with the details. If I like it, I may include it in my story (and give you credit for it, of course).
Well, that's about all I have for today, see you next chapter, everyone!
