It was a routine mission. Macbeth was being attacked, likely by an overconfident gang. Fox had done missions like this a hundred times before. Ever since Starfox broke up Fox had been piloting his lone arwing. It was actually cheaper to hire him than bring in the military, so there had been no shortage of work.
General Pepper appeared on a screen, looking rather agitated.
"Fox! Continue on your course, but prepare for a real fight. We don't know what it is, but we need you down there NOW!"
After almost a year of shooting down rookie pilots, Fox was almost excited. Almost. He breached the atmosphere to be greeted with a warzone. Beneath the cloud layer, the air was swarming with sleek black fighters. Smoke poured from fires below. Automated turrets on the surface shot many of them out of the sky, but there was no end in sight. Fox carved a path through the fighters with his twinlock lasers, and was filled with dread.
From here he could see that there were over a thousand fighters shooting down the few friendlies left in the area, but what really struck fear into his heart was the dozen massive battlecruisers pouring missiles into Macbeth.
"This wasn't Andross," Fox reasoned, "I don't know how anybody could amass an army of this size without someone noticing. If the military don't show up in full force right now, Macbeth doesn't stand a chance!"
"PEPPER!" Fox practically screamed into his headset, "Bring everyone you've got! Corneria could be at stake!"
Fox knew why Macbeth had been targeted. It was the source of most of the resources used to build military vehicles. If it was lost, they didn't stand a chance at a battle of attrition.
Whoever was behind this clearly wasn't going for a small win.
A spray of lasers shook the vulpine's arwing. Most of the fighters were focused on the automated defenses, but enough were tailing him that it was only a matter of time before his arwing came to pieces. He had to retreat: no time to think, only react. Fox pulled a 180 and aimed at the sky. A deluge of lasers met him. Strafe, loop, (barrel roll), Fox used all his evasion tactics in a desperate bid to escape his pursuers. He neared the upper end of the atmosphere when the unthinkable happened. An enemy flew directly into his arwing. With a bone-shattering collision, it all went black.
Later...
"I...Is it Christmas?"
Fox tried to sit up, then groaned and immediately lay down again. Pain wracked his body. The room was brightly lit, his eyes wouldn't focus.
"Fox? Hey, man! Doctors said you wouldn't be conscious for another week, you crazy bastard!"
Fox slowly turned his head to see Falco grinning beside him. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept in days.
"Hey Falco, great to see you again. Um... quick question: what the FUCK is going on? I can barely see, let alone move. Where am I?"
"There's way too much to explain right now, especially with you all drugged up like you are." Falco chuckled before continuing, "But you should know you're damned lucky to be alive! The doctors will kick both our asses if you try to get up now, just go back to sleep, it will all make more sense soon."
Before falling asleep Fox heard Falco add:
"Not that you'll feel a whole lot better once you know what's going on."
Author's note: Hey guys! :D So this is my first fanfic, and I've never really wrote a story before, and I'd really love it if I could get some reviews. Totally open to constructive criticism (or unconstructive, whatever floats your boat). I have the story all planned out, and it should be pretty action-packed. Regardless of whether this story gets any reviews I will finish it, but I sure could use some motivation :)
See you around.