Operation Fortunan Resolve
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, It's me. I'm not going to waste your time because I know you've already made the decision to click on this story, so I'm going to dispense with the silly jokey jokes. I'm essentially writing this story in one way or another to express aspects of the Star Fox universe in at least a semi-realistic way (ok, I know it doesn't matter much, but this IS Star Fox we're talking about here). Call it acceptable breaks from reality or use whatever explanations you've come up with on your own, but one of my main intents in writing this is to separate from the more unrealistic aspects and examine a far more… eh, alright I'll say the b word, BELIEVABLE format.
Great, that was probably the most non-specific way I could've said that. For some reason I'm ok with this.
And uh… one more thing. Nothing I write in this is supposed to relate in any way to any situation going on anywhere, ok?
Anyways, enjoy the story.
Red Flags
After a devastating number of conflicts had left large portions of the Lylat System in ruins, some feared that it was only the beginning to their struggles. The wars were fought with every available resource that was able to be diverted to the Cornerian effort, but once those wars were over, the entirety of Corneria's armed forces lay broken and had to be restructured from the remnants its former greatness. Support for the army outside of the central planet's reach was getting more difficult for the military's command structure to manage with every passing day; entire units were disbanded or called back from their deployments and had to be returned to their crumpled and disarrayed homes, where they could be more easily stationed.
Sudden disruptions in economic currents had turned once prosperous cities into desolate shadows of their former selves, shattering the hopes of entire colonies and leaving the confused populations unsure where to look for leadership and security. On Zoness, the effects of chemical weapons deployed by Andross in the Great War had left a number of islands essentially uninhabitable, and were to remain so for years to come. On Corneria, an entire civilization had to be rebuilt from the ashes and rubble of its towering structures; it took years, but with well coordinated efforts, and untold amounts of relief movements, the great cities which lit the old lands at night once again displayed their brilliant shine.
But the planet Fortuna, for all its economic stability and relative self-sufficiency, suffered a much different disease from the lingering effects of the conflicts. Political unrest had been dictating the course of local governments for the past few years, and calls for greater autonomy and independence were the buzzwords of debate on either side. Neighbor was pitched against neighbor in a seemingly unending battle between calls for separation from Cornerian influences, and demands for reunification. Unions were divided into administrative conglomerates, administrative conglomerates were separated into republics, and republics were further separated into colonies, no one knew what to do, or what was going to happen next.
And then, he came.
From the once quiet streets of what was generally thought to be one of the smaller colonies rose a new leader with a great vision. His name was at first only mentioned in hushed whispers, and even then, it was only dared spoken of in deep, solitary places. From the relatively unknown reaches of the northern colonies, he gathered up a significant number of forces, armed with the advanced weaponry of their former allies.
They swept through the greater continents like a storm, seizing anything in their path. Base after base fell to their lightning quick tactics, unable to respond in any meaningful way before the military's equipment had been stolen from under their noses. It was not long before large swaths of Fortuna's lands fell to the new splinter faction's control, the now united peoples eagerly welcoming the coming of the new great leader, yet some still feared what they felt was a byproduct of Andross' persisting impact.
Few on the Cornerian side knew how to respond, since political complications made it difficult to tell friend from foe. And since Fortuna was a long way from the main fleet, there was no time to waste if things were to be immediately mobilized in response. The Council of Generals decided that the best action to take was to secure the few Cornerian controlled military bases already stationed on Fortuna, and hope that the political situation would burn itself out after it lost its initial energy.
They were wrong. Fortuna had finally reached its boiling point, a vocal number of its citizens were not going to easily let go of the future they believed had already been secured.
On Corneria, things only get worse from then onwards. Trade to most parts of the planet were effectively cut off, tariffs were established, import was restricted, and relations instantly became hostile. Corneria's forces were spread too thin and were too ill-prepared to fend off the growing resistance.
On Fortuna, chants of the new leadership rang through the streets. The new grand palace which had been formed from the remains of the Cornerian embassy held the target of their praise. A large crowd had gathered in the main square, surrounding the symmetrical building as they lifted up a sea of flags, displaying the proud red banner of what they believed to be their new future.
Though the crowd itself was formed by tens of thousands of unique individuals, they all united in a single chorus of shouts, joyfully proclaiming the revolutionary which had risen from the corners of silence.
They were all praising the name of the new leader, the great one who rose from the darkened shadows of destruction to stand in front of the gathered masses. His name was General Kosi.
He stood tall and proud above the ecstatic crowd, which resounded in a collective cheer the moment he stepped out into the former embassy's balcony area. Waving his outstretched paw in all directions as a sign of his triumph, the amber eyes of the otherwise monochromatic civet glazed over the myriad of supporters congesting the streets. After a couple minutes or so, the noise of the crowd died down, eager to hear the first public announcement of their new premier. Silence and awe filled the hearts of young and old, all eyes descended upon the balcony.
"My friends…" The General began, slowly at first.
"My wonderful friends… I do not need to tell you why you are here, your convictions are what brought you all to this place, your hopes have forced you to witness this momentous occasion. Fortuna has been a symbol of beauty in the Lylat for longer than anyone could look back, but I'm afraid there are some among you whom wish to degrade that beauty and bring it down to the desolate state of their homelands. The shores of southern Zoness or the green fields of mainland Corneria cannot match up to the wilds of Fortuna; the ancients were right when they named this planet after the attributed deity of good fortune and luck, even though they could not see its wondrous riches from where we can witness it now. And no people throughout the Lylat could compare to you, my friends, though many try to break that which holds us together, I'm confident that our resolve is what will allow us to remain as our own."
The civet bathed in the cheers of the crowd which followed the exclamation of his words, until it eventually died out in wait for the leader's next announcement.
"The Cornerian Imperialists wish for us to pay their taxes in order to support the rebuilding of its 'infrastructure' and 'necessary long term programs'…" The general began as murmurs of displeasure weaved throughout the crowd. "But where was our help when the cities of our homeland fell to the darkness of the Aparoidium? The relief which was promised to us by our so-called 'protectors', did not go to our desperate families and their children, but instead funded the power of the same forces whom failed to protect us from this disaster in the first place. Why must we be forced to give our resources to fund this corruption? How much longer can we stand the oppression of this flag?" He pointed upwards and behind him towards the tattered remains of the embassy's last remaining banner of Corneria.
"I say we let this go on no longer! Fortuna has waited long enough for this moment. Now that the time's here, I only ask one thing of those who disagree with the direction that we're taking; leave immediately, before you are considered trespassers in our lands. You have one week to gather your belongings and take them back to your homes on Corneria, after then, I cannot guarantee your safety."
Mixed cries arose from the crowd, cheering him onward with both feelings of both uneasy fear and blinded acceptance.
"Stand strong, my friends! Our work is not done, it has only begun! Soon we will be free; we will be our own nation, our own people! With our resolve, it will be done!" General Kosi spoke powerfully into the accepting crowd. For some time he stood there and waved towards his unbelievable creation, before he retreated from the balcony, taking his trusted guards away with him.
The cheering and demonstrating continued throughout the day, ending with the eventual removal and burning of the Cornerian embassy's flag, which was promptly replaced by the newly designed symbol, which itself was dragged into the roof of the building in an excited frenzy.
For the first time, the flag which flew on what was considered to be Cornerian soil. Its fresh fabric waved loosely in the cool winds of the evening, displaying to everyone its defiant statement.
"Fortuna Fortis."
~X~X~X~X~X~
"Fox! Break left, he's got a lock on you!"
"I'm good!" Fox assured his ally as the bright blast from the enemy ship soared past the curving wing of his aircraft. "He overshot me."
Fox looked over his shoulder to see the opposing fighter zip past him at a high speed. He knew that the poor victim wouldn't be able to turn around in time to evade Fox now, so he instead added full power and began to climb upwards.
Wrong move.
With a well predicted motion, Fox flipped around in a similar manner into the deep blue sky, inverting himself so that his canopy gave him a clear view of his soon to be next kill. The enemy had made the mistake of attempting to escape while flying in a single direction, which Fox used to extrapolate and follow the path of where the enemy's fighter would be when they intersected. All Fox had to do was wait until they were close enough, then he fired his charged shot, and sent the enemy cascading down towards the open ground.
"Splash one dirty Imperialist, Bill."
"Copy Fox, which one was it?"
"Kensington, I think." Fox looked towards the display screen on the lower section of his cockpit which held still a few moments before displaying the name of the eliminated pilot. "Yep, Lt. Kensington." He maneuvered his aircraft downwards and searched for any sign of his wingman's craft. In the distance he could see a couple of fighters weaving around each other, attempting to gain an edge. Fox could judge that the one to his left was his ally by the way his motions mimicked that of their actual enemy's common tactics. He smiled as he saw his friend give the pursuing fighter a little slack on purpose, before turning the maneuver back on him and bringing the fight back to a one-on-one stalemate, thus repeating the process all over again.
"Hey, Bill… need any help?"
"No thanks, I'm good here." Bill replied.
"Just remember, we're here to teach them a lesson, not simply kick their asses."
Fox checked his radar warning receiver, which seemed to be eerily empty save for the two fighters which lay comfortably in his line of sight. He searched around him for any sign of the third fighter, but couldn't see anything beyond the clear sky and the two distant figures dueling it out. Maybe he was accidentally diverted away to a landing position, or maybe he'd gotten lost and couldn't find the skirmishing zone. Just as Fox was about to turn his craft and climb to receive a better view of the action, he noticed a brief flash coming from below him. Instinctively, he swerved his fighter out of the way, narrowly missing a bright green bolt which screamed between the spaces separating his swept wing from the fuselage. So much for situational awareness.
"Masking your signature by using the terrain… good job, Lieutenant." Fox said, knowing very well that no one else could hear him. The enemy fighter had hidden from Fox's sight by hiding below him and hugging the ground, he nearly took the vulpine down by surprise, but the enemy's unwillingness to wait for the right moment to shoot proved unsuccessful. Fox turned his head around to see that the aircraft was still following his tail, only slightly out of range. If he attempted to shoot the vulpine now, it would be easy to deflect his shots with countermeasures.
Fox decided that the next move should test the young pilot's own cunning. As his fighter ascended further into the air, he slowly altered its path until it was pointing straight at the bright star of the Lylat. If his pursuer were to remain trailing him, he would be blinded by the midday sun. Fox knew that is own craft had capabilities that would reduce the glare shone down on him from above, he also knew that his adversary's standard fighter was not measurably equipped for such procedures. Once he was headed straight for the blinding light, he turned back around to see if his tail was still being chased. However, upon searching, he noticed that the enemy fighter had instead ascended to an altitude higher than Fox's and was now lying out of the direction of the bright sun, waiting for the vulpine to make his next move.
Fox smiled, pleased that the opposition had made the right move. "Good… Letting me know you're in control of the situation…" The vulpine directed his eyes towards the ground below him. Perhaps he'd try one more move, and then he'd give the twitchy pilot a chance at his aircraft.
Both fighters were flying fast and low, Fox had taken a chance by diving straight down towards the ground only to pull up moments before becoming part of an artificial crater in the otherwise calm grassy fields. It was difficult for the opposing pilot to maintain pursuit, but Fox could easily see the he was giving his best and adjusting his position in response to wherever Fox pushed his craft. The vulpine pushed back on his stick in order to execute an Immelmann turn, looping upwards halfway before inverting himself back to a leveled position. Expecting the enemy fighter to overcompensate and fail to maneuver around him, Fox was surprised to see his adversary closing in on him with utmost precision.
"Uh oh…" Fox said to himself before attempting to turn away from the incoming threat. Try as hard as he could though, the enemy had anticipated the sharp turn and was able to counter any attempt Fox made at evasion. Once the enemy knew he was close enough, he released a number of shots in the vulpine's direction, a few of them managed to hit, but they were enough to engage the warning lights on the edges of Fox's ship.
"Splash one bandit!" Fox could hear the excited yell of the young pilot from his multi-channel radio. Fox noticed his pursuer break off from his tail, now that Fox had been 'shot down'.
"I'm sorry Comrade Grey, but I've failed you! These Cornerian dogs got a lock on me, they're just too good!" Fox informed his still viable wingman, poorly attempting to mimic a somewhat simian sounding speech pattern.
"Copy that McCloud. You're efforts towards the Glorious Cause will not be forgotten. Today you will meet with the Eternal General. Praise be to the Eternal General!"
"Yeah, praise be to the Eternal General, whatever… ok I'm dead now." Fox switched the receiver to the 'off' position, now he wouldn't be able to communicate or interfere with the rest of the operation. The two pilots would usually attempt to have a little fun while playing adversaries, so much so to that they would even pretend to speak back and forth to each other in ways they assumed that any hypothetical enemy would. Even though technically he wasn't affiliated inside the ranks of the Cornerian Army, he was glad that they had offered him the opportunity to use his skills in order to train the new generations after he'd disbanded the rest of his team.
The vulpine gave a deep sigh before deciding to head back to the airbase, now that his work for the day was over. The journey, which was stretched out through an open section of plains designated as the MOA (Military Operations Area), would only take a few minutes at his current speed; he could already see the large hardened aircraft shelters lying against the backdrop of the surrounding mountains. He was somehow glad to be out of the fight and in a comfortable position, but even more relieved to see that the adversary training for today had been a resounding success.
"Pepper Base tower, this is Red Flag one, announcing departure from the MOA, over."
"Message received, Red Flag one, departure from MOA confirmed. When you're ready to land, Contact Pepper Base approach on 121.7, over…"
~X~X~X~X~X~
Less than an hour later, the two veteran pilots were back inside the confines of the airbase. Sitting alone at a briefing table, they went over their last set of evaluations of the aspiring aviators. "Good, now that that's finished, let's move onto final evaluations." Bill said, changing his focus to the final set of scores that he and Fox had averaged for the three trainees.
"Lt. Kensington…" Fox prompted, removing the profile of the young pilot out from his folder. "What's your verdict?"
"Not sure, I didn't see him much, but I did notice that move he made back in the beginning, gave me a quick surprise." Bill commented.
"True, although my encounter with him proved… unsatisfactory. His maneuvers were executed too few and too late, he didn't attempt to use the position of his wingman to his advantage, which is what he should've done the moment I crossed his six."
"Hmm… your conclusion?"
"Referring him to an advisory board… I have a feeling he's had problems getting along with the rest of his squadron."
"I agree, advisory board it is…" Bill surveyed the profiles of the two remaining pilots, picking up the small portrait of the one which was chasing after him through most of the fight. "Lt. Noles, he's the one that kept trying to turn inside of me before he figured out he needed the right corner speed. He shot close to me a couple of times, but never made it, his friend finally had to come and finish me off."
"I noticed you two having one-on-one, he seems competent, but could probably use some work on his directional awareness."
"My conclusion for him is a pass, I know I was giving him a hard time there and most pilots wouldn't have pulled the same moves I did there. He had some skills out there that I know can't be taught, he's certainly got a lot of potential."
"Ok then, pass it is…" Fox wrote in the conclusion for the trainee under his evaluation form. It read, "Good display of skills, needs a little more work on maneuvering, suitable for next phase".
"And that brings us to Lt. Gandt… I believe he's the one that took you, and I down."
Fox nodded. "He was, he showed excellent degrees of knowledge and skill, and was able to intercept my fighter with careful precision. He even surprised me when he decided to use the terrain to his advantage; I couldn't find him anywhere until he nearly shot me down from behind. From then on, he proved a most capable challenge." Fox leaned back in his chair. "Though I could've taken him if I really wanted to…"
Bill gave a brief chuckle in response. "You're telling me… I was still busy with Lt. Noles when he showed up out of nowhere and swept through my front, I swear he missed me at least fifty times, but somehow, the simulator registered it as a hit…"
"You know Bill, I'm pretty sure you're the only one to ever complain about a faulty simulator mechanic…"
"Not true! Everyone else has noticed it too! But they only talk about it when you're not around!" The bulldog joked, nudging Fox in the shoulder.
"Yes, well… anyways… my verdict on Lt. Gandt is also a pass."
"Agreed." Bill then proceeded to write down his conclusion.
"Satisfactory."
The two continued to talk about the recent groups of recruits until they'd exhausted every encounter they made. Today was the last batch of trainees to report for air-to-air combat training for at least the next two weeks, which opened up a number of possible activities, he'd be able to pursue with his new mate. For a few moments, Fox ignored the words coming from Bill and though only about his plans in the near-future, images of him sitting with the beautiful vixen while they stood atop a deck overlooking a large mountainous ridge clouded his mind.
"McCloud… Fox, you hear me?"
"Huh? What?" The vulpine shook away the approaching stream of fantasy from his mind.
"The air show tomorrow… are you going to be there?"
"Uh, no. I already told them I wasn't participating this year."
"Hmm, that's fine. It's always nice to fly above cheering crowds, makes you really remember that others appreciate what you're doing… It's only, I wanted to ask abou-"
At that moment, the door the secure briefing room flung open. In walked a nervous looking sergeant dressed in full uniform, saluting to Bill.
"Commander Grey, McCloud…"
"Yes? What is it? Is it urgent?" Bill replied, getting up from his seat.
"No sir… not really. It's just that… I think you two should come and see something."
"Alright then… Fox?"
"I'm coming."
The vulpine followed the others out of the briefing room, making sure that they'd secured the documents pertaining to the pilots in training first. They both made their way through the tight hallway until they reached the part of the base which was not devoted to operations. They entered a relatively open leisure room, which contained a large number of symmetrically placed chairs and tables. Over to the side of the room were a number of pilots and other soldiers whom had packed themselves together in front of the room's sole television screen.
"What's going on?" Fox asked but received no direct reply. Instead, his eyes fell upon the images being displayed on the wide monitor, and the news anchor's commentary which followed.
"As you can all see from these images, demonstrations in the main capital of Northern Fortuna have recently become violent, as Fortunan Liberation Front forces demanded that action be taken against the number of citizens there whom they believe have strong ties to Corneria. Already in the recent days, the FLF has taken a number of Cornerian bases which were previously controlled by hybrid forces under Corneria's Cooperative Control initiatives. Now General Kosi and his newly risen army has announced that it wishes to sever all ties with the Cornerian government in hopes of establishing a completely independent union."
"Bastards…" Bill muttered to himself, though only loud enough so that Fox could hear.
The images on the screen panned to a top-down view of flag carrying marchers enforcing their will in the central streets of Fortuna's larger cities."In a statement released only hours ago by the General himself, he called for the immediate removal of all Cornerian owned assets and properties, as well as the expulsion of those who may even be retaining dual citizenship. So far, we have no knowledge of any strategic plans which Cornerian forces may be preparing in response to the crisis, all action taken up to this point has merely been to regroup and defend, and it's unsure what level of action could be leveled against General Kosi's front in the coming days and weeks."
Bill shook his head in disbelief. "I don't understand… why did it come to this point? What do they really want?"
"Sounds like they want to be left alone…" Fox answered to the best of his limited knowledge on the subject.
"They don't want to be left alone, they want to be noticed, they want to make sure we know they mean business, that's why they're doing all this. They couldn't organize themselves for any meaningful cause before, now it seems the only thing bringing them together is hatred for any hint of Cornerian support."
"Couldn't they just stop supporting Corneria without making these sweeping changes?"
Bill had started to pace away from the leisure room, but stopped and turned around midway in order to face Fox. "It's not that simple, you see… our bases there are set up to protect the Fortunan populace against any forms of aggression… the problem is that General Kosi and his Liberation Front don't count as legitimate Fortunan armed forces, and are therefore technically enemies of what Corneria recognizes to be the true governance of Fortuna…"
"Which means that they're our enemies as well." Fox concluded succinctly.
"Right, but even then it's not that simple. Now that the Liberation Front controls a number of hybrid army assets and personnel, the lines have become blurred. It's not like we can just level the bases since when all things are accounted for, they still belong to our allies in the region. It's not that they want to overthrow the Fortunan establishment; in their minds they can't because they believe that they have a rightful place as Fortuna's foremost leadership, and that all forms of Cornerian influence are void."
"That's just great… I could never get into politics, too many meaningless words and useless treaties thrown around like gum wrappers. Plus, I never grew too attached to any area other than here. Even voting has always been a pain in ass since I used to always move from place to place, and don't even get me started on trying to explain the reason I had an explanatory residence that wasn't on a licensed space station, and yet somehow appeared with large sums of money at irregular intervals to the Cornerian government."
Bill smiled, pacing alongside the vulpine. "Did they think you were a roaming marauder?"
"No, a thousand times worse… tax evader."
The two pilots made their way down the nearby hallway, where numerically sorted doors separated the rooms at equal distances across from each other. Most of the recently constructed airbase was built in this way, with each division holding its own number of conference rooms, briefing rooms, and over towards to the hangers, maintenance rooms.
"Listen, Fox… I have a meeting scheduled soon with the higher-ups real soon, ten minutes or so… going to be a big security talk, definitely going to be boring as hell, but it's not likely I'll be very involved in the discussion."
The vulpine was sort of surprised to hear Bill suddenly announce an event such as this. He was usually informed about such things going on around the base, but since he wasn't directly military he wasn't given much detail as to what went on in them other than what Bill would occasionally tell him.
"Well, ok then… I'll see you later, Bill."
The veteran pilot turned back to Fox, pointing directly towards him. "I'm still coming over to your place for dinner tonight?"
"Of course…"
~X~X~X~X~X~
"You know, Mrs. McCloud, I think this is the best spaghetti I've ever had…" Bill informed the blue vixen, digging into the bowl of noodles violently with his fork.
Krystal blushed at the much welcomed compliment. "Why, thank you. I grow my own tomatoes in a small patch out back; we usually have so much that we don't know what to do with them."
"So, she adds them to basically everything…" Fox said, relishing in his own enjoyment of the home-cooked meal.
Krystal smiled. "It's true…"
"If it's anything as good as this, you should invite me to come over more often." Bill half-joked.
"And eat all our food?" Fox returned, noticing that the bulldog had devoured a larger portion of the meal than both he and Krystal combined. The three broke into a brief moment of laughter, before Bill's mouth was stuffed once more and unable to emit any sound.
After the recessive drop into relative silence, Krystal found it appropriate to speak up and move into a discussion about less trivial topics. "So, Bill… I heard you and Fox just finished the next round of recruits today."
"Sure did, Fox and I gave them a good old test of courage before sending them off into the real world… I'm sure they'll all do fine." Bill answered with a calm sense of assurance.
"It's great that the new General's allowed Fox to be an adversary pilot, I always felt like he wanted to play the bad guy sometimes…" The vixen smiled back at her mate. "When are you two scheduled to receive the next group?"
Bill took a moment to answer. There was something keeping him from confronting the question in a direct manner. "Well… the next group is scheduled about two weeks from now… but…" Bill's nervous expression held tightly onto pained and confused words struggling to free themselves from silence. "But the thing is… I'm not scheduled to be on the next red flag operations."
"You're not?" Fox and Krystal seemed to utter simultaneously.
"No… but it's complicated… I've received new orders, just a temporary reassignment. Earlier today, when I was in the officer's meeting, something came up. I was expecting it to move on as usual, but I was surprised to have a lot of the focus fall on me…"
"What's… your assignment if I may ask?" Fox wondered, letting go of his fork and allowing it to slide back into the bowl.
"The General… he wants me to go to Fortuna…" Bill spilled the information out in a fragmented stuttering.
"Fortuna?" Fox repeated, a bewildered look lining his muzzle.
"Yeah… as I said, it's a temporary thing, don't know how long it could be… could be a few weeks, could be months. It all depends on how the situation over there develops."
"But, Bill…" Fox attempted to utter more words to confront his friend's sudden revelation, but he knew not what to say in response to the tense situation.
"I'll be leaving within the next few days… next week at the absolute latest."
Fox took a deep breath. The situation on Fortuna had just hit home, before it was a distant problem that hadn't involved him much, but now, one of his closest friends was going to be directly involved in whatever conflict was about to ensue.
"But Fox, that wasn't all that the General asked of me…" Bill's sentence trailed off into an area shrouded with care and a hint of restraint.
"What… else did he say?"
Bill took a long pause before continuing. His eyes failed to make contact with either of them, maintaining instead a frozen gaze on the mostly finished bowl of spaghetti. He prepared his next set of words with heavy thought.
"The General requested another thing in addition to my reassignment." Bill slowed his speech. "He… he wants you to come with me."
A distinctive clatter echoed through the room as Krystal's fork fell to the floor. She leaned down to pick it up, but Fox had already lifted it off the ground before she managed to extend a paw.
"He wants me… to be deployed with you?" Fox asked for any sign of confirmation from his comrade.
Bill nodded, looking somewhat ashamed at his request. "You don't have to come, Fox. You're not obligated to like I am. This decision relies solely on you. You're not part of the army… you can't be forced to go."
Krystal leaned in from across the table and embraced Fox in a rush of pure emotion. In her tight hold, Fox could barely see a faint tear slide down from the corner of her closed eyes.
"Shh… It's ok… It's ok… everything's going to be fine…" He assured her, brushing his paw soothingly across her back. "Don't worry about me."
Bill moved his right paw outwardly towards the two foxes. "If you need some time to think about it, Fox, I can wait until tomorrow…" He furthered, trying to relieve the pressure of their current state.
"No, no that's fine Bill… I already know how I'm going to decide. I don't think I could remain here and watch as all those around me leave to follow the call of duty. I don't want to sit around every day knowing that I had the opportunity right in front of my paws and I still let it go. There's no question, those people on Fortuna need my help… need our help. I'm going."
Krystal sank back into her seat, quiet and holding back sobbing tears. At this point she didn't know how to react.
"The only problem this presents us with is the question of who's going to replace us as adversary pilots… I mean, we already have a number of experienced pilots being transferred over to Fortu-"
"I can do it…" Krystal interjected forcefully. "I can be the trainer… I already work at the base as an air traffic controller, I know all the procedures and I already have established connections with the leadership there… plus, I'm an experienced pilot."
"You're right… I didn't even consider that…" Bill admitted. "Thanks Krystal… I'll be sure to recommend you to the advisory board whenever I get the chance." He continued with an eager smile.
Amidst the chaos, Fox spoke up, intending to relieve some of the unsure thoughts going through everyone's head. "I know none of us here planned to drop our lives and rework our hopes in order to fit the grim reality, but… things change… we'll have to make the best of it."
"That's real good to hear, Fox. It's getting kind of late, I think it's about time I head back home. Oh! And thanks for the wonderful meal, Krystal." Bill said, sitting up from his position on the table.
"You're welcome. Any time."
Fox and Bill headed towards the door. Bill's car could be seen parked in the nearby driveway. "You're sure about this, Fox. Once you commit to this, you can't back down…"
"I'm sure." Fox answered without hesitation.
"Alright, we're in this thing together." Bill said under muffled breaths, patting Fox on the shoulder. He was about to exit through the front door when again his memory prompted him to stop. "One more thing, Fox… now that you've accepted there's another door that's been opened for us."
Fox tilted his head partially to one side. "What do you mean?"
Bill gave a quick grimace before returning to an indifferent expression. "It's… about tomorrow, the air show."
"I already said I wasn't participating this year."
"I know, I know. But the thing is, it doesn't have anything to do with you. Not initially, I mean."
"What are you implying Bill?"
"I hear there's a new act that's sweeping the system. I know it might not fascinate you as much, but it's still an opportunity to… expand upon our current situation." The bulldog continued, vague as ever. He removed a paper brochure out from his pocket and handed it to Fox. "I expect to see you there tomorrow…" He said before making his way past the door, closing it behind him.
"Fox? I think I'm going to head up to bed." Krystal informed the vulpine from across the entryway, halfway up the nearby staircase.
"Oh? Ok… I'll be up there soon, just… going to clean a few things up." Fox spoke back to his mate, hoping there wasn't much work involved in this cleaning endeavor. He threw the brochure onto the dinner table and picked the nearest empty bowl of spaghetti off of its glass surface, though the moment he began to turn away, a distinctive name glittered from the printed words onto the corner of his eye. The examined the folded advertisement closer, noticing the bold letters encapsulating the title of tomorrow's main event.
"Looping Lombardi?"
Bill ducked his head under the roof of his car and slid inside. He took a moment to collect his thoughts before moving his paws to the touch screen on the central console. Instantly, the device flashed to life, displaying a number of features available for the canine to play with. However, the pilot opted for something simple and comparatively primitive to the advanced options adorning the screen, he initiated a call.
"Hello?"
"General? It's me, Commander Grey."
"Ah, Commander, how goes it?"
"He's in."
~X~X~X~X~X~
Author's Notes: Yup, things 'bout to get real.