Star Fox: Regime – a fan fiction by Wolf Reynolds
"Star Fox" and all related characters and trademarks are © Nintendo, Inc.
IMPORTANT: I do not own any of these characters; the story is mine, but it is based off of the Star Fox series, which is copyrighted to and is the intellectual property of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
Background Info: I don't want to give too much background info, since most of it is given in the prologue, but my basic statement is simple. This is an alternate sequel to Star Fox: Assault. I am writing this story because I found Star Fox: Command to be sadly lacking. I basically pretended that Command never happened. There are some parts that reference Command, but for all intents and purposes, the audience can forget that Command ever happened (since that's what most of the true Star Fox fans are trying to do anyway). I kept this clean, but there's lots of action. It's rated T for some violence and some VERY mild language (PG at most). I don't get into the whole "OMG couples I like totally support and stuff", but there is a romance in this between Fox and Krystal (it seemed appropriate), but it is completely G-rated, so nothing suggestive or risqué. I included the prologue with Chapter 1 because it didn't make too much sense to have it by itself (it's basically a recap of the series so far). One other thing that I think is worth mentioning is that this fiction contains NO original fan characters (OFCs) - in other words, all of the characters in this fic (with the exception of a few bit-part "extras") come directly from the Star Fox canon. That being said, let me just reiterate - this story picks up exactly where Assault left off. Enjoy!
Prologue:
Following the collapse of the Androssian Uprising after the reintegration of Planet Sauria, the Lylat System was invaded and infested by a cyber-organic race of replicators known as Aparoids. Coordinating their counterstrike with the Cornerian Deep Space Defense Fleet, the commando-for-hire team called Star Fox was able to eliminate this grave threat to the Lylat System, but with pyrrhic losses to the Cornerians. After the destruction of the Aparoid menace, the Lylat System was ready to return to normality. During the crisis, however, the Lylatian capital of Corneria City was attacked. Though the Star Fox team was successful in repelling the enemies from the planet, the damage was devastatingly heavy, and the entire Lylat System was placed under martial law. Pepper, the general who normally commanded the contingent of the Lylatian military in the Cornerian sector, was still in the hospital recovering from severe aparoidedation. The time was ripe for an enemy to hit Corneria while she was down.
The Great Fox, the pride and joy of the Star Fox team, was sacrificed in order to defeat the Queen Aparoid and neutralize the threat. The Great Fox was more than just a ship to the Star Fox team; she was their flagship – she was their home. To Fox McCloud, the leader of the team, she was all that he had left of his late lamented father, James. Even though Fox had avenged James McCloud's murder, he was consumed by bitterness. He wasn't sure where that bitterness would lead him – his father's murderers were gone. Andross had died by Fox's own hand. Pigma Dengar, the mercenary who betrayed the Star Fox team, had met an appropriate end when he was consumed by the Aparoids. The only one left was Dengar's employer, Wolf O'Donnell, and Wolf… Fox couldn't kill Wolf. Wolf had saved him from the Aparoids back in Corneria City – not to mention the very survival of Star Wolf, Wolf's team of mercenaries, was uncertain.
In the face of these circumstances, the exhausted members of the Star Fox team found themselves in a field of cobalt meteors – the only remains of the Aparoid homeworld. They couldn't get home to Corneria from there; the Arwings, their space fighters, weren't powerful enough to make a journey of that length. They had always depended on the Great Fox, and all that was left of it was the escape pod which Peppy Hare and ROB had used to escape before the ship's powerful plasma engine had exploded. The only other option was to go back to Corneria through a gate transmission, but since they depended upon the Great Fox to initiate a gateway transfer, there was no way to get through a gateway without contacting the Cornerian Orbital Gate Station – difficult to do since their com lines depended on the Great Fox to relay transmissions over anything more than ship-to-ship communications, and since the Gate Station's receiver array had been severely damaged in the attack. Stranded and unable to get home, the weary pilots made their way to the only sanctuary of civilization in the sector – the Battle Base Meteor.
CHAPTER 1
Greyson Defense Force Base – Area Six, the "Battle Base Meteor" – 2330 hours, local time.
The Battle Base Meteor appeared to be little more than a dead, black rock floating through the endless etherium. Upon closer inspection, however, this black rock was not as lifeless as it appeared at first glance. The lights of Greyson Defense Force Base and the surrounding settlement shimmered like pinpricks, making the asteroid difficult to distinguish against the background of stars. Despite its proximity to the Aparoid homeworld, this remote little outpost had somehow been able to come through the crisis without any significant damage. It was a Defense Force Base in name only; after Andross was defeated on Venom ten years earlier, the base had been reduced to little more than a listening station.
Fox McCloud hoped that the base's skeleton crew would be sufficient to land their dog-tired team. Their Arwings had all taken quite a beating during the final battle on the Aparoid homeworld, and it had been two days since any of them had gotten any sleep. This was one of those rare moments when Fox hoped his reputation would precede him. Even though he and his team weren't technically part of the Cornerian Army, they had always been respected and accommodated by the military. Fox didn't particularly relish the thought of staying at Greyson DFB for very long; it was known as a sort of haven for the dregs of the Lylat System. The Defense Force maintained solid control of the base, but the neighboring settlement was mostly lawless. Unfortunately, the team was out of other options; their Arwings were practically in tatters, their flagship was gone, and they were all about to collapse from fatigue. In spite of their exhaustion, the members of the team looked proud as they flew in near-perfect formation with a battered escape pod taking the rear position.
Fox radioed Peppy Hare in the escape pod, saying, "Peppy, do you think we're close enough to make contact without the relay?"
There was nothing but static for a few seconds, then Peppy's familiar, guttural voice came over the com line. "I think so, Fox. You'd better try, though," he was interrupted briefly by static, "I think we're losing transmission power over here."
"I'll try, Peppy," Fox smiled. He felt as fortunate as he had ever felt for still being able to hear that grandfatherly voice. Peppy had been Fox's mentor ever since the death of James McCloud. When Fox had come of age, it had been Peppy who taught him how to fly. It had been Peppy who taught him combat maneuvers. Peppy had shared space academy knowledge with him, but more than that, he had taught Fox about life – he had practically raised him ever since his father had been killed. Back in the last battle, Peppy had been extremely lucky to escape with his life, and that was after a close call back in Corneria City. Try as he might, though, Fox couldn't fault Peppy for his seemingly-reckless behavior back on Corneria – it had saved General Pepper's life, after all. Peppy had basically adopted Fox, and now he had extended his paternal protectiveness towards Krystal… Krystal! Fox looked over in the direction of her Arwing. It still looked fine, but he felt panicky. He just had to hear her voice – he had to make sure. He opened the com again, "Krystal? Are you still with us? Krystal?"
The holographic image of Krystal's face appeared on the com in front of him. He sighed with relief when he heard her delicate voice over his headset. "I'm just fine, Fox," she said; she paused for a moment when she heard his heavy breathing, "Fox, are you all right?"
Fox could have wept for joy just hearing her voice. He exhaled loudly and said with a smile, "I'm just fine. Never better." It was the truth; even though their equipment was in shambles and their countenances disheveled, their resolve had not been broken. As Fox looked through his canopy and saw his team flying together – all five of them, including the rogue Falco Lombardi – he felt invincible. He opened his channel again, this time hailing the base itself, "Greyson Traffic, this is Star Fox Leader. Please come in. Over."
A static-laced voice came in response as the traffic controller replied to Fox's message. "Star Fox Leader, this is Greyson Space Traffic Control," he said, "We read you loud and clear, Commander McCloud. Over."
"Greyson, We're about seven minutes out," Fox said, "Five spacecraft requesting clearance to land. Repeat, five spacecraft to land. Over."
"Clearance granted, Star Fox Leader. We'll turn the lights on for you and open the oxygen envelope," the controller replied with a smile Fox could hear, "Enter right base, cleared for visual approach. The runway is clear. Repeat, the runway is clear. Welcome to Area Six, Commander. Over."
"Thank you, Greyson," Fox acknowledged the pattern entry instructions, "Fly right base, cleared for VFR approach. Star Fox Leader out." Fox's confidence surged as he cut off his com link. It had taken the death of James McCloud and the defeat of Andross to finally gain respect for the Star Fox team, but they had given every ounce of their strength to elevate themselves as being more than just common mercenary thugs. Fox staunchly resisted any attempts to consolidate the Star Fox team into the Cornerian Army, but he had to admit, he enjoyed being addressed as "Commander". It was an honor his father had been denied – it was an honor rarely accorded to Peppy, even after all he had fought to earn that respect.
It was tempting for Fox to fire his booster and cut down the approach time – if he had been willing to leave his team behind (and concoct the inevitable explanation he would have to give Krystal afterwards), he'd have done it without even a second thought. He didn't like the thought of staying on the base, but he liked the idea of staying up and getting a transmission through to Corneria (which could have taken hours) even less. Fox wanted a good meal, a chance to clean up, a few moments alone with Krystal, and a good night's sleep – not necessarily in that order. He knew the red tape fallout from this Aparoid mess would be plaguing him for the next several days (possibly weeks), and he wanted to close his eyes and forget his troubles, at least for a few hours.
Within a few minutes, the team had finally sighted the runway lights of the battle base. As always, Fox waited for all of the others before landing. As team leader, he felt that he was responsible for the safety of his teammates, so he made sure they had landed safely before he throttled back and came to a halt on the end of the runway. They just sat there in their ships for a few moments – they needed a little time to adjust to the asteroid's simulated gravity field, and they had to wait for the all-clear while the controllers closed the oxygen envelope. As soon as the signal came, Fox and the other pilots opened their canopies and climbed out onto the tarmac. The door in the back of Peppy's escape pod opened with a hiss of hydraulics, and Peppy walked down the steps which extended from the pod.
He had bandages on one side of his face; he had suffered very slight aparoidedation when he crashed into the homeworld, but ROB (the team's robot) had tended to his wounds and brought him through with nothing but a few scratches. Krystal rushed up to Peppy and wrapped her arms around him; she was so glad to see him breathing that she nearly suffocated him.
Fox chuckled as he saw, then said, "Hey. You never hugged me like that."
Krystal was overcome with a wave of raw emotion; so many things were racing through her mind, she was a bundle of raw nerves. She rushed to Fox's waiting arms and cried loudly into his shoulder. Fox held her tightly, not sure whether to try and console her or just let her release her pent-up feelings. Falco looked over at Fox and gave him a typical wiseguy smirk. Fox looked at Falco, then back at Krystal, then back at Falco. Not knowing how to respond to Falco's tacit sarcasm, he just shrugged and held Krystal even more tightly. After a few minutes, she was back to being her usual happy self, smiling up at him.
Fox looked down at the wet spot on his flight suit where she had cried. "At least I shouldn't have to wash this now," he laughed. She laughed along with him.
Their laughter was interrupted by a husky female voice Fox knew all too well, "Well, well. Look who's here. If it isn't Fox McCloud and his gang of flyboys." Fox looked over in the direction of the voice and saw its source. A vixen wearing an oily jumpsuit came out of the building into the area where they had landed. "And flygirl? Who's this, Fox?"
"This is my fian.. This is my girlfriend, Krystal," he answered hesitantly, "Krystal, this is Fara Phoenix."
"That's Fara Grey, my dear Krystal," Fara said, taking Fox by surprise.
"Whoa, wait," he held up his hands in surprise, "Fara Grey?"
"What did you expect?" Fara said indignantly, "Bill loves me more than you ever did."
Fox looked sheepishly at Krystal, and he began to grow angry. He was annoyed by this sudden bombshell Fara had the nerve to drop on him, and especially on Krystal – she hadn't done anything to deserve this public confrontation. Well, Fox thought, If she wants to play the pushy "vixen scorned" card, I can play her little game just as well. Fox's voice turned to ice as he said, "You mean to tell me that Commander Bill Grey fell for you?"
She pushed right back, "That's Captain Bill Grey, and yes, he did 'fall for me'. He said he loved me, and all of him was with me, not running off on some vendetta. Now, enough about that. I'm the mechanic here, so what say I fix up these scrap-piles, huh? I think I know my way around them."
"We've made a lot of modifications since then," Fox said cooly, "You'd better have Slippy give you a hand," Fox turned to face the rest of his team and said, "Let's go – I want to find the duty officer and check in. Maybe we can find some way to get off this rock and back to Corneria. Slippy, you stay here and help repair the battle damage." Slippy nodded; he wanted to get inside and take some down time as badly as anyone, but he knew better than to argue with Fox at a time like this. Krystal, grateful for the opportunity Fox provided for escape, took him by the hand as he walked off in a huff. Krystal shot an arctic glance back in the direction of Fox's former flame.
Fara frowned for a minute, but then she smiled and said, "All right, Fox. You win this round. But I'm not down for the count just yet."
Fox pretended not to hear her; he just kept on walking. He didn't have the energy to deal with Fara - he was fortunate that he'd had enough sense to tell Krystal about her in the early days of their relationship. He could only imagine how she'd have taken it if Fara had just blurted things out without Krystal even knowing who she was. One look from Krystal told Fox that she needed no explanation. She wouldn't have shown it if Fara was still watching, but she actually found the whole thing somewhat amusing. Fox tried to push Fara out of his mind. That was something he was just too busy to mull over – she was apparently still bitter with him, even though she left him, and then there was Bill… How could Bill have done something like that? Bill was not quite the renegade that Fox was, but he was still such a free spirit. Why Bill would get married at all without telling Fox was beyond Fox's ability to reason, but especially to get married to one of his past relationships. Fox thought he was completely over Fara, but he still felt betrayed. He and Bill had been close friends on and off ever since their days in the Academy. It wasn't like Bill to leave Fox out of the loop.
Because of the lateness of the hour, Fox wasn't able to get in touch with the base commander, but the adjutant commander was still up and about. Fox knocked on the door to the office and was told to enter. The adjutant was actually younger than Fox – Fox remembered seeing him before somewhere, but he couldn't quite put a finger on where. He was wearing a major's insignia, which Fox found odd for one who seemed just barely old enough to be in the military at all, let alone a mid-ranking line officer. The major practically leapt from his chair upon seeing Fox. He greeted Fox heartily with his lightly-accented, tenor voice, saying, "Commander McCloud, as I live and breathe! The CIC told me you had just landed. We just got word that the Aparoids are disintegrating all over the Lylat System – we have you and your team to thank. I knew that if anyone could do it, it would be you."
"I'm sorry," Fox stammered, "Have we met?"
"Not formally," the major replied as he shook Fox's hand and introduced himself, "Major Aldrin Stevens, sir. I had the pleasure of seeing you in action during the Uprising. I was assigned to the Husky Unit on Katina."
"Ah, a pilot. Well congratulations on your… promotion," Fox said hesitantly as he glanced around the room of the remote, scrappy outpost, hoping not to offend Major Stevens.
Stevens seemed to sense what Fox was thinking and bailed him out with a laugh, "No, Commander. I didn't commit some hideous sin to get sent here. After Bill got promoted and got a command, I decided to request a transfer. This place may be a wasteland, but something about the peace and quiet appeals to me. So, what can I do for you?"
"Well, we need some way to get back to Corneria," Fox answered, "Our flagship has been destroyed, so we couldn't gate out or even relay a message. Is there any way you can contact Corneria and have them establish a gate on their end?"
"Under normal circumstances, Commander –"
"Fox," Fox insisted. Major Stevens nodded.
"Under normal circumstances, I'd be happy to, Fox," the major continued, "But that isn't possible. We got an all-points message from the Orbital Gate Station. Their receiver array was knocked out during the attack. They can send messages, but no one can contact them."
"Well, how do we get out of here, then?" Falco spoke up.
"That's where you may have some luck, Commander Lombardi," Stevens said, "Captain Grey is due here first thing in the morning – after this crisis, High Command feels like we should have more men here, just in case this sector starts to heat up a bit. Captain Grey's ship has been assigned to the mission of escorting the troop transports here. He can pick you and your crew up when he swings through and take you home."
"Well…" Fox was unsure about the idea; he wasn't sure he could face Bill Grey after what he had just learned from Fara.
"Fair enough," Krystal cut in, "We'll go with him."
Stevens looked at Fox, waiting for at least tacit approval. Fox just nodded silently. The major went on, "Then it's all settled. I'll give Captain Grey the message when he comes in. In the meantime, I had the duty officer arrange for lodging. You can get a good night's sleep here and be a little more fresh in the morning."
"You should be a general," Peppy sighed, "You like to be on top of things."
"General, nothing," said Falco, "The man ought to be canonized, especially if you feel as bad as you look, Gramps."
Peppy scowled, but he ignored Falco's patronizing remarks. He asked the major, "How do we find our rooms."
"I think they gave you 306 through 311," said Stevens, "But I can't swear to that. Just go up to the CIC and asked the duty officer. He'll tell you where to go."
"Right," Fox said, "Good night, Major."
The major nodded and wished Fox the same. Fox and the rest of the team left the office and made their way to the command information center. Fox didn't want to be stuck on a ship with Bill, and possibly Fara, but he was too tired to think about it. Right now, he was ready to be home, ready to collapse from exhaustion, and ready to put this whole Aparoid mess in the past.