Well, welcome all readers! as a note to any of you reading this for the first time, i'm currently in the process of updating and editing this story. currently, i only have the first five chapters done, so you will find a severe drop in quality an clarity between chaps five and six. from here on, i will be updating the chapters in five chapter increments as a finish editing them. now, as far as the edits are going, i'm not actually changing any of the story, just some of the dialogue is being tweaked alongside some of the action sequences being re-written. actual plot elements are not changing.
As every, please, leave me reviews as you read this, i would love to hear your thoughts and opinions as this is, after all, a story i mainly wrote for practice, though it has also been fun too!
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Fox leaned back in his chair, bored at watching sub-standard pilots go up against Krystal and Falco. They had been at this for almost two weeks, filtering through applicants trying to find another pilot to even out their flights. So far, they had been met with mediocre at best. To say Fox was bored at this point, was a severe understatement.
"And our last candidate for the day is a human by the name of William Hawkins." Fox's eyes were drooping when Peppy's grizzled voice jerked him awake. Peppy was an aging hare, mostly grey in color, but patches of his fur had started to turn white, particularly at the tips of his long ears and around his mouth.
Fox was stunned for a second, more curious than anything else. "I thought humans stayed away from the Lylat system. Still wary of the Cornerian Federation after that first contact incident." Fox tried to stifle a yawn after he spoke, failing miserably.
"Well, apparently this one didn't. He flies a second generation Arwing. Has some very good recommendations but isn't real experienced, not as a pilot at least. He does have extensive ground combat training as well as experience." Fox nodded as he sat up and looked at the Battle Monitor in front of them. He had never seen a human fighter pilot at work and he was genuinely curious about how he would fare up against his closest friends. Krystal, who was more than his friend, was a telepath, allowing her to read the mind of her opponent. Even though she wasn't the greatest pilot, she could give a tactical edge no one else could. Falco on the other hand, was an amazing pilot.
"Hmm, well, give him the all clear." Fox's attention was totally devoted to the screen before him, where the two green triangles marked as Krystal and Falco advanced on the one red blip. They were technically in a specialized simulator, set up in a hangar on the Orbital Gate space station. The simulator connected into the fighters themselves, using holograms and gravity diffusion technology to mimic actual flight.
"Falco, I can't get a read on him. I can sense his presence, but I can't tell what he's thinking. I don't get it, it's like his mind is blocked off!" Fox stared intently at the screen as Krystal spoke, his curiosity rising.
"Don't worry about it Krystal, it's two on one. We can beat this guy in our sleep!" the blips drew closer together until they were just out of weapons range. The red blip suddenly flipped and shot away from Falco and Krystal, forcing the two of them chase him. Just as white lines appeared, marking weapons fire, the human started to juke and dodge, neatly avoiding every round. He shot into a nearby junkyard and they followed, trying to draw up a new bead on him. His fighter suddenly deployed flares just before disappearing off the sensors.
"Where did he go? Falco, do you see him?" Krystal's soft voice slipped out of the speakers as their ships started circling away from his last location. Meanwhile, though his blip was greyed out, Fox's monitor from the Great Fox continued to follow the enemy craft as it used the debris to shelter it, lying in wait some distance from where he had disappeared from. Falco's blip was slowly approaching the area the human was sitting in, Fox yearning to tell Falco where the blip was, but it simply wouldn't have been fair.
"No, I don't, how the hell did he…" Falco's usually smooth voice changed pitch as the blip turned red again, shooting out of it's hiding place and snaking right onto Falco's tail.. "Damn! He's on me!" a split second later, an X replaced Falco's blip. "Krystal, I'm out."
"What!?" there was complete shock in her voice as the human closed on her ship. She set up for a head to head, only for the junk to prevent any shots to be fired, her craft shooting past his. He was already facing the other way, set up to shoot after her. They took off on a wild chase through the junk, Krystal barely managing to not slam into the chunks of metal. "Damn it, I can't shake him!" strangely, he wasn't firing, simply following her. White lances suddenly appeared, aimed not at her fighter, but a piece of junk, blasting it apart. Krystal juked and weaved through the fresh debris, narrowly avoiding most of the it, only to be caught by a missile fired around the debris. An X appeared over her blip and the simulation ended.
"Pilot, William Hawkins is it?" Fox's voice echoed slightly in the empty bridge.
"Sir, it's just Hawkins, sir." A voice Fox didn't recognize came over the radio in response to Fox. Whoever the man was, he spoke clearly and firmly, though there were still traces of youth to his voice.
"First, don't call me sir, second, welcome to the Star Fox team. Get yourself into the hangar so we can get you sorted out." Fox clicked the radio off before he shifted his attention to Peppy. "Well, I think he'll do. And I think he and Mira will work well together. Not only do they fly the same fighters, but she could probably use a pilot as skilled as he seems to be flying beside her."
"Agreed. Well, I think that's it for me today. Slippy is finishing off the drive core's tuning as we speak. Rob, you have the bridge." Rob's mechanical voice acknowledged Peppy's order and Fox followed Peppy off the bridge, waving goodbye at the elevator. After a short ride, the door opened and he stepped out, turning down the hallway and walking out into the hangar bay. Krystal's third generation Arwing was landing on its rack as Falco descended the ladder the flight crew had pushed up to his own already landed Arwing.
Falco was a deep blue avian, the only spots of color on his tall gangly body being the red inside his eye sockets and the brilliant orange of his beak. Fox began to make his way over to Krystal's fighter as he glanced around the hangar, seeing one of their other new pilots Mira underneath her second gen Arwing, tweaking the tuning on one of the thrusters. As new as she was, both to flying and the Star Fox team, she had shown considerable natural talent, both in the sky and in maintaining the fighters.
"Hey Fox, the rookie is a little ways behind me. He had to grab his duffle bag." Fox smiled at the vibrant blue vixen's voice as she climbed down off her own fighter, returning his smile. Her thin muzzle and delicate features never missed the opportunity to catch Fox's eye, but nothing like the gem like turquoise eyes she had. Krystal's Heads Up Display rig was swinging in her hand as she practically leapt off the ladder to embrace Fox, which Fox full heartedly returned, despite the fact that it had only been a few hours since they last saw each other.
"Hey. What happened out there with your telepathy? You've never had a problem before." He pushed back from her enough to see her eyes as he spoke cocking an eyebrow at her, his ears naturally mimicking the position of his eyebrows.
Krystal shrugged her shoulders before taking a breath to speak. "I don't know. Honestly. It's a first for me too. I'll go get Mira." She winked at him as she departed. He simply grinned and shook his head, knowing she had literally read his mind. Falco wandered over as a second Generation Arwing gracefully drifted into the hangar. Second generation Arwings had a long, boxy fuselage, with two thick, almost immobile wings connected at the back that were in a permanently swept back position. The bottom two G-diffusers were level with the bottom of the fighter, the top two angling up and away from the fighter. This allowed actual landing gear to be easily installed on the fighter, located in the nose, and on each of the flat G-diffusers.
As Fox watched the craft, it's landing gear lowered and the fighter gently set down on the floor. The fighter stood out in the hangar not just due to it's different design, but also given that its G-Diffusers' were painted the same grey as the body, unlike the sky blue G-Diffusers around it. The human pilot deftly climbed out of the fighter, not even using the built in step system as the cargo ramp lowered. He quickly pulled a duffle bag out of the cargo bay and sealed the fighter before finally turning away from the craft. His brown hair seemed to stand in every direction after he tugged his full face helmet off, revealing his flat, semi-primate like features.
"Hawkins, over here!" the human glanced up at Fox before trotting over. There was something strange to Fox about seeing a face without fur on it, despite having known about humans for nigh on eight years at this point. Even the primates of Venom had fur surrounding their face and across their bodies, but as far as Fox had been informed, Humans had almost no hair on their bodies what so ever. To add to that, he moved with the deliberate speed and purpose of a soldier, with no wasted motion. His grey coverall like flight suit, black vest, and sidearm added to that effect considerably.
"Am I correct to assume that you are McCloud? And you must be Lombardi." He held his hand out and politely shook both of their hands as he spoke. Now that it wasn't garbled by radio static, he had a fairly averagely toned voice, extremely clear and strong, yet surprisingly soft spoken and still with those slightly younger tones.
"You would be correct. That was some pretty impressive flying out there. Never seen anyone catch Falco with his pants down like that. Except me of course." Fox shot Falco a small smirk as he intentionally poked at Falco's likely sore ego. Falco merely grunted as he glared at Fox, the faintest trace of a smile at the edge of his beak.
"Yeah, it was. I liked that trick with the flares. Never seen it before." Falco seemed genuinely impressed, something Fox knew to be extraordinarily rare.
"Thank you. Honestly, just hoping I'll get some decent work with this outfit. Been a little scarce for pilots these days." Fox smirked at the human's words as Krystal and Mira walked over. Krystal brushed some of her vibrant blue hair out of her eyes as she inspected him, clearly having not expected his appearance in some way.
"I've never met someone I couldn't read while fighting. Shook me off quite a bit actually." He shook her hand as she spoke, giving her a gentle smile.
"You must be Krystal. And, if you would be so kind, you are?"
Mira seemed to shrivel slightly as the conversation shifted to her. She was shy around strangers and was a quiet girl without that. She had a short, almost vulpine like muzzle, too wide to really match with other vulpines. To add to her somewhat awkward appearance, her feline like short fur was only a few shades darker than the human's skin, with dark brown hair that fell down well past her shoulders. Her deep sapphire blue eyes seemed to draw most people's attention though, despite her mixed-race appearance. Her bushy tail twitched madly along with her ears as she opened her mouth several times, seemingly unable to even utter a word right now.
Fox let out a sigh before he decided to speak for her, if only to get introductions out of the way. "This is Mira. She will be your new wingman, and you will share a cabin together. The other pilots are myself, paired with Krystal, Falco paired with that dark furred woman over there, Katt. The other two aren't in the hangar, Bill Grey, and Lucy Hare." The human nodded and shook Mira's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you. I hope we get along Miss."
Her pointed ears flattened with her fluttering tail as he spoke to her, clearly embarrassed that someone had to speak for her. "Thank you, and likewise." Her smile was as weak as her voice, which was barely audible in the noisy hangar. Silence near instantly fell across the group, Fox unable to stop from nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Well, Mira, Krystal, would you mind showing Hawkins to his new room?" Krystal grinned as he spoke.
"Yeah, Hawkins, If you'll just follow me." Fox watched the three of them leave, Krystal stopping at the door.
Just so you know, Hawkins is actually impressed with us. Apparently, he expected his reception was going to downright hostile. Krystal's voice seemed to come from inside his own head as he thought back.
Krystal, you know how much I hate it when you do this, right? Her smile only broadened as she continued to smile at him, waving goodbye.
Yes. Love you! He rolled his eyes as she left, repeating her last statement in his head. Falco was about to trot over to Katt when Fox stopped him.
"Well, honestly, what do you think of our new pilot?"
"He's good Fox, almost as good as you. Plus, I think he'll be good with Mira. They are a lot closer together in age than most of the team. Might get her to start loosening up. Now I'm going to go chat up my wingman, unless you decide to stop me again." Falco grunted again as he responded, quickly trotting off toward his slender feline wing mate after he finished, making Fox roll his eyes again before thinking to Krystal.
Meet back in our cabin? It took a few seconds for her to respond, and he almost thought she hadn't been paying attention.
I will Fox. Our two rookies are going to get along well!
I followed the blue vixen through the halls of the ship, feeling almost out of place amongst all of the different aliens aboard. Although, I could barely hold back laughter at some of the individuals that passed. One looked like a saggy, depressed basset hound in a lab coat. My new wing mate seemed like a half fox, half cat. She was actually a fairly cute girl, for an alien. She was silent as she followed just behind me. I fought the temptation to ask about her parentage as Krystal suddenly stopped and spun, facing the two of us.
"Well, here we are! I'm sure Mira can show you around the room. I hope it's comfortable enough."
I stepped through the door and pressed the light switch. There was a small desk on either side of the room, with a pair of chairs facing them. One of these desks was covered in all sorts of small nick-knacks, as well as a small picture frame. A single bed sat on either side of the room after the desks and the back wall had a large view screen and a second door leading into what I assumed was the bathroom. Hmm, bigger than my last apartment back on earth.
Well, it is a fairly nice room. A voice that seemed familiar to me entered my mind, foreign and yet unmistakable as Krystal's almost British accent. I glanced at Krystal seeing her smiling at me.
"You like it."
I nodded in response, simply confirming her statement. I dropped my duffel bag onto the empty desk and started pulling items out, starting with unstrapping my blaster rifle that was unceremoniously strapped to the side.
"Why do you have this if you're a pilot?" Her voice was very soft, almost like a kitten made to speak. It was only the second time I had heard her speak as Mira picked up the long slender rifle. Most Cornerian infantry weapons were half the length of the bullpup assault weapon.
"I was an infantrymen three years ago. Enlistment got cut short, medical discharge so I picked up stunt flying, and made a jump to dogfighting." She nodded as she gently set the weapon down.
"Well, I'll leave you two be. If you have any questions about the ship, just ask Mira, I'm sure she will show you around if you like. Goodbye!" Krystal began to step out after she spoke stopping at the door and winking at me as her voice filled my mind yet again. You hurt her, and I'll kill you with my mind. I raised an eyebrow at her as I thought back, slightly confused as to why she would even say that to me.
I won't. Now stay out of my head, Krystal. She had stepped out by the time I had finished the thought and I didn't even know if she had felt it. I turned back to unpacking my bags quietly until Mira spoke once more.
"So you were medically discharged?" I simply nodded as she spoke. As soft as her voice was, I couldn't help but wonder what her voice might sound like without the universal translator whirring in my ears.
Universal translators were a surprisingly simple yet advanced bit of Cornerian nano-technology that humanity had very quickly adopted for almost all government and military personnel, the simple implants being readily available on the open market, and nearly painless to have implanted. They were connected directly into the nerve to the users brain, hijacking and editing the natural signals sent to the users brain with those that matched the users selected language. The implant itself was no bigger than a pea, sitting at the base of the skull, and connecting to the ears with cables smaller than a strand of hair. The internal memory on them could hold up to four languages, depending on the complexity, along side the user's base language, and could seamlessly translate those languages to the user, even incorporating the speakers tones and inflictions near perfectly. A simple app on the users communication device could swap the languages in use literally on the fly. But hearing someone's translated voice was still ever so slightly off from their real, despite the advanced nature of the technology.
"Yes. But it was a load of crap. Shouldn't have been. That was what, a year ago?" I shrugged as I pulled out my few civilian clothes and my old camouflaged uniforms. At the bottom of the sack was my old body armor and I set it beside my rifle. "Are there any combat simulators on this ship?" I sat in the chair as I spoke, spinning it to face her siting on her bed.
"Um, I don't actually know. I've only been on here about two weeks. I'm not a very good pilot." Her entire body seemed to sag as she spoke.
"If you weren't good, then why are you here?" She just stared at the floor, not even looking up at me as I spoke. both of her ears had flattened against her head, her tail tucked tightly between her legs.
"I don't know. My parents were pilots with the military. They were both killed over the Aparoid home world three years ago. I think Fox just took pity on me and let me join." She sounded totally ashamed of herself, her eyes never leaving the floor. We both stayed silent as the ship suddenly lurched, likely undocking from the orbital gate. "Why did you want to know if we have simulators?" I glanced up at her as she broke the silence, her gaze finally returning to me. Even so, her ears and tail remained as they were.
"Want to see how you fly. Help me work with you."
She simply nodded and silence filled the air again until the light in the room suddenly glowed yellow, an alarm ringing out, accompanied by a mechanical voice. "All pilots, report to the bridge immediately. Repeat, all pilots, to the bridge immediately!" we glanced at each other and I smirked at her.
"Well, looks like I'll know shortly."