Star Wolf: Turf War

The Lylat system was safe… at last.

After the Lylat Wars and the Aparoid Crisis, finally the punished planets could breathe free of the threat of impending destruction. Lives were returning to normal, and everything seemed to trudge along in it`s way to peace.

Star Fox was at the height of their success. After saving the system not once, but twice, they became famous figures. Their leader, the young Fox McCloud, became somewhat of a hero, and by all rights he deserved it. His legend grew, and he surpassed even his father.

Everything was going right…

… but for one squadron of fighters…

…for one legendary band of outlaws…

…and more specifically, for one man…

… that meant only one thing:

"It`s fucking boring as hell…"

Chapter 1: Back in the Saddle

The meteors drifted lazily around the massive Sargasso space station. It all made for a very, very calming picture.

At least that was what Wolf thought, swirling his glass in his hand before taking a swig. The strong, bitter pang of the beverage reached his brain, and he leaned back in his chair, savoring the taste. He opened his eye again, and looked into the stars again.

When was the last time he had flown his Wolfen? One month?

Too long. That was the right answer.

He allowed himself a moment of reflection before taking another sip. His trigger finger had been growing impatient these days. He needed to be on the battlefield once again. He needed to dogfight someone, to feel the thrill of the kill once again.

He, Leon and Panther had agreed to lay low for a while, after the whole Aparoid situation. Let the wounds heal, he supposed. It was true, after their narrow escape from the Aparoid Core, he had wished to stay as far away from his ship as possible.

Well, now he regretted his decision. He needed to fly again.

He knew that Leon and Panther felt the same way. Leon, at least, had told him that the wait was boring him and getting into his skull, that if he was stuck another week like this, he would start hearing voices. Panther, on the other hand, pretended to be all right with the situation. Wolf couldn`t blame him: while he and Leon had been friends since before the Lykat Wars, nine years ago, Panther had only joined them recently, and had already put his life in his comrades hands. That was, in the least, remarkable and a testament of his loyalty, but stressing nonetheless.

"I need to move…" he told himself.

He watched as two asteroids collided. He breathed deep and sighed.

"If I stay here any longer, I think my brain will collapse just like that."

His eye glanced on the newspaper on his table. In capital letters, the headline was :

EYE OF KATINA TO BE TRANSFERRED TO UNSPECIFIED LOCATION.

"The Eye of Katina… that gem is worth quite a lot…"

He looked to the clock on the wall. A rarity, because it was an analogue antique clock. He watched the hand that counted the seconds tick…

…tack…

…tick…

…tack…

…tick…

CRASH

He had slammed his glass on his table so hard it had broken.

"That`s it." He said, determination in his eye. "One month`s enough."

He stormed out of his own office, knocking back two monkeys that had been eavesdropping on him from behind the door. The monkeys fell on the floor, and Wolf stared at them both. The looked up to the lupine`s purple eye in fear, afraid of what their leader might do to them…

"Scram!" Wolf barked. They scrambled to their feet and rushed to the left, running at the fastest speed they could manage.

He needed that. It made him feel in control again.

He went to the elevator. Pressing the button for the hangar, he waited until the doors closed and looked to the datapad on his wrist. Activating the station-wide comn, he said:

"Leon, Panther, meet me at the hangar in fifteen minutes."

His voice echoed through the station. He crossed his hands behind his back and he waited…

00000

Leon was busy tampering with his sniper rifle in the armory. He was almost done finally fitting the damned lenses back in the scope when he heard the menacing low tone of their leader. He looked up and around, surprised from what her heard.

He immediately dropped the lens he was holding at the floor and rushed out of the armory, not caring about the small crunch of glass he heard.

00000

Panther awoke from his sleep and stretched his arms, letting off a yawn. He turned and his arm bumped on something. He could faintly make out a womanly silhouette by his side. He was about to wake her, when the comn sounded. He was instatntly awake.

He jumped off of bed, quickly put his clothes on and ran out of the bedroom before his company even noticed he was out, leaving a red rose on the pillow.

00000

The elevator opened up, and Wolf stepped out into the hangar bay. Every eye in the room turned to look at him, silent. He wasn`t fazed. He merely started to walk to the centre of the large room and pressed a button on the wall.

The floor of the hangar split up, taking a lot of monkeys by surprised. It slowly began to open.

Leon rushed in through a door.

"Wolf! What happened? Is something wrong?" the chameleon asked. Wolf shook his hand.

"Is Panther on the way?" he asked, noting that Leon was already on his flight suit. He probably never took that thing off.

"Hell if I know." Leon said. He then looked at the opened floor, and smiled.

Panther quickly ran in through another door, finishing strapping a few pieces of his flightsuit.

"Did I hear it right, Wolf? Why do you want us here?"

"We`re heading out." He said, curtly.

Both of his wingmates looked between themselves. After a few moments of confusion, a smile began to form on their faces.

The floor finished opening completely. From it, three fighters began to rise. Wolf smirked. The monkeys certainly did know how to keep care of a ship.

The Wolfens were pristine in condition, as if they had never been used. The paintjob was shining, and the sleek design didn`t have a single dent in it. Much different from the state they had left them in after escaping the Aparoids.

Leon didn`t waste any time. He rushed to his, climbed up the ladder and quickly closed the canopy. Panther`s eyes lingered on the red rose painted on his Wolfen`s side, before climbing in as well.

Wolf took a moment to observe the ships. He remembered the first time he had used them, in Fichina. Before that, he had piloted an old Interceptor, and the fluidity with which the Wolfen maneuvered far surpassed that old junk he had called ship.

He slowly climbed up the ladder. Flippping himself into the cockpit, he pressed a button and the canopy closed around him. His technological eye patch synchronized with the Wolfen. The controls lit up in front of him, and the canopy darkened. The Wolfen`s were landed in the traditional position: Wolf on center, Leon on the left, and Panther on the right.

"Attention all personnel." A voice came from the speakers on the hangar. "Hangar bay doors are opening: secure launching strip."

The doors opened, depressurizing the room and exposing the landing bridge. Holographic arrows began to run through the length of the bridge, almost urging him to launch himself into the endless abyss of outer space.

He started the pre-flight check. Leon`s face appeared in the comn screen.

"Leon here, all systems operational."

Panther was next.

"Panther here, everything ready."

Wolf looked at the data screen. His blasters were operational, his shields were charged in 100%, smart bomb racks full, fuel at maximum capacity. He ignited the thrusters. The calm but powerfull engine shook the ship, and he felt more at home than he had felt that whole month.

"Wolf reporting, systems are a-go." He breathed, before saying something that was stuck on his throat for a long time: "Star Wolf, deploy!"

He pressed the control stick forward. The ship`s engine pumped more power into the thruster, and the Wolfen slowly moved forward. He could faintly make out Leon`s and Panther`s lurch forward, but he was too concentrated on the strip ahead of him to acknowledge that.

The Wolfen accelerated, sending him against the leather seat as he gained speed. Soon, he was rushing through the bridge, with his two wingmen close behind him.

The Wolfen suddenly cleared the landing strip…

… and Wolf O`Donnell was free again…