AN: If someone says "OMG KRYSTAL X JAMES!", I will immediately deploy my SF Mara and blow the fuck out of you with my Kasers. If you're wondering, this links to a freelance story I'm writing, currently called "Storm Burner" (which takes place before/during this story).


Krystal was shocked, to say the least. "OK, so you're from an alternate dimension where the Lylat system doesn't exist, humans have discovered space flight and a faster-than-light transport method, werewolves exist, an alien race called the 'Kranath' dwell, some crazy intergalactic menace called the 'Vorta' attempted to destroy all other life, and you came here to stop some sort of evil society called the 'New Galactic Order'?!"

"In short, yes."

"Good GOD, my head's gonna explode!" Krystal yelled, holding her head between her hands.

"Information overload?" James asked peeking in from the back room where he was trying to find something to calm her down.

"YES."

"Well, just give it a moment, I'll see if I can find something…" James said, looking for where he had stashed that bottle of Smirnoff. "Ah, here it is! One bottle of Smirnoff Vodka, coming right up!"

"Please, I don't drink," Krystal mentioned.

"Ok, then… Damn it, I forgot to get drinks."

"I'll be fine, OK?"

"You look like you're about to faint, and I know how people react to info overload. You are NOT fine," James replied, brining with him some ice water. "Look, just wait until you're feeling a little less head-go-boom-ish, then I'll continue explaining. OK?"

Krystal was slightly surprised about how James spoke. "Ok," she said, drinking down the glass in two gulps. Just then, a klaxon went off. "What the?!"

James dashed over to his desk and the wall monitor on. "James here. Why the bloody hell did you set off my alarm?!"

General Pepper appeared on screen. "James, we have a… situation. Everyone who does not have Omega-level clearance must leave the room. Understood?"

James looked at Krystal for a moment, then looked back at Pepper. "I've got a emergency request for Krystal to be upgraded to Omega-level."

"Damn it, James, you're a tough bargain. Request granted," General Pepper replied. "We have a serous situation taking place."

Krystal raised a questioning eyebrow. "What kind of situation?"

"At 0700 hours, an unknown ship warped in at the edge of the Lylat system and quickly sped toward Corneria. Classifying as a level 10 threat, we dispatched an AWACS ship to scan it from a distance. What we found was startling." General Pepper explained, an image of a heavily-modified Arwing appeared. It had four wings instead of the original two; a pair of gun pods where mounted on either side, along with a larger missile bay. "This Arwing, codenamed Faustus, appears to be a modification of Fox Mccloud's personal Arwing with NGO technology. The ship is fully capable of matching a MX-700 Shadow Hawk, AKA Shawk, in combat, a great advancement from the NGO Ravager II. This brought about a command decision: the Faustus MUST be stopped by any means necessary. We have fully authorized your strike for use of the Magnus 339 Fulcrum ACM."

"Fulcrum ACM?" Krystal asked.

"It's a specialized missile for cracking heavy shielding. And we might just need it, if that thing has the shields of the Shawk," James said.

"James, get your ass up there and intercept!"

"Rodger, sir!" James exclaimed, saluting. The monitor shut off, as James and Krystal dashed to the fighter bay. Inside were a pair of fighters with radically forward-swept wings, multiple thrusters, ion engines, what appeared to be a SCRAM-jet engine, and large bomb/missile racks. The main hull of the ship was arrow-shaped, with the cockpit located centrally. However, there where several fighter bays still open.

"What's with the missing craft?" Krystal asked as she buckled herself into one of the Shadow Hawk fighters.

"The rest of the unit is on patrol. Hopefully, they'll be in position to assist us, otherwise this might be one tough fight. Anyway, just engage your engines and follow my lead," James said, firing up his ship's engines. Krystal followed him out, dodging some light traffic on their exit course.

"You seem to be a little sad over this whole operation, James. What is going on?"

"I'm just guessing at this, but there are three possibilities. The first is that Fox stole the Faustus; the second is that someone else is piloting it, and the third… is that they've mentally conditioned Fox to attack Corneria," James said, letting out a sigh.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was, Krystal. However, if it is the third one, it can't be perfect. It takes months, even years, to get someone fully conditioned. My guess is it would be a very quick job. As I figure it, seeing you might break the conditioning. However, the shields on that craft are designed to block out all incoming communications, so I packed a few EMP devices," James explained.

"So we're on a rescue mission?"

"I hope so… Ok, we've cleared traffic level. Time for full throttle."

Krystal pushed the throttle control to max, surprising herself with how fast the ship accelerated. "Sheeh, this thing doesn't hold back!"

"The Shawk's max speed is about Mach 10, and that's without afterburners; however, usual combat speeds are much slower."

Krystal didn't comment, watching her rear view camera as Corneria pulled away…


AN: Next chapter's gonna be a blast… Beware, Freespace (and Freespace 2… and Inferno R1…) references will abound. (And, yes, I made a reference to both Christopher Marlow and Battletech. First to tell me how I did that gets a cookie!)