Chapter 2
"How have you been holding up Krystal?"
The blue vixen turned away from the image of Peppy and looked out the side of her Arwing. She was in orbit above the white, desolate, and snowy planet Fichina.
"Alright, thanks for asking Peppy."
Krystal lied through her teeth, she wasn't alright, and it was hard for her to hide her emotions. She didn't have a home, any family, or anyone that cared about her. For the last few months she has been sleeping in the cockpit of her cramped Arwing. There was only one thing keeping her going. She turned again to look at the picture she kept of her and Fox.
"Are you sure? You don't seem alright to me. You know you can talk to me about anything right?"
She turned her focus back on the image of Peppy. "Yes I know that, thank you for your concern Peppy but I'm fine. So do you have a new assignment for me?"
"No, I dont, I was actually contacting you to give you a heads up. My sources in the Surgasso Region have informed me that Wolf has been given a contract to eliminate all members of the former Star Fox team."
"What!? By who? Why?"
"I don't have allot of information regarding who it is that hired Wolf or what they are planning, but I am told that they go by the alias "R". I have already made contact with Falco, he is going to meet up with you in a few hours, than tomorrow the both of you will meet up with Slippy and Fox. Ill have more information for you once you are all together on the Great Fox."
Krystal's eyes lit up. All her fear and worry instantly vanished when she heard she would be seeing Fox again, and very soon.
"Have you spoken to Fox yet Peppy?"
"No, I haven't, I am going to contact Slippy next, than Fox. But it is getting late, I may just contact Fox early tomorrow morning, I would prefer to let him rest with his mind at ease so he can be at his best tomorrow. Besides, it could take Wolf days to even get an idea of where Fox could be."
"Alright Peppy, what are you going to do?"
"Dont worry about me, I'm safe. Listen, you need to be vigilant, if anything happens or you see anything suspicious, contact me immediately. I am going to contact Slippy now. Be safe Krystal. Ill speak with you early tomorrow morning."
Krystal nodded. "Alright Peppy, you stay safe as well."
"Peppy out."
When Peppy's face disappeared from the screen, she looked back to the picture of her and Fox and smiled.
I cant believe it, I'm going to see Fox again. I am going to be with my family again.
A red warning light suddenly lit up on the control panel.
What? That means my radar has detected a incoming ship. Maybe Peppy was wrong about Falco's timing.
Krystal activated her ships transmitter.
"Falco, this is Krystal, is that you?"
Her heart skipped a beat when there was no reply, she could sense telepathically that whoever it was, they were getting closer fast. Before she could do anything, her shields took 4 hits from laser fire. Krystal screamed as she quickly started the engines and jerked the accelerator forward as far as it would go. Her shields were at 10 percent. Another hit would surely kill her.
Krystal knew that a Wolfen couldn't keep up with a Arwing but she was pushing her ship to the limit of how fast it would go and could still sense her pursuer getting closer. She had to think quickly. Suddenly, Krystal moved all the power from the engines to the backward thrusters, bringing the ship to almost a complete stop in only a few seconds, hoping that the other ship would speed by her so she could get she a clear shot on them. Krystal charged her lasers to increase the damage and just as she planned, her pursuer flew by her. She got a clear lock on and fired. It took a moment for the charged laser round to reach the enemy ship, but when it hit its mark it sent the ship hurtling down in a fiery blaze toward the surface of Fichina.
Krystal breathed a sigh of relief as she watched. But she knew she had to follow it down to make sure they were dead. She couldn't let them have another chance to kill her or her friends. So she began to descend down to the planets surface, following the smoke and debris trail.
Upon arriving at the crash site. Krystal could barely see the remains of the ship through all the smoke. The gusts of wind kicking up snow helped to decrease visibility as well. She landed her Arwing next to the wrecked ship and prepared to go out into the freezing cold. Her last mission had been to capture a fugitive hiding out on Fichina so she was somewhat prepared for the cold weather. She opened a compartment on the floor and pulled out a heavy coat, gloves, and snow pants that all had white camouflage. Once she had everything on she opened the canopy and climbed off the Arwing. Sensing the other pilot was still alive, she began cautiously walking towards the burning ship, taking out her blaster. For a brief moment the smoke cleared and she was able to see that the canopy was open. Krystal froze in fear when she suddenly started hearing fast paced, snow crunching footsteps approaching from in front of her but couldn't see through the smoke. She panicked and started firing blindly into the black air. Out of nowhere, she was tackled by Wolf, the force of the hit causing Krystal to drop her blaster. He landed on top of her and put his hands around her throat choking her.
"Do you know how much that ship cost me you bitch!"
Krystal did everything she could, kicking and punching his arms but nothing was going to work.
This is really it. I'm going to die. I just wanted to see Fox again. I'm sorry Fox, I should have told you how I felt about you.
Krystal reached her arms out in both directions, trying to find her blaster. Luckily she did find a piece of of debris from the wreck. She got a grip on it than swung it as hard as she could, hitting Wolf in the side of the head. He yelped as he fell off of Krystal and onto his side. Krystal quickly got up and ran as fast as she could for cover behind one of the many large boulders that were in the area. She tried to calm down and catch her breath while thinking of what her next move would be.
"Where the hell did you go!?"
Krystal peeked her head out to see Wolf holding one hand on his head, spinning around in circles trying to locate her. She wouldn't be surprised if he was seeing double after how hard she had hit him.
"Dammit! I dont have time for this."
Krystal watched as Wolf angrily started walking away towards where her Arwing was parked. He was going to leave her there to die. Right before Wolf got inside he turned around.
"My next target is your boyfriend and I know exactly where he is, and I am going to make sure he suffers before I kill him. Than once he is dead I am going to kill that frog and the bird. After that I am going to come back to this miserable planet to make sure you're dead. And if your still alive when I get back, your going to wish the cold had killed you first."
If Wolf really did know where Fox was, it wouldn't take long at all to get to him. Krystal could do nothing but watch as Wolf took off into the white sky. Her back slid down the frozen boulder until she was sitting on the ground. She started crying uncontrollably. She had never come so close to death before, and she had no way to warn Fox about Wolf. After a few minutes she realized that Falco could be in range of the wrecked ships transmitter, but it was a long shot that any of the systems in that ship would still work. If it did work, she could contact Falco, and then Falco could tell Peppy to warn Fox. Krystal quickly regained her composure, and started running towards the wreckage.