A/N: for some reason, this pair of chapters amuses me. This world's first contact with Aliens happens with such satire and yet... just wait until the team meets their first racist alien character :-O At any rate, I'm pretty deep into a new chapter for SIMILAR PATHS TAKEN, finally. It'll be up this week as well as chapter 4 for Reflections of Peppy, Reflections of a new Generation gets a new one and The Lament Of Carmelita will have a new chapter. I'm also a few pages into 'Nothing Passed Tomorrow' but it's slow going just yet. HUGGLES! Thanks for reading! It's time to pick up the pace and introduce the alien characters to our Lylat Heroes. Oh yeah, you know you can't wait. xD Maybe I can have the first six chapters posted by the end of 2006. This year is going by SO FAST at this point. YAY 2006! I wonder if I'll have a million dollars by the year this story is supposed to take place? (It takes place four years from now, heh).
c-3 The Gang's All Here
Sure enough, Fay and Miyu were delighted to join. Anne exchanged a grin with her mate, over the communicator. Miyu asked her lover to join the group but Anne expressed her desire to sit this mission out. After all, she would need to do interviews for a new science team to repair the damage done to the Jump Gate. If StarFox wanted to come back from wherever they were going, in pursuit of Andross, it was obvious that she had a good deal of work ahead of her.
It was decided that Anne would take Beltino's transporter back to Corneria while Fay and Miyu would be bringing Arwing-converted bombers. Anne had finally left the new GreatFox by the time Fay and Miyu arrived. The sleek Arwing Bombers had an orangish bubble on the bottom of the fuselage with a storage capacity to exceed well over a dozen nova bombs.
The slinky Lynx stepped onto the deck, and blew a kiss at Falco and Krystal. She then placed her paws on her hips. Fay was a bit bubblier, a bit like Katt Monroe. The white haired canine, half poodle and half spaniel, fluffed her left ear and folded her arms.
Fox approached them, offering a paw to each girl and making introductions. Unfortunately, he also had to warn them about the ship not yet being in 100 percent operating order. Once the team was assembled, Fox set up designated rooms, but the guest quarters were few and far between. In the end, it was decided that certain team members would become roommates until the situation was over.
Peppy and Beltino volunteered to share a room together, since they were the oldest. Falco and Slippy drew straws and wound up as roommates. Fay thought it best to stay with Miyu because she knew that Miyu would behave around her best friend and might not around anyone else. That left Fox and Krystal.
They had managed to squeeze 8 pilots into four rooms, due to the fact that both of the actual guest rooms were gutted. No bed, no furnishings, the bathrooms weren't even finished. Fox was a little weary of the idea, but Krystal assured him that it would be fine, so long as they sectioned off the bedroom. Fox opted to take the living room sofa bed and the issue was settled.
Each set of quarters had its own living room with a sofa bed. The issue was easy to resolve, it's just that Fox wasn't used to such living conditions. Not that he was going to complain, he was just afraid their relationship might begin to go a little too fast.
Once everything was settled, the entire group reconvened on the bridge, piling up in front of the holo-emitter. Fox opened the channel and Pepper stepped into view. He glanced around at the group and blinked twice.
"Six Pilots, Fox?" It was all Pepper could say, just flabbergasted. "I see Beltino arrived, how was your trip?"
"Good, Sir." Beltino's reply was quick and simple.
"Well, it appears you have enough pilots for this mission, but it's going to be a little weirder than anticipated, so your fee has been approved and ancillary bonuses will apply," Pepper said. Fox's eyes widened. "Andross is possibly setting up a base of operations in this new system. We need to learn what we can and ensure that Andross is not doing to this system what he did to Venom. Slave Labor is against our Federal System-wide Laws, now. Andross is our responsibility, outside of Lylat."
Miyu, the tomboy, spoke up, "What you're saying, General, is you don't want him to build up a huge army with the help of this other system, so you wanna shut down his operations before it gets off the ground."
"Miss Lynx, if you please? Thank you," Pepper said, cuing her to get quiet. "All right, we've ascertained that this system has a healthy Solar Star, nearly 10 planetary units, an asteroid belt and most notably, the third planet from the Star is populated."
Beltino was the next to speak out. "How did you acquire this information, General?" Mister Toad asked, curious.
"We took the figures included in Slippy's report an hour ago, and programmed our closest gate to those coordinates, then sent a probe. When it returned after a ten minute tour, we amassed as much general data as possible. We only know the third planet is populated because it has artificial satellites in orbit. Quite a few of them, actually."
"How advanced do they look, from your little glance?" Fox asked.
"Advanced enough to put Satellites into orbit, but it doesn't appear that they have much more. I wouldn't put them beyond having been able to break the sound barrier, possibly a little further."
"Now that's sad," Falco mused, getting a slight elbow from Miyu. He chuckled, but remained quiet, folding his arms.
Pepper shook his head, "We don't want to hand Andross an easy target. The planet holds between 5 and 7 billion beings, all of which are possible slave labor candidates in helping to build him a new Venom-like headquarters.
"There's really no time to lose. You have permission to begin your trek, McCloud. You're responsible for those two pilots. Fay and Miyu are both suspended from a stunt I'd rather not talk about. But they're still military. Girls," He said, now addressing the poodle and lynx. "Behavior. I don't want to hear about you pulling any stunts, the likes of which I read about in last month's report. If that happens again, I'll demote Fay and discharge Miyu. I'm not kidding." After a moment of pause, he glanced back at Fox. "God speed, McCloud."
Pepper's image faded into darkness and the entire crew turned to face Fay and Miyu. Krystal was trying to read the answer from their minds but both of them were locked up tighter than a vice.
Fox raised his brow, trying to change the subject to allow Miyu and Fay some measure of comfort. "I thought he said they only knew the planet was populated due to how many satellites were orbiting the planet? Then he suddenly had numbers on their population? That doesn't make sense."
"Well?" Falco was the first to ask.
"What?" Miyu became the first to answer.
"Did it have something to do with Anne?" Falco asked.
"God," Miyu snapped, shaking her head. "Corneria has become the biggest Liberalist Planet in existence; do you really think they care about gays in the goddamn military? They're proud of it," She replied, ears flat.
Falco held his feathery fingers up, defensively. Changing his outlook on the situation and wanting to make sure he was taking in good pilots, Fox was the next to try and get it out of them, "Look. I want to make sure I can trust my pilots. I respect that you've been grounded. That's fine! In fact, it scores bonus points with me. All I want to know is WHY, so I can make good leadership calls. If you would prefer to talk about it in private, that's fine, too."
"No, I'm kinda proud of what we did," Miyu said with a chuckle. "We accepted a contract to fly an Escort Mission for money. We disappeared in the middle of our patrol shift to run the escort and… wouldn't you know? The patrol never happened. I guess I'm a mercenary at heart; I did it for the money."
The poodle grinned inwardly. "Our Commanding officer was a real bastard about the whole thing," Fay replied, picking up where Lynx left off. "Then, we're told to do a Recon mission, so we land on this capital ship and wait. Minutes turned into an hour. The hour turned into several. Finally, Miyu and I decided, 'screw it; we were going to change the rules.' It became a sneaking mission but then we leveled the attackers. Corneria couldn't start an investigation, because the Venom Terrorists were all dead.
"The Commander was so pissed off that we disobeyed orders twice in a row, that he had us grounded for three weeks. That's why we were so quick to jump on the possibility of flying. We've been suspended without pay for the next three weeks," Fay explained. "…which just so happened to have started yesterday."
McCloud tilted his head. "Can I count on you guys to follow my lead? I promise we'll blow stuff up, I just need you to sit tight, if I ask you to sit tight," Fox said, folding his arms and facing the girls.
"We can manage, Fox. We're talking about Venom Terrorists; we were stowed away, sitting for hours on their ship," Miyu said. "If we were caught or captured because Corneria was taking its sweet time in letting us know what our next order was, then we'd have been screwed. Investigation or not, we're soldiers, not cops. We blow up enemy soldiers, not sit on steak outs in the heart of the enemy's cargo hold."
"Fair enough," Fox replied, motioning to the rest of the bridge. "Everyone, assume your positions, we're going to go after Andross. No messing around, here."
The "GreatFox – A" turned about, facing the gate directly. Slippy used what remained of the computer terminal found on the jump-gate station, and set up a link to the control tower computers on the station. After a few moments, Slippy managed to open the gate from the established link on the bridge of GreatFox and a pool of green fluttered to life inside the metallic circle.
"All right, let's go get'em. Take us in, Slip." Fox leaned back in his chair, Krystal sat besides him. As the ship passed through the gate, Krystal thought of something to put her mind at ease from the stretch jump into the next system. All the distant voices from Lylat disappeared, replaced by new distant voices, primitive in thought patterns.
As GreatFox appeared at its destination, the ship shuttered hard, buckling under some sort of collision. Fox blinked, standing up in front of his chair. "Did we hit something? Give me a status report; put the external view on the main screen," he said, turning to Slippy.
A rear shot from a camera mounted on one of the starboard wing tips displayed an artificial satellite that had collided with the side of GreatFox upon passing through the gate. The Satellite was destroyed, having shattered against the armor plated hull. Fox could only groan.
"Well, let's look at the bright site," he muttered, turning to Krystal to see if she could offer one. She was usually the optimist but for now she simply shrugged, thinking of what could possibly be good about destroying something, which would certainly alert someone on the planet.
Fox was still waiting to receive some sort of optimistic news from her. She shrugged again. "Well, I suppose if it had the capability to take photographs, it won't see us, now," She mused. Beltino approached the main screen, pointing to a section where one of the large Quadra-wings was attached to the hull.
"What's wrong, pops?" Slippy asked, moving from his control terminal, to see what his old man was pointing out.
"That's got to be looked at," Beltino sighed. "I hate to say this, but we've got to set down. And furthermore, most of the planets in this system are inhospitable. The only one we're going to be able to breathe on is the one in front of us. And the oxygen levels are fairly low on this planet… only about 21 percent."
"How's that going to affect us?" Fox asked.
Beltino rubbed the bottom of his jaw for a moment. "You might feel a little tired until you get used to it. I'd give it a few days to adapt. We're used to 25 percent," Mister Toad said.
"Any sign of Andross in the system?" Fox muttered, walking back to his captain's chair, sitting down in it. The stupid laptop on the retractable arm began to reach about him, from a faulty sensor in the seat. McCloud shoved it back into place, causing the gears in the retractable arm to grind.
"I've got his location," Slippy said, bringing up a partitioned screen on the main viewer. "He's at the edge of the system, probably staying off of this planet's scope of sight, for now. Let's find a place to sit down on this planet, and make repairs."
Fox sighed, looking almost disgruntled. "All right, make it so. Somewhere with an extremely low population density, please. I'll leave it up to you, Slippy. Take us down and pull up the camou-tarp."
The tiny box at the top of the science section in the Gazette claimed scientists have once again spotted the tiny chunk of rock beyond Pluto that is the fabled 10th planet. The paper held by Senator-Elect John Fitzgerald was tossed, carelessly onto a desk as he walked through the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The EEOB was a behemoth grand manor, which sat directly adjacent to the White House in Washington DC. 'The Washington Post would never dare publish such crap based on speculation,' He thought to himself.
He gave a nod to his secretary and passed through the hallway, into his office. The door was shut behind himself and he sunk into the confines of a plush office chair, picking up the tabloids that were on his desk.
"Planet of the Apes Real! Space Alien Gorilla meets with Ex-Communist World Leaders! Details inside!" The paper read across the headlines. Fitzgerald tossed the paper across his desk, letting it slip off the other end, flopping unceremoniously upon the floor. It was rubbish. He gave the topic some thought, then picked up a phone, punching line 4, not realizing it was already lit up.
"...the Hubble Telescope. NASA is going to be pissed. We don't even know what hit it, Sir."
John balked, moving to re-hang up the line, but the topic was far too interesting not to listen in. So he waited, listening in on the third line.
"But does this have anything to do with that stupid bit in the National Enquirer? The Ape Alien that supposedly made an appearance in Russia yesterday?" The second voice asked.
The first one replied, "Who knows. The thing is, the Hubble fell back into the atmosphere twenty-five minutes ago." Fitzgerald had the only phone in the office where his unit kept pulling up busy lines. It made for good eavesdropping. The first voice continued. "One of my boys took a look at it and said it was rammed with excessive force. There's not much left of it," The first man said to the second.
"Jesus. All right, get Goddard Space Center on the phone. No, I want you to get in your car, drive up the B/W Parkway, and go there, yourself. They won't give you the run around in person. While you're at it, I want to get a report from the NSA. If there is someone in space, they'll be able to crack any codes from communications received. This is massive. Do not let a word of this get breathed to any of those stupid magazines."
The line ended. Fitzgerald hung up the receiver, carefully, then stood up, walking around his desk and picking up the paper from the floor. This time, he took a moment to actually read it. Maybe there was something going on, bigger than he realized.
A few thousand miles west...
NORAD, Colorado.
"There's a what, entering the Earth's atmosphere?" The Commander flopped into his chair, pulling a Cigar from his chest pocket. With a cutting tool in his left hand, he snipped off the end, twirled it around and lit the flat side with a butane lighter. "An alien space craft; you sure it's not a "Russian Ape" and just in the wrong air space?" The Commander's joke was based loosely off of the same National Enquirer article that ended up on the desk, back in DC.
"The markings are not in our archive database, Commander Decker." The Intelligence officer's name was Lieutenant Jeremiah James. He was bright; he had natural code cracking abilities and was destined for a good career with NSA after his tour of duty in the military. His arms folded, gazing at Decker with a stern expression.
"All right, what'cha got Jeremy, I'm all ears," The Commander said, growing quiet. A folder of photos were placed on the table.
Jeremiah James closed his eyes and shrugged. "Wyoming. In a huge state of only half a million people, they've set down in the outskirts of Niobrara County. It's only got 2 thousand people in the entire county. If that," Said Lt. James. He folded his arms, again. It was certainly not a crash site, either. The large ship sat down in the middle of the night, without anyone even seeing it. "It's 6 am, Sir. Back east, part of DC is just going to work, sitting on the Capitol Beltway; whatever. Do you want me to raise the Vice President?"
"Give me a break for a moment, I don't even know if they've landed where US 18 and US 20 meet with route 85; we could have a hundred people staring at this thing right now," Commander Decker said, shaking his head. "I need to think about this one. We don't know if they're hostile or what the status of the craft really is, so I want information first. You can send an encoded message to the Pentagon, but let them know we're going to send someone out there. I don't want the Wyoming National Guard involved unless there's a hostile action involved, so let's not jump the gun yet. I don't need some dickhead 19 year old Guardsman taking pictures with his damn cell phone camera and sending it to the press."
The Lieutenant saluted and picked up his folder, leaving the photographs, then walked out of the room. As he got to the door, Decker called out for him one more time, "Oh and Jeremy? Good job, so far. Find out if this is the reason the Hubble was destroyed. That's your next job."
The Lieutenant nodded then headed through the door, shutting it behind himself. Decker sat alone in his office, smoking his Cigar with a world of thoughts to shoulder.
x- two hours later -x
8 am, Mountain time.
"Wyoming, sir," Said the young woman on the cell phone. "Area Code first, it's 307- 555- 3702. But I'm not going to be at the hotel; just call me on my cell, you know I always answer," She said. "Sure. All right, not a problem. I'm in Cheyenne, now. I'm heading there as we speak. Oh yeah, it's the Sugar Beets Capitol of the world. Yeah, I'm heading for the chopper pad, now. I'll see ya soon, Jeremy. Sure, I'll get an autograph if Elvis is on board," She added, the flipped the cell phone shut, putting it back into her pocket.
The woman, Agent Jackie Harrison, opened the door on the side of the Sikorsky Blackhawk chopper and smiled when two men reached for her hands, helping her up into the seat. There were three people necessary to fly a Black Hawk. The Crew Chief and two pilots. It lifted from the helipad, quickly gaining speed and altitude.
The ride was half an hour, out to the quiet section where the ship was rumored to have landed. She waved her hand in a circular motion and the Black Hawk began to circle the area. She ducked down, standing between the two pilot chairs, pointing through the bubble glass, down at the ground.
The Pilot gave a thumbs-up and they began to circle a small clearing surrounded by a fair amount of forest. "You guys can put it down at the edge of the clearing, but stay back as far as you can from the ship. Remember, everything you see is classified," She told them, going back to her little bench seat behind the cockpit.
The Blackhawk descended upon the field, landing at the very edge, nearest to the trees. Jackie Harrison's heart was starting to pound in her chest. This was exciting. She grabbed her gear bag and began prepping.
x- 8:35 am, mountain time -x
"I thought you said no one saw us land," Falco said, leaning against the edge of the flight deck, staring at the small air vehicle across the field. His ankles were crossed, and he was propped up on his elbow, against the blast doors at the edge of the deck. About twelve feet down was waist-high grass, where GreatFox was resting on its belly.
Slippy approached him from behind, holding the very pair of high-definition goggles that Fox had to re-purchase from Shabunga on Sauria. They were the very goggles that Fox used after losing them in a poorly placed field kit that was supposed to be beamed into Thorntail hollow. He zoomed in on the goggles, offering a slight chuckle.
"What?" Falco cocked a feathery furrowed eyebrow.
"They're furless, like me, but flat-faced like an ape," Slippy mused. "One of them is coming this way but she's having a heck of a time with the high grass."
"She?" Falco asked.
"Anything with a busty chest, alien or not, looks female to me," Slippy mused with a slight grin. "I guess we should call Fox and Krystal down here," He added.
"Yeah that would be smart," Falco said, mashing his thumb into a small box on the wall, besides where he stood. "McCloud, get down to the hanger deck, NOW. We have... visitors." He released the public announcement button then turned to Slippy and shrugged. "Something says this is going to turn into a whole mess of bullshit."
"We'll see," Slippy mused quietly. Fox and Krystal arrived with surprising haste, with Peppy in suit. The three of them approached Falco and Slippy, stopping at the edge of the deck. Krystal gasped, pointing down into the field. Peppy squinted and Fox simply groaned.
"Best behavior, everybody," Peppy said to the group, "We're representing Lylat and this is our first contact with this system, so let Fox and Krystal do the talking. Falco, try not to be a smart ass, incase they're perceptive enough to read your body language or tone… or thoughts."
"Relax, gramps," Lombardi said. "I'm not gonna say a thing; Politics get involved from this point and I don't want a part of it."
Krystal stole a glance at Fox. The lady was in shouting distance now and continued to approach. Slippy and Falco scooted away from the blast doors, giving Fox and Krystal the spot light.
"Hostile intent?" Fox asked the little blue vixen.
She shook her head, replying, "She's horribly nervous and doesn't expect to find anyone here. And yet, at the same time, she's scared that she's going to be the lone explorer who is killed by an alien ray gun and conversely she feels some what safe, knowing there's an entire National Guard platoon less then twenty-five miles away, if something goes wrong. She's asking herself if this ship crashed, but is logically realizing that there's no indication of a crash. As she gets closer," Krystal said, reading the woman like a book, "she gets more nervous. She's unarmed but she's got surveillance equipment."
"All right, she's unarmed… let's show her a bit of hospitality," Fox said, un-holstering his blaster and tossing it to Peppy. "I'm going to make a leap of faith, here," Fox said. "She doesn't even know if this is or isn't an unmanned ship, let's give her the first move."
X
c-4 First Contact.
Jackie Harrison froze in her tracks. She was less than twenty feet away when she realized that there were several upstanding animals at the edge of the large rectangular opening on the front of the ship. Her heart skipped a beat and she looked down at the emergency call box in her left hand.
It was obvious they could see her in return. They didn't yet shoot at her, so she wondered if the emergency response transponder would be necessary. The camcorder in her right hand was running and after a moment, she lifted it up, zooming in on the fuzzy crew at the edge of the opening.
"They seem to be dressed fashionably, I'm quite surprised," She noted so that only the Camcorder could hear. As she approached, the animal-like crew remained stoic, watching her approach. "They don't seem to show any hostile intent towards my approach: that's a good thing.
"Am I really going to be the first person to make first Extra Terrestrial Contact? I should have brought a camera man, this is actually history in the making," She noted aloud. Her Camcorder had a strange device attached to the top, sending the live satellite feed to her agency, back in New York. "They could have gone after Oak Ridge, Tennesee, if they really had any hostile intent, I suppose. Then again, who's to say they don't know where we keep our nukes, they don't know where DC is located, or what NORAD is. …Okay, I'm within speaking range, now."
Up on the edge of the flight deck, Fox turned to Falco and Slippy and said, "Do we still have the gangplank? Let's slide it down," he made a motion with his paw, which was seen by the woman down in the grass.
"It appears," She said to the camcorder, "the orange canine-looking one is giving orders of some sort. Now I see two more approaching, one ... wow... looks like an upstanding bird, walking on his talons, the other is a much shorter amphibian looking being. They seem to be... I can't make it out... Oh!" She paused in surprise, watching the ramp get manually pushed down to the grass. "They're... they're putting a ramp down. But they're not coming down to meet me... Do they want me to board their space ship?" She simply gawked, speaking to her camcorder which had been sending cellular and satellite transmission feed.
Fox, up on the edge of the deck, couldn't help but be amused. "She seems so pensive. Geeze. All right," he finally said, waving his paw at her. "C'mon, lady. ...Krystal, does she have some sort of custom, where she can't enter someone else's ship?"
"Fox," Krystal shook her head, "She's never seen a ship like this before. They don't appear to have technology like this," She added, tilting her head. "Oh my... She's intelligent... I wonder why her race doesn't appear to have technology the way Lylat does…"
"Well," Peppy mused, peeking over Fox's shoulder, "Corneria made its break through in space exploration once the Government made the decision that Capitalism doesn't apply to Space Dynamics. Maybe they're still bound by prices to build the technology."
Lombardi bristled with annoyance. "Let's not all jump to conclusions. Krystal's the telepathic linguist, why don't we ask her," Falco said, pushing the locking clamps into place at the top of the ramp. "All right, it's secure."
Fox made the waving gesture again, motioning for the lady to ascend the ramp. After a bit of hesitation, she began to board the ramp.
"Can you speak her language," Fox asked Krystal. She opened her mind, again, reading the woman like a book. She nodded and began her attempt at forming words that would be familiar to the woman.
"Greetings, welcome," Krystal said. The words lacked enunciation on the first try, so she said it again, and it seemed to alarm the woman.
"Jeeze Laweeze, did you tell her to drop dead?" Falco asked, shaking his head after seeing the woman on the ramp turn pale.
"No, I greeted her with a welcoming salutation. Let's see if she replies," Krystal said, then turned back to the woman, adding, "We come in... ah, 'Peace'. You may call me Krystal."
To the slight surprise of the team, the lady found the courage to answer. "W...Welcome to the Planet Earth. My name is Jackie Harrison and I speak on behalf of my Agency, my Nation and my Planet," She said, pushing back the trepidation in her voice, now fueled by curiosity, the desire to be at the top of the list of Historical Women and the desire to get a promotion out of this, especially with no back up. "You speak English?"
Krystal shook her head slowly, "I speak through my mind, learn the vocabulary through your brain and speak it as best as I can," She replied.
"So your race is telepathic?" Agent Harrison asked. She was beyond fascinated. As she neared the top of the ramp, Fox and Peppy extended their paws to help her over the metallic lip at the top of the ramp, historically marking the first handshake with an alien being.
"No," Krystal said, "Just me. I'm not part of their race. Welcome to our home, The GreatFox Cruiser."
"Thank you," Said Harrison, allowing the rabbit and orange coyote-like being to take her hands and wrists, helping her up onto the flight deck. Her eyes raked over the fighters, the row of tanks and the way they were set up in the large flight deck, then her gaze returned to Fox and Krystal.
"This is Fox McCloud," Krystal said, motioning to the leader, "Peppy Hare," she continued, pointing to the rabbit, then to the frog and falcon, "Slippy Toad and Falco Lombardi."
"You all have the most ironic names," Jackie said, trying to keep her heart still. She was pumping with adrenaline now and it was giving her the shakes. She pushed the transponder into her pocket, then offered her hand to Krystal, then to Fox, shaking their paws respectively, then she shook with Peppy, Slippy and Falco, in the order she was introduced to them.
"There are three more of us, up on the bridge," Krystal explained. "They can't speak your language, because they're not telepathic. But Slippy could probably make a language interpreter machine. It'll take him a little time, but it shouldn't be too difficult."
"So you're the interpreter?" Harrison asked.
"For now, yeah," Krystal replied, growing used to learning the dialect and how to form the harder sounding consonant sounds. "We're stranded here for a few days, but we've come on a mission to protect your world from someone else. How does your hierarchy system work?"
The agent was trying to maintain a professional and courteous frame of mind but she was talking to intelligent, technologically advanced… animals. "We have a congress, a senate and a President with advisors in between," Jackie said, wondering where their interests lay. "But this Planet has a world leader for every recognized nation. Most of them gather to discuss business, trade, money and different things, but there is no actual leader that speaks for this whole planet," She explained.
"For all we know," Krystal mused, "you're the leader, right now. You're speaking for the planet, after all. Is there someone with whom we may speak to, about this future threat?"
"It... will take some time," Jackie said with a frown, "To get the President here, to talk to you. But this is historical; I think he'll be able to make plans to fit your time schedule. From there, you might be able to get yourselves before the UN summit group, but," Jackie shook her head softly, wondering to herself if she was telling them too much, "Let's start with the system of hierarchy. I'll see what I can do, but if you must know, our culture is a bit paranoid. They've never met aliens before, so our Government is going to want to keep this absolutely quiet until they figure out what to do about this situation."
Krystal lifted a finger, a very human gesture, then turned to speak to the crew about what the conversation consisted of.
"Oh geeze," Falco groaned, making a few complaints under his breath that the agent didn't understand. Krystal looked embarrassed, turning to face the woman to interpret.
"He says that it would only figure, that we won't be able to get any help from the people on this planet," Krystal explained, with a shrug. "Thing is, we may require some measure of help in dispatching this foe; he's a real threat."
"What about nuclear weapons? Is your technology far above that?" Jackie asked. She was half worried that the Government was going to be upset with her for basically spelling out what Earth's capabilities were for an Alien race, but something told her that they weren't here to invade. She wanted to ask all the hard questions that people of Earth would want to know.
"Nuclear?" Krystal tilted her head, asking a question to the frog before turning back to her and asking the word again.
"It's a technique of fission, whereby plutonium and uranium are shot into one another, or fission is made with hydrogen, to create an explosive force that implodes upon itself. The result is the vaporization of anything within the blast radius. A radiation spike that will vaporize organic matter," Jackie recited. It was common knowledge and Agent Harrison was smart enough to word it well. It wasn't anything an alien couldn't get off of the planetary internet if they wanted.
Krystal turned back to the frog, asking him something again, then shrugged her shoulders. "They tell me that such weaponry sounds pretty twisted. It was discovered, more than half of a century ago, that nuclear fission was used as a source of energy but it was dangerous and not as reliable as the pure fusion energy that we use today."
"Fusion, that's incredible," Harrison said quietly. "I appreciate you inviting me into your space ship, I have so many questions and I should have written them down but I didn't think I would find anyone on this ship. Do you operate around linear time?"
"Who doesn't?" Krystal chuckled. "Seconds, Minutes, Hours, is that what they're called here? They're the same. Our days are different lengths from your own, however. I sense you have 24 hours in a day?" The azure vixen inquired, garnishing that fact from the woman's mind, "Corneria is almost the same, but several planets in the Lylat System have longer or shorter days. You would be shocked to learn how close your Earth and our Corneria are alike. Would you like to see?"
The woman nodded furiously. Krystal turned to interpret to the team, reciting every spoken word. Fox gave orders to the rest of the group and they left, except for Peppy. The rabbit looked grandfatherly in a way, and was a heart-warming sight, to be sure. The three of them led the Agent through the flight deck and into an adjacent corridor. It ran up through the ship with an occasional incline until it reached the Bridge. Once there, Krystal became the translator again.
Fox moved to a computer and pulled up a picture of just Corneria on the screen, Krystal began speaking, "Our planet is nearly the same density and size as your own, although yours is far more populated and far more polluted... no offense," She said. "The air is nearly the same, the revolutions around the main star is nearly the same and the daily rotations are nearly identical, just slightly off by a hair." She turned back to Peppy and said something that made him chuckle.
"What ... did you tell him?" Jackie asked, looking curious but somewhat nervous.
"I told him that the word in your language, 'hair' is a homonym for his last name, 'Hare', don't worry, Miss Harrison," Krystal said with a soft smile, "We're not talking about you behind your back, you can put those worries to rest, right now."
Without warning, Jackie's cell phone went off. She reached into her pocket and Peppy seemed amused at the playful jingle the little object made. She flipped it open with her thumb, since she was still holding the camcorder in her other hand, then brought the phone to her ear.
"Harrison." She paused to listen to the speaker on the other end, "Yes, it's amazing, isn't it? No, not at all, not even slightly hostile. Yes, I'll ask about their claims. All right; yes sir. They want to know if they can actually request an audience with the President. Okay, keep me posted," She finally said, closing the cell phone and pushing it back into her pocket.
"Friends?" Krystal asked, partially amused, herself.
"All right, my co-worker says he'll go through the proper channels. They'll let us know about the President. But I can tell you right now," Harrison said, firmly, "There will be more security than anything. There will be Guards, Secret Service, Military personnel, you name it."
"If they don't point any weapons at us, we are fine with that," Krystal replied, glancing to Fox, giving a quick explanation of what's going on. McCloud replied in the language that Harrison didn't understand, then waited for Krystal to interpret. After a moment, the blue vixen turned back to the woman and added, "We have to talk about getting some sort of base camp set up. We have requests to make of your government, if they want our protection."
"I'll… see what I can do," Said Jackie, looking around the bridge for a moment. "Your control center isn't like I would have imagined. On television, we had cinema programs that were science fiction, and from what I know about our modern Space Shuttles, a cockpit is usually filled with buttons and different gadgets at every corner."
"We have the controls we need on a few consoles," Krystal replied, "The rest is just empty walls, so we decorate to make it feel more like home. You should have seen it before I joined the team. There were pictures of the crew on the walls, a jukebox, liquor cans on the floor, and boxes of left over stale food… not to mention a tacky pin-up poster of some woman." Almost immediately, Krystal's words put Jackie at nearly complete ease. These aliens were very human-like in nature.
"These boys are like regular bachelors?" Jackie asked with a slight chuckle. "I thought 'lazy men' was a human characteristic. It's kind of amusing to know men are like that in every culture."
"I suppose," Krystal tittered politely in reply. Then, with a shrug, she said, "I whipped their tails into shape. The new GreatFox has an audio center built into the walls and console, but it looks more professional, now."
"I have a chopper waiting for me," Harrison said, "But I would like to meet you again, soon. The thing is, our people are going to try and set up some sort of base of operations, where you can be hidden from the rest of the population. I hope that doesn't upset you, but the people of this planet aren't ready for visitors from space yet. The younger generation is nearly there, but middle aged and elderly people will not feel comfortable about it, yet."
"Sorry to hear that," Krystal replied. "Next time we see you, our mechanic will have an in-ear translator set up. All right?"
"Sounds wonderful," Jackie said, adding, "I'll have more people with me on my next visit. If you could, stay here until my return. It'll make things easier for you, easier for my people, we can sit down and talk about the threat in this system, in detail, and we'll work out a way for you guys to combat it, without getting the rest of Earth involved, beyond the government."
"All right, twenty-four hours, your time?" Krystal asked.
"Yes, a day would be perfect. See you then," Replied the agent. "Could someone show me back the way I came?"
Krystal spoke to Fox, then motioned for him to walk the lady back to her chopper. "I'm going to sit down and help Slippy with this translator; I've just spoken the language for the last twenty minutes, maybe I can make sure things are pronounced correctly or whatever." She turned back to Jackie and, in the broken English she'd been using thus far, said, "Fox will walk you to your chopper. I'm afraid he won't be much conversation, until Slippy is able to bridge the gap, but he'll ensure that you're safe," she said with a chuckle.
Jackie smiled in reply and offered a nod. Fox walked passed her, using his paws to motion for her to follow, staying kind. The two left the bridge and Krystal went to find Slippy. Walking through the corridor, Fox spoke casually, even though the lady would be unable to understand.
"This is the crew quarters," he said, opening the door and letting her peek in, then continuing. "Up here, we have the rec-room," He added, stepping through the sliding doors that Anne Gray had fixed earlier. Inside was a flight simulator, a Lylat version of a pinball machine, and various other games that resembled playing boards with markings unfamiliar to Agent Harrison.
Once they returned to the flight deck, he passed one of the fighters and plainly said, "Arwing." He said the word very pronounced, patting the fuselage of the fighter. Harrison repeated the word, nodding firmly. Her reply was the English word, "Fighter Jet." Fox gave a shrug and repeated it, "Fighter Jet. Arwing." He then invited her to follow, once again, using the Cornerian tongue.
They walked down the ramp and into the high grass, heading for the chopper. Both pilots and the crew chief bunched up in the window, unable to believe their eyes. A walking, talking animal. Complete with ears and tail, it was an animal, just like on the front of so many cereal boxes for kids, or so many cartoons on TV.
Agent Harrison stopped in front of the Blackhawk and turned to McCloud, offering her hand. Fox recognized the universal gesture, one which requires both parties to firmly shake one another's paw, to prove that they were not holding a weapon in their hand. The handshake was firm and fully understood. With that, Fox reached for the latch on the door, quickly figuring out that it was a lever to be pulled down.
He opened the door for her, signaling with a sweeping motion of his other paw, for her to board. Jackie raised a brow at his chivalrous manners, then boarded the chopper. Again, the pilots both reached to take her hands, helping her up into the craft, then Fox shut the door behind her. He walked back a few feet, to watch the chopper lift off.
The rotor blades at the top and one at the tail seemed like a ridiculous way to fly a machine. G-Diffusing equipment and thrusters was how he was raised, but even on his own planet, no one ever dared to dream up a machine that would hover the way a helicopter did, using a rotary propeller. He watched the Blackhawk ascend into the sky and move forward, disappearing over the trees. It was a fantastic alien machine, to him.
x- 12 hours later, 21:00 (9:00 Post Meridian, Mountain Time.) -x
Miyu and Fay were watching Fox and Slippy intently. They were working on soldering a plastic microchip into multiple earpieces, which Beltino had helped to design. There was one for everybody, including a special molding earpiece for Falco, Slippy and Beltino. Once they finished with the last ones, Fox handed the headsets to Miyu, Fay and put one into his own ear.
"All right, ladies. I'm going to play back an audio log from the conversation we had with that woman, this morning. Let's see if these things work," Fox said. The earpieces resembled hearing aids, each molded for a different type of ear. Miyu and Fay switched their earpieces, both looking satisfied with the comfort of the object, after the swap was made.
Slippy went to a computer terminal and began an audio playback of the conversation. To everyone's pleasant surprise, they worked well. Everything the woman said was heard as Cornerian. Even the grammar and pronunciation sounded pretty good.
"Lucky for us, this English language words things in the complex manner that we do. It used to bug me, when I was a kid," Slippy told them, "When I first heard a Venom Lizard say, 'house of red', because that was correct for them."
"Well, did you notice that lady was starting to act a little high, right before we took her home?" Fox asked. "Hmm, you were downstairs, weren't you, maybe I should ask Krys what she thought."
"She sounds a little high, on the audio tape, from the point where she's on the bridge," Slippy noted. "Why do you think that is?"
"I'm not quite sure," Fox mused. "Girls?"
"Maybe it's something in our air," Fay said, giving a shrug.
Slippy simply blinked, clapping his hands together. "When you're so bubbly, no one even realizes that you're as smart as a whip, b-but when you blurt out an answer to a question like that," He said with a measure of soft laughter, "you impress the heck out of m-me!"
"Well, shoot, I try!" Fay said, lifting her paws as if to play modest. She paused, listening to the audio conversation over the speakers then shook her head slowly. "This is fantastic. Beltino is amazing, this is in her voice, as if she were speaking Cornerian into my ear, in person!" Fay's bubbliness returned and Slippy couldn't help but chuckle about it.
"Here, Miyu and Fay, hand the rest of these out to the crew. I want them in your ears, tomorrow," Fox said, handing the surplus over. The girls took them and left the bridge. Fox then turned to Slippy and pushed his paws into his pockets. "We'll need ones for the 'Earth people', so they can understand us. Think we can do it?"
"I'll call dad. We'll have it ready by the time they get here, tomorrow morning," Slippy reported. He then gave a 'thumbs-up' and walked off the bridge. Fox looked around for a moment then sunk back into the commanding chair. The only person who wouldn't need an in-ear translation piece, was Krystal.
Speaking of the beautiful blue vixen, she came in from the door opposite of the one that Slippy left through. She approached Fox and sank down onto his lap and grinned. "Making new allies, finally defeating Andross, this should be an exciting time for you, Fox."
"Just tired, I guess. We've been working on those interpreting ear-pieces for hours," Fox said, resting his muzzle on her shoulder. "What do they call themselves again?"
"Humans," Krystal replied. "Terrains, Human Beings, Homo Sapiens. She refers to herself as all three of those things."
"That's odd. The third one sounds a little technical."
"I suppose," Krystal said with a shrug. "Human is a root word, the way they say it, for humanity, humanitarian, humane… Those words meaning the way we say kindness, benevolent, that sort of thing. They seem to think that the root of their culture is giving and kindness but their species doesn't believe it about themselves."
"That's pretty whack," Fox mused, running his paw up through the milky tuft of fur between his ears. "How does she see her own race, then?"
"I'm afraid to know if she's right about how she feels about her race," Krystal said, shaking her head slowly. "They segregate their subcultures and it seems as though they can be vengeful and selfish as a whole."
"Jeeze," Fox grumbled. "Totally prehistoric," he muttered, shaking his head. "I really hope they're as intelligent as they seem. You think they're capable of space exploration?"
"Probably capable, but certainly not mature enough," Krystal said with a slight shrug and a frown. "Would it be in their best interest to ensure that we don't let them study our technology?"
"They've gotta learn it some time," Fox said. "There's no way to raise Pepper and ask him about it, so it's probably best that we show'em it's possible and let their own scientists take the dream and make it a reality. It's not like they're going to abduct Slippy and put his brain on paper. Heck, I don't understand how half of this equipment works, I just know that it does and if I have a problem," Fox chuckled, "Slippy fixes it."
"Well, perhaps we should, ah," Krystal tried not to blush, keeping a level of seriousness in her face, "Head to bed?"
"Yeah," Fox reached to scratch at the nape of his neck, nodding slightly. "That's a good idea. Wanna play rock-paper-scissors to see who gets the shower first?"
"Of course not," Krystal said, standing from his lap. "I already know who's first to shower," She replied, offering a dainty looking preen. "Lady's first." With that, she reached to pat his muzzle then walked off the bridge. Fox stood up, setting the computer to night-watch and proximity alert mode, then followed her off the bridge for the night.
Meanwhile, Falco had set up a table in the rec room. Peppy, Miyu, Fay and Rob sat around the table, with Rob dealing cards. Falco had started the game wearing shades but after loosing four hands, he quickly realized that the reflective shades were showing his cards to the group. Now that the shades were put away, he was recuperating from his losses, winning some measure of his money back.
Miyu placed a card on the table, tapping the back of it twice. Rob dealt another and she took it quickly, then leaned back in her seat. Peppy had already won one round and wasn't doing too badly, being an old pro.
Falco won the last two hands, getting back some of his loses that had gone to Miyu early in the game.
Suddenly, Slippy ran into the room and in his usual boisterous voice, exclaimed, "We've finished the translators for the Earthling types! They're fantastic!"
Falco glanced up with a grin. "Hard work pays off, Slippy. Is that your way of telling me that you want first dibs on the bed, because I'm in here and you're turning in?"
"You know me too well," Slippy said with a shrug. He thought for a moment, then added, "Are you throwing away credits again?"
"Are you dating me?" Falco snapped. "And no, I won the last two rounds. Just don't snore tonight," He added, then turned back to the group, reaching to push a credit marker into the center of the table. Peppy folded, Fay folded. It was down to Falco and the lynx.
"Think you can hustle me?" casually, Lombardi said to her.
"Let me show you how it's done," her reply was equally casual. Slippy looked on with mild interest, wondering if the Falcon would blow his cash or win.
Falco didn't want to lose too much if it turned out that she was holding a better hand, so he met her bid then upped by a single credit, calling her hand. She laid down cards that only beat Lombardi's own by a technicality. He dropped his cards on the table with a soft groan, shooing Slippy away. "C'mon, Toad, you're bad luck. Take a hike, bro."
"I've been the luckiest poker player on my old assignment, the entire tour," Miyu said, blowing him a kiss, then reaching to collect her winnings. "Ante up, boys. Mistress Shark is back in business."
Slippy shook his head and left the room, heading for bed. It would certainly be a long day tomorrow, because the whole crew would be able to join into the conversation with the new beings. He was also quite interested in learning about this strange way the race was using fission to detonate a bomb and create an imploding concussive force. The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like dirty warfare.
Anything that involved radioactive elements and fission would make a place inhospitable for a great length of time. It just seemed like a waste, to conquer a place then let it rot. Slippy pushed open the door, dropping onto the mattress and putting his feet up. He pulled a small flexible disc from his pocket and placed it over his nasal passages. Keeping Falco up all night wasn't in anyone's best interest. Within a few minutes, the sands of Morpheus found Slippy Toad.
x- 11.5 hours later. 8:15 am, Wyoming, United States -x
Two choppers flew into the area. They were followed by a Marine-issue jump jet, which settled into the field, singeing a small patch of the waist-high grass. It was determined that the area had seen rainfall recently enough that the grass wouldn't burn very easily. The Harrier's noisy engine shut off, as did the engines for both Black Hawks.
Fox and Krystal were ready. Peppy and Slippy were equally ready, leaving everyone else in bed at this point. Same as before, they waited on the edge of the flight deck, leaving the gangplank in place. The same lady as before, this time she was joined by a small group. Two men with assault rifles, two men in business looking suits with a strange piece of fabric hanging from their necks, and Agent Jackie Harrison. Finally, there was a man in a long, gray dress coat, wearing glasses.
There were more men with guns, but they took positions in the field, setting up a parameter. Fox folded his arms, watching them approach. Once the human coterie arrived at the bottom of the ramp, he made the same gesture as the day before, offering them an invitation to board the GreatFox. He had no reason to fear them, it was obvious his race was far superior to them in means of technology.
Slippy quickly pointed to a metal cart, with a dozen ear pieces, sitting in neat little rows. Krystal cleared her throat and said, "They're for you, so you can understand the Cornerian Language," She explained. The talking blue-furred animal seemed to shock everyone except for Agent Harrison. She walked to the metal table, picked up the translator and pointed to the table, staring at her group.
Regardless of the fact that several of these men were briefed that there was a member of this alien group that could telepathically speak the English Language, their faces were still dumbstruck. Harrison looked the little object over then turned to her entourage.
"They built interpreter modules that translate the language, so we can understand one another," Jackie said. The stoic looking guy with the glasses approached the table and picked one up, putting it into his ear. The fit wasn't very good, but he quickly noted that the molding was just malleable enough that it became comfortable after a moment or two.
The two men in business suits approached the table and took a translator. Then, finally, the two guards, with their assault rifles, approached the table and took a translator. Half of the ear pieces were now in use, leaving 6 on the metal tray.
"All right, say something so I can make sure I can understand you," Jackie said to the group. Fox offered his paw, the same way they shook the night before.
"Fox McCloud of the StarFox Mercenary Squadron, at your service," He said then shook each of their fleshy hands. He noted that one of the men holding a rifle was black skinned, while the rest of them were white. Maybe Krystal was wrong about her assumption on racial segregation, or perhaps not all Humans were like that. Once he shook with all 6 of them, he stepped back, then started the introductions.
"This is Peppy Hare, a veteran of the team and my advisor. He's also a hobbyist cryptographer, and grandfatherly figure," Fox explained, then motioning to Slippy, "Slippy Toad is our resident mechanic and Engineering Technician. Finally, Krystal, who's the team telepath and newest pilot. She's our linguist, due to her ability to communicate with any sentient being," Fox told them. They seemed to comprehend, which was a huge relief. He gave Slippy a pat on his shoulder for making such an outstanding device.
"Well met, Mister McCloud," Said Jackie, beginning with her own introductions. "As you may already know, I'm Agent Jacquelyn Harrison. Feel free to call me Jackie. I'm the head field supervisor for the Paranormal Division of the Central Intelligence Agency, Division 6." She then motioned to the man in the long gray coat, with the glasses. "To my right, I have Doctor Raymond Keiser PhD. On my left is Secretary of State, Theodore White and Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, who's been in his position for five and a half years," She explained.
"A pleasure to meet you, all three of you," Fox said. "I've got an idea how to make your people happy, I'm going to… if it's all right with you… assign a member of my crew to each of your people, to better answer their questions. I'm really interested in meeting with your nation's leader; we're running out of time."
"What did you have in mind," Jackie asked, quirking her brows.
"Your Secretary of State would due well to be given the tour by Krystal and Peppy. Send one of the guards with them, if it makes you guys feel safe. Then, I'll send Slippy and his Father with the department of Homeland Security, so they can go over …security issues?"
Jackie lifted her hand and Fox grew quiet. She offered a slight smile, then said, "The Secretary of Security's job is to ensure you guys aren't a threat. He heads the department, but showing him your ship won't mean much, he has agents who specialize in that sort of thing to help with that."
"Well, whichever. I was hoping we could arrange a conference with the President. It's pretty important," Fox said. "We have to make arrangements to run patrols and prepare for combat with Andross and if you guys don't want your public to be involved in this, then we need to get things settled, immediately."
"All right, Fox. All right, I'll see what I can do," Jackie said, taking out her cell phone. She made a call and held a short conversation with one of her superiors. After a few minutes she closed the phone and rubbed her forehead. "I suppose extra terrestrial visitors have clout, I can fly you to a location to meet with the President. The conference will be held on his private jet, we call AirForce One. It's not exactly a negotiable place. It will require you to be separated from your team."
McCloud stole a glance at his teammates then shrugged. "I suppose that's doable. I'm sure the team can manage for a little while, without me," Fox said, turning to Peppy.
"I'll keep'em in line, Fox," Hare said, adding, "Every minute we don't act is a minute that Andross is getting ready. We need a base of operations and an underground bunker to repair GreatFox. Remember, no outside help. We're here on business. We can't negotiate that, they're in danger and we don't know when Andross will strike."
"Yeah, I know," Fox said with a nod. "Slippy, hand me two of those translators, I may need them," he said, pointing to the metal cart besides his friend. Slippy took two off the table and handed them to Fox, who pocketed them quickly, then leaned to kiss the side of Krystal's muzzle. "Keep things smooth until I get back."
With that, he turned to Jackie and waved his paw forwards. "Take me to your leader, Earthling," he joked playfully. Harrison blinked twice, making an attempt not to burst into laughter. It was the most cliché line of all time; she couldn't help but ask where he'd heard it. Fox gave a shrug then answered honestly, "I got up early, a few hours ago, and we spent some time getting familiar with a few of your television shows and cinemas, involving first contact with aliens. We got the giggles over one of the old black and white programs where the aliens actually used that corny line. I couldn't help myself," He admitted with a shrug. "We were using the audio to test our translators and make sure we could understand what was being said."
The chortling frog turned away, erupting into half-muffled snickers, getting ribbed in the side by Krystal, who remained professional throughout the conversation. Fox gave a shrug then turned back to Jackie. "All right, I'm sure these guys have plenty to talk about, so lead the way," He said, gesturing her forward. She and Fox descended the ramp, heading through the waist-high grass once more.
One of the soldiers that was part of the parameter team advanced on their position, coming to escort them towards a chopper. This time, he held the door and Agent Harrison and Fox McCloud boarded the Black Hawk, which took off within a short moment.
"So, you're a fighter pilot?" She asked. Of the pilots and crew chief, as well as the soldier that went along for security detail, she was the only one that could understand his replies, due to having the translator in her ear.
Fox found himself getting tired easily; the air was thinner than he was used to. "I'm the leader of my squadron. We're paid to attack or defend or even escort targeted objectives. The guy that's in this system right now, well, I took this mission because I have a personal vendetta against him."
"I see," Jackie said, her voice rose in volume, to speak over the sound of the chopper's motor, above their head, "What happened?"
"He inadvertently killed both of my parents, while chasing after my father in a fit of adolescent jealousy," Fox replied, glancing to the ground far below, through a window on the sliding doors on the side.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Fox. That's hard for anyone. Why haven't you gone after this guy, already?" She asked, keeping a finger over her ear, so that she could hear every translated word, better.
"I have. This is my third time, and I have a feeling that this will be it," Fox replied. "You know? The final showdown."
"We have a saying here, on Earth… Third time is the Charm," explained Harrison, following his eyes, looking to the world below. "What's wrong?"
"It's just strange," Fox chuckled, "Seeing the world go by that slowly. I feel like I'm just about floating along."
"Well, it's not so bad. We're making good time, really. We'll set down at Cheyenne Airport where a Leer Jet will take you into Colorado. From there, we'll put you on AirForce One and it should be interesting, from that point," She said.
"So why are you doing this? Meeting the first aliens and whatever," Fox asked.
"Historical value!" Jackie told him. "The first woman, the first human being to make contact with an Alien Being? Are you kidding? That's huge! No way was I going to send an agent to get that glory," She announced, boisterously. "I have career aspirations; I plan to make this a stepping stone on my way to becoming somebody!"
"You're the head of your division," Fox recalled aloud, "That's somebody, right?"
"Yeah," Jackie agreed, her voice still being projected, to speak over the chopper's motor roar, "But I have lofty goals and records to break for women! What about your planet, Fox? How are women's equality rights, there?"
"Are you kidding me?" Fox laughed, "The only reason our current Prime Minister is a male, is because his spouse refuses to step into the spot light. She runs the place through him, he's just a good public speaker. There's no gender issues on Corneria. And with so many species of Cornerians, racism is out of the question, it just doesn't exist any more. Hasn't even been a known issue for decades that I'm aware of!"
"Must be nice," She replied sourly, "We had a black lady running for president, two years ago. There were riots and bigots and… it was a damn mess. Some cities cheered for her, other cities booed her off stage. One of this country's all time lows, if you ask me," explained Agent Harrison.
"You guys have quite a few differences," Fox noted. "Slippy reminded me to mention that whole Nuclear Fission thing. You guys actually split atoms and force atomic nuclear fission for destructive purposes? What's the point of it?"
"It's an immature way to wipe out entire cities. Whoever lives," Said Harrison, "They get sick from radiation doses that are so high, they'll turn your insides to jelly in a matter of hours. It's a device invented 70 years ago and we're too foolish to let them go, yet. How do you guys combat threats without going nuclear?"
"We've never used nuclear means or atomic fission as a way of destruction. No one ever dreamed that up on Corneria. It was always used as a means of power, but it's primitive and dangerous," Fox said, shrugging slightly. "We use bombs that actually simulate a burst of collapsed gravity, for just a moment. We call it the Nova Bomb, because it's like a miniature supernova, which emits a shockwave that will devastate any objects in the direct path, for up to a significant amount of space. That reminds me, how does your measurement system work?"
"Our measurement system?" Jackie tilted her head. "Well we have two. Metric and American. America is a bit stubborn and won't switch over to metric, but that's no big deal. I'll get you a metric ruler and a conversion table when we land, if you want. You can play with it on the leer jet, if you're that interested."
"Not me, personally, but Slippy might be interested to know," Fox explained.
The conversation continued in this way until they landed in the Capitol of Wyoming. From there, a private jet was used to take them into Denver Colorado. The President was waiting and Jackie was, unfortunately, forbidden to join. Out on the tarmac, two armed Secret Service soldiers led Fox to the staircase on the side of the primitive jet liner, leading Fox through the plane to where the President sat in waiting.
Fox approached him, handing over an ear piece. He waited until the President took it before offering a shake of hands. The President looked as if he didn't know what the object was, so Fox motioned to his own ear and the President nodded, following suit. Once it was in, Fox spoke.
"I'm Fox McCloud, Sir. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry I didn't give you much time in this matter, but unfortunately, I'm here on business and with our cooperation I'll be able to protect this area from a threat that's lying in wait at the edge of your planetary solar system."
That was how the meeting began. From there, it was all down hill.
a/n: Just wait until the team runs across actual human racism! It'll be fantastic for the team to discover "hatred just because" and there is a lot of that in the world. Neat. Thanks for reading!
SO i'm re-reading back over this old story and there are so many things i've recycled into my newer stories... use of nuclear devices, fay and miyu (they're in the new Similar Paths Taken chapter) and all that crap. even andross coming back was recycled into the end of reflections of the future... lol. but this story was so old and never used! LOL
SO! OMG HYOOMANZ ...I swear to you that I will take the idea of "Star Fox MEETS TEH HUMANS" in a very serious way. NO, I won't insert myself in or let Ken Weaver Jr. meet Star Fox. YES I will take this story seriously and do research on it to make sure things are realistic. I have no idea who the president is going to be in 4 years, so I won't name him right off the bat. But yeah... stuff. I'll stick with titles for now. Things heat up shortly, so please stick with it a little longer and see what happens. Chapter 6 is where stuff starts getting really interesting in my opinion. Also, leave feedback and make some suggestions! I'm re-writing it, not sticking with the original format to the hand-written letter. I had no real concept of good story telling back in 1994, after all. xD It's 2006, I'm worlds better, now! At least... I hope so, LOL.