Chp. 4
Meanwhile, in a remote corner of the Lylat system...
The Dreadnought cruiser sailed through open space, far from any planet, star, nebula, asteroid field, or really anything at all. The mammoth ship had clearly seen better days, with rust, scorch marks, and missing access panels all along the outer hull giving mute testimony to the time since it had last had a dry dock overhaul. It wasn't that the owners of this vessel didn't care about the condition of the ship that was, for all intents and purposes, home to them. They cared a great deal; they just didn't have the funds or resources necessary to effect the needed repairs. Although faded, the group's emblem was still visible on the tail fin of the ship: a red silhouette of a fox seen in profile, with a wing on its shoulders. Under the emblem, one could make out the team's name, still legible despite the ship's current state of disrepair: "Star Fox".
The crew of this ship numbered exactly three - four if one counted the mechanical entity ROB 64. ROB was currently undergoing a quick maintenance refit, courtesy of the team's mechanic, Slippy Toad. Loud hard-rock music blared in the background, issuing from a dilapidated jukebox that was even older than the ship. The amphibian's head bobbed in time with the music, but he still somehow managed to keep his hands steady enough to fine-tune the adjustments he was making on ROB. With a final twist of the wrench he held, he locked a new module into place and closed the access panel with a flick of his fingers. "That should be it ROB," he told the mechanical entity. "All fixed."
ROB stood up from his hunched-over posture and examined the workings of his refurbished (for the hundredth time) body. "Affirmative," he agreed with Slippy's pronouncement. I'll get back to work."
As ROB moved to return to his duties, the chair at the navigation console spun around, revealing a middle-aged hare with a set of spectacles perched on his nose. "Hey, Fox," he addressed the leader of the group, "isn't this music getting on your nerves? I'm trying to work on my maps here." Peppy had been spending the time recently working on detailed cartographic surveys of every world the team had come across in the past few years. The information gathered was stored in the Great Fox's computer libraries, in case they ever needed it later. However, Peppy disliked loud music, since it tended to break his concentration at inopportune times.
The commander of Star Fox and de facto owner of the vessel the team flew in spun around in his chair to face Peppy. Personally, Fox McCloud liked the music that was currently playing, but he deferred to the wishes of his current nav officer. "Okay old-timer," he replied to Peppy, then turned to the amphibian mechanic and said, "Turn it down Slippy, we're keeping the elderly awake."
"I said maps, not naps!" Peppy huffed at the jibe while Slippy grumbled about having to turn down the music. He tossed the wrench that he'd been working on ROB with at the jukebox, and the music abruptly ground to a halt.
"Hey!" Fox protested. "Take it easy, there's enough stuff breaking down on this ship as it is!"
Slippy rapped the jukebox with his foot and it started back up again, until he turned it off in a more conventional manner. "It still works, Fox, thanks to Emergency Repair Procedure number one."
The group was spared further argument by the beeping of the comm system, signaling an incoming transmission. Fox hit the "Accept" button, grateful for an interruption, and was greeted by the visage of an older bloodhound wearing the uniform of the Cornerian Defense Force. The circle of stars on his epaulets would have indicated who he was anyway, but the face was one Fox would recognize anywhere.
Hey, guys," he shouted to the rest of his team, "it's General Pepper!"
The hare and the toad immediately turned their attention to the hologram floating above the comm console. "General Pepper here," he announced. "How are things going on your end there, Fox?"
They're not," grumped the vulpine pilot. "Things have been dead silent out here for the past several months. No pirates to run off, no would-be dictators trying to take over the system, heck not even a challenge to a duel from Star Wolf. Frankly, sir, we're bored out of our skulls here, and practically broke on top of that." Fox's emerald-colored eyes narrowed slightly. "But I don't think you made a transmission all the way out here just to see how we're faring."
"See Fox, it's wisdom and insight like that which makes you such a good leader," Pepper chuckled at his own quip. "If you're willing, I have a new mission for you and your team, if you're interested."
"We accept," the three on the ship chorused in unison.
"You haven't even heard what it is yet," Pepper said, bemused.
"We're doing absolutely nothing, right now," Fox told him. "And doing nothing pays nothing. If you have something you need us to do, we're all ears."
"All right then," Pepper said. "If you're that eager, then set your course to these coordinates, and I'll brief you along the way."
"You got them, ROB?" Fox called to the robot.
"Affirmative," ROB replied. "Setting course to designated coordinates. Estimated time of arrival, three hours and fifty-three minutes."
"That will be plenty of time to bring you all up to speed," Pepper said. "Well then here's the situation. There's a smallish planet on the outskirts of the Lylat system, with the designation of Sauria. It's also referred to as the Dinosaur Planet, because of the inhabitants there."
"Living, breathing dinosaurs?" Fox was awestruck.
"Living, breathing, talking dinosaurs," Pepper corrected him. "Though apparently they don't speak Lylat standard. You'll need a translator when you go down to the planet's surface. The reason you're only learning about this now is because Sauria, being a technologically primitive world, has stayed under the radar until just now. About a week ago, we received a call for help, from someone identifying herself as the Queen of the Earthwalker tribe. We sent a scout vessel to the planet to do a preliminary scan, to get a better assessment of the situation. You'll see this for yourselves when you reach the planet, but here are the recon photos that it sent back."
Pepper's holographic face disappeared, to be replaced by a representation of the world in question. All three Star Fox members gasped in shock at the sight. "My God in heaven," Peppy whispered, "what happened?"
"As you can see, chunks of the planet have been ... torn out of the surface." Pepper's image reappeared in the comm hologram display. "We don't know how or why this happened, but if this progresses further, if Sauria actually explodes, it could adversely affect the entire Lylat system. The debris would be the immediate hazard, but the alterations to Lylat's gravitic profile could have even more drastic long-term consequences."
"Truth be told, General, Asteroids was never my favorite arcade game," Fox said. "And my experiences in Meteo have taught me that I really would rather not play it for real; real life doesn't give you extra tries or continues." Fox was silent in thought for a moment, then asked, "Any hints on where we should start?"
"We have little idea about what's going on down on the ground," Pepper told him. "But your very first task would be to get down to the planet's surface. The, um, eruptions of those pieces of the planet's surface have strewn a substantial debris field around it; you'll have to land in your Arwing, I doubt anything else is small or maneuverable enough to make it through. Which brings me to another point; you'll need to leave your blaster and every other advanced weapon you have on board the Great Fox."
"What?!" Fox was dismayed at the stipulation. "No offense, General, but if things are as dire as you say they are, I'll need a way to defend myself."
"The reason is that there are elements on Sauria that would actively oppose you," Pepper told him severely. "They're called the Sharpclaws, and the Queen suspects that they are the force behind the current crisis. If you should happen to be captured, she doesn't want advanced weapons falling into their grasp."
"If I had those weapons, I'd probably never be captured," Fox told the general.
"And that brings up MY reason," Pepper replied. "The Queen has indicated that most of Sauria's population is terrified by what's happened to their world. Your typically all-guns-blazing tactics would likely inspire more panic. Besides, this mission is about SAVING the planet, not destroying it. You'll need information, not firepower, and you won't get anything if everyone around you is cowering in fear."
Fox wanted to argue the point further, but knew that there would be no benefit to it. Much as he hated to admit it, Pepper's points DID make a certain amount of sense. That didn't mean he was happy about the restrictions, but he realized that if he wanted this job, there was little choice in the matter.
"All right, General," Fox sighed in resignation.
"You'd probably be better served by weapons that didn't depend on ammunition or recharges anyway," Pepper said to him. "You'll most likely be on your own for the vast majority of your time down there, unless you think Peppy or Slippy would like to join you on the planet's surface."
"I'm a little old to be running around on an untamed planet," Peppy replied.
"If you think I'm a klutz in the cockpit, Fox, wait 'til you see me in a brawl," Slippy said. "You'd probably be better off if you didn't have to keep checking up on us. We'll stay up here and help keep an eye on the bigger picture."
"Thanks, guys," Fox said to them. Then he turned to Pepper's image and said, "Well General, if that's everything, I guess I'd better gear up for an extended ground mission."
"That's the spirit, Fox," said Pepper. "The only thing we know for sure is that you should locate the Queen Earthwalker once you arrive. She should be able to guide you further when you meet her. That's all we know at this point; the situation seems very fluid, and things could quickly change down there. By the way, your fee has been approved. Once you can confirm the mission's success, the money will be forwarded to your account immediately. The sum might change, depending on what all happens down there."
"Upwards, I hope."
"As I said, that depends on what happens. If it changes at all, it'll probably be upwards."
"Estimated time of arrival, fifty minutes," ROB announced from the pilot's station. "Now within maximum range of Arwing fighters."
"If you'll excuse me, General, I have some packing to do," Fox said.
"Good luck, Fox," Pepper said to him. "For all our sakes."
The transmission winked out, and Fox turned to the rest of his teammates. "You heard the General! Let's do this!"