Chapter III
Into the Asteroid Field
The Great Fox was waiting in orbit around Corneria. Fox took a second to relish in the ships massive size; it had to be larger than any other ship he had seen before. Fox and his teammates docked in the lower hangar bay. Fox jumped out of his ship, landing on the floor below. Falco shouted from across the hangar, "That was fun! Can't wait to get back into action!" He left the hangar with a huge grin on his face.
"That Falco," Peppy said, "he's gonna get himself killed one of these days."
Fox shook his head, "Well, you know Falco; he's only alive when he's flying. Let's get to the bridge and inform the General of our mission."
Fox emerged on the bridge of the Great Fox. Falco had already taken his seat in his chair, his legs crossed, hands behind his head and leaning back. He commented, "'Bout time! Let's get this ship moving to the next fight!"
"Calm down, Falco." Fox said, heading for the central computer. "We need to contact the General first and find out where we should go next." Fox began pressing buttons on the computer, and soon an image of General Pepper came into focus.
"General Pepper, Team Star Fox reporting! We have driven the enemy forces out of Corneria City; the planet should be safe."
The General sighed in relief, "That's great news, Star Fox. However, this war is far from over. I ask for your help on other frontiers."
Fox replied, "Of course, General. We'll help you all the way to the end. Where do you need us to go next?"
"My army is in the Sector Y Gas Nebula attacking the enemy flagships directly. We have things covered there for now. You and your team should head into the Meteo Sector and clean it out. Just watch out for those asteroids."
"Yessir, and don't worry; we won't let you down." Fox cut off the channel and relayed the next mission to his team, "All right everybody, you heard the General; let's clean up the Meteo Sector. Peppy, how far away is Meteo from here?"
Peppy, who had been observing the map of the Lylat System, turned and said, "It's about a twelve hour trip from Corneria."
Slippy smiled, "Just enough time to fix up the Arwings and prep them for the asteroids."
Fox walked up to the window of the Great Fox's bridge. The orbital battle was still taking place around Corneria, however, the tide had changed drastically since Fox had last seen it. The Cornerian Cruisers were shooting down the enemy with little effort.
Turning around, Fox began for the door. "I'll be in my quarters; notify me when we arrive." He walked out the doors and down the stairs. He walked up to the hallway intersection, barracks to the right, cafeteria straight ahead.
Veering to the right, Fox turned the corner and walked down the hall to his room. The door opened and Fox slipped off his flight jacket letting it fall to the floor below him. He sat at the edge of his bed and swung his legs over and lay down. He looked towards his clock radio: 5:38 pm CCT. Fox lay back and closed his eyes and let himself doze into slumber.
The Great Fox approached a massive asteroid field not too far away from Corneria; the Meteo Sector. The rocks in the belt were almost as massive as the Great Fox itself. But that was no match for the ship's Plasma Cannons. The cannons fired and, one by one, the asteroids were being reduced to mere pebbles.
Fox stood at the window, watching the asteroids get blasted to bits. He turned around and addressed the team, "Alright, we're gonna head into this asteroid belt and eradicate anything that could pose a threat to the Lylat System."
Falco chuckled, "Those things couldn't shoot me down if they tried."
"Still," Peppy said, "Don't even give them that chance."
Fox continued, "So, everybody knows what's goin' on here, right?" All three pilots nodded.
"Good, now let's get out there; Team Star Fox, prepare for launch!"
The pilots ran to their Arwings, climbed in and launched from the hangar and into the asteroid belt. "Things are really starting to heat up!" Slippy commented as they made their approach.
"Quit dinkin' around, Slippy, and watch yourself out here," Peppy started barking advice before the team even entered the asteroid field. "Shoot any asteroids that get in the way."
Slippy replied, "Just don't mess up that Arwing; I don't wanna spend all night repairing it."
"But, that's you're only use around here, Slippy!" Falco mocked at his teammate.
Slippy, a bit enraged, retorted, "Shut it, Falco. It's gonna be hard enough trying to fly through his minefield without your comments."
Fox, once again, had to break up the argument, "Knock it off, you two. The asteroids are getting bigger." The Great Fox wasn't too far behind them, shooting off as many of the gargantuan rocks as it could, but those Plasma Cannons can only fire so fast.
Peppy eventually broke the silence, "It's quiet…too quiet."
Fox watched as Peppy's Arwing flew up ahead of his. Moments later, he saw the Arwing bank to the left, doing a barrel roll in the process. A few energy shots flew up from behind the asteroids ahead. After falling back behind Fox, Peppy responded, "Be careful, everybody. It's a trap!"
It wasn't long after that before Andross' army made itself present. Several fighters emerged from a cluster of rocks and began firing on the team. Slippy and Peppy banked off to the side, shooting down a couple of the fighters and asteroids in the way. Falco raced ahead and launched a Smart Bomb into the center of the bogeys, leaving a single fighter and reducing the rest to flaming wreckage.
Fox closed in on the last bogey and locked on with a charged shot. The lone fighter knew his chances of survival were low, and he started to pull up into a loop. Unfortunately, for him, there was an asteroid right above him. His ship collided with the colossal rock with a ball of fire.
Way to go, dumbass!
However, the victory was short; emerging from the next cluster were ten more fighters, charging up their lasers. Fox instinctively fired another one of his Smart Bombs at the fighters, decimating all of them, as well as the cluster of rocks from which they emerged.
Slippy flew up ahead of Fox when he noticed a large asteroid that looked like the inside had been hollowed out. It was now just a shell of a rock, forming a sort of tunnel. Fox continued towards the tunnel, but was put off by Slippy's screaming, "Yikes, it looks like we've got company." He flew back behind Fox's Arwing. "Fox, take it out."
What good are you if you don't even shoot at the enemy?
He began charging up a shot, and tried to lock on. But his computer refused.
"I can't lock onto it!" He proclaimed.
"I got it, Fox!" Falco immediately boosted ahead of Fox, and fired several times at what was assumed to be its head. After a torrent of laser fire, the beast began to self-destruct.
"I guess it's you that should be thankful now, huh Fox?" Falco jested.
Fox replied, "Yeah, I suppose so. Thanks…"
…ya asshole.
The four Arwings flew through the hollowed asteroid tunnel. Fox looked out ahead and noticed something. Several huge asteroids, some the size of the Great Fox, were incoming."The asteroids are getting even bigger; watch yourselves," he relayed to his team. Slippy also noticed something about the rocks.
"The asteroids are colliding with each other. The gaps are closing," Slippy shouted to his team.
Peppy rattled of his advice again, "Use the boost to get through, or use the brakes and wait it out."
Fox boosted up ahead of his team and through the first gap before it closed. He then put on the brakes and waited for the perfect opening before racing through the next gaps. The next gap was fast approaching another collision. He had to quickly bank to the right to avoid the crash and glided right on through the opening off to this side, emerging safely from the gargantuan asteroid field. Falco, Peppy and Slippy soon emerged as well.
The team continued to navigate through the asteroid field. It seemed oddly quiet again, and it seemed that Falco was the only one who liked the feeling.
They have to be planning something big.
Peppy broke the silence again when he shouted over the radio, "They're sneakin' up behind us! I'm getting careless." Peppy's Arwing went racing out in front of Fox's. Within seconds, four small fighters raced past as well, tracking Peppy's every maneuver. "Fox, give me a hand, will ya?" Peppy pleaded.
Fox had to throw on his boosters to catch up. He started charging up a shot in the process and locked on to one of the bogeys when he got in range. Letting go of the trigger, the shot flew out and reduced two of the fighters to scrap metal. Fox had no trouble picking of the last two fighters.
Peppy pulled a u-turn and flew back behind Fox. "Thanks Fox. Your father used to help me like that, too," he commented as he fell back into formation. "Don't rest yet, we got more enemies coming from behind."
Seconds later, ten small fighters flew over Fox and out in front of him. His teammates managed to shoot down five of them. Fox joined in, and started firing at the group, taking out another two.
As the fighters fell, many more appeared. There were now a total of twenty fighters in front of Fox, all of them shooting viciously at the team. Fox banked into a barrel roll in order to dodge their fire.
"They're trying to overwhelm us," Fox warned his team. But Falco was already on the job. He raced out in front of Fox once again and launched another Smart Bomb at the crowd of enemy ships. After the smoke cleared, only three fighters were left behind. Peppy and Slippy easily finished them off.
"Enemy ships neutralized!" Slippy said in a triumphant tone.
"But it's only gonna get worse," Fox replied.
But knew the attacks were only going to get fiercer the further in they got. He saw another enemy up ahead, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen. I almost looked like a spastic butterfly.
"Stay alert, Fox," Peppy warned. "We have no idea what we're up against."
Fox replied, "I know that, Peppy."
Fox glared at the spastic butterfly and noticed something. "It's not a ship. It looks more like a robot." As he continued to stare the enemy down, it began to attack in a way no one had ever seen. It let of a wave of energy that made a circle of lasers. It was too late for Fox to move, and one of the lasers collided with his Arwing, rocking it back and forth.
After Fox regained control of his Arwing, he looked up at the enemy; it was launching another attack, just like the one it did before. The lasers all formed a circle that got larger in diameter the closer it got to his ship. That's when Fox got an idea. He banked towards the blast and flew right through the center of the attack.
His Arwing took no damage, but better yet, it put Fox in the prime position to shoot at the foe. The first few hits stunned the creature, but it soon re-stabilized and strafed off to the left and fired its laser circle again. But Fox knew what to do this time; he banked and barrel rolled to the left and flew through the center of the blast once more, and began firing on the creature, destroying it in the process.
"Way to go, Fox!" Slippy cheered as the team continued deeper into the asteroid field. Another cluster of asteroids lay directly in their path. By this time, Fox and his team anticipated an enemy attack to emerge from behind the rocks, so Fox decided to let another one of his Smart Bombs destroy the rocks and anything hiding behind them. However, when the smoke cleared, there seemed to be no trace of enemies in the area.
Fox soon heard Slippy yelling over the radio once again, "Fox, they're behind me, get 'em!" Slippy flew out in front of Fox's Arwing to give him a clear shot at the five ships closely tailing him. Fox managed to shoot three of them down before they got out of range.
"Slippy, get back here, I can't help you if you're way out there!" Fox yelled at his friend. He saw the Arwing do a u-turn as it started to fly straight at his. Fox dove a bit to get under Slippy's Arwing and get a clear shot at the two bogeys still chasing him.
Slippy started pleading, "I'm in real trouble here, Fox. My Arwing can't take much more of this." But Fox managed to shoot down the last two ships as Slippy passed over.
Fox commented, "There ya go, Slippy. That's the last of 'em."
"Thanks Fox, I thought I was a goner." Slippy relented.
Falco chimed in, "Hey, it looks like we're coming out of the asteroids. That means there's no chance of Slippy running into one anymore."
Slippy just grumbled at the comment. They emerged from the field. "I guess we cleaned them up," Peppy stated.
"I suppose we can tell the General that we're all done here." Fox said. He then started a comm line to the Great Fox. "ROB, we're done here; heading back to the—"
He was cut off by yet another deep, menacing voice, not unlike the one he heard on Corneria. "I cannot allow you to go any further."
"All ships, eyes up!" Peppy said. Fox looked up to see another massive ship. But Fox knew what this one was; it was a rock crusher, machine that the Corneria Mining Facility used when they needed to clear a path through the asteroid fields. However, it seemed that this one had been hijacked by Andross' army for use as a weapon.
The ship looked like a massive capitol ship, except for the rear which had an odd disc that rotated, with a small opening in the side that allowed it to shoot a high caliber cannon. This was how it cleared the rocks that were approaching from behind. Its new owner, however, decided it would be better suited as a weapon.
I need to take out that cannon before it does some serious damage, but I can only shoot the exposed one. Alright, let's do this.
He watched as the disc rotated and stopped over one of the four cannons. He immediately began to fire his twin lasers at the opening, and before it could even fire, the cannon was destroyed. It rotated to the next cannon in sequence, and Fox began firing at this one as well, but not all of his shots hit, since it managed to fire a missile before Fox destroyed it. The shot was coming right for his Arwing. Fox reacted by spinning his Arwing into a barrel roll, banking off to the right in the process. Since the attack wasn't energy based, he needed to dodge it.
By this time, the next cannon was operational. Falco had begun to fire on it while Fox was dodging the attack. It exploded and the disc rotated to the final cannon. Both Fox and Falco fired furiously at the opening, decimating it in seconds.
The ship began to accelerate, detaching the whole back half in the process. In the meantime, the pilot of the ship came back over the radio and said, "I'm no match for you. I admit defeat."
So, you surrender, yet you are still moving into an attack position?
"Fox," Falco began, "are you gonna listen to that monkey?"
"No, Falco," Fox replied, "But I am going to teach him a lesson."
The enemy came over the radio once again, chuckled and taunted, with his voice intensifying as he spoke, "Ha, well I guess you're not as stupid as you look!" The ship began firing a large number of laser cannons from the front. Fox noted that these were energy based attacks and immediately flung his Arwing into a barrel roll. All the shots bounced of harmlessly.
The enemy's bombardment ceased, and Fox took the time to look for a weak spot, but nothing popped out at him. Just then, he saw two missile chambers open up, and he knew that was worth shooting at. After the ship launched its two missiles, Fox pulled up and started firing at the open hatch.
He barked an order to his team, "I'm gonna shoot those missile silos out; just shoot down the missiles he fires."
The other three Arwings started shooting down the two missiles that had fired while Fox shot laser after laser at the top hatch, eventually watching it go up in flames. He then had to throw himself into another barrel roll and fall back; the ship was shooting its energy attack again.
Fox again waited until the energy bombardment ended before straightening out and firing at the second missile silo on the bottom of the ship. The ship managed to get out a single missile before it the second silo exploded into a rain of fire.
The second explosion must have set off a serious chain reaction of fuel, because just seconds after its destruction, the ship began exploding from the inside. The ship's pilot managed to get one last transmission.
"I can't believe I lost to this scum!" he shouted over the radio.
"Sorry to jet, but I'm in a hurry!" Fox taunted the doomed pilot, just as the rock crusher exploded into fire and scrap. Four Arwings emerged from the fiery rubble and continued away from the asteroid field.
"All aircraft, report." Fox requested an update on his team's condition.
"Peppy here; everything's a-okay."
"Falco here; I'm alright. You're getting better, Foxie."
"This is Slippy; I'm having some trouble here, but it's nothing I can't fix."
Fox replied, "Alright. ROB, bring the Great Fox in."
The Great Fox swooped down from above the asteroid field and the four Arwings flew around in front and entered the lower hangar bay. Their mission in the Meteo Sector was complete