Star Fox: Regime – a fan fiction by Wolf Reynolds
"Star Fox" and all related characters and trademarks are © Nintendo, Inc.
Story ©2009 Wolf Reynolds
CHAPTER 7
On board the L.F.S. Cloudrunner, Corneria City Civil Spaceport, Planet Corneria. (1134 hours, local time.)
Fox stood on the luxury liner Cloudrunner, leaning forward over the starboard railing of the weatherdeck. The Cloudrunner was quite an amazing ship – perhaps not as impressive as Bill's Pleiades, but certainly charming in its own way; Fox was able to stand on the top deck and lean over the railing now, but once the ship launched, the entire deck would be enclosed by transparent matter-glass walls. Krystal held Fox's arm with one hand; with the other, she waved at Peppy and Falco in the crowd far below. Fox just took in the opulence of the liner – maybe being a mercenary had a few advantages, after all; he could never have afforded a cruise like this on a soldier's pay. For that matter, had it not been for his mercenary associations with General Pepper, he would never have been allowed to bring his weapon aboard.
Krystal had initially thought it rather ridiculous, him insisting on carrying his sidearm. After remembering the warning she had read about pirates, however, she wasn't sure it was such a bad idea. Fox checked his watch – 11:38. He sighed impatiently and then smiled at Krystal. The ship was scheduled to launch at noon, and that meant the spaceport staff would have to begin clearing the crowd shortly. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for Peppy and Falco coming to see them off; it was just that he was anxious to get underway. Fox heard a telltale rumble begin beneath the deck under his feet. To the average civilian, it would probably have meant little. To someone like Fox, however – a veteran of many long hours of starship travel – it was the unmistakable sound of the mighty plasma engines being brought online. He glanced back over the railing and saw uniformed officials beginning to disperse the crowd down on the launch pad beneath the ship. It wouldn't be long before the Cloudrunner's crew began to do the same aboard the ship; he doubted they would be allowed to stay on deck during the launch.
To the surprise of both Fox and Krystal, no one came to direct the crowd on deck. As the scheduled launch time grew nearer, Fox began to wonder for the safety of the passengers; certainly the line must have a good safety record to enjoy its fair level of popularity, but Fox couldn't think it safe on an open deck during a launch. The railing wasn't all that high, Fox thought as he looked over it again. The shaking that would occur during the launch could certainly throw someone over the side, and if that unfortunate passenger survived the fall, he certainly wouldn't survive when the ship's thrusters were fired. Out of instinct, he held Krystal in a half-loving, half-protective way. He looked at his watch again – 11:55. Just as he was beginning to suggest they go to their cabin before they launched, the ship's P.A. system beeped for attention.
"Attention, all passengers, this is your captain speaking," the captain's voice came over the speaker. Fox instinctively looked towards the speaker as the captain continued, "On behalf of the Blue Star Line, I would like to welcome you aboard the seventeenth voyage of the Lylat Federation Ship Cloudrunner. We expect to launch on schedule in a little over five minutes, which means we will now be enclosing Deck A. If you are out aboard the top deck, please stand back while the glass is lowered. If you would like to remain on deck during the launch, feel free to do so at your own risk. Handles will appear from the railings for you to hold, as the ship will shake during the launch. All other passengers, please hold the deck railings or take a seat during the launch for your safety. We will launch in five minutes and will be in orbit shortly afterwards. On behalf of the crew of the Cloudrunner, we thank you for choosing the Blue Star Line."
Fox turned to Krystal and asked, "Want to stay up here and watch the launch?"
"Only if you promise to let me breathe a little," she pushed away from him with a playful smile. Fox loosened his grip on her, feeling just slightly embarrassed; he had been holding her a little more tightly than he intended. They backed away from the railing when they saw several passengers doing the same. Caught up in the excitement, Fox hadn't even noticed the growing roar of the plasma engines beneath them. Even over that, he could hear the ship's servos as they lowered the glass enclosure into place. As the airtight screen slid down its guiding to connect with the metal retaining wall, the roar of engines and servos immediately ceased; the only engine noise now was a muffled, high-pitched whine. The crowd was the most voluminous sound now. Fox felt his ears pop as the enclosure was pressurized. Just as the captain had said, handles slid out mechanically from where the railing was. Fox and Krystal took hold of them and looked out the window as the ship began to tremble. Fox went through the launch procedure in his head automatically. I've done this too many times, he thought with a shake of his head, Now to clear the exhaust vents. Right on cue, steam and water vented onto the launch pad. Fox smiled, and the ship began to shake even more. Now the inertial dampers. The trembling lessened as the field came online. And…. The ship shuddered and creaked slightly as the thrusters directed their force at the pad below the ship.
The Cloudrunner began to rise steadily into the air, slowly at first, but rapidly gaining height and speed as the thrusters propelled it. This was an exhilarating new experience for Fox. He had seen many spaceship takeoffs, having launched a good many of them himself, but never from an open deck like this one. He watched Corneria City get smaller and smaller as the ship continued upward into the sky. They shot through the clouds, finally punching into the Cornerian stratosphere, when the launch thrusters suddenly cut off. For the briefest second, Fox and Krystal felt the sensation of weightlessness as the ship's weight began to pull it back down. Though the interval was momentary, it seemed a long time before the G-diffuser system came online and halted the ship's vertical momentum. Fox knew that was a normal part of the launch, but it always terrified him. Perhaps that was another reason he had loved the Great Fox so much; when you had launched and been through that particular phase of launch so many times in one ship, you began to build a certain amount of trust in that ship – that the G-diffuser, that integral part of every ship, wouldn't fail and leave you plummeting helplessly through the sky.
Fox hastily pushed the wave of remorse from his mind. He was with Krystal now, and she meant far more to him than any ship ever could. He had resolved that he was going to enjoy himself on this trip no matter what. Krystal leaned against him as she admired the view. It was truly breathtaking; the sea of clouds and water beneath them grew less and less distinct as the ship continued ever upward. The flat horizon began to take on more and more of a curve. The blue of the sky began to wane to black as they passed beyond the ozone of the Cornerian atmosphere.
Looking through the glass at the cosmos and its endless miasma of glittering stars, Krystal was swept away by the emotions of the moment as she held the railing with one hand and Fox with the other. Every known page of her life had been written by the stars. She had wandered among the stars searching for answers; life before that was now just a vague and distant memory, like the last fading of an evening twilight – like a nightmare from which she had shuddered awake into the dark. Fox had come to her from the stars – her Fox, the wild force which completed her by complementing the unwavering serenity of her mind with the raging torrent of his own. She stood on the brink now, euphoric at the constant possibility of being borne away by that flood.
Peppy Hare's apartment, Corneria City, Planet Corneria. (1713 hours, local time.)
Peppy scratched his head as he sat in his recliner and watched the news. It wasn't the news itself that disturbed him; in fact, he barely paid any attention to the images that flashed across the television screen. His thoughts were on Fox and Krystal – especially Fox. He did notice the news, of course – it was pretty hard to miss the video of angry protesters in the heart of downtown Corneria City as they waved signs and voiced their collective discontent of the martial government – but Fox's wedding and now honeymoon was very personal to him. Peppy had raised Fox ever since the day James McCloud was killed; although he denied it (as much to convince himself), his main reason for putting off retirement was that he felt Fox still needed him, after a fashion. Watching the Cloudrunner disappear into the sky earlier that day was, for Peppy, like seeing his usefulness recede into the farthest reaches.
He didn't mind, necessarily – he had long since done his duty, both for Lylat and for Fox – but the feeling did give him pause. It was a kind of emptiness, like the feeling of a blazing fire now reduced to vanishing embers. He knew this day had been coming for a long time, but it still made him feel something of a loss. He had to make himself remember, however reluctantly, that Fox McCloud was not his son – had never been his son, not in the way most wards were for guardians – and so was never truly his to lose.
Something on the news suddenly did catch his full attention as a photograph of General Pepper was displayed on the screen. The anchor reappeared after a few moments, and he began to make his report, saying, "In other news, the Lylatian Federal Defense Force announced today the appointment of its new Chief of Staff, General Pepper. This is the same general who was praised a few weeks ago for his performance during the Aparoid crisis. An independent correspondent, Miss Katt Monroe, has been standing by outside the Defense Force hospital in Corneria City. What can you tell us about this latest development, Katt?"
Falco rushed into the room from the kitchen at the sound of the name given, making sure he was not mistaken, "Did he say 'Katt Monroe', Peppy?"
"Shh!" Peppy waved him off, though he had to admit that he, too, was somewhat surprised at seeing her in front of the hospital with a microphone in her hand.
She struggled to make herself heard over the cries of the protesters in front of the building, "Not much, I'm afraid. We do know that the general's hospitalization is a direct result of the Aparoid incident, and that he is in the final stages of recovery from his injuries. The doctor informed me earlier that he is in good condition and is expected to be released sometime within the week. As to his appointment as the new Chief of Staff, we have not been given very many details. As we all know, the Defense Force Chief of Staff is an appointment which must come directly from the Premiere Secretary. From what I've been told, however, it seems that the Premiere's appointment of General Pepper was largely at the suggestion of the undersecretaries of the Ministry of Defense following the resignation of the previous Chief of Staff."
"So," the anchor asked, "If I understand correctly what you told me earlier, the Premiere has considered combining the Defense Force with the Ministry of Defense and making the Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister essentially one in the same?"
"That's correct," Katt replied, making a gesture with her free hand towards the protesters behind her, "And as you can see, the reaction by the general population as well as organized activist groups has been overwhelmingly negative. Twice already today, the Civil Guard has had to step in and subdue the crowd. I spoke with the leader of one of these activist organizations earlier today, and he said most of these people feel that this is a breach of both political protocol and democratic process."
"In other words, they are not protesting the martial law as much as they are protesting the military's seeming ability to override the appointment process of the Premiere and the Senate?" the anchor asked.
"Oh, make no mistake," Katt explained, "They're protesting the martial law, as well, but they see it more as the fruition of that increased authority than as a simple matter of maintaining order. As you know, the Premiere is not required to consult with the Senate on matters of staff appointments except for his cabinet, but the Senate was not consulted on this 'combining', as you called it, of the Defense Force and the Ministry. That is what has this crowd so steamed, and to be quite frank, there seems to be no end in sight. Reporting live for the CCNN, this is Katt Monroe, Corneria City."
Peppy's sat staring at the screen, not hearing much of anything else that came through the speakers, as Falco went back into the kitchen. "What a mess," Falco muttered. Peppy agreed with an absent nod; the old hare became somewhat alert again as other reports of violence in the city began to appear on the news. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing in the kitchen.
"Get that, will you?" Peppy called over his shoulder to Falco, half-listening as Falco answered the phone.
"Peppy Hare's residence," Falco said. Peppy couldn't hear the other voice on the line, but from the tone of Falco's voice, there seemed to be a business-like aspect to the unknown caller. "You're trying to reach who?" Falco continued talking with the caller, "No, he's left the planet… No, no, it's nothing serious… well, serious in a different way, I guess; he's on his honeymoon. Who is this calling? …I see… uh-huh… hmm. He didn't give me a contact number; I don't think he wanted to be reached… urgent? What's the matter, some kind of emergency?" Peppy heard Falco becoming agitated as the voice on the other end of the line seemed less than cooperative. "Huh?" Falco said, "What do you mean 'classified'? …hey, listen, buddy. This is Falco Lombardi. I'm his business partner. Anything involving that involves me also… wa-hey! Chill, man! No need to get riled. Like I said, he didn't give me a contact number. His liner left this morning and- what? Which liner? Oh, uh… it was a Blue Star… hang on a sec," Falco called towards Peppy, putting a hand over the receiver, "Hey, Peppy! What was the name of that ship Fox was on, again?"
"The Cloudrunner," Peppy answered without concern; Falco obviously had matters in hand. He still kept one ear towards the kitchen as Falco continued his conversation.
"That's right, the Cloudrunner," Falco continued with the unknown caller, "Huh? Oh, it left for Sauria at noon today… what? No, no – noon Cornerian time… say what? 'What's he doing'? He's on his honeymoon! How the hell should I know? He's probably wearing out his 'do not disturb' sign. Look – if this is about a contract, he's not taking any right now. You should probably – hello? Hello?" Falco slammed the phone down and traipsed back into the den in a huff.
"Who was that?" Peppy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Dunno," Falco answered, "He said he was one of Fox's 'business contacts' and that Fox knew him. I thought I knew all of Fox's contacts. This guy sounded like a real creep."
"Don't worry about it," Peppy shrugged, "If he really needs to reach Fox, you gave him enough information to know where to look. With this mess getting hotter and hotter," he swept a hand towards the TV screen, "We're likely to get quite a few contract offers. Shame you and Slippy'll be pretty much on your own. Money could be good, though."
Falco smiled, "Bring it on, then."