Almost done with the book! Not only am I excited about finishing this and moving to book 3, but I am also excited to see what you guys think of my little idea for the trilogy. I will give a very small hint to what it is; it involves something that you all wanted for one of the characters. And it gets a bit bigger from there. Besides that, many of you might not have noticed, but last chapter I attempted to use a new font (hence the reason why I spelled out six). It was supposed to be the Arwing font, but it didn't show up in the site. Anyway…. On with the story!

Chapter 7: The Katina Bioweapon

Fox gave the order to attack the seemingly invincible weapon that Wolf had created. Not only did it have large armor protecting it, but it also packed an enormous amount of firepower. I had a feeling that the team would not succeed this mission.

Fox came over the comm lines, "Falco, try hitting the eyes."

I switched the monitors to the entire team's cameras. Now I could see what they were doing and attempt to help them.

Falco was trying desperately to hit the beast's eye without being hit by one of its arms. He was nearly hit several times.

Falco gave a sigh at his failure, "I can't land a shot on this thing."

Fox growled, "Damn it"

"Hey, remember when Krystal sensed the weak spot on the Aparoid?" Slippy asked.

I spoke up, "He's right; Krystal was able to sense a point of weakness on the first Aparoid you encountered."

"Krystal, do you think you can search for a weak spot?" Fox asked.

"I'll try" Krystal replied.

Krystal then went into a state of meditation. On the monitor, I saw her red ruby that was on her forehead glow. She was searching for a spot. It only took her a few seconds to give an answer.

"It's only weak point is its body." Krystal said.

I lowered my head, "Damn, it has that armor protecting itself."

"Wait, I sense something." Krystal said quickly. "There is a point of weakness on its back."

I was suddenly overwhelmed with relief, "Now you guys can take it out."

"Not exactly," Krystal said, "the spot will only minimally damage him. It will take much longer to defeat it."

Falco suddenly spoke, "Hey, at least it's a chance at winning."

"It looks like we don't have any other choice." Fox said with a sigh.

I looked at the radar and started to scan the spot that Krystal said was its weakest point. The results of the scan were less than pleasing, but it was good enough. I sent the data to Slippy for him to analyze it.

"Slippy, analyze this data for a stamina meter." I said as I sent him the data.

Slippy replied with a grin on his face, "I'm on it"

Slippy immediately started to run tests and analyze the data. I sent him several scans of the beast. Because of his skill, he would be able to create a stamina meter that showed the amount of 'health' the weapon had.

Slippy spoke up after he had analyzed the data, "Data analysis is complete, bringing it up on your monitors."

Suddenly a bar of mixed colors appeared on the radar. It represented how much damage the beast could take. The bar itself was not large, but it still represented a large amount of damage.

"Okay guys; start attacking that spot on the back." I said with some authority in my voice.

I looked at the team display; everyone was headed for the back at the same time. This was not a good idea at all. The beast's arms were able to rotate 360 degrees, meaning he could reach the team if they got close enough. Because everyone attacked at once, the beast nearly took them all out at once.

"Oh shit!" Falco yelled out loud.

"What the" Fox stuttered.

Slippy was the one that was nearly hit, "Ahhh, he skimmed the Arwing!"

"Keep it together Slippy, otherwise you're gonna get knocked out of the sky." I said.

Fox then spoke up with another strategy, "I have an idea; Falco, you attack the back while the rest of us distract the weapon."

Slippy croaked at this, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It's the only way we can damage this thing." Fox said with a frown on his face. "Be sure to keep your distance."

The team then split according to the plan; Falco to the back, the rest to the front distracting the beast. While they were doing this the Stamina Meter was slowly diminishing.

I was filled with relief again, "Great job, he's being damaged!"

"Keep away from its arm span." Fox said.

As I saw the beast attempt to hit the Arwings with his arms, I noticed that he was failing at each attempt. Because of this, it stopped trying to hit the team. Instead something far worse happened.

"Hey, why isn't it trying to get us?" Slippy asked with a confusion and nervousness in his voice.

Krystal suddenly yelled, "Everyone, get out of its way now!"

After Krystal yelled, I looked at the radar. It was reading high energy readings near the beast. The readings were so high that the radar couldn't chart it.

"Holy shit, it's charging something!" I yelled.

The beast's chest cavity suddenly opened up and revealed a soft spot of its body. At the same time, a large red orb of energy was growing at the spot. It was charging a laser.

"Everyone move now!" Fox yelled.

The entire team suddenly shot up towards the sky, trying to escape the beam that was about to be released. When the beast finally did release its energy, the beam was so massive that the Arwings were affected even though they weren't hit.

"God damn, that this huge!" I said.

Slippy and Krystal were near each other, so the beast tried to hit them both. It directed the beam towards the two. It hit them both barely.

"Damn it, I'm hit!" Slippy yelled.

"Arghh, it hit me!" Krystal yelled as well.

I started to freak out a little, "Both of you get out of there now!"

"Get back to Great Fox before it fires again!" Fox yelled.

On the radar, I saw two Arwings pull up and accelerate towards the Great Fox's location.

"Fox, Falco, I suggest you two follow as well; there's no way you two can handle that thing." I said with concern in my voice. Knowing Fox, I suspected that he would want to stay and fight. I was right.

"No, every time it opens its chest, it exposes its body. If we can make it do that, Falco and I can hit its body." Fox said with a grin.

"That's impossible; you saw how big that beam was." I said trying to reason with him. "You won't be able to avoid the beam and hit his body."

I could tell that Fox was thinking about this choice, but nonetheless, he chose to stay.

"Falco and I can do this. Just tell us when the energy readings go up and we will set up for the quick attack." Fox said.

I sighed, "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you."

Falco and Fox then took off towards the beast once again. This aggravated it, causing it to move faster and with better precision. This only scared me more. Now that the beast was paying attention, it could definitely take them down.

"Watch out, it looks like you guys pissed it off." I said.

Falco only laughed, "I'm not afraid of this thing."

The two continued to hit the back spot. The stamina bar was slowly decreasing at a snail's pace. Suddenly the energy scanner started to increase at a fast rate.

"It's charging up its energy now. Get ready for that attack." I quickly said.

Fox and Falco then lined their ships up with the beast's chest area. As soon as the cavity opened, both started to fire several shots into the chest. The stamina bar then quickly diminished to only half of what was originally in it.

"Great job, now get out of thee before he fries you!" I said.

The two then accelerated towards the sky again. Once again, the beast fired the laser towards the two. It came so close that they were nearly eradicated.

"Damn that was close!" Falco said.

Fox then grunted, "A little too close, our shields went down to 20%!"

I started to worry, "Get out of there, you can't finish him with only 20%!"

Falco sighed, "Fine, I guess Wolf wins this-"

Fox cut him off, "No, I'm destroying this thing."

I was getting annoyed at Fox's decisions, "Damn it Fox. Get your ass back here before you get killed!"

Falco decided to help me reason with him, "Fox, we can't beat this thing. Let's go!"

I had given up on reasoning; I knew Fox wouldn't listen, so I decided to not listen to him as well. He told me to stay on Great Fox, but I was going to go against what he said.

"Falco, stay there with Fox, I'm on my way to help." I said.

Fox seemed displeased with what I said, "No Kevin, you're injured. You can't take the risk."

"I'll be fine" I said.

After I said those words, I grabbed my communicator and ran towards the elevator. I told the elevator to take me to the docking bay. It immediately started to move downwards at a quick rate. In no time at all, I reached the docking bay.

I exited the elevator and entered the bay; I found Krystal and Slippy sitting on their Arwings talking to each other.

"Kevin, where are you going?" Slippy asked.

I continued my run through the bay, "I'm going to help Fox and Falco."

"But, I thought you were badly injured?" Krystal asked.

I stopped and grabbed my pill container from my pocket, "This helps me keep the pain down."

Slippy spoke up, "You're not even in your flight suit though."

"It doesn't matter." I said before I continued my run.

I was looking for the enemy transport that I had stolen. It was well equipped for battle and would easily do well against the bioweapon. If I remembered correctly; it had 2 Smart Bombs, Hyper Laser Systems, and Advanced Shielding similar to the one Wolf had.

I climbed in the cockpit of the transport and immediately took off from the bay. I needed to get to the planet as fast as possible. As I neared the planet's atmosphere, I adjusted the G-Diffuser system and accelerated to full speeds.

I switched the comms line to the team channel, "I'm almost there. How are you two holding up?"

Fox's voice came over the comms, "We're keeping our distance for now."

"Good, I'm almost there, go ahead and start attacking." I said.

I broke through the cloud cover and saw the incredibly large bioweapon that the team had been fighting. I activated the weapons and charged towards the bioweapon. With Hyper Lasers, I should be able to do a good amount of damage.

"Finally you're here." Falco said.

"Just keep shooting this thing." Fox said.

I aimed at the back of the monster and fired a barrage of lasers. I didn't have a Stamina Meter, so I couldn't see if he was being damaged.

"Did that do any good?" I asked.

"Not much, but it was something." Fox said with relief in his voice.

The beast seemed like it was getting extremely annoyed with us. It started to move even faster and with even more accuracy. It even seemed to be growing a small amount.

"Holy shit this thing adapts way too easily." Falco said.

I started to wonder why the beast didn't just do all this before. Maybe he was working us over for something else? I wasn't sure, but I knew that this thing was advanced biologically and technically.

To our complete surprise, the beast opened its chest cavity and immediately fired another massive beam of energy. Luckily, we were high enough that the beast had to aim after he started to fire. He missed the three of us by a long shot.

"Great, now he has to re-charge." Fox said.

I sighed with relief, "Looks like we're winning now."

To our utmost surprise, the beast kept his cavity open and started to charge another beam. His adaptive technology was making him stronger and stronger when he became too weak to win.

"What?! He's charging again!" I yelled.

Fox was startled, "Shit, climb now!"

The three ships immediately pulled up and sped towards the sky. Unfortunately, the beam hit all three of us; Falco in the wing, Fox near the engine, and me in the left wing. Falco immediately accelerated and sped towards the sky at an even faster speed.

"My shields are gone, I'm outta here." He said before he switched off his comms.

Now it was only Fox and I fighting this beast. I had only 40% shields remaining and Fox had less than 5% remaining.

"Fox, leave now. I'll try and distract him while you escape." I said.

Fox finally seemed to understand that he can't continue, "Fine, don't get killed doing so, okay?

"Don't worry; I'm going to follow right behind you once your plenty far away." I replied.

Fox then started his escape and accelerated to top speeds towards the sky. He was going so fast that I immediately started to follow him.

"Well, no need to distract this thing." I thought.

I then accelerated to the transports top speed and followed after Fox. About half way through, I remembered something; the base that the weapon was guarding. I needed the information from the outpost, but at the same time, I remembered that the transport had a Nova Bomb. I could destroy the weapon with one bomb.

"Slippy, what are the effects of a Nova Bomb detonating in this area?" I asked quickly.

Slippy responded with a confused, "The base would most likely be destroyed, same thing with the Bioweapon. Why are you asking?"

I replied with a large grin on my face, "This thing has a Nova equipped."

"Wait Kevin, what about the base? It has information about Earth!" Slippy said.

My excitement then diminished; Slippy was right, the base would most likely be destroyed along with the data center. But I had to follow the mission, sabotage Wolf, no matter the costs.

"We'll find another way to get the information." I said.

I turned the ship around and carefully aimed at the beast that was looking right at me. When I lined the sights perfectly, I fired the Nova and immediately U-turned. I pushed the throttle to the max and rapidly accelerated to an incredible speed for a transport. At the same time, I saw a bright light emit from behind me. The Nova had detonated and had destroyed both the base and the bioweapon

In only a few minutes, I reached the Great Fox and docked with it. After I exited the ship, I immediately started to feel a sharp pain in my chest and in my leg. All the action I encountered must have loosened the biofoam.

Fox's voice came over my communicator, "Kevin, meet us on the bridge. We have some things to discuss."

I had a bad feeling about what Fox had told me. But I had no real clue about what he wanted; he might just want to discuss getting new information. But nonetheless, I had to face him.

Almost right away, I started to walk towards the elevator that was across from where I had landed the ship. When I walked inside of the elevator, I told the computer to take me to the bridge. The elevator started to move upwards. It eventually stopped.

The door slid open and revealed the bridge of Great Fox. Fox was standing behind where Peppy usually sits, almost as if they were briefing for their first Fortuna mission to capture Oikinny a few years back.

As I walked in, Fox turned his head towards me. "Kevin, I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Sure thing Fox, what's up?" I asked nervously.

"First, why did you disobey both mine and MAM's orders? You know that you're not fit for combat right now." Fox said.

"With all due respect, I helped you get out of there alive. You and Falco would have had a worse chance surviving if I hadn't helped." I said trying to regain ground in the argument.

"I do appreciate that you came out to help, but you shouldn't be taking these risks. This is technically your first mission assigned." Fox replied.

It was obvious that Fox was only worried about how reckless I was. It was true; this was my first mission with the team. I shouldn't have taken any risks, but he needed help.

"I can relate to what you're feeling. When I was assigned my first mission, I took risks. When I was 18, General Pepper gave us the job of destroying Andross. Along the way, we pushed back his troops from one planet to another. I took so many risks doing so; I attacked a sea base on Zonnes, I fought a bioweapon in a prototype submarine that wasn't completely finished, and I went straight for Venom even with its defenses active." Fox explained.

I wasn't entirely surprised at what he said; after all, I witnessed all of this.

"I was nearly killed when I fought Andross." Fox said.

Again I wasn't surprised at what he said, but I was surprised that he would admit it.

"Look, I appreciate that you're looking out for me. But there is one thing you should know about me; I help anyone in need." I finally said.

Fox then looked back towards the front of the bridge, "Well, next time try not to take such a big risk. I'd hate to lose a member on this team."

"I'll try my best." I replied.

After that, I walked back to the elevator and took to the floor with all the rooms. I walked out of the elevator and walked towards my room. I was so tired that all I wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep.

Before I reached the door, Krystal came out of her room. She walked over to me.

"Hey, is everything alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, Fox just wanted to tell me a few things." I said.

"I can sense your feelings. Obviously it went alright." She said.

I pushed the button to open my door to my room and slowly walked in.

"You know he's looking out for you because you're so young, right?" She said as I walked in my room.

"I know, I appreciate that he's doing so." I replied. "I'm gonna call it a day, I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye." Krystal replied.

I closed the door behind me and immediately flopped down onto my bed. I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes until I drifted off into sleep.

To Be Continued…

Okay, I have some good news and some bad news; the good news is that I have started to draft out the plot for book 3, the bad news is that I cannot elongate the plot for this book any further than what I have (only 1-2 chapters left). So this means that book 2 will be shorter than expected. But I promise; book 3 will have all the action and a crazy surprise for the ending. Also, I will reveal my extension of this series at the end of book 3 (another Crossed paths book). I will reveal further details next chapter.

Until next time…