Star Fox Redux: The Lylat Wars
Chapter 8: Mission 4- Mysterious Base in the Radiation Zone, Sector X
Back aboard the Great Fox, the Star Fox Team- consisting of Fox McCloud, William 'Bulldog Bill' Grey, Falco Lombardi and Peppy Hare- reunited with their comrades- Slippy Toad, ROB #64, Privates Springer and Greenland, and Staff Sergeant Mastiff- and began to converse over the subject surrounding their next objective, the second radioactive space nebula, dubbed 'Sector X'. Like Sector Y, this nebula field was named for its largest dust cloud, shaped like an 'X', and was known for its much more dangerous radiation spikes and electromagnetic surges as opposed to Sector Y. Just like the previous danger zone, nobody really knew why the sector was formed the way it is, nor how it was made. Regardless, travel through the area was highly dangerous, with fewer people returning from the area than Sector Y.
As the extended Star Fox Team chattered amongst themselves, ROB announced over the mothership intercom, "Message incoming. General Pepper wishes to speak with Captain Fox."
"On my way, ROB." Fox made his way back up to the bridge of the Great Fox alone, leaving his comrades behind in the rec rooms. Back on the bridge, Fox was greeted by General Pepper once more.
"Great work over Solar, Fox! Thanks to you, Andross' plot to vaporise the Lylat system has failed, and he now has to rely on a counterattack, giving us the chance to assault his headquarters! You're almost to his base of operations. Before you can get to Venom, however, you must head through Sector X. When Andross first waged this war, he set up a research base deep within the shroud. Cornerian spies managed to locate the station, but we lost contact with them a few weeks before Andross invaded Corneria. I need you to investigate the area and recover any Cornerian personnel still alive."
"Will do, General."
"Don't forget, the radiation in this sector is deadly! Watch your diagnostic systems, and keep your wits about you! Pepper out!" The General's hologram disappeared from the observation window and Fox returned to the hangar.
"How are the Arwing repairs coming, Slippy?" the vulpine queried as he passed by the rec room. Slippy, Falco and Peppy stood and followed him, whilst the Katina detachment trailed behind.
"Aside from the exposed framework, all the Arwings are ready to fly again! Yours and Falco's were the most trouble, and they haven't properly been repaired yet, but they're good enough to fly. And they should get us all to Venom." Slippy proudly boomed as the whole team entered the hangar.
"Wish we could stick around a little longer, but we should really report back to Katina for further orders." Bill commented, his three comrades stood behind him.
"You've gotta go, already?" Fox cried, clearly wanting Bill and his team to stick around a little longer.
"You can use our long-range communicator to contact your superiors, if you'd like. If they don't need you ASAP, ya'll can probably stick with us for a time." Peppy cheerfully offered.
"Thanks for the offer, Peppy, but we should still head back at some point. You guys have the clearance to go this far on your own as mercs, but pilots like us need the go-ahead and at least one fleetship at our back." Bill declined the generosity in a polite tone.
"Well, it was fun while it lasted, Bill. But we gotta cut 'cha loose!" Falco snapped, his arms-crossed and his stance dismissive.
"Falco!" Fox cried, the young vulpine frowning and flicking his tail in anger.
"It's okay, Fox. Seems good old Rooster Red hasn't changed." Bill chuckled, getting a short laugh from Greenland and Mastiff.
"I told ya, I ain't no rooster!" Falco squawked, dropping his arms and leaning into the pilot for his shout.
"Now, now, there's no need for hostility amongst men." Peppy calmly boomed, patting the air to help settle the tension.
"Falco does have a point about it being a good run." Fox cheerfully proclaimed, a beaming smile blazing across his face at his oldest friend.
The bulldog spluttered a chuckle, "Sure has, buddy." He approached the vulpine and extended his right hand. Fox took hold and the two shook with a large smile. "You owe me, Fox."
"Aren't we about even now?" Fox half-heartedly queried.
"Maybe we are, maybe not." Bill teased, walking passed the Star Fox Team towards the Cornerian fighters.
Peppy placed a hand on Fox's shoulder. "We should get movin', son."
"Roger that, Peppy. Let's hit the plains, Star Fox!" the lead proclaimed, rallying his team and charging up the gangways and vaulting into their Arwing cockpits. As the ship carapaces slowly closed and locked, Fox called in to ROB, "ROB, can you get us a systems check?"
"Affirmative, Captain Fox. One moment… Arwing One: J. Fox McCloud. G-Diffusers: full power, damages repaired. Armour plating: 80%, repaired. Smart bomb launcher: fully loaded, minor damages. Frontal turrets: minor damages. Radar scanner: optimal. Communication systems: optimal. Arwing One: ready to launch. Arwing Two: Peppy Hare. G-Diffusers: full power. Armour plating: 90%, repaired. Smart bomb launcher: fully loaded, undamaged. Frontal turrets: undamaged. Radar scanner: electromagnetic scrubbing complete, optimal. Communication systems: electromagnetic scrubbing complete, optimal. Arwing Two: ready to launch. Arwing Three: Falco Lombardi. G-Diffusers: overclocked, full power. Armour plating: lightweight, 85%, repaired. Smart bomb launcher: fully loaded, undamaged. Needler cannons: primed and ready, minor damages. Radar scanner: optimal. Communication systems: optimal. Arwing Three: ready to launch. Arwing Four: Slippy Toad. G-Diffusers: full power. Armour plating: heavyweight, 100%. Smart bomb launcher: fully loaded, minor damage, repaired. Frontal turrets: optimal. Radar scanner: overclocked, optimal. Communication systems: optimal. Arwing Four: ready to launch. All fighters: prepare for launch!"
"Ready, guys?"
"This is Peppy; on yer call, son!"
"Slippy here; ready to go!"
"Let's go already!"
"Alright then. Let's rock 'n' roll!"
With all fighters ready, Star Fox shot from their holsters and sped out into the vast frontier of space, bombing down under the Great Fox and out towards the radiation zone dubbed 'Sector X', a giant nebula shaped like the eponymous letter. As they travelled into the safe area just before the bulk of the nebula, Peppy warned his younger pilots to keep a good eye on their radiation counters and electronics; the harmful waves in Sector X were much deadlier than in Sector Y. Fox and Falco were a little more aware of this, so the warning mostly went to Slippy; not just as the least skilled pilot, but also as he never travelled through Sectory Y, as he was working on repairs to his own Arwing after it had been damaged in the Meteo asteroid field.
"Okay, guys. Let's find this secret base." Fox proclaimed as the Star Fox Team travelled into a large frame of debris.
"Look, up ahead!" Falco barked, as Venomian fighters slowly came into view. "Let's have a little fun while we go!" the ace immediately broke off from his fellows and took after the small squad of eight fighters, effortlessly shooting one into dust.
"Star alert, boys! We don't know what Andross' forces were up to in this place." Peppy warned, ever the voice of caution and wisdom to the young team-for-hire.
Fox glanced down at his Arwing's radar, only to realise that Slippy was getting left behind. Peppy stuck by the lead, whilst Falco busied himself chasing after the Venomians. "You okay, Slippy? You're falling behind."
Slippy briefly stumbled over his words, but quickly recovered. "I'm fine, Fox. Just scanning the debris in the area. Most of it is Venomian design."
"Hmmmm..." Peppy pondered, stroking his chin and scratching at his face. "Strange… couldn't be from the base, could it?"
"I d-dunno. But whatever did it had some serious firepower." Slippy gasped, finally drifting forward to catch up with Fox and Peppy.
Up ahead, Falco had just downed his fourth fighter when he called out, "Enemies comin' in from behind you, guys! Man, they're fast!" As Falco said, another group of fighters flew in over the remaining three Star Fox pilots, another six fighters in total.
"Focus, boys! Falco could use some backup." Peppy boomed, zooming off ahead and engaging three starfighters, chasing them into a corridor of a ship's hull.
Fox and Slippy stuck together and took off after four fighters as they headed towards a square-like construct of girders. Weaving in and out of the beams, Fox and Slippy made short work of the fighters before splitting off to team-up with their missing flightmates; Slippy took off down the hull corridor to regroup with Peppy, whilst Fox headed back out into the open plains to find Falco, only for the bird to accidentally open fire on him. The ace's Needler cannons cut through a part of Fox's exposed hull and shut off his radar system.
"Watch your fire, Falco!" Fox cried, hopelessly attacking his radar in the hopes of restoring it. "Damn, I've got no radar now!"
"Guess I got carried away… Give it a little while, it should start up again." Falco grumbled. The ace's trademark sass and arrogance was dulled quite a bit in his speech; he seemed genuinely sorry, just falling shy from actually saying so.
Fox and Falco returned to the main route for the Venomian base, where Peppy and Slippy emerged from their shell run. Reunited again, Star Fox continued through the debris field; large girders, ship armour, and hard wiring lazily drifted through the vacuum as more Venomian attack forces flanked the mercenaries with ambushes from plain sight, within the debris or an attack at the rear. Fox needed one of his fellows to call out where the attackers came from, as his radar was still refusing to work since Falco's fight-or-flight response to spotting him out of the blue.
After heading through the debris for about two hours, Peppy proclaimed, "Eyes open, boys. We should be gettin' closer to the base right about now."
Ahead, the squad took a route through a long corridor of armour plating, but something was off. The Venomians that plagued them before the debris were now gone, and as Slippy continued to scan the havoc, the designs of the wreckage were Venomian in origin. Whatever was destroyed here was from Andross' empire.
As the four emerged from their routes, Falco exclaimed, "Some joker must 'a beatin' us here. The base is gone!" Indeed, the research base was no more, but what could have destroyed it? Even in the depths of his insanity, Andross wouldn't destroy such a valued source of scientific research and development… Would he? And the Cornerian forces here were solely sent in as spies, and it was likely they severely lacked the firepower to wreck the base, especially if it left behind this much salvage.
"Keep yer eyes peeled. Whatever destroyed the base couldn't have gone far." The wise rabbit chimed. Each member of Star Fox pulled off to explore further. After half an hour's search, each pilot returned to their main run with the same story: no sign of Cornerian survivors, and no sightings of whatever totalled the base. "There's really nothing out here?"
"Not that I could find." Fox sighed, brushing his right hand through his crew-cut between his ears.
"It's just dead space. Damn…" Falco squawked behind a defeated voice.
"Even my scanner c-couldn't pick anything up. If I b-being honest, guys, I'm a little f-freaked out by whatever happened here. Reports of a base and spies, but there's just… n-nothing. N-Nothing left. Nothing's scarier…" Slippy nervously spluttered, sweat forming on his top lip.
"Keep it together, Slip. We'll head on through, take out any more Venomians up ahead and then report back to Pepper with what we find." Peppy reaffirmed.
"Sounds like a plan to me, Peppy." Fox proclaimed, and the four set off as a unit through the last leg of wreckage. As they ventured through a large inner wall which crumbled as they blasted it apart, a giant crane-like construct slowly drifted through the gap they made.
"What the hell was that?!" a spooked Falco exclaimed, attempting to look back for a better view.
"Don't matter much now." Peppy grumbled in a rather sombre tone. Such a waste of life, for answers that seemingly will never truly be solved. Up ahead, another party of Venomians lay in wait for prey. Four of the eight man-band splintered Peppy from the pack, causing the old rabbit to blurt out, "They've got me! I'm gettin' careless!"
Falco took off to distract the other fighters, whilst Fox and Slippy teamed up to lend Peppy a helping hand. Within a matter of moments, Fox and Slippy had wiped out the attackers. "Thanks for the save, boys."
A few minutes later, Falco re-joined the trio and the team continued to pass by the wreckage of the Venomian research base, a host of questions running through each of their heads as to what caused this. After another hour's lazy search, Star Fox came across a fork division caused likely by a diverging corridor. Fox and Peppy took the left, whilst Falco and Slippy went down the right route. As they approached, the team almost smashed into another crane-like appendage. When Falco cried out about, Peppy commented on it too; these were so far the only distinguishing refuses in the sea of bland construction waste. After travelling down their respective corridors and reuniting again when the two forks converged again, they entered a danger zone; the radioactive dust cloud of Sector X on the far horizon had grown much larger, suggesting that the Star Fox Team had been travelling for miles.
"Watch yer counters, boys. We're entering Danger Zone: Yellow. It may be the least dangerous, but that don't mean we can get sloppy." Peppy warned.
As the team continued down another route of metal wreckage, Falco scanned their surroundings; the Venomians had all but completely backed away, and the wreckages around them had clearly been scavenged. But, as Peppy pointed out, this was well into the first tier of Sector X's danger zone, where the radiation can be deadly, even in the 'Yellow Zone', the least deadly. "Somethin' not right in this place. Who took all the salvage?"
Emerging from the corridors, the Star Fox Team ventured out slowly into the open plains. They were in the thick of the danger zone, and all agreed- with the 'Orange' and 'Red danger zones ahead and the lesser scrap- that they should head back. An EMP wave suddenly short-circuited the team's scanners, disabling their second set of eyes. In agreement the team were ready to head back to the Great Fox, until Falco noticed something very unsettling; the two cranes that had passed within the wreckage paths had seemingly followed them through.
Falco took one look back and screamed, "What the hell!? Fox! Peppy! Slippy! Look out behind us!"
All three pilots tossed and turned in their cockpits, trying to look back at what Falco had seen. Then Fox saw it, diverting Peppy and Slippy to it as well; a flagship-like construct dragged out from the debris fields. The cranes that the team had seen were summoned from the depths and latched onto the main body of the build. The hull resembled a body, the 'bridge' area a head, and the cranes seemed to morph into a set of arms.
"This must be what took out the base!" Fox gasped.
"Just what in the world is it!?" Peppy exclaimed. It looked like a cross between an old robot unit and some kind of salvage boat.
"W-Whoa! Cool!" Slippy croaked, his eyes bulging in an odd delight.
"Focus, Slippy! This thing's dangerous!" Falco snapped at the awestruck frog.
Suddenly, a rogue channel came in over the Arwing communicator. Its speech was unsettling, to say the least: "Destroy. Destroy." The arms properly locked in place on the body before the bridge turned to unveil a large set of optical floodlights, which beamed through the blankness of the space field. It then proceeded to raise an arm and flex the crane head into a hand, and wagged a single finger at the Star Fox Team.
"Sassy little scrub, ain't he?" Falco grumbled, clearly annoyed that a crazed robot rivalled him in sass.
The robot then flexed the same finger with a come hither motion, droning out the words, "I will terminate all enemies. You are an enemy." 'It' then swatted after the nearest Arwing, but the pilot- Fox- rolled away whilst peppering the head of the bot with his ship's main cannons.
"Fox, aim for those floodlights. I think they're its eyes!" Slippy cried out, his scanner detecting the optics as a weak point.
"Take out the eyes, and it'll be blind too." Peppy concluded, swooping in close to the head of the 'being', charging up from below and blasting the eyes. As the old rabbit flipped over and looped back, the bot again attempted to swat the Arwing dead, but Peppy was just a little too far to be caught. Before he could turn back on himself and get a second round in, however, the 'creature' then opened two gates at the sides of its head, which unveiled twin cannons which shot out a pulsing wave, which hit Peppy. "Damn! I'm hi-" Before he could finish, the old man was cut off.
"Peppy? Peppy!" Fox cried out to no response.
"Destroy. Destroy." The bot simply repeated in its droning speech.
Falco charged in and blasted the unit with a smart bomb, crippling the right side of its head. "Take that, ya scrub!"
"Peppy's okay, guys!" His communicator and engines were just cut out, that's all." Slippy sighed to his comrades. Soon, Peppy's voice came back over the communicator, to the relief and calming of Fox and Falco.
The fight against the mysterious bot, however, was far from over. It still had half its head in working order, and both arms still served their function. Despite the damage it sustained from Falco's smart bomb, it was clear this 'creature' still had a lot of fight left in it. "I will terminate all enemies." It charged its remaining head cannon and zapped it after the Star Fox Team, only for them all to dodge the wave and pepper the cannon with their own firepower, causing the cannon to explode in a fiery shower of glorious heat. "WHERE IS THE CREATOR!?" The 'creature' demanded, firing the crane-fists at Star Fox.
As the Star Fox lead dodged passed one of the fists, he pondered aloud, "What is this thing talking about?"
"Don't know, don't care. It's goin' down for good!" Falco rushed back in and shot another smart bomb, blowing a hole in the centre of its chest. With the massive hole blown through its chest, the robot seemingly sunk down in defeat and began to drift away in the vacuum.
"Mission accomplished, guys! Now let's get outta here!" Fox exclaimed.
"Ya don't have ta tell me twice! We're almost on the border to Danger Zone: Orange. Let's double back to the Great Fox and move on." Peppy boomed, preparing to head back with Fox and Falco.
"Hold on a second, guys…" Slippy muttered, edging his Arwing closer to the creature. "I may be able to scan this thing and rig up some new prototypes!"
"Come on now, Slippy! Let's get a move on!" Peppy barked out. He knew the dangers of lingering in the danger zones for too long, as some good soldiers he knew during the insurgency had vanished in the region.
"Don't worry. This'll only take a second." Slippy calmly noted as he drifted in close to the being's head, a blue flash waving over the creature and feeding data back to Slippy's on-board computer.
"Slippy, what're ya doin', pal? Ca-mon, hurry up!" Falco yelled, clearing agitated by Slippy's nonchalance about the urgency of the situation. Rather surprising, considering he was far from level-headed travelling through the debris field. Perhaps the payoff had calmed his nerve.
"Almost finished…"
Just then, another electromagnetic pulse shot across the field, knocking out all scanners and communications between the Star Fox Team. As their systems came back online, Slippy began to turn back and catch up with his co-pilots, until the trio noticed the lifeless creature shift oddly. It was then that Fox realised that the being wasn't dead yet; it was still alive!
"Slippy, look out! That thing's still operational!" the vulpine cried to no avail; Slippy's communicator only broadcast static. The creature swooped down with a crane-arm and snatched Slippy's Arwing out of flight, crushed one of its wings and prepared to crush it further.
Amidst the static of his radio, Slippy's terrified voice was able to stammer, "H-H-H-H-H-Help me, g-g-g-g-g-guys!"
Falco shot to the rescue of the frog, piercing through the creature's arm with his Needler cannons. "Let Slip go, ya scrub!"
"The view is clear." The creature spluttered over the communication channel. It then revved up its arm and tossed the Arwing away. The Star Fox Team could only watch in horror as their fellow pilot tumbled off into the distance and was soon out of sight-range.
Before his communications range cut out, the terrified Slippy was able to cry out a single word:
"FOX!"
And just like that, he was gone. Slippy had disappeared from sight, his voice was silenced.
"SLIPPY!" Fox screamed in desperation. It was no use; Slippy was too far to hear him. Star Fox collective horror turned into primal wrath as each pilot turned their wrathful gaze onto the creature, who waged its finger at them and shook its head.
"I will terminate all enemies." It spluttered again. "Destroy. Destroy."
Falco swung down from above. "I'll give ya somethin' to destroy, bolt-brain!" the ace screeched as Needler shots dug through the armour plating of ther creature. Falco shot down below the creature, whilst Fox and Peppy charged in fast, blasting the creature on the left and to the face with a smart bomb each.
"WHERE IS THE ENEMY!?" the crazed bot spluttered, as small fires erupted from its armoured skin. It spun around like a rotating blade, attempting to swat any pilot that dared to fly too close. Falco charged up from below, spinning through an exposed opening and coming out through a blown shoulder. As he flew out, the bot erupted from the inside; Falco had dropped his last smart bomb from within the creature. Before the eruptions encompassed its head, the creature let out a rather pitiful groan: "I must be complete." And just like that, the creature was no more; its head detached from the main body with a small puff and blast. It really was debris now.
The three pilots boosted away from the danger zones closing in towards the Sector X nebula cloud.
"ROB! Get me Slippy's location!" Fox desperately cried over the communicator, brushing sweat through his crew-cut.
"Location confirmed. Arwing Four distress signal: planet ahead." Star Fox reared in sight of the next planet. It atmosphere a toxic mix of red and orange, an orbital ring of rock dust flying round it.
Peppy instantly recoiled in terror. "Oh no… he's crashed on Titania! That's a military testing ground!"
"Man. Slip's always causin' problems." Falco groaned.
"Hang in there, Slippy. We're comin…"
