Chapter 9
Lost and Found
Fichina Orbit
August 3rd, 7:13 PM Lylat Standard Time
Great Fox II Bridge
Falco sat uneasily in the lofty captains chair on the bridge of the Great Fox. He knew that it wasn't a rightfully earned position, but he knew he would have to fill the spot to the best of his capabilities until the time arose where Fox was ready for combat again. Falco looked down to he frozen ball that was Fichina with a look of boredom on his face; the lack of action was a nice change, but he would rather be blowing something up, as was his nature.
Worst of all, Falco was beginning to wonder whether they had struck a sore spot only on the one research station; the one they had found in Sector X had been completely abandoned. Slippy had guessed it was the same one they used to construct the massive mechanized secret weapon that had been in Sector X during the Lylat war, and based on the kind of research data they had found there, it seemed his guess couldn't be far off.
The mission to Sector X was the day before, and this day was the first without action in the better part of a week. No calls from the military brass, no strange sensor readings, no spontaneous ambushes. Falco was grateful for the rest, but when there was a war going on around him, it made him uncomfortable to be sitting still, even if only for a day.
The silence was more bearable having someone to spend it with for a change; Katt sat on one of the officers chairs to the left of the captains seat. It appeared she had already fallen into a nap; Falco was the only one on the bridge that was awake. Slippy was in the medical bay preparing for Fox's surgery, Krystal was probably there as well. Skye and Mina spent quite a bit of time with the Arwings, and it was probable that's where they were.
It was then however, in his stupor of boredom, that his prayers were answered. The communications console lit up. ROB waddled over to it. "COMMUNICATION FROM GENERAL PEPPY. HIGH PRIORITY."
Falco was disturbed from his half slumber with a start. "Put 'im on screen, ROB."
The sudden presence of sound awoke Katt beside him, who squinted a couple of times before realizing what was going on. She slipped into a more proper posture on her seat. Falco remained leaning on his left arm, he was rather indifferent talking to Cornerian high command members; especially Peppy who he had known for years.
Still in the same red uniform, Peppy was sitting at his admirals chair on the bridge of the Patriot, as always. "Falco, we've got work for you. We just got a really strange sensor reading near Kew, records suggest some kind of portal, but it wouldn't make sense for one to be in such a remote location. We have reason to believe it is part of a back-door ambush tactic by the Venomians; I have no idea why it would only be revealed now, but that is what we need you to solve. The Great Fox is the closest ship to the device; we need you to get there and investigate."
Falco sat up. "And if it is Venomian, blow it to high hell, right?"
The old hare nodded. 'Right. I'm uploading the coordinates to you now."
Falco looked over to the navigation console on the other side of the bridge, which lit up and began processing data. "Yeah, I got it."
Peppy smiled. "Good, hail me back when you figured out what the disturbance is. Peppy out."
The screen winked out, and rather than walking to the Nav console himself, he decided to delegate authority. "Hey. ROB, punch in those coordinates and get us there would you? I gotta get ready."
"UNDERSTOOD." The robot began wireless interaction with the ship, and the view of the planet below began to shift as the Great Fox moved into position to make the warp jump to Kew. Falco nodded to Katt, who got up with him to make their way to the hangar bay. Falco hit a button on his headset. "Everyone, we got a job. Some kind of portal near Kew we gotta blow up. Get to your Arwings."
5 Minutes Later
Docking Bay
Falco was still a bit drowsy, and almost lost his balance when the ship lurched into hyperspace upon leaving Fichina's immediate gravity well. He shook his head to let a little oxygen perturb his brain from it's half sleep state. It was only 7 at night. Why the hell was he so tired?
Katt kept her balance fine, however, and giggled at his stumble. "Sure you're fit to fly?"
He shot her a glare. "Of course! I'm always fit to fly."
They had just got off the elevator that lead them to the docking bay. Skye was already sitting in his cockpit, Mina was stuffing a rifle into the cargo bay of the Ranger. Slippy wouldn't be coming at all, he would be installing Fox's leg during this mission. Falco hoped sincerely that nothing went wrong.
The only member of the team that was going on the mission and wasn't at the docking bay yet was Krystal, who was probably lagging behind staying with Fox for an extra minute or two. A thought crawled up into his mind absently; what happens if she is distracted by her worries for Fox during a dogfight? He didn't want another Macbeth incident; especially when that psycho Fox wasn't around to do something insane to save her.
He dismissed the worry; she was a professional, he seriously doubted she would do something so stupid.
As he approached his own fighter, he casually mentioned to Mina. "This mission is all in space, won't need your blasters."
She sighed. "Oh, alright then." She didn't bother taking the weapon back out, she just let the cargo bay seal up again and jumped into her cockpit, waiting for the Great Fox to reach the portal device.
Skye, laying back in his pilots couch cradling his head with his hands, spoke up. "So, what's the details on this portal?"
Falco shrugged. "No idea. Peppy just got the signal like, within the hour. All we know is that it's probably Venomian, and it's probably spitting out ships."
Skye shook his head. "Too many probabilities. I don't like this at all."
Falco shook his own. "You worry too much. I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle."
Leaping into the cockpit of the Sky Claw, Falco began to run over his pre-flight checklist, but not all the way through. He didn't activate his thrusters; it would still be a bit before they reached their destination, even with the Great Fox II's powerful hyperspace drive. It wasn't long at all though for Krystal to show up, she looked very rattled. Stress was obviously getting to her seeing Fox bashed up like he is.
Without a word she got into her own cockpit, and started running the pre-flight checklist. She had none of her usual grace or bounce to any of her actions. Falco was getting sick of the gloomy demeanor of all of the pilots in general. He called out across the bay. "Christ people, what's up? You all look like you just woke up from hibernation!"
Skye scoffed at him sarcastically. "Well, it could be the fact our beloved leader just had his leg blown off, or maybe it's just me."
Falco rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long night.
2 Hours Later
9:20 PM Lylat Standard Time
Venomian Portal Device
The docking bay alarm blared as the ship rocked from exiting hyperspace. ROB's voice immediately filled each of the 5 pilot's cockpits. "PREPARE FOR LAUNCH, WE HAVE REACHED THE COMBAT ZONE. DOCKING BAY DOORS OPENING."
Falco was snapped out of his nap again with the sudden rush of sound. By instinct he finished his start up checklist. The Sky Claw was more than sufficiently warmed by the 2 and a half hours of being half started up; the other members were obviously more ready, as Skye and Mina were already moving up to the docking bay doors on repulsor lifts, ready to launch.
Skye scoffed. "Wake up Falco, combat time."
"Shut up, you."
"Yes sir." The bird rolled his eyes again as he drifted his Arwing smoothly to the right of Mina, who was to the right of Skye. Krystal and Katt drifted in behind them last.
"Ok, here's the plan." Falco was running through the details in his head; typically, he never actually thought of a plan before hand. "We need to cover the Great Fox as it pounds that portal device. Simple enough?"
Mina was checking her radar to get a feel for the situation; there was 5 large red blips circling a big line. It was fair to assume the line was the portal; and the blobs were larger attack ships, probably battleships. Then 3 new blobs appeared, and they were green, just a bit larger than the Venomian ships. "Three Cornerian battleships just dropped in guys. Should we keep an eye on them too?"
Falco grinned, this would make the job far easier. "We'll let them distract the Venomians while we pound that portal. Everyone who is packing smart bombs, save em for the portal. Everyone else, disarm those battleships."
There was no sign of affirm from his team mates, but he assumed they had heard him. "Alright, team Star Fox, launch!"
He said this as soon as the docking bay doors had opened all the way. The 5 Arwings shot out of the docking bay like cannonballs towards the portal device, which was actively spewing out a 6th battleship. If they hit the portal fast enough that ship would never make it to this side. They formed up in an arrowhead formation, and hit the boost in unison.
The enemy ships were obviously torn on what to do; intercept the three incoming Cornerian ships, or take on Star Fox? They outweighed both groups put together in firepower and defenses, but they knew better than to underestimate the Star Fox team. All of the ships simply held their ground at the portal; they would take on both forces at once.
Falco dialed up ROB on his comm. "ROB, form up with the Cornerian ships, we'll go in first and bring down their beam cannons so they can't toast you."
"AFFIRMATIVE."
He switched back to team frequency. "Alright, pick your targets and take out their anti-capital ship guns. The less resistance the heavies take the quicker this is done."
The 5 Arwings broke off in their own ballistic paths towards whatever battleship they picked to take down. As was the basic Venomian battleship design, the heavy laser cannons would be on either side right behind the bridge on the front of the rectangular ships. For maximum effect, they would go into the ships shields right head on to make sure they hit the beam cannons, then hit whatever else they could before breaking off. They had to do this twice to disable both beam cannons.
The Arwings of course made it to their target first. Falco checked which direction each of the Arwings were going and picked the last remaining battleship. He approached it just like any other battleship run; head on. What shocked him is that the ship began to charge one of it's lead beam cannons. Normally the extensive cool down time of these weapons made it unadvisable to waste the shots from these massive weapons; but it looked like these guys were willing to take the risk to have a chance at wiping out their incoming doom.
All five of the ships in fact, were charging their beam cannons. Skye's jaw dropped at this. "10 beams, and we can't even tell what direction they're going to fire. I think we're in a lot of trouble here."
Falco sighed. "You really are new at this aren't you? Get cover behind one of their own, then the worst that can happen is the shot being wasted, at best whacking one of their own ships."
There were no more words; they had mere seconds until the deadly volley of energy wiped them off the face of the Lylat system. Falco dived towards his target with his boost on full, its lower right side (from his view of the front of the ship) offered complete cover from all of the devastating weapons. The ships flak cannons roared at him with his approach, but whatever hits got too close simply hit his shields. With a barrel roll to punch through the battleships shields, Falco got in nice and close to the side. As soon as he got in past it's beam cannon, it fired. The black void of space was lit up brilliantly by the spray of lasers; to his shock, he heard a yell over the comm. His radar showed Katt's fighter wink out.
But it promptly returned. "That was a close one, couldn't get behind my target in time, almost got fried! Atmospheric maneuvering thrusters are down but that won't be a problem out here."
Falco's heartbeat calmed down again. "Try to be more careful next time, will ya?"
Krystal was emotionless. She had not got in cover in time either, but used her telepathy to tap the mind of the gunner of the offending battleship. She knew exactly where the beam was going to go seconds before it fired, and had plenty of time to evade. She kept cool and flew her Cloud Runner at the side of the battleship, phasing through it's shield barrier. Her laser cannons lit up the side of the ship, causing explosions to erupt predictably ripping the outer hull to shreds. She let the first emotion through, -gratification-, as the beam cannon that attempted to fry her moments earlier burst into debris and flame. She pulled away from the ship again as it's flak cannons and laser turrets turned to shoo away her Arwing.
By then, the Cornerian ships and the Great Fox got into firing range. This is where the havoc would begin. Falco smiled at the development; three of the Venomian ships were now disarmed against capital ships, and the other two still needed 30 seconds or so to recharge. This would be butchery.
The Cornerians took the liberty of launching the opening volley. The roar of the 8 simultaneous shot more than literally shook the Venomians in their boots; the two closest ships to them were pummeled by 4 beams each, crashing their shields and tearing their hulls asunder. One of the beams even managed to pierce right through it's target and slam into the shields of the one closest to the Great Fox. The assault carrier took this opportunity to finish that ship off; it's massive disruptor cannons shattered what was left of the ships shields and pounded it's hull like Thor's hammer. The ship, while it's hull didn't buckle, drifted lifeless into space.
They were slow though; the last Venomian ship had finally appeared through the portal. This one was not a battleship at all; it was much larger, a full out fighter carrier. The 5 kilometer long beast was heading towards the Cornerian ships. Fighters poured out of it in 7 different places; on regular intervals on its port and starboard sides, and a main port in the front. None of the pilots recognized the design; it was like a long triangle, with its bridge sticking out of the top of the aft section of the ship. A -very large- gun was mounted along the bow-upper-dorsal section of the ship.
((Authors note: No, for those thinking it is a Star Destroyer and I just ruined this with Star Wars mixture, don't worry. It's one of the carriers from Star Fox 2, if you've had the fortune of playing it you know what I mean.))
Falco's jaw dropped. He had never seen a ship like that before; especially one that large. His Comm board lit up, it appeared to be from one of the Cornerian ships. "Commander Keegan Welsh of the Achilles to Star Fox, have you seen anything like that before?"
Falco shook his head. "No, never. Can you scan it for weaknesses?"
"Already on it. We've already found it's beam cannons, damn thing has 6 of em! Keep it busy while we look for a hole in it would you?"
The blue avian nodded. "Sure, but you owe me one."
"I'm sure the General will put you in for a bonus."
"That's what I like to hear!"
The 5 Arwings dropped what they were doing with the two remaining battleships and turned towards the carrier. The 3 Cornerian Battleships, along with the Great Fox, took apart the two floating targets as they began to circle the carrier. Suddenly, the robotic face of ROB appeared on the teams comm boards. "I HAVE DETECTED A POSSIBLE WEAKNESS. THE INSIDE OF THE SHIP APPEARS TO HAVE MANY DIFFERENT PASSAGES THROUGHOUT THE SUPER SRUCTURE TO ALLOW FREE MOVEMENT OF RESISDENT FIGHTERS, AND DEEP INSIDE THE WARP CORE OF THE SHIP IS VULNERABLE."
The idea struck Skye like a freight train. "We need to go inside of that thing, don't we."
the cat gritted his teeth at the idea.
The 5 fighters breached the shield barrier of the carrier, and flew around it's deck, hitting the many flak and laser turrets that littered its hull. Falco spoke up. "Any volunteers to cut this things heart out?"
Mina smiled to herself, this sounded like it was going to be quite a bit of fun to her. "I'll do it. Cover me."
Falco nodded to himself. "Alright, good luck. Everyone else, lets kill those beam cannons."
Mina looped back out of the shield barrier to get a good straight run on the front port of the ship. Fighters had stopped pouring out of the thing, and were scrambling to bring down the Arwings that were tearing the carriers defenses apart. The Cornerian ships were heading to the portal; they were going to tear the thing apart so no more ships could get through; they would leave the destruction of the carrier to the Star Fox team.
5 fighters had broken off from the carrier to chase after Mina, knowing her intent. Skye in turn saw this and chased after them. Opening up with lasers, he managed to cut two of them down. The other three relentlessly hunted Mina's Ranger. Mina herself lined up with the pit in the front of the ship that almost seemed to her like the maw of a massive beast. Then she saw them; three fighters coming in on a head to head with her. She sprayed at them trying her best not to deviate from her course; and hit one, the other two were almost in position to fire...
Then they were vapourized, Skye flew over her as she charged into the ship. "You're all clear, good luck in there Mina." he said.
She smiled to herself. "Thanks."
Inside the Carrier
Mina didn't dare using the boost inside the ships superstructure; it was more than big enough for her fighter, but there were more than enough obstacles in the corridor. Walkways, small passenger transports flying about, and dangerous intersections. She didn't have time to slow down however; every second she wasted was another second for that massive gun on the front of this beastly ship to prepare to vapourize one of the Cornerian ships; and more than likely, it's first target would be the Great Fox.
The tight corridor, turning in different directions almost randomly, finally lead her to something completely different; a huge chamber that she wouldn't have believed possible for a ship of this size to contain.
It was a massive squat cylindrical chamber, which contained a huge spire in the center. In the center of the spire, what couldn't have been anything but a fusion reaction of some kind was suspended in the center. It had to have been the core. There were actually fighters patrolling around the core, and they had turned face to greet Mina's intrusion into the heart of the carrier.
She smirked, it was time for the interceptor's speed and capability in a dogfight to shine.
There were 6 fighters in total, 2 shield trios. Another one popped up on her radar at the last minute; a Wolfen came from the other side of the core.
The animal at the cockpit of the Wolfen contacted her. The voice had a long-toned accent that made him difficult to understand; but his message was perfectly clear. "My name is Baron Gaiden Jal'in. You will not leave this place alive."
She gritted her teeth; keeping her predatory smirk. This had just become far more interesting. The Wolfens 6 minions took the first attack; one of the shield trios boosted into her direction at full throttle opening up lasers wildly. Mina used the quick locking of the interceptor to fire not one, but two locked on laser bombs at two of the shield trio pilots. The resulting two explosions turned the space she flew through a bright green as she passed by it. There was nothing left of the pilots but debris.
The other three also sought to harass her; breaking off in a more loose formation to prevent the same fate befalling them as their brethren. One had the nerve to try to get a lock-on. As it was almost complete, Mina took a head-on snap shot at the offending fighter, and it blew to smithereens. The other two broke off to try to evade; but the interceptor was much too fast. One that broke off to Mina's left was caught by a shockingly quick lock-on, the laser bomb trailed it to a bright green death. The other, Mina followed as she broke off from her lock on. It juked and jinked to no avail in attempts to break off her pursuer, but she kept on him effortlessly. Strafing it with lasers, Mina was rewarded with one of her shots firing right through the fighters hull, leaving it to drift right into the wall of the huge chamber.
Then the Wolfen got it's turn. While Mina was busy with it's subordinates, the Baron had slipped in position behind Mina and began to spray lasers at her fighter; heralding a couple of near misses as she dodged the incoming fire. "Ahh, you are agile, but no match for me, a Baron!"
She snickered. "You haven't got the slightest clue what you've gotten yourself into."
It was time to put the maneuverability of the Interceptor to the test. She jammed her yoke backwards, sending her into a dizzying summersault. The G-Diffuser of the ship whined in protest as she made the ridiculous maneuver; in no more than a second and a half, she was behind the cocky Baron. She wasted no time in answering his rude laser fire; the Wolfen broke into a barrel roll, deflecting her fire, and tried to lose pursuit.
"What in ze hell?" he exclaimed.
"Show's you to dick with Star Fox... Time to say goodbye." She said with a predatory smirk.
It was common knowledge amongst Arwing and Wolfen pilots that they were vulnerable right after a complete barrel roll; the Baron tried to break a hard maneuver to the left towards the core, using it's brightness to make his escape. Unfortunately, not only did Mina's Ranger have an automatically tinting canopy shield, he had not learned yet even after her summersault that the Interceptor was vastly more maneuverable than his Wolfen. She kept pace with him effortlessly, and despite his best efforts to out maneuver his pursuer, she had a lock almost instantly. The green laser bomb slammed into the Wolfens rear shields. It continued to struggle, but Mina choked off any chance the Baron had for survival. Another lock on blew off the ships wing.
"So this is how it ends...?"
"Yep, now shut up and die."
The last hope of the Baron was sealed off with a burst of Mina's lasers. The Wolfen spun out of control and exploded; sending pieces of itself in every direction.
Her focus stuck onto the core of the carrier; she made a wide loop around the now empty chamber and sprayed lasers onto it, hoping for a reaction. She was rewarded with explosions in the spires that were holding it up. Expecting to have little time to lose, she fired back the way she came.
Fighters and transports alike darted around the corridors of the massive ship in attempts to escape; and Mina only had a vague idea of where she came from in the labyrinth of intersections and identical corridors. She began to panic, she knew time was running out by the sudden rapturous explosions from the walls every few seconds. Some corridors she was finding blocked off by fallen debris.
Then, when she had lost hope, a blue beam of light shot across her view; it was a beam cannon shot from a Cornerian battleship. A huge hole was opened in the carriers armor; and it was her chance to escape. She pulled out of the hole with her boost on full just as her peripheral vision began to be filled with a bright light. Her ship began to shake violently...
But the speed of the Interceptor had pulled through; with a blur of the surrounding debris and ships, she shot away from the explosion as it enveloped the space where the carrier had been.
As she regained her senses, she realized there were woops and cheers over the comm. Different faces flashed on her comm board with congratulations.
"Alright Mina!"
"Holy shit, that was wild!"
"Did you see that?!?"
"Damn!!"
She checked her radar quickly, breathing a sigh of relief. The Great Fox, and 4 Arwings other than herself were still active. She did however notice that one of the Cornerian battleships was gone. In its place was the wreckage of the portal. She also noticed there was a blue dot; a non combat indicator was on one of the Venomian battleships; it must have got through the portal later on in the fight and surrendered.
Once her heart rate settled down again, she decided to thank whoever made the shot that let her out of that thing. "Which ship made that beam cannon shot?"
Skye actually spoke up. "When the core began to buckle and the explosions were starting, the ships shields went down so I was able to get close enough to track you on radar. Based on your trajectory I sent targeting data to the Achilles to open a path for you. I'm glad it worked as well as I had hoped."
She smiled. 'Thank you Skye, I thought I was done for that time for sure. That's twice you've saved my life now."
Skye saw a fitting for Star Fox's famous line... "It's what I do."
She chuckled to herself. "So, what's with the guy that surrendered? I'm surprised were showing him mercy."
Captain Walsh broke in. "Their captain told us he would give us the coordinates of a secret research base if we let him live."
Falco was next. "Apparently, they were being sent to ship supplies or something... They were the only ship with the proper coordinates."
The Arwings began to head back for the Great Fox, and Krystal put her two cents in. "I don't believe it though. A portal device and a battleship to send supplies? And there wasn't even that much aboard; only about two months worth of extra supplies. I sense a trap."
"At least we know what to expect from them this time." Falco added.
Great Fox II Medical Bay
10:02 PM, August 3rd
Slippy wiped a sweat off his brow with a handkerchief he kept with some of his other tools for the surgery as he began the toughest part of the entire procedure; he had cut off and sealed the appropriate nerve endings, sealed and rewired the proper veins and arteries, and now he had to actually attach the leg and make sure he put it on properly, and making sure the neural link worked right. There was no room for error.
It was a quick process having the custom leg made; he had gone to his fathers research station in orbit of Corneria the day previous during the teams mission to Sector X to have the leg built. Beltino Toad had not only made it for free, but made sure it was made out of the lightest and toughest materials available, to make the leg an improvement rather than an impairment. All that was left was to attach it.
Slippy stopped for a minute and slipped his eyes to the pile of gore that was Fox's old leg. Snapping himself back to attention, he began the procedure. Alone, with a sedated Fox McCloud and his wife Amanda in a comatose two cots away, he began to attach Fox's new leg.
Venom
Dash's Quarters; Androsia Palace
Meanwhile....
Dash was lying back on his bed, after hearing the news that one of his super carriers, the Extinguisher, had just been butchered at the hands of Star Fox. It had been his plan to distract Star Fox with the presence of the portal AFTER he had hidden the carrier behind enemy lines, but it appears Star Wolf was attracted to the system by pure luck and exposed the portal before it's purpose could be fulfilled.
"Grandfather, our plan to get the Extinguisher behind enemy lines has failed."
It is of no consequence. It only would have served as an distraction as well, but we have enough planned for our purpose.
"What should we use next?"
The battleship that was sent through the portal contained the coordinates of another non essential research station. In fact, we lost contact with it before my death during the Lylat War. They will be wasting precious time investigating it while our own research is almost complete.
"The Telepath Conduit."
Indeed. It will be the key to our victory. We do not need much more time; we need only preserve the border for a bit longer. The introduction of Star Wolf into the fray is indeed troubling; but it will delay us little. We have more than enough sources of time, even with that meddling fool in the fray.
"What still must be done in it's preparation? I was told the research was complete; we need only build it, correct?"
We are prepared to build the conduit, yes...
"But we still require the telepath."
Great Fox II Medical Bay
10:14 PM
The entire team was ready for a good nights sleep; the coordinates of the apparent next research station were more than a days trip away, and there was plenty of time to rest and recuperate. The fighters needed to be restocked, and Katt's fighter needed to be repaired, which Skye and Mina went ahead to do.
Slippy was finishing the last steps of the surgery; he had connected the neural uplink from his leg to the nerves in his hip properly; he would be able to control this tritanium leg like it were his old one. He traded the ability to feel with it, to being able to kick a 3" reinforced blast door down. His good old combat boots would even still fit the new foot. Slippy wasn't religious, but he hoped to god that the leg worked properly. The last thing anyone needed, especially Fox, was to wake up to the worst pain imaginable. He went over everything he did twice, and he would stake his life on it's security. He would wake up at about 9 AM the next day, and his doubts would be confirmed or rejected then, and only then.
Krystal was in the medical bay with him; her eyes scanning the new leg in sympathy. "You're sure?"
Slippy nodded. "Never been more sure of my work in my life. If this doesn't do the trick, nothing will."
She kissed the fallen Fox's cheek, and as she said often since the day he was shot... "I'm so sorry."
The Docking Bay
Skye, for the first time in a while, was extremely angry. The hit that Katt took almost completely ruined the powerful maneuvering thrusters he had installed in the wings of the Cats Claw, and they would probably need to be completely replaced by scratch. New parts would have to be ordered to replace the thrusters on the right wing. Thankfully, he didn't have to rewire the whole wing again.
Skye was still grumbling, and Mina put his arm around his back. "Just calm down, Skye. It's not like we have any atmospheric fighting planned for a while."
He sighed. "You never plan for a fight in a war, 99% of the time they are completely circumstantial. She will be completely unable to fly in atmosphere with this damage."
"Then we can just order the parts, and they should be ready by the time we get back from this next research station. Can have them delivered to Macbeth even, on our way back to the Patriot for our next set of orders."
"Sounds like a sound plan, I suppose."
He sighed, looking at the wing again. "I love building things from scratch; I loath repairing them. It's like repeating the same things over and over. A Rubik's cube that starts the same each time."
She looked up at the snow leopards face. "I guess we should get some sleep, huh."
"Not tired."
She smiled. "Me neither, actually. Say, you've been teaching me about mechanics, why don't I teach you something?"
Skye for a second had the wrong idea. "Uhm, what?"
"Ever wanted to learn how to use a sword?"
Skye was relieved; he took that the wrong way completely. He did in fact have a great interest in learning how to use a sword; despite how out aged they were, the technology of the day had ways of evening the odds in a fight. Some blades had electromagnetic fields that could perfectly reflect lasers, and he had seen some that had shield emitter arrays on the hilt, that could make disc-like anti-laser shields that could almost completely cover an average height man. There was also of course the fact that one simply did not survive an evisceration from a sword like you would a blaster shot; if a swordsman got in range, the blaster wielder was doomed.
"Actually, yes. I would be honored if you would teach me."
"It's settled then!"
She almost skipped a few feet ahead of him. "Training simulator room in ten minutes, I'm going to grab my swords. Dress light."
He looked at the wing of Cat's fighter and then back at Mina. "Sure."
The Next Day
August 4th, 8:32 AM Lylat Standard Time
En Route to Secret Research Station
Great Fox Medical Bay
Slippy and Krystal had both slept in the Med bay the previous night; awaiting with baited breath the awakening of their leader. Slippy's alarm on his wrist communicator went off at 8:30, they had both agreed to wake up at that time, incase Fox had awoken early.
Slippy was sitting beside Fox's cot waiting for his eyes to open. Krystal had gone off to the Galley to get some breakfast for both them and Fox when he awoke. If breakfast started to get cold before he woke up, they would use a stimulant to bring him up artificially.
It wasn't long before Krystal returned with the rest of the team in tow, most were half dressed (Katt and Falco especially) and tired from having been awoken so early, but none regretted it. They all wanted to see if Fox was alright.
Skye checked the device on his wrist for the time, the digital display told him it was 8:41 AM. "About time to get him up, I imagine."
Krystal had a tray with quite a bit of bacon and scrambled eggs waiting for Fox, as he could not be fed before the surgery. He in fact had not eaten at all since he was shot in orbit of Solar, which was two days previous. She made sure to pack quite a bit on the tray.
"Alright, lets get him up." Slippy said, pulling a needle off of his surgeon tool tray to the side of his cot. He punctured his upper arm with it, and squeezed a little of the content into his blood stream.
The vulpine's eyes finally creaked open. Krystal and Slippy were standing over him, and the rest of the team were all watching with baited breath. Slippy waved a lit flashlight across his vision back and forth once. "Fox?"
The fox groaned. "Slippy... How'd it go?"
Krystal kissed him on the cheek. "We don't know yet, any pain?"
Fox took a moment to think. "No, I feel fine."
Slippy put the flashlight to the side. "Wiggle your toes on your left leg."
They all watched the robotic toes with held breath. After a few seconds, they reacted, wiggling back and forth. Everyone in the room cheered except for Skye, who smiled.
Fox's arms slapped onto his ears. "Whoa, not so loud.." He winced with his eyes shut.
Krystal brought over a tray of food. "I bet you're hungry, bacon and eggs."
Fox realized then and there how hungry he was. "Oh, jeez. Thanks Krys." leaned up and kissed her on the cheek before sitting upright. Slippy noticed he moved his new leg perfectly fine to push himself into the upright position.
The frog was now grinning even more. "I TOLD you it would work, Krystal!"
Falco, with a grin and a yawn, said "Well, no more pressure on me. I'm going to get my own breakfast, I'll meet you guys in the galley. We hit the next research station in about three hours."
Skye spoke up. "Not so fast, Falco. Fox will still be out of action for today, getting used to his new leg. You will still be leading this mission."
He groaned, but didn't break stride. He left the medical bay, and Katt followed behind him with a giggle. The door hissed shut behind them.
Almost Three Hours Later
11:12 AM
Unknown Sector, Great Fox Docking Bay
There the 5 pilots were again, ready for their next trip to a research station. Falco was grumbling as he packed his rocket launcher and a blaster into his cargo hold. "This had better not be a wild goose chase again, or worse, an infested pool of mutants. I hate these damn stations. Total bull shit both times."
Krystal was packing up the same chain gun she had taken to the Solar base, it having proved itself more than worthy in point blank situations. She also kept her staff with her. "In all honesty, Falco, I look forward to another boring mission. We've had hour share of neck-on-the-line experiences for one week, I think."
Mina had her sword, and a collection of throwing weapons at her disposal hidden inside of her black long coat. Falco shot her a strange look. "What's with all of the knives? Why not just take a blaster?"
She jumped into her cockpit. "These are quieter, quicker, and cleaner. Did I mention more fun?"
Falco cocked an eyebrow at this. "Remind me never to piss you off."
She smirked as her canopy closed. "Don't ever piss me off."
Skye had brought a sword with him as well, he wasn't exactly good at it yet, but it could serve as a point defense option should the need arise. Mina had let him use a black counterpart of her own sword that she had picked up with her white one back on Macbeth; when he asked about the history of the two blades, she was hesitant to give him any details. He also took his 10MM pistol again, and a sniper rifle. All of these weapons he stored in the Assassins cargo bay before jumping in his own cockpit.
As Falco's canopy began to close, Katt made a remark at Skye while she was getting to her own fighter. "What is it with you two and old weapons?"
Skye hesitated, looking for a reason, and then it hit him. "Like she said, fun." His canopy sealed as he finished this sentence; Katt simply shrugged and got into her own fighter.
Fox and Slippy had both stayed behind again, Slippy was monitoring the performance of the new leg, and Fox was getting used to using it. The two spent almost half an hour walking to the Galley just down the hall from the med bay, thanks to Fox's clumsy attempts at walking with the metallic leg. Despite the mindset that it should work exactly the same, it didn't. It was like he was used to being able to feel the weight of his own leg when walking, but now he couldn't feel anything at all in it. It was like walking on jelly.
The ship lurched as it exited hyperspace, and ROB came over the docking bay PA system. "ALL AIRCRAFT PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT. DESTINATION REACHED; TARGET RESEARCH BASE IS IN SIGHT."
The red lights and blaring of the docking bay alarms sounded as the doors began their slow crawl to open, and the 5 Arwings drifted into position to fire out of them when they finally got out of the way. The view they beheld was not what they had expected at all; the station was active, as there were active lights inside, but there was no escorting ships or patrols. It was out here on it's own undefended.
Falco was uneasy. "I think it's safe to say this is a trap."
Skye rolled his eyes. "We are getting fairly proficient at dealing with these painfully numerous traps, I'm sure we will survive."
Krystal spoke with a feeling of optimism. "Perhaps it is not a trap at all, and they merely relied upon it's hidden location for defense?"
"Let's hope for a good mission and get it over with." Katt exclaimed. "For all we know, this is just a useless goose chase and Andross led us all the way out here just to stall us."
The team fell silent. Skye broke it just as the docking bay doors were finally almost open, confirming what everyone was thinking. "That actually sounds extremely probable. It would certainly make quite a lot of sense."
Mina launched first. "Then let's spring the stall and get back to Macbeth. If he lured us all the way out here, then he must be planning something in our absence. Let's make this quick."
Falco was next. "Now you're even worrying me!"
The rest of the Arwings followed suit, the five rocketing towards the station at maximum velocity. There were bits of debris of different kinds drifting about the station, which only worried the team more. Getting a close look at some of the things he was passing, Skye noticed both bits of fighters and raw rock. It made no sense, however, for raw rock to be floating out here; there was no clear asteroid field.
The docking bay of the station was covered in a stable mag-con field, allowing it to contain atmosphere. The pilots landed one at a time in the expansive bay; It was simply one large rectangular room with a single door leading out at the far end. What was in the room was a totally different matter; ships hobbled together from different designs. As Skye set his Assassin down on the deck, he recognized the base of the closest ship. It was an extremely heavily modified old Invader II fighter. He was amazed the weak ships were still even in service; he recognized some of its elements from it's prototype age in shock. This fighter belonged in a museum, not in active combat. It looked recently used, which worried him not only for himself, but the pilot of the particular fighter. The Invader II didn't even have shields.
He was also the first to jump out of his cockpit onto the cold, gray deck of the docking bay. He took a closer look at the Invader II. He could see elements from a dozen different ship types on it, what really surprised him the most amongst the modifications was a hyper laser cannon under the cockpit. When the Invader II was in service, it was even rare to see an Arwing with such a modification, let alone a workhorse Venomian fighter.
Leaving the fighter alone, Skye went back to his Arwing as the others were landing. The cargo hold of the Assassin hissed open for him with a tap of a small button on the bow, and revealed the weapons he had stashed inside of it before they left. His sword was in its scabbard on a belt, which he put on. He also grabbed his 10 mm and put it in a holster on another belt he had already been wearing, with the sniper rifle slinged over his back. He was wearing a simple black T-Shirt again, with matching black jeans and combat boots.
The rest of the team armed themselves as well and gawked at the antique fighters scattered around the deck. Falco was the first to break the relative quiet of the huge room. "What's with all of these pieces of junk?"
Katt walked by one of the fighters, she recognized it as an Invader III, of the same design as her old modified Cats Paw. She ran her paw along the hull, smiling at the memories she had with the tear drop shaped fighter. Then she noticed something at the rear of the ship...
It was warm.
She pulled up the blaster she brought to her shoulder and called out. "Everyone, this fighters engines are warm. There is someone here for sure."
Everyone else drew weapons and walked cautiously to the far door of the docking bay. Falco in the lead with his greatly overzealous rocket launcher on the shoulder of his classic red vest. "Lets search the place. Everyone stick together."
The door yielded a thin hall going left and right, predictably bordering the spherical center chamber of the station much like the last one. Falco was looking in either direction while the others were following him into the hall. "Too crowded in here. Should we split up?"
Krystal gritted her teeth. "It sounds like a bad idea at first, but none of us can really fight well in such a tight corridor when all five of us are packed in tight. It might be smart to do just that."
Falco looked at his team. "Okay then, who's going where?"
Skye nodded at the right path down the hall. "Me and Mina are probably the most experienced ground combatants amongst us, I think it would be safe to have us as the smaller team."
Falco nodded to him in turn. "Alright then it's settled. Skye and Mina go that way, Katt and Krystal you're with me."
They split ways, Mina kept her sword unsheathed at all times, Skye's pistol was at his side but not raised, he had worries about the recently used fighter; the pilot was obviously brilliant to have survived so long with such an old, outdated fighter. Considering their base was so well hidden however, he doubted that they were very competent on the ground.
Falco led the way for the two girls. he looked to Krystal. "I guess your telepathy isn't working again?"
She was looking around the tight corridor, and the dark rafters and air vents above. "Well, I can sense you, and I can actually sense a couple of life forms in the main chamber, but nothing else."
They looked to Katt, who was lagging behind them a bit. To their shock, she was gone. Falco ran back a few paces. "Katt?! Katt where the hell are you?!"
Krystal got very worried. "I can't sense her anywhere!"
Falco shouldered his rocket launcher forward. "Oh crap, this doesn't look good."
Krystal turned for another second looking to the front of her, and she heard a quick thump from behind her. She shot back in Falco's direction; he could see a blur of black, but nothing else. "Falco!" she screamed in terror.
Then she sensed something; it was so faint, but it was right behind her. She instinctively pulled out her staff and swung it behind her; she hit something, and it was definitely flesh. Before she could see what it was, it was gone again. There were several drops of blood on the floor; she must have opened a cut with the brunt force of the staff.
"Have to find Mina and Skye, quickly!"
Meanwhile Mina and Skye were still undisturbed, Skye decided to check in with the others. "Falco, you guys alright still?"
Krystal came on instead. "They're gone, Falco and Katt are gone!"
Skye and Mina both dropped their jaws. "What?!" they shouted in unison.
"There's no bodies so they must have took them prisoner, or worse. We need to find them!"
Skye was checking around him for possible hostiles. "50 credits say they're in the main chamber. We'll hold here so you can catch up-"
He was interrupted by a figure falling out of the roof in front of them. Both cat's whipped out their swords, and the more experienced Mina took the first strike.
As the figure moved to block with a pole like weapon, it's looks became more clear. As it blocked Mina's vertical slash, Skye got a quick look at it; it was a canine of some kind, most likely a wolf, but it's fur was a very light blue, almost white. It held a staff in its paws very much like Krystal's; and he noticed it was she; a very stunning she. She was wearing a black sleeveless wool vest that was zipped all the way up to her chin, with simple blue jeans. The staff she carried was black, instead of Krystal's golden. Skye decided to worry about her Cerinian ancestry later; first he needed to stop her goal of killing them both.
Surprisingly, their mysterious attacker threw off Mina's strike, sending her backwards. The wolf spun around extremely quick and moved in for a stab, but her staff was pushed off course by a quick strike of Skye's blade. The wolf jumped back as Mina and Skye properly got into a fighting stance.
The wolf, obviously confident, held her staff horizontally behind her, and gestured for them to make the first attack. Both cats took the opportunity with indifference to the danger, charging at the wolf. She stepped back to get a better feel of what their attacks were going to be.
Before Skye leaped in to get his strike, Mina stopped, and pulled a thick black throwing star out of her jacket and threw it almost in an instant. The wolf moved almost beyond the limits of time; striking the star off course and then keeping the staff spinning, knocking Skye's blade clean out of his hands.
Skye leaped back in prediction of the counter attack; which came promptly. A cross slash from the wolfs staff was met with Mina's sword in a counter. He spotted his sword behind the wolf, leaving him weaponless against it; he would never get a clear shot with his pistol in this tight corridor. He would have to wait and see what happened, to his disgust.
It was then that a second blue blur entered the fray. Krystal had her staff out and was running full on. Mina took two more slashes at the wolf, each were thrown out of the way by the furious staff of their attacker. Krystal leaped clean over both combatants in a front flip and stabbed her staff backwards, the wolf expertly dodging to one side.
The next situation, there was no way for the wolf to escape; she had put herself into a checkmate. Krystal spun her staff the other way around and caught the wolf in the side, sending her sprawling into the wall. Mina moved in for the last blow, but the wolfs staff was in the way. When her blade made the staff flinch still for the block, Mina grabbed the black shaft to keep it still. The enraged cat kicked the wolf as hard as she could in her gut. She doubled over in pain, surrendered to the two ferocious members of Star Fox.
Krystal was in bewilderment, seeing a member of her species; her eyes were wide with shock, and her paw in front of her muzzle. Mina decided to ask the questions. "You need to answer a few questions for us, I imagine."
Suddenly Krystal could sense the wolf, the only emotion she could feel was annoyance. The wolf reached out her hand, shaking her head. Mina looked confused, but Krystal clarified. "She wants to access your memories so she can learn our language; same as I did with Fox."
She nodded, allowing the wolf to press her hand on Mina's skull. A strange blue aura almost seemed to flow from Mina to the wolf. Krystal was still in amazement. "I... I can't believe it... Survivors."
When the wolf was finished, she took her paw off of Mina's head. She finally spoke. "My name is Dawn." She spoke with an accent much like Krystal's, but even less effected by spending time in the Lylat system.
Mina sat down in front of the wolf. "Mines Mina, nice to meet you. Now, why the hell did you attack us?"
"I am defending my home. We were brought here by force many years ago by the invaders that ruined our planet, and cruel tests were conducted on us. We rebelled, and now we use this as our home, getting what supplies we must from nearby cargo ship hyperspace paths."
Skye had walked over, his sword back in it's sheath. "Now, where is our friends. The bird and the pink cat."
"They are being held captive in the main chamber. Come with me."
Mina and Krystal followed them without words, but Skye took a different path; if they were being led into a trap, which they most likely were, Skye would need to be in a position to rescue them. He jumped up into the rafters of the facility; he could feel Krystal interfering with his mind. He assumed she understood and was blocking out his mental signal; which would only work more to his advantage.
Krystal was awed by what she saw in the giant semi-spherical room. She had only expected 5 or 6 Cerinians there; but it was a whole fledging community. Dawn introduced them to it. "As I said, we have lived here for many years. We used the ships that were originally docked here to... fetch... supplies."
It was like a large shanty town in the massive chamber; different scraps of metal and crates used to build makeshift homes. It looked like poverty; but due to the expertly done modifications to the fighters in the hangar; they must have been living quite well.
Krystal's eyes were darting around wildly. "This.. This is incredible! I thought I was the last Cerinian left alive! Wait 'till Fox sees this..."
Dawn cut her off. "Our very survival depends on our secrecy here; I would wish that you tell no one of our presence here, we only permit your survival due to your relation to us, sister Krystal."
The largest shanty house was in the center of the chamber, amongst the wrecked pedestals of former containment tubes. A huge light blue bear exited the room; he was the only Cerinian walking around the town that was in ceremonial dress; which was for men, only the classic Cerinian loincloth. The bear had a rather dark blue fur instead of the light that was characteristic of most Cerinians; and held a much longer staff than anyone else. The crystal on it's head was much brighter and larger than any others. His look commanded respect, and the two Star Fox members gave it.
The bear spoke to them, his voice deep and commanding. "Dawn, who have you brought before me?"
"Allow me to introduce Mina, and Krystal. They have bested me in combat; and I had brought them here. They are members of the legendary mercenary unit, Star Fox, that we have heard of in recent months. Their intentions are pure, I assure you, my lord."
The bear walked up to them, and Krystal bent on one knee. Unsure of Cerinian traditions, Mina did the same. He planted a paw on each of their heads, and the same blue aura that Dawn had extracted from Mina was now flowing from them.
Skye was watching from an air vent 30 feet above the conversation in total darkness. His silenced pistol at the ready; so far the situation didn't look hostile, but he couldn't be sure. Suddenly he heard a voice in his head; it was Krystal's. "You can come down now."
Trusting his team mate, he let his feet slide first out of the vent, and his cat legs took the shock of the long fall. All of the Cerinians in the room shot surprised looks at his direction; none having been able to sense his presence, which surprised even him. Even the bear looked surprised.
The great bear looked suspiciously at Krystal. "You are indeed powerful to have hidden him from my telepathy so well; I congratulate you."
She smiled. "I try to keep my telepathy honed and sharp, it has proven a valuable ally in the harsh environments of combat."
Mina interrupted. "Now, where is our friends?"
The bear reared his head in respect to the young girls ferocity. "They are safe and unharmed. You will be allowed to leave once you answer my question; what was your aim in coming here?"
Krystal took the liberty of answering. "There is an opposing force to peace in Lylat, and they have been conducting cruel research in bases not unlike this one. We came to investigate any clues as to what they were working on, and cease all experiments. We would be humbled if you could give us access to the stations database; we require the locations of any similar bases."
"Ahh, they are indeed honest." he said. It was obvious he had already extracted the answer from their minds, he must have only been checking whether their intent was truly sound. "Very well, I will have the data transferred to your Great Fox. Oh, and one more matter to discuss..."
He gestured to a guard with his great paw, Krystal assumed that he had sent a message through his mind, because he ran off to grab something inside the bears home. He came out a few seconds later, holding a much more extravagant staff than her own; the end around the crystal was bladed, and the entire shaft featured beautifully carved writing in Cerinian. He held it out to Krystal.
She took it in her hands in awe as the bear spoke. "You, in the absence of your kind, have valiantly fought for the peace and prosperity for all; and this honor has been long earned, but to our shame, never rewarded. I hereby bestow upon you, Krystal, the staff of the Warrior, to replace your old initiates staff."
She gawked at it. "... Thank you, thank you so much!" She couldn't believe it; the staff was gorgeous. The bear looked at her again, with a look of pride. "I think your experiences more than make up for the trials of the warrior. Remember that you will always have a home here."
Two Cerinian guards carried out Falco and Katt from behind the bears home, they were both unconscious. Krystal opted to carry Katt, while Skye nearly threw Falco over his shoulder. Before they made their leave, Krystal stopped and turned to the bear again. "If I may ask, is there anything we can do to help the colony here? I mean, it is very overwhelming to see the last remnants of my people here. I would be honored to help the colony flourish."
The bear smiled. "You are indeed noble, but we live well here. You would do us the greatest favour of all only to mention our presence to the members of your Star Fox; and none else."
She nodded, carrying Katt bridal style towards the exit of the mechanical shanty village. "Very well. Goodbye, and thank you!"
An Hour Later
The Great Fox's Galley
Krystal had her staff lying on the table, and she looked at it as though it were a sacred icon of her people, still unbelieving the events of that day. She stared at it even as she ate one of the hamburgers she had made, Fox was sitting across from her, and she had just finished telling him the tale of the Cerinians they had found.
He had been in shock the whole time. "A whole colony of Cerinians.. Now I definitely wish I came along! Is Katt and Falco alright?"
She giggled. "Yes, they will be alright, they're just in their room resting now."
He laid his head back, setting his burger down on his plate. "It's funny calling it "their room" now, I never would have expected Falco to finally break."
She giggled again. "He was stubborn with her in the past?"
He looked at her in bewilderment. "Oh wow, I never told you about them?"
"No, I never knew about their previous relationship."
Fox crossed his arms on the table and told her the tale of how they had met as members of the Hot Rodders, and how she was always on his tail. How Katt originally became a pilot just to be with him, and how he always shunned her off. Krystal began to understand for the first time how incredibly more stubborn Falco was than she originally predicted. The two talked for hours about their past, Krystal explained to Fox the significance of the warriors staff in Cerinian folklore.
Meanwhile, Skye sat alone in his quarters, with a picture of his lost sister Janice in his paws. He was repeatedly stunned by how similarly she looked to Mina, and it hurt him every time he looked at either the photo, or Mina. She even kept her hair the same way; that long braided ponytail. Mina was Janice without the spots.
Despite his best efforts, a tear fell from his eye and struck the glass of the photo cover, and almost in unison, the door to his quarters hissed open. Mina stood in the doorway.
"All right in here Skye?"
He couldn't really speak, but didn't want her to leave. "I just.."
She came in and sat on his bed beside him. "It was nothing to be ashamed of back there, you know."
He put the picture back on it's place on his end table. "Just one mistake, all it took to see her dead."
Mina noticed the picture, and realized he misunderstood. "I meant the sword fight on the station, actually."
He finally snapped out of his stupor, and looked her in the eyes. "Oh, that. Right."
"You still miss her don't you?"
"Like the sunrise. I almost let it past me, but then I met you..."
"Skye, I'm not your sister, and there's nothing I can do to change myself."
"I know. It's just, when I saw the carrier exploding with you still inside it, I almost lost it. I did the most suicidal maneuver right in front of a beam cannon just to see you safely out of the wreckage; it felt like those last moments on the run from the military snipers all over again."
She wrapped her arm around his back. "Well, I know what I can do to remind you I'm not your sister."
He looked at the wall at the other side of the room, regaining his professional tone. "It isn't necessary."
Completely ignoring him, she turned him around and kissed him full on the lips. He hesitated at first, but melted into it naturally in the following seconds. He broke it long enough to get a word in. "Mina... What..?"
"No, no words."
((Authors Notes: YESSS broke the 10k mark! Muahaha! By the way, if I have contradicted myself anywhere in the story so far, PLEASE tell me as soon as possible so I can go back and fix it! It was a long break between chapters 7 and 8, and there is a good chance I've made a fatal mistake and missed it. Thanks everyone for your support!))