Star Fox: Regime – a fan fiction by Wolf Reynolds
"Star Fox" and all related characters and trademarks are © Nintendo, Inc.
Story ©2009 Wolf Reynolds

CHAPTER 10

North Argent Street, Space Port District – Corneria City, Planet Corneria. (2246 hours, CCT).

Slippy cradled his bruised arm as he and Falco ducked off of Argent Street and into an alley. Falco pulled out a blaster and held it ready as the sound of Civil Guard squad vehicles drew closer. He held his breath, hoping he and Slippy had lost their relentless pursuers even as the sirens grew louder. They had; the red and blue flashing lights whirred past at blistering speed, and the sirens slowly faded into the distance. Falco let out a slow sigh of relief and returned his gun to its holster beneath his leather jacket. This was Falco's element; his running with the interplanetary gangs had gotten him used to outsmarting the Cornerian police. Unfortunately for Falco, Slippy's experience was far more limited. On top of that, Slippy's father was the director of Research and Development for the Cornerian Army – Slippy had had no contact with his dad since the coup, so the possibility that Beltino, his own father, had been involved in the betrayal hung like a lead weight over his shoulders.

In spite of their recent close call with the Civil Guard, Falco thought things were looking up somewhat. They had gotten away from the Guard back at Fox's apartment – except Peppy, but he was gone by the time Falco even knew what was happening – and they had just gotten away from them again. Now they had made it to the inner space port district of Corneria City. If there was one place in the city where they could blend in and throw the Guard off their trail, it was here. This was Corneria City's down-and-out district; shady, dirty, and generally avoided by upstanding citizens. The police would look for them here, of course, but they could hide pretty easily here from even the most meticulous search. They could, at the very least, plan their next move from here.

Falco heaved a few ragged breaths, winded from the six-block run from the Cornerian police. He became slightly embarrassed when he realized that Slippy wasn't breathing nearly as hard. I'm out of shape, he thought unhappily. I am definitely hitting the gym if we ever get out of this alive. He suddenly felt guilty for the thought. Which is more than Fox got… When his thoughts returned to Fox, his guilt quickly turned to rage. Falco wasn't overly knowledgeable of shipboard technology, but he wasn't completely ignorant, either. Liners didn't suffer "pressurization malfunctions." Falco knew what was obvious if not overtly stated – the Cloudrunner and everyone aboard had been sacrificed to destroy Fox McCloud. General Pepper is going to pay through the nose for this. If I ever get my hands on him… he didn't bother to finish the thought. There would be time for creative plotting later.

"Do you think they've gone, Falco?" Slippy sniffled, shaking Falco out of his inward rage.

"Yeah," Falco muttered, "Yeah, we're safe here for now, I think. Let's sit and rest awhile. Sleep a bit if you need it. I'll keep an eye out." Falco sat and leaned against the brick wall forming one side of the alley. He hoped Slippy would take the hint and get some rest; Falco sensed that Slippy was just about ready to go all to pieces. He couldn't really blame him, but a total wet blanket was the last thing he needed at the moment. He knew Slippy was leaning on him for emotional support, but his own nerves were too shot for him to be very supportive.

Falco glanced over his shoulder several times, listening for any noises or any signs of someone approaching. He was surprised when he felt Slippy's head resting against his shoulder, but he didn't say anything; poor Slippy was having a much worse time of it than he was. If he could let Slippy lean on him for emotional support, there was no reason he couldn't lean on him for warmth against the cold breeze of the chilly autumn night. As the adrenaline of the recent chase began to wear off, Falco began to realize just how cold it was. He fought the cold and fought his weariness. He didn't dare close his eyes; in his present state, he knew he would be asleep in seconds, and sleep was a risk he just couldn't take.

Sargasso Space Station – Area Three, Meteo Asteroid Belt – 2352 hours, Corneria Central Time (CCT)

Fox sat back in one of the dilapidated chairs in the makeshift communication room of the space station. He was impressed by what Wolf and his team had managed to accomplish with Sargasso. Although the station was still run-down and rickety, Wolf had managed to turn a dead hunk of metal into a viable ops center for him and his pirates. Now they were using that ops center to coordinate their search for Fox's three missing teammates. Fox tried to stay collected and comfortable; Panther and Leon had been dispatched to Corneria that morning and had reached the city a few hours earlier, so now all Fox could do was wait. Krystal had gone to bed, unable to keep her eyes open. Wolf sat in another chair on the other side of the room, also half-asleep. Fox was the only one completely alert; sleep (or even drowsiness) completely eluded him. He and Wolf were monitoring for contact – any contact – from Corneria. Panther reported on his and Leon's progress every so often, but Wolf and Fox were hoping they might discover something through other channels, as well. So far, however, their search had turned up nothing. Fox was restless; he was waiting for anything to come up. At the moment, the room remained in near-total silence. Panther wasn't due to report for another hour, and the other channels were almost completely dead at this time of night. If a resistance movement existed on Corneria, they were communicating with short-range equipment.

Wolf woke up and broke the silence with a wide yawn. "Relax, Fox," he said, "We're doing everything we can. This place really wasn't meant to be a listening post, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Fox answered.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Wolf said, "You must be about ready to drop."

"I would," Fox answered, "But I just can't seem to calm down."

"You've played waiting games before, Fox," Wolf reminded him, "This isn't any different."

"It's always different when it's one of your own, Wolf," Fox said brusquely, "If Peppy or one of the others were to… you know, get killed… I would–"

"You'd what?" Wolf interrupted sharply, "Shut down? Quit? You think that'd get them back? You think that's what they'd want you to do? It can't be different, Fox. Even when it's one of your own. Especially when it's one of your own. If it's different, you louse things up – lousing things up gets people killed."

"All right," Fox said crossly, "But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

"Who's happy?" Wolf said, "I didn't ask you to do a song and dance. But you're no use to anyone if you can't keep your eyes open. Go get some sleep; I'll let you know as soon as I hear something. You're only making this harder."

"If I could sleep, I would," Fox muttered as he turned back to his computer and started tapping away at the keyboard, "If you must know, I'm trying to bring up the technical schematics of the Pleiades. They cut off my security access, but I'm hoping to get in using some of Beltino Toad's backdoor protocols."

"Really?" Wolf was instantly wide awake and very interested, "Any success?"

"Well, I'm not in yet," Fox admitted, "But I think I can get his list of code keys. He recycles them, you know. Slippy showed me all of this once, but that was some time ago."

"So there is more to that little wimp than meaningless fluff," Wolf mused, "Keep trying – just don't let them trace anything back here or we're toast."

Time passed at an agonizingly slow pace. Fox was occupied with the task he had set for himself, but it was a daunting task, and he had difficulty staying focused; the uncertainty of Falco's and Slippy's situation (and the painful certainty of Peppy's situation) caused his mind to wander. Wolf's head was rolled back, and he had dozed off; his eye was shut, and his breathing was heavy and just shy of a snore. Fox envied Wolf for his levelheadedness. How Wolf was managing to stay calm and collected was a mystery. Of course, he wasn't missing three of his closest friends, and he hadn't been denounced as an enemy of the state by someone who had always been a mentor before. Wolf was calmer than Fox, but Wolf also had much less reason to be agitated. Fox knew this situation was much harder on Krystal than on him. It was hard for Fox to believe that less than three years before he had been complaining about not being needed. Now he was being pulled in several directions at once. If we ever get out of this, he thought, I'm never going to even think that I'm bored ever again. Fox refocused his attention on the screen in front of him. If he could get this to work, he would be one step closer to getting his hands on the biggest bargaining chip in the entire Lylatian military. And I'll be one step closer to getting even with General Pepper, he thought bitterly.

Fox was getting increasingly frustrated; he was trying to remember the hacking procedure Slippy had shown him, but it kept escaping him. Or was it possible Beltino had overhauled his file system? From what Slippy had said, Beltino wasn't even aware that Slippy knew how to get in. Fox thought he also remembered Beltino mentioning something about the emergency overrides he had built into his programs, too. Something that could be used if… Of course! Fox remembered and began typing again, He wanted Slippy to be able to get through to his interface if there were ever an attack on Corneria. Oh, please let Beltino still be on our side… Fox entered Slippy's code key and held his breath. A moment later, Beltino's file hierarchy appeared on the screen. Fox gasped with relief. He queried the files for the Pleiades and smiled broadly as blueprints, technical readouts, and measurement data streamed across the screen. "I got it!" Fox shouted excitedly, grinning broadly. Wolf awoke with such a start that he very nearly fell out of his chair.

Wolf shook it off and got up from his seat, walking over to look at Fox's screen. Wolf beamed from ear to ear. "Way to go," he said, "I thought it would take longer. How long've I been out?"

"Not long," Fox answered, "Beltino left Slippy a way in that could override the other security protocols. Slippy told me about it and showed me how to use it – Beltino didn't know that. He didn't cut that subroutine out of his login process."

"I haven't got a head for that technical jabber," Wolf shook his head in annoyance, "What does all that boil down to?"

"Well, the main thing is that I have complete access to the LFDF network without them even knowing I'm doing it," Fox explained, "The other thing is there's a very good chance that the research director of the entire Lylatian War Bureau is trying to help us out."

"You don't think this is some sort of trap?" Wolf asked cautiously.

Fox's high spirits immediately melted. "I hadn't thought of that," he said dismally, "They couldn't trace it here, anyway, if that's what you're worried about. I won't try to explain it, but let's just say anyone trying to find this end is in for a nasty surprise. Yeah, I guess they could be trying to lure us back to Corneria. But I can't think Beltino would do something like that."

"There are a lot of things you didn't think General Pepper would ever do," Wolf reminded him.

"True," Fox said sullenly. He looked at the list of Beltino's files again, "I'm going to download all of this onto the station's servers."

"I have a bad feeling about this, Fox," Wolf said nervously, "You're sure they can't trace you here? How do you know they won't make the connection as soon as you download it?"

"Because I'm using General Pepper's IP masking program," Fox answered with a grin, "They'll never even know their systems have been accessed. And if they do, they'll think it was Beltino."

"Devious," Wolf snickered, "Why not see if you can find Peppy while you're in there?"

"That was foremost in my mind from the beginning," Fox replied as the computer began to copy Beltino's files, "This stuff on the Pleiades was really a test. It was something we needed anyway, but I'm hoping it'll lead me to the bigger fish. It could take a very long time, though." Fox shook his head in frustration and said, "There's an awful lot of files here."

"Just how many files are we talking about?" Wolf said as he turned to go back to his chair.

"I can't get a complete count," Fox answered, "Over nine thousand." Wolf just shrugged and sat back down. "I ought to be able to narrow it down, though," Fox went on, "Some of these files are just system files. I'm really looking for operation reports, red lists, things like that."

Fox looked through the neatly-organized database of files. His search went on and on; he opened and scanned file after document after endless report. Peppy's name seemed nowhere to be found. Fox didn't give up; it had to be there somewhere. He kept looking through the files; he noted anything of interest he came across, whether it pertained to Peppy or not. His overall efforts, however, continued to be fruitless. He became gradually more aggravated; every time he came across a file that showed some promise, it was encrypted. Fox needed Slippy there; getting into the main system was no trouble for Fox, but trying to decrypt individual files… Fox was out of his depth, and he knew it. Unfortunately, he was grasping at straws. Panther's report had come and gone, and Wolf had nodded off again. As alert as he had been when he was talking to Wolf, his lack of sleep was finally beginning to catch up with him. Fox tried as hard as he could to stay focused on his unproductive search, but the words on the screen kept blurring as a trancelike lethargy settled over him. He rubbed his uncooperative eyes futilely. The dry reading and the steady, rhythmic sound of Wolf's breathing began to weight down his alertness. Just a few heavy-eyed minutes later, Fox was completely unconscious.