Star Fox Beginnings
Chapter 10
The Battle of Corneria
As the alarm continued blaring, Tom was heading towards his personal compartment, where he kept Nebula. The alarm now spoke with Tom's voice.
"Attention! Attention! All pilots report to your Arwings. This is not a drill. Repeat! This is not a drill."
Tom's commlink began to ring. Tom swiftly answered it.
"Tom? What the hell is happening?" Fox asked urgently.
"We got trouble Fox. Looks like we got a distress beacon from Corneria, probably Andross finally making his move. I need the four of you to proceed to your Arwings immediately. We got some bad guys to kill."
Tom then received a message from ROB. "Incoming message from General Pepper. Priority one!"
The visual then switched to General Pepper, who was looking a little disheveled. "We need your help Star Fox. Andross has declared war. He's invaded the Lylat System and is trying to take over Corneria. Our army alone can't do the job. Hurry, Star Fox."
Tom then switched his commlink back to Fox. "You get that Fox?"
"I did. We're heading for the Arwings now. Let's Rock and Roll!"
Tom had reached his personal compartment now. He opened the hand scanner and scanned his left hand. A beam vroomed across his hand and the whole panel illuminated with green.
"Access granted. Welcome Captain Brusker."
The cockpit visor opened up as Tom jumped onto the left wing. Tom then leapt into the seat and strapped himself in. He then flipped a switch that closed the visor. He flipped a few more switches, and the engines began to rev. Tom then turned on his G-diffuser system and comm channel. "All aircraft, check in." Tom said.
"All Arwings, ready for departure." Fox responded.
Tom then clicked a button, opening a hatch in front of him. This hatch corresponded to the right side of the Great Fox in the middle of both wings. He then turned back to the comm.
"ROB, what is the status on getting to Corneria?"
"Corneria is in sight. You are clear for eject process." ROB responded.
"All fighters are ready. Engage thrusters!" Tom thrust the engine toggle, engaging the thrust in the engines. Tom shot out of the hangar like a bullet, leaving behind only scorch marks on the thrust board. The first thing that caught Tom's eye out there in space was the giant blue marble to his right, which also had yellow flashes occurring on the green continents. Damn. Looks like they've already hit Corneria hard. We'll have to move fast before Andross does any more damage to this place. Tom then turned Nebula right until he was facing Corneria. The rest of Star Fox had just finished ejecting out of the Great Fox as Tom flew into formation from behind.
"Been a while since we were here, eh Fox?" Tom said.
"Home sweet home." Fox said sarcastically.
"Cut the chatter, we got some people to save." Falco said impatiently.
"Right. Team, proceed with the atmospheric entry." Tom said.
Star Fox zoomed through space heading directly for Corneria. As they got closer, the blue changed to white, as heat streaks began to form onto the front sides of the ships. This did not phase Star Fox, for they had made entries into several different atmospheres of different planets the very same way. That and Slippy's tireless work of making sure the Arwings were top notch in being fireproof above all. As for Nebula, Tom always made sure that she was ready for any kind of situation, which meant that fireproofing her was the first thing that he made sure was top notch.
As Star Fox continued to descend farther through, Tom opened a comm channel to Corneria HQ.
"This is Captain Thomas Brusker of Star Fox, help is on the way." Pepper then appeared onto the screen.
"It's about time you showed up." Pepper said.
"Good to see you too." Tom said a little coldly. After five years of living away from Corneria and away from Pepper, Tom still hadn't forgiven him for what he had done. Pepper, who seemed to be a little nicer than before, noticed the tone in Tom's voice.
"Listen Tom. I know that now isn't the proper time, but I wanted to apologize for what happened. I would also like to thank you for aiding us…"
"I'm not doing this for you Pepper." Tom interrupted. "I'm doing it for the innocent people who are once again suffering from your mistakes. But, being out in space has finally made me realize something: that I actually was partially responsible for this. If you want forgiveness, then fine. I forgive you. But just remember, the last time I did anything for you was five years ago, and that's the very last time." Tom ended the channel very sternly, sighing sadly as he thought about those memories again. Fox then popped up on the comm.
"Geez Tom, you didn't have to bite off his head like that." Fox said.
Tom shook himself. "Sorry Fox. I just… still can't get them out of my head."
Peppy then popped up. "Well stop thinking about the past and start living in the present."
Tom narrowed his eyes at Peppy. Peppy then sighed.
"Look, I loved him too Tom. He was like a brother to me, but we can't dwell on things for too long. You gotta start thinking about how we are going to take out Andross and end this war. It's what James would've wanted."
Tom looked down. "Yeah. I know." Tom said. "He told me."
"Sorry. What was that you said?" Peppy said confused.
Tom jerked up a bit. "Oh. He told me that. How if he died before me, he would want me to focus on keeping myself and those I loved alive and to focus on the missions that we are tasked with. Said it right here in the Prep room five years ago."
"Oh. I see." Peppy said, his ears twitching in thought.
Tom then looked up. Blue began to fill his visor. "We are in the troposphere now. Level out boys." Star Fox began to level themselves out, cruising just a few hundred feet above the Cornerian Ocean. Fox then took command of the force.
"Open the wings." Fox said. The Arwings' wings began to alter from space cruise mode to land cruise mode. The flaps were lifted and lowered to make sure that they were working, as it allowed the Arwings to quickly veer to either side.
"Wings are fully functional." Slippy reported.
"Check your G-diffuser systems." Fox said.
"Falco here, I'm fine."
"This is Peppy. All systems go."
"Slippy here. I'm okay."
"Tom reporting. Locked and Loaded."
"I see them up ahead. Let's Rock and Roll!"
Star Fox broke formation and the fight began. Slippy, being overexcited as usual, speedily rushed forward ahead of the rest of the group.
"Slippy, get back here." Peppy called. But before anyone could do anything, a Venomian ship rushed in and began shooting at Slippy.
"Slippy watch out. Bogey on your tail." Peppy warned.
"Whoa! Help me!" Slippy called. Tom got into position and was about to squeeze the trigger when Fox rushed ahead and shot down the enemy ship, freeing Slippy from the chase.
"Thanks Fox. I thought they had me." Slippy sighed in relief.
"Getting a little reckless there, Fox. Careful." Tom said a little annoyed.
"Will do." Fox replied casually. This reply did not seem to help Tom's mood as they continued to fly over the Cornerian Bay. Several more ships rushed in, trying their best to stop the dynamic team of mercenaries, but they were no match. Fox had calmed down a little, sticking with the team instead of rushing in for kills, though Tom kept his eyes out in case Fox did anything unexpected.
"We're entering Corneria City." Fox informed.
The team started seeing billowing clouds of smoke emanating from destroyed buildings. Giant robots using tracks for mobility painted with a magenta tint were seen toppling buildings and firing lasers. Small tanks were also firing on the buildings, causing debris to fly everywhere. Tom looked down on at the destruction as a fire of anger and resentment for these monkeys flashed in his eyes as he thought of all the innocent people that were killed from these attacks before they arrived. One way or another, you will pay for all of this Andross. I'll make sure of that.
"This is horrible." Falco said. Tom looked over at Falco and gave him a small nod. Falco returned the nod.
"Everybody, stay alert." Peppy said, now tailing an enemy ship zipping through the city.
"I'm going in to take out the Giants." Tom said.
"I'm with you." Peppy said, now having finished of his target.
Tom then descended into the city, rushing between the buildings at a low altitude, Peppy at his rear. Many of the Giants turned and began to fire towards the two ships. Tom pulled the trigger, firing blue lasers from his cannons. It took a few shots, but the Giant soon exploded in a blaze. Several more Giants were destroyed, ensuring that the interior of the city was free from the assault.
Higher in the air, Fox, Falco, and Slippy were engaging several fighters that were coming in from the west. Fox had taken most of them out, yet several more seemed to replace their fallen buddies. Falco rushed forward and shot a smart bomb at one of the Giants, but soon had five enemy fighters close in on him from behind.
"Fox, get the ones behind me." Falco said urgently. Fox boosted forward, lining himself up for a smart bomb. The ships continued firing as one of the lasers hit Falco straight in the engine. Falco attempted to boost himself forward but was unable to.
"Something's wrong with the G-diffuser." Falco said. Tom, hearing this, boosted upwards, looped over Falco and fired a smart bomb, eliminating the enemy fighters from Falco's tail.
"I guess I should be thankful." Falco said, smiling to himself. Tom and Peppy then rejoined the aerial group. Tom then noticed a small bit of smoke coming out of Falco's engine.
"Falco, you're smoking from the rear." Tom said.
"I'll be fine." Falco retorted.
Tom could obviously see that this was not fine, and that at any moment, the engine might give out completely, forcing Falco to crash land. Tom pushed a button, opening up a hatch on his left wing, revealing a small cannon.
"Falco, you are not fine, and so I will temporarily repair some of the damage." Tom said, locking on to Falco's ship.
"What are you playing at?" Falco asked nervously.
Tom pulled a small trigger on the left side and fired a small ball at Falco's engine. The ball opened up as small robots attached themselves to Falco's ship. They began to repair the damage sustained from the enemy fire. At once, the G-diffuser systems were back online, and the smoke had cleared up.
"Thanks, I guess." Falco said pompously.
The robots then broke away from the ship and self-destructed in midair.
The team was now fighting the Venomian Army on the outskirts of the city, where construction had been taking place, but now housed several Giants swinging I-beams. They soon spotted Star Fox and started throwing the I-beams at them. One Giant in particular was swinging an I-beam above his head like a baton. The team blasted the Giants away, destroying all enemies in the area. The team then advanced east, flying over a river to reach one of their primary targets on the other side of the river. Certain ski-Giants were skiing across the water, firing lasers at boats in the river. The team decided to take them out. Fox then spotted some archways that were carved out of the rocks. Thinking of showing off, Fox decided to fly through all seven of them. Fox easily zipped through the first and second ones, then did a loop after passing through the third one.
"Pretty smooth flying, Fox." Falco said sarcastically. Fox continued through the fourth one, ignoring Falco's snide comment. Tom looked on and thought of James, how he zipped through the stars with ease and even showed off a little to Tom. Tom smiled a little from the thought and wondered if those times really could happen again. Suddenly, Tom's monitor started flashing red.
"I think we found one of our targets." Tom said. Sure enough, a gigantic carrier ship began flying over them, zooming over a waterfall.
"Follow me, Fox." Falco said, now fired up.
"Falco. Where are ya going?" Fox asked confused. Falco then zipped through the waterfall.
"I've found the target. Try and keep up!"
Tom, thinking that Falco might be on to something, boosted on through the waterfall. The waterfall began to wane, revealing a small patch of land leading out into a secret tributary. The rest of the team began coming in from behind. Falco engaged himself with a flying bomber bird.
"Time for a little payback." Falco said, firing his lasers rapidly. "Gotcha!" he said triumphantly a few seconds later. Soon, the land turned once again to water as they continued onwards.
"Ah! Someone wants to play." Tom looked around, wondering where the transmission was coming from.
"Incoming enemy from the rear. Drop altitude." Peppy said, realizing who had transmitted the signal. Sure enough, the carrier flew right in front of Star Fox and began to match their speed. All of a sudden, the hangar doors swung open.
"Attack!" the carrier pilot screamed, as missiles started flying out of the doors.
"Evasive maneuvers." Tom ordered. The team split on to both sides to avoid the barrage. Tom then began to open fire on the carrier. The lasers just bounced right off.
"Damn!" Tom shouted. Peppy then flew in front as the doors swung open once more. Peppy then began to shoot into the open hangar. "Aim for the open spots." Peppy said. Tom then began to open fire. Fox then fired a smart bomb, destroying one of the doors.
"That's it, Fox!" Falco shouted.
Soon, both of the other doors had been destroyed, forcing the carrier to retreat and charge its main laser.
"Yeah! It's working." Falco shouted again.
The carrier soon turned back around and began firing a huge barrage of lasers from the front cannon at Star Fox.
"GO!" The pilot screamed. Now Tom and Fox both fired smart bombs at the carrier, critically disabling it.
"Who are you guys?!" The pilot asked pitifully.
"We're Star Fox." Fox slyly answered.
"You'll never defeat Andross!" he screamed, and the carrier dove into the water and exploded.
"That's one target down." Tom said. "We've still got one more boss to deal with. Let's get back onto our original course."
"Right!" The team responded.
With the enemy carrier destroyed, Star Fox turned back around towards the waterfall again. From there, they continued onward past it and towards their final objective. Tom was feeling a lot better now after having dealt Andross a huge blow to his forces on Corneria. Just one more boss and Corneria will be successively defended. Upon approach, Peppy spotted a Giant ahead, but this Giant was much bigger than the others. This one had giant legs that stood 30 feet high, supporting the rest of the walker. Two missile launchers were stationed at where the arms should have been. The enemy commander laughed heartily at Star Fox.
"Deploy all-range mode." Fox said. At this, Fox pushed a button to the right of his console, shifting the wings up and forward. The rest of Star Fox did the same, setting their computers to adjust to the new calibration. The standard radius of all-range mode, with the boss being in the center, stands at around 3 miles out in all directions.
"Ah, so this is Star Fox?" the pilot chortled. Tom activated the scanner on Nebula and searched the known databases of Andross's experiments.
"Granga: Urban Assault Weapon: page 57 of Andross's notes in the heavy weapons section. Granga is one of my more unstable yet effective battle walker prototypes. Its missile launchers can make quick work of any hostile air unit, making it a fine AA choice. Some things to further perfect would be its stability. If one of its legs were to be shot off, it would result in the mech toppling over on itself. Another acute flaw is the power supply on the back of the machine. A precise calibration of any laser weaponry would result in a chain reaction that would completely destroy the mech. Luckily, no known weaponry of the Lylat Federation's is capable of exploiting any of these flaws."
We'll see about that Andross. Tom turned a knob to his left, raising the laser's concentration levels, making them more potent. Tom then turned toward his dashboard.
"This mech's weakness is at his back. Shoot his legs off first, then go for the power supply on his back."
"Right." Fox said.
"I'm going to crush you!" Granga's pilot said confidently, firing missiles at Star Fox. The team quickly evaded the missiles and concentrated fire on the legs, sending the mech crashing down on its face. Tom then U-turned and fired some precise shots at Granga's power supply. The box smoked and sparked, causing a meltdown.
"My emperor… I've failed you!" the pilot cried, as Granga exploded, killing him and ending the assault on Corneria.
"Targets have been eliminated." Tom said. "Returning to base."
"All aircraft report!" Fox said.
"I've taken a few hits, but I'm okay." Peppy said a little breathless.
"All good here, Fox." Slippy said cheery.
"Look at my ship. Do you think I'm okay?" Falco protested.
"Not bad for your first official battle Fox." Tom said.
"At least I did much better than your first one." Fox teased.
Both Tom and Fox laughed at this, as Tom thought of James again. I know you would be proud James. Someday, I'm gonna make things right, and then all of us will be able to fly together. Like we always wanted.