Chapter Nine

"Kral Commodore McEvo? M'lady!"

"Eh?" she blearily asked. "What is it, Todd?"

"What are you doing?"

She turned off the display screen in front of her. "Nothing. Just waiting for battle is all."

The robot smirked. "It didn't look like nothing. I sense something within you, something that may affect the entire battle at hand." Leaning close to her, he moved his fingers out of his red trench coat and placed them on her armored shoulders. "You're trying to contact The Greatfox, aren't you?"

"Yes," she sighed. "To no avail." She pressed a few buttons, and the screen turned back on. Then, with a few more functions and a musical tone, she reached the gathering room of The Greatfox. To her surprise, however, only the Yang-Tzusian was present, and she appeared to be crying.

"Could you connect me to Fox McCloud, please?"

The Yang-Tzusian raised her head, though her ears sank. "Yes, m'lady. I believe he is in his personal quarters, awaiting your commands."

She felt like asking what had happened, but instead brushed it off. "Thank you." She pressed more buttons on the control panel, and the screen immediately switched to Fox's bedroom. "McCloud?"

Fox looked up and rolled his eyes once he realized who it was. "Yes?"

"I… require your assistance in battle today. I'm on a personal mission to find my lost caretaker, Damiano. I believe he is alive, somewhere on Pryok, or perhaps on one of the moons of that planet." She paused. "You have told me your piloting skills are among the best in the galaxy. Therefore, you must accompany me as I fight in the space battle, and fight alongside of me once we land on ground."

"No. We always fight as a team. We're –"

"Might I remind you whose life I spared?" Suddenly, she shook her head. "I'm sorry. Please, Fox. This is terribly important to me. And you, being Unonian by blood, would be best suited for this type of job."

Fox sighed. "If it makes you happy, then fine. Just remember, we're all free to go after this!"

"Of course." A single press of a button turned the screen off. With a deliberate motion, she swiveled the chair around and stood, gazing at the black wall in front of her. Aside from the machine behind her, the room was empty and dark.

"Fight along your side?" Todd asked. "This wasn't in the plans, m'lady. Do I detect some sort of affection towards this pilot-for-hire?"

"Of course not! He's… merely an extra hand for the job." She turned to him. "Prepare the crew for battle. Remember, we gun for the capital city! Leave no one left! Fighters, children, the sick – they're all the same!"

"Yes, m'lady," he replied. Moving toward the door, he pressed his hand against the cold steel and it immediately opened, leaving his responsibility behind.

"Fox McCloud," she muttered, though she knew no one was listening, "he must be a true Unonian. He puts others before himself and spared a life while putting his own in jeopardy. Perhaps not only his looks are from the guardian of old. Perhaps…" Selvala turned back to the screen. "No. He'd never. But he does seem to care about my happiness. Maybe… when all of this is done… he'll see the person underneath all this junk… and finally…" Nervously, she flipped open a compartment in her left arm.

"Kral Commodore!"

"Yes!" she shouted as she immediately turned around, spotting the red-coated Todd. "What is it?"

"M'lady, Pryok has just come into view. We seem to have arrived undetected, but, nevertheless, we await your orders."

"Thank you, Todd," she replied.

Stepping out of the small room, a large area full of soldiers sprawled out among her. Hundreds as far as the eye could see were busy monitoring systems, checking gauges, and relaying orders across the waves. Like a well-oiled machine, the great war machine couldn't have been running smoother.

"Ah," she breathed as she sauntered up the rungs to reach a familiar catwalk. "The twilight of battle. The eerie peace settles in as the predator eyes her prey." Her gait slowed as she beheld the great display window, watching the dark planet grow larger. "The moment must be perfect, but not too perfect. After all, this vixen wants to go for the neck. The legs and arms will fall quickly then, leaving the fresh meat loose and satisfying. A good meal is ensured."

"Kral Commodore," Todd said with a gesture of respect to his superior. "Your fleet awaits your command. All of it." He paused. "A head count has been administered. No less than two million are present, placed within fifty battleships including this one, one hundred eighty carriers, two hundred eighty medical craft, two hundred seventy eight frigates, three hundred destroyers, and nearly one quarter of one million fighters." Pausing once more, a grin grew across his rubbery skin. "The greatest naval force ever assembled is ready!"

Wringing her hands together, a faint laughter emitted from her face. "Good, good. Now they will truly understand the meaning of revenge! You kill my parents, you take my caretaker and turn my entire planet against me, and I destroy you! Never piss off a vixen with power!" Gazing out at the open space once more, she noticed two battleships and a destroyer inching ahead of them. "Todd, you know you're the only machine I ever speak to personally and address by name. I must say, though, sometimes I feel you blur the fine line between living and dead."

"I only wish I were more like the man I'm modeled after," he replied. "After all, I'm only programmed in his fighting abilities, nothing else."

"Perhaps after today, you may be. The Yang-Tzusians will no longer be harassed, and the Unonians will also live in peace." She sighed as she moved her hair out of her face. "Peace throughout the entire system. And the Careinians will be too weak to respond."

"You'd better deliver a speech to your forces," Todd reminded.

"Yes. See, Todd, as you probably know, the key to anything is patience. Twenty years I've been grounded on a beautiful planet. But now that I'm free to roam, even at this moment, I am patient. All I'm interested in is the right moment. I'll snap the neck of their might, and the body shall fall." She grabbed a microphone, the largest in the collection. "Everyone, hear me! This is your leader! All of you mean dear to me! From the bottom of my heart I love you all because you are all such spectacular fighters and willful men of good! May the light of freedom shine across this system of ours!" She paused as cheers erupted from below. Apparently the crew had been hanging onto her every word. "The Eternal, Nightfall, and the destroyer Inured will commence the first wave toward the capital Craminsk. All fighters prepare for attack and strike on the signal!"

Meanwhile, on The Greatfox, the Starfox team was preparing to board their ships. Echoing voices were abound in the docking bay as the four wingmen prepared for battle.

"The command has been administered!" Peppy shouted as Falco jumped into his cockpit. "Stay together team, and remain in formation throughout the contest! We're sure to pull through if we remain as one!"

"Be careful, Fox," Fara whispered in his ear as she held him close. "Come back to us in one piece."

"I will, Fara," the pilot replied. He kissed her on the cheek, bending his head in the process. When he opened his eyes and pulled away, he noticed Sasa creeping in the background, watching him behind a large control deck. She seemed grayer than ever, as her white skin was a figment of the past. Her face was full of sorrow.

"What are you looking at, Fox?" Fara asked.

Fox turned to face her. "Nothing," he replied with a smile. "Don't worry about us – I'm sure in a few hours this'll all be over."

"Be careful, Fox."

Fox kissed her goodbye once more, this time turning the opposite way to avoid the probing stares of the Yang-Tzusian. Without hesitation, he ran to his ship and climbed in. It all seemed routine for him as he flipped on an array of switches in their appropriate order, watching lights flicker on and the canopy slowly close on him, locking him into his vehicle. Two straps secured him to his weapon, and a guided computer hummed in front of him, resetting the targets and awaiting the programming instructions from the Kral Commodore's ship. Various ships appeared in wireframe, displaying all the known types of Careinian vessels instantly, allowing Fox to have an idea of what to lock onto as well as the weak points in the more sophisticated dreadnaughts and battleships.

"All craft report in!" he blasted over the airways.

"Peppy here, let's go!"

"Slippy's ready for action!"

"Falco here… you okay Fox?"

"I'm always okay before a war." He gripped his steering column tightly. "Follow me out – we're going to rock this world!"

G-diffusers kicked on, producing a loud roar throughout the docking bay. Slowly lifting off the ground, the arwings blasted out of the mother ship one by one, swooped their wings back, and set up for attack position.

Fox adjusted his blaster lock as he skimmed ahead of the fleet. "Let's see what they have!"

Suddenly, the crackling sound of an incoming transmission buzzed through his ears. "They're here," muttered the grim voice of the kral commodore.

Immediately, empty space became filled with thousands upon thousands of fighter ships. They swarmed like innumerable amounts of large bees, hungry for blood and glowing with anger. The planet seemed to disappear behind their numbers. Fox shot on impulse, but he wasn't sure if he brought any of them down – too many filled the sky to really follow one fighter at a time.

"What the hell?" screamed Falco. "Who the hell are these guys?"

"Look out!" Peppy's voice boomed.

Laser fire from an incoming Careinian battleship vaporized a group of Yang-Tzusian fighters, slicing a carrier in half in the process. Yet at the frontlines, Fox was blinded by the dark figures of the enemy fighters, their tight formations making quick work of the first lines to the kral commodore's forces. The cross-fire was ungodly, as the muscle of the Careinian might continued to pour onto the scene like oil from a tipped vat. Fox gasped with each turn. He dodged to the left as a team of the tri-winged vulture-like crafts sailed into a Yang-Tzusian battleship, barely leaving a mark.

"I can't stay!" Slippy screamed. "I have to bail!"

"Dammit, Slip!" Falco shouted as his blasters met the backs of three Careinian fighters. "You're always the first, you know that?"

"Shut up!" Fox snapped. He performed a barrel roll to avoid more enemy fire, but even his masterful maneuvering skills were no match for the laser fire smashing through the strong defenses of the allied forces. As the vulpine turned his head, he noticed a battleship finally bow to Careinian might. Although it was dying and falling fast out of the sky, Fox noticed the massive craft head directly toward a glowing spot on the planet surface. No doubt it was on a collision course for the doomed capital, and no doubt the enemy would use their entire arsenal to destroy the makeshift projectile before it was too late.

Now was Fox's chance. He blasted through a team of fighters toward a Careinian battleship, eyeing the spiked yet streamlined dreadnaught while paying little attention to the swarms picking off his shield slowly but determinedly. Falco came in from his right, but Peppy was nowhere to be found.

"I don't believe it!" Kral Commodore McEvo fretted as she watched the unusually large Careinian armory take down another battleship. "Aim for the capital! Take out the head!"

"M'lady!"

She turned around to view Todd McEdek, the only machine she would ever spare a personal moment for. "Yes?"

"A new threat has appeared over the radar! Unonian fighters from Terrestko! And they are unaware of our position!"

"Shit," she muttered. "Attempt to communicate with them! Tell them we are most entirely on their side of the battle, and desire to leave all spoils for Uno in return for our recognition and my reinstatement!"

"Yes, m'lady!" he replied with a salute.

"Dammit, it's so hard to see!" Fox fought with his controls as he sped closer to the large ship. Suddenly, he detected three blinding blasts behind him.

"Getting a little careless there, eh, Fox?"

"Just aim for the red glowing orb behind the spike to your left! Use a nova bomb!"

"Gotcha, Foxie!"

Jamming his fingers onto two buttons atop the u-shaped control stick, Fox released a nova bomb in the general vicinity of the weak spot. As he pulled up, he heard a second explosion rock the massive vehicle, producing a series of blasts and explosions. It appeared to implode on itself, as loud creaking and ear-splitting surges of energy soon caused the enemy cruiser to snap in half and explode in a fiery mess, taking out droves of Careinian fighters and wounding two of their carriers to its left and right.

"Yes!" Fox screamed. "You okay, Falco?"

"Char-broiled, but I'll make do!"

Fox laughed as he struck the back-end of a tri-winged craft. "Not so though when they're out of formation!"

"Look out, Fox!"

Another high-powered blast came from the cannons of another battleship. This time it was from the Yang-Tzusian cause, destroying a carrier with ease. Fox dodged the sudden increase in debris as another Careinian ship bowed toward the planet. Apparently the tight formations, once deemed remarkably effective, were beginning to lead to the enemy's downfall.

"Any luck with the Unonians?" Selvala asked her guide as a critical hit rocked the hull of The Elitist. Mechanized crewmates flew from one end to the other as alarms signaled on.

"No!" Todd screamed back. "We can't get through – the codes to their communication frequencies have changed!"

"Hey," Fox spoke as another swarm of red, white, and black colored fighters of four wings moved into view. "Who are these guys?"

"I don't know! But since they're shooting at us, maybe we should return the thanks?"

Fox's communicator blipped. "Unonians have entered the battle!" the kral commodore's voice blasted. "Do not, I repeat, do not attack!"

"What?" Fox sputtered. "But they're attacking us!"

"I know, I know!" Falco volleyed back. Soon the sky was packed to the brim with fighters, dowsing the light from the planet and distant sun. "Fox! Take these guys at my six!"

As Falco's arwing flew in front of him, Fox noticed they were three Unonian fighters. "Orders or no orders, we always stick together!" He made an abrupt u-turn and followed the group, getting the closest one in his sights. Fox made quick work of the three.

"Thanks again, Fox."

"You owe me one, Falco."

"Oh sure, let's keep score then. How much am I up on you – twenty? Twenty hundred?"

"Selvala," Todd pleaded, "we can't let them take us out like ducks on a pond! You're lucky we don't have the personality aspect of Todd McEdek within us – we would never put up with this then!"

"Listen!" the kral commodore barked as she gripped the shoulders of the droid. "If I shoot down even one Unonian battleship, what do you think they'd do when we returned to Yang-Tzu, a planet under Unonian protection as well as ours?" She paused as Todd turned to the side. "Prepare my ship! The sooner we end the Careinians, the sooner we can at least create some stability!" She turned to her left, watching another one of her battleships fall out of orbit. "Do it now!"