(A/N: For the beginning part here, the song I'm using is "Desecration" from Halo 4.)

Chapter 10: Fully Operational

*Fox and Krystal quickly found cover as the Cerinians opened fire. They were all over the place, leaving them little room to maneuver and little time before they would be overrun. "Krystal, take cover!" Fox yelled as he took off the safety on his gun and opened fire. The SAW, as powerful as it was, had a large kickback but luckily Fox had trained with heavy machine guns in the past.

The Cerinians had thick armor but it could not hold out against a barrage of bullets as dozens of them went down. He started clearing a path towards the power source as the Cerinians, wary of their fallen comrades, fell back into cover. Suddenly one of them, one of the elite Cerinians by the look of it, jumped forward and started attacking Fox with what looked like a high-frequency blade. Fox pulled the trigger – but nothing fired as the gun had suddenly jammed. He used it as a shield, only to have it sliced in half like butter. Fox tried going for his blaster but the Cerinian was too quick.

A shot was then fired and the Cerinian fell, a bullet straight through its head. Fox looked behind him and saw Krystal had her rifle raised, smoke billowing out of the muzzle. "Okay, I owe you for that one," Fox said as he pulled out his blaster and shot two more bogies.

"Thank me later," Krystal said. "Go, I'll cover you!"

"Got it!" Fox said, running forward and shooting anything that got in his way. He finally reached the control panel and hit the shutdown button. The slow humming from the machine stopped and Fox breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"There, the shield is down, now let's go after Tacitus!" Krystal said. She then pulled out a grenade. "Fire in the hole!" She hit the trigger and threw it across the room. The Cerinians had no hope of escaping in time as the EMP grenade went off, leaving slight traces of their existence.

Suddenly, the room started shaking, almost knocking Fox off his feet before it quickly subsided. "What the hell was that?" he asked.

"I don't know but Tacitus is definitely up to something," Krystal said. "We're running out of time, we need to hurry." The two quickly headed down the elevator and back to their ship. The shield around Tacitus' ship was now gone but he was making no attempt to flee.

"Alright Tacitus, it's the end of the line here," Fox said as they took off and headed towards the ship.

Krystal's senses went off like an alarm. "Fox, look out!" Suddenly, the ground below them appeared to explode, shooting debris and rocks in every direction and causing Fox to swerve and hit the brakes. As the dust was settling, something very large slowly came out of the ground. Judging by the hole in the ground, it was very large. The thing they saw in front of them was one of the largest ships they've ever seen, even larger than the Great Fox.

"What…what is that thing?" Krystal said, mystified.

Fox then remembered what Aemilia had said and realized the truth. "Of course," he said. "What Andross created… it's not just a weapon, it's an actual ship!"

Krystal then saw Tacitus' ship land on top. "Fox, drop me off on top of that thing," she said.

"What are you nuts!?" Fox exclaimed. "I'm not leaving you alone on there!"

"I have to stop Tacitus from taking off," Krystal said. "Don't even try arguing with me now Fox."

Fox growled slightly. "Fine, but I promise I won't be from your side long."

(A/N: For this next part, the song I'm using here is "Awakening" from Halo 4.)

The design of the ship made it impossible to land on top and as soon as Fox found a good spot, he lifted open the hatch and Krystal jumped out, hitting the surface and getting her balance. She quickly pulled out her blaster and slowly made her way towards Tacitus' ship. "It's over Tacitus," she said sternly. "We're not letting you leave this planet."

The doors on his ship opened slowly. *"Dear Krystal, if only your father could see you now," Tacitus said, exiting the ship. "He would be so proud of how much you've grown. But he would be slightly disappointed how you've let yourself be so easily influenced by the Cornerians."

"Don't even mention my father," Krystal growled, more than ready to pull the trigger and end his life. "After all you've done, you don't even have the right!"

"Your parents were fools and never understood the punishments we had endured," Tacitus said. "And I see the same could be said about you. I never wished death on you or your parents, but if you're only going to get in my way, then I have no choice." His sudden movement was so fast Krystal didn't have the time to fire a shot. The blow that came to her body next sent her flying and she crashed onto the ground close to the edge of the ship.

Tacitus then grabbed her and lifted her by her throat, cutting off her oxygen. "Your father gave you the opportunity to live," he said with a low growl. "You should have never come back."

Krystal's vision started to blur but she suddenly heard the sound of a ship fly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Fox, who jumped out of the ship, as he flew down and managed to kick Tacitus to the ground using his feet, freeing Krystal from his grasp.

The blow did knock the breath of him, but managed to keep his balance. "Of course, the great Fox McCloud, Lylat's finest hero to the rescue," he said tauntingly. "In the short amount of time I spent with Andross, he told me much about you, how you'd end up as much of a nuisance as your father."

"The fact that you even worked with that crazed ape is enough of a reason to put you away," Fox said, blaster drawn.

Tacitus smirked. "You think you can stop me with such archaic weaponry? You don't know who you're dealing with, Cornerian."

Fox had enough of this vulpine and fired a few shots. But the shots didn't even seem to hit him as some sort of barrier was protecting him. Tacitus responded by waving his arm and Fox was suddenly sent flying and crashed into the ground, his ribs almost feeling like they were going to break.

Tacitus then reacted in time of Krystal's staff coming at him and stopped it by merely grabbing it. His elbow then struck her in the head and she crumbled to the ground unconscious. "K-Krystal!" Fox tried to get up but the sudden pain in his chest limited his movement.

Tacitus looked at both of them. "I see…" he then said. "Now I understand completely. As it turns out, Krystal at the moment is more valuable to me alive." He then turned to Fox. "As for you, you can enjoy your stay on this planet, if you manage to survive the fall."

Fox once again found himself flying as he went off the edge of the ship. He tried to grab onto the edge but there was nothing to hold onto. Luckily the fall wasn't nearly as bad as he thought as there was a small platform which he landed on hard. Amazingly, he still hadn't broken anything but he was sure he'd definitely have a few bruised ribs at least.

Tacitus then reached down and picked up Krystal's limp body. "The way that this weapon must be powered is almost diabolical," he said to himself. "But it must be done, for we have earned the revenge we deserve." He then entered the ship and set his destination towards Corneria.

(A/N: Okay, I wish I had an actual track or song for this but unfortunately David Wise apparently never released it on the Adventures soundtrack so I have to go with what I got here. /watch?v=TJ6Q9t5AV2g At least you'll get some appropriate sound effects! :D)

*The fall had caused Fox to black out momentarily but he started regaining consciousness as he heard the sound of engines above him. He looked up and saw that the enormous ship was starting to take off and leave Cerinia's atmosphere. He then got up slowly and spotted his ship nearby. Despite the pain, he quickly made his way over, jumped into the cockpit and started up the engines. After retracting the landing pad he activated full thrusters and started in pursuit.

(A/N: And now for this next part, the song I'm using here is "Star Fox – Space Armada Orchestrated".)

As he was exiting Cerinia's atmosphere, he opened up a channel to Peppy. "Peppy, Tacitus is escaping and Krystal is on that ship with him! I need Great Fox to slow him down!"

"Sorry Fox, but we got problems of our own!" Peppy replied. "The pirates finally found us and are attempting to take on the ship but Falco and Slippy are busy holding them off."

"Damn it…" Fox growled. "Alright, I'll give Falco and Slippy a hand." He then changed course and headed towards where the Great Fox was currently. More Venomian battleships had appeared and were trying to butt heads with the Cornerian dreadnaught. He then saw two Arwings exchanging fire with both the battleships and Venomian fighters.

*"Falco, Slippy, what's the situation?" Fox asked via commlink.

"Well gee Fox, it's about time you showed up," Falco said sarcastically. "Don't mind us if we're busy taking on a small Venomian fleet."

Fox ignored his wing mate's complaining. "You two alright Slippy?" he asked.

"We can surely use the help Fox," Slippy replied. "But where'd you get the new ship? And where's Krystal?"

"To put it short, she's on a Cerinian ship that's headed towards Corneria," Fox said.

"Are you serious!?" Falco exclaimed. "Well of course we have to go save her!"

"We will, but we'll have to take care of these guys first!" He then headed towards the first battleship, which immediately started opening fire on him. Fox dodged the laser shots with eased and opened fire on the ship's center, its weak point. After about a dozen laser bolts the ship split in half and exploded.

"Hehe, chewing things up as always Fox!" Peppy said in support.

Fox then noticed a ship was tailing him and quickly did a somersault, falling behind the ship and shooting it down with ease. Two battleships remained, or rather one now since the other exploded after taking shots from Great Fox's main cannons.

"Woohoo nice shot Peppy!" Slippy cheered.

"Warning, warning, detecting warp gate transmission!" ROB suddenly stated throughout the channel.

"Another cruiser?" Peppy asked.

(A/N: For this next part, the song I'm using is "Boss B" from Star Fox 64 3D.)

*A warp gate appeared and suddenly a large mech came into view with a rail gun attached to its right arm. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Falco said.

"That thing's huge!" Slippy yelled.

The mech instantly targeted them and started firing its rail gun. Falco tried firing at it but its armor was tough. "This thing is tougher than it looks!" Falco groaned. He then paused for a moment before saying, "Fox, Slippy, Gramps, and I will take care of this guy, you go save Krystal."

"W-Are you sure?" Fox asked.

"Of course I'm sure!" Falco replied. "You are the big hero as always!"

Fox smiled slightly at the comment. "…Alright, I guess I'll see you guys soon then." He then did a U-Turn and headed back towards where the Cerinian ship was heading. He then saw a warp gate in front of it appear. "A warp gate!?" Apparently Cerinian technology was more advanced than he thought.

(A/N: For the final part of this chapter, the song I'm using here is "117" from Halo 4.)

*"Hey Peppy, I hate to say it but it looks like I'm going this one alone after all," he said.

"Understood Fox," Peppy said. "Do what you have to do to save her."

Fox nodded in response as he quickly made his way towards the ship. He then flew down as close to the ship as he could as its shields raised up. Now Fox would be okay through warp space. The Cerinian ship was larger than he previously thought as he started flying through the large trenches. Up ahead there were turrets that immediately started firing on him. He deflected the shots doing a barrel roll and returned fire, destroying the turrets.

The walls suddenly started moving on him, trying to clip his wings but Fox maneuvered his way in between the gaps. "So you are still alive after all," Tacitus' voice resonated through the cockpit. "But you're already too late…" Soon the ship started coming out of warp space and the familiar blackness of space returned.

Fox's channel suddenly lit up. "Cornerian Defense Force, the Cerinian ship has appeared on radar. Fire at will!"

"So Hornet did warn the fleet!" Fox realized. "CFC Hornet, this is Fox McCloud. Captain Rio, do you copy?"

"McCloud, is that you!? This is Hill!"

"Lieutenant, where's the captain?" Fox asked.

"Cornerian Command didn't take kindly to him leaving you guys on Cerinia," Hill replied. "Right now, I'm the one in charge."

"I need a way into the ship, think you can provide some help?"

"We'll do our best but the ship appears to be protected by a shield so cannon fire is almost useless," Hill replied. "We'll keep trying but if you can get inside and take down the shield, then it won't have a chance."

"Will do Captain," Fox replied. The long trench continued but more turrets were appearing, trying to shoot him out of the sky. Luckily at their range Fox was able to dodge these with ease but one managed to graze his wing, thankfully not blowing it off. Suddenly, the blast doors ahead of him were starting to close. Fox pushed the thrusters to maximum as he barely cleared through. The prototype was clearly being put to the test.

"Command, MAC rounds are proving ineffective!"

"All ships, keep the pressure on the Cerinian ship!" Hill ordered. "Fox McCloud needs to get in that ship and I'm not planning on letting him down!"

The trench started to narrow as Fox saw an opening ahead. Once he cleared it, he found himself at the heart of the ship where there was a large opening. But suddenly it started closing before Fox had time to react. "Damn it," he said. "Hornet, my path inside has been blocked, can you provide assistance?"

"If we focus on that one spot, we might be able to blow a hole inside it," Hill said. "But we can't get close with those turrets shooting at us."

"I'll take care of those, stand by Hornet," Fox said, spotting the power sources immediately. The large turrets were busy focusing on the Cornerian ships to not see him. He targeted the first power source and tried out his bombs, shooting one out and the detonation took out the power source completely. All four of them were in a circle position. Fox then found the second and opened fire, taking out the second one. Two more to go.

He quickly took care of the last two, causing the ship's main guns to stop firing. "Alright Hornet, the road is clear."

"Might want to clear out as well," Hill said. The Hornet and two other Cornerian frigates made their way towards the ship and all three fired MAC rounds at once, punching a large hole into what were the blast doors.

"Sir, we have a direct hit!"

"Clean shot Hornet," Fox said. "I'm headed inside now."

"Copy that McCloud," Hill said. "Give Tacitus our regards…"

Fox pulled up his nose as high as he could go before shooting downwards into the hole. The pathway appeared to be a small channel that leads straight into the heart of the ship. "You are becoming more of an annoyance than I imagined," Tacitus said straight into Fox's head. A warning light told him that the channel behind him was starting to close in on him.

Fox quickly switched power from the shields to the engines, causing the thrusters to boost at speeds the ship could barely handle. The pathway started to narrow as well but just ahead he could see light. He gunned the fighter as fast as he could, as it became so narrow both of his wings were clipped off. The light was starting to falter as another door was starting to close. He then ducked his body below the seat as the last thing he heard before blacking out was the sound of screeching metal.

(A/N: I should be so proud of myself, getting this chapter done in less than two days. I realized after making you all wait a week it would be better to make up for it by providing another chapter. Also, I have finals next week which means I want to get this done as soon as I can. That's right people, next chapter will be the final chapter and boy it ought to be good! …Hopefully. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you all real soon.)

FoxMcCloud7921