Something Blue
The Other Life
A Star Fox Adventures Fanfic
By Vikky Cutter
11: The Show that Never Ends
Lisitza held a data screen in one hand as she walked through the engine room of _The Great Fox_, checking off each task as she completed it: reconnecting cables, checking readouts and flipping switches. Each step added a new note to the low hum that filled the cramped room.
Once the last connection was in place she moved to the control board on the back wall. The power in the room caused her fur to frizz and lift into the air. The majority of the lights on the board were red, leaving the rest to glow green. After double-checking the data screen, she pressed the intercom on the wall. "Peppy, everything is running and in place down here."
"I'm reading the same thing here. Reset the main power bus and clear the circuits."
She nodded and stood up on her tiptoes so she could reach the reset switch. Grabbing it firmly she twisted it. With a unified pop half the fuses on the board opened, the lights next to them switching to yellow while all the rest turned to a solid red.
Relaxing back to her feet she moved down the length of the board, pressing each fuse back into place. They made a satisfying click as they locked, the yellow lights changing to red. Once she was finished she stretched back up and turned the reset switch back into place.
A deep thrum filled the room, and one by one every light on the board clicked back to green. A moment later came the familiar whine as the gravity engines started to spin up to standby power. She pressed her ears down against her hair to block out the growing noise.
"Lisitza, all systems are green and the power system is at full and stable," the hare said over the radio, increasing his volume to get over the noise in the room.
"Good, I'll head back to the bridge," she replied. Picking up her data screen, she hurried out of the room. The door slid closed behind her, muffling much of the noise. With a sigh she relaxed her ears. The vixen had not expected it to get that loud, or maybe she just wasn't used to it anymore. She reluctantly made a mental note to pick up some ear protection.
Lisitza walked casually through the hallway, watching the lights flicker out. The emergency lights flashed on for a few seconds as they disconnected from the port's power system. A moment later the lights came back on, much brighter than before.
She hurried up the stairs then picked her way along the exposed gull neck. The repairs were nearly done, only a few spots were left to weld, and much of the floor had been replaced. Hopefully they would be finished with the work on the space frame by the next day.
The bridge was nearly repaired as well, most of the consoles had been closed up and rewired. All the wall panels had been reinstalled and a few of the other display systems had been completely replaced. Only the engineering terminal remained in pieces.
"We're on full internal power and the gravity drive is working at one hundred percent," Slippy said as he worked at the half-finished terminal, not even bothering to lift his head free.
She bent down, and set the data screen next to him. "Is there anything else I can do?"
The toad shrugged his shoulders. "Not now. Go and take care of the hounds at the door."
Lisitza let out a sigh and shook her head. Walking across the bridge she looked out at the group of reporters waiting outside the gate. There were fewer now than in the days before, and they had been waiting patiently for her to come out and talk to them.
"You should do it," Peppy said.
"What am I going to tell them? Fox is dead, that's been all over the media for the last five days. I'm not sure what else there is to say."
The old hare took his glasses off and made a show of cleaning them. He looked at the woman before he pulled them back on. "Tell them that he was a great man, and that you're going to do everything to uphold his legacy. It's the truth."
"Or you could be honest," Slippy said, his head still buried in the terminal.
She sighed and flicked out her tail in annoyance. "Fine, I'll go down and spin some story for them." With that said, she walked out of the room and back down to the docking bay.
Stopping at the open door she looked out into the bright sunlight. It reflected off the expanse of ground around the ship, lighting the underside of _The Great Fox_ and the fighters tied down outside. The reporters saw her and moved closer to the fence, calling out her name.
She dug into her vest pocket and pulled out her sunglasses, tucking them over her ears and placing them firmly on her nose. Ignoring them for a moment, she walked out and made a show of inspecting the underside of the gull neck. Their calls grew even louder while she had her back to them, her ears cocking back in annoyance. Finally the frustration of the calls got to be too much. Taking a deep breath she turned around and started across the docking slip.
The reporters pulled away from the fence, lining up around the gate in a crescent moon. They looked eagerly at her, but stayed quiet, the hovering fans of all the cameras creating a breeze around them. She had teased them before, coming out and looking like she was going to them, but instead going to the fighters. She could see in their eyes the hope that this time she would actually say something.
She never broke stride as she walked past her fighter and approached the gate. Opening it with one hand she stepped though and into the middle of the reporters. Carefully she closed the gate, fighting hard to keep her anxiety from showing in her ears and tail. "Hello," she said.
Mavis Furst stepped forward. The raccoon woman looked as good today as she had the other night. "Ms. McCloud, what do you have to say about your husband's death?"
"What do you want me to say? My husband is dead; he died to save this system for a fourth time. Just be glad that Andros was so weak, otherwise it might not have been enough," she responded, her ears rocking slightly forward.
"Why did he keep your marriage secret until now?" a lion asked, his mane pulled back around his head, pulling at the skin of his face and making him look rather unpleasant.
She signed and rubbed her forehead, her fictional past rushing through her memory. "It wasn't a secret. We haven't been to Corneria in two years. He was training me out of the system; he wanted me to be as good as a pilot as he was."
A rat spoke up: "What happened on Sauria?"
Lisitza took in a deep breath and allowed some of her frustration to slip out into the flicking of her tail. She didn't want to talk about Sauria. "A tin pot dictator tried to destroy the world. Fox saved them, like he always did."
"And what about you? What did you do while he was 'saving the world'?"
"That's personal," she snapped.
"Would it have anything to do with your sister?" the lion asked, looking down the way, towards where Kyrstal's ship was still docked.
Her ears took a dive into her hair as she let out a soft growl. Carefully she controlled herself, trying to return then to their proper place. "Yes, while at Sauria I discovered I had a sister. I ask that you leave her alone. She is my sister, and has nothing to do with Fox or his death."
The reporters all turned to look down the way, all but Ms. Furst. While the others were busy trying to spot Krystal's ship, the raccoon nodded. "I will respect that," she said in a voice just above a whisper.
It took a moment for the reporters to focus back on her. This time an older male fox spoke. "Do you feel guilty about what happened?"
She looked at the man through the dark lenses of her glasses, her jaw setting ever tighter. "Guilty? My husband is dead. I feel like hell. This was supposed to be our best day, and now I'm trying to hold his team together without him. Yes, I took his fighter, yes I was out in the belt, and yes he went in an underpowered ship because of me, but he insisted on everything. He wanted me to make a name for myself, to be a part of his team. I just wish I could have been here for him. I wish I could have kept him from dying, but it all just slipped through my fingers and spun out of control.
"If there had been anything I could have done to keep him, I would have. If there was any way I could have made sure he was here instead of me I would have taken it without a moment of hesitation, but I can't make decisions for anyone's life but my own. It's too late now to change any of it," she said, her composure finally cracking as her voice caught somewhere between tears and anger.
The reporters looked at her before the rat cleared his throat. "You would have exchanged your life for his?"
"In a moment," she said in a soft voice.
There was a moments of silence around them as they all looked at her. Finally she placed a hand over her face and turned away, her tail dropping down against her legs. "I'm done."
"Are you going to the ceremony next week?"
"Yes, I will," she said, walked back through the gate. She stopped on the other side, the thin metal separating her from the reporters, but they didn't ask her anything else. They just watched her for a moment then broke apart, each one going to file their story, their cameras following after like obedient pets.
Lisitza started back towards her fighter, running her hand over the leading edge of the wing, feeling the pitting from the fight. It was something real, something from the life she had lost. She moved around the wings and headed toward the ladder.
Carefully she climbed up the ladder and sat down on the wing. The metal was warm on her rear and tail, but no so hot as to make her get up. She rested her arms on the closed canopy and dropped her head against them.
The warmth on her back was nice, but she still felt cold. She didn't want to sit around waiting for the media to work out that something wasn't right about her. She wasn't surprised they had found Krystal, but was worried they had tracked them back to Sauria. So much for the classified mission.
Lifting her head she looked back at _The Great Fox_. While there was still scoring over much of the hull, it was now purely cosmetic, not damage. In two more weeks they would be up and ready to fly, then they could leave Corneria behind. She doubted she would ever return.
The weight of it all seemed to settle into her stomach like a stone. Finally it was too much for her. "I'm not going to sit here and feel like this," she said with a growl as she pushed herself off the wing, landing heavily on her feet. She made a single pass around the fighter to remove the tie-downs and tucked them way.
Climbing back up the ladder, she opened the canopy and settled into the cockpit. Quickly she turned on all the systems as she tucked the radio over one ear. With one press of the radio, she started to speak. "Peppy?"
It took a moment for him to respond "What is it, Lisitza?"
The vixen cleared her throat. "I'm going out for a bit, maybe fly around the canyons. Do you need me to get anything?"
"Nothing you can pick up in the fighter. Stay safe and don't hit the canyon walls."
"I'll do what I can," she replied. As she lifted into the air she noted that the raccoon was the only reporter left. She was still standing at the fence, watching as the fighter took to the air. Strangely her camera was nowhere to be seen.
To Be Continued...
This story is copyright 2009 by Victoria-Ann Cutter, hardcopy reprints limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed. _Star Fox_ and _Star Fox Adventures_ and all related characters and settings are owned by Nintendo and are used without permission.
