Hello again! It has been far too long, I know, but we have been having a bit of writer's block. (This is Baeowulf speaking, by the way.) Both I and my co-author worked on this, and I hope you enjoy (if there are any of you guys left, of course!) But anyways, let's get back to the action!
And now, we return to our feature presentation...
Alarm bells blared as Bill sat bolt upright in the barracks. He jumped out of his cot, frantically pulling some pants on, and ran outside to see what had triggered the alarm. Other fighter pilots were running into the main hangar, some looking just as confused as he was. The alarm was only used in rare circumstances. They had had a drill just last week, nobody important was visiting, and they weren't at war with anyone. Even in his current half-awake state, Bill knew that left only one possibility. Corneria itself was under attack.
Knowing now that every second was crucial, he grabbed his blaster and sprinted to one of the fighters. He practically flew up the ladder to the cockpit, and held down the button to seal it, frustrated that the machinery wouldn't work any faster. But it was just that: a machine. The fighter didn't care if the main planet in Lylat was destroyed, it took its time. When the pneumatic hiss finally alerted Bill that he could take off, he screamed out of the hangar, already setting up a video link to his commander, his team, and a few friends that he didn't really have clearance to talk to. But the planet was clearly under siege, and he cared a lot more about his friends' welfare than a potential week of garbage duty. When his captain's face appeared on the screen, as it did on the rest of his team's, he quickly said what they were all thinking.
"Captain, what's going on?"
"Didn't we already take care of the last major threats in the area?"
"Something got by our scouts, or destroyed them. I can't contact the main fleet, and they aren't showing up on the base's sensors. They were probably all destroyed. We need to -"
"To take out something that destroyed the entire fleet?" said Bill incredulously.
"Grey! Don't interrupt!"
"Sorry, captain."
"But in essence, you're right. We have no clue how powerful this thing is, but we know its just one ship. It won't answer our hailing signals, and team Star Fox is out of the area. Ordinarily, we could call on..." he grimaced. "Star Wolf, but they're out too. So it's down to us. Lets go. All fighters, check in."
"Red one, in."
"Red two, in."
"Red three, in," echoed Bill.
"Red five, in."
"What?"
They looked around, and Bill was the first to see the flaming wreckage of a Cornerian fighter corkscrewing towards the ground. He barely swerved out of the way of the next laser bolt, aimed at him, before they saw their foe: a colossal fighter unlike any they had seen before. It looked like it had been damaged, somewhat recently, but clearly not by their fighters. They opened fire, but their shots were easily deflected by the ships shields.
"Red six! Whats the status on those shields?" barked the captain.
"I can't get it! There's a negation field surrounding the ship!"
"This is too vital to not know! Get me Beltino!"
Beltino woke up, irritated at being called so early. What could the captain want now? The old toad hopped out of bed, pulling on his signature lab suit and placing his rectangular glasses on his face. Beltino walked over to the comm panel, pressing the answer button. An image of the captain popped into life above the device, his face tense. Beltino stared at the hologram, dark rings under his tired eyes. "What's this about, captain?" he said, annoyed.
"This!" shouted the captain, and the image changed. Beltino's eyes widened: it was a ship, but unlike any he had ever seen. It was essentially a giant sphere, making the buildings of Corneria city seem small by comparison. Immense red beams fired from the ship's surface, carving huge craters into the landscape. Buildings around it lay in smoking ruins, and rubble lined the streets. "It's got some kind of negation shield; our shots can't penetrate it!" shouted the Captain, his face grim. "We need an analysis!" Beltino stared in shock for a few moments, then snapped to his senses.
"Uh, right, yes," muttered Beltino, running to the computer. He began typing furiously, trying to access the city security net. Beltino started a scan of the immense ship, trying to find any weak points. To his great surprise, the scan turned up negative. It didn't say that there were no weak points, there just was no information. Beltino ran back to the comm board. "The scans can't pick anything up! We're in the black!"
Psion watched, his eyes narrowed as though he were smiling deviously, as Corneria city was destroyed. A small group of fighters charged at the Prenuntius core, but a single shot from one of its cannons sent one of them flaming to the ground. The ship exploded in a grand display of pyrotechnics, pieces of metal flying over the battlefield. Psion grinned as he felt the pilot's life flicker out like the flame of a feeble candle, and a small echoe of "deceased" sounded in the back of his elongated cranium. The Doppleganger Prince walked over to the communications board, his digitigrade legs bending strangely, his talons clicking against the metal floor. He hit a small button, his clawed finger depressing it into the metal board.
"Officer! Report on the progress of invasion!" he said, his strange voice more thought than heard.
"All is going according to plan," replied the officer, and Psion's eyes glittered with malicious glee as he absentmindedly kept count of the number of innocents slaughtered across the planet. "The planetary defenses are all but destroyed; we should take control of this world with minimal loss of life." Psion scowled.
"That will not be necessary," he said through the com. "Just be sure that every last native is eradicated." The officer hesitated before responding.
"Sir?"
"You heard me," said Psion, his voice cold. "Eradicate them all; man, woman... and child." The officer hesitated, but his response was the correct one.
"Yes sir."
Bill banked hard to the left, forcing his craft into a roll as he narrowly dodged the blast of laser fire. He heard a scream as Red 5's ship was sliced in two by a laser from the immense ship, plummeting to the ground in a cloud of smoke. Suddenly, bay doors began to open on the bottom of the large craft. Bill banked towards one of the doors, and fired into it. He saw a small explosion, but his smile faded as he saw what was coming out. Swarms of pure white ships poured from the bay doors, flying around like agitated hornets. Many of them began to circle the immense mothership, and a great number sped off to other parts of the planet. Suddenly, the ships began to change color and shape: after a few seconds, they all resembled cornerian fighters. Bill's eyes widened, and his trigger finger lifted off the joystick. He fired a shot, and hit a ship. Instantly, he recieved a call from Red 2.
"Red 3!" she shouted over the line, the vixen's face cross. "Who do you think you're shooting?!" Bill dodged out of the way of a hail of fire, not sure who to shoot.
"Sorry, Red 2!" he shouted back. "All the bogies look like us! We should maintain a comm link at all times; at least that way we can ask if the ship flying towards us is an enemy or not!" Bill killed his engines, dropping quickly out of the way of the laser fire. He hit the re-activate button, and pulled a u-turn, coming behind the ship that had shot at him. Suddenly, large ships began to drift towards the ground from the mothership. Hordes of grey-skinned alien soldiers poured out of them into the streets of Corneria city, smashing into buildings, massacreing any they saw. Bill had to tear his eyes away from the carnage in the streets; the only way he could help anyone was by bringing that huge Mothership down. Suddenly, six very familiar ships appeared on the horizon. It was Star Fox!
Fox and his team sped towards the battle, slicing through enemy ships like paper. He grinned; Savant had equipped their ships with a some kind of special organic radar device. It "saw" Shi'Krii DNA, and displayed any ship carrying it as an enemy on their HUD. He glanced around, quickly evaluating the battlefield. Platoons of Doppelganger soldiers marched through the streets, and enemy ships swarmed around the Prenuntius. Fox knew that the Psion was aboard the immense sphere, watching everything. The Prenuntius had to be destroyed at all costs, but at the same time, there was a ground battle to wage.
"Slippy! Amanda! Krystal! Take the fight to the ground troops! Falco, Katt and I will take the air battle!" shouted Fox over his comm channel, boosting towards the immense Doppelganger mothership.
"Alright! Just be careful, Fox!" replied Krystal as she veered her ship towards the ground, blasting a path through the veritable river of Shi'Krii. Fox tore his eyes from his wife's ship; there was no time for distraction in combat. He and his two wingmates smashed into the defenses, sending fragments of Doppelganger ship raining to the ground. Laser fire sizzled past their ships, the very air seeming to glow. Fox's eyes widened, and his pupils shrank to pinpoints. Time seemed to slow down for the vulpine pilot, and the battle almost looked like it was floating through jello.
Fox darted in between enemy ships, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Every shot he fired sliced through the engines of another frail Shi'Krii fighter, sending it plummeting towards the unforgiving street in balls of flame and sparking electricity. He was like a scythe in a field, and the Doppleganger ships were just so many blades of grass. Suddenly, he heard a voice in his comm-channel. A small group of Cornerian fighters were flying up to him.
"Fox!"
Krystal jumped out of her pseudo-Arwing as it landed, drawing her staff and sailing to the ground in one fluid motion. She was instantly surrounded by enemy troops, grey faces and black eyes peering at her. The Shi'Krii footsoldiers slowly began to morph, taking the forms of frightened civilians. Krystal shut her eyes and leapt into the crowd, letting her telepathy guide her. She opened her mind to the environment, her sixth sense mapping everything. She could "see" everything in her head: the doppelgangers in front of her, the ships spiraling above her head, and the flickering lights of the dying behind her. She tore through the Doppelganger hordes with her eyes shut tight, not letting her sight fool her. Krystal flew into the air, and performed a spin kick as she landed, her steel-toed boots smashing into the skull of an enemy soldier as she hammered towards the ground, reducing the creature into grey mush. Krystal hit the ground in a roll, jumping to her feet in a sprint. Laser fire spattered against the ground behind her, very nearly frying the soles off her shoes. The Shi'Krii around her abandoned their guises, knowing that she could see through them with her telepathy, and oriented themselves for combat. The sleek cannons they carried expanded in size, and began to glow. Krystal looked back behind her at the group of Shi'Krii, and her eyes widened. The Doppelgangers opened fire, and Krystal jumped and flipped out of the way of the hail of bolts. Krystal's face grew stern with concentration, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she contorted her body into what seemed almost like some bizarre dance. Krystal grinned; Fox would love to see this! Suddenly, the enemy fire ceased. Krystal landed out of a flip on all fours, panting lightly. She stood, and looked behind her. The Doppelganger troops backed away into a large crescent, and a single fighter landed in the middle of the clearing. It was a sleek, black ship, shaped like a crescent. The landing ramp extended, and someone all too familiar walked out.
"Reaper..." gasped Krystal, her eyes widening. The midnight-furred jackal grinned, drawing her sword. It's blade was shrouded in red energy, coils of crimson wrapping around its cruel, black length.
"Did you miss me?"
Falco, Katt, Fox, and the remains of Red Squadron darted through the air, firing desperately on the increasing number of enemy ships.
"Do they ever end?!" shouted Red 2 over her comm, blasting an unfortunate ship into smoking shrapnel. Falco grinned.
"Heh, I wouldn't count on it!" he replied, pulling into a barrel roll and a steep drop, causing two enemy ships to crash into each other. "You should have seen the Mothership at its full size!" Suddenly, three black and red ships flew down from the sky: Wolfen fighters.
"Heh heh heh! Did you miss me, arrogant peacock?!" hissed Leon over his intercom.
"Ahhh, two lovely ladies to charm," purred Panther, grinning, a black rose clenched between his jaws. "But where is the lovely Krystal?"
"Who is that jerk?" whispered Red 2. A third wolfen swooped down from the skies, and headed straight for Fox.
"Hey, pup," muttered the one-eyed lupine, his teeth showing in a cruel grin. "Long time no see!"
So, Star Wolf is fighting for Psion! What will happen? Will Reaper kill Krystal? Will the team face terrible demise? Who is the snarky pilot Red 2? Find out in the next thrilling installment of... Star Fox: Deception!
The winds of time blow on, shifting the sands of reality into ever changing patterns.
- Baeowulf