"Fox, this is Pepper. We need you and you team in the command center, ASAP. Pepper ou-"
"General, there's something I have to tell you." Fox blurted out. A few weeks had passed since that fateful night, and Fox had yet to tell General Pepper about Krystal and her stance on the war. No doubt losing another Star Fox member would greatly upset him, not to mention the repercussions it could have on the moral of the army.
"Yes Fox? What is it?" General Pepper asked, his authoritative, monotone voice unchanged.
"Krystal..she.."
"Well, go on Fox, spit it out. This doesn't sound good."
What would General Pepper do if he knew that Star Fox didn't support Corneria? Would he label them outlaws, placing them among the ranks of Star Wolf and other criminals? Fox laughed at that quickly in his mind; perhaps that would be fitting for them, considering the job Fox was forced to undertake, if not for money than for protection, if anything. All jokes aside, General Pepper had become slightly more…radical these days, and that fate might not be as far-fetched as Fox believed.
"Krystal is…. She's pregnant, sir."
General Pepper's breath could be heard over the channel, and there was an awkward moment of silence as Fox looked out over the desert, awaiting a response to his blatant lie.
"Are you sure, Fox?"
"100 percent, sir." Fox had never been a good liar, but he was good at doing what was necessary; if that meant lying, then so be it.
"Well… uhm… this leaves us with a problem, doesn't it, Fox?" General Pepper had taken the bait.
"Yes… I think Krystal should rest, though. Falco, Peppy and I will be down to the command center in a few minutes."
"Alright then. Pepper out." He sounded skeptical, but there was no way to know for sure without seeing his facial expressions.
It was at the moment where static filled his headset for a brief second that Fox realized the monumental error of his ways. He now had very, very little time to end this war; people would begin to notice that Krystal was indeed without child if he took more than 3 months. Perhaps even less than that. He didn't want to hurt Krystal more than he already had.
Fox sighed, ran his hand through the white hair between his ears, and walked at a brisk pace to the command center.
…
As Fox walked, he recounted the victories the Cornerian Army had been experiencing in the last few days. After Akiba had made an appearance of the battlefield that night, he vanished, and hadn't been seen since. There was no telling what he was hiding from; it seemed as though the Cyalinthians were about to win. But, with Akiba gone, that was no longer the case. The saying "out of sight, out of mind" had shone to be true for the Cyalinthians; they were pushed back to Rah Lough in a matter of days, and the war was once again at a stalemate, with the Cornerians unable to launch a full attack on the city due to multiple-repaired- pieces of anti-aircraft guns and artillery.
Fox and Falco had been working overtime as of late. The two of them were almost constantly on the battlefield or in the air, leading troops or fighting in the bloodied sand with them. Truth be told, Fox was stressed. Each person he killed dragged a part of him with them; he felt like he was being torn apart at the seams. He didn't want these people to die… they just had to. They would never stop unless Akiba died. And the longer that crazed avian was alive, the bigger the death toll grew.
Fox snarled as he thought of the name, bringing up an aftertaste in his mouth similar to when he heard the word Andross.
…
Lasers sprayed everywhere, into the dirt and the sand, sending flaming particles of earth into the air and the lungs of the Cyalinthian soldiers. A grenade exploded here or there; they were well and truly pinned down.
Akiba watched the scene unfold from an undisclosed location underneath the royal palace. Images of the firefight were brought to him via a small, unmanned drone which he controlled using a complex computer system.
"Akiba, sir! We need artillery support! Coordinates 654 and 655! Danger close!"
Akiba leaned forward towards the microphone on his desk, in order to make his voice heard better to the men surrounded and suffocated by death.
"Denied; push them back."
"Si- Agh!" Akiba watched the smoldering blood spray from the sergeant's body, his face and demeanor unchanged. He was losing this war. Not even he, the most intelligent of the Cyalinthians, saw any gap, and chink in the armor of the Cornerian Empire. And, truth be told, he was nervous. Very, very nervous.
He had strayed away from the battlefields and the dogfights, away from the fighting. This country needed him as long as they could have him, and he couldn't let some idiotic mistake in battle be the death of Cyalinth. Even fighting at all was dangerous for him now, as only the stronger members of his army remained; alive, but battered. Akiba wondered how much longer he could keep this up; death seemed inevitable. But, as he had said when he declared war on Corneria, his country was something he was willing to die for, no matter how painful. Loyalty comes first.