Chapter 24: Venom
"You remember our deal, right Red?" asked Fox.
"Yes, yes, I know."
"We leave first, and you stay here until we get the battle under control."
"I already know that, Fox," said Red. Everyone was already waiting in the hangar. In the distance, Venom was only just a speck. "Don't worry about me, okay? Just do what you have to do and I'll just…improvise. When the time comes, I'll know when to leave."
"But only if you really have to leave," Fox added.
Falco was already sitting in his Arwing. "Well if you do leave, try not to die right away."
"I'll consider it," Red said.
Slippy was also in his Arwing. "ROB, can you shoot the missile from this distance?"
"Negative. We are too far away."
"You'd better get in your Arwing, Fox," said Red, "I'll try to help you during the battle from here."
"And how in the world are you supposed to do that?" asked Falco.
"I don't know. Maybe I'll assist ROB."
"I have an idea," said Krystal, "Once the nodes are taken out, you can tell us what our next target is."
"Good idea. I'll start on that." He left the hangar and went to find ROB in the control room.
Venom was no longer a spec and was now the size of a large dot.
Minutes later, Star Fox was listening over the com link. Fox was now the last one in an Arwing and Red was in the control room.
"Can you hit them from here, ROB?" asked Red.
"Negative, we will be in range in approximately 5 minutes."
"But can you get a good view of the battlefield from here?" Red asked.
"Affirmative. Here is the highest magnification." The entire battlefield was shown to everyone. Star Fox could see it on their Arwing cockpits and Red could see it on a monitor in the control room. The battlefield looked similar to the video that Peppy had shown them just hours earlier.
After getting a good look at the battlefield, Red said, "Okay, can you run a scan of the battlefield to find any additional targets?"
"I am able to, but at this exact distance, it will take between two and three minutes to get an accurate reading."
ROB started the scan. Minutes passed by and no one said a word. It was the calm before the storm and everyone was getting anxious; even Falco was starting to get a little nervous…and sleepy. Venom could now be clearly seen without difficulty and was still growing slowly as they neared. All of a sudden, ROB broke the silence, "I have completed the scan."
Falco woke up. "What was…what?"
Red explained, "I have the results for your next targets. There are many large battleships with powerful weapons." An image of 2 battleships appeared on everyone's cockpit. They both looked the same and they were about the size of the Great Fox. "Also, there are some mother ships that are producing new fighters by the minute." The image of a mother ship replaced the battleships; it slightly resembled a metallic starfish. "These two kinds of ships are your top priorities. Also, keep the smaller fighters from damaging the Great Fox."
Venom now filled a third of the view from the Great Fox. "We are now in range to launch the missile," ROB announced.
"Then do it already!" said Falco.
"I am currently targeting the nodes," ROB said. And a few seconds later…"Fire!"
The Great Fox launched the missile and it started heading towards Venom.
"Do you think that they noticed us yet?" asked Slippy.
"Will it even matter in a few seconds?" Falco asked.
The missile quickly closed the gap between the Great Fox and the battlefield. As ROB was tracking the missile, he said, "Impact in approximately 10 seconds…5 seconds…1."
The explosion could be seen from The Great Fox. From that distance, the explosion actually looked very weak, but it was actually able to create an inferno large enough to destroy all of the blue nodes. A few seconds later, Star Fox saw another seemingly small explosion somewhere left to the first one: it was the missile that Peppy's team launched.
ROB announced, "Both missiles were successful. 90% of the fleet remains."
"I assume we're not going for subtlety," said Red, "They'd have to be stupid to not notice us now. Wait a minute." He rechecked the image of the battlefield and saw several ships moving towards them. "The enemy fighters are now targeting The Great Fox. I guess they're not stupid, then."
"That's our cue to leave," said Fox.
The 4 Arwings left the hangar one-by-one and entered the fray. Laser fire on both sides immediately started as they were first met with the smaller ships. "Destroy what you can and aim for the targets," Red ordered, "One of you needs to stay behind to take out the weaker ships around The Great Fox."
"I'll do it," said Slippy.
"Are you serious?!" yelled Falco.
"Why don't you trust him, Falco?" Krystal asked. "Let him do it."
"As for the rest of you," said Red, "a nearby battleship is approaching. Whenever any of you get the chance, destroy it!"
While Slippy was targeting the nearby fighters, the rest went for the battleship. There were swarms of enemies guarding the giant ship, so the three members of Star Fox were preoccupied. Every once in a while, someone launched a bomb to clear massive groupings and each time they got a chance, they were only able to shoot a couple of shots at the battleship before getting swarmed again by enemies. Slowly, everyone's Arwings were taking damage, but eventually there were few enough fighters to challenge them and the battleship was eventually destroyed.
"Yes! That's one target down!" Falco yelled happily.
"Great job!" Red exclaimed. "How's it going on your end, Slippy?"
"Everything's under control here."
But seconds later, Red noticed a problem. "Oh, no. Slippy, behind you!" he yelled.
"What?!" Slippy's Arwing was already taking damage from the fighters behind him.
"Stay focused, Slippy. Try a U-turn, a loop, anything!"
"Okay, Red." His ship made a sharp turn and he barrel rolled as he sped past the fighters.
"Very good, Slippy, but stay alert. The Great Fox is taking damage."
"Okay, then."
"We're aiming for a mother ship, now," Fox announced.
There were not as many fighters here than at the battleship, so Falco was able to use a charged shot on the mother ship.
"The mother ship received no damage," said ROB.
"Wait a minute." Red looked at a close-up of the mother ship and immediately spotted a weakness. "Aim at the center where the fighters are coming out."
"I'll take care of it," said Falco, "You two cover me." He flew ahead of them.
Fox and Krystal started shooting at the nearby enemies. As Falco neared, he aimed at the spot on the mother ship. Once he got close enough, he shot a bomb at it. Falco did a U-turn to avoid the explosion. When it cleared up, there was only some debris left. "So what's next?" Falco asked casually.
Red announced, "80% of the fleet remains. Hold on. Something isn't right here." He zoomed in on a battleship that was marked with a 'warning' sign on his screen. It took him only a second to spot a charging weapon. "The nearest battleship is targeting the Great Fox!"
"Well let's go take it down, then," said Falco.
The 3 went off towards the battleship.
Slippy said, "Everything's still okay-"
"-Don't jinx it!" yelled Falco, "Every time you give us good news, something bad happens!"
"I'm not sure that we can destroy the battleship in time," said Fox.
"I told you, Slippy!" Falco yelled again.
"There aren't as many fighters surrounding this one," said Krystal, "We can still destroy it!"
The battleship's laser cannon pointed at The Great Fox was glowing red.
"Get rid of it!" yelled Red.
The three got as many shots at it as they could, but it was no use. The battleship's shields were only cut in half when it launched a powerful laser at the Great Fox.
"No! We're too late!" yelled Fox. Just then, he realized that Slippy was too close to the laser's path. "Get out of the way Slippy!"
"What was that?" Slippy asked.
The laser collided with the ship. Once the smoke cleared up, the ship was shaken up, but still standing.
Once Red took a few seconds to comprehend that he was okay, he asked, "What are our shields at, ROB?"
"60%" said ROB.
"That's good enough for now." He then realized how close that Slippy was to the blast. "Slippy, are you okay?"
There was no response.
"Slippy, do you read me?!"
Still no response…