As the four ventured deeper into the structure, the hall grew dimmer and dimmer. Eventually, Falco and Fara had to use their guns' flashlights to illuminate the path further. After what seemed like hours, they finally reached a stone door. The four pushed it to find a dimly lit room.
Fox approached a large device in the center of the room and placed her right hand on what looked like a large button. Her bracelet glowed brightly and a large hologram map of that section of the galaxy filled the room. Various planets and stars were marked, though the language was unfamiliar to the group.
"Any ideas what any of this means?" Fox asked.
"Definitely nothing I've seen on Cerinia." Krystal told her, "A lot of the labels are identical. It might help if we could group the planets together by label and then compare and contrast the different groups."
"It would be a start." Fox told Krystal, "What we need is a way to somehow download this map. I don't want to spend hours making sense of this map so close to an entire enemy company."
"Use your bracelet." Fara suggested, "It might be compatible with this technology."
Fox sighed and began searching through her bracelet's settings and options. Eventually, she found a "download" option and selected it. A miniature version of the map was shown on the bracelet's hologram display before being replaced by the words "download complete".
"So, what now?" Falco asked, "We don't know how long before they notice their friends are dead and decide to investigate."
"We got what we came for." Fox told him, "Let's return to the Great Fox."
The group started to leave when they heard someone talking just outside the room. Not wanting to be trapped, Falco fired a few rounds into a Sharpclaw scout as it entered the room. The group started running. They ran into an Andronian, who they killed before he even noticed them. Eventually, they made it to the entrance and found the trenches outside crawling with fresh Andronian and Sharpclaw troops.
"What now?" Falco asked.
"We sneak around and try to find a good place to summon our Arwings." Fox suggested, "If that fails, whoever can make a successful break for it gets into their Arwing and provides close air support. Hopefully, that would allow the others to get to their ships."
Fox checked the map on her communicator and found an ideal spot a mile to their left.
"Follow me." Fox commanded. The four crept through the trenches, Fox and Krystal leading the way with their staffs out. About sneaking about a hundred yards, Krystal heard footsteps approaching. Taking a quick peak, she spotted a lone Andronian patrolling the trench. As soon as he wandered in front of them, Krystal hit him in the head as hard as she could with her staff. Fox joined her and the pair beat him until they were sure he was either dead or at least wouldn't wake up for quite some time. Checking to make sure nobody else was coming, the four continued down the trench.
"Probably should have had at least Falco and Fara stay in their Arwing." Fox silently thought to herself, annoyed at her lack of foresight. At least they thought ahead enough to take out all the machine gun nests. If they needed to make a run for it, they'd now at least have a chance. They continued on until they reached the end of the trench network.
The four of them climbed out of the trench and made a dash for the nearby forest. About halfway to their destination, they heard gunshots as the surviving Andronians and Sharpclaw opened fire on them. They narrowly avoided a few close shots, thankful for the enemy's apparent lack of snipers. As they approached the clearing, Fox summoned her Arwing and Falco and Fara did the same. They quickly climbed into their ships and took off. As soon as they were above the treeline, they spotted a large group of Andronian fighters.
"Of course they have fighters." Fara complained.
"I'm not complaining." Falco told her, "This is why I joined Star Fox."
"Don't get too cocky." Fox told Falco, "They don't need to get good to take you down. They only need to get lucky."
"They can't be too lucky if they're fighting us." Falco countered as they split up and began tailing and shooting down the enemy ships one by one. Slowly, the swarm of enemy fighters began to fade until only the few remaining began flying away. Falco was about to give chase when he saw a wooden ship rise from behind the structure.
"What is that?" Falco asked.
"Impressive." a voice told them, obscurred by heavy static. The ship fired a pair of massive shots that Falco and Fara narrowly dodged. They immediately opened fire, only for their shots to leave no signs of damage on the ship.
"Why couldn't Slippy have left us one of his enemy scanners." Falco complained as he narrowly dodged another shot.
"The enemy cannons seem fixed to the ship's nose... bow." Fox told the others, "Split up and return to the Great Fox. Hopefully, the Great Fox's cannons will do the trick."
"There's no need for that, mammal." The voice told Fox.
"What do you want?" Fox asked the voice, "That ship doesn't look like anything Andross's goons would make out of scrap metal and spare parts."
"What we came here for, we already have." the voice answered, "Though you appear to be useful for getting more from these... things. I wanted your pelt before. Now I want you as a tool and a living trophy, a testament to the superiority of the Sharpclaw. With your team neutralized, one way or another, all Cornerian territory, and Cerinia, will fly the flag of the Sharpclaw."
As the three Arwings sped back to the Great Fox, Krystal turned around and found the ship to still be close to the structure. Either the enemy had no plans to give chase, his ship was too slow, or he didn't want to find out what the Great Fox's cannons could do. Whatever the case, the three Arwings landed safely inside the larger ship. As soon as they were out of their Arwings, Fox contacted Space Dynamics on her communicator with a report from the mission. The company replied with a request for her to come in the next day.