Episode 4: Katt's Resolve
Within the hour, Krystal and Fay went back to the Great Fox by Peppy's request to see the pink furred cat is right by her starfighter. "Oh Katt," Krystal said as Katt greets the blue vixen.,
"Hey there Krystal, better get ready we are going in some deep shit," Katt said.
"Oh yeah, Peppy told us about your request to help you. I hope we can help you out," Krystal showing empathy for Katt's plight.
"Thanks, with you guys behind me. I am sure my crew would be safe," Katt said as she spots two extra Arwings storage above them not being used. "I wish I had one of those," Katt said to stare at the Light Arwing stuck on the ceiling.
"I am sure of it," Krystal said as everyone gets ready to get into their flight suits and head into the hanger. Katt is waiting inside her Cat's Paw with Falco patting the side of her fighter.
"Ready to do this?" he asked.
"Well yeah, I hope the others are okay," Katt said as Falco hops into his Skyclaw turning on its weapon systems.
"Me too Katt," Falco said as all 7 pilots are in their fighters with the Great Fox going into warp speed towards the Meteo Asteroid Belt.
"Hey Krystal, about that artifact we found," Fox said on the comlink in his
"It has something to do with my people," she said as Fox nodded head.
"Yes it does but it has similar markings like your tattoos," Fox said as Krystal hangs her head.
"Gee, why is my past coming out of nowhere like this. It seems so convenient to be happening now," Krystal said.
"Yeah I know, that is what we are thinking. We should stay sharp about this," Fox said.
"Yes, thanks for telling me Fox," she said.
"No problem, come on. Let's aid Kate and save her friends," Fox said as Krystal prepares her fighter for the upcoming battle.
"Right," Krystal said as they all gear up for the fight ahead.
Elsewhere Amy is within her quarters within the Ark. She looks onto a screen to see the output of this powerful station with more ships being made every day. "Selling these ships to the Crimson Horde is a necessary step in destroying the current government. I need time to build up my army," she thought as she looks at blueprints that are installed in the computers of the Ark.
She sees a series of tubes holding people floating in a thick liquid. "My army will be combat-ready quite soon," Amy checks her comms to open a hologram to see Star Wolf leader Wolf O' Donnell appearing to bow his head.
"Hello there Lady Amy, how can I be of service?" Wolf said.
"You said you wanted to give me a better offer yes," Amy said.
"Of course, you are relying on those amateurs when you can count on the best," Wolf said.
"Yes, I heard about your Wolf Pack merc for-hire army. I have used multiple groups since after when I am done with the Lylat System. You all will benefit from my actions," Amy said.
"I can already taste the cold cash alright. We will iron out our deal since Star Fox is coming back into action with your Crimson Horde," Wolf said.
"Star Fox," Amy said as she remembers one of her people Krystal is a teammate of the group. "Krystal, a traitor to our kind. I will deal with her betrayal soon," Amy thought as she looks back at Wolf's hologram. "Yes, we will do something out. You will be my elite forces dealing with my problems especially with Star Fox getting in my way," Amy said.
"Of course, you can count on my Star Wolf team and my Wolf Pack," Wolf said as he is in his office with his new Star Wolf team.
"Okay, bye for now," Amy said as Wolf looks at his team which is consisting of Leon and Panther along with new pilots light brown fennec fox Fara Phoenix and snow-white primate Algy.
"So, we got ourselves a new job," Fara said as she is sitting on Wolf's desk to tap her boots together.
"Indeed, I got fucking tired of doing patrols here. I need to kill something," Leon said as Panther is looking over his PDA checking out some women's numbers.
"I hope we can make this quick, I got a hot date later today," Panther said as Fara whites at this.
"Gee panther, you are getting a date. That is a bit hard to believe," Fara teases him as Leon and Algy laugh at him.
"Indeed, very unlikely," Algy said as Panther protested at this.
"I am trying to look for love and you all are not helping," panther pouting with Fara playfully hitting him on the shoulder.
"Sorry big guy, can't help myself," Fara said as Wolf is amused by this.
"Well, we got a job to do. Star Wolf team. Time to roll out," Wolf said as he leads his team out of his office to mobilize his organization at his base within the Sargasso Space Zone deep inside the Meteo Asteroid Belt.
Elsewhere The Great Fox exits out of warp space to be nearby the Meteo Asteroid Belt. All seven fighters exit out of the hanger to go into the asteroid to be nearby Katt's asteroid base. "Katt, are you there?" a male voice appeared on the radio.
"Hey Kaze, how is the situation inside the asteroid?" she asked as explosions are heard in the background.
"We are being overwhelmed Mouser and Vector are dead. The pirates are looking for something, they are killing everyone inside. Please get here as fast," Kaze gets cut off with Katt unable to hear anything but static.
"Damn it, we need to break through their defensive lines and get inside the android to secure my crewmates," Katt said.
"Okay. I and Krystal will go in with Katt into the base while everyone else makes a path for us," Fox said.
"You got it, Fox," Slippy said.
"Don't worry Katt, we will make sure we save your crew," Falco trying to calm his old friend down.
"Thanks, Falco and everyone. Let's do this," Katt said as they speed into the battle to see a battle cruiser and two fleet carriers.
"Seriously where are they getting this firepower from?" Slippy is questioned finding this very odd.
"Yes indeed, how they are getting this hardware for a pirate group," Pepper wondered to rub his furry chin in thought.
"Doesn't matter, we going to blow them all to kingdom come," Falco said as he charges forward to engage with the enemy. His Skyclaw focuses its fire on the enemy ships with everyone else drawing fire to clear a path.
"Let's roll," Miyu said as her Light Arwing is picking off fighters with Fay working alongside her to take out even more fighters.
Slippy launch a smart bomb into the front of the battlecruiser to destroy a bunch of laser cannons and turrets. Slippy managed to wound the ship with the path being clear with Katt, Fox, and Krystal heading for the hanger of Katt's asteroid base.
Krystal looks down by the side of her fighter seat to see her magical staff and a special scoped blaster pistol called a Katana which is a precision pistol for accurate shots. Krystal's Cloud Runner is using its twin laser cannons to rip through the cheap pirate fighters. She fires a charged shot to take out a heavy pirate fighter blowing it to space dust.
Fox's Arwing is blasting through the groups of pirate fighters for them to approach the asteroid base. Katt is feeling worried as she is focusing on punching through the enemy ranks with her Cat's Paws killing off multiple targets with her laser shots.
"Fox, Krystal. Make sure Katt is safe in there," Falco said as he got a bad feeling about all this.
"Don't worry pal, I got her back," Fox said.
'I will cover her as well," Krystal said as Falco smiles at this.
"Thanks, you two. Katt careful in," Falco said as he is dodging enemy fire from the battlecruiser with Slipping bombing the bridge crippling it.
"Hey Falco, it's me we are talking about. I will be fine with these two foxy bodyguards," Katt said trying to lighten the mood as Falco is still on edge.
"Okay, we are getting close to the hanger bay," Fox slips through the energy veil to be inside as his ship goes into Walker mode. He lands feet first as he unloads twin laser fire into the crowds of pirates and mechs on the floor.
Krystal lands inside as she leaps out of the cockpit with staff and Katana pistol in hand. She powers up her staff to drive it into the floor to unleash a Ground Quake. The powerful energy wave blows the surrounding pirates knocking them onto their asses.
Krystal swiftly fires her Katana looking through the scope and cutting through their armored chest and helmets with ease. Two pirates were wielding shock batons with Krystal blocking their strikes and kicking the first one in the head stunning him for a bit.
She unleashes a blast of ice from her staff to turn the pirate into a frozen statue. She draws out her pistol to shatter the icy pirate in one shot turning him into a pile of red ice. He backflips away from the tackle of the pirate as she smashes her staff into his head.
"I can read your movements, no point in fighting me like a drunk sloth," Krystal said as she disarms the pirate with a sweeping motion with her staff. She slits the man's throat from the sharp tip of her staff as blood pours from the throat cut.
The pirate drops onto the floor as Fox is fighting off another group of pirates and robots. He lobs a smart bomb to vaporize them on contact. Fox leaps out of his cockpit to wield his CW1 Blaster Pistol to fire onto the last pirate trooper.
Katt lands onto the hanger to exit out of her fighter with her wielding a CW4 Blaster Rifle as she pulls the buttstock and checks the ammo counter on the side. It holds 35 shots in the energy cell before reloading.
"Very impressive foxies," Katt said as Krystal shorten her magic staff to place it on her back to use her Katana scoped pistol.
"Where are your friends?" Krystal asked as the trio head deeper into the space station. Fox picks up a CW7 Machine Gun from a fallen pirate trooper to see the energy cell is still full hold 150 shots in the cell.
"I am following their signal. Just follow me," Katt said as the trio go into the hallways to see more pirates holding up their positions.
"Keep them out now," the sergeant said as the trio hide behind cover.
"Girls push forward, I will suppress them," Fox sets up the automatic weapon to put down a stream of laser fire to hold the pirates at their position. The two slip over the boxes with Katt firing an automatic burst to kill a few pirates with Krystal aiming her pistol to place precise shots into their chests and heads.
Fox noticed her aiming was improved quite well as he hears his gun clinking for the energy cell is empty. He takes the energy pack off the side of the gun and slides a new one in its place. He resumes suppressing the pirates with Katt and Krystal picking them off one by one.
A pirate wielding a Gauss Rifle aiming at Katt's head. Krystal's senses detected this as she stabs her staff in front of Katt to create a magical barrier to block the very high-speed metal pellet. Krystal aims her Katana scoped pistol and blows his head off.
"Thanks, Krystal," Katt said as she goes full auto to take out more pirates.
"No problem, I got your back," Krystal takes the staff to still use the energy shield to block incoming fire drawing attention from Fox.
He switches to his CW1 to go on the offensive to leap over crates and boxes to pull out accurate shots while outflanking the enemy. He gets behind the position to fire several semi-auto shots to clear the way.
"Come on, they are nearby," Katt said as the trio go into the next hallway to see two broken bodies on the floor. Katt looks in horror as they all see Mouser and Vector were killed by laser fire and explosions. "Damn it, we are too late for them," Katt said as everyone is still fighting outside.
"Hey Katt, find anything yet?" Falco asked as he got hit by a passing laser blast which rocks his Skyclaw a bit. "Damn it," he said as he evasive the enemy's fire.
"Both Mouser and Vector are dead," Katt said as her heart sinks at the sights of their corpses.
"Gee, I am sorry about that. Katt, why did these guys even show up here?" Falco wondered as he is guarding Slippy to attack the first fleet carrier.
"I mean I gather some stuff from old ruins to sell off for some cash. We did find something odd in our storage area. It's an artifact with weird writing on it like the ones on Krystal's tattoos," Katt said as everyone looks at this with suspicion.
"Weird is it, these pirates going to find artifacts connected to Krystal. Everyone finds this odd?" Slippy asked
"Yeah Slip it does," Fox said as he looks at Krystal who has a puzzled look on her face.
"Gee, it's like my past is coming out of nowhere. This is too much of a convenience," Krystal said to grip tightly onto her staff.
"I know but we will get to the bottom of this," Fox said as they go forward into the lunge area to see her friend Kaze lying on the floor in a pool of his blood. "Kaze," she runs over to her blue cat friend to see him clinging to his life.
"Katt, they came out of nowhere. They are looking for that weird artifact we found," Kaze coughing blood onto his bodysuit.
"Damn it, not you too," Katt said is beginning to cry as Kaze can overhear hear Falco on the radio comforting her.
"Hey Katt, I am sorry didn't make it in time," Falco said calming her down.
"Always Falco huh," Kaze said as he points to the door. "Go into the storage room where the artifact is located. Hurry," Kaze's head limps over his shoulder with Katt trying to hold her tears down.
"Katt," Falco said on the radio as Katt tried to wipe her tears away.
"Yes, I am fine. We need to find that artifact and get out of here," Katt said as they go into the storage room to see a bunch of pirate troopers and a huge tripod walker inside the huge space.
"Well, this isn't good," Fox said as Krystal can sense multiple pirates in the area.
"Fox and Katt, most of the pirates are to the left," Krystal said as they roll into position with Fox firing his machine gun for it to click empty. Fox has no more power cells to drop the gun onto the floor.
Katt places her shots to get in precise headshots killing off the pirates. The tripod walker uses its gravity beam to hold up a large crate and then lob it at Krystal. She creates an energy barrier with her staff to block it. She aims her staff to let out several firebolts to explode on contact with the walker causing it some damage.
Fox sees a pump-action grenade launcher called CW8 which is filled with 4 EMP grenades. He lobs the grenade into the tripod as he pumps the weapon to cycle in another grenade into the chamber.
Katt fires her Autorifle to pepper laser bolts into the bodies of pirates with Krystal using her powerful magical staff to fight off the large walker.
Krystal is moving away from the rapid laser fire from the walker with her using Firebolts to pepper its hull. Fox's EMP grenade disables the walker leaving it vulnerable as Krystal charges up her staff to unleash a powerful fire blast to burn through the hull of the walker destroying it and killing the pilot inside.
Katt puts down the rest of the pirates with her Blaster Rifle to clear out the room. Katt goes over to find the artifact for it was destroyed in the battle. "Oh man, this artifact is gone now," Katt said.
"Well, get out of there," Peppy said on the radio as the trio quickly got back to their ships to exit out of the station as the last pirate bombers begin to bomb the asteroid until it became space dust. Katt looks on with sorrow to see her base of operations along with her team is no more.
"There it goes," Katt said sadly as she goes into the great Fox's hanger. Everyone got out of the hanger with Falco coming to his friend's aid.
"Are you going to be alright?" he asked.
"Yes, I am going to make those guys pay for what they did. Fox, can I join your team?" Katt asked without warning with everyone especially Falco getting caught off guard by this.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Did you say I have to stand for myself before? I need this, I want this. Please Fox, let me join your team?" Katt asked.
"Sure, as long as you carry your weight here. Welcome abroad Katt," Fox said as to give her a handshake to make it official.
"This is cool, the more the merrier," Slippy said as the girls were happy about this too.
"Oh, we got another girl pilot, and now it's four of us," Fay said.
"Welcome abroad Katt," Miyu said.
"I will do my best. Can I have that Light Arwing?" Katt asked.
"Sure. Keep it stock or do you want to customize it?" Slippy asked.
"I going to modify it. I going to strip my Cat's Paw for parts since that old life is done now," Katt said as everyone part away with Falco being worried about her.
"Well better you are being here than alone. If you need anything, just drop by my room and we talk about it," Falco said as Katt feels grateful for his kind words.
"Thanks, I will," Katt said to lay against her old ship with Falco walking away. "This is my resolve and my dream but I didn't think it would be this way. Being on a team with Falco is what I dream of but I had to go through a nightmare to get that to happen," Katt said as she stares at her new Light Arwing hanging from the ceiling. "There is a silver lining here and now my dream has come true. Being part of Star Fox with Falco by my side," Katt thought as she sets herself up to become the 7th pilot of the Star Fox team.