This takes place right at the climax of Star Fox 64 and mixes elements from both that game and other entries in the series (really only just characters). Don't worry about what's canon and what isn't since there isn't much of a linear canon to follow in the Star Fox franchise anyhow. With that out of the way, please enjoy the first of many chapters of this story!
Fleets of Cornerian ships were besieging what was left of the Venomian army's territory. It was clear that the former faction would be coming out on top; the end of the Lylatian War was imminent. With newfound morale and willpower, the Cornerian army kept up what would be their final clash with the forces of Andross. Victory was nigh; the evil mastermind behind Venom's forces would soon meet his end.
As for the remaining Venomian fleets, bitter defeat was inevitable. For every Cornerian fighter they would shoot down, they lost three of their own. But still they continued to fly against their enemy. Still they continued to crash and burn by the masses. They no longer fought for any foreseeable victory. They were simply buying their emperor as much time as possible. But soon, they would be forced to choose between one of two options:
Surrender to the authority of the Cornerian army. Or die while fleeing.
Away from the center of chaos, a lone pilot stood on an isolated hillside, watching the streaks of gray clouds in the scarlet sky above. His ship was a few meters behind him, damaged from combat earlier on. He could hear the sounds of warfare booming in the distance, fully aware of the fate he would likely share with the rest of Venom's forces.
For Wolf O'Donnell, the moment was one of strange serenity he hadn't expected. There was a sort of comfort in knowing the strife of war was coming to an end, despite being on the losing side. But he wasn't like Andross or the rest of the emperor's forces. He didn't share their radical beliefs or political views, and certainly not the hopes for the dystopian future they had in mind.
He was simply a hired mercenary who worked for money. All that the end of the war meant to him was that there would no longer be a war.
For the next few moments, Wolf lost his train of thought and gazed at the saturated scarlet color of the sky. Gloomy with the distant rumbling of battle, for sure. But there was some form of beauty in that gloomy look; a tasteful aesthetic in the outlaw's eyes.
That was when it happened. Off in the distance, that familiar arwing blasted up into the skies, followed by a glorious fiery explosion that echoed for miles around and signaled the end of everything the Venomian army was fighting for.
Andross was dead. At long last, the war was over.
Wolf was taken back to the reality of things and watched as the explosion cast a brilliant glow among the mountains; his one red eye shimmering with the reflection of the sight. Beyond the smoke and fire falling from the sky, he caught a glimpse of that arwing that had shot him and his team down earlier, watching it until it disappeared into Venom's atmosphere.
For reasons he couldn't understand, a small smirk curled on Wolf's muzzle as he watched.
Moments later, his headset clicked on and transmitted the urgent voice of his partner Leon Powalski. "Wolf! It's over, there's nothing left for us here. Remaining Venomians are abandoning the planet, I suggest we take our leave with them as well!"
Wolf didn't answer. He crossed his arms and heaved a quiet sigh, watching the distant flames of the explosion die down. Leon spoke again with slightly more urgency to his voice. "...Wolf? We don't have any time left! We must go now!"
Wolf turned his microphone on and responded with a calm voice. "So...it's just you and me now I guess."
"What?" Leon replied, oblivious to what Wolf meant by that. The latter could hear the chameleon's ship starting up and preparing for takeoff.
Wolf closed his eye and turned his back to the scene ahead of him. "The infamous Star Wolf team, down to two members now...we were really the only true members, weren't we Leon?"
"Were? Wh-What do you mean by that Wolf?" Leon asked with a concerned voice. From the way he'd responded, it was clear he already knew why his partner was referring to their team with that specific word.
Wolf walked to his ship and got inside, shaking his head to himself. He couldn't help but think about his other two former partners one last time. Andrew was the nephew of Andross. If he survived the dogfight earlier on, he wasn't Wolf's problem anymore. Whatever Venomians remained would likely deal with the matter of taking care of him.
And Pigma...good riddance to that sadistic fiend. If he too survived the dogfight from earlier, so be it. The Cornerian army could handle him however they pleased. If he was dead, that was one less criminal for the law to deal with.
As Wolf started his ship, he took one final look at the doomed planet around him. Venomian ships were soaring into space, abandoning what was once their stronghold. It was now nothing more than an eternal grave for the once ambitious Andross. On that day, Andross wasn't the only one who'd lost.
Star Wolf was done for; it had finished right alongside the Lylatian War.
Leon's voice sounded through Wolf's headset once again, now with a tangible feeling of resignation to Wolf's indicated decision to dissolve their partnership. "...I suppose this is the end for both of us, isn't it my friend?"
Wolf's ship distanced itself from the hillside and began picking up speed. He managed to choke back what little remained of his pride and solemnly responded to his only remaining ally. "...Take care, Leon…"
He flew off into the sky and headed to space with the other fleeing Venomians as the Cornerian army took complete control of the planet. He had nowhere else to go. The army would most certainly give chase. Even if by some miracle Wolf managed to lose them in the Venomian fleets during the inevitable chaos that would follow...where was he going to escape to?
As Fox McCloud's arwing broke through the atmospheric layers of Venom, he finally opened his eyes; they'd been closed for the last few seconds. He took a sharp breath of air and panted softly as he ascended to the Great Fox.
It was over, he'd done it. Andross was no more.
He was surrounded by his faithful team who'd stuck by him through thick and thin. His headset transmitted all three of their ecstatic voices at once.
"Fox! You're okay!" Peppy Hare exclaimed with genuine relief in his voice. He grinned widely in the cockpit of his arwing and took a long, satisfied breath of air with the comforting knowledge that Fox had made it back in one piece.
Slippy Toad's cheery voice peaked his microphone as he happily cried out, "Way to go Fox!". He knew from a long time ago that Fox was going to be the one to end the war for everybody, and he couldn't have been happier to have been right.
"Heheh, that's our leader!" Falco Lombardi proclaimed with a proud jubilant tone. He nodded his head to himself in approval and laid back in his arwing, unable to stop himself from smiling. Fox had done it; he'd proved himself to be perhaps the most competent pilot he'd ever flown with.
Well, Falco believed himself to be better still...just by a little bit. Of course he did.
Fox sat in silence with a small grin on his face, looking out to the stars on his right. He didn't respond to any of his teammates' compliments; his mind was elsewhere at the moment. Peppy seemed to notice this and asked, "What's wrong, Fox?".
Almost immediately, Fox responded dismissively, "N-Nothing...nothing's wrong.".
He blinked a few times and lowered his head, gathering his thoughts in that moment. His hands trembled softly against his will. In those last fateful moments confronting Andross, he was almost certain he'd seen...him...James McCloud. Guiding the way out for the pilot like a guardian angel.
Ultimately, Fox was hardly given any time to muse on what he'd seen. Unexpectedly, Bill Grey's voice chimed into the conversation. He'd been a part of the final siege on Venom and was still around. "Hey Fox! We got 'em on the run, they're probably headed out to the edge of Lylat! Some of my boys say they saw Wolf and Leon's ships leaving with them all too!"
Fox looked ahead as the smile disappeared from his face. Suddenly, trying to think about what he'd seen down on Venom was the last thing on his mind. Wolf was his. He wasn't going to let him get away.
"Sounds like you could use some help, Bill." Fox responded as he boosted forward and turned around, speeding off to aid the chase.
Surprised, Peppy and the other two watched as Fox left without any second thoughts. He'd already made up his mind. There was no changing it now.
Wolf watched the panicked scene unfold from the cockpit of his ship, flying through the empty blackness of space. Several hundred Venomian ships were scattered about, moving aimlessly without any set destination. Where were they supposed to go? Lacking any sort of unity or command, ships were off in several directions.
The mercenary took a deep breath and blinked slowly, easing his stress as he adjusted the silky red scarf around his neck. He tried to think about which planets he could try to go hide out on. Macbeth perhaps? No, of course not, it was probably crawling with Cornerian forces by now. Zoness? Unlikely, it wouldn't have been a suitable planet even without the fear of being caught. Very quickly, it became clear to Wolf that nothing nearby was a viable option.
Wolf's mind wandered as he thought about how truly alone he would be now that he had parted ways with Leon. His one true reliable partner...gone. He fought the temptation to try and contact him via his headset. He'd already ended their partnership, there was no point in reaching out to him now.
He had to focus on himself right now. He had to ensure his survival…
And all in an instance, all hell broke loose.
From the view inside of Wolf's ship, several Venomian fighters burst into bright orange flames, destroyed by incoming fire from behind. Mere seconds later, countless other ships met with the same explosive fate as the Cornerian forces stormed the frenzied mass of outlaws.
Wolf glanced down at his ship's virtual interface and saw the warning of an incoming missile. Just in the nick of time, he jerked the control stick and sent his ship barreling to the left, watching the projectile whiz past and slam into some poor Venomian's hull, obliterating the vehicle instantly.
Total chaos ensued as a large-scale battle broke out between the last of Venom's forces and the Cornerian army. Bright red and green lasers shot out in all directions; some hit their respective marks and blew their targets to scrap metal.
Wolf hardly focused on fighting back; he swerved around and between the cluster of ships surrounding him, looking for an exit. A stray missile sped right past his ship's window, sending a chill down his spine from how close it came to colliding with him.
Suddenly, Wolf's ship jolted him around with what felt like two successive rammings. He knew he'd been hit, he knew the feeling all too well. His ship gave him the warning that his shields were nearing critical levels; he wouldn't be able to sustain any further shots. Gritting his teeth, he boosted forward and performed a series of evasive swirls and dives, narrowly dodging his pursuer's lasers.
During Wolf's evasion, he managed to see who was chasing him so persistently amid the pure pandemonium going on. He recognized Fox's arwing and felt his heart drop. Somehow, he felt the boy's spirit of fiery vengeance through his aggressive and relentless offense.
Inside the arwing, Fox was completely focused on Wolf, shutting out any second thoughts or other considerations. His determination only grew in intensity the longer Wolf evaded him, muttering fiercely under his breath, "Come on...I can do this...you won't get away this time…".
Fox kept his sights on Wolf long enough for his lock-on system to fully engage on his target's ship. The moment he heard the incessant beeping that signaled his missiles were ready, he held his breath and lifted his finger above the button that would send Wolf to his death.
Just before he could go through with it, Fox's arwing was hit four times by a Venomian fighter, causing him to barrel away from his target and avoid any further damage. He cursed to himself in frustration as his shields were rapidly depleted.
The ship that had fired at Fox was abruptly shot with a barrage of lasers, shredding through the hull and vaporizing the pilot inside. Bill Grey flew past the debris of his handiwork and radioed over to Fox with a concerned tone. "You better get going Fox, I don't wanna see you die right at the end of the war! Me and my boys can keep at it for a while longer."
Fox looked around desperately for Wolf's ship, but he couldn't single him out in all the chaos going on. He shook his head and exhaled, swerving around and carefully weaving his way through the fight to leave.
Such a stupid mistake he made. Those precious few seconds of tunnel-visioning Wolf had cost him what might've been his last chance to get rid of the criminal for good.
Meanwhile, Wolf was on the run, seemingly able to escape the center of the madness for now. There were less ships around him, flying off in every direction save for the one he was headed in. Initially, nothing seemed to be visible as far out as Wolf could see.
But then he noticed the waves; what seemed to be the strange churning of reality itself. Wolf felt his blood rush as he realized that he was seeing a barely-visible wormhole distorting spacetime around it's relatively small radius.
He'd seen two of these throughout Lylat before, both of which were documented by Corneria. But he'd never known about this one before; was it created by someone else? Despite knowing the dangers of wormholes, Wolf felt an idea formulate in his mind that he instantly acknowledged as a terrible one, but he was running out of options.
There was no time to be hesitant. The Cornerian army would notice and follow after him if he waited any longer.
"Please be worth something, anything…" Wolf grumbled as he boosted onward into the distortion, picking up speed quickly as he began passing through the wormhole. Even from inside the ship, Wolf felt immense pressure rising at an alarming rate, and he grimaced as he feared he may have just sent himself to die a horrible warped death.
He was losing consciousness as a result of both stress and pressure from the wormhole. Bright lights expanded and stretched beyond his ship as he ventured through the anomaly. Knowing he had just seconds before slipping away from reality, he managed to bring a shaky finger down on his interface and toggle autopilot.
Immediately after, Wolf's hand fell to his lap, and he could do no more as unconsciousness took hold.
Wolf opened his eye and gasped as he was thrown back into reality, panting for air. He felt momentary panic wash over him, hearing his ship sound its' critical condition warnings.
The wormhole hadn't killed him after all. That was a relief...but his ship wouldn't last much longer out in the vacuum of space.
Right ahead of him was an unfamiliar bright beige planet with streaks of thick clouds scattered across. Mercifully, he'd been warped straight outside of its atmosphere. Wolf had little choice other than to attempt a landing, considering the weakened condition of his ship.
He grabbed hold of his control stick and descended to the atmosphere, praying his hull's integrity would remain steadfast until he broke through. He hadn't felt this much stress in a long time, and he still felt sick from traversing the wormhole.
By some miracle, his ship held together the whole way down. Wolf flew through puffy white clouds and sighed in momentary relief. Well, that was one obstacle out of the way.
Alas, his relief was short lived. Wolf heard the dreaded sputtering of his engines and knew his ship was finally dying. His interface blinked several times, clinging to the last bit of remaining energy channeled inside.
He pulled back on his control stick and felt the terrifying sensation of having the wind control his descent. His ship tilted downwards and began falling with little support from its dying thrusters.
Wolf winced and took a few deep breaths. "Okay, okay...here we go."
The moment he passed the last layer of clouds, he was greeted with an aerial view of sand dunes that seemed to spread for miles below, with random splotches of vegetation spread about.
There was a chance that the dunes could provide an easier crash landing than what he had expected, possibly offering him one more chance at survival. Wolf was skeptical however; he'd already narrowly escaped death twice now, he wasn't so sure that the universe would let him off a third time.
But the farther down he fell, the faster reality approached. Wolf braced himself and held his eye shut at the incoming dunes, gliding messily through the air. This wasn't at all how he'd expected to die. It almost made him laugh oddly enough; it didn't seem fitting at all!
Then just like that, Wolf felt the bone-shaking impact of his ship crashing for only a split second before everything went totally black.