By the way, this is the final story of the Mantia saga. Here's a factional fact sheet. Also, the species of the leader does not mean that everyone in that faction is that specific species. The Razor's Pride consists of several species, not all of which are red wolves.
Jake Whitacre: Leader of Razor's Pride. Currently resides in a biosphere on Aquas. Species: Red Wolf.
Lord Stronghold: Leader of Crimson Elite. Currently resides on Venom. Species: Tiger. Banquo: Leader of Skull Riderz. Currently resides on Macbeth. Species: Lizard
Captain Snow: Leader of Nuclear Knights. Currently resides on Fortuna, also owns Titania but is uninhabited due to an ancient defense system that prevents most transports from entering into the planet's atmosphere. Species: Snow Eagle.
Exalted Valorum: Leader of the Alphas. Escaped the destruction of the city on the only ship not destroyed by Mantia. Current whereabouts: unknown. Species: Peregrine Falcon.
Tobias Airbas: Leader of the descendants of what was left of the Cornerian defense force. Currently resides on Katina. Rumored to be a descendant of Gen. Pepper. Species: ferret.
"Forgive me oh great one but what is Viral Weapon X-7?" asked Cook. Mantia glanced at him.
"To start off you might want to put that canister back and close that door," responded the bio-weapon. Cook placed the canister back and closed the panel.
"Viral Weapon X-7 is something that even I never dreamed of actually possessing. It's a genetically engineered plague that wipes out everything it comes in contact with. Andross learned about the virus when it was being designed and intended to get his hands on it. He sent all the information he obtained on the virus to his old lab outside of Corneria City and I learned about it when I returned to try and conquer the Lylat System. The virus was designed by the Cornerian military as a last resort against my creator and his minions. The virus was never used and all I learned was that it wiped out a prison colony's population on Venom. Other than that the virus was a mystery to me," said Mantia truthfully. The gigantic crab exited the ship and walked out to Mantia and his group.
"What now?" Porpoise asked. Mantia turned around and fired at the crab's rear left leg. A large multifaceted rod emerged from the crab's wound and slammed to the bay's floor. A pair of robots emerged from a hallway and cleaned up the blood on the ground and another pair picked up the rod and carted it away.
"What was that?" asked Greg.
"That was a computer core that can operate this place. It also contains historical records of the Lylat System that you might find interesting. Now I need your assistance. I'm too large to enter into this facility, but you can. I need you to deactivate the cryo pods at the bottom of the facility and instruct the occupants to come up here," said Mantia.
"What'll become of us?" asked Greg.
"Yeah are we to be abandoned?" asked Cook. Mantia laughed.
"You've been the most loyal subjects a leader could receive. You may choose your fate. If you leave I'll accept that and your loyalty won't be forgotten. However, should you inform someone about where I am I'd be greatly disappointed. Should you stay with me, you will be the leaders of your own planets with your own subjects. You can choose to do what it is that you wish. Should this campaign end in disaster I won't mention your help and if they know, I'll say I forced you to help me," said Mantia.
"What'll you do if you succeed?" asked Greg. Mantia shrugged.
"My mission will have been completed and I'll leave this system and fly off forever to roam for the rest of my life and decide what to do with it," said Mantia.
"We'll briefly discuss it with our crew," said Cook. The three of them left to confer with the other twelve members of their crew. After a few minutes of deliberations they decided their answer.
"We'll stay and help you until the end," said Cook.
"And for that I thank you. We are now equals and we all decide what to do with this system. My decisions alone couldn't conquer this system because I don't know it as well as you people do. Together we'll form our own council of war and together we'll conquer the Lylat System and rule it forever!" yelled Mantia. The entire crew roared in agreement and went to work.
Katina, 3 months later: "Here are the three problems we face men. First, Mantia has returned and is going to attempt to conquer the Lylat System. Second, The Crimson Elite and the Nuclear Knights are still quarreling over their territory dispute. Third, all of this is occurring on the other side of the system and we can't do a damn thing about it," said Tobias talking to his generals, Jason, and John
"What's our capital ship situation?" asked Powell.
"We're looking at fifteen capital ships with several more in construction. We also have substantial ground based defenses so we should be okay for now," said Tobias.
"What've the Razor's Pride been doing during all this time?" asked another general.
"All we know is that two months ago they claimed to be leading a campaign to eradicate all pirate groups. Other than that, they've kept to themselves," said Tobias.
"Something's going on over there and it isn't good," said the admiral.
"Yeah well we'll decide what to do about that later. Dismissed," said Tobias. Everyone left except Jason.
"What's up?" asked Tobias. Jason swallowed hard.
"Here goes," he thought.
"Sir I've noticed that moral is lacking lately," began Jason.
"Yeah so? I think we'll be fine without it," said Tobias.
"We need something to rally behind. We need something that demonstrates greatness that the men can believe in," said Jason.
"You have an idea?" asked Tobias.
"Yes sir. With your permission I want to organize a new Star Fox team with myself and three other elite pilots as part of it," said Jason. Tobias sighed and sat down.
"Where would you find these elite pilots because I can't relinquish any of our existing pilots," said Tobias.
"I'll find them somewhere. They'll be strictly non-factional and willing to work for money. I'll pay them at first and together we'll form the most elite squad this system has ever seen since the days of the war," said Jason. Tobias looked out one of the windows.
"I suppose that if I say no you'll go anyway," he said.
"Yes sir," responded Jason. Tobias turned to face him.
"Go and make your arrangements. We'll provide you with some money supplies, but the rest is up to you," said Tobias. Jason nodded.
"Thanks sir," said Jason.
"We need the Star Fox team to rally behind and go against Mantia, you may be our only hope," said Tobias. Jason nodded and left. Tobias watched as his fighter blasted out of the bay and into the sunrise. Tobias then turned to read more dossiers.
Siward: A large table was in the middle of the bay and Mantia sat at the head while the other crewmembers of the Tyrago sat around the table. Everywhere around them was bustling activity. The Venomians recovered from cryo had been busy at work restoring the place to working order. Dozens of mechanics worked on the various fighters and warships around them.
"I call this meeting of the council of war to order," Cook said.
"My friend, it's time we made our move," said Mantia.
"We've also reached the same conclusion. With X-7 at our disposal as well as this war fleet, we'll be invincible," said Porpoise.
"Don't forget that we could create more bio-weapons," added Mantia.
"Yes but we must decide what to target and where," said Greg.
"Agreed and I propose that we instigate the Crimson Elite and Nuclear Knights into more skirmishes," said Cook.
"I don't really think they need to be given any more reason to destroy each other. How about dragging in the CDF in on this one," said a crewmember.
"No they're too smart. They'd only tell the factions what we're doing," said Mantia.
"How about the Skull Riderz?" someone else asked. Mantia shook its body.
"No, no. If the Skull Riderz fall this early in the operation, they'd be easy pickings for the other factions and we'd be destroyed as well. No, I think that the Razor's Pride would be more susceptible to prodding," the bio-weapon said.
"I think you're right Mantia. If we capture a few vessels from the Elite and the Knights and fill them with our troops and X-7, we'll convince the Pride that the other two factions have formed an alliance against them. The Pride will strengthen themselves and when all three fight they'll wipe each other out," said Cook.
"I like this plan," said Greg.
"As do I but I'd like to make one change to it. I'll lead a contingency of various other fighters and attack the CDF at the same time. That way they'll think that I've singled them out for destruction. Eventually all four factions will face each other and when they wipe each other out we'll eradicate the Skull Riderz army and then we'll have supreme control over the entire system!" exclaimed Mantia.
"Agreed. So we'll go forth with both plans. All in favor say aye," said Cook. A massive aye emerged from the council.
"Then what are we waiting for, time's a wasting," said Mantia. The council split to organize various tasks.
Remains of Meteo asteroid belt: A moderately sized space station lay on the outskirts of what remained of the asteroid belt. During the war all of the valuable minerals had been mined out of the asteroids but since most of them were in areas too dangerous to travel to, many had been left behind. The station was a harbor to anyone who had a score to settle, a beer to drink, a story to tell, or to prove how good a pilot you were. Jason's fighter blasted out of warp and landed inside the main bay. All over the place were dozens of fighters of every size and shape imaginable. Jason hopped out of his starfighter and set the defense mode to on. Scavengers often inhabited the bays and one had to make sure they could leave the base. Jason proceeded down some partially lighted corridors and entered into a bar. The bar had creatures from all over the system and they were clustered around various tables. Jason pulled out some shades and put them on before he sat on a stool. A snake wandered over to him.
"What'll it be?" asked the bartender.
"The usual Tex.," said Jason. Tex looked at the pilot.
"Jason is that you?" Tex asked.
"Yep," said Jason.
"I haven't seen you in years. I heard you went legit," said Tex.
"I did. I joined the CDF and have been living the high life. However current situations have forced me to do something radical. Tell me Tex, who are the three best pilots here?" asked Jason. Tex pointed out three pilots.
"Felicia Monroe (cat), Gary Lombardi (bird), and Bunny Hare (rabbit)," said Tex. The three of them were clustered around a single table.
"Any idea how I can get acquainted with them?" asked Jason. Tex laughed.
"Out fly them on the gauntlet," said Tex.
"The gauntlet? That's easy. When I left I had the fastest time on that course," said Jason.
"Bunny and Gary beat you by three minutes and Felicity holds the track record and beat you by five minutes," said Tex. Jason gulped down his drink nervously.
"Nothing a little practice can't fix," he said.
"Practices were outlawed a long time ago. If you go you go cold turkey although for a pilot like you that shouldn't be a problem," said Tex.
"Do they take on challengers?" asked Jason.
"Yep but you might want to hurry because they just left," said Tex. Jason spun around to see the pilots were gone. Jason finished his drink and ran off to the bay.
"Put it on my tab," said Jason.
"I will. Just like old times," said Tex remembering the good old days.
Jason ran and hopped into his fighter. He slammed on the engines and the ship left the bay and zoomed towards a line of fighters.
"Okay rookies this if Felicia. You want to prove you're good than race through the belt. Kudos to the winner but if you hit something and are stranded than you'd better push your way home because we aren't coming back for you," said Felicia. Jason stopped his fighter in line with the rest of them. Some lights were hung over the fighters and they began blinking. Jason made a few adjustments to his ship and then slammed on the engine when the lights blinked green. A dozen fighters leapt forward into the belt. Several immediately slammed into asteroids while the others peeled out on their own way through the belt. Jason chose the route that had made him famous, the expert route. He'd beaten people who had taken the easy route on it and hoped to do that again. He noticed a trio of ships ahead of him. Jason slammed on his engine at full speed and through some miracle of fate he caught up with the ships without hitting any asteroids.
"You're good pilot but everyone has beginners luck," said Felicia.
"I'm no beginner. I've flown here before," said Jason.
"Well old man I've never seen you before so stand back and let the pros take this on," said Felicia.
"The only old person around here is you. Now get out of my way!" exclaimed Jason. Jason slammed on the accelerator and leapt ahead of the fighters.
"You're mine," said Felicia. She took off in hot pursuit of Jason's fighter. Jason swerved around a few asteroids and dove between the larger rocks. Felicia's fighter appeared right behind his.
"You may have been good once but not now," she said. Her fighter pulled alongside Jason's and the two of them jockeyed for position. They then dove into the hollowed out center of an asteroid.
"Here's where you loose," said Felicia. A large chunk of rock came loose from the tunnel and dropped towards them. A panel opened on Felicia's fighter and it swallowed the chunk. Jason watched as her engine power increased and her fighter pulled away from him. Their two fighters zoomed out of the tunnel and emerged amidst a field of large asteroids.
"See you at the finish line loser," laughed Felicia. Her fighter pulled away as Jason watched in desperation.
"It can't end this way," Jason thought. Jason took another look at his surroundings. All he saw were large asteroids. Jason took a closer look and saw a miniscule asteroid sling around a larger one and go rocketing off.
"When in trouble, use the theory of a gravitational slingshot," thought Jason. Jason pushed the fighters wings in as close as they would go and then slammed the engines to full burn. His fighter zipped around one of the rocks and blasted after Felicia's fighter.
Felicia's fighter flew through past several more rocks and plunged onward towards the finish line. Felicia hadn't noticed her opponent's fighter lately and started whistling for lack of anything to do. Suddenly her collision alarm went off, as the opposing fighter appeared right above her head.
"You're better than I thought," she said.
"I do what I can," came the response. The two fighters continued racing each other. She then saw a small piece of rubble fly between the opposing fighters upper and lower wings and hit her ship. Instantly her whole ship burst into flames as all of her systems shut down. Felicia groaned as her whole fighter shut down. The opposing fighter tilted on its side and zoomed off to the left.
"Well I said that no one would be coming back to help you. I just hope my friends get here soon," said Felicia. The oxygen count indicated that she had fifteen minutes of oxygen left.
"Then again maybe I don't have enough time for them to get here," she said. Suddenly her whole ship rocked. Felicia looked around confused when she saw the opposing fighter had attached to hers diagonally above.
"What're you doing?" asked Felicia over the barely functioning comm. system.
"Saving you. Your friends won't make it here in time so it's up to me," said the pilot.
"I don't need your help," said Felicia. The two fighters moved off.
"You don't have any choice," came the response. Felicia watched as the pilot expertly maneuvered their two ships through the remaining course at incredible speeds. Then the two fighters emerged from the course and headed to another station on the other side.
"Looks like you beat me by a hair," said the pilot. Felicia checked her race timer and realized she'd beaten her old record by two minutes.
"Wow, that pilot's really good," though Felicia. The two fighters entered the bay and hers was set down with minutes to spare on her oxygen counter. Felicia popped open her canopy and breathed in the stale air of the base, it had never tasted so good. Her opponent's fighter cruised over nearby and landed. The pilot began checking his craft for meteorite fragments. When he finally finished checking his ship, he walked over to Felicia. She had been discussing the events with Bunny and Gary who had just arrived. The pilot took off his helmet and put his sunglasses into one of his pockets. He then extended his hand to Felicia who shook it.
"Thanks," she said.
"You're welcome. The name's Jason McCloud," said Jason. Bunny and Greg gulped and Felicia stared at him wide eyed.
"What?" Jason asked.
"You're Jason McCloud?" asked Felicia.
"Yep," responded Jason. Felicia trembling shook his hand once more.
"You're the greatest pilot in existence," she said.
"No I'm average," he responded.
"You're the legendary pilot who actually succeeded in defeating expert mode on your first try," said Greg.
"Luck," said Jason.
"Not luck. You beat some of the best pilots who took the easy course," said Bunny. Jason chuckled.
"I see my reputation precedes me. Yet all of you beat my time," said Jason.
"We beat your official recorded time, but no one's beaten you legendary time. That's impossible but you just came close and that was with you carting me around," said Felicia. Jason shrugged.
"I may seem like the best thing to happen in your lives since the starfighter, but let me get this straight with all of you. I'm not a god. I'm only a fox and nothing more," said Jason. The others shook their heads to clear their thoughts.
"You're absolutely right," said Gary.
"My team thanks you for helping me out," said Felicia.
"Do you have someplace private where we could talk because I have a proposition for all of you," said Jason.
"Sure, right this way," said Felicia leading the way out of the bay.
Katina: Alarms blared as a large object surrounded by several fighters emerged from warp.
"What's going on?" asked Tobias.
"Mantia has invaded Katina," said Powell grimly. The screen showed Mantia blazing his way through the umbra defense system and moving on towards the planets surface accompanied by a six fighters.
"Fighters are being scrambled," said another general. Tobias looked out the window as a wave of fighters emerged beneath them and flew off.
"This is John Grey arm all weapons and keep a cool head. Mantia is not to be trifled with. We need to hold him off long enough for the base to be evacuated. I don't want any heroics understand?" asked John. Murmurs of agreement emerged over the comm. The fighters flew on until they saw Mantia burst through a cloud surrounded by six fighters.
"Lock and load," said John. The fighters all aimed their weapons at the oncoming threat.
"Fire!" yelled John. The laser bolts came flying right at the enemy, but the fighters peeled off and all of them hit Mantia who continued fly onward.
"Your puny attacks have failed! Now meet your doom!" exclaimed Mantia. Mantia's wing cannon emerged and fired on the fighter squad who broke apart. Then the enemy fighters opened fire taking out three CFD fighters.
"Break up into your assigned groups and return fire," said John. John fired a couple more blasts at Mantia before regrouping with his fleet.
"Sir what should we do? Mantia's invulnerable," said a pilot.
"Then take out his support," said John blasting one of the Wolfen II fighters. The fighter took the abuse and kept on flying.
"Right," responded the pilot. Mantia skimmed the ground as a whole phalanx of landmasters appeared in front of it. The Landmasters opened fire only to have the shockwave cause by Mantia flying right over them blow them to the side. The tanks rumbled after the bio-weapon while opening fire on the Wolfen II's above.
CDF HQ: "We're at 78% evacuated. Mantia will be here in minutes," said Powell.
"Deploy Project X2," said Tobias. As Mantia appeared over the base, sections of the ground disappeared to reveal large laser cannons.
"Not Project X again," sighed Mantia. However instead of bolts of energy, the cannons fired supersonic waves that slammed into Mantia forcing it away from the base.
"Impressive. But not nearly enough to stop me," said Mantia. Mantia began to force its way forward against the waves of energy. A pair of fighters streaked overhead firing on the creature. Mantia continued growling.
Battle: "Things aren't going so well. These Wolfen II's are giving us trouble," said a pilot. Three of the enemy craft had been shot down while John had lost six ships. A Wolfen came down on John weapons firing when it exploded.
"What's going on?" asked John. Four fighters flew overhead.
"Attention unknown craft, identify yourselves," said John.
"We're the new and improved Star Fox team," said someone. The fighters flew overhead firing at the other Wolfen fighters who were no match for their weapons.
"Come on John let's ride," said a pilot.
"Jason? Is that you?" asked John.
"Yep. But enough chit chat, the CDF is depending on us," said Jason. The fighters zoomed towards the base where Mantia was still fighting the energy waves. Mantia fired its weapons and blasted one of the cannons causing the bio-weapon to slam into the base.
"Oh no," said John. Mantia shook its head and got up. The bio-weapon was about to slam into the base again when another gravity beam hit it sending the menace flying off. Mantia looked at the situation and realized that it was turning against him.
"Let this be a lesson of my power. Your weapons can do nothing to stop me," said the bio-weapon flying off with a single Wolfen craft following it.
"Just remember that you can't beat the Star Fox team," said Gary. Mantia did an about face.
"I've done it before and I'll do it again," said the beast before fleeing the planet. Everywhere cheers erupted as they had repulsed the bio-weapon. The remaining fighters landed in the bay to the cheers of the people on the base. Tobias ran to a platform in the bay.
"I think we owe this victory to the CDF and the Star Fox team!" exclaimed Tobias. More cheers erupted as everyone was congratulated. Parties and feasts abounded over their victory. Deep in communications, a coded message was heard between the Wolfen and Mantia.
"Decode it," said the major in charge.
Mantia and the Wolfen leapt into warp with a smirk on his face. Although he had lost six ships, he had down what he was ordered to do.
"They'll receive a shock when they decode that message and they'll fall into our trap. I hope the others are enjoying as much success as I am," thought the bio-weapon.
Aquas: A couple dozen fighters streaked towards the surface as five battlecruisers converged on the planet.
"You know your objectives. Crack the dome," said Cook from the captured Crimson Elite cruiser Sulaco. The fleet was composed of stolen ships and fighters from both the Crimson Elite and the Nuclear Knights.
"I hope Mantia succeeded in his task," thought Cook. Dozens of fighters streaked over the surface of the planet headed towards the bio-dome. Several fighters streaked out of the dome heading for the opposing waves.
"Stay low and fast. We can't afford to be sidetracked. We finish our objective and pull out is that understood?" asked Greg in the lead fighter. Affirmative replies came over the comm. The Pride's fighters descended on them and blew up some of the fighters.
"Scatter but still try and make your way to the dome," said Greg. The fighters swerved left and right while avoiding the shots from the enemy fighters. The dome loomed in sight as the fighters continued their approach. More fighters emerged from the dome and did their best to hold off the enemy fighters.
"Plow through," said Greg. Dozens of laser blasts emerged from the Venomian wave of fighters. They smashed through the fleet on their way to the dome and soon flew above it. Several charges were dropped but they failed to crack open the dome.
"The dome is absorbing the laser shots," said Greg to Cook over the comm. More fighters proceeded to open fire on the dome to no success.
"I don't think capital ship fire is going to help either," said Cook.
"What do we do? It's too late to obtain any bio-weapons and Mantia should be in warp right now," said Cook.
"We might have to call this off," said Porpoise.
"No. There has to another way," said Cook.
"Sir, something emerging from warp," said a technician. Nothing happened.
"Where?" Cook asked.
"Directly over the dome," responded the technician.
Battle below: A gigantic flash of light occurred as something emerged from warp over the fighters. The Pride pilots watched in horror as a massive Copperhead missile appeared and bored its way into the dome. The missile exploded halfway in shattering the dome. People on the surface began chocking as the air began to escape.
"Drop the X-7 now before it's too late!" exclaimed Greg. Two large freighters appeared and dropped their deadly payload over the dome.
"Let's get the hell out of here," said Greg as more Copperheads appeared out of warp. The Venomian fighters left the planet to discover one of their own cruisers exploding as a result of another Copperhead.
"Things aren't going to plan. Prepare to enter warp. We did what we intended to do, sort of. Entering warp now," Cook said. The fighters and cruisers entered warp as more missiles appeared.
Macbeth: Banquo watched a viewscreen in his castle that showed the missiles raining destruction down on Aquas. The attacking force fled into warp.
"Run and tremble and above all else know that the Skull Riderz control the Lylat System and no allied factions can defeat them," said Banquo. He then flicked a switch and the image showed the freighters dumping their payload. Banquo contemplated what it was before giving up.
"It's not important. However, it looks like the CE and the NK have joined forces against the RP. Interesting," said Banquo. Banquo sipped some juice before heading out to the military HQ.
Katina: Sir, the message has been decoded," said a technician. He handed the paper to the major. The major read it aloud.
"The mission has failed Mantia, let us return to the Razor's Pride and reorganize our strategies for more offensives against the CDF. Oh no," said the major. The major ran off to give the message to Tobias and the generals.
Siward, later in the day: The two groups reunited and cheered their operations.
"We may have lost some people, but overall the mission has succeeded," said Mantia.
"Everything is falling into place as we have foreseen it. Soon the Lylat System will be ours," said Cook. Dozens of cheers went up.
"This time the Lylat System will fall to the enemy!" exclaimed Mantia.