Zero Degrees
Grey Wolf: Finally! My first intened project is actually getting done! Yay! Yay! Yay! I used a lot of time on Sonic Gaiden and still haven't worked on my announced Starfox fic. I promise to update this as often as Sonic Gaiden. I assure you, this will probably be the best dang Starfox action fic you ever read! (Unless J.Janks or Gino prove otherwise) You'll have to forgive me for any typos that might rear up, 'cuz I just got finished writing chapters for (Venomous Fang) Open Your Heart To Live and Learn, and Sonic Gaiden Prower Saga.
I like feedback on my work. If I don't get enough reviews, I might stop the project.
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THEY WAITED, READY SQUASH ANYTHING SOFT. And it was probably was going to be me. The three large, lumbering beasts were prowling around in small circles. Keeping thier distance from each other, but came closer to the small, squishy anthromroph. Rioring halflings, large lion-like creatures that were feared in this part of the galaxy. Not that they were criminals, or had any connections as lowlifes. They were feared for only one thing. Their territorial instincts. Unlike most anthromorphs, their culture revolves around territoral instincts. A two-foot invisible barrier seperated them from live people and the dead ones. Their only line of defense, beacuse, well, they had molasses for brains.
And these were only mere children.
Through the glass doors of the nearby space dock tavern, I could see the trapped customers inside. They were waiting for two things. One: See Fox get killed. And two: Watch the Riorings get bored and walk away. I know that I really don't want to see the outcome of number one.
Time to use a trick.
This one I learned from a buddy I once knew. He told me this, and said it'll work every time. I took his word for it, because he was an adult rioring. I spread my feet and firmly anchored them to the vinyl floor. I looked out the view of the thick plexiglass of the sheltered breezeway, and noticed the great contrast in atmosphere. Calm, with a few starships landing and taking off in steady rythim. I slowly appraoched it and stayed well out of the barrier. In the deepest tone that I could muster, I bellowed to the two standing at the entrance.
"DO YOUR MOTHERS KNOW THAT YOU'RE HERE?" I rumbled. "IT'S PAST YOUR CURFEW BOYS, GO HOME!"
All three of them, including the one on the far side of the hall, froze. They stood there motionless. The thought that a creature half thier size had commanded them with an alpha-male rioring hasn't registered in thier head. A half-second later, one of them spoke up.
This one seemed to have faster molasses.
"You are not rioring! You have no right to talk to us that way!" he said as he approached me. I go ready. As soon as he got a foot away, I let out a blood-freezing howl. The rioring stopped in his tracks, terrified. HE violated my territory. I was the injured party. Now I was entitled to the first punch. I reared back and drove both of my fists into the beast's stomach, where the thick skin was the thinnest. It let out a surprising squeak and shook the ground as it fell to the floor. The other two looked in shame. I took my chance and slipped by the stunned Rioring who was checking on his fallen comrade and walked into the dock tavern.
As I entered, I recived a modest applause from the customers inside. It wasn't much, but I didn't expect one anyway. The rioring were absent from the doorway, and now they could finally leave from hours of waiting. I looked around, trying to see if anyone would recognize me. None did. In dissapointment, I sat at an empty table near the glassed view. The whole tavern was arranged in a fimple and gave a 'natural' look. Wooden chairs and tables decorated the room. There were fewer people here than before, because they had left that the exit was unblocked.
"Buy you a drink, sir?" a fox approached me. He seemed old. The wrinkles of skin near his eyes and on his nose place him around sixty years. He wore something that resembled a spacer's outfit. Complete with black jacket and large boots. This is probably the man I was sent to look for. But I had to be sure.
"No, I'm fine," I replied. He extended a hand for a hand shake and I returned it.
"Fox McCloud," I said during the handshake.
"Dimitri Pallock." he returned. "I see that you're a pilot," the fox said as he looked at the false patches on my jacket. I took a closer look at his face and realized that he wasn't a fox at all. A wox. His fur was colored in an uneven gray and orange color. 'Pallock?' This is definately the man I'm looking for. The Defense had issued me to go and retrive a certain cargo from a man named Pollick, though I wasn't given any details. I was sent here, planet Geeza, past the reaches of the inter-planes like Lyat and Cornera to find and retrive this object. Of couse, sending a handful of people this far in a large ship like the Great Fox wouldn't be very conservative. So I rode here on a smaller ship called the Crow's Beak. I had a few of my wingmen also, though they were waiting for my return in a hotel near the dock.
"Not your ordinary pilot though, I can fly all classes," I replied. He nodded.
"Then here," he said as he reached into a jacket pocket and handed me what was equivilent to a deck of cards. The registration papers. I thumbed through them, noticing that they were just copies. They were for a frieghter called the Zero Degrees, a surprise to me.
"Wait, do we have to retrive the cargo from the ship and transfer it to ours?" I asked.
"No, it would be more suitable if you take mine," Dimitri said. I looked at the cards more closely. It was a strange design, I never seen a ship this size to be like this. Of this size?
"This is a Lion-class," I said to him.
"I know, how many do you have on your crew?" he asked.
"Four, including me," I replied.
"I have a few aboard as well," he added. "I will be one of them. That makes eight, one more over regulation." He handed me some papers, they were identity papers of crewers. Lance Erer: a mechanic, Taris (No last name): hull repair, and Fera Pheonix, comp tech.
"How did you get here with only four people?" I asked.
"A few of my men had jumped ship. Apparently, they didn't know that the Defense were going to help me," He replied. "They probably couldn't pass a drug test if their lives depended on it."
"I see," I replied. He handed me a marking tag. It had a barcode on it and a large red '24' on its face.
"Meet me there tomorrow, I'll explain the rest," Dimitri said as he got up from the table. I also got out of my seat and headed toward the exit. I walked out of the doulbe-doors and found out something.
Then I realized that the rioring had been waiting for me the whole time.
"Pheh sheh..there he is, the fox!" the one on the left yelled. It seems that they were done with the territory game, and had plotted revenge. They neared me as I walked down the breezeway, I didn't know what I was going to do next, but I know that it'll invlove running. Thier heavy footsteps thumped the ground, their breathing heightened.
I stepped forward, looking for anything that I can possibly do. I grabbed the handle of my laser gun from my holster, but decided that opening fire on a rioring spelled instant death. I looked at the glass.
It was genuine glass, but it was thick. Below, I could spot the concrete roof of the urban 'living' area of the space port. I though of a plan. It wasn't a very good one, but it was all I had. Even worse, the rioring were running at me.
I did a 90ยบ turn, and kicked the glass as hard as I could, shattering it, but also shattering my nerves from the heel of my foot to the base of my skull. One peice of glass was hanging off, about to fall. It was as large as my forearm. I tried my best to grab it without cutting myself and held it in my hand as a makeshift knife. Both of the rioring froze. They are ferice creatures, but they faint at the sight of their blood. I stood them off for about five seconds, flicked the glass shard at one of them and jumped out of the window and into the night.
I was lucky that the remaining glass didn't tear me to shreds. I landed on the roof below with a thud, and jumped into a mad dash. I bounded over rooftops easily. Probably because I was a fox, and the mental image of two enraged rioring following close behind, probably helped.
I found a wide alley beside two buildings and dropped below. I looked over my shoulder to see the rioring do the same. My muscles were aching, and the rioring were gaining ground. Up ahead, I could see the alley end. Up against the wall, a stack of firewood leaned up against the wall of a house.
I scrambled up its side. The rioring came up and tried to do the same, but they demolished the pyrimid as they went. I was nearly at the roof when the structure collapsed. With exteme force, I stepped off of the last remaing log before it fell apart. I kept running and jumping gaps.
I didn't know if rioring can jump, but I didn't want to find out first hand. I neared a street that was filled with people near goods kiosks and jumped down. I merged in with the crowd, took off my jacket, and went about finding the hotel my friends stayed in.
I walked up the flight of stairs ready for a bed to rest in and probably something to drink. I came up to a door near the end of a hall and knocked on it. A short scramble was heard before it was opened, and I was greeted by a blue and red face.
"Hey Fox," Falco said as I walked in. "It's about time ya got here." A green frog looked up from a newspaper. The hotel room was very plain. Everything was a pale white color, and fruniture was sparse.
"Fox? What took you so long?" Slippy asked. "You look like hell."
"Never mind that, I got our man," I said to the two of them. "Our mission has changed slightly."
"What do you mean?" Falco asked.
"We have to use his ship, the Zero Degrees," I explained to them.
"What do we do with the Crow's Beak?" Slippy asked.
"We ground it here," I said. "We're going to use a Lion-class."
"What?!" Falco exclaimed. "That means-..."
"...we 'ave to fly with a second crew," Slippy finished.
"Where's Katt?" I asked them. Slippy pointed to the ceiling.
"She's on the roof," Falco said. "She was a little angry that she couldn't tag along with you."
"I leave her here with you on purpose," I replied. I walked over to the open window and tilted my head up. I saw Katt in her uniform with her jacket zipped up, staring down into the city. I climbed up and walked over to her.
"Oh, hiya Fox!" she greeted me.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked her.
"Lombardi got greedy with the t.v.," she said. "I got bored and went out here."
"Out here? It's cold out," I told her.
"Not with my jacket," she said as she patted her shoulder. I also looked off into the city and noticed something strange. Something in the distance caused a bright flash in a deep forest. It was quite a distance away from the city.
"Did you see that?" I asked her.
"See what? I didn't see anything," she honestly replied.
"Never mind," I said.
"So when are we leaving?" she asked me.
"Tomorrow," I replied.
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Grey Wolf: I hope you like it. Review to tell me your thoughts. Anyway, the next chapter has a few surprises in store for our Fox McCloud and fellow officers, so be on the look out for chapter two: Boarding the Zero Degrees.
Grey Wolf: Finally! My first intened project is actually getting done! Yay! Yay! Yay! I used a lot of time on Sonic Gaiden and still haven't worked on my announced Starfox fic. I promise to update this as often as Sonic Gaiden. I assure you, this will probably be the best dang Starfox action fic you ever read! (Unless J.Janks or Gino prove otherwise) You'll have to forgive me for any typos that might rear up, 'cuz I just got finished writing chapters for (Venomous Fang) Open Your Heart To Live and Learn, and Sonic Gaiden Prower Saga.
I like feedback on my work. If I don't get enough reviews, I might stop the project.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THEY WAITED, READY SQUASH ANYTHING SOFT. And it was probably was going to be me. The three large, lumbering beasts were prowling around in small circles. Keeping thier distance from each other, but came closer to the small, squishy anthromroph. Rioring halflings, large lion-like creatures that were feared in this part of the galaxy. Not that they were criminals, or had any connections as lowlifes. They were feared for only one thing. Their territorial instincts. Unlike most anthromorphs, their culture revolves around territoral instincts. A two-foot invisible barrier seperated them from live people and the dead ones. Their only line of defense, beacuse, well, they had molasses for brains.
And these were only mere children.
Through the glass doors of the nearby space dock tavern, I could see the trapped customers inside. They were waiting for two things. One: See Fox get killed. And two: Watch the Riorings get bored and walk away. I know that I really don't want to see the outcome of number one.
Time to use a trick.
This one I learned from a buddy I once knew. He told me this, and said it'll work every time. I took his word for it, because he was an adult rioring. I spread my feet and firmly anchored them to the vinyl floor. I looked out the view of the thick plexiglass of the sheltered breezeway, and noticed the great contrast in atmosphere. Calm, with a few starships landing and taking off in steady rythim. I slowly appraoched it and stayed well out of the barrier. In the deepest tone that I could muster, I bellowed to the two standing at the entrance.
"DO YOUR MOTHERS KNOW THAT YOU'RE HERE?" I rumbled. "IT'S PAST YOUR CURFEW BOYS, GO HOME!"
All three of them, including the one on the far side of the hall, froze. They stood there motionless. The thought that a creature half thier size had commanded them with an alpha-male rioring hasn't registered in thier head. A half-second later, one of them spoke up.
This one seemed to have faster molasses.
"You are not rioring! You have no right to talk to us that way!" he said as he approached me. I go ready. As soon as he got a foot away, I let out a blood-freezing howl. The rioring stopped in his tracks, terrified. HE violated my territory. I was the injured party. Now I was entitled to the first punch. I reared back and drove both of my fists into the beast's stomach, where the thick skin was the thinnest. It let out a surprising squeak and shook the ground as it fell to the floor. The other two looked in shame. I took my chance and slipped by the stunned Rioring who was checking on his fallen comrade and walked into the dock tavern.
As I entered, I recived a modest applause from the customers inside. It wasn't much, but I didn't expect one anyway. The rioring were absent from the doorway, and now they could finally leave from hours of waiting. I looked around, trying to see if anyone would recognize me. None did. In dissapointment, I sat at an empty table near the glassed view. The whole tavern was arranged in a fimple and gave a 'natural' look. Wooden chairs and tables decorated the room. There were fewer people here than before, because they had left that the exit was unblocked.
"Buy you a drink, sir?" a fox approached me. He seemed old. The wrinkles of skin near his eyes and on his nose place him around sixty years. He wore something that resembled a spacer's outfit. Complete with black jacket and large boots. This is probably the man I was sent to look for. But I had to be sure.
"No, I'm fine," I replied. He extended a hand for a hand shake and I returned it.
"Fox McCloud," I said during the handshake.
"Dimitri Pallock." he returned. "I see that you're a pilot," the fox said as he looked at the false patches on my jacket. I took a closer look at his face and realized that he wasn't a fox at all. A wox. His fur was colored in an uneven gray and orange color. 'Pallock?' This is definately the man I'm looking for. The Defense had issued me to go and retrive a certain cargo from a man named Pollick, though I wasn't given any details. I was sent here, planet Geeza, past the reaches of the inter-planes like Lyat and Cornera to find and retrive this object. Of couse, sending a handful of people this far in a large ship like the Great Fox wouldn't be very conservative. So I rode here on a smaller ship called the Crow's Beak. I had a few of my wingmen also, though they were waiting for my return in a hotel near the dock.
"Not your ordinary pilot though, I can fly all classes," I replied. He nodded.
"Then here," he said as he reached into a jacket pocket and handed me what was equivilent to a deck of cards. The registration papers. I thumbed through them, noticing that they were just copies. They were for a frieghter called the Zero Degrees, a surprise to me.
"Wait, do we have to retrive the cargo from the ship and transfer it to ours?" I asked.
"No, it would be more suitable if you take mine," Dimitri said. I looked at the cards more closely. It was a strange design, I never seen a ship this size to be like this. Of this size?
"This is a Lion-class," I said to him.
"I know, how many do you have on your crew?" he asked.
"Four, including me," I replied.
"I have a few aboard as well," he added. "I will be one of them. That makes eight, one more over regulation." He handed me some papers, they were identity papers of crewers. Lance Erer: a mechanic, Taris (No last name): hull repair, and Fera Pheonix, comp tech.
"How did you get here with only four people?" I asked.
"A few of my men had jumped ship. Apparently, they didn't know that the Defense were going to help me," He replied. "They probably couldn't pass a drug test if their lives depended on it."
"I see," I replied. He handed me a marking tag. It had a barcode on it and a large red '24' on its face.
"Meet me there tomorrow, I'll explain the rest," Dimitri said as he got up from the table. I also got out of my seat and headed toward the exit. I walked out of the doulbe-doors and found out something.
Then I realized that the rioring had been waiting for me the whole time.
"Pheh sheh..there he is, the fox!" the one on the left yelled. It seems that they were done with the territory game, and had plotted revenge. They neared me as I walked down the breezeway, I didn't know what I was going to do next, but I know that it'll invlove running. Thier heavy footsteps thumped the ground, their breathing heightened.
I stepped forward, looking for anything that I can possibly do. I grabbed the handle of my laser gun from my holster, but decided that opening fire on a rioring spelled instant death. I looked at the glass.
It was genuine glass, but it was thick. Below, I could spot the concrete roof of the urban 'living' area of the space port. I though of a plan. It wasn't a very good one, but it was all I had. Even worse, the rioring were running at me.
I did a 90ยบ turn, and kicked the glass as hard as I could, shattering it, but also shattering my nerves from the heel of my foot to the base of my skull. One peice of glass was hanging off, about to fall. It was as large as my forearm. I tried my best to grab it without cutting myself and held it in my hand as a makeshift knife. Both of the rioring froze. They are ferice creatures, but they faint at the sight of their blood. I stood them off for about five seconds, flicked the glass shard at one of them and jumped out of the window and into the night.
I was lucky that the remaining glass didn't tear me to shreds. I landed on the roof below with a thud, and jumped into a mad dash. I bounded over rooftops easily. Probably because I was a fox, and the mental image of two enraged rioring following close behind, probably helped.
I found a wide alley beside two buildings and dropped below. I looked over my shoulder to see the rioring do the same. My muscles were aching, and the rioring were gaining ground. Up ahead, I could see the alley end. Up against the wall, a stack of firewood leaned up against the wall of a house.
I scrambled up its side. The rioring came up and tried to do the same, but they demolished the pyrimid as they went. I was nearly at the roof when the structure collapsed. With exteme force, I stepped off of the last remaing log before it fell apart. I kept running and jumping gaps.
I didn't know if rioring can jump, but I didn't want to find out first hand. I neared a street that was filled with people near goods kiosks and jumped down. I merged in with the crowd, took off my jacket, and went about finding the hotel my friends stayed in.
I walked up the flight of stairs ready for a bed to rest in and probably something to drink. I came up to a door near the end of a hall and knocked on it. A short scramble was heard before it was opened, and I was greeted by a blue and red face.
"Hey Fox," Falco said as I walked in. "It's about time ya got here." A green frog looked up from a newspaper. The hotel room was very plain. Everything was a pale white color, and fruniture was sparse.
"Fox? What took you so long?" Slippy asked. "You look like hell."
"Never mind that, I got our man," I said to the two of them. "Our mission has changed slightly."
"What do you mean?" Falco asked.
"We have to use his ship, the Zero Degrees," I explained to them.
"What do we do with the Crow's Beak?" Slippy asked.
"We ground it here," I said. "We're going to use a Lion-class."
"What?!" Falco exclaimed. "That means-..."
"...we 'ave to fly with a second crew," Slippy finished.
"Where's Katt?" I asked them. Slippy pointed to the ceiling.
"She's on the roof," Falco said. "She was a little angry that she couldn't tag along with you."
"I leave her here with you on purpose," I replied. I walked over to the open window and tilted my head up. I saw Katt in her uniform with her jacket zipped up, staring down into the city. I climbed up and walked over to her.
"Oh, hiya Fox!" she greeted me.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked her.
"Lombardi got greedy with the t.v.," she said. "I got bored and went out here."
"Out here? It's cold out," I told her.
"Not with my jacket," she said as she patted her shoulder. I also looked off into the city and noticed something strange. Something in the distance caused a bright flash in a deep forest. It was quite a distance away from the city.
"Did you see that?" I asked her.
"See what? I didn't see anything," she honestly replied.
"Never mind," I said.
"So when are we leaving?" she asked me.
"Tomorrow," I replied.
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Grey Wolf: I hope you like it. Review to tell me your thoughts. Anyway, the next chapter has a few surprises in store for our Fox McCloud and fellow officers, so be on the look out for chapter two: Boarding the Zero Degrees.