Chapter I: Pirates
Captain Doug Snow was the proud captain of the Solaris, which was the flagship of the Groilenbeck fleet. Snow has over forty years experience in the shipping industry, all with Groilenbeck. Captain Snow's greatest moment was when the Groilenbeck Ship Mestor collided with the ship Lady Charles, which was operated by Phoenix Shipping. The Lady Charles was larger and had a stronger hull than the Mestor. Snow risked his own life to manually close an air seal door to allow crew members in the connecting section to safely get to the escape pods. His First Mate found him unconscious next to the door. The lack of air made him pass out. Had he not done that, fifty crewmembers would have perished. The Lady Charles was damaged, although it did not force an evacuation. Phoenix tried to sue Groilenbeck for the damages to the Lady Charles, claiming that Snow was irresponsible, but the courts threw out the case because it was an undetectable navigation computer problem that caused the collision. Plus, Snow's heroic move proved that he was more than a responsible captain, but a hero.
Because of this, Snow was well respected and his crew knew that if something bad happened, he would make sure they would survive or die trying. Now 61 years of age, he was in charge of Groilenbeck's brand new ship Solaris. The company thought he was the best captain they had and this was their way of rewarding him for it. This was the fifth voyage of the new ship, and Snow ran it well. The previous four outings were on time, something that is very uncommon in this industry. This voyage was ahead of schedule.
Snow sat in his chair on the bridge. He was watching his crew work. He knew that if one crewmember slacked, it hurt the whole crew. Nothing unusual was happening; the crew was working hard as usual, until an audio-only message came in on the comm.
"Attention merchant vessel. Identify your ship, company, and captain." The voice on the comm stated,
"This is the Solaris, Operated by Groilenbeck Shipping inc., and I am Captain Doug Snow." Snow responded, assuming it was a Cornerian Military patrol.
There was no response from the other end.
"Who hailed me? State your ship name, operator and captain." Snow said.
There were a couple of minutes of silence until they received another message. Captain Snow began to get worried. They were carrying gold bullion for a large bank on Poisedus.
"Surrender you cargo or be blown to pieces!" The voice said.
"Who is this?" Snow asked.
"I am the one they fear." The voice replied.
"Identify yourself before I call the space patrol."
"The Space Patrol can't stop me. Surrender now or die. Those are your choices."
"I will not surrender my cargo. Groilenbeck Shipping does not negotiate with pirates."
Just then an explosion rocked the Solaris.
"That was a warning, surrender now or be blown to bits. I want that gold!"
"NEVER!"
"You have fifteen seconds to change your mind. Give us the gold or Groilenbeck loses both five hundred million credits in gold AND a three billion credit ship!"
"You have my standpoint." Snow said. He next reached for the intercom. "Attention crew, we are under pirate attack. All hands except for skeleton crew report to the escape pod deck!"
"Twelve… Eleven… Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Goodbye, the remaining five seconds are weapon charging time!"
Before Snow could even react, the Solaris exploded with incredible force.
***
There was much unrest among the merchant shipping industry after the loss of the Solaris. The owners of the companies were meeting with Cornerian Military top brass. The meeting had not yet started. The owners were arguing over their ships, talking about security, and what should be done about the pirates. Then General Pepper and a few other generals entered the room. The shippers got quiet.
"As you already know, the ship Solaris was destroyed by pirates halfway between Zoness and Aquas." General Pepper said.
"Yeah, that was MY BRAND NEW SHIP!" Mr. Groilenbeck, Owner of Groilenbeck Shipping, angrily shouted.
"Shaddup, Groilenbeck, and let the general talk." Mr. Phoenix, owner of Phoenix Shipping, said.
"Why? The military is supposed to protect us!" Mr. Malcolm, owner of TransPlan Shipping, said.
Soon all of the owners were arguing over whose fault the incident was.
"SILENCE!" The general shouted.
The room got quiet almost instantly.
"The military is doing all we can. We checked our scanners, and did not see the pirate vessel until it popped up right next to Solaris. This means we are dealing with a far more advanced pirate group. Teleportation is still in its infancy here, but the Venomians developed a crude teleporter known as Dimension Transporter. According to Star Fox, it was used in the Gorgon weapon as well as sever smaller weapons, such as tanks and fighters. After the war we were unable to obtain the technology due to a law that prevents us from digging into Venomian technology. The Fact that the pirates seem to have this technology could mean someone is selling it on the black market, which is very dangerous."
"What are we going to do?" Groilenbeck asked.
"We know virtually nothing. But we can lure the pirates into a trap…" The general said.
***
Fox McCloud was walking down the corridor to the meeting room. He was told that the team had a mission. When he got there, he noticed General Pepper was there, along with a cougar that appeared to be some kind of businessman. Fox saluted the general before sitting in the empty chair next to the cougar.
"Fox, this is Basil Groilenbeck. He owns Groilenbeck Shipping." The general said.
Fox shook the cougar's paw.
"Ah, the great Fox McCloud. I've heard a lot about you." Groilenbeck said.
"Fox, you probably already know about the ship that was ambushed between Zoness and Aquas." The General said.
"Yes."
"That was the Solaris, which Mr. Groilenbeck's company operated." The General said.
"I lost a very expensive ship, Five hundred million credits in bank bullion that wasn't mine, my best captain and a crew of six hundred men." Groilenbeck said dryly.
"Ouch…" Fox said.
"These pirates are advanced. Apparently they have the Venomian Dimension Transporter on their ship. We have no further information." The general said.
"What do you plan to do?" Fox asked.
"We need to at least find out what kind of ship they have and how they ambush." The general said.
"How do you plan on doing this?" Fox asked.
"I want to disguise the Great Fox as a civilian merchant vessel, and attempt to re-deliver the bullion to the Aquan moon of Poisedus. The Aquas Great Bank needs their gold. They have been reimbursed by insurance, but the new gold still needs to get to the bank. Hopefully the pirates will show up, then you can give them hell." The general said.
"Sir, I don't like the idea of being bait. That ship was destroyed in one shot." Fox said.
"That ship was unarmored because it was built after the war." The General said.
"I don't know…"
"Fox, we need to do this. Those shipping lanes must remain safe."
"Why couldn't your ships do it?"
"Because they are harder to disguise. The Great Fox already looks like a civilian vessel except for the guns and the Star Fox logo."
"You will be well rewarded if the pirates are caught." Mr. Groilenbeck said.
Fox thought for a minute, and then reluctantly agreed.
***
The Great Fox sat in the Civilian Spaceport. A big "box" had been placed over the guns that could be blown off if the guns needed to fire. The Star Fox logo had been replaced with the Groilenbeck Shipping logo. The paint was also touched up so that the ship looked brand new. Groilenbeck paid for all of it. It was given the temporary name of Groilenbeck Champion.
Fox and Falco were walking to it.
"It looks brand new." Falco said.
"That's the point." Fox said.
"Why does it have to look new. It looks sissy without the battle scars." Falco said.
"We want the pirates to think that Great Fox is Groilenbeck Champion, the new Groilenbeck ship."
"Groilenbeck Champion? What kind of name is that?" Falco said.
"Groilenbeck said he got to choose the name if he was going to pay for the mods." Fox said.
"If we get to play cargo ship, what's the cargo?" Falco asked.
"Five hundred million credits in gold bullion." Fox said.
"FIVE HUNDRED MILLION!!" Falco shouted
"Yeah, we have to get it to Poisedus."
"So that's why they attacked that ship."
"Exactly. We're hoping we can dupe them into attacking us."
"That will be a mistake on their part."
As they rounded the corner, they met Peppy and Slippy. The four of them walked to Great Fox.
***
"Sir, Groilenbeck is sending more gold to Poisedus!" A chipmunk said to a dark figure sitting in a chair in the middle of the room.
"Perhaps they'll give it to us this time. Give me the details." The figure said.
"It is being delivered my Groilenbeck's newest ship. It was designed by the same team that designed the Star Fox mothership. It is the fastest merchant vessel ever built. It cost Groilenbeck a fortune!"
"Hmm… Where are they now?"
"Approaching Zoness."
"Set course for their location. Engage Dimension, we'll surprise them. They'll surely surrender. A ship of those specifications is not something they will let us destroy."
***
"Keep your eyes on the sensors." Fox said.
"When are they gonna come? This is boring." Falco said.
"Falco, be patient. Setting a trap requires patients."
Just then ROB's voice came over the intercom.
"Incoming Transmission, Audio only, Priority One!"
"I've got something. Looks like an old Venomian Cannon Betrayer class cruiser." Slippy said.
"Get to Your Arwings." Fox said. "ROB, I'll take it on my Arwing comm."
They ran to their Arwings. When they got there, Fox turned on his comm.
"Attention Merchant Vessel, Identify your ship, operator, and captain." A weird, but familiar, voice to Fox said.
"This is the Groilenbeck Champion, operated by Groilenbeck. My name is not important. Who is this?" Fox said.
There was no reply. Fox nodded to his teammates and they started their engines and waited for the signal.
"Captain, of you don't want your ship to end up like the Solaris, surrender your cargo." The voice said.
"Are you threatening me?" Fox asked.
"Don't be a wise guy and surrender your cargo or I'll blow your shiny new ship to Oblivion!" The Voice said.
"You won't be blowing anything to oblivion today… NOW!" Fox said.
With that, the Arwings launched and the cover was blown off of the guns.
"Attack the ship before it has a chance to activate the transporter." Fox instructed.
"WHAT THE HELL?" The pirate said.
"This is Star Fox. Surrender now or you ship will be destroyed."
***
"SIR! CORNERIAN MILITARY SHIPS APPROACHING!" The chipmunk said to the dark figure.
"WHAT?!" the figure yelled.
"It was a trap, sir!"
"Activate the Dimension System. Let's get the hell outta here."
Just then an explosion rocked the pirate ship.
"We're hit! Shields down 50 percent, we've lost the hyperdrive AND the Dimension Transporter!" The chipmunk said.
"GET ME OFF OF THIS SHIP!" The figure said as he stood up.
***
"One more and we got 'em." Fox said.
He pulled his Arwing into a U-turn and headed for the pirate ship. He selected his Nova Bombs and came in for the kill.
"This will teach you to mess with Cornerian commerce." Fox said as he fired the Nova.
The bomb flew towards the ship and hit amidships. The ship blew in half. Various cheers came through the comm. The pirate ship was destroyed before the Cornerian Military ships were even in range. Everyone has glad that the pirates were no longer a threat, and were celebrating before Star Fox even got back aboard Great Fox.
No one noticed a small, black, stealth ship launch from the pirate ship.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, FOX MCCLOUD!"