Tyrant's Grip
6½ years after the events of the Lylat War
Nintendo owns Star Fox, not original characters. Thanks for reading.
Setting: The Great Fox has been traveling in the outskirts of Lylat, doing routine missions far from home.
Chapter 1: Face to Face
Beauty...beauty was the only word that Fox could use in his mind while he looked out the window from his quarters inside the Great Fox. The stars seemed so perfect the way they hung in their own places. Like priceless sparkling jewels, each one with their own story to tell. Fox dazed as he continued to stare out the window, perplexed in a moment of time, frozen, awed and held by nature's beauty.
"Fox! Get up here, we need you on the command deck", came a voice from over the communicator system. The sudden burst of noise jolted Fox back to reality.
"Yes...I'll be right there Peppy."
He exited his room and continued down the corridor to the main hyperlift. The hyperlift was one they have had around for a while which connected to the main bridge and allowed quick access to his post from any deck on the ship. It was usually pretty fast as Slippy had a hobby of keeping it as well maintained as possible, probably out of boredom. "Ok, what do we got?" he said as he stepped off the lift, walking over to his chair as he
usually did.
Peppy read his monitor closely, adjusting his glasses a bit, "It's an encrypted message, highly encoded...It's from Katina."
Katina? Interesting. Who did he know on Katina? There was the frontline base, three trade consortiums, not much else. This could be interesting he thought to himself.
"We haven't been there in a long time...download it to the main computer and get Rob to work on the encryption, contact me when he's done with that.""Will do Fox," replied the frail hare dryly as though this was something he had been doing for most of his life.
"Falco and Slippy are playing a game of pool, you going to join them?""Yea sure, I guess I wouldn't mind, thanks for telling me. You know you're always welcome to join," he replied lazily.
Smiling, admiring the kind gesture, he leaned back in his chair mildly amused, "Hah, no that's ok, you wouldn't want an old hare like me dusting up the recreation room now would you?"
Chuckling nonchalantly, he gave a warm smile, "Yea I guess you're right, but if you ever do feel like it, come join us...ok?"
"Of course, but I have some work to get done up here."
Fox entered the hyperlift and pressed C Deck. As the lift zoomed downward he pondered how someone like Peppy views himself on the Star Fox team. He is much older than anyone else, and the only connection he has to him is that he was his father's wingman. In a way he felt somewhat sorry for Peppy. He really had no one to talk to, except Fox, and when he did talk to Fox it was mainly about memories of his father. I guess he really only has Rob to ever talk with, and Rob's new emotion chip is still working out some bugs anyway.
"Well well, look who decided to join us," said Falco sardonically as he marched off the lift.
He approached the table holding a certain amount of aggression in his eyes, even though it was entirely playful. He and his friend usually had this competitive atmosphere whenever it came to the recreation room. Entirely innocent, but it was known to get pretty heated in the past.
"Ready to get your tail whipped Falco?"
"Do you guys always have to turn this into a competition?" questioned Slippy in a childish tone.
Falco closed his eyes, giving an unquestionably pleased smile at him, "Why yes we do my amphibious friend, and we enjoy it."
"Well then count me out, I'll be on the main bridge if anyone needs me." he waddled out the recreation room leaving the two alone.
"How 'bout that game Fox?"
"You're on"
He began to sharpen his pool cue as his friend placed the billiard balls in their correct positions. It appeared that the lights were almost dimmed, accenting the competitive moodiness of the room. They glanced at each other, exchanging wry smiles, twisting their sharpeners around the end of their 'weapons', as Falco liked to call them.
"I'm warning you, I've been practici-"
"Fox, this is Rob, I have decoded the message from Katina and I think you should see it," interrupted the oblivious robot over the intercom.
"Damn, looks like that game is going to have to wait Falco," he said painfully, placing his pool stick on the table with a disappointed frown that bordered on mocking appearance.
He gave a cocky smirk, placing his pool cue on the wall after his friend, "That's fine, I'll have many more chances to beat you in the future, what's the rush?"
They exchanged their competitive glares jokingly as they stepped onto the hyperlift.
"What is this message from Katina that Rob is talking about anyway?"
He looked up from looking the floor thinking for a moment, "I'm not sure yet, I haven't found out, it was heavily encoded on all sub-space frequencies. I'm curious as to what is so important in this message that it requires to be encrypted this heavily."
"I don't like the way that sounds" replied Falco as he anticipated an adventure in his mind. It usually made sense. You hide something then you got dirt. That was the mindset he had built up over the course of his life. But dirt from Katina? An esteemed Lylatian world? This should be good.
"Well it can't be anything we can't handle right?"
"I suppose."
The brightly lit lift came to a stop as the doors opened subtly to the bridge. He stepped off with Falco following close behind, "Alright Rob what do we got?"
"I have completed the decryption process, but the message is requesting that only..."
"Only what...?"
"That only you can see it."
He gave Falco, Peppy and Slippy a once over look, to see their faces. Their expressions were bewildered and perplexed. What an odd request he thought. Whatever was in that message, this person knew it was important, maybe even dangerous. A matter of life and death? Hey, now that's just jumping to conclusions he joked in his mind.
"Put it through to my quarters Rob. I'll listen to it there."
He entered his room, the door closing behind him smoothly and quietly, almost clandestinely. The room was dimly lit, and had an aura of privacy. This was where he often retired when he wanted to be alone, away from Falco's complaining or Slippy's new tricks. He approached the monitor next to his bed and activated it. Soon a holograph of an anxious gray canine appeared above the image pad.
Bill Grey? Now this was someone he hadn't seen in a long while, how did he find him? Better yet, what did he have to say?, he thought as he rubbed his chin.
"Fox...I send this message in order to tell you of deeply disturbing reports that I have uncovered. Since you have been away from the inner planets off Lylat, General Pepper has staged a complete take over of the Cornerian government and is amassing large military forces as we speak. Katina is no long a free world. I can't give you more details, but I need you to meet me at the Fortuna base in 13 hours so tha...A powerful explosion rocked the ship throwing Fox against the wall with shattering speed. Everything in the room tossed against the walls as alert beeps resounded around him.
"Agh!" cried Fox as he fell to the floor.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Fox, get up here now!" cried a static filled voice from the comm system.
He quickly shot to his feet as the room was now bathed in the deep pulsing red glow of the emergency lights. Most of the items in there were tossed about the floor.
"Damn," he cursed under his breath.
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"What is the situation?!" he questioned frantically as he ran to his command chair.
"It's Star Wolf's gang, they came out of nowhere, I'm reading damage to all three
engines."
"ROB get us out of here."
"Acknowledged, moving to full speed."
"AUGH!!," cried everyone as the ship jolted again from another explosion.
"I'm reading four ships bearing the same configurations on the tactical monitor."
exclaimed Fox.
"Confirmed, I read four ships too" added Peppy.
"Slip, can you pull up the schematics on the Star Wolf mercenary class Wolfen design?
It's bee a while since we've seen these boys."
"I'll tr...
A violent jolt rocked everything. Sparks flew from Slippy's control panels, burning the side of his face. He recoiled in pain
as he fell of his chair, slamming into the floor.
"Slippy!" cried Falco as he grabbed the toad by the arm and pulled him away from the
smoldering consoles. "Are you ok?"
"Ye...Yes, I'm fine, let me get those schematics." stuttered Slippy as he held one hand to the right side of his face. A small river of crimson was dripping down the backside of Slippy's hand while he trembled at his station.
"All four ships match the Wolfen configuration, but there appear to be advanced modifications. It's them all right."
"Rob target Wolf's ship and fire at will!" shouted Fox.
"Acknowledged...firing."
Another explosion, this one much larger. Before he could brace himself from the powerful thrust of calamity he launched off his chair, flying into the floor breaking his arm.
"Fox!" cried Falco as he struggled towards him.
"NO, stay at your station!" he shouted as the deafening sound of sparks and metal buckling filled the room. "ROB return fire!"
"Unable to, main weapons are offline," he replied flatly.
"I think we're in trouble!" cried Slippy, bracing his console firmly, a burn mark clearly visible across his face.
"Wait! Other ships are firing at Star Wolf!" yelled Peppy while holding his control panel with both hands.
"Put it on the main viewer" he said as he stumbled into his chair holding his right arm close.
"The ships are Cornerian class...apart of General Pepper's fleet...I'm reading half a dozen in diamond formation," stuttered Peppy as he coughed his words through the smoke filled room.
"Wait a minute...I don't know if we can tru..."
The bridge violently shook as Great Fox took more fire. The bulkhead directly behind Fox collapsed smashing through the floor and the deck below, jutting out like a broken piece of glass. They were all tossed to the floor as lights exploded outward raining down their sparks.
Slippy burned his eyes in confusion at his scanners, "That blast came from the Cornerian ships!"
"What?!" screeched Falco at the top of his lungs. Why the hell would they fire at us, he thought as he glared around the room.
"Rob divert all power to the shields; try and open a communications channel with the Cornerian ships, let them know who we are...they couldn't have forgotten who we are!" cried Fox in pain as he felt his arm throb.
"Star Wolf's ships are firing on the Cornerian ships."
"No response from Pepper's ships"
"Fox we need to treat your arm as soon as possible"
"Slippy you al..."
More explosions rocked the bridge.
"One of the Wolfen ships has been disabled."
A deafening roar of sparks and metal ricochet through the room.
"Shields are at 16 percent."
Everyone's voice began to overlap as Fox felt he was going to faint, the pain soon became immensely difficult to bear, but he shook it off. He had to stay strong in this moment of crisis. He had to present an image of authority and strength to his fellow teammates at this critical moment.
"Well, Fox McCloud, it appears we are both fighting the same enemy now?" said a smooth, but shaken sounding voice on the comm system. It was Wolf O'Donnell's voice. Fox would have recognized it anywhere.
"What?! Since when!?"
"Hmm, I would say since your little bulldog friends started firing on you about ten minutes ago?"
"Nonsense, they're just confused, you're distracting me."
"Really? Well then why have they blocked communications with you?"
"I don't kn...what?!"
"Haha, yes, they quite have, perhaps you should re-think your priorities my friend?"
Fox stared at the main viewer, although sly, Wolf was right, the Cornerian ships were flanking Great Fox, firing their weapons in repetitive passes, each one crippling the ship even more.
"Fox...I'd say it would make sense to help each other wouldn't you agree?" calmly gestured the one eyed wolf over the comm channel.
Fox looked over at Falco, whose eyes widened like he had never seen before.
"Fox?!...No! You're not actually going to help him!? This is just a misunderstanding, Rob try contacting the Cornerian ships aga...You just can't help him Fox!" cried Falco frantically, flapping his wings about the room, dispensing two or three feathers in the air.
"Well, it appears we don't have much of a choice here! Those ships are going to destroy us in a matter of minutes if we don't do something now! We don't have any time to argue about it. Rob, divert whatever power we have left and fire on the Cornerian squad leader!"
"I don't have to be here for this!" growled Falco as he stormed off the bridge.
"Fine, you're not required to be here anyway." he looked at Peppy and Slippy who both seemed too shocked and confused to respond.
"Ion cannons firing, stand by," said a monotone voice as Rob poked around the controls swiftly.
Everyone except Fox gasped as the blast instantly vaporized the Cornerian ship in one shot. He could only look down and hide his eyes from what he had just done.
"The Cornerian ships are retreating...they've gone to light speed," commented Rob as what he said was clearly evident by the sudden silence in the room.
"I'm reading that the other three ships with Star Wolf have also gone to light speed, but one has stayed behind. Its light drive and weapons appear to be severely damaged."
"It's Wolf O'Donnell, he is requesting to dock with the Great Fox," added Slippy at last.
Fox contemplated in his mind what he was about to do. How his teammates might view him from this point forward. Whether he was an example of nobleness, blind trust, or just simple foolishness...
"Give him clearance..." he said quietly.
Their mouths fell open as they both glared at each other and then at Fox.
"I'm going to the docking bay, Peppy you have the bridge" he spoke strongly while walking towards the hyperlift. He could hardly look at Peppy's face, his mouth open expression unnerved him to the core of his mind.
As the hyperlift approached the cargo bay Fox felt his adrenaline building, his heart pounded as the doors slowly opened. He was about to be face to face with someone who he used to fight against for so long. But it had been so many years since he had even seen him. Would he have forgotten about all their aggressions?
He stepped off the lift slowly looking around. His eyes quickly locked on a figure emerging from the cockpit of a smoking ship in the docking bay that appeared to be a heavily scarred Wolfen.
"I never knew foxes could be such noble creatures," said the shadowy outline as it stood idly next to the ship parked in the docking bay.
"...I'd like to think, that by showing trust...the other person would return it," replied Fox curtly, raising his voice to compensate for the distance.
Still nervous he placed his hand near his blaster that was hoisted at his side. The figure moved closer, fluidly, almost humorously slow, enjoying the anticipation as he closed in on Fox.
"You're injured," said Wolf stepping into the light and pointing to Fox's right arm.
He glanced down at his arm, immediately noticing the shooting pain that seared through it, "I'll be fine."
"Why did you trust me?"
"I'm not sure."
"You aren't sure? You saved my life you know."
"I know."
"Where did your teammates go? Leon, Pigma, Andrew?"
"I don't think that's your concern right now Fox."
He continued to stare at Wolf obviously displeased with the response.
"They fled..." he muttered under his breath.
Changing his expression to a wry smile, he approached Fox, moving closer, but they were still about three meters apart.
"Why did General Pepper attack you?" he questioned.
"I don't know."
"Perhaps he doesn't need you anymore? I mean...especially since he took over Corneria and all and is now trying to grasp more power in the Lylat system. I guess he found the idea of keeping a stand-by mercenary pointless."
"Where did you hear that?" snapped Fox.
"My my, where have you been away to for so long? Ignorance feeds on idle time I suppose. All you have to do is fly towards Corneria to find out...You can't even get past Katina without encountering his blockade forces. It also helps to be able to pick up encrypted sub-space messages as well," said Wolf with a smirk.
"Ugh, that's exactly how I remember you, sly and devious as always," sneered Fox turning his head up in disgust.
"I didn't learn anything new, and besides, you and I both know that Pepper gaining supreme power over anyone isn't a good thing."
"What would you know about good Wolf?"
Wolf looked at Fox for a moment until his eyes began to strain slightly at the corners. He finally turned away. Fox was shocked to see that he had actually struck a nerve inside Wolf with his last remark.
"There is no good and evil Fox, there are only the paid and the unpaid."
Fox was astounded by how much Wolf's comment made sense. Perhaps Wolf wasn't really as evil as Fox had originally thought. As he thought through it more, Wolf was almost like him. A mercenary. A mercenary who got paid to carry out militaristic duties.
"You're thinking Fox."
"Yes...I am."
"Let me say this," he began with a sharpness in his voice.
Fox stared at Wolf, waiting for an answer as he appeared to twist inside, something was going to come and he didn't know what. Was it going to be a word of kindness? If it was then he was having a real hard time handling it.
"I'm sorry."
And there it was, "Sorry for what?" replied Fox with a snap.
"Sorry for fighting for Andross..."
Fox had no idea how to respond, he was taken back by Wolf's sudden empathy, and compassion. There seemed to be hints of remorse, even care, in his voice. It was something he had never seen before in Wolf, he didn't want to stifle the moment.
"I was only getting paid Fox...just as you were..."
"...I know...it's...ok Wolf..."
The words slowly poured from Fox's mouth as though he could not control it. Wolf smiled at his acceptance of his apology. He did enjoy seeing Wolf smile, he had never seen him smile before...well he had never seen him face to face before, only over a comm window, but he was still greatly pleased that letting Wolf onto his ship was not such a huge mistake.
Suddenly he writhed in pain, his arm began to throb even more as he held it.
"Your arm...you need medical attention," assumed Wolf as he came even closer to Fox, looking at his arm. "It's definitely broken...it needs to be treated."
"Here I have something to help it" he continued as he walked back towards his ship getting a small box and bringing it back towards Fox. He opened the small box and removed a small device that looked like a pen.
"Hold out your arm and stay still."
Fox did so reluctantly, worried that Wolf was still going to do something mischievous. He held the device over his arm and pressed a button which emitted a soft blue light over his broken limb. He felt a strange tingling sensation for a little bit, until Wolf shut off the device and placed it back in its small box.
"There, how's that?"
Fox was surprised to find that his arm did not hurt anymore, and the bone appeared to be fully healed, without any soreness.
"Uh...wow...great I guess," he said, holding out his arm and twisting it around.
"Thanks, I think."
"You're welcome Fox."
"This is strange."
"In a way, yes I suppose it is, but is that a bad thing?"
"I never thought I'd be thanking you for anything," he continued while rubbing his arm, enjoying the lack of pain.
"Change can sometimes be a good thing," replied the thoughtful lupine with a playful smile.
Fox looked down at the floor for a moment, nodding his head.
"True..."
You've gone this far so I hope you're enjoying it already!