SEE! NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE REVIEWED, SO THIS TOOK A REALLY LONG TIME!
That'll show you lot for not reviewing.
I don't own Star Fox (wish I owned Falco - he's a hottie!)
I DO own the stuff I make up!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Annie took the shuttle down through Venom's unpleasant atmosphere. "Locked on the signal," said the spheroid of metal attached by cables next to her. He was one of her little creations - Beta. She had half a dozen besides him: Alpha, Gamma, Theta, Epsilon, Omicron, and Zeta. They were the latest advancements in AI programming, biosynthetic organisms that were very capable of performing thousands of tasks. 'Andross's stuff's got nothing on mine,' she loved to boast. Beta's voice broke into her thoughts. "Ann, we have visual lock on the Package. An Arwing's next to it; it carries the transponder signal." "Then land this bucket of bolts, Beta." "Aye aye, sir." Annie jumped out of the ship the second Beta opened the hatch. She ran to the Arwing. Sitting on the left wing, looking amused, was a male fox. He wore a plain outfit, and sunglasses. "You! Where have you been! I've been waiting for you for years!" Annie pretended to scold her childhood friend. "And what do you have to say about yourself, James McCloud?" "Sorry, my ship broke?" James McCloud laughed. "Annie, you haven't changed at all!" "Damn straight. And what's this I heard about you saving your son? I think the new leader of Star Fox is capable of rescuing himself." James ruffled her head-fur affably. "How'd you know I was here?" Annie gave him an evil smile as she pried the tracker off his ship. "I put this one on you years ago." "Just as well. My ship can't take vacuum in this shape." Annie called Beta on her comm and told him to load the Arwing. "We need to update it too. I've got a mission with Pepper and you're coming along. He said it has to do with Fox, but I'm guessing not in a good way." James nodded and followed her in the shuttle.







"Sir, a Miss Annabelle is here to see you. She also has someone with her, should I let them in?" General Pepper hid his irritation with his new secretary and told him to let them in. Annie walked it, same as ever. And behind her - General Pepper stood up sharply and went very pale. "My God…James?" The friend he'd thought he'd sent to his death gave him a smile. Forgetting military protocol entirely, Pepper went around his table and let his senses confirm what his eyes saw. "James I thought you were dead!" "You never had much faith in my flying skills, Pepper." James laughed like old times as they all sat. "James, why aren't you dead?" "You heard of trans-dimensional transport?" "Yes, Andross used it on the Gorgon Satellite." "Well, he decided to test the prototype on my Arwing. While I was still in it. I've more or less been in suspended animation. But I could see everything that was going on here." James frowned with a unpleasant memory. "How did you escape? I received the report of what Andross did to himself…" "Well, his little thermonuclear death blast ripped open a hole I was able to get back through. But my Arwing was still too damaged to make the trip home, or I would have come back with Great Fox." Pepper was letting this sink in when Annie cleared her throat. "Getting back to the reason we're here…" "Oh, yes." Pepper punched up the data. "Yesterday, Peppy of the Star Fox Team called me with some rather unpleasant news. Three to four days prior, they had been running field tests of their ships when they were attacked by persons unknown at Banyu, in the Kelspa System. They fought Invader class ships, models one and four." "But Andross only made them to model three." "We had recovered plans for a new Invader model, and these match them exactly." Pepper played some of the recorded footage of the battle. "As you can see, Fox's ship was disabled and captured with him on board. Peppy informed me that the Team was going search and rescue as soon as repairs were completed. I want you to assist as an independent agent. For security, I didn't tell Peppy who I was sending. James, since you're here I would like you to go with her." James nodded. "Anything else?" "Well, this mightmight interest you. Look at these results we've gotten from processing the data from the battle." James stood. "No. Way." "An exact match from Venom. These appear to be some of Andross's suppliers. I want you to find out exactly how bad this is. Meanwhile, I'll be working on a defense plan for Lylat, just in case." James and Annie nodded.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SEE! SEE! I told you I was going to do something really cool in this chapter!
I made James McCloud Un-dead! Not to be confused with making him a zombie. Which he ain't.
Whatever, just R&R!