A/N – Oh, I keep forgetting. This story takes place one year before Star Fox 64. If I hadn't mentioned that before now, someone smack me with a tuna fish.
Katina Squadrons
Chapter 12 – Hope Returns
Although they were still outnumbered, the odds against the dogfighting pilots were evening.
"Red 1, this is Red 2," Keeve said, "Do you think there are any more enemies coming?"
"That's unconfirmed, 2, but I'm willing to bet there aren't since they probably would have been here by now," Bill answered as he targeted an enemy pilot and pulled the triggers.
The enemy ship blasted into oblivion, but another quickly replaced his comrade in Bill's sights.
Keeve flew in silence, mimicking Bill's movements and covering his tail. Until no enemy ships were left, it was inevitable that another of Keeve's fellow pilots would meet his maker. It had been four years ago, but he still had occasional flashbacks to the devastating battle that took his squadron.
He had vowed to never let that happen again.
Still, he had the feeling that one day his end would come. A flash caught his peripheral vision and he noticed, with a surge of adrenaline, that an out-of-control bogie was headed right towards him. The distance was close and the only thing Keeve could think to do was flip belly up to the impact.
He braced for the collision that occurred soon after. The force shattered the right wing and killed the engine. When Keeve regained his bearings, he noticed all power was gone. After the auxiliary power booted essential systems, he saw his ship had taken catastrophic damage. He couldn't fly well in atmosphere without a wing anyway.
Alex watched the crash, "Who was that?!"
"Red 2! Red 2! Report damage!" Bill cried.
"I'm punching out," he said, not realizing his communications were down as well.
Bill breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the cockpit eject and begin its fall to the ground. He returned his attention to the battle.
Keeve, on the other hand, was thanking the makers that the new Arwings had whole cockpit ejections, which were much less risky than the old seat ejector. He shuddered remembering what could happen. The hover unit whirred under his seat and brought the whole piece down gently.
Much more gently than Deanna's ship had crashed. He noticed the burning hulk resting against trees in the distance. Keeve climbed out of the remaining intact part of his ship and grabbed binoculars stowed in a compartment. Focusing in on the flaming ship, he scanned the craft and surrounding area for any sign of the dalmatian.
He could make out no more than shattered trees and the burning wreckage. The bobcat strapped on a backpack of supplies and began walking to his comrade's ruined ship.
Perhaps two hours had passed, but to the captured pilots, the time dragged like a long space flight. By then, Gyver Brinker had been returned in relatively good shape and Aika Muyo and Kim Motter had woken up. However, Jenzalah hadn't come around yet and James Harvey was still missing.
So if the Major was still gone, that also meant that Mya was still officially in charge.
Since she had become conscious after the stun, her mind had been busy formulating a plan. As the guards became apparently more bored through the night, Mya's strategy began materializing. She had only to wait for the right time.
The guard sitting directly in front of her pressed his earpiece and listened to some instruction.
"You and you," he pointed at two of the guards, "Go to the seventh level, the Sgt Maj needs some muscles to dig through files."
The two hurried off, obviously glad to be away from boring guard duty. To Mya, though, she was sure of the moment. Slowly she stood, attracting the attention of the three enemies.
"What do think you're doing," the center one asked as he rose.
"Stretching my legs," to kick your ass, she thought, "They get sore after sitting for a while."
The avian looked at her suspiciously.
"Oh come now, you have a rifle and I don't. You're not scared of me, are you?"
The bird chuckled and sat back down and the other two went back to leaning against the doorways. Slowly, Mya moved around her table, very aware all eyes were on her. She stretched her paws above her head and heard the bird clicking his beak.
"Hey, ah," he said, "Why don't you go sit back down?"
"What, over there? No thanks, Greg smells bad."
"Hey," he called, sniffing his pits.
The avian stood and walked towards her. Finally, she thought.
He pointed the rifle at her chest and cocked his head, "Sit. Now."
Faster than the bird could have acted, Mya slammed the barrel of the rifle with her palm and secured it between her left arm and ribs. She jammed the stock of the weapon in the avian's sternum and turned into his body. She aimed at one of the guards and shot before he could react, the bolt slamming his body back into the hall. The other guard had started shooting before he realized the shots had gone into Mya's 'live' armor. When he stopped, the lynx turned, shot, and caught his chest with a blast. He too flew into the hall. She let the body of the avian fall limp to the cold ground.
"Wow," Greg said as he caught the rifle Mya tossed him, "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"Stop yakking and follow me. Brinker, you stay and guard Roberts," she tossed him a rifle, "When you see the lights go out, Derr will come get you and he'll tell you the plan."
She turned and checked the hallway before storming out with the rest following. They didn't go far as Mya stopped at the next door down. A storage room complete with an armory.
"This is the plan," Mya said as the group gathered around, "Motter, you will go to the computer control room. You must gain access to the base system and close the hallway blast doors. Who has electrical experience?"
"Me," Greg answered, "I've fixed wiring on ships before."
"Good, you'll go to the generators, level 5. There you will shut down power to everything but computer systems. That means the lights will go out and the elevators stop. Muyo, you go with him. Derr, you will remain here until the lights go out. Before that happens, find flashlights for you and that Brinker kid and load up on weapons. Start clearing the blast door sections after the lights are killed. Password 'Free James'."
"What about you," Aika asked.
"I'm going with shorty," she replied with a smirk.
"Oh har har!" Kim said, "Hey, genius, how are we getting 'there?'"
She turned and removed a silver metal grating behind her.
"Air vents."
Daphne Weber pulled a long arc over the furious sky battle, drawing two bogies along. Her wingman, Alex Tainer, emerged perpendicular to her flight path. He took wild shots at a distance, nearly hitting the husky's ship.
"Careful, Red 4, don't take pot shots," she warned.
"Sorry," Alex replied meekly.
His next shots were well placed and sent one flying uncontrollably. It crashed into the ground and burst into a fireball.
"Cross off one more bogey," Alex shouted.
"Looks like Bulldog 4 is back," Peter Klein said, "But 2, no 3, unknowns are following him closely."
Chase Halloway was within com range before he entered visual range.
"Hey, Bulldog 4 here. I sent a mayday across military channels, ground unit's e.t.a. is two hours. We're to stay in the air until ground units arrive. No aerial units were on hand to scramble, seems like it's a busy day in Katina air space. But I did run across a group of willing mercenaries..."
"Mercenaries," Peter spat, "We're military, we use military, not civilians pretending to be military."
"I was in the military once," a random voice said.
"Back before space flight was a reality, right," another said.
"Oh I'm not that old," the voice replied.
I know that voice, Bill thought, "Peppy Hare?"
"Indeed, young man," the hare said.
"Star Fox!" Daphne shouted happily.
"Let's take 'em out," Fox called.
Bill smiled. It had been a long long time since he had seen that vulpine. Not since high school at least when they had parted ways, Bill to the academy, Fox to the Great Fox. To the greyhound, it was fitting that Fox had taken his father's place as the lead pilot of Star Fox team, even if it meant leaving his extraordinary flying skills at the mercy of those who might need it, few and far between.
"Red unit, report in," he said.
His two remaining pilots stated their power and shield levels, and Peter's unit did the same.
The souped up Arwings flown by Star Fox had the rest of the bogies whipped in no time. The four enemy survivors made a hasty retreat into the night sky.
"Well that was short but fun," Falco Lombardi said with a snicker.
"Thanks Star Fox," Bill said.
Fox finally recognized him, "Bill Grey? Long time no see, buddy."
"I'd love to talk, Fox, but our base is in trouble and two pilots are down."
"Red 1, my wingman and I are medics, permission to land and assist," Daphne said.
"Affirmative, Red 3 and 4," Bill answered.
The two curved away from the diamond formation and landed between the two wreckages.
"Oh, this is Bulldog 4 again. They're repositioning a com satellite for our communications. It'll be in place in about 10 minutes."
Bill double clicked his acknowledgement.
"Well if you don't need us any longer," Fox began, "We should probably check out the other bases on Katina and see if they need help."
"Good idea, Fox. Nice seeing you," Bill answered.
"You too, Bill. Catch ya later."
The three Arwings blasted away from the group's formation.
Haydri Chatookah spoke, "How about we buzz the base and check out the damage?"
"Negative, that would alert them of our success. Hopefully they don't have communications with the troops in the base. That way we still have the benefit of surprise," Bill answered, using his tactical knowledge.
"So what do we do," Chase asked.
"We sit here and wait," Peter responded.
Keeve arrived at the smoldering wreckage of Deanna Kulli's shattered Arwing just as Star Fox entered the fray. It had essentially burned itself out and now only smoke steamed from the hulk. He had noticed the path the ship had rolled stretched back fifteen meters. It would be a miracle if the red-haired dalmation had survived.
He stepped around transparisteel shards and large pieces of wings and engine until he was very close to the skeleton. He peered inside the twisted metal.
Nothing.
She wasn't there and the canopy and seat hadn't ejected. Unless her body had burned to ashes, Deanna was not in there.
The bobcat heard a branch crack behind him. He whipped around and there, in a tattered and burnt flight suit, was Deanna Kulli. She collapsed into his arms as he rushed to assist her.
"I... got out. I don't remember how," she mumbled, barely conscious.
"Don't worry about it," Keeve soothed, "You're alive and that's all that matters."
She nodded and slipped into darkness.