ENTER BLACK Wolf: Part One
Prologue
Place-Corneria Military Academy: Corneria City.
Date: June 15, 2550 (1 year after the Lylat War (SF64))
Time: 1400 hours
Area: Combat Simulators: Ground
Ed Wallace knew he was running out of options. Somewhere in the weapons facility, his foe, Kyle Kerrigan was after him. Ed's K21 Avenger Assault Rifle was low on ammo, and only the threat detector saved him form Kyle's proxy mines. Ed worked his way to "No Man's Land" a hallway in which it was impossible to escape, except for 3 doors that led to dead ends.
"Stop running, you're only making things worse!" shouted Kyle. His evil taunt reverberated through the facility's empty halls.
"What's the matter, can't find me!?" retorted Ed.
"...Yeah, that's it."
Kyle increased speed, Ed's last taunt had gotten to him. He ran into the NML looking for him.
"I know damn well you're behind that door Ed," yelled Kyle "Come out a meet my shotgun!" Kyle had it set to "DBL Blast". At close range, it would be fatal. Little did he know that he was facing the wrong door, and that Ed was behind him. Ed lined up his sights...
"YO DUMBASS!!!!" he said
Kyle turned
"Oh SHIT!"
The last sound Kyle heard was the noise of Ed's K21 ripping into his chest. The next sound told him the story.
"Game over. Ed wins." Said the computer's voice
"Why did I choose no radar!?!?!?" lamented Kyle
" 'Cause you're a dumbass." Ed snickered.
"Damn straight!" said Mark Rendar, Ed's best friend. They both knew that Kyle was too much a risk taker. You could get the hyena to do anything you wanted to. Kyle was a good fighter, but Ed, being a wolf, had cunning instincts. Mark had no particular traits, except loyalty and strength, which was common among member of the Siberian Husky species.
"One of these days I'm going to bring you down, and hard!" yelled Kyle "Same to you, Mark!!"
"Promises, promises," said Ed, "it will be a cold day in Hell before that happens!"
"Screw you!" retorted Kyle, and he stomped away
"Ed, you do realize he'll try to pull a prank on you, AGAIN!" said Mark
"No shit Capt. Obvious! That's why I have a security system set to catch him, AND get him kicked out of the Academy. I'm surprised he made it this far without getting caught."
Ed and Mark both knew Kyle was a constant threat to them. He was a loose cannon, always acting to endanger, not to mention only caring about himself.
"Yeah, 4 straight years, and now you're going to derail his career 2 weeks before graduation."
15 minutes later, the headmaster, Lt. Frank Kent came up to them.
"Do you know Kyle Kerrigan?" he asked
"I know of him." said Ed
"He left this note on your door. There is a similar note on your door, Cadet," the Lieutenant's last comment had been directed at Mark
Ed took the note and read it, he recognized Kyle's writing
"-Ed. In case you are wondering, I'm deserting the Academy. You've pushed me too far you short bastard!!! Next time I see you, I'll kill you!"
-Kyle"
"Whoa. I didn't expect that!" said Ed.
"We're not going to go after him, it's his choice to leave if he wants. We would have probably expelled him for rigging your room with 2 pounds of Semtex."
"Okay" said Mark
"Whatever," said Ed. "How did he escape exactly?"
"He jacked one of our Shark class fighters and headed towards Venomian territory"
"Hmm. The Shark isn't exactly the most sophisticated fighter, but it's not exclusively used by the CAF." Said Mark.
"What better way to defect than with a universal fighter." said Ed.
"I have other matters to attend to, see you in 2 weeks." said Kent. The tiger spun on his heels and marched down the hall.
June 29,
1430 hours
The next 2 weeks passed by uneventfully. In the final exams, which involved hand-2-hand fighting, armed ground combat, and air combat tests, Ed scored a 100%, the third pilot to do so in history. Mark scored a 98%. At the graduation ceremony, Ed and Mark received top honors. Ed thought it kind of amazing. The white diploma stood out against his black fur as he raised it up high, showing everyone that you didn't have to be tall to make it to the top. (Ed was only 5' 10", even though he was 18).
Mark stood next to his friend, receiving the praise the two deserved all these years.
After graduation, Ed and Mark checked out the squadron assignments and rank boards for the Cornerian Air Force.
"Jesus Christ!" shouted Ed. "Not only did I get command of Black Squadron, but I've been made a Lt. Commander! That just doesn't seem possible!"
"You're telling me!" said Mark "Turns out I'm your second in command, and I've been made a Lieutenant! I knew we were good, but not this good!"
Just then, the Academy's alarms went off.
"Red Alert!! Enemy starfighters are on an attack vector for the Academy!!! All Black Squadron pilots report to hangar 19! This is not a drill!"
"Guess that means us, Mark!" said Ed
"Let's go!"
Chapter 1
Place: CAF Hangar 19: Corneria City
Day: Same as before
Time: 1500 hours
"Black Squadron, you are cleared for launch." Said the "Air Boss"
"Copy that. Initiating launch." said Lt. Commander Ed Dubois. With that, the four jet-black Arwings of Black Squadron took off on their first mission.
Besides Ed and Mark, the other two pilots were also Academy graduates. One was Sergeant Damien Norris. He was a red-tailed hawk from Katina, and had wanted to join the Air Force ever since he saw Starfox defeat Andross's invasion force at Katina. The other pilot was Sergeant Karl Riker. He was a German shepherd, also from Katina.
"Attention all Cornerian forces, this is Lt. Commander Ed Wallace of Black Squadron, we are here to assist."
"This is Fox McCloud of Starfox, glad to have you with us." At the mention of the names "Fox McCloud" and "Starfox", Ed's ears pricked up. Here he was on his first ever mission, and he was flying alongside the greatest pilot ever, as well as the most famous mercenary squadron ever.
"This is Black-3," said Sgt. Norris, "I have multiple bogies on radar at 12 o' clock"
"Roger that Black-3," said Ed. He flicked his black shades down over his blue eyes, "Black Squadron, you are clear to engage all hostiles"
"Fox, this is Ed. We are engaging hostile aircraft at 12 o' clock. There is at least one frigate in that combat group."
"Copy, we'll keep a lookout for any more capital ships," said Fox "All craft you are clear to engage."
The 8 Arwings flew directly at the battle group.
Ed flew into the first squadron directly.
"See you in hell!" he shouted as he hit the triggers for his lasers.
His lasers lashed out, cutting apart the Invader III fighters.
Mark blew away 5 fighters in mere seconds.
"Ed I've got a visual on the frigate, it appears to be a stolen Cornerian Justice Class Vessel" said Mark
"How could space pirates get their hands on a Justice Class frigate?" asked Riker.
"Because," said a mysterious, yet familiar voice, "we aren't ordinary space pirates!"
"Kyle you traitorous bastard!!!" yelled Ed
"Correct, and true to what I said before I defected, I'm now going to kill you!!!!"
Ed sees a Wolfen II fighter come at his craft.
"Oh no, I'm so scared!" Ed fires away at the craft. Kyle only manages to dodge one shot, the rest blow away huge chunks of armor.
"SHIT" yelled Kyle. "Red Group follow me, Gold Group, attack Great Fox!" Kyle's fighter flies towards the planet
"Fox, you've got fighters headed for Great Fox! They have fusion bombs!" yelled Mark
"I'll handle it," said Falco Lombardi as he flew at the 10 Scorpion Bombers. Ed also saw Peppy Hare attacking the bombers
"Ed, Red Group is on an attack vector for the Academy!" said Sgt. Norris.
" I see them. Mark, follow me, we have to save the Academy!"
"I'm right behind you Black Leader!" Mark enthusiastically replied.
Chapter 2
Low atmosphere in Corneria
Same day
1530 hours
Kyle flew his Wolfen II ahead of the 7 other Wolfen I fighters. Each fighter had a Hellfire class fusion bomb. All 8 of these bombs would reduce the Academy to rubble.
"Almost there. In one minute, I'll be able to wipe the Academy off the planet, and out of my mind.
Just then Red-2 exploded.
"What?!"
"Did you think I was going to let you hit the Academy without any resistance!?" came Ed's mocking voice over the comm.
"Can't let you do that, Kyle!" said Mark as he blasted two more Wolfens out of the sky.
Ed and Mark wove between the confused fighters, and incinerated them. Soon only Kyle was left.
Kyle fired the bomb at the main office of the Academy.
"You're too late!!!" he laughs as he heads back towards his command ship
"I'll handle the bomb, Ed, you kill the traitor!" growled Mark as he fired at the bomb, blowing it up before it could hit the main office
"Copy that," Ed replied. Ed then flew his Arwing towards Kyle.
"Leaving the party so soon, Kyle?" Ed taunted as he fired mercilessly at the Wolfen IIs engines
"Damn!" yelped Kyle as he struggled for control, but to no avail, his engines were almost disabled, and half of one wing snapped off. "I quit! I'm leaving, just let me take my ship and go home!"
"I don't think so!" came the almost unanimous reply from the pilots of Black Squadron, and Starfox. The eight fighters attacked the frigate, in 10 seconds it blew away in a massive explosion, the missiles had detonated the fusion reactor.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" cried Kyle. "I'll get you next time!! You haven't heard the last of the Venomian Imperial Army!!" He managed to jump his crippled fighter into hyperspace along with a few other fighters, and avoid getting shot down.
"Damn, the coward got away!" said Ed.
"Who cares?" said Mark, "We kicked his ass, and didn't lose a single pilot!"
"You're absolutely right" said Fox, "You guys are good, especially considering that you graduated only one hour ago."
"Thanks," said Ed. "Our fighters are in need of refit and repair, can we dock at Great Fox?"
"Sure"
The eight fighters flew into the Great Fox's docking bay.
Chapter 3
The Great Fox
1545 hours
After docking, Ed filed a formal report with General Pepper.
"General, the attack was led by a traitor known as Kyle. I don't know his motives, but he tried to nuke the Academy. My team along with the help of Starfox managed to repulse the attack."
"Excellent work, Ed. From our radio intercepts, we have reason to believe you know this traitor." Said the General
"That is correct, sir. He and I didn't exactly get along."
"Well, we believe you can assist us in our fight against this 'Imperial Army'. We are giving your Black Squadron and Starfox permission to run your own missions against this pseudo-army."
"Excellent idea, sir. I do have one question though."
"What?"
"Can I change the name of my squadron?"
"Sure, we don't see a problem with that."
"Okay, from now on, my team shall be known as...Black Wolf."
"Why exactly that name?"
"Well, you know how Wolf O'Donnell has his Star Wolf team. I believe that the name Black Wolf is suitable. A squadron led by a wolf, except on the good side."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense."
"Thought so. I'll let my team know of the developments."
"Very well. General Pepper, out."
Ed closed the comm terminal and walked into the lounge of the Great Fox. His team was there, chatting with the Starfox team. Right now it sounded like they were talking about the Lylat War.
As Ed moved to sit down he remembered the horror of the Lylat War 1 year ago.
He was a junior in the Academy. He had just been promoted to Second Officer. This rank was the 3rd highest possible rank in the Academy. Mark was also a 2nd officer. Their friend ,Dave Chang, a Komodo Dragon, was a 3rd officer. Kyle was a 3rd officer as well. As the four of them were walking to their next class, Astrophysics, an alarm began to sound.
"Red Alert! Venomian forces are attacking Corneria City. All cadets with the ranking of 3rd officer or higher, report to the hangars!!"
"Let's get moving!" yelled Ed, as he took off down the hall.
"Ed?"
Ed snapped out of his trance, he realized Fox was speaking to him.
"Mark says you two fought in the battle of Corneria. Is that true?"
"Yeah...let me tell you all about it. I've never told anyone else this before, because the memory is painful."
As Ed began to talk about it, the memories came back in vivid images.
Ed's Arwing fighter took off. He was given temporary command of Red Squadron. His wingmen were Kyle, Dave, and Mark. Their mission was to destroy as many Venomian units as possible. Ed didn't realize that the Starfox team was on its way. In fact, he didn't find out until later, after the battle.
"This is Red-3 I'm picking up 25 enemy contacts on radar, 1Km away." said Dave.
"Air or ground?" asked Ed
"Both"
"All craft engage at will, but stick close together!"
The 4 Arwings attacked the battle group. The lightly armored fighters and tanks were no match for the squadron. As the last fighter hit the ground, Ed checked the kill data. He had gotten 10 enemies, everyone else got 5 each.
"HOLY SHIT!!!" yelled Kyle.
"What is it?" asked Ed.
"I mark 100 units incoming. 75 air, and 25 ground." Kyle replied.
"All right. We have a mission to do. Be careful, and let's take all of these guys out!"
With that order, the fighters of Red Squadron charged head on at the oncoming enemy fighters.
Things went well, the 25 tanks were eliminated early by Nova Bombs. The advanced Bolse class fighters, however, were posing a challenge. After 15 minutes, all but 15 enemies were destroyed. The 4 Arwings were barely holding out. Ed could see blast craters on his wings, as well as on his squadmate's fighters.
"Ed, help me out here!!!" yelled Dave. He had 7 fighters on his tail. Ed couldn't help him though, as he had 5 fighters on his tail. Mark was battling the last 4. Only Kyle was in any position to help Dave out.
"Kyle, help Dave!" yelled Ed
"Screw you, Ed. I'm not getting myself killed for that Dragon's hide!!!!"
Kyle turned tail and ran.
"Kyle...YOU COWARDLY BASTARD!!!" Ed yelled. He threw his fighter full throttle at Dave's attackers, firing away, hoping he would be in time to save Dave.
He wasn't
The 4 remaining fighters that were attacking Dave fired. Dave's fighter burst into flames, and fell to the ground. Dave did not eject.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
yelled Ed. In a rage he fired away, vaporizing the 4 fighters, he kept up his attack on the remaining enemy fighters, even after one fighter breached his cockpit, causing massive chest wounds. Ed was forced to crash-land his fighter back at the base, but he had gotten them all. As he got out, he went straight for Kyle. Ignoring his own wounds, he slammed Kyle to the ground.
"Thanks to you Dave is DEAD!"
"Whatever do you mean? It's not my fault he got himself shot down."
Ed didn't reply. Instead he beat up Kyle. He then tried to finish him off, but at that point his injuries got the better of him, and he slumped to the ground, sobbing.
Ed spent a week in the infirmary for chest trauma. Ed also got a scar over his left eye from shrapnel damage. Kyle was not present at Dave's memorial service. (Dave's body was never found, nor was the wreck of his fighter).
"Ever since then, Kyle and I were bitter enemies. I vowed to myself never again would I let anyone suffer from Kyle's insubordination, etc."
He looked around. Most of the expressions on his "audience's" faces were of shock. Mark had his head bowed in respect for Dave's memory. Fox seemed to have a look of sympathy on his face. After all, Fox knew what it was like to lose a friend or relative.
"So you were the same two guys that were recognized as two heroes of that battle," said Falco. He was; of course, referring to the Valor medals pinned on Ed, and Mark's chests.
Ed nodded.
"The worst part was that Kyle didn't get in trouble for running. After all, he was still a cadet. Even if your cowardice results in the death of a comrade, it doesn't mean a thing if you're a cadet." Ed was visibly angry. He pounded the table with his fist.
"When I next encounter Kyle, I will make sure he doesn't live to fight another day!" the thought of finishing off his rival seemed to calm Ed somewhat. He walked out the lounge, but came back 5 minutes later, and asked his squadron to come with him for a meeting.
Chapter 4
Great Fox
1600 hours
"All right, listen up." Ed said, "After speaking with General Pepper, he told me that we'd be working with the Starfox team during this conflict with the Imperials. He also agreed on changing our squad name to Black Wolf. I think you guys can see why."
He saw that everybody did understand. Then Karl spoke up
"Sir? Does this mean we're mercenaries now?"
"I'm not sure," Ed replied "right now I think we're still Cornerian Military. Our next paychecks will tell us the true answer, though."
"Does Fox know about this?" asked Mark
"I think he'll know in about 10 seconds."
Ten seconds later Fox ran up.
"Do you guys know that you'll be working with us in this conflict?" he asked
"Yeah." Ed replied.
"Well then, make yourselves at home. It looks like you guys will be staying on board for a while."
Just then the communicators crackled to life.
"Incoming report from Katina." Said ROB-64.
"Put it through," said Fox
The video screen next to them showed a Siberian husky wearing a green flight helmet and aviator shades. He was obviously in flight and in battle, as the sound of laser fire and explosions were heard.
"Starfox, this is Commander Bill Grey. An enemy force known as the Imperial Venomian Army, or just the Imperials are relentlessly attacking our main base. We cannot hold out much longer! We have reports that one of those ID-4 Battle Saucers is en route!! Hurry Starfox!!!"
The screen went dead.
"Damn," said Fox
"This doesn't look good," Falco said
"Well, we can't just sit around her doing nothing while Bill and his squadrons get cut to ribbons. We have to help!" said Ed
"I agree," said Damien, "I'm not too keen on seeing my homeworld put under enemy control."
"Same here" said Karl.
"Let's get moving then!" said Fox
With that the eight pilots ran to the docking bay of Great Fox.
"ROB, set emergency course for Katina, ASAP!!!"
"Acknowledged" said ROB.
The Great Fox jumped to hyperspace.
Chapter 5
Katina
1630 hours
The sky over Katina was a bloodbath of sorts. Fighters on both sides were dropping out of the skies. Husky and Bulldog squadrons were heavily outnumbered, with no reinforcements at all.
"Huskies 5-9 cover the base!" Bill yelled frantically over his comm.
"I'm hit...ARGRRGHHHH!!!"
Husky 7's radar dot went off.
"Damn it!!!" yelled Bill.
Just then two Invader III fighters flew straight at him, guns blazing
"Shit, I'm gonna die!" Bill realized.
The two fighters suddenly exploded
"What the...."
"Is this a private party, or can anyone join?" said Fox as the eight pilots of Starfox and Black Wolf flew inbound at the oncoming enemies.
"Man am I glad to see you four!!" said Bill.
"Actually we only got one of those fighters," said Falco, "you have the Black Wolf squadron to thank for saving your butt."
"Black Wolf?" queried Bill
"Long story, we'll explain later!" said Ed "Right now we have a battle to fight!!"
"Hell yeah!" said Mark.
The eight Arwings flew at the fighters, shredding them. For a while it looked all too easy, but just then...
"Enemy Mothership inbound!!!" yelped Bill.
A huge Battle Saucer came in. This one was the updated version of the one from the Lylat wars, it was armed with many turbolasers. Which were firing right now.
"OH CHRIST!!" yelled Mark as he frantically dove and rolled to avoid the laser fire.
4 ships from Husky flight flew in at the saucer firing their missiles, but nothing was damaged.
"The deflector shield is too strong!" croaked Slippy.
"If we don't think up a plan fast, we, and everyone in the base will be dead." Said Falco worriedly.
As the hatches on the saucer opened up again, an idea came to Ed.
"Fox, Mark, Bill, follow me!" he ordered as he flew towards one of the open hatches.
"What the hell are you doing!?" yelled Fox.
"Just trust me!" Ed yelled back.
They flew into the hatch, blasting away at everything in sight.
"The core is dead ahead, fire bombs at it!" said Ed
So they did. The bombs flew at the core and hit it, as the core began to explode, they flew past it towards the other side.
"Ed, the hatch is closing!!!!" Mark urgently yelled
"Go for broke!" yelled Ed
Just when it seemed like they wouldn't make it, Damien's Arwing fired at the hatch, jamming it open.
The four fighters escaped through the hatch just as the Saucerer Mk. II exploded.
"YEE-HAW. You did it!!!" yelled Bill enthusiastically.
"Thanks for the help Damien" said Ed
"Ahhh...It was nothing" Damien casually replied.
Without the saucer's protection, the remaining fighters were mopped up with little trouble.
Chapter 6
Great Fox
1710 hours
"That was a nice bit of flying there Ed," complimented Bill "But how did you know that the flight hatches led straight to the core?"
"It's quite simple really. I observed that at least 20 fighters could be launched at once form the launch hatches on the saucer. Viewing the data from the First Battle of Katina, I knew that there was enough room 80 fighters in each hatch area," Ed continued. "Logically, the only way they could fit that many fighters on the ship was by making all bays lead straight to the massive core."
Bill, not to mention Fox, was astounded "Not a bad bit of technical reference. You sure know your stuff."
"Nah... I only know some of that technical stuff. Mark knows most of it, but he and I both pulled mechanical duty on the squadron's fighters, and we've been making adjustments to them, such as more armor, speed, missile launchers, etc."
"Yeah" Mark chimed in, "I'm working on a way to stick more lasers on the Arwings, without overheating it. So far I've been disastrously unsuccessful. "
"Maybe if we used a fusion reactor with greater initial heat efficiency, but same size, it could work." Said Slippy.
"Good idea," said Mark "It seems that us working together is going to be greater than anyone has anticipated."
"Incoming transmission from General Pepper." Said ROB-64.
"Well, let's go see what the brass wants us to do now," said Norris.
Meanwhile...
Imperial Army HQ in Macbeth
1730 hours
"An entire regiment...LOST???!!! Incompetent fools!" Snarled Kyle Kerrigan. I thought that you two were the best of the remaining Imperial forces, not a couple of crack smokers with an insane vision of grandeur!"
In front of him, General Josef Sephiroth Caine, and General Katlin Stienburg stood at rapt attention, barley shifting their gaze. Caine decided to speak up.
"With all due respect, sir," the panther began, "this whole invasion was you're idea. Technically, you don't even run this army, Stienburg and I do. The only reason anybody is going along with this is because you seen to have some charismatic effect on everyone; that, and you know about the Cornerian military."
If Kyle was mad, he didn't show it. "So, you think I'm no competent pilot, huh? Well I'll show you. Bring in Commander O'Donnell!"
Caine saluted. "Yessir!"
Wolf O'Donnell walked into the command center.
"What is it, Lord Kerrigan?"
"Take a look at this battle footage from our failed invasion of Katina."
Wolf studied the 10-minute battle.
"See anything wrong with the plan of attack?"
"No sir," Wolf replied
"Then why did it fail?"
Wolf chuckled "That's easy to see, my Lord. These 8 Arwings flew in, and helped to ruin your plan; most particularly these black ones, as they seemed to have the idea to blast up your saucer."
"Damn them!! Damn Ed and his BlackWolf squadron, damn Fox and his Starfox squadron...Damn Bill Grey!!!!" Kyle was infuriated "That's it, prepare all forces for a renewed invasion of Katina!!!"
"That would be unwise, my Lord," Wolf responded.
"And why is that?"
Caine decided to redeem himself
"They'd be expecting that"
"Exactly," said Wolf, "Instead we should attack Fortuna, which is lightly defended as of now, there we will crush Starfox and BlackWolf in one mighty blow!!!"
"Leaving us with a clear path to Corneria," said Kyle "Great thinking, Colonel O'Donnell,"
"Colonel?" Wolf was puzzled
"You heard me right, Wolf, Colonel. You've been promoted for your damn fine idea, and as a result you are in charge of the operation. Also, I'm now contracting your squadron to be my honor guard. I will be leading the charge into Fortuna, and you will be backing me up. Then we will take over Corneria, and scare the rest of Lylat into surrender with our new superweapon. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!! " Kyle maniacally laughed. "Ready the 4th Imperial Guard, destination Fortuna!! Oh, and Wolf, remember to bring along the warship I gave you guys."
"Yes, my Lord" Wolf saluted and exited the command center.
END OF PART ONE
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