Disclaimer: Fox, Slippy, and all related characters are copyrighted to Nintendo. Gains was created by my friend TMK and is co-owned by him and me. All other characters are of my creation and belong to me, unless specified otherwise.

Episode 4: Luck be a Lady

Regal City, Corneria

August 2, 2477

2:00 PM

Slippy frantically punched the keys of the computer in his hotel room. It had been several days since he last heard from his partner and had to find him before the GP did. Wherever McCloud was, he was definitely covering his tracks. Slippy gulped down his third ice cappuccino, he had been searching for his friend's whereabouts since 3 AM and the caffeine was the only thing keeping him from crashing right where he was. His only lead was reports of a stolen GP ship crashing into the surface of Planet Aquas, but the pilot was never found, it was a safe bet that McCloud was still in Carentith, but the city's sheer massive size made it a hunt for a needle in the proverbial haystack to find him. Currently there was no record of any of McCloud's aliases checking in or out at any of the known hotels or spaceports anywhere in the city. The Fennix Star space port, the only one on the planet, was closed by the GP to make sure the pirate cannot escape, which meant nobody was going to be entering or exiting the planet. He groaned and shook off the grogginess as he continued his hunt.

"Message from ShadowHellKatt. Do you accept?" a text box on the computer asked him. The bewildered toad started at the box before clicking the text button.

"Hiiiiiiii!1!11!" a new dialogue box said. "What'cha up 2?"

Slippy rubbed his bloodshot eyes and responded, "Huh? Who are you?"

"I'm me. P"

"No seriously, who are you?"
"That's for me 2 no and u 2 find out."

"What do you want?"

"I wana help."

"Help, with what?"

"Find ur friend, silly. pokes P"

"My friend?"

"Yeah, ur budy StarFox."

"What?"

"Lol, chek out Neo Vegas on Eledard, ull find him there. 3"

"How did you know I was looking for him?"

"I have mah ways. ;)"

"And what makes you so sure he'll be there?"

"His only off da plaent is on teh Silver Fox, tahts where theyl b dockng next."

"And you know this, how?"

"Um… Internet?"

"Wait, you're a hacker aren't you?"

"U say haxor leik it's a bad thng."

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"I already told u I jsut want 2 help. Uh oh, I gtg. Bai bai."

Who was that? Slippy thought to himself. He was unsure whether to believe this mysterious person's words or not. He sat there staring at his screen for a while trying to contemplate why a hacker would want to help him. It could also be a trap for all he knew, being the partner of StarFox, he was considered to be equally dangerous to society and bounty hunters will stop at nothing to bring him in. It was risky, but he was going to take the gamble, it's what Fox would do anyways.

Meanwhile back in Carentith, Fox contently swept the isles of the local convenience store. His left shoulder was still sore, his wound was cleanly bandaged and medicated and already started healing. He decided to lay low for a while, the shopkeeper graciously let him and Kitt work at the shop and even brought in a couple old mattresses and blankets into the back room so that the had a place to stay. The old man was kind enough to do all that for them, Fox didn't have the heart to steal from the shop.

"Ok chief, how's it look?" Fox said cheerfully. The shop had been thoroughly cleaned and the restrooms even sparkled.

The old shopkeeper looked at the boy and smiled. "Wonderful job my boy," he praised the fox, "You've sure been a great help."

Fox bent down to pick up the dustpan and emptied it in the trash. "So tell me, how is it you knew the password?" he asked.

"I used to be a free spirit back in my youth. Many years ago, I was once a Dragon, but that was so long ago."

"Dragon? You mean you were a pirate too?"

"That is correct, but now I prefer to live on the right side of the law. I do keep connections with them though."

"And what about Kitt? Is she one too?"

"Well… I'm not really that sure. I keep pretty informed with their activities, I guess you can take the man out of the Dragons, but not the Dragon out of the man," he laughed, "But I've never seen her before in my life, hearing her say the password was quite a shock to me. I can't quite figure out how she was able to pick up that disk either… I've heard much about you though. Quite the risk taker I hear, never backing down, never giving up, no doubt you are the son of the James McCloud."

Fox felt uneasy hearing his father's name. James McCloud, the leader of the great StarWing team, he was a great hero and a legend among everyone familiar with anything Lylat. It was an insult to his father to speak of him and James Senior in the same breath.

"Ah yes, I remember him. A great man he was, quite noble. 'Tis a shame what happened to him, truly tragic. He and Captain Vulpin were quite close friends."

"My dad and Aurelio went way back," Fox said, rubbing the back of his head, "They were old pals from back in their days in the Cornerian academy. He made my old man an honorary member even, and my dad made him one of his own team."

"Aurelio quit the Dragons a long time ago," the old man informed the fox, "His son, Horatio, inherited his father's ship and crew. He's a good boy, but a bit brash and reckless."

"I see."

"Sounds kinda familiar, no?" the old man chuckled, "When he's not getting himself drunk or gambling his loot away, he out picking trouble with the GP. His arrogance is gonna get him in trouble someday…"

"Sounds like a regular party animal," Fox smirked, "Do ya think he could get me off this planet, the GP's got the only space port on the planet blocked to make sure I don't escape."

"His ship docks out on the northern side of town to refuel and restock. He might be able to get you off this planet without the GP suspecting a thing."

"Thanks, I gotta get going, Slip's waitin' for me," Fox exclaimed, "Thanks a lot."

The old man looked at him with a deeply concerned expression. "You can't run forever, you know," he said, the tone of his voice lacked the warm jolliness it normally had. "Sooner or later the truth will catch up. You have to face it someday."

"What do you mean? I… I don't follow."

"Just promise me you'll be careful kid, ok?" The old raccoon opened a drawer underneath his cash register. He pulled out a small electronic device and tossed it to Fox. The boy stared at it blankly. "Take it, I have no need for it anymore anyways."

"What is it?"

"It creates a light barrier around your body, the charge is pretty weak so it only lasts a few seconds, but it can deflect most gunfire. It's pulled me through some pretty tough times, and should do so for you."

"Uh… Thanks?"

The familiar warmth returned to the shopkeeper's face, "You better get going, they plan to take off tonight." Fox smiled and waved to the old man as he left the building.

He stared at the strange device he had been given as he pondered over the old man's words. I have to face the truth someday? he thought, stepping out onto the sidewalk. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a small figure peeking at him from behind the corner of the building before it slipped back into the alley. Fox shrugged and continued on his way.

An hour and a half later Fox found himself standing outside a dark bar. The words "The Black Dagger" were written upon a sign above the door. He shrugged, it was a good a place as any to look, at least he could pick up a few free pretzels. He pushed against the door, coughing as the cigarette smoke dove into his lungs.

He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the dark smoky environment. Tables were full with suspicious characters. The clatter of billiard balls colliding with each other added an unusual beat to the funky blues music playing on the jukebox and swirling babble of conversation. A roaring laughter cut through the orchestra of the barroom. In the back of the room, a heated game of poker was played out among a quartet of shady characters. The group consisted of a brown furred, green haired, slippery looking 30 year old weasel, a red feathered parrot, a saucy female kangaroo with aquamarine hair and caramel fur, and an orange furred fox who appeared to be in his early 20's and who's left arm had been replaced with a robotic equivalent. The fox, who was seated opposite of the other players, laughed heartily as he downed a half bottle of scotch. Fox moseyed over to the group, intrigued by the ruckus they were making.

"Make yer bets fellas, I'm fellin' lucky," laughed the fox, slapping his mechanical hand onto the table.

"Don't be countin' your chickens before they hatch," snickered the parrot, looking at his hand.

"You're mine this time," smirked the roo.

"Well, I fold," conceded the weasel, placing his hand upon the table.

The fox spread his hand upon the table, "Read 'em and weep fellas," he boasted, picking up his winnings of kei notes. He looked up at the boy peeking in on their game. " 'Ey kid! You wanna join or something?" He shouted to McCloud.

Fox bewilderedly stared at the group, his cheeks full of pretzels and a couple olives he swiped on his way over. "Mwe?" he asked, pointing at himself.

The fox laughed and nodded the boy over. Fox swallowed the contents of his mouth and took seat between the weasel and the parrot. "You know 'ow ta play, right kid?" the older vulpine asked. Fox nodded and received his hand. The door opened again, and was followed by several quips and cat calls. Fox looked back and groaned. What the hell's she doing here! he though staring wide eyed as his vixen friend, Kitt, entered the bar. She shot menacing glares at the hooting and whistling men she passed.

"Got any threes?" McCloud asked smoothly trying to ignore Kitt's presence. The fox nodded and grinned back at him.

"This ain't no kid's game," he replied.

"Well, I'm no kid," Fox quipped.

"Is that so? You talk pretty big for someone your age."

"I know a thing or two about talking the talk and walking the walk."

"Why don't you show me then?" The older fox grinned.

"Gladly," Fox replied, nodding the other fox to follow him.

The two stepped outside the bar. The older fox smugly placed his metallic fist against his hip. "So, ya speak Pirate's Cant, eh? Pretty impressive for a boy," He smirked. "So what's yer business here?"

"I'm looking for the son of Aurelio Vulpin, it's quite important."

The older fox laughed heartily. "Yer lookin' at 'im kid. Hortaio Vulpin in the flesh, except for this 'ere arm o' mine. Now what business do ya bring me?"

"Well, you see, the space port is closed and I really need to get to Eledard as soon as possible. I've heard that you have a ship and might be able to help me out."

"Eledard, eh? Well, I might be able to help, for a price that is. Let's see, 'ow's about 500 kei?"

"FIVE HUNDRED!" Fox exclaimed. His wasn't given a chance to protest. A shifty looking coyote came crashing out one of the bar's front windows. The two foxes stared inside with bedazzlement at the commotion taking place. A classic barroom brawl was underway as a group of shady characters surrounded a familiar vixen. One by one they challenged her, the first was a toothy rat armed with a broken liquor bottle. He took a swing at her, but was met half way with a foot in his armpit. The vixen grabbed hold of his arm and tossed him into an oncoming jaguar. From the left, a knife-wielding iguana took charge at her to be greeted by two roundhouse kicks. The vixen leaped up and clung to his neck with her legs, flipped her body over, and launched him into and other group of troublemakers. Fed up with their defeat, the group went full melee on her, launching an assault of fists upon the girl. She was a little too quick for them, catching their attacks with her hand and returning her own on them. She may have had the advantage, but she wouldn't be able to hold onto it for much longer.

In the corner of Fox's eyes, he spotted a grinning, handgun-toting hyena standing on the sidelines, trying to lock onto the young vixen into his sights. Fox took no hesitation and charged in on the hyena, tackling him to the ground. The sound of the gun firing rang out throughout the building as the bullet rocketed into on of the overhead lamps and shattered the bulb inside. Now everyone in the bar became involved, a portion of the group attacking the vixen quickly became fixated on the young pirate, who sat upon the hyena's chest, struggling over the gun. Several other bullets fired, finding their final resting places within the bar's walls.

A devilish grin slid onto Captain Vulpin's face as he dove through the window and rolled into the center of the group, right beside the vixen. " 'Ey there missy, looks like you could use a hand," he flirted, grappling one of her attackers with his robotic arm and heaving him onto the pool table.

"Sod it," she snapped, slamming one of her fists into the gut of a nearby attacker. "I can take care of myself."

"Hi Kitt, what'cha doing?" Fox asked backing up from an attacking jaguar. He backed right into a vacant table, bumping it and knocking over a few empty bottle resting upon it. Having nowhere to go, he hopped up onto the table and grabbed a pair of the glass containers and began twirling them around.

"Wyyyyyaaaaaaaaaa!" He screamed as he spun the bottles around in his hand, "You wanna mess with Jackie Chimp? Well do ya?" With that his grip on the bottle in his right hand came undone, and the bottle in his hand slipped right out and hurtled to the floor. "Time out!" the boy shouted as he scrambled to find a replacement. Quite perturbed, the jaguar kicked the boy in his rear, causing him to faceplant on all fours. "Owwww… No fair, I said time out," the boy whined, rubbing his sore backside. He climbed to his feet and glared at his opponent. "Ok, time in," Fox said, flipping up the table, slapping it right in the face of his attacker.

He quickly whipped around to see two would be attackers fall face first to the floor behind him. Behind them winked the kangaroo that had been playing cards with Vulpin. She then sweeped two more attackers off their feet with one swift kick, grappling one with her legs as he fell and hurling him into the crowd before leaping in herself and vanishing in the sea of fighters.

The weasel and parrot that also had been playing cards in the back slapped each other a high five as they saw their companions join the fray. Reaching under their table, the weasel drew a sniper rifle. He cocked it, aimed, and fired on a hound sneaking up behind Fox. The hound dropped at Fox's back, a tiny dart lodged in his neck. "That should keep him for a couple hours," the weasel snickered.

The parrot leapt from the table, hurtling a handful of his red feathers like knives at an armed wildcat. The feathers snagged loose bit of the cat's clothing and pinned him against the wall, causing him to drop his gun. Fox quickly rolled through the crowd and retrieved the fallen weapon. He quickly released the ammo clip letting the bullets rain to the floor, then chucked the disarmed weapon at a ferret lurking in the corner who was suspiciously opening a wooden case to reveal a 1930's style Tommy gun.

The act bought Fox a precious sliver of seconds before a storm of bullets wailed toward him, just inches behind his bushy orange tail. The boy scrambled to draw the fire away from the unsuspecting combatants. He leapt up onto the bar's counter, his right foot snagging the edge, bringing him face down to the polished wooden surface below. Upon impact, he quickly rolled back onto his feet, the hail of bullets growing ever so close to his fuzzy body. He scurried across the counter, glass bottles resting upon the wall-mounted shelves exploded from the hail of bullets. Glass and liquor rained down upon the evasive pirate. Fox hissed from the burn he felt as the alcoholic contents splashed onto his wounded shoulder. The end of the line quickly approached as McCloud stayed one step in front of the bullets. Ahead of him stood a solid wall on the other end of the counter.

The boy refused to stop, or even lower his speed, as he came within inches of the wall. Instead he leapt right to the wooden barrier. Pushing off the wall with his legs, he was able to backflip up and over the rain of bullets. The counter's surface was slick from the spilt booze, McCloud was unable to maintain control of his landing and slammed back first into the glass-covered surface. Squinting in pain, he instinctively rolled off behind the counter.

Cowering behind the counter were the barkeeper and waitress, the only two people not participating in the brawl. They stared wide-eyed at the battered body that lay near them. Fox groaned as he slowly sat up, looking upon the frightened couple. He smiled softly and reassured then, "Don't worry, you're safe here, it'll be over soon." Despite his comforting tones, they still huddled together in fear. Fox waited for the brief intermission of fire before making his move. As soon as the barrage of bullets ceased, he quickly pounced up onto the counter, springing from it into the air. He grabbed onto a handing lamp and swung off it Tarzan-style, sailing feet first into the ferret's face.

The impact hurled the weapon beneath the rumbling feet of the fighters. Both McCloud and the ferret scrambled on all fours after the thrown gun. A steel-toed boot crunched down on Fox's right hand, he sharply bit down on his lip to quell the pain as the ferret gained a comfortable lead. The ferret snickered as his reached for his weapon, then suddenly dropped on top of it. A dart sat lodged in the back of his right leg. Fox looked up to see the green-haired weasel pass him a thumbs up. He sheepishly returned an embarrassed peace-sign, not paying attention to where he was crawling until it was too late. Rising to his knees, he noticed something wasn't quite right. Draped around his head floated a soft lavender skirt as he stared at a pair of denim clad knees. Even though the legs were clothed by blue jeans, he couldn't help but form a lewd grin before recognizing who they belonged to. By then it was too late…

"You PERVERT!" barked a very perturbed Kitt. That was the last thing he could recall, then everything went black.

The sun shined brightly, the birds chirped, a gentle breeze caressed the grassy knoll around a happy vulpine family. A young vixen, in her early to mid-twenties, held her two-year-old kit gently on her lap as she watched her husband straiten out a red checkered cloth.

"Buhwerfry!" exclaimed the child, reaching out at a golden butterfly flittering about a patch of wildflowers nearby.

"Yes, sweetie, that's right, a butterfly," his mother cooed. He looked up at her with his wide jade eyes and giggled before crawling out of her lap to investigate the creature. He gurgled contently as he pounced upon the insect, watching it fly away seconds before he could reach it. It never moved far, as if teasing the child to follow it. He rolled about in the grass happily as he followed his new "friend," his parents watching him contently.

"Beautiful day, isn't it Vix?" the child's father sighed, resting his head onto her lap. His wife looked down on him with her pale blue eyes and gently caressed the short golden hair on his head. The two chuckled as their offspring bounded after the fluttering insect. The boy toddled after the butterfly through the soft grass. His mother smiled at her mate, brushing a few strands of her long amber hair from her face.

The butterfly changed its path and floated toward the happy couple, closely followed by the excited toddler. "Hey there sport," said the child's father, lifting him into the air above his face. The child screeched with delight before reaching down at his father's red bandana. The boy grabbed ahold of the colorful piece of cloth with his chubby hands, his father laughed with amusement. "That's my lucky bandana you got there kiddo. Someday it'll be yours, but right now I need it," he chuckled. The boy let out another cheerful screech as his parents looked upon him contently.

Fox groaned as he finally regained consciousness. He groggily sat up rubbing his head, feeling the newly created lump on it. He looked about in shock at his new surroundings, it appeared to be in some sort of doctor's office. Beneath him was a cold metal bed resting next to a well ornamented in an unusual combination of medical charts and photos of scantly clad female furries. The room was painted white, with a single desk full of drawers standing opposite of him. After a while, the boy realized that only his green pants were clothing him. Frantically, he searched the room with his eyes for the rest of his clothing, finding it neatly piled in the adjacent corner. He quickly leapt down to the floor and picked out his red bandana, he wouldn't dare be caught dead, or alive for that matter, without it. As he tied his precious piece of red cloth around his neck, he noticed that his wound had vanished completely, leaving only a tiny scar in its place.

"Don't worry, it's healed," informed a gruff voice emitting from a figure standing in the hallway, "Been wondering when you'd wake up." The stranger stepped into the room revealing himself to be the weasel from the bar. "The name's Roger Gains, used to be a medic in Corneria's eighth infantry division. Now, I run all you see here."

Some medic, Fox smugly thought to himself, watching the weasel pop a bent cigarette in his mouth and light it.

"Yeah, I know it's bad for me," the weasel chuckled, catching the expression on the boy's face as he lit the cigarette.

"So… How did… You..?" Fox asked, nodding his head at his newly healed wound.

"Oh that? Just a little hormone spray to get your body to repair itself quickly, still in the experimental stages mind you. The side effects are mild, just things like headaches, dizziness, and brain tumors, nothing different than using a cell phone," he laughed, looking at the worried expression on the boy's face. He then added in more serious tone, "I'm joking. You're probably more worried about where you are and all anyways. Well, take a look for yourself," Gains lead the boy to a window in the hallway. Fox's mouth dropped to see the planet Aquas travel father and farther into the distance.

"You shanghaied me!"

"Not really, this is what yer asking for StarFox," replied another voice, this one more hearty than that of Gains. Fox looked back and saw young Captain Vulpin standing next to him. "Ya wanted offa this planet, didn't you?"

"Well… yeah…"

"And that's what ya got. Welcome aboard the Silver Fox. It looks like Roger 'ere did a fine job patchin' you up."

"But… Wait…"

"You can thank yer girlfriend, she's the one who got you on here."

"She's not my…"

"With a punch like 'ers, I ain't saying 'no.'" Gains and Vulpin laughed. Fox continued looking out of the window.

"How much is it gonna cost me?" he finally asked.

"Not a thing… Just as long as you accept the yer girlfriend's terms."

"I told you, she's not my… Terms, what terms?"

"Ah, that's right, ya were catchin' forty winks when we discussed it." The captain laughed, " 'Ere's the deal, you and your girl ride free as long as you do us a little favor while on Eledard. O' Course that'll be discussed when we arrive." The boy said nothing, just looked at the captain suspiciously. "We could always just turn back and let you deal with the police…"

"Fine, I accept, but it better be worth it."

"That's the spirit," The fox laughed, but his words all went beyond the boy's head, who stared blankly out the window. Fox squinted his eyes, blinked twice, even rubbed them. They quickly grew wide enough to land a spacecraft in them, his bold orange fur stood on end, hiding the flushed skin underneath. He said nothing, just continued staring out the window.

"Are you ok, boy?" Horatio asked, putting his hand on McCloud's shoulder. The boy nearly leapt twenty feet into the air.

"Di… Didn't you see her!" Fox ask, his body still trembling from the jolt.

"See 'er?" The captain asked.

"Her… Outside… There was this lady… She was out there! And she… She was… There!" Fox replied hysterically.

The men looked at him quizzically. "Lady?" the asked in unison, looking out the window themselves and seeing only vast emptiness of space around them. Fox could tell by their puzzled and concerned expression that there was no way they'd believe him. How could they? It wasn't everyday that you see a beautiful young vixen staring in from outer space. It isn't even possible, nothing can survive out there, but Fox knew what he saw. She was there, looking in at him with her cerulean eyes. Her long blue braided hair flowed in the gentle solar winds, as did the white silk gown she wore. Her body was delicately covered in short white and sky colored fur from her head to her toes. But stood out in his mind the most was that she had not one, or even two, but three bushy tails floating behind her. Her image remained etched in his brain, she looked so sad and confused, lost even.

"Side effects include hallucinations…" Gains muttered to himself.

"Hallucinations, yeah…" Fox sighed. Maybe it was just a hallucination, he thought to himself. He looked out into the black vastness one last time, pressing his hand against the cool glass.

"What the hell is THAT!" Gains exclaimed as the trio witnessed a peculiar blue streak shoot across the sky. Almost instantly, the ship jolted quickly, the shock threw the three pirates to the floor.

"Sir, we're under attack! Five imperial Shock Ravens firing from 2 O'clock," A voice on the PA announced. Outside, five small black fighter ships charged toward the large lumbering spacecraft carrying the pirates. The small crafts raced in to attack, letting out a rain of white laser fire upon the large ship's titanium hull. The ship rocked again from the blow.

"Shit!" Vulpin roared, "Roger, take the boy to 'is friend and make sure they stay outta the way!" The room flared with reds lights and the ear-shattering wail of the alarm. The ship jolted again, throwing young McCloud face first into the window.

"Holy Chocolate Éclairs!" Fox shouted. Pushing himself off the glass, he spotted a second fleet of spacecrafts way out in the front waiting for them. This one included four more of the same small fighters as well as slightly larger attack cruiser. In the blink of an eye they instantly disappeared. He spun past the weasel and began hurrying down the hallway, trying desperately to keep balance through the ship's rocking. Not knowing where he was heading, Fox began frantically opening every door in the hallway. One of these has to be it, he thought to himself searching for the cockpit. Upon opening one of the doors, he was met with a shrilling scream of a shocked lady in the midst of suiting up for battle. Glowing red with embarrassment, the boy quickly shut the door. Grinning deviously, he slowly opened it back up and peeked inside, to be greeted with a projectile blaster in his face. Defensively, he slammed the door shut again, then picked up the object. It was primitive, and the fuel cells were completely depleted, but since Fox was otherwise unarmed, he slipped the old weapon into his coat pocket. Having the sense knocked back into, he returned to his main objective.

Having opened nearly every room on the ship, the boy finally found his way to the cockpit. The room looked much like the cabin of an old pirate ship, complete with the traditional wooden spoked steering wheel. The navigation equipment was primitive and outdated, some of it even dated way back to the twenty-first century even. Assorted crewmembers maintained the equipment as Captain Vulpin navigated the large spacecraft through enemy fire, unaware of the ambush in store for him.

"Turn back, it's a trap," Fox panted, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at the boy. "They have reinforcements out in front waiting to ambush under cloaking devices."

"A trap you say?" The captain looked at the boy suspiciously.

"Sir, take a look on the radar," a crew called to the captain, "They appear to be trying to chase us North-West. Apparently there's a cluster of Invader 1 spacecrafts 7600 miles in that direction. This must be what the boy speaks of." Vulpin said nothing as he started turning the massive wooden wheel, trying to pull the ship out of the Raven's attack formation.

"Captain, we're receiving an incoming transmission from the lead ship," another crew member alerted Horatio before activating the communication screen. An image of an angry reptilian officer dressed in the black uniform of the Androssian Empire appeared before the crew.

"Hold it right there thieves, we know you have it," he hissed.

"What the hell are you talkin' about!" snarled Vulpin, "We ain't got nothing of yours."

"Liars! Hand over the Project now or we will destroy your ship," the officer roared. Surrounding the ship, handfuls of imperial crafts began reveling themselves. "You have been warned."

"Shit! There's gotta be at least a 'undred o' 'em," Horatio growled. "There's no way we can beat 'em all. Attention crew! Full power to the main thrusters! We're gonna ram right through those sonofabitches." Vulpin's crew immediately followed his orders, diverting all power to the main engines. The wily fox began turning the wheel again, navigating the ship to a small group of starfighters. "If we can get through this cluster of ships, we might just be able to pull into hyperspace," he grinned.

"Hyperspace? But there's not a gate around, there's now way we'd make it," Fox cried.

"Ah, you don't know the Silver Fox. She may be old, but 'er 'yperdrive engine is top notch," The captain laughed, "She don't need no gates to make the jump."

"All systems go, sir."

"Yeah! 'Ere we go!" The vulpine cackled, thrusting the acceleration lever forward. The ship rocketed straight toward the tiny cluster of fighters before it rapidly increasing in speed. Within seconds the metallic behemoth plowed right through its barrier with ease. Fox sighed in relief as he saw the ship's pilots eject safely from their spacecrafts. However, through the collision, one of the small crafts scraped across the ship's side, slicing off its primary right wing, and the vital thruster attached to it. Merely yards away, the large ship began to drift out of control.

"DAMMIT!" The vulpine captain roared, pounding his metallic fist into a piece of machinery nearby as he saw his right wing slowly drift beside him, reducing it into a mangled up sparking piece of junk. The attacking fleet were able to keep up with the ease. Pulling a small square bottle from his pocket and taking a drink, Horatio muttered, "Looks like we're fightin'."

"What!" Fox cried, his mouth nearly hitting the floor as he heard that.

"If we go down, we go down fighting," the captain said, "We lost one of our vital engines, there's no way we can outrun them." Though the captain's face remained emotionless, his eyes quivered with unease. "It'll take hours before it can be repaired, even with Nanites." He gave his crew the signal and they immediately shifted to a full offensive manner.

"Weapons are ready sir."

"Well, let's 'ope Lady Luck is with is today." The captain smirked, taking one last gulp from his bottle before tossing it aside. The small glass container plummeted to the floor, stopping inches before smashing into brown shards on the cold steel floor. Everything in the room came to a halt, the entire crew became frozen still focused on what they were doing at the moment. Outside the attacking ships remained silently still. A single blue streak zipped through the motionless scene. It zigzagged though the stationary spacecrafts. It eventually found it's place behind the large pirate ship before quietly dying out. Seconds later, a large blue flame burst from the ship's rear, rocketing the craft at an alarming rate.

Life finally returned to the room. The glass bottle crashed across the metal floor into countless pieces. "Sir, you're not gonna believe this, but we're in hyperspace," a startled crewmember exclaimed. Outside, stars looked like white streaks as they rocketed past the ship. Everyone stared in amazement and shock around them.

"What the blazes..?" Vulpin gasped. The piece of equipment he had recently smashed had somehow been reassembled. As strange as that was, outside, the missing wing was also reattached. The captain scratched his head in puzzlement, it was as if what had happened, never did. "Man, I gotta stop drinkin'." He laughed, throwing his robotic arm around the boy's shoulder. "I'm startin' ta see things."

Fox laughed nervously, "Yeah, I guess so." He looked out the window one last time. For a second, he though he saw a tiny blue light sparkle before fading into the darkness. "I guess so."